lifestyle

103

Note: The pics are taken from week six until yesterday. For the first six weeks of the potato- looking princess click here.

103 days since our lives changed… 103 days since our priority list got an overhaul… 103 days since we started a new chapter… 103 days since our lives got meaning – it feels now that before baby Leia entered our lives we were living without a purpose… 103 days since everything got better! Way better!

No we are not celebrating her anniversary every day, but we are celebrating this new and amazing new life every single day AND I have an app on my phone that lets me know how much time has passed since Leia came into our lives (thank God for smartphones!). Truth be told, I missed the 3 months mark on posting this because a) I was lazy and b) I wanted to relax for a bit… Yes, when we passed the six weeks mark, everything started to be absolutely amazing… Leia got a break from those nasty colics and our household got a break from her inconsolable cries from 7-9 p.m. Once that episode was over, she turned into this amazingly happy and eager to learn child so we needed to up our game a bit. The good thing about her passing to the next stage (non-colic era, as we call it) is the fact that she started sleeping the entire night from 10 p.m. until 9 a.m. with only a short and sleepy feeding at 6 a.m. Now this was the best change we got so far from her as we are currently getting about 6 full hour of sleep every night. Sure, there are some nights when she fusses around in bed and we do need to go to her, but usually this gets resolved in about 2 minutes thanks to the wonderful invention called a pacifier. Seriously, pacifiers are LIFE! The person that invented it deserves a statue!

So, the current situation with Leia is:

She sleeps all night long
She eats every four hours during the day
She naps twice per day in the morning and in the evening (40 minute naps)
She sleeps for 2 hours during lunch
She plays a lot
She smiles almost all day long
She started trying to turn around on her belly
She can hold her own head
She grown according to plan (height and weight)
She swims every day
She started grabbing toys on her own
She poops every day at the same time – once you become a parent, pooping becomes very important

The current situation with us is:

We sleep every night
We play every day
We are back to our habit of drinking a glass of wine every evening (YES, there is life after having a baby and this usually starts after two months)
We take long walks every day which ultimately helps our health a bit
We realistically plan for future vacations

Overall, we are back to normal living, the only things that I have to start doing more often are posting on the blog and restarting my gym membership.

What I’ve learned so far:

There is no way in hell I can be on a diet while breastfeeding (pumping) which is at times frustrating because I still have about 5 kg to shed, but that’s not too dramatic…
Dr. Google is something to avoid at all costs because a) every baby is different and b) dr. Google does not have a medical degree and virtually any retard can write shit online
The award for the most stupid advice I’ve received/read is ‘Sleep when the baby sleeps’. I mean, am I supposed to eat when the baby eats, do laundry when the baby does her laundry, walk the dog when Leia walks the dog? I am telling you, that is the shittiest advice ever! Mainly because Leia is not big enough to do the laundry! (We are planning on teaching her that asap!) Like I said, the internet is full of crap!
If you are new parents (up until one month old baby) than let me tell you something: Hold on because the best times are soon coming! Yes, the first month is very hard, but as soon as that passes, your baby will start sleeping during the night, you will be able to enjoy a two-hour movie, you will start to relax while drinking a glass of wine knowing that the little one will not wake up and overall, your life will start to get back to normal, a more beautiful and satisfying normal than ever!
You will experience new levels of love for someone every single day! Just when you thought that you can’t love your kid more, a new day comes and you discover that you can… this is one of the best feeling ever!
Always, and I mean ALWAYS listen to the one in the house that managed to get more rest! I can’t tell you how many bad decisions one can make when they are tired. Just make sure that one of you is rested at all times as your baby needs you rested – after about two and a half months, you will both be rested all the time as life gets back to normal!
There is this rumor that if you eat certain types of food your breastmilk will not give your baby colics and also it will increase the amount of milk you have… for me, that was a pile of crap as Leia was colicky while I was on this crazy diet that involved me eating everything fully coocked, with no sugar or salt and basically tasteless… both me and Leia were feeling horrible, so, for me, that advice goes under the ‘stupid advice’ column!

