#Lucky

Note: These photos are two weeks old…. Hope to post newer ones soon!

Besides the obvious reason why I’m feeling lucky these days, the particular subject of this post is why I’m feeling lucky fashion-wise this past year… throughout my pregnancy, loose dresses and over the knee boots were the norm in fashion and right now there is a new trend arising: the mom fit jeans! I can’t emphasize how much I love this cut right now! They are way more comfortable than super skinny jeans – which were my basic – and they are very forgiving with my post-pregnancy body shape! I totally love them and I think I already have 4 pairs in my closet. I seriously wear them all the time. Now these pics were taken two weeks ago – yeah, it takes me this much time to actually edit them and put together a post – so, right now I can say that they fit a whole lot better since my tummy has gotten smaller, my hips are starting to get back to their original shape (lots of walking and baby-handling, but no real workouts yet). I see the light shape-wise!

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Since I am writing these post while actively watching baby-Leia, not much text will be found here as she is quite a handful, more active than most babies, but she still sleeps well throughout the night, from around 23:00 until 9:00 most days so we are quite happy with that as we get a lot done during the early mornings. Other than that, she is quite a happy kiddo, with episodes of colics from 19:00 until 21:00, but they have gotten a lot better these past few weeks, which actually means that we can enjoy our evenings more and more… True, she still has her wild moments from time to time, but nothing too notable or too often for us to not be able to happily handle. Right now, despite the sleep deprivation, we can’t imagine how we ever felt complete without her in our lives.
Our dog also fully-feels the effects of a small baby in the house as she seems very tired and snores all the time when she actually gets to sleep, but when baby-Leia is awake, she is always in the room with her and always watches her every move. I think that our girls will be best friends as soon as baby-Leia starts walking!

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On me:

Jeans – ZARA; Sweater – Mango; Shoes – Vans; Sunglasses – Dior; Bag – Furla; Bling – Tous (ring and bracelet); Watch – Apple

Thus far I can’t say that I feel the effects of the baby-blues, nor do I feel or ever felt depressed in the past two months. I did have two or three days when I felt a bit anxious, but that passes quickly as soon as I lay my eyes on Leia’s face. As time passes, it appears that she resembles D more and more, but she definitely took my blue eyes. Naturally, we take pics of her almost every day and soon we will post them – like I said, time is a luxury we do not have right now.

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On D:

Jeans – ZARA; Jacket – SuperDry; Shoes – Converse x John Varvatos; Bling – Tous; Watch – Apple

Back to the fashion bit… obviously I love the Mom Fit jeans and I hope it stays fashionable until I am fully back in shape and beyond because these jeans are so, so comfortable! I found this particular pair at ZARA (and three other pairs as well) and for someone that loved Replay and Diesel jeans, I have to say that lately ZARA seriously upped their game in the denim department. I ventured in buying quite a few pairs mainly because my pre-pregnancy size fits and I just know that I will wear them for a long time to come. Since they are high-waisted jeans, I found the courage to actually wear a cropped sweater and proudly show you my (still) expanded belly. This lovely sweater is from Mango from last year’s winter collection, but there are quite a few options online right now. I went full-mom and wore my Vans white sneakers to complete the comfy outfit. The lovely bag I am wearing all the time right now was a gift from D for my birthday, and you can find it at Furla. I just love how versatile it is thanks to the brown-black-white combo that just goes with everything. The sunnies are my beloved Dior and the big ring you’ve been seeing lately on my finger is a push-present from my parents. My mom got one from my grandmother when she gave birth to me (or so she says) that has rubies and the one my parents gave me has sapphires and diamonds. I will keep this tradition alive and when Leia decides to give us our first granchild we’ll probably choose emeralds. The lovely bangle and ring set that I am also wearing is from Tous (just love them!) and I can’t seem to be able to part with my Apple Watch these days.

