couplegoals

Autumn has no plans of getting warmer and/or nicer!

If you see D in a jacket than it’s settled: it is cold outside! He usually wears a t-shirt and not much else until the temps get as sown as 15 degrees C, so despite the apparent flimsy warm autumn clothes we are wearing in this photoshoot, let me tell you, it is getting colder every day outside. Which mostly sucks but not really if you consider the fact that I can now wear all my lovely autumn dresses (for a short period of time) and my lovely pumps and boots. That being said, had I not been pregnant, I would’ve whine about this weather in every single post as I have been known to be a spring-summer king of girl that actually hates both autumn and winter. To be honest, this autumn has come way too fast and way too wet for my taste (we only had a few hours to shoot last week in total).

Processed with Snapseed.

Mostly I am over the top because my Herve Leger bandage dress is still fitting nicely over the growing bump. This is a time when the tiny human being inside me grows so fast that I am not really sure in the morning what will still fit me so it is mostly a game of trial and error every single day. I am trying to shoot as many outfits as I can but that bitchy weather is not really helping much (it has been pouring since yesterday afternoon in Bucharest and apparently until Thursday that is the way things are going to stay – here you have it, a weather forecast update). Honestly, by Thursday, I have no idea what in the world will still fit me.

Processed with Snapseed.

On me:

Dress – Herve Leger; Shoes – Guess; Bag – Atelier Lemnia; Coat – H&M; Bling – Swarovski, Constantin Nautics, Pandora and Tomorrowland; Watch – Daniel Wellington

For this photoshoot we both agreed on red, I combined it with black, while D used grey. All in all, I am quite happy with the way things turned out, but it has become more clear now that the man needs a serious autumn shopping trip as his go-to things are t-shirts, jeans and sneakers. Enough about him in this paragraph… As stated earlier, my lovely Herve Leger bandage dress fits and feels wonderfully over my bump (thank you elastic!) therefore I really wanted to take advantage of the matter and shoot some pics in it. I paired it with my red patent Guess pumps that D got for me about 5 or 6 years ago (when Loubs were way out of our budget) and until this day, they are definitely my most comfortable red shoes.

Processed with Snapseed.

On D:

T-shirt – Scotch and Soda; Jacket – ZARA; Jeans – Scotch and Soda; Shoes – Converse; Bling – Fossil; Watch – Daniel Wellington

To keep my promise where layering is concerned and to keep any cold away, I finished the outfit with my H&M wool jacket that is way warmer that I had expected and will probably hep me get through this winter as well. Moving along to the bag…This bag is yet another item I got at Untold Festival last August (lots of shopping going on there) and it is Romanian made by Lemnia Atelier. You should really check them out as you get great quality for your money. I think that from now on I am going to get most of my clutches from them! Bling wise I wore my Swarovski bracelet, my Constantin Nautics bracelet and both my Pandora and Tomorrowland rings.

Processed with Snapseed.

D, for some reason really wanted to wear grey, and he did so wonderfully and he managed to match everything in his outfit even better than me. His pinstripe t-shirt is from Scotch and Soda and the thins red lines match his grey Converse sneaks perfectly as they also have a thin red line on the sole. His jeans are also from Scotch and Soda (more matching points!) and his grey leather jacket is from Zara and I think it is just as old as my Guess pumps. He kept his accessorising to a minimum and only opted for his Fossil bracelet. We both wore our matching (well, the nato straps are identical) Daniel Wellington watches.

Processed with Snapseed.

I can’t really say that I normally hate autumn as that is a very harsh word to describe it, but I do hate the weather we have had so far during this autumn. Like seriously, how much more rain can we get here? It is really messing with my shooting schedule and I think we need to find a place to shoot inside from now on.

October 11, 2016

evenlymatchedLeave a comment

The best dish you’ll have all autumn long!

Yes, I know this is the second recipe in a row, but I just couldn’t let autumn come for good and not share what is in my opinion the best thing you’ll eat all autumn long. Did I just repeat the post title? Well, yes I did and that’s because this recipe is just that good. This has to be my favourite dish for autumn dinners ever! First of all, I have nothing to do with the recipe in itself, as opposed to the other recipes presented here that all have some sort of twist from yours truly that strays away from the original inspiration, this one is presented to you exactly the way my mother taught it to me.