Obviously, I wanted to post this at ‘100 days of baby Leia’, since I missed the 3-months mark, but as it turnes out, in the past seven weeks we took more than 1000 pics of her and choosing the best ones took me two days, not to mention writing this, which took me three more days… so here you finally have it, an update on how parenthood is going for us, as well as more than 100 pics of our little princess. Notice how she turned from potato to an actually cute baby?

We are still way behind on all the reviews I have in mind for baby stuff, but what I can say right now is that Huggies diapers rule! So there you have it, an update as well as a review on baby stuff! This motherhood phase makes me so good at multitasking (NOT!).

April 26, 2017

evenlymatchedLeave a comment

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

December 14, 2016December 14, 2016

evenlymatched1 Comment

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.

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.

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.

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.

December 12, 2016

evenlymatchedLeave a comment

Souping…

I confess, lately it has been one cheat day after the other (yes, I am passed the ‘cheat-meal’ concept) and I have been eating not-really-junk-food but not as healthy as before either… It must be the fact that I am six weeks away from having to start and loose the baby weight and I honestly think that my brain just wants to be able to hold the fact that I’ve eaten all I desired against me from January onward and thus helping me either a) loose my mind or b) loose the baby-weight or both. Either way, yesterday I felt the urge to eat something green and because I am lazy af (read: I did not put any make-up on and thus I was not legally safe to get out of the house) I decided to use whatever we had left in the fridge to make something that will appeal to my very pregnant body and very rational brain.

I did manage to make a green dish, that turned out delicious and that could’ve been even healthier than it turned out had I not decided to use crispy bacon right at the end. Damn you D for buying the food of the Devil and leaving it at my reach! To be completely honest, I think that the salty goodness and the crispy texture of the bacon made this soup irresistible so I decided to forgive D for the error in judgement. If you too are one of those people that love a good sweet-salty combo as well as (kinda) taking care of your figure than this soup is an absolute must-try. I would like to go ahead and say right from the beginning that this is a no-brainer soup and I am not trying to prove to you that I can cook through this recipe, this is just another chapter of the ‘cravings’ series and honestly, a three year old could make this easy, fast and healthy soup.

What I found in the fridge and managed to use for this hot goodness:

600 g of fine frozen peas (the small fine ones are sweeter than the regular sized ones)
about 50 g of leftover diced bacon (if I had more I would’ve used more)
1 tsp coconut butter (any oil will do but this one brought out the sweetness of the peas)
1 pot plain yoghurt
1 white onion
2 tsp vegetable cooking base (because I did not have any vegetable in the house)

The simplicity of making something delicious:

First of all, take pics of what you are about to cook and send to your spouse to make him come home earlier from work (if that does not work, send him naughty pics).
Heat the coconut butter in the pot you will use to make your soup and add the roughly chopped onion – do not try and finely chop the onion as everything will be blended anyway.
Cook the onion until it is golden and tender and then add 4 cups of water and bring to boil.
Add the vegetable base and the peas and let everything boil for about 6-7 minutes.
Take the pot away from the stove and blend everything really well and then add the yoghurt.
After another good blend, bring everything to boil for another 3-4 minutes and that’s it.
All you have to do now is fry the bacon until it is crispy, put it on top of your soup bowl and enjoy!

This is quite a healthy dish with or without the bacon and I think it is perfect for those cold days when you just need something that will make you feel good about yourself because hey, it is green and therefore healthy but also will satisfy your not so good cravings thanks to the crispy bacon. As usual, I have provided both the portion nutritional info as well as for the whole thing thanks to MyNetDiary and the app too says that this is quite a healthy meal. D can vouch for the fact that it did taste amazing despite it being vegetable based and him being the ultimate meat-lover!

