Milano

Goodbye 2016…

This was a full year for us… A very good one, but a very full one. I know that most people view 2016 as a bad year because of all the atrocities that happened all around the world and all the amazing people we lost, but I honestly think that it is more a matter of how we view everything surrounding us. Bad things happen all the time, people kill other people for the most ridiculous reasons all the time and this is happening ever since we have decided that we are the supreme species on this planet. The only difference right now is that fact that it is way easier to come into contact with news, information on what is happening in the world than it was before. Also, unfortunately, death is a natural thing and people should understand that is part of the cycle of life. We all lost loved ones throughout the years, and yes, a lot of great people passed this year, but maybe that is only due to the fact that we all knew those great people tanks to the fact that information started circulating easier from one point in history onward, and, honestly, we should be grateful that we all got to know and admire those great people that passed in 2016. People, famous people, died in 2015 as well, but maybe they were not as famous as the ones that passed in 2016. Do not get me wrong, I was saddened by each and every obituary that I read this year, but I was just as saddened by the innocent unknown people that died this year due to politics or religion just as I was also heartbroken about the close people that I lost this year. Again, death is a natural part of life and we should all accept it and stop blaming 2016 for all the people that we lost. I just needed to get this out there as I am so sick and tired of everyone just whining about 2016.

Moving along… 2016 was a good year for us. Most of last years resolutions were achieved and the ones that we did not achieve will probably be on the 2017 list and there is nothing wrong with that. At the beginning of every year, there is one thing that I always wish for just as the clock strikes midnight: that no matter what, everything will be ok in the end! This is my one constant wish for the new year ever since I can remember and by the time the year finishes it always is because you know what, this is what evolving is all about: learning from every experience and making sure that we do not make the same mistakes again! Eventually everything turns out to be ok in the end.

That said, I am not going to be a hypocrite and not acknowledge that this year was a very good one for the two of us despite what happened throughout the world. We got to safely travel (London, Madrid, Milano, Paris) quite a lot, we got to finally start this blog and most important of it all we managed to have a bundle of joy on the way. All of these things were on our list last year and we managed to tick all of them thus making us very happy. We also managed to evolve as a couple and right now I feel closer to D than ever and happier and I finally understood what evolving in a relationship means. This, on the long term means the most to me as I feel that we will be a very good team in raising our daughter which gives me a sense of peace and calm inside that I so need right now, this close to the delivery date.

Like I said, this was an amazing year for us and I am sure that 2017 will be a great one as well. The featured image of this post is a collage of the best 9 pics (most liked) on my Instagram, but it does not depict my favourite moments of 2016 therefore I felt the need to show a few of my favourite moments from this year at the end of the post. As you have probably guessed it, the next post will be about our 2017 resolutions!

we started evenlymatched.eu on the 19th of March 2016

London

Madrid – where our bundle of joy was conceived

my new ink

D turned 32

28th of May – the day we found out about our bundle of joy

31st of May – our Wedding Anniversary

Milan

13th of July – Celebrating 7 years together and 3 years of marriage

Paris

First Pic

UNTOLD Festival

Her little angel face at 22 weeks

D‘s new finished half sleeve

32 weeks pregnant – Baby Shower – 27th of November

the nursery

Enchanted Forest Christmas Tree

Our 2016 Christmas Family Card!

December 31, 2016December 31, 2016

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The first three months…

As you’ve probably noticed our posts tend to be in sets of threes lately and that is purely coincidental with the fact that soon there will be three of us posting here. No, in fact it has nothing to do with that and everything to do with the fact that we have been gone a lot lately, our house is a mess as we are doing a bit of redecorating/ baby-proofing and my constant tiredness. Taking each of these into consideration you’ll have to excuse my lack of daily posts and I promise that as soon as I can I will be back on track.

Back on the topic of today’s post subject: the first trimester of pregnancy. This is solely my experience and so far I have come to the conclusion that everyone experiments this time totally different, but here it goes… For the first five weeks we were’t even been aware of the miracle that started to form inside me, no sickness, not much actually, except for a feeling of constant lack of energy which, beside a few painful episodes and my period being late, have convinced us that it was time for a medical check -up. You’ve read all about the very emotional news we got at the doctors’ in this post here, so I will just skip the first five weeks altogether as I feel that most women do not really acknowledge the pregnancy until later on.