Yes, this is a family recipe. Well, to be honest, I am the second generation in our family that knows it, so I can say that my mother invented it. A bit about mom… She is what I call an ‘intelligent cook’. Why? Because never ever have I seen that women actually follow a recipe or spend more than 2 hours in the kitchen to cook an entire dinner. She just adapts and uses whatever tricks she can to come up with the best easy recipes ever, that can make you think that she spent an entire day in the kitchen. True, she has been known from time to time to screw things up, but she always jumps right back at it and perfects the recipe so that it is easy and very tasty.

Processed with Snapseed.

Today’s recipe is one of those easy, hearty and amazing recipes. First of all, this stew is usually made with meat and using the traditional ways, it can take up to half a day to make. My mom intelligently removed the meat (which is great for me) and used some newly acquired tricks to have this done in less that 1 hour – it took us more because we has to take photos of every step. If you are a meat lover you can always add whatever type of meat you like next to it, but I cooked this one yesterday without it. First of all, there’s nothing that says autumn better than mushrooms in white sauce so this is best for those chilly autumn evenings, especially, as you’ll find out at the end, this is not really a heavy meal but it is quit filling.

Processed with Snapseed.

What you’ll need:

800 gr of white large mushrooms (you can easily go for 1 kg and not mess things up – like I said, mum is not really one for measuring the ingredients)
3 large white onions
300 gr of full fat sour cream (if you use a lighter version you’ll need a bit more flour)
2 tablespoons of white flour
1 cup of fresh parsley leaves
2 teaspoons of salt
1 teaspoon of ground pepper
1 teaspoon of vegetable base
1 teaspoon of hot chilly powder
2 tablespoons of pomace olive oil

Processed with Snapseed.

What you need to do (keep in mind that although there are quite a lot of steps to follow, the stew is really easy to make and basically foul-proof):

Cut the onion as finely as you can, but do not stress over that, slice the mushrooms in big chunky pieces if you want to feel their texture and chop the parsley.
In a bowl mix the salt and the pepper and in another one mix the vegetable base with the chilly powder.
After taking lots of pics of your ingredients (for some reason I find it extremely satisfying to take photos and edit food pics), put the oil in a saucepan and let it heat up before adding the onion.
After about 5 minutes add a teaspoon of the chilly mix and half of the parsley and stir well for another 5 minutes.
Add half of the mushrooms to the mix, a teaspoon of the salt and pepper mix and stir well.
After abut 5 minutes add the remaining mushrooms and another teaspoon of salt and pepper mix, give it a good stir and put a lid on.
When the mushrooms have left a considerable amount of water, pour the remaining chilly mix, give it a good stir and place the lid back on. Keep in mind that the entire recipe will need a moderate-low stove flame.
Now for the tricky part… take the flour bowl and carefully incorporate water while stirring continuously until it reaches the consistency of sour milk (not too watery).
Pour a glass of cold water to stop the boiling in the saucepan and carefully add the flour mix while stirring continuously. The cold water you just added will keep granulations at bay.
Leave the stew to boil for a few minutes and then add the sour cream, the remaining parsley and what is left of the salt and pepper mix and stir well.
Bring it to boil for another couple of minutes and that’s it!

Processed with Snapseed.

Keep in mind that, if you do not like your food too spicy, you should cut in half the quantity of both the pepper and the chilly powder – my entire family enjoys spicy food, hence the spiciness of this one. I really hope you’ll love this recipe as much as I love it. As you can see from the nutritional info, this stew doesn’t go overboard on any unhealthy stuff and, as usual, the info is for the entire quantity. If you followed the recipe to a letter, you’ll end up with about 5-6 servings, depending on how hungry you are, and after dividing the numbers I’d actually say that this can be considered a light (about 170 kcal), warm dinner. If you like it, than pass it on to your friends and family!

October 1, 2016October 1, 2016

evenlymatched1 Comment

Craving potatoes…Again…

We haven’t posted a recipe in a while now… Not necessarily because we have lacked in the cooking department – in fact we kinda did, with all the construction works going on – most of our cooking has been about D cooking wonderful breakfast recipes as surprises for me during weekends, therefore, no photos were taken to document that. Since some (all) of his dishes turned out AMAZING we will re-do them and post them here. Today is all about yesterday’s dinner and me craving potatoes again.

Processed with Snapseed.