December 10, 2016

evenlymatchedLeave a comment

Sunny Afternoon

Sunny Afternoon is a very good musical we saw the last time we were in London and I must admit this has absolutely nothing to do with today’s post except for the fact that it was sunny outside and we took these pics in the afternoon. Also, I confess…I miss London! A lot! I do not know if I miss London specifically or I just miss travelling and discovering new places and great hotels – we have some catching-up to do on that department and I think our first trip will probably be at Untold Festival in August, if everything goes according to plan (breastfeeding and everything baby related).

I just somehow love the way this autumn and now the beginning of winter looked so far. We were really lucky to have sunny and stable weather for the most part but I have to admit it was cold so far. We are currently in our third (I think) week of close to 0 degrees C temps, but as long as it does not rain I do not really care that much. I have to point out the fact that I am anxiously waiting for snow, but, to be honest, snow in Bucharest is probably the worst nightmare for everyone and just to be on the safe side, I hope that we will have some snow after I give birth as I am terrified of the thought that the roads will be closed right at the exact moment I will have to deliver. So keeping my fingers crossed on that despite knowing that we will probably not get the chance to take pics if it snows after out little princess joins us.

On me:

Dress – ZARA; Boots – UGG; Bag – Michael Kors; Hat – Mango; sunglasses – WoodFellas; Bling – Swarovski and Tous; Watch – Apple

Yes, this is a fashion post and not a pregnancy-feeling/weather forecast post so let’s move along to the actual fashion bit about it. I am back to chunky sweaters, and the one I am wearing here is the sister of the one in this post here but in white. Obviously, it is from ZARA as they seem to be my favourites this autumn/winter and I just love the way it feels (no itchiness!). I honestly feel that it will look a lot better with my pre-pregnancy figure but I will just have to hold on to it until next year and shoot it again. Since it was cold af outside (like 2 degrees C) and we were on our way to the shopping centre I needed something both cozy and comfortable and therefore I opted for my UGG Maylin boots. I just love them despite being two years old and almost impossible to find online. I feel that the chunky knit works wonderfully with the furry detail especially since the colours match perfectly.

On D:

T-shirt – Scotch and Soda; Sweater – O’Neill; Jeans – Diesel; Boots – ZARA; Bling – Fossil; Watch – Apple

This time I did not go for an all-white winter look as I feel that works best with a snowy scenery, but I have an all-white outfit on stand-by. I decided to add brown accents instead, through my tights and bag. This Michael Kors bag is one of those perfectly crafted bags for people that carry lots of shit with them daily as it is big enough but not too big and it is wonderfully compartmentalised. All I really needed was a hat because my hair looked horrendous on that specific day – I swear IT feels whenever we want to take some pictures and decided to just look horrible, so a Mango hat it was! Not to forget my lovely wood sunglasses from WoodFellas that kept me from getting some wrinkles that day!

D also opted for a brownish outfit but he spiced it up a bit more with mustard shades and worn-out jeans (not destructed) and ended up looking amazing. He chose his O’Neill sweater that he got last year – so no chance of finding it online but I did link an alternative – to keep him warm and a mustard Scotch and Soda t-shirt underneath it. He perfectly matched his brown ZARA booties and a pair of classic Diesel slim jeans in a worn blue shade. I always thought these jeans work wonderfully with brown boots! Accessories-wise, we matched out watches (Apple) and he wore his brown Fossil bracelet while I wore just my Crystaldust Swarovski bracelet and my Tous ring.

I just love the light in these pics and they way they turned out. Honestly little to none editing was involved as we were blesses with a perfectly clear sky that day and great light. We did shoot in this exact same spot a couple of times before but these pics turned out the best thus far and I am really hoping that we will catch that exact moment when this place will be all white and filled with snow as a winter forest photoshoot is on my bucket list.

December 8, 2016

evenlymatchedLeave a comment

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.

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.

On me:

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

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.