D also decided to go for casual jeans and chose a pair of ZARA ripped jeans (told you they upped their denim game a lot lately) and his leather Superdry jacket. As you will see soon (don’t really know how soon) this was probably the last time he got to wear long sleeved anything as he almost finished his full-arm tattoo sleeve and I can’t wait to show you just how amazing it looks. He wore my favorite Converse x John Vavatos sneakers and even though you can’t see it, he also opted for his Apple Watch and the Tous bracelet I gave him a while ago.

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As you can see, we are surviving this new-baby period and, to be completely honest, despite it being very hard, we simply love taking care of our little bundle of joy. She really fills our hearts with happiness every single minute.
L.

 

That Red Cup Of Happiness…

I have always been a coffee lover, well since I was 16 anyway… And to make matters even worse and cliche, I have always had a soft spot for Starbucks coffee, particularly the special edition blends. YES, I am well aware that there are some other coffee shops with waaaay better-tasting coffee, I will not deny that, but for some reason, I always come back to Starbucks. So you can understand my disappointment when I wasn’t able to take a sip of the amazing Pumpkin Spice Latte edition simply because I know that too much caffeine is not good during pregnancy and I cannot for the likes of me get out of the house without my morning coffee. I just can’t and that is final! So I am stuck to one coffee cup per day and right now I am not complaining as I just adore the Christmas blends that Nespresso released.

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That said, as much as I love my daily Nespresso coffee I just can’t resist the annual red cups from Starbucks. I just can’t! So you can imagine the struggle I have been experiencing ever since they were released this year. That said, I have also been experiencing pregnancy brain on a whole other level lately and thus it only dawned on me a few days ago that I can have DECAF! Yes, DECAF! I know, it basically sucks, but that is the best I can get right now while still enjoying the Christmas blends and so I will go with that and have as many of the lovely, fattening and sugary red cups of happiness as I can this December, sans the whipped cream of course!

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On me:

Dress – ZARA; Boots – Steve Madden; Bag – Atelier Lemnia; Sunglasses – Dior; Bling – Swarovski (bracelet1, bracelet2 and ring) and L’Art de Medeea necklace; Watch – Apple

Which brings us to today’s post! Ever since I realised that I can actually enjoy a red cup all I could think about was what type of outfit should one wear to fully show the appreciation of that DECAF lightbulb! And what better outfit than one that simply screams Christmas. Well, at least it screams Christmas to me. The deep tartan print of this dress is as Christmas-y as it gets. It is from ZARA (of course) and it will probably become a Christmas favourite, as, aside from the lovely print it also has enough room to fit a 34-week pregnant belly therefore it will have enough room from now on to fit the entire Christmas dinner. I felt the need to pair it with the khaki-green Steve Madden long boots because for some reason I felt they went well together.

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On D:

Shirt – Replay; Jeans – ZARA; Shoes – Converse x John Varvatos; Sunglasses – Ray-Ban; Bling – Fossil and Constantin Nautics; Watch – Apple

Naturally a little red clutch could not miss the opportunity to match the red cup and my personal favourite right now is the one from Atelier Lemnia. Since it was a lovely sunny warm day outside I decided on skipping the coat as I have pregnancy heat waves anyway and also because the hot liquid I was so psyched about kept me all warm and happy throughout the photoshoot. I also wore my sunglasses because, as you can see from the photos, we had yet another day of perfectly clear skies. As per usual, I wore my favourite pair, the Dior SoReal.

D, despite being happy for my new found coffee independence, did not really feel like dressing festive and opted for a more comfortable but equally nice outfit and obviously for a full-caffeine drink. He decided to wear a classic denim shirt from Replay and his black skinny jeans from ZARA. I fully appreciated the fact that he knows not to match his denims as that, in my opinion is a big fashion faux-pas! He also wore his black Converse x John Varvatos sneaks as well as hie black Ray-Ban sunglasses. All in all, he kinda matched my outfit in a sense that his too was comfortable enough to bring to Christmas dinner – which to be honest starts at lunch and ends late in the evening.