This is a very easy to make dish, basically you can add anything in it, but I have to warn you, it needs 1.5 hours to be ready from the point when you only have the ingredients until you can actually enjoy it, so start before you are hungry. The ingredients are basics and to be honest, we had most of them in our house. This is yet again a no-meat dish because I still seem to have an adversity towards meat these days.

What you will need for about 30 potato patties:

1kg of white potatoes (but you can use whichever type you like)
2 eggs (we use free-range eggs that my mother brings me from the countryside every week)
1 garlic head (not too big as you still want to feel all the other ingredients and potatoes tend to absorb the garlic flavour better than anything else)
about 8 young green onions
300 gr of cheddar (we used both white and red cheddar – about 150 gr each)
50 gr of butter (use full fat butter as it is better)
15 gr of fresh oregano (you can use whatever fresh greens you like)
salt
pepper

Processed with Snapseed.

What you need to do:

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees Celsius.
Grate the potatoes and put them in freezing water as you do not want them to turn brown. I was lucky enough to have D help me with this step as he knows how important my manicure is to me and I always seem to grate my fingers whenever I attempt to grate anything.
Cut the onions, mince the garlic and the oregano and grate the cheese.
Whisk the eggs and melt the butter (we used the microwave for the butter for about 30″)
Get a big bowl as you are going to mix all the ingredients together. It doesn’t really matter what order you put them in, but it is really important to mix them really well.
Start making patties from the mixture and arrange them on a tray (use some baking paper otherwise they will stick to the tray and that is very messy).
Put them in the oven for about 40 minutes after which time you should add some cheddar on top of them and leave them in the oven for another 5 minutes.
That’s it! Enjoy!

Processed with Snapseed.

Processed with Snapseed.

This is not the healthiest meal out there, but it is an ok one according to my UP app. Yes it is packed with saturated fat, but it is also almost equally packed with unsaturated fats and fibres. Now all the data you see here is for the entire quantity – that is about 30 patties – yes, we used two trays to bake the entire composition, but you can use half of the ingredients. That means that one patty provide about 70 kcal which, in the grand scheme of things, is not that much. Naturally, nobody can only eat one, so I’d say that one serving consists of three-four patties, so it is rather ok for dinner.

September 29, 2016

evenlymatched2 Comments

Autumn is here!

Never in my life did I think that I will actually be excited about autumn… I was so sick and tired of the nasty heat we got this summer and to be honest it has gotten worst during the last few weeks – it might be due to my advancing pregnancy, but I just couldn’t take it anymore. And hey, tis the season for lovely rich shades of burgundy, navy and brows, plus if you also add the lovely fabrics we get to wear during autumn, you’ll start actually enjoying this season.

Processed with Snapseed.

I, for one, couldn’t wait to actually get to wear some of the things that I got from H&M‘s autumn collection, and the weather on Saturday was perfect just for that. Not too chilly – notice D is in a t-shirt – it didn’t rain, I am telling you, sheer autumnal perfection. Yes, it would’ve been a bit better had we posed on a leaf carpet, but we have three whole months to do just that! True, the calendar keeps telling me that it is not yet the time for opaque tights but pants are completely out of the question for now and it’s way too chilly to go out without them. A cold during pregnancy is not exactly something blissful or romantic…

Processed with Snapseed.

Shopping info at the end of the post

So, about the outfit… Ever since I actually developed a real pregnancy belly I have been proudly wearing tight dresses and felt great doing that. I do feel a lot better when I am wearing the said dresses with a nice pair of heels and lucky for me I still keep shoes that are more than six years old, like these booties from Manas Lea Foscati in the photos. I think I have them from before D and I met so, they are more than seven years old but they still look great. Naturally, there is no way I could find them online so I’ve linked an alternative. What can I say about these booties besides the fact that even though I did not think about that at the time, they turned out to be a great investment for autumn thanks to the multitude of autumnal colours that have on them. They are also surprisingly comfortable considering the 11 cm heel. That actually helped me make up my mind about buying another pair of chunky heeled ones – I am more of a stiletto heel type.

Processed with Snapseed.