December 4, 2016

evenlymatchedLeave a comment

Blair Witch Project…

So we are having a loooong weekend in Romania – like 5 days long and this means that despite having lots of time to snap photos, we are also very busy so text will be scarce until we get back to our usual routine. We do have lots to do these days like: buying Christmas presents – yes, I know it’s only the beginning of December, but at the rate my belly is growing, who knows if I’ll be able to move in the next few weeks; decorate the entire house plus the Christmas tree – we usually do this on the 24th, but this year I feel the Christmas spirit more and more each day and I can’t wait to have the whole house mimicking what I feel inside; and lots of other errands to run that we usually do every weekend plus we have to watch the Gilmore Girls like asap!

With all that on our bucket list for this long weekend, picture us trying to squeeze in some photoshoots because we do not want to miss any week of pregnancy and we have managed to take pics for every week so far. Because we have so many things to do I always have to think a bit about what I will wear especially since some of the tasks we are trying to complete this weekend require lots of standing and walking time and I have to say that is becoming more and more complicated on 10 cm heels especially when the walking and standing takes more than 4 hours (Christmas shopping!). I have come to the conclusion that no matter how well prepared you come for the present hunt (lists and everything) you still have to spend at least four hours in a shopping centre to (maybe) tick all the boxes on the list.

On me:

Dress – ZARA; Vest – H&M; Bag – Chloe; Boots – UGG; Hat – ZARA; Bling – Swarovski (ring and bracelet); Watch – Apple

This was the outfit I chose for the task of getting presents for everyone. Yes, I know this is not Christmas-y but rather on the Witch-y side, hence the post title, but it was comfy as hell and kept my body temp constant. This lovely embrodied dress is yet anther find from ZARA that D bought for me a few weeks ago – I knida’ like having him do my clothes shopping for me plus he is very efficient. I just love the reddish embroidery and the way it contrasts the black. Naturally I felt that I should not cover it with a long sleeved jacket and opted for my knitted vest from H&M which was a good thing as I wasn’t cold when I spent time outside, nor was I feeling hot inside the shopping centre. A hat was also needed as I confess that I wasn’t having a great hair day and that seemed to be the best course of action. I opted for my black ‘not that kind of girl’ felt hat from ZARA which I’m finding out to be a great investment so far as it works with most of my autumn/winter outfits.

On D:

Jeans – ZARA; T-shirt – Pull and Bear; Jacket – SuperDry; Shoes – Nike; Bling – Fossil; Watch – Apple

I decided to wear my most comfy UGG boots, the over the knee knit cardy in black that you currently can not find online – I got them a few years ago – so I just linked the classic black cardy. But seriously now, if you do find them online anywhere please leave me a link below as I’d love to get another pair, maybe in a different colour as these boots are versatile af! Since we are talking about a fully black outfit, I decided to wear my only black bag (no big surprise there) – the Chloe one! This bag is so neutral and has such a perfect shape that I literally can not find another one to please me as much and actually decide to invest in it as I just know that I’ll always come back to this one.

D also embraced the black theme of the photoshoot and opted for his ZARA black slim fit jeans and a black t-shirt from Pull and Bear as he is well aware that he needs something short sleeved for the shopping ‘championship’. But because we did have a few days of close to 0 temps (and that was one of them) he decided to keep himself warm with his lovely SuperDry leather jacket. Shoe wise he also chose something very comfortable as we are both well aware of the fact that present shopping day usually means we will reach out move-goal in no-time therefore he opted for his oldies but goodies Nike sneaks.

As for the accessorising part of the outfits the only main difference is that D finally received his Apple Watch series 2 and now we can say that all our watches are bought in pairs. Besides his new gizmo, he also wore his Fossil bracelet and that was about it as he did not really want to get tangled in accessories while shopping. I also went a bit on the down-low where bling was concerned though I did opt for a big sparkly Swarovski ring besides my usual Crystaldust bracelet besides my Apple watch. Like I said we both were practical rather than bling-y that day.

December 2, 2016

evenlymatchedLeave a comment

Dottie!!!