For me, the first three months have been bliss, especially if I compare my experience with some other women’s first trimester. I did not get any sickness at all, morning or otherwise so that helped me function a bit better throughout the whole period. I did however experience episodes of extreme sleepiness to the point that I wasn’t able to drive anywhere. As a matter of fact, this has only changed well into my forth month, but it did get better in time. Nor did I experience any weird cravings, but I did feel the need to eat a bit more (bout 300-400 kcals extra), but luckily, I mostly craved vegetables and fruits. I’ve noticed that meat, in any form makes me sick, and I do not mean sick as in throw up, but sick as in it did not feel right for my digestive system (but I suffer from this for a few years now – so no surprise there). Therefore, if you ask me, my weight gain has been constant and I have gained 1 kg per month and it still goes at that rate right now.

I was very aware of the fact that the first trimester is full of risks so I did try and not overdo it, but despite that, sometime in my 9th week I experienced a bit of bleeding and this is where I think that all future moms should be very careful! When I looked it up online, dr. Google kept telling me that it was normal, but when I called my doctor he immediately gave me hormones and it’s good that he did as a week later, at the ultrasound we discovered a small hematoma near the baby that healed nicely thanks to the hormones, but if not treated properly, it could’ve cause us to loose the pregnancy! So there you have it: my relationship with dr. Google is finished forever! All future moms should stay clear of looking for medical stuff online! I took the nasty hormones for almost two weeks and I have to say that that was the period when I actually felt the worst, not physically, but emotionally. Those hormones made me feel horrible, either having a rage attack (luckily most of the times I was by myself) or being emotional af (which really sucked BIG!). Once I was done with them, my old self started to resurface and I was yet again being the happiest person alive!

Another annoying first trimester symptom was the constant bloating and feeling full. This is super uncomfortable because you feel and look like you are in your fifth month when in fact you barely past your second, and you have this constant feeling that it is because of all the food you are eating, when, in fact, there is not much extra food you are actually eating during this time. Also, because of the horrible bloat, not many clothes fit or look right and that tends to be a big blow to the morale of a pregnant woman that already is hormonal and emotional most of the time. I was very lucky because of my entire work arrangement. I have no idea if I’ve told you by now, but I work with and for my parents which left room to a big advantage right when I needed it most: I got to stay at home from the second month because of the fact that I was longer able to drive to work thanks to the constant sleepiness. This was a great gift especially during the bloated days, and no, I did not get bored at home, I loved every minute of sleeping during the day! Hey, I’m an only child, I never get bored of myself!

Despite me feeling amazing on the inside, my exterior looks had take an beating! I mean, maybe there is such a thing as a pregnancy glow, but all I got were greasy patches on my face, quite a few pimples that made me change my beauty routine and my thighs have become the paradise of cellulite. These are all symptoms of the hormonal changes happening in my body and can be reversed for the most part once I am ok after giving birth. I call all these changes the living proof that something amazing is happening inside my belly and I try as much as I can to either ignore them (I have become rather good at it) or embrace them. My beauty routine has switched from SEPHORA to the Pharmacy (more details in a Pregnancy Beauty post) and as for my cellulite, I try as good as I can to hide it either with clothes, a big SMILE (it takes everyone’s attention off it) or with the perfect non-toxic self tan from Vita Liberata (review here). To be honest, the best recipe is the self tanner!

The thing that most definitely contributed to my cellulite reserves, besides the hormones, is the fact that my doctor forbade me to go to the gym for the entire period of the pregnancy. He did allow me to go swimming, but since I am afraid of the water, all I am really doing, exercise wise, is to take a few long walks per week and right now to go through all my clothes and shoes in order to re-arrange the dressing room – the first steps to overhauling our house. This was a blow at the beginning, but since it is for my own good, I embraced it and I will use this as motivation for my post-baby body. All in all, I do understand where my doctor is coming from and I will never take any chances where my pregnancy is concerned. Aside from that, there is nothing that he forbade me to do, so I guess I am very lucky so far.

I did have a lot of medical investigations to make in the first trimester, most of them were blood investigations, and I did manage to pass them nicely. The first morphologic ultrasound was very good, and as a matter of fact the baby is a few days ahead than what we thought, possibly due to the fact that I have been relaxing and taking good care of my diet. We did travel a lot during the first trimester (Madrid – even though we were not aware at the time, Milan, Paris, Cluj, to the seaside a couple of times), and no, there were no problems because of that, as a matter of fact it feels nice to know that our bundle of joy was with us everywhere and that there were no incidents during or after the time. In fact, I think that the baby actually enjoyed all these short trips!

All in all, I can honestly say that this is the best period of my life! Do not get me wrong, 90% of the blame is on D as he has been the most amazing and perfect father-to-be! I seriously couldn’t have asked for a better husband and partner during this time. I am convinced that the fact that I have been feeling so great during this time is thanks to him and all his efforts! He understands me like no other, he doesn’t let me do anything in the house, all he lets me lift is a small bottle of water, he is there no matter what I need. This is really important during this period as thanks to him my spirits have been sky high!