Shopping info at the end of the post

On to the H&M dress… Besides this one still being size xs, it is extremely comfortable over my growing bump and this quite possibly might take me to the last months of pregnancy. I love the colours as well, actually any oxblood item is just prefect for me during autumn. Yes, I am one for the greys and burgundies during autumn as opposed to browns and beiges, though I have been known to enjoy a chocolaty outfit from time to time. Because the dress has a bit of navy in it, I decided to go for navy tights and my navy Michael Kors bag, while going for a completely different palette for the shoes, but it all goes well together thanks to the burgundy in both the shoes and the dress. This dress can also be worn – and I will probably wear it – with shades of grey and black, completely ignoring the colourful side of it.

Processed with Snapseed.

As usual, lately, I topped the entire outfit with a very nice long knitted vest from H&M that carefully hides my growing butt and also keeps me warm. The fact that it is black means that I will probably wear it all autumn long and you will probably see it tons of times. I kept my accessorises to a minimum and only wore the new Swarovski bracelet that D bought me last week. These Crystaldust bracelets are just dreamy! They look amazing and are very comfortable to wear every day – I wear mine in the house as well, because hey, who knows who might come and visit me and I can’t not be put together now can I?

Processed with Snapseed.

D also went for darker hues, choosing his dark denim pants from Replay. I miss my own similar jeans as they were by far the most comfortable jeans ever. Yes I am talking about their Hyperfelex collection, we both love it and I can’t wait to be able to fit into mine again! He also wore his black Tomorrowland t-shirt that matches the darker richer hues I chose thanks to the copper feather print. D finished his outfit with his denim and orange slip-on shoes from Replay. He almost did a full Replay outfit as his navy leather belt is also from Replay. He wore his usual Fossil and Constantin Nautics bracelets and we both decided on our Longines watches. Even though it was sunny outside, he did not need to wear his Ray-Ban glasses so he just pretended they were accessories as he forgot his case at home.

All in all, I am glad that autumn is here, even though I know that by December I will be so fed up with the cold and I will be anxious for spring again. Actually I think that spring is the best season ever: the temps are perfect, nature starts waking up to life, the trees are in bloom…Yup, I love spring! But I will have to be contempt with autumn for now.

On me:

Dress – H&M; Vest – H&M; Shoes – Manas Lea Foscati; Bag – Michael Kors; Bling – Swarovski; Watch – Longines

On D:

Pants – Replay; T-shirt – Tomorrowland; Shoes – Replay; Belt – Replay; Bling – Fossil and Constantin Nautics; Sunglasses – Ray-Ban; Watch – Longines

September 27, 2016

evenlymatchedLeave a comment

Inspiration Board…

Just to give you a quick Sunday update on what is going on in our house… I have put together an inspiration board to help you get a quick sneak peak on the end result. We decided to go with a mix of grey and yellow just to spice thing up a bit design wise… Most of the stuff we bought is from Mobexpert, Vivre, Fleximo and Ikea. Hope we will finish soon and share with you our newly decorated home (or at least pieces of it).

September 25, 2016

evenlymatchedLeave a comment

The Lash Room…or how to get perfect brows!

Strike two at writing this beauty post – hopefully there will be no more glitches from WordPress and YES, I am writing this on the Notepad first just to be sure that it will not get deleted again. I just hate doing things twice!

Anyway… Today’s post, as the title suggests is all about getting those perfectly shaped eyebrows, and not having to re-do them every single morning, like I had to for almost a decade of my life. In order to get you accommodated with the subject I have to tell you first about my life with my natural eyebrows. First of all, I was born with bushy wild eyebrows (yes, no sign of that in my recent years), but was unlucky enough to reach my critical age (adolescence) in the 90s when thing eyebrows were the thing. Naturally, being 13 and quite stupid, I over-plucked them – NEVER EVER DO THAT – and some of the hairs did not grow back, most of the hairs actually. As opposed to most other female body parts that don’t necessarily need hair but where hair grows like you give it fertiliser every day, the important hair of the brows is very stubborn when it comes to growing back. This left me with no other choice than to pencil and powder my eyebrows until 2013 when it came to me: I should get them tattooed (semi-permanent make-up). Since back then I was younger, stupider and had fewer financial resources (I was actually lacking in the brain cells department rather than financial come to think of it), I looked online for the cheapest option available and booked it right away. Yes this was two or three months before our wedding day. I figured that I will just tell the lady doing them what I wanted and give her points every step of the way because in my head I knew better than anybody what was aesthetically correct. I have to say that a diploma in Architecture gave me that confidence, but to be honest, that has nothing to do with human aesthetics. My confidence combined with the fact that the lady doing my eyebrows was not the most talented in the world left me with having to put on more make-up every morning than before. Please keep in mind that when it comes to someone tattooing your face, there is absolutely no way of you actually seeing live what she/he is doing and therefore you have no control of the result. I did not take this into consideration then and I did not do my research where her talent was concerned.