Recently I have started loving dresses, especially since they are a huge confidence boost for me right now as they all are non-maternity and my size (XS) and still fit me nicely. The only real issue is the fact that finding small sized maternity hosiery turns out to be harder and harder every day. Aside from the basic black – which I only found two pairs of – all the other nice autumnal colours are either size L or XL. That is the only frustrating part about shopping right now, but that too is a confidence booster as I feel that I’ve reached the eighth month of pregnancy without much damage to my figure despite the cravings and the fact that I wasn’t able to go to the gym.

Another great thing thus far about my pregnancy is the fact that I felt great throughout this period and hope this will stay the same for the remaining two (almost) months. It is rather true that recently I have been starting to really feel the fact that I am pregnant with all sorts of uncomfortable sensations mainly in my back but that is nothing like the actual pain I’ve been told/read about, more like an inconvenience so there is nothing to whine about. I have been loosing my breath more often than before and switching from one side to another during the night turns out to be more difficult than anticipated (just ask D who had the pleasure of meeting my pregnancy pillow face first one night – I swear it was not intentional), but aside from that everything has been going smoothly.

On me:

Dress – ZARA; Vest – H&M; Boots – Rachel Zoe; Bag – Chloe; Hat – ZARA; Bling – Pandora, Swarovski and Tous; Watch – Apple

So after a quick recap on how I am feeling thus far, it is time to talk a bit about the outfits we are wearing in these photos. Yes, again, I wore a pair of over the knee boots, but like I said a million times, I just love them! This time I chose my black Rachel Zoe boots because I like to keep a balanced rotation where my boots/shoes are concerned and realised that I haven’t worn them in quite a while. I paired them with a new dress from ZARA that D bought for me while I was having my hair done – yes, I did not try it on upon buying, but it is a size xs and fits me perfectly. As you know, I am trying as much as possible to buy as few maternity clothes as possible because I really want to make sure that I spend my money right and that I will be able to wear the stuff I buy for as long as possible. For example, there is absolutely no reason why I will not wear this dress over and over again after the little princess comes and I get back into my pre-pregnancy shape. Had I invested in a maternity dress I would’ve ended up with a loose, long and shapeless dress after springing back into my usual shape – so to all mamas-to-be out there, try to buy as few maternity clothes as possible.

On D:

T-shirt – G-Star Raw; Cardigan – ZARA; Jeans – ZARA; Shoes – Replay; Bling – Fossil and Tous; Watch – Longines

Since this was turning out to be yet another black and white outfit, I decided to finish it with my Chloe black bag – yes, I still haven’t bought another black bag so this will have to do for now. I also started really enjoying hats recently and therefore I just had to wear this black fluffy one from ZARA. In order to keep myself rather on the warm side (although it wasn’t a particularly cold day) I opted for my long black vest from H&M that I bought at the beginning of this autumn.

D really wanted to do more colour than me and opted for a light pink t-shirt form G-Star Raw that I can’t seem to find online despite him buying it a week ago (I’ve linked and alternative). He matched his t-shirt and my dots with his socks (Happy Socks I think) which made me very happy the moment I noticed – when I took the photos. He also wore his black ZARA jeans and a grey cardigan also from ZARA. I just love the big chunky cardigan look for men during autumn as I feel it looks infinitely better then a jacket. He finished the whole outfit with a pair of Replay sneaks that were actually a much-needed splash of colour in our photoshoot.

We both wore quite a lot of accessories… I went for my Pandora bracelet that was filled by my family and friends (I have one that was filled solely by D) and the Crystaldust bracelet from Swarovski. I also could not leave my Tous ring at home especially since I feel it works wonderfully with the Pandora bracelet. As per usual I wore my Apple watch while D wore his Longines watch. He also decided to wear both his Fossil bracelet as well as his new Tous bracelet and I have to say that I really love it when he puts this much effort into choosing his accessories.

Hopefully everything will go smoothly from now on and by this time next week I will be able to show you both the completed nursery as well as some pics from the upcoming Baby-Shower this weekend.