As for the bling part, I did go a bit overboard because I chose not one, but two Swarovski bangles, a Swarovski multi-ring and a beaded necklace, which is from L’Art de Medeea. I decided on the beaded necklace because I liked the way its colours worked – not matched – with the colours of the dress and I did feel that the dress needed a bit of bling as it seriously lacks in that department and hey, it’s December, the month of bling. D was a bit more toned down than me and only opted for his Fossil and Constantin Nautics bracelets, while we both wore our Apple Watches.

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Thus far, this December has been really good to us both temp-wise as well as precipitation-wise and despite the fact that I really wish to get a fully snowed-in photoshoot, I seriously hope we will not get much snow in Bucharest at least until we are home form the hospital with the little bundle of joy. Looking at the weather forecast, not much will change this week and that means that we will take more and more pics of the last weeks of pregnancy.

L.

 

 

Civic Duties: DONE!

Yesterday we voted! I do not want to spend more time on the subject as I think that politics is just like religion: everyone is entitled to their own opinion. We did however, use that as an excuse to snap some more pics of the 34th week of pregnancy and fully took advantage of the 14 degrees C and the perfectly clear skies – yes, apparently the weather is a bit nuts these days in Bucharest. Since both of us have our ID dress at our parents’ this called for a full Bucharest tour to be able to vote. First it was D who voted and right after that it was my turn. When all our civic duties were done we decided to snap some pics near my parents house thus changing the usual scenery a bit.

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As you can see, D is wearing a t-shirt and I am wearing a dress with no coat on as it was just that warm outside and needless to say lovely. The dress is yet another XS find from ZARA that currently fits nicely but I have a feeling that in about two-three weeks I will have to wear it as a tunic over jeans because my belly is growing at a very fast rate and this dress is on the short side. But I love it anyway because it has a very fun print, it needs no ironing and it works with a lot of things in my closet, plus the lovely black and yellow combo. I just can’t wait to try it on when I am back to my old shape again and see how it fits. To be honest I can’t wait to try all my newly bought dresses once I loose all the baby weight. Maybe I will do a series called ‘Double Take: during and after pregnancy dresses’. I strongly urge all future mothers to not give into the temptation of buying maternity clothes, just be careful with your diet and you’ll fit in most of your usual sized dresses – the cut is the only thing that really changes but at least you’ll be left wth clothes that you can actually wear post-pregnancy.

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On me:

Dress – ZARA; Boots – Rachel Zoe; Bag – Christhelen B by Musette; Hat – ZARA; Sunglasses – Dior; Bling – Swarovski (bracelet and ring); Watch – Apple

Whenever I have a dress that is a bit on the short side of the spectrum I like to pair it with over the knee boots, as you might have noticed, especially since these boots are current obsessions of mine mainly because they tend to make legs seem longer and slimmer than they actually are – trust me on that one. Plus they are super-sexy and comfortable provided you do accept the fact that every once in a while (often!) you gave to re-position them on your thighs as they do tend to run down as you walk (some double tape might help with that). Aside from the mini-dress-over-the-knee boots combo, I must point out that I found another black bag! This is not new, I’ve actually had it for 3 years but only recently found it and therefore I decided to switch from my usual Chloe black bag. Plus I just love the golden details that go perfectly with my Rachel Zoe boots as well as my ZARA hat. You can find lots of similar options at Musette.

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On D:

T-shirt – Replay; Jeans – Review; Vest – ZARA; Shoes – Replay; Sunglasses – Ray-Ban; Bling – Fossil and Constantin Nautics; Watch – Apple

D didn’t really feel like wearing black, so he opted for the softer version of grey and dark khaki. He proudly wore his newly acquired ZARA vest that he first spotted a few years ago (different colour, though) and I suspect he prayed a lot to the ZARA Gods to remake that model. He is the type of shopper that sees something that he likes but only wants desperately to have it at least a year later. Well, this is one of those few things that he actually found two years later in store and thus had to have it. He also wore his lovely Review jeans and a Replay t-shirt that he bought especially as he wanted something to match his Replay orange-soled sneaks. All in all, everything he wore matched wonderfully: the dark khaki of the vest with the khaki t-shirt, the orange sole of his sneaks with the orange print on his t-shirt that also sort of matched the orange-brown part of the vest. I just love it when everything goes well together and not necessarily matches perfectly!