These were my ‘before’ – brows (aka my wedding brows – first tattoo)

A year later, still not at my wisest, but getting there, I discovered THE LASH ROOM. I think this is the first place that actually had the wonderful technique of micro-blading in Romania, if I am wrong than this is definitely the best place where you can get your eyebrows micro-bladed – just take a look at their portfolio as opposed to others. Why did I say that I wasn’t at my wisest? Because I still had this fixed idea in my mind that I knew best and did not let the very talented Cristina Delcaru to do her job properly, still wanting thinner brows than she suggested. They did turn out a lot better than my first attempt at getting my brows done and in my head, back then they were perfect and I was hooked on the place. I tend to be the type of person that is very loyal to beauty places if they make me feel good and safe.

First attempt at THE LASH ROOM – freshly done

First attempt at THE LASH ROOM – healed

Fast forward to another year later when I wanted to refresh my brows again, here I was back at THE LASH ROOM. By now, both me and Cristina realised that the first time I had them tattooed it was with permanent ink because a) it just won’t fade and b) it changed into a horrible carrot hue. Because I was a bit older, I was also a bit wiser and allowed Cristina to make them a bit thicker, but not as much as she would’ve liked for them to frame my face properly. Needless to say that I left the place walking on clouds and I just kept staring in the mirror in awe, the entire drive back home. I was simply in love with my thicker, more natural brows! Did I mention that each time Cristina custom made my brow colour just to make sure it perfectly matched both my hair colour as well as my skin tone. Yes they do that at THE LASH ROOM, you do not have to chose just between brown, black or red, the possibilities are endless!

Second time at THE LASH ROOM

And here we are… Two and a half weeks ago I needed to have them re-done because I got to the point where I feel the wisest – might be hormonal. Yes, I re-pigmented my brown in my fifth month of pregnancy and it is totally safe as THE LASH ROOM uses bio-organic fruit inks that are more natural that most of the moisturisers I use these days. As opposed to the last few times, this time it did hurt a bit, but nothing to get my heart-rate up or anything. Why I considered myself to be at my wisest? Because right form the start I told Cristina that she should do what she felt framed my face best and I only wanted to see the end result – I trusted her 100% which I rarely ever do, and I am so glad I did! My brows turned our perfectly, even better that what I remember my natural brows to be, actually a lot better than that! The shade is perfect, the thickness is perfect and overall way they look is absolutely amazing! I seriously recommend this place and Cristina, but I am sure that all the girls working there are extremely talented.

About the procedure:

First of all, your brow designer will do a mock-up of how the brows will turn out and, from my experience, they are extremely patient and considerate with your opinion as they really put your happiness first. After the shape is settled the designer will start mixing a custom colour just for you. She will then start tattooing and this can be done here in multiple ways depending on your skin: either micro-blading, powdered or plain tattooing or a mixture between the three. The first two times Cristina decided on micro-blading for me, but the last time she decided to use the tattooing machine because I do have a bit of scar tissue on my right brow (adolescence zit) and the horrible reddish hue from my first attempt is still visible and this technique is supposed to be better for these issues. After the first lines are drawn, she applies a bit of local anaesthetic and normally from this point onward you just have to sit back and relax for about an hour. Afterwards, you’ll end up with the perfect eyebrows! The aftercare is quite easy but it will take about two weeks during which time, as opposed to a normal tattoo that needs to be washed daily, you are not allowed to get this one in contact with anything apart from the cream you will receive before leaving the place. This makes make-up not really an option therefore you have to plan this procedure ahead. As I said, you have to apply the cream twice per day which will make you look a bit weird (see the healing photos attached). On top of everything, be prepared to have very dark eyebrows for those two weeks until the heal. This is no problem whatsoever if you are a brunette but it can be one if you have lighter coloured hair. Two weeks later you will guaranteed looked a lot better than before!