November 24, 2016

evenlymatchedLeave a comment

Red Wine At Dawn…

You know I am more of a ‘white wine’ kinda gal, but, to be honest, I am craving a glass good red wine like crazy – might that be an actual pregnancy craving? I have no idea, but since I can’t drink any alcohol for the time being I will have to suffice with wearing wine coloured clothes. Yes, I am aware that wearing bordeaux during the autumn is a cliché, but hey, I’m doing what I can.

As for the ‘dawn’ photos, I confess that we arrived at our location at dawn but the days the actual sunset lasts for 30 seconds and by the time we got the camera out it was night already so we had to take our first night photoshoot hence the questionable lightning. The street lights did not help us much either as most of Bucharest has this terrific yellow lightning and not much can be done about it no matter what editing programme you use. Overall I am quite happy with the way these pics turned out and that is why we decided that they are blog worthy. Fear not, as these amazing boots will have their photoshoot in the sun and you will be able to fully see the marvellous colour and texture they have.

On me:

Dress – Tom Tailor; Boots – ZARA; Poncho – H&M; Bag – Michael Kors; Bling – Swarovski (ring and bracelet); Watch – Apple

Talking about the boots…they fully comply to my current velvet-over-the-knee obsession and they come in this amazing oxblood shade. Mind you, I think these are the most gorgeous boots I have bought this season and because they are not as tall as the others (9cm heel) I will wear them to death this autumn. They are from ZARA which is really no surprise as they keep releasing new and amazing pieces each week. I am telling you, I have fallen in love with every singe item they have this season, but unfortunately I can’t go on a shopping spree, but I did get a few things in my pre-pregnancy size that fit just wonderfully the only difference being the cut – I currently need A-line or loose fitted dresses which (THANK GOD!) are both very fashionable cuts right now.

On D:

Sweater – Funky Buddha; Jeans – ZARA; Shoes – Converse x John Varvatos; Bling – Fossil and Tous; Watch – Longines

Because I love wine shades, a deep purple dress was absolutely needed because we all know where great red wines come from! This dress is yet another oldie from my closet that fits nicely over my bump and feels amazing. It is from Tom Tailor and I got it a few years ago and I must’ve worn it a hundred times at the office. While it does seem short right now, that is only due to the growing bump as it is knee length on a non-pregnant body. I finally got to wear the poncho I got early this autumn from H&M as the temps decided to be very forgiving the other day when we shot these photos (15 degrees C). Obviously, my outfit would not have been complete without my bordeaux Michael Kors tote. This is one great tote that is worth the investment as it is kind of a neutral colour and the shape and size of it allows you to carry all you need on a workday – I have been known to carry my laptop, iPad, phone, keys and all the other miscellaneous and completely useless stuff a woman carries in her bag.

Another topic I really wanted to talk about in this post is the new mens brand that recently opened a shop in Romania : Funky Buddha! They have these amazing pieces for men both fashionable and amazing quality and they are a bit under the ZARA price point, but have more punk to them. D‘s sweater is from Funky Buddha and, as you can see, the colour and the texture are great as well as the way it fits him. If you want to explore something different from ZARA and H&M give this place a try as it is really worth it! His jeans are form ZARA and they are D‘s current obsession – to be honest I do not blame him as he does look amazing in them. His shoes are Converse x John Varvatos and by the looks of it I will have to sit down and have a talk with him as he has a hundred more autumn shoes but because he is lazy he only wears the ones that are already at the door.

Bling wise I rediscovered this lovely ring form Swarovski that D got for me a few years ago and that I absolutely love. I also wore the Crystaldust bracelet and my Apple watch and called it a day. D wore both his Fossil and Tous bracelets and he decided to wear his Longines watch. So there was not much bling-ing going on this time around.

I am really hoping that these days we will have the time take a couple more pics of these gorgeous boots in the sun, but it would appear that we do have to get a move on that as the temps will probably drop really fast and I have a feeling that the sun will be a very rare gem on the Bucharest sky. If you are bored by the whole velvet/ over-the-knee obsession that I have, you will have to start checking our posts out in about a few weeks as that’s probably when the Ugg obsession will start, until then, it’s all bout the over-the knee boots!