We decided not to have one of those growing belly photoshoots that tracks how huge I am getting every month, but we do try and take as many pictures of ourselves throughout this period as I think that both of us will suffer some physical changes for the better. I will soon post a slideshow of photos from the first trimester to let you see how we have evolved during the time.

August 21, 2016August 21, 2016

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The Square

Finally our last post from Milan and I really do hope that we haven’t missed any details. This one is all about the lovely place we stayed in. And come to think of it, lovely is a very understated word to describe the beauty, perfect location and great service this place had to offer throughout our four night stay in Milan. The place I am talking about is called The Square and it’s located right near the Dome area – 5 minute walk.

You know by now that I love hotel rooms and that is very much an important part of any good vacation, and D was the one that chose this amazing place knowing right from the start that I will love it. And I did! A lot! Now I’m not going to go all the way and say that it was more beautiful than the one we stayed in Madrid, but this came close enough and this one is one of those hotels that I would love to come back for another few nights. Being one of those hotel fanatics, you know that this is very hard for me to say that as I always like to see new and exciting hotels.

This one offered a buffet breakfast with everything you needed for a healthy and nutritious first meal of the day. The only part where it lacked were the egg varieties, only offering hard boiled eggs and scrambled eggs. I love those places where you have a whole egg counter and you get to choose what type of eggs you’d like. Other than that, it didn’t lack anything where breakfast is concerned, on the contrary, this is the first place where the bread rolls were hot every single morning. Who doesn’t love warm bread? I could’ve moved near the bread basket. They also supplied a very complete and well served breakfast in bed service, that we never miss wherever we go as that’s part of the whole judging process.

On our third night there, because my feet were killing as that was the day we decided to go shopping, and for some reason shopping is always the one activity that gets me in all sorts of pain (muscle, as well as money pain), we decided to try their 10th floor terrace – La Terazza Dei Cavaleri. This little gourmet terrace has a very nice view over Milan and, to be honest, the food was way better than we had expected. We rarely ever eat dinner at the hotel we stay in mainly because we always imagine that most of the food consists of leftovers form the breakfast buffet – actually is the other way around, but, let’s move along… We will never do that mistake again, as the food here is, dare I say, gourmet, actually, and we both left the terrace very satisfied and happy with our choice.

As you can see from the photos, the place looked amazing, and being on top of Milano really tends to keep the mosquitos at bay, which made up for a lovely dinner. We had the cold cuts plate as an appetiser, which, as we expected had some sort of special prosciutto crudo and to our surprise, it also contained two bread rolls (warm, obviously!) with a sort of pistachio butter that was absolutely amazing. For the main course, I chose the vegetarian rainbow risotto which was made to perfection by the cook, and D chose the bacon wrapped beef with home made potato chips that he described as very, very good. Naturally the night wouldn’t have been complete without dessert. I had the Panna Cotta and D had some sort of Mediterranean Citrus Parfait with fruits and they were both delicious. The entire check was a bit over 60 Euros but we did get to enjoy Milan from the 10th floor, the food was exceptional and we only had to take an elevator a few floors down to our room, so no more effort on our feet.

Staying and eating at this amazing hotel definitely bettered our vacation and made us want to come back to Milan as soon as possible. Maybe next year for Fashion Week? Keeping my fingers crossed!!! I hope you have enjoyed our roaming posts through our Milan getaway, and stay in touch as more abroad adventures are soon to come.

July 10, 2016

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Until next time…

This is the last fashion moment we had in Milan, but fear not, this is not the last post from this wonderful city as we still have a lot to tell you about the hotel we stayed at. On this last day, D decided to surprise me with these lovely and much coveted pair of Dior ‘So Real’ sunglasses that I’ve wanted to get for almost a year now. True, I have been splurging on shoes in this last year, and one might argue that if I wanted them so much I should’ve just bought them, but where shoes are concerned, I really wanted/needed a few more pairs to have all the must-haves for any real shoe lover – will do a post on that as my collection is complete…for now. Another reason why I didn’t splurge on these gorgeous sunglasses is the fact that until this years’ collection, none of the colour combos really satisfied my taste fully and I wasn’t keen on paying 150 Euros just to get them customised.

Since the designated shopping day had passed and I already had my splurge (Valentino Starstuds) for this vacation, I was sure that these beauties would have to wait a while longer until I got them into my possession. But no! My amazing husband decided to surprise me with them! And what woman doesn’t love these kind of surprises? Especially when they come from their loved one? I was so in love with my new gift that I was determined to wear them despite any weather that might come my way that day! I simply did not want to get them off! Luckily for me, the weather was lovely, as it was throughout our entire stay in Milan and we could visit their biggest park – Sempione Park and snap some photos over there.