Before the third procedure at THE LASH ROOM

Right after the procedure

During the healing process

The healing cream

A bit about Cristina:
She is one of the nicest people I’ve met and despite her immense talent, she is very down-to-earth. The thing that shocked me most the second time I saw her is that she perfectly remembered both me and what she used on my brows the first time. This is extremely rare as she must’ve done hundreds of eyebrows during that year, but apparently she has amazing memory when it comes to her work. Despite not being in agreement with me the first two time (where brows are concerned) she still gave me her best and I left the place every time feeling amazing! I am sure that all the girls working there are very talented, but I fell very lucky to have met her and have my eyebrows done by her.

Healed result

About THE LASH ROOM:
This place is amazing, it make you feel right at home. I am very sorry that D couldn’t join me during my procedure as I would’ve liked to have more photos of both the procedure itself as well as the interior of the place, but you can find a few photos online. The staff always made my feel welcome and everything appears to be in pristine and hygienic condition therefore you feel relaxed right from the beginning. They also offer various lash treatments, that I tried at some point. That service is amazing as well, but unfortunately I am the type of person that need to throughly rub her eyes every time I take my make-up off and therefore I could not have a full set of eyelashes and feel comfortable. But those of you that can live without rubbing your eyes, should know that this is an amazing service that should be tried at least once.
As you can see from the ‘after’ photos, Cristina’s works needs no more praising and you should really trust her from the first moment as she will do what is absolutely best for your face!
L.

September 23, 2016

evenlymatched2 Comments

Current Blogging Situation!

I wanted to write a different blog post today – a beauty one, but apparently WordPress has a few saving issues and it completely deleted the one I wanted to publish today (note to self – write on the notepad first!). Since their customer support is closed until the 23rd of September I can’t find a solution until then. Just keeping my posts short and clean. Yes, I am a bit upset than two hours of work are gone forever!

The thing is, I also find myself in a nearly impossible writing environment as you can see from the pics I’ve published. We are in full renovations and I am writing from the kitchen where my office has been moved – at least now I can say that I use the kitchen on a daily basis for more time than it takes our Nespresso to deliver the perfect coffee in the morning. We are hoping to finish the actual renovations by Monday, but after that is when the hard part comes – us having to actually go through all our shit and throwing away most of it. Hopefully we will finish everything by the end of October (that is when the last pieces of furniture arrive) and we will be able to post detailed ‘after’ photos.

That is it for today, and I sincerely hope that WordPress will get its shit together soon!

September 21, 2016

evenlymatchedLeave a comment

Last day of summer…

Yesterday was the last day of summer…yes, I know we are in mid September, but yesterday was the last day of 30 degrees C and we took advantage of it to snap a few photos of our current (pregnant) situation. Do not get me wrong, these past few weeks the heat has been killing me, but that, by no means gives autumn the right to strike full force as it did today (currently 18 degrees C and pouring rain since 9 o’clock)! I would’ve loved this season to come a bit slower but at least now I know I will be sleeping ok until January, at least when it comes to bedroom temperature.

Processed with Snapseed.

For some reason, we both chose to wear black and taupe yesterday and I am more than happy that I managed to squeeze in a few photos of these lovely Rachel Zoe Monica sandals that I think I got last year or two years ago (yes, this is another pair of long lost sandals that I just found in our dressing-room). Honestly, I’ve loved them ever since I saw them, but yesterday was the first time I actually wore them. Despite the 11 cm heel and my growing weight, they are very comfortable and, had autumn not come so early, I probably would’ve worn them some more this year. I just have to remember all about them next year, I suppose, as there is no way I am going back to sandals this year, stilettos, certainly, but not sandals!

Processed with Snapseed.

On me:

Dress – Bershka; Cardigan – Bershka; Sandals – Rachel Zoe; Bag – DKNY; Bling – Swarovski (pendant and ring); Sunglasses – Dior; Watch – Longines

Taupe is one of my favourite neutral colours for early autumn and early spring simply because if you mix it with black, brown,oxblood or navy you get a perfect outfit for autumn and if you decide to mix it with pastels you have the perfect transition-combo for spring. This time we both mixed it with black – maybe because we sensed the weather will turn – and I love the result. Ever since my belly rounded nicely, I can look at myself in a skintight dress again and feel great, so I wore this rib dress from Bershka. Make no mistake, most of my skintight outfits will have some sort of layer on top and this time I chose this cardigan that you can also find at Bershka, or at least you can find an alternative as you know me right now – not a lot of clothes shopping as long as my oldies still fit.