Bling-wise, we did not really put too much thought into it as we were only going out to vote, but we did however manage to look decent. I wore my Swarovski bracelet and ring while D wore his usual Fossil bracelet alongside a Constantin Nautics bracelet. We both wore out Apple Watches, as usual and it turns out we are both fans of these smartwatches despite not really thinking that might happen. Since it was really sunny out, we both wore sunglasses, I, my Dior SoReal while D wore his Ray-Ban black sunnies.

L.

 

Cold Steel!!!

Well, the day has come where a barely-there-text post is here! This Sunday is a bit mad, so I’m just going to keep it simple and tell you that winter is upon us even though it does not seem like it – cold af but sunny, which means that it is not really appropriate to get the furry UGGs out yet but a long wool coat is definitely needed even at lunch. img_6664

Yes, the colour theme is grey and we both managed to pull it off, unfortunately, despite buying this lovely dress a few weeks ago it is nowhere to be found online right now, so I’ve linked an alternative. Other than that, most of the pieces we’ve worn, you’ve already seen and mainly this photoshoot is supposed to mark the 33rd week of pregnancy and the fact that it is cold af outside, but no sign of snow in the next couple of weeks.

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On me:

Dress – ZARA; Boots – ZARA; Coat –  ZARA; Bag – DKNY; Sunglasses – Dior; Bling – Swarovski and Tous; Watch – Apple

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On D:

Sweater – ZARA; Jeans – Review; Coat – ZARA; Shoes – Converse x John Varvatos; Bling – Fossil; Watch – Apple

Hopefully by next week we will have some nursery pics for you – yes, it is completed! And we are very proud of the way it turned out.

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L.

(NOT) Another Make-up Tutorial!!!

Nope, this is not a make-up tutorial as I know almost nothing on the subject… I do however want to share with you some amazing newly discovered make-up products as I feel that a bit of a review is always nice. As always, I am doing this review with only praise in mind as I hate the negative energy I get after writing a bad review. On that note… these are the best products I found this autumn! Naturally they are not all newly launched products as I am not a beauty blogger, but they are my most recent finds as I had to overhaul my make-up bag.

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I always like to buy new stuff at the beginning of the season as I feel that both my skin colour and my texture tend to go through some changes – and I do not want to even start on the changes my skin went through during this pregnancy! This post comes after a long period of hits and misses in the make-up department simply because my skin is chaotic these days and finding something that works well with it is rather hard. Most of these products here were tried for at least two weeks just to be sure that they work well with my skin and, to be honest, not being the make-up expert that some people are, it always takes me a while to learn how to apply each one depending on the texture.

Here are this autumn’s heroes:

  1. Giorgio Armani Maestro Fusion Make-up in shade 5.5
  2. Giorgio Armani Liquid Sheer in shade 2
  3. Chanel Eclat Lumiere in shade 20
  4. Dior Diorblush Light & Contour in shade 002
  5. Benefit They’re Real Mascara in Black
  6. Chanel Rouge Allure Ink in shade 140 Amoureaux
  7. My besties – BeautyBlender The Original and the Micro

How I apply them:

  • First, I would like to clear the air on one thing: I do not use any primer! Yes, I know that is a make-up felony, but I just hate the way most (or at leat the ones I’ve tried) of them feel on my skin. Therefore I just apply my foundation on bare moisturised skin. This Giorgio Armani fluid foundation was a bit tricky at first given that it has a very runny texture and it wasn’t tricky from a skin application point to view but rather because it took me a while to figure out how to get it onto my skin. In my opinion, the best way to go about it is to put small drops of the products on your fingers and pat it in key areas of the face. While I do love my BeutyBlender, this foundation works best for my skin when I apply it wth my fingers – no, a brush did not work as well either!
  • Then it is off to correcting whatever spots and dark areas I have on my face (mostly dark under-eyes). For this I use the Chanel Eclat Lumiere. I have used this product for a few years now and I love the way it seamlessly blend with any foundation. Yes, I know, it is about time to try the YSL Touche Eclat, but somehow I always end up buying this one.I just brush the product in the areas that I feel I need some extra coverage and pat it with my BeautyBlender Micro.
  • Now for a bit of contour. I must confess that mastering this step took me quite a while…And I always needed up looking like I had dark spots, but with the new Dior stick this has become quite easy. No, I am not yet a ‘strobing specialist’ and honestly I have no idea what that is. For this step I just put on my ‘war lines’  – as D calls them – and blend them really well with my BeautyBlender.
  • A bit of highlighting is always much needed after the contour step and I do not use the lighter part of my Dior stick simply because I feel that it contains a bit of glitter as opposed to the pearly texture that captures the light perfectly that I found in Giorgio Armani’s Fluid Sheer. I have tried applying this miracle worker both underneath my foundation as well as mixing it into the foundation, but I feel that it looks best when applied in key ares over the foundation. So I apply it on my upper cheekbones, my upper eyelids and on top of my upper lip.
  • What’s left? A generous layer of jet black mascara. I am currently using They’re Real from Benefit and I have to say that I am quite happy with it. I confess that it is not as good as the G by Guerlain but hey, it is less than half the price and it does the job nicely!
  • As for the newest favourite in my make-up bag, the Chanel Rouge Allure Ink, I only have great things to say! First of all, I am that annoying person that only wears nudes or very light pinks and hates matte lipsticks. I bought this because a good friend that actually nows make-up secrets at a way more advanced level than me recommended it and naturally I bought the lighter shade available (which is darker than what I normally wear). I love everything about it! Yes, even the colour as I feel it perfectly mimics my natural lip colour! The texture is to die for, you do not really feel like you are wearing a matte lip as your lips do not get dehydrated for one minute and it lasts for about 5-6 hours which is amazing! I seriously think this is the best beauty product of this autumn and I feel that it is rather hard to be topped by anyone else when it comes to matte lipsticks.

That’s it! That is my autumn no-make-up make-up routine! I hope it has been helpful, not from a make-up point of view necessarily, but rather from a review standpoint. Keep in mind that these are all products that work very well for my pregnant skin, but I have a feeling they are great for any skin. Again, I would like to add that all the products here are bought by me, so this is not a promotional post!

L.

Grey Matter!

As you know, we rarely ever find ourselves in the centre of Bucharest, but this weekend I really needed to buy a few pairs of maternity jeans and the only H&M that has the maternity line is in the city centre. Yes, I know, online shopping is a must in this situation, but to be honest, these past two weeks I have been feeling better and more energetic than ever during this pregnancy so I thought a shopping day with D would be perfect. And it was! Once again I received the confirmation that I have not yet changed sizes in pants, the only difference being the fact that I need the maternity belt as I can’t stand anything pressing on my belly and all of a sudden the shopping spirit came back to me.

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It’s amazing what sizes can do to ones’ morale. Especially when that someone is almost in the third trimester of pregnancy. Do not get me wrong, I have gained a healthy amount of weight thus far, but apparently it is mostly on my belly and on my butt, which, in my opinion is ok – I will do a post on what I am eating during this pregnancy, nutritional info and all, but I have to say that the main difference is I’ve added an extra day of cheating in my diet simply because I will have lots of time to be a diet-natzi after the little princess arrives.