On me:

Dress – MANGO; Shoes – Bata; Bag – Obag; Shades – Dior; Bling – Tomorrowland, Pandora, Swarovski and Constantin Nautics; Watch – Daniel Wellington

We did move away from the whole hippie theme on that day, but both of us wore clothes entirely from Mango. Told you the last time that we are having a Mango moment. This time we went darker than all the other days spent here. I opted for an off-the-shoulder flowy dress, in a rich and dark shade of blue that looks black in all of the pics and decided to combine it with wedge brown sandals from Bata that are nowhere to be fond online, so I guess this will be the first time that I won’t actually link something I wore with anything because I haven’t been able to find a worthy alternative either. My bag is newly bought from OBag and is totally customisable, and as for the accessories, you know them too well by now: Tomorrowland, Pandora and Swarovski rings, combined with a Constantin Nautics bracelet. Obviously, the sunglasses are from Dior and I never want to take them off.

On D:

Shorts – MANGO; T-shirt – MANGO; Shoes – H&M; Bling – Fossil and Constantin Nautics; Watch – Daniel Wellington

D also went for a darker ensemble that he entirely bought during this vacation from Mango. He paired a pineapple print t-shirt with light blue shorts and striped ancient H&M espadrilles. Being the lovely husband that he is, he matched the nato strap I chose for my Daniel Wellington perfectly. Aside from that, he wore his Fossil and Constantin Nautics bracelets. Our darker choice of items totally mirrored our mood that always seems to get darker at the end of any wonderful vacation we have together. We are however very anxious to get back to our lovely little dog back home as she always brightens up our mood after any trip.

As promised, we still have to tell you about the lovely hotel we stayed in and its lovely gourmet 10th floor terrace. More on that in tomorrow’s last post from Milan.

July 9, 2016

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Pizza Battle…

Well, we had to get down to this point in our trip: finding the best pizza in Milan. Obviously, to be able to do that, D had done his research with a local guy and he showed him the absolute best pizza restaurants in town. Since there were two of them, we had to compare them in one post and give you the results of our ‘masterful’ judging. The two amazing pizza places I am talking about are called: Donati and Da Ciro. You can find both of them on TripAdvisor as being in the top 5 pizza places, but since we only had two pizza dinners we had to choose two of them and after serious counselling with D‘s local friend we concluded that these two are the best to try out.

Da Ciro

This was the place we had dinner after the beauty infused long day at the Alfa Romeo Museum. It goes without saying that after such a long day, lunch or not, we were starving by 7:30 when this place opens. Yes, by the way, lots of the restaurants only open for dinner after 7:30, which was a big adjustment for us, as we tend to usually eat by 7:00 p.m. We did however were completely mesmerised by this place as it’s interior decoration was in that pure classic Italian old-school way and it really gets you into the mood for a Birra Moretti and some amazing pizza.

And the pizza doesn’t disappoint! Not one bit! It’s full of lovely first quality ingredients and it is baked to perfection on their wood oven. Naturally, I couldn’t help myself and even though I was full of that Godly pizza, I still wanted some dessert, mainly because that is my way of testing a restaurant all the way. I mean, main courses and generally any savoury dish isn’t that hard to do, but when it comes to dessert, the cook needs real skills in order for it to be perfect. I was very, very happy with that choice as the desserts were amazing. I had the Napoletan Cannoli and D had some sort of lemon pie. Naturally we shared the dessert and I have to say I was a bit disappointed by the lemon pie, but I was in total awe of the Cannoli. This was the first time I had tasted the perfect Cannoli. This is such an amazing dessert that really requires skill as the cream in this one was absolutely bliss, as opposed to other restaurants in which I’ve tried it.

All in all, we were both very satisfied with our dinner, and if some of you follow me on Instagram as well, you would’ve seen that I crowned Da Ciro‘s pizza as being the best on the nigh we ate there. The check was about 50 Euros which is more than decent considering the fact that we both ate a pizza each plus desserts plus drinks. That is a fair price for a dinner all over Milan.

Donati

We had dinner here on our last night in Milan and I was so happy to end our trip with such a lovely dinner and walk afterwards. This pizza place is located in the new developed area of Milan that I was telling you about in our first Milan post, so you can walk off your dinner in a very lovely manner. This is yet another place that is in it for the win of Milan’s best pizza. The interior design here was not as impressive as Da Ciro, but this one did have a terrace, packed full with all sorts of gizmos to keep mosquitos away, so in no way did we notice the interior design until we had to use the toilet. I’m not saying that this one is uglier, but all I’m saying is that they did miss some parts of the whole classic Italian pizza joint. They do however have some nice old school decorative pieces inside that look to be in pristine condition.