Processed with Snapseed.

On D:

Pants – Replay; T-shirt – H&M; Shoes – Converse x John Varvatos; Bling – Fossil and Constantin Nautics (bracelet and pedant); Watch – Longines

I paired the lovely sandals with a perfectly matching quilted bucket bag from DKNY. I love bucket bags so much despite not having many in my closet, simply because you can fit everything in them – sometimes by using sheer force. To accessorise everything, I decided on two pieces form Swarovski, the Elvis pendant, that you can’t currently find anywhere (BOHOOOO Swarovski for discontinuing such a fun line!) and a lovely taupe cocktail ring that I ‘stole’ from my mother. I also wore my lovely Dior sunglasses for the last sunny day of the year!

Processed with Snapseed.

D wore his lovely black wool blend pants from Replay, that he got a few months ago in Milan – it seems like ages have passed since out Milan trip. I can’t wait to travel again and discover new cities! I hate the fact that we have no travel plans whatsoever! He also wore his H&M taupe t-shirt that feels so lovely to the touch and has this fun uneven edge. Luckily for us, D is the one that still shops for clothes and makes my job easier when it comes to linking similar items. He wore his Converse x John Varvatos shoes and at this point I am seriously asking myself if he wears them because I love them so much and he doesn’t want to annoy me, or he loves them just as much as I do… He accessorised his look with his Fossil bracelet alongside his Constantin Nautics pendant and bracelet, and we both wore our Longines watches.

Processed with Snapseed.

I have to admit that I am having a lot of fun with my belly right now, there also has been a lot of movement in there lately and I am so glad that I have been feeling great these past 22 weeks! We hope to have some news regarding gender as soon as possible, but until then, we have to focus on getting our home in tip-top condition!

September 19, 2016

evenlymatchedLeave a comment

Rehearsing…

Despite me feeling wonderful dressed in this lovely skirt, we did not really manage to take as many photos as we usually do because our camera ran out of battery. So here you have all the pics we managed to snap before the camera shut down. No picking among them, just all of them! We decided to go to the park as we felt like this is the perfect time to start rehearsing out park-play skills, especially since the weather is still lovely – hope it stays like this for as long as possible as the temps are perfect for my pregnant-hot-all-the-time-self!

Processed with Snapseed.

I am keeping my promise about layering and wearing belly tight clothes,as well as avoiding maternity clothes thus far. I got this high slit skirt from Mango Premium (online purchase) last year and haven’t worn it once because despite it being a size 34, it still was a bit too large for me especially waist-wise, but I did not return it as I figured that i will tailor it at some point, but really didn’t get to actually doing so. You can imagine my delightfulness when I tried it on a few days ago and discovered that I fit me perfectly. I just had to wear it as I have no idea for how long it will fit me. I do hope, however, that I will be able to wear it for another few more weeks, when the weather will really become chillier, as I really feel that velvet is the perfect fabric for autumn and apparently it is getting the deserved rave this autumn! Also, another thing that I am loving about this skirt is the fact that it is belly friendly without it meaning to be, so this means that I can still wear a few pieces that have a high waistline. I was under the impression that I was doomed to wear dresses until January (not that I am complaining much about that).

Processed with Snapseed.

On me:

Skirt – Mango; Top – Pull and Bear; Vest – ZARA; Shoes – Vans; Bag – Michael Kors; Bling – Swarovski (bracelet and ring), Pandora and Tomorrowland; Sunglasses – Dior; Watch – Longines

I paired the lovely velvet skirt with a crop top from Pull and Bear that I used to wear at the gym when my abs were show-worthy and I ended up loving the high-waist-crop-top combo more than expected. To keep things on a casual note (we were going to the movies after the photoshoot) I chose to wear my Vans. To keep my growing Alabama-ass hidden away I layered the entire outfit with this lovely white vest from ZARA and I finished it with my white Michael Kors bag.

Processed with Snapseed.

