Its already been a week and yet it seems like no time has passed. We’ve had some visits with family (Inge’s family), a big Boxing Day dinner, a couple of dinners out, the Christmas Markets in Cologne, and some local shopping.

Today we visited Vorden cause there’s a cute little shop there we like to visit now and then. On the way I spotted a 2nd hand shop housed in what looked to be an old church.

No need to remind anyone how much I love 2nd hand stuff!

There was some great stuff in there Including some gorgeous antique chairs and beautifully worn old table, but of course its impossible to carry big things to Greece on the plane, and shipping costs would break me. So, I picked up a couple of very small things I can fit in my suitcase.

Inge asked why I would want a book of dutch poems. I said I’m buying it for the illustrations, cause they’re cute, and I will upcycle the pages. Plus, I don’t actually like poetry, so not being able to read the poems might be a bonus!

And this little thing. I got it mainly cause its a recycled tea sack from India, but also cause I just loved the colour.

Yes, tea stain is a colour! (to me anyway).

However, it actually has a use:

So what if I didn’t upcycle this myself? It’s still recycled waste and quite cute too!

There aren’t that many 2nd hand shops in this area and the only other one is closed till after New Year’s… There was a huge one I visited on a previous trip, but it has unfortunately closed since then.

Well… I’ll have other chances, but to be honest, I plan to avoid the op shops in Amsterdam cause I know I’ll want to take another container with me to Greece…

z