This place is a family affair and you can be waited by the owner, which gives you a nice and familiar feeling while there. Obviously, since this was a pizza battle, we both ordered pizzas and even though we did have to wait a bit – about 15 minutes – it was well worth it!. The moment my pizza came, just by looking at it I knew that this is going to make my decision a very hard one. I mean, couldn’t the pizza here be horrible just to make both of our jobs easier? Apparently not, as Italians to love their pizza!

Everything about this pizza was perfection! But I was determined to fully judge this restaurant as well so, since they didn’t have Cannoli (lost some points there), a Creme Brulee had to suffice as dessert. Thinking that this dessert will help me decide more accurately (I was expecting to be disappointed, I mean, this is a French dessert), but it didn’t as it was superbly made! Just like my mom does it! 50 Euros later we left the place without having a clue which one of the two restaurants is better, but we were convinced we will get to the bottom of this.

Conclusions

Back home, we really had an serious and important talk about these two restaurant – yes, most of our serious talk are either about food or wine – and we decided our winner. Since pricing and service couldn’t be a deciding point – both were impeccable – we had to go at it the old fashioned way: the food. Here’s what we came up with:

Da Ciro is the best if you want to have a full Italian experience : decor, dessert and pizza.

But…

Donati is the best if you actually want to taste the most perfect pizza in the world!

I’d say it’s a tie, but not quite! Either way, both places are great to eat while in Milan. The best thing we learned from this carb infused experience is that pizza is really easy to make and hard to screw up, but the difference with the pizza anywhere else in the world and the one from Italy is the quality of the mozzarella cheese, the amazing taste of the prosciutto and the masterful way in which the base is made. We always eat pizza wherever we are and none of the pizzas we’ve tried tasted quite as good as these two pizzas in Milan (not even the one from Rome).

July 8, 2016

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Mustard Everywhere!

Naturally, we couldn’t not have a photoshoot right in from of the Dome, I mean, we are tourists after all, and we were lucky enough to stumble upon the said area in a moment where there weren’t as many tourists as usual. To keep the earthy, natural, semi hippie mood of the vacation, we both chose mustard as a colour theme for our third day in Milan. We did, however mix it with browns and ended up with a pretty nice combo, if I might add.

Since asking for ketchup is a total insult anywhere in Italy, while packing, I thought I’d stay clear of any red items that I might have, therefore ending up with a mustard theme. True, this isn’t exactly a hippie outfit, but it is way more casual than anything I usually wear, especially since, yes, this is my second pair of culotte pants and this time, because we were on vacation, I avoided the high heel combo. Partly, I do regret that, looking at the photos, as everything that I managed to avoid when I wore the raspberry culottes last time (short and bulky me), I couldn’t avoid this time thanks to my catalan sandals. But the reality of the matter is, that this look, though not the best one I’ve sported lately, was one of the most comfortable worn in Milan. The advantages of being matched with D to the letter is that people tended to focus not on me on the street but on both of us, which kinda made me feel that they were’t seeing how short I was.

On me:

Pants – MANGO, Top – MANGO, Shoes – Avarca (similar to mine); Bag – from Barcelona (something similar from Mango here); Bling – Pandora, Tomorrowland, Swarovski and Constantin Nautics; Shades – Gucci; Watch – Daniel Wellington

On D:

Shorts – H&M; T-shirt – Lacoste; Shoes – MANGO; Bling – Fossil and Constantin Nautics; Watch – Daniel Wellington

Yes, this is yet again a full Mango look, except for the shoes and bag. It’s not my fault that I can’t really pace myself during their 70% sale, and that I always leave the store with loads of stuff – point at hand, a full vacation worth of clothes. Unfortunately, these culottes were not on sale, but who can resists this lovely shade of mustard, especially as they do tick the other musts for culottes in my book: high waist and knee length. I do confess that I have ironed them before packing but apparently I am not as good at ironing as I’d like to think, this being the reason why only very few items that need ironing are allowed into my wardrobe. The flowy top is also from Mango and this one ticks a lot of trends right now – ruffles and off-the-shoulders, and it was very, very cheap, so this was one of those irresistible buys. Getting home with all of my spoils from Mango, I realised that both the pants and the blouse perfectly match my catalan sandals and my cross-body bag that I got from Barcelona, so this immediately turned into a look for Milan. I just added a Constantin Nautics bracelet and my Tomorrowland, Pandora and Swarovski rings and I was all set!