November 20, 2016

evenlymatched1 Comment

Blue Velvet!!!

Well this is becoming a repetitive post this autumn… D already sees a pattern: it’s either over the knee boots or UGGs, but what can I do? I just love them both and I am trying to take advantage of the still ‘not snow-y’ weather and wear velvet over the knee boots as often as possible. Truth be told, they are very comfortable with their chunky heel and I feel like I need a bit of hight these days just to balance to my proportions (read: big, big belly). And, did I mention how much I simply adore velvet??? I think I did a couple of times, but I can’t help myself, I am over-the-top happy that this amazing fabric is trendy again.

Another repetitive item is the chunky knit sweater/dress and that has nothing to do with my belly – though it helps to minimise it – as I enjoyed wearing chunky knits even before being pregnant. It’s just something that looks so amazing in the cold-weather-big-knits combo don’t you agree? Obviously, the best combo for short knitted items is those amazing long boots with a heel to match thus making your legs seem supermodel-long. I do have to confess that as autumn progresses and the temps keep lowering it is harder and harder to wear only a sweater and long boots and I will have to get creative with my coats, or at least the ones that still cover my belly, as despite the heat-waves that pregnant women get, let’s be honest, we had a few days of one digit temps and it was COLD!

On me:

Knit – ZARA; Boots – Public Desire; Bag – Michael Kors; Bling – Swarovski (ring and bracelet); Watch – Apple

No, this is not D‘s sweater that I am wearing – I still fit into my own clothes, thank you very much! This is a size S (the smallest size) oversized sweater that I got from ZARA a few weeks back and that is currently sold out, but they do have lots of similar items online. Really, I just love this deep blue and what better match for it than my velvet Public Desire Annie boots? Yes, we are a bit blue in this post, but we are loving it, plus it’s a nice change from our usual black and grey. Obviously, since I could not ruin the whole-blue theme I opted for my navy Michael Kors mini Hamilton bag and an old-school velvet blue hair scrunchie (yes, I was amazed to find it in my 90s accessories box).

On D:

Sweater – Massimo Dutti; Jeans – Tommy Hilfiger; Shoes – Condor; Bling – Tous; Watch – Longines

D just wore his office outfit as he came home late (someone has to earn the $$$ in this household), but luckily we matched in the colour theme department. Plus, I strongly feel that he is always better dressed for the office than for our photoshoots. I’m annoyed that you can not see the lovely Massimo Dutti shirt he had underneath his sweater, but it was way to cold to even attempt at trying to convince him to get the sweater off for a few shots… Maybe next time… Anyway, his lovely blue sweater is also from Massimo Dutti (despite it being from this autumn, you can only find an alternative online) and his jeans are a classic slim fit dark blue pair from Tommy Hilfiger. His shoes are custom made by Condor Shoes and that is a great place to get your office-shoes from as they are affordable, great quality and you can make them in hundreds of leather combos.

Since we were really trying to catch the last minutes of light, we did not bother much with accessorising our outfits. I do however want to thank the gene-goddess as I am two moths and a week away from giving birth and all my rings still fit – keeping my fingers crossed to be able to wear them for Christmas and New Years. So, I opted for my Crystaldust bracelet and Nirvana ring both from Swarovski, while D wore his new gift from your truly – the black leather bracelet from Tous – told you they are my new favourite jewellery brand! I, as per usual, wore my Apple Watch while D payed more attention to details and wore his lovely Longines Hydroconquest watch (also from yours truly).

Despite the blue ensemble, we are still expecting a baby girl, but that has nothing to do with our choice of clothes. As a matter of fact, I must confess that we haven’t yet bought one single pink thing for our little bundle of joy and by the way she kicks and moves all day long, she will probably prefer less-feminine colours. I am really excited to show you all the stuff we chose for her, but I want to show you the complete nursery first and thus far the furniture hasn’t arrived. Keeping our fingers crossed that we will have it by next week when we will have a small baby-shower.