The problem with surprises is that you can’t tell anyone about them beforehand.

Hence the bloggy silence.

Those of you that know me in “real life” rather than through t’interweb will know that this past weekend it was my partner’s birthday. I won’t embarrass him further by saying on here which birthday, but suffice to say that it was a milestone, a very big one.

I knew he wasn’t feeling altogether happy about it. In fact, I think he was a bit depressed at the thought of it. He definitely didn’t want a party.

But I wanted it to be special. I wanted to do something to show how much I cared, and to make him happy.

And I also wanted us to have some time with one another. Which might sound weird after spending much of the last quarter of a century together, but we had drifted a little recently I think, and I wanted us to reconnect.

So I organised a surprise weekend trip to Amsterdam.

We have been before, several times. Each visit has been good, so I thought that recapturing that feeling would be nice.

And so it was.

We talked. We walked (a lot). We ate out. And we were properly together, thanks to lad spending his weekend back in England, with friends.

We also found time for a little shopping… although it has to be said, I was the one doing most of the buying (oops!)

Amsterdam is one of my favourite places for vintage shopping. We didn’t manage to make it to the markets this time, mainly due to the necessity of lie-ins to offset all the walking.

But I did bring home some treasures.

There is a lovely little bead shop in The Nine Streets which tempted me in to buy those little pink and blue jewels.

But one of my favourite finds were those woven vintage butterflies…

They came from my favourite Amsterdam vintage store, Laura Dols.

I spotted them on the counter and ended up buying them, despite the fact that they weren’t actually for sale!

They were about to be sewn onto vintage blouses, but the nice lady allowed me to purchase a few.

Which just made me love their shop even more.

I also bought these lovelies there…

They are giant continental pillowcases, so there is lots and lots of lovely fabric in each one…

And there were a few new things too, from fab Dutch supermarket Hema.

The tulip-print thingy is a shopping bag…

Plus I couldn’t resist this tiny remnant of kitschy Mexican oilcloth from Kitsch Kitchen, with which I plan to make a little purse:

I loved every minute of our weekend.

And thankfully, so did my man. He got to indulge his passions too, don’t worry – for interesting vegan eateries and unusual continental beers.

And both of us found, and brought home, something far more precious than souvenirs.

Memories to add to the storehouse. A feeling of appreciation.

A realisation that we are so lucky to have one another. Despite neither of us being perfect.

And a determination to hold on to one another as the years slip by faster than either of us would wish. ♥