Naturally, D had to oblige and go for a mustard theme as well. Luckily, when packing, we both spotted his Lacoste polo that is the exact shade as my pants, and from there on it was easy, We just added a pair of H&M beige shorts and the only thing left was to find the right pair of shoes. Though we did leave Bucharest with a pair of spare brown shoes, these mustard espadrilles just found us in Milan at Mango. Apparently, we both have a thing for Mango right now. All he had to do was add his Fossil and Constantin Nautics bracelet, and we both had to find matching nato straps for our Daniel Wellington watches and we were in a full mustard colour scheme, ready to take on Milan for a full day of shopping. And boy did we shop like crazy people in Milan!

July 6, 2016

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The History of Beauty…

I honestly think that this was the highlight of Milan for both of us. I mean, yes, they have lovely streets with amazing architectural landmarks, amazing shops and wonderful food, but when it comes to cars, nobody does them better than the Italians. True, I do think that FIAT are flops, but then again, the 500 is an iconic car for Italy so I’m just going to also put FIAT up there with the most amazing car manufacturers in the world by default. But this is not about FIAT, not by far, this post is, as one might say, about us visiting the museum (!!!) of beauty.

As you know by now, we are not the types of tourists to actually go to museums. No, stadiums and car museums are out type of landmarks. Naturally, this was D’s surprise for me in Milan, and boy, was I surprised… I do love cars, but for some reason, I can never look away from an Italian car. They are pure beauty from every angle you look at them. I left the Alfa Romeo Historical Museum more convinced of that than ever. I even totally forgot what a pain it was to reach it, as apparently the Italian value the public transportation as much as us Romanians do and we did have to take the metro for about 40 minutes, the bus for another 20 minutes and walk for about one hour through an area that has absolutely no sidewalk, so this really proves how much of a fan I really am. Moving past the inconvenience of actually getting there, this was one of the greatest museums we’ve ever visited so far! It really harboured all the Alfa Romeo cars that they had throughout the years and they are all in pristine condition.

I am not going to bore you with all the historical data we both learned while visiting this mecca for car lovers, as you can find all that info on wikipedia, but I will tell you that if you’re ever in the area, this is one place that shouldn’t be missed, car lover or not. The entry fee was 12 Euros each which is, in my opinion too low, if you compare it with other museums out there, especially if you take into consideration that at the end of the tour you get to experiment a 4D short movie of the best known Alfas. They do have a nice cafe where you can have a small lunch, just to make sure that you do not leave the place on an empty stomach (I suspect that they are aware of the long road that awaits you once you leave), and right at the end of the tour, you reach the Alfa Romeo car dealership, where all the latest models are exposed. I really had a melancholic moment while looking at the exposed Mito.

The whole tour took us about two and a half hours and, to be honest, I think that I’ll always enjoy these types of places instead of any Louboutin showroom, mainly because it’s about the same amount of beauty everywhere and my bank account is way safer here that in any place that harbours shoes.

July 5, 2016July 5, 2016

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Rompers and Cargos!!!

Here we are at our 100 blog post! I guess we can call this one a celebratory post and maybe it would’ve been nice to have a sort of recap of all the other posts, but truth be told, I didn’t really want to postpone the Milan saga, especially since yesterday I had absolutely no time to do a decent post. These photos were take on our second day in Milan, when D decided to surprise me and take me to the Alfa Romeo Historical Museum (more on that in a different post tomorrow). Anyone that knows me, is aware of the fact that I love, love,love cars and that my first car was an Alfa Romeo Mito. I loved that car so much and parting with it was one of the hardest things I had to do, but I know now that it is loved and happily used by yet another car lover.

Back on point… Since this was a motor orientated day, I decided to wear a romper and urged D to follow my lead colour wise, hence the whole army look we both rocked that day. Usually, I hate rompers, because, as any woman knows, going to the toilet in a romper is hard work. But that day I wasn’t worried about that at all, mainly because I knew that wherever we would go I would find decent clean toilets, therefore making this task easy and comfortable. As you know, being away, I rarely ever bring lots of bags, but rather I bring along one or two that go with most of my outfits.