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On me:

Dress – Amisu (impossible to find online but you can shop it in all NewYorker stores); Shoes – Carvela; Bag – DKNY; Jacket – Pull and Bear (only found an alternative); Bling – Swarovski (bracelet and ring); Sunglasses – Dior; Watch – Tissot

Back to this weekend’s photoshoot…we were lucky enough to have a few wonderful day last week and we took full advantage of them. The thing about pregnant women is that they hardly feel any cold, hence I did not feel the need to wear tights at 15 degrees C and actually felt quite hot at some point (weird, right? – more details on that in the upcoming ‘pregnancy feelings’ post). For the first time I did not feel the need to cover up my expanding booty with a long cardigan or jacket and chose a short faux leather jacket instead. We both opted for a grey theme as that is one neutral colour that is both forgiving and appropriate for the cold season.

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On D:

T-shirt – Tommy Hilfiger; Jeans – Scotch and Soda; Vest – Bershka (alternative here); Shoes – Converse; Bling – Fossil; Sunglasses – Ray-Ban; Watch – Tissot

The dress… this dress was a very big surprise to me as when I first saw it it didn’t seem like a very good option to me. It is from Amisu and you can shop it in any New Yorker store (can’t find it online) and it is the most comfortable knit dress ever! You know how some knit dresses tend to irritate your skin? Well not this one! This one is so soft and comfortable that I can spend forever dressed in it, plus it hugs my expanding curves just right and the length is to-die-for! This is part of the reason I felt confident enough to top it with my short jacket from Pull and Bear that I’ve had for ages and that I never thought I’d wear during this period.

My shoes are from Carvela and I got them the year I was away in London to get my MA degree therefore I was really surprised to still find them online (this was more than four years ago, after all!) but I guess the two main trends that characterises them are hot right now: platform and wood! They are very comfortable, but not to the point where you can wear them all day long as they are quite high (13 cm) which can be a little dangerous especially because my centre of gravity is changing all the time. Being a sunny day out, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to wear my beloved Dior sunglasses. I also opted for the grey DKNY bucket bag as that was the obvious option for a day filled with shopping because I need both of my hands to be free.

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D also played along with grey hues and opted for his Scotch and Soda grey jeans with a grey v-neck t-shirt from Tommy Hilfiger. Because he seems to feel the cold a bit more than me, he wore his vest from Bershka to keep him warm. His grey classic Converse shoes could not be left at home – as you can see he has quite the variety of grey Converse shoes. Naturally he decided on finally wearing sunglasses for this photoshoot and chose his Ray-Ban Aviators to complete the look. Bling-wise we were both quite scarce as he only wore his Fossil bracelet while I wore a Swarovski bracelet and ring. We both decided to wear our Tissot watches.

We are keeping our fingers crossed for as many sunny lovely days like this one this autumn and I can’t wait to show you what we ended up buying during our shopping weekend!

L.

 

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.

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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.

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.

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!

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.

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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!

L.

 

 

 

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!

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).

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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.

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.

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!

L.

 

 

Seaside season is officially over…for us…

…But that is not the topic of today’s post! No, today we are going to talk a bit about the new and very popular hashtag: #mermaidthigs as opposed to the former #thighgap. Now I am not going to talk about body shaming or anything, but rather about my experience going from one # to the other in the course of a few months. This is somewhat natural and beautiful, especially if the making of a new life is involved. While last year I was happily sporting a thigh gap thanks to healthy eating and almost daily gym sessions, the past few months have thought me that pregnancy is not easy on the said thighs therefore I find myself at the point where I can barely see a thigh gap and am slowly but surely coveting to the new mermaid thighs trend. No, this is not due to unhealthy eating, this is my body’s natural response to the hormonal battle that takes place inside me and to the fact that I am eating a bit more nowadays (about 300-400 kcals more a day).

The first batch of photos is from last summer, roughly about the same period as the second and third batches of photos. After I will give birth, I will use these photos and this post to motivate myself into getting back in shape until the summer of 2017. No, that does not mean that I will diet like a crazy person, but it does mean that I will try and go to the gym as often as a newborn baby will allow me.

The second batch of photos is from almost a month ago, when I was 14-15 weeks pregnant. This is the period where I think I felt the worst about my body image, as, honestly, I felt like a whale, but that was mostly due to the transition period from the first trimester to the second.