On D:

T-shirt – Tomorrowland; Jeans – Review; Shoes – Converse x John Varvatos; Bling – Fossil; Sunglasses – Ray-Ban; Watch – Longines

Because I was wearing a black and white combo, D didn’t feel like matching me all the way and chose a full grey outfit. I didn’t feel like complaining much about that as I do love all the pieces that he wore and felt happy that he chose them. In short, he wore his amazingly fitting Review jeans and paired them with his Tomorrowland t-shirt. To keep everything homogenous, he decided to wear his grey Converse x John Varvatos sneakers, that contain both the shades of grey form his t-shit as well as jeans. Looking at these pics of him, I realise that I should compel him to buy a few more of those Review jeans as I feel this brand tailors them to his body.

Processed with Snapseed.

Since it was such a sunny day, we both wore sunglasses, I, my Dior SoReal, while D wore his already popular by now, Ray-Bans. I decided to play a bit with my accessories, especially now that it is not as hot as a few weeks ago, so I wore a Swarovski white leather bracelet and black cluster ring besides my usual two rings from Tomorrowland and Pandora. D only wore his Fossil bracelet this time, and we both wore our Longines watches even though our Tissot watches would’ve matched our outfits a bit better (habit, I suppose…).

All in all, we have learned our lesson and we will start checking on the battery every time we go out to take photos as it really was a bummer that we only got to take as many shots as we did. I really wanted some more shots of this outfit and of this moment because our daily photoshoots are over at least until our apartment is fully remodelled!

September 17, 2016

evenlymatched1 Comment

Pregnancy Autumn Essentials

After a ZARA packed spring and a summer full of Mango clothes it is time for yet another affordable retailer to make a statement in my closet: H&M. Yes, this year I have skipped the special editions (H&MStudio in this instance) mainly because I have no idea how and what will still fit me a month from now, so I found myself forced to stick to the basics. Since until now I did not like long jackets and vests much, now, in the position I am in – pregnant belly plus an expanding ass – I feel that those are the only things that make me feel totally confident about my new curves.Again, I didn’t want to go into the maternity department yet, as I want to buy clothes that I will wear over and over again for as long as I can.

I was actually very surprised to see that in my fifth month of pregnancy I haven’t gone up a dress size (no idea about pants and not really interested to find out yet – the doctor recommended that I stay as calm as possible during this period, so I am not even going to bother with pants) and therefore I can still fit nicely and comfortably in my old knitted dresses, so I decided to order a couple more just to play up my new, rounder by the day, belly. Since pregnancy doesn’t come solely with a round belly – or at least not for me – I need some pieces that I can layer over the skin tight dresses that will cover most of my growing ass. I opted for a few draped cardigans as well as a vest all in matching colours so I can rotate and mix as much as possible. Did I mention that throughout this pregnancy I have become more and more frugal when it comes to clothes? Unfortunately this is also our first year of blogging so you will probably be very surprised this time next year when there will not be an extend period of time without me buying new stuff. But not this year, this year I feel compelled to be as rational as ever when it comes to both clothes (I have no idea what size I will end up being in the near future) as well as shoes (I have heard rumours about swelling feet) and really, bags have never been my thing, so less shopping than usual for now.

Long Wool Jacket

Poncho

Lyocell Jacket

Knitted Vest

Cardigan

Belted Cardigan

Striped Dress

Off-the-shoulder Dress

Back to the 4kg online order from H&M‘s autumn collection… Yup, 4kgs containing my first ever long jackets. First of all, I would like to point out the fact that I personally did not really like H&M‘s summer collection much, but I am really liking this autumn one. Also, this is the first time I have ever ordered stuff from them online, because I have come to a point where trying on things in a changing room is just too tiering, so I have succumbed to online ordering from H&M. The service is wonderful, the packet reached me in 4 working days, so I can honestly say that they are not bullshitting you with unreal deadlines. There were no mix-ups and everything fitted me just perfectly. So a big plus for the service! The clothes are H&M quality and basically you get what you paid for. Everything I ordered is still online thus making this, the easiest post when it comes to linking. I chose mostly stuff in burgundy and oxblood, besides the neutral black and grey because I have a feeling that this year I will love these two colours as much as I did last year. Aside from that, there is not much more I can say, except for the fact that I can not wait to mix and match everything with what I already have in my closet and take photos throughout this autumn with my belly. To complete my autumn shopping now, all I have to find are a lovely pair of oxblood boots, but I have my eyes set on a pair form Smiling Shoes. I will keep you updated on that!