On me:

Romper – MANGO; Bag – MANGO; Shoes – MTNG; Sunglasses – Gucci; Bling – Swarovski, Pandora and Tomorrowland rings and Constantin Nautics bracelet; Watch – Daniel Wellington

So, moving along to the details of my outfit. Yet again I am rocking a Mango look, both the romper and the bag costing a total of 30 Euros thanks to Mango’s amazing discounts. This bag is so very versatile, as you saw in the previous fashion post, it worked great with my totally hippie dress and works just a great with this utility inspired jumpsuit. Because apparently the outskirts of Milan (where the museum was located) are very much like the outskirts of Bucharest, meaning that if you are a pedestrian you are going to have a hard time – more on that tomorrow- I knew I had to wear the most comfortable shoes I had bought along, leaving me no choice in that department than to go with the MTNG sneaks I got from Madrid. Luckily (well, not luck, but a lot of planning) for me they worked perfectly with the colour theme of the day. Aside from the clothes, the main accessories consisted of my Gucci sunglasses, Pandora, Tomorrowland and Swarovski rings and a Constantin Nautics bracelet.

On D:

Shorts – Scotch and Soda; T-shirt – Tommy Hilfiger; Shoes – Pull and Bear; Bling – Fossil and Constantin Nautics; Watch – Daniel Wellington

Obviously, to match the theme imposed, D chose to wear as much camouflage as he had in his luggage. He did go a bit rogue when he decided to match it with light greyish blue. To move along to the specifics, he wore his Scotch and Soda shorts (yes, they are not from H&M) and his Tommy Hilfiger t-shirt. To match and also to get away with his t-shirt choice, he wore his ancient Pull and Bear espadrilles and, to be honest, I was surprised at how well they matched. Aside from that, he only wore his Constantin Nautics bracelet and obviously the Fossil brown leather bracelet that I got him from London this March. We both wore our Daniel Wellington watches with matching nato straps.

All in all, wearing an utility colour made us feel like we belonged in the Alfa Romeo factory and we were quite comfortable throughout the day especially thanks to our very comfortable shoe choices!

July 4, 2016

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JOIA

While I was selecting these pics I started being more and more torn about what this post should look like. At first i wasn’t sure if any text was actually needed in order to understand this amazing culinary experience we’ve had in Milan or not. The more I think about it, the more I realise that this was definitely the best gourmet experience we’ve ever had.

After much pondering, I decided to write a bit of text about the place… JOIA… First of all I’d like to mention the fact that neither of us is a vegetarian. I consider myself more of a rebel vegetarian, meaning that in any given situation I prefer veggies and cheese, but from time to time I do enjoy a high quality piece of duck breast or a Black Angus low-fat piece of beef fillet. To be honest, I never really enjoyed meat, but (and this is the point where all the declared vegetarians/vegans will stop reading this blog) I do understand and respect the human body’s need for a varied and balanced diet, be that with animal protein in it. D however is right at the other end of the spectrum and can’t really imagine a good meal without meat in it. I mean he simply can’t understand any type of dish that doesn’t contain meat. Basically, the way he puts it sound a bit like this: if it doesn’t have any meat in it, it’s either a side or a salad, none of which is enough for an actual decent meal.

So, despite the fact that neither of us is a declared vegetarian, we decided to splurge on our first dinner at a Michelin recognised vegetarian restaurant. Obviously, D was convinced going in that he will stop on the way back to the hotel and eat a burger or something. I, on the other hand was very excited and curious to actually see what gourmet (I mean real gourmet) vegetarian cuisine meant and was sure that we both will leave the place with our bellies full. I have to admit though that I was a bit nervous about spending half a pair of Loubs on a dinner that might actually not be as good as expected. Make no mistake, we are by no means experts in gourmet cuisine and I personally have quite a long list of ingredients that I can’t stand. The 15 course tasting menu (Zenith) gives you basically no details about the ingredients and if you actually want to know some details (not all) about each dish, you have to look them up in the menu. Obviously none of us were in the mood to look for 15 partly explained dishes, so we just took the plunge.

The Amouse-Bouche

The Appetisers

From the first step we took inside the restaurant we realised that our first evening in Milan will be one to remember. The decor is not overwhelming nor too elegant and this restaurant actually make you feel very comfortable despite any casual attire you might be wearing. This, to me is very important because I never carry any formalwear while on vacation, mainly out of principle, I mean, I am on vacation! The nice thing that actually surprised us first thing is the fact that the chef actually comes out to take your order and answer any questions you might have about the menu or any allergy concerns. This is very important, as most of the time, chefs do tend to keep their ingredients a secret and the waiters tend to be useless when it comes to this.