This third batch of photos was taken this week, during my 18th week of pregnancy, and even though I look bigger that I used to a few weeks ago, I must confess that I feel a lot better about myself and I think that is due to the fact that my hormones are at a better stage now, in the second trimester. This is the point where I noticed the lack of thigh gap and the transition to mermaid thighs. During this time I chose to wear one-piece swimsuits as that seemed to work best with my not yet fully rounded belly.

All in all, I can’t really say that I do not feel good in my skin, true, I felt a lot better last year, but I am well aware that I have to come to terms with the way my body carries a pregnancy as there is nothing I can do about it and stressing over it will not help. The swimsuit season is officially over for us, not necessarily because of the weather, but rather because in a week we will start redecorating our house. We will keep you updated on that as well.

L.

Daytime Festival Feeling…Part II

This was the second time we roamed the streets of Cluj to have a full photoshoot because, as stated in an earlier post, because of security reasons, we weren’t allowed with our camera at the festival thus having to take our fashion shoots on the streets. That was not necessarily a bad thing as this city has a lot of amazing places to offer, like this wall over here. The downside to wanting to actually go to the festival and being pregnant resulted in the fact that most days I was too tired to take photos – we just went out to eat and because we did the eating part sitting down, most of the posts will be of food.

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For this photoshoot we both opted for a casual beige/greige/kaki combo as this fitted our mood and energy levels best on the third day of the festival – tired af! Yes, these photos were taken on the third day because on the second day, all I wanted to do was eat and sleep and get ready for the night as that second night was the fullest for us of them all. We both knew the old centre of Cluj very well, but actually walking there and searching for places to take photos really opened our eyes to details that we have not noticed until now – like the said wall. This blogging activity really has a lot of perks!

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On me:

Dress – Dubai; Sandals – Bata; Bag – Mango; Bling – Tomorrowland (ring and bracelet), Pandora and Swarovski; Sunglasses – Dior; Watch – Tissot

Back to the outfits… I really hate having anything against my belly these days so mostly I am sporting dresses hoping that the weather will stay on the hot side as much time as possible. This dress is from Dubai from one of their markets and is really one of the most comfortable dresses I own, not to mention the fact that it really is the perfect shape and length for this period where my legs haven’t gotten fat enough to make me want to cover them, but my belly grew enough to need loose things to cover it. I paired the dress with my yellow fringed platform sandals from Bata and this is yet another item aside from the dress that will not benefit from a link in today’s post simply because I couldn’t find anything similar online. The bag – that I will link – is from Mango and I chose it because it matched both the colour theme and the fringe detail found on the sandals. Bling wise I kept is neutral with rings from Tomorrowland, Pandora and Swarovski, while not forgetting my Dior sunglasses on this sunny day.

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On D:

Shorts – Scotch and Soda; T-shirt – Mango; Shoes – Paez; Bag – New Yorker; Bling – Constantin Nautics; Sunglasses – Ray-Ban; Watch – Tissot

D also wore colours similar to the ones I chose – naturally! – which made me a very happy girl. He opted for his camo shorts from Schotch and Soda and paired them with a plain beige t-shirt from Mango. Yes, he did not wear any fringe detail but I promise that at some point I will make him wear something very fringe-y! To finish his look he chose his new Paez espadrilles – we both bought a few pairs from the fashion corner at the festival – that perfectly complimented his outfit. The bag that matched the turquoise wall so perfectly is from New Yorker and he bought it ages ago and is just perfect for carrying all the camera necessities while we are on vacation.  

He managed to wear a pair of sunglasses – Ray-Ban –  even though he usually doesn’t bother while we are taking photos as they tend to get in the way of him taking pics. He also kept it simple where accessories are concerned only wearing his Constantin Nautics bracelet aside from the Untold bracelets. We both wore our Tissot watches that as stated earlier got changed in the evening for the more festival appropriate G-Shock watches.

L.