The Soup

The two First Courses

As stated, We both chose the Zenith menu, that contains 15 different courses, mainly to make sure that D will leave the place full and satisfied. Aside from those 15 courses, we both receives one amouse-bouche course that we both found amazing, and an extra-dessert, that brought the total meal count to 17. Now I’m not going to start detailing each and every course because, to be honest, I can’t remember the explanation we got to any of them, but I can tell you that as they came, each and every one of them became our new favourite and by the end, we had no idea which one was the best. Obviously, after 17 courses, not even D could complain about being hungry, quite the contrary, we both could barely move because of how full we were. To my surprise, D loved the entire experience and is actually considering trying some other vegetarian restaurants as now he knows that vegetarians can have their bellies full and satisfied. The Zenith menu consists of 4 appetisers, 1 soup, 2 first courses, all the 4 main courses, a dessert that is not on the menu (Italian Summer) and 3 different desserts that you can actually find on the menu.

The four Main Courses

The four Desserts

The extra Dessert

At the end of our dinner, the entire check came at about 250 Euros, which, yes, is very expensive, but you do have to take into consideration that this is a Michelin recognised restaurant that offers amazing quality dishes and one of the best services we’ve ever experienced in a restaurant. All in all, at least once in a lifetime, it really makes sense to spurge on a dinner like this one. And definitely, if you ever find yourself in Milan this is the place to dine, vegetarian or not!

July 2, 2016

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Hippie Hippie Shake in Milan!!!

This is the first of many (four) outfit posts that we shot in Milan. For this short trip, my choice of colours was very earthy which is very unnatural to me. For some reason they started appealing to me right before I started packing and there you have it, the whole trip (well, most of it) we were both kinda hippy, kinda earthy. It’s a good thing that I chose mostly loose clothes as the weather in Milan was very hot, somewhat like Bucharest these days but with a much lower humidity, making it more pleasant to breathe in there.

I’ve decided that these outfit posts are going to come in the order they occurred during this long weekend, therefore this was the first fashion moment from the very day we arrived there. We only got to shoot near out hotel and a bit at the Dome area because we only had a few hours of natural daylight and we did have a reservation to one of the best restaurants in Milan (Michelin stars and everything) and we just couldn’t be late. Yes, to answer your question, they let us into the restaurant dressed like that, so there wasn’t any imposed attire upon entry, but you do need to make a reservation in advance, at least a week before. Enough about that, as tomorrow’s post will be on that delicious start to our fattening process in Milan.

On me:

Dress – MANGO; Sandals – Gioseppo; Bag – MANGO; Bling – Tomorrowland, Pandora, Swarovski and Constantin Nautics; Shades – Gucci; Watch – Daniel Wellington

Back to the fashion moment we both shared on our first day… As stated earlier, I am a bit into the whole earthy, hippie trend right now, so I chose this lovely and very comfortable (really comfortable!) dress from Mango, that I got for next to nothing (discount alert throughout their stores – up to 70%) – about 15 Euros – right before I started packing. To keep with the theme, I chose my Gioseppo sandals but instead of wearing the lace up to my knees I decided on a much more comfortable approach and tied them at my ankles. The bag was also a bargain from Mango and it fits perfectly with all the boho accessories I already have ready for this summer. As usual, I kept it simple accessories wise and only added the Swarovski ring set to my Pandora and Tomorrowland rings. I love this ring set as it’s very versatile and whenever I am packing I am always tempted to bring it along mainly because there are lots of ways to combine the three rings, but somehow, I always end up wearing it the same way (as you can see in the previous fashion posts). To complete my look, I also chose a Constantin Nautics bracelet and my Gucci big, brown shades that make me feel like Nicole Richie on a boho day.

On D:

Pants – ZARA; T-shirt – Tommy Hilfiger; Shoes – Nike; Bling – Constantin Nautics and Fossil; Watch – Daniel Wellington

D kept things on a cleaner side, and wonderfully fooling me into going out with him without looking like a hobo (like me). The intelligent thing he did was that he wore more or less the same colours and therefore I was fooled into thinking that we matched. Looking at the photos, I now realise that he looks way more put together than me and I seriously think that he is the reason we were let inside the restaurant. To fool me, he chose his burnt orange pants from ZARA and combined them with a v-neck t-shirt in dark grey from Tommy Hilfiger. Somehow, he managed to perfectly match his Nikes to the whole outfit therefore fooling me into thinking that he was also in a earthy, hippie mood. Aside from his Fossil bracelet, he also wore a Constantin Nautics bracelet – told you he used all sorts of tricks to make me believe we matched. As with most of our vacations, we chose to bring along our Daniel Wellington watches with lots of nato straps to match every day.

After seeing these pics, as with all the photos from this weekend, I decided that since summer is here, I need to start trying out some of those much praised Vita Liberata self tanning mouses and I promise that I will photo document every step and come up with a review some time next week. Until then, I must warn you that a lot of Milan posts are still to come!