pregnancy style

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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Holiday Series : Red Check!

This is yet another Holiday Series post simply because what reeks of holiday season better than a red checked flannel dress and a matching sweater? Not much… Therefore here is a Holiday Series fashion post, not to be mistaken for New Year’s Party outfit post as this is not and nor will we have such a post this year because we are 2 and a half weeks away from delivery and we will spend New Year’s Eve on our couch, binge watching a TV show. Next year will be an entirely different story, but this year we will skip the party and the party-related posts.

I am honestly amazed that we were able to take pics this far along in the pregnancy as my contingency plan included a one-month vacation before the baby arrived as I had this fixed idea that in the ninth month it will be impossible to move around and quite frankly I’d be too tired to get out anymore. That did not happen thankfully and thus far we have been able to go to the Christmas Family dinner, tomorrow we will attend a very important event and I have a (positive) feeling that everything will go smoothly until the baby comes. Yes, I did not forget about the name-revealing post, nor did I forget about all the promised baby stuff posts that we bought, but I have a feeling that those posts will work better once we will actually use the stuff we bought and will be more review-posts that presentation-posts thus making them actually useful for future moms-to-be.

On me:

Dress – ZARA; Vest – H&M; Boots – Rachel Zoe; Bag – Atelier Lemnia; Bling – Swarovski and Tous; Watch – Apple

Getting back to today’s business… I am feeling more festive than ever this year and besides the fully-decorated house, I actually made it my scope to get holiday clothes as well – see the Christmas sweaters and the plaid dress posts. For some reason all my past Grinch-y-ness did not emerge this year and I strongly suspect that hormones had a big influence on that. This post is yet another Christmas-infused mainly because of the colour theme and the fabrics (but you can’t actually feel the fabrics so you are going to have to take my word for it). I am wearing yet another ZARA XS dress that I paired with my Rachel Zoe over the knee boots – this winter’s uniform – and the thing that I loved about this dress from the first moment I saw it, was the fabric – both texture and print. This is the perfect plaid, flannel shirtdress! I am telling you, ZARA really outdid themselves this AW collection!

On D:

Sweater – ZARA; Jeans – ZARA; Shoes – Converse x John Varvatos; Watch – Apple

Obviously being a black and red combo, my Atelier Lemnia red clutch worked perfectly with the entire outfit and I seem to be wearing it more and more these days, thus making it one of my best investments of 2016. Also, to keep me and my belly warm I’ve also worn a great investment that I made at the beginning of autumn, my black knitted H&M vest. This one really turned out to be a very versatile piece of clothing during my pregnancy and I have a feeling that it will get a lot of action after I give birth as well.

D also happily wore the black and red combo. His focus piece of the outfit is the red check sweater that he recently found at ZARA – yes, ZARA, again! Right after I saw his sweater I thought of my dress and thus I made it my goal to wear these exact outfits during the Holiday mini-vacation. He paired the sweater with his ZARA black jeans and decided on wearing the Converse x John Varvatos black sneaks. Accessory-wise we both kept things on the down-low, with D only opting for his Apple watch and I only choosing to wear my Crystaldust Swarovski bracelet and my Tous ring alongside my Apple watch.

All in all, I have no idea how long we will be able to post until the baby arrives but I hope to get two more weeks of normal, every-other-day posting until I will probably take a short vacation. I do hope to be able to show you what I will be wearing at a very special event tomorrow, but that really depends on the weather and on how tired I will be. Also, I would like to continue the Holiday Series a bit with another amazingly delicious recipe that we found and that we want to try out. All those post depend on how well I will be feeling and on how energetic the bundle of joy will be as I am telling you, she really is an active baby.

December 28, 2016

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Holiday Series: Christmas Sweater Card 2016!

Another Holiday Series post, this time we introduce you our official 2016 Christmas Family Card – yup, the one featured at the top and bottom of this post. All our close friends and family received one alongside their Christmas present and we can’t be more excited to shoot next year with out bundle of joy in it as well. Yes, I know Christmas sweaters are considered to be a fashion faux-pas, but hey, they are fun, they keep you warm and this is the only time of the year when you can actually wear them and not feel completely stupid. Plus, call me hormonal/emotional/whatever, but I love, love, love mine! D got it for me as a surprise for no actual reason and it perfectly depicts how I feel these days: like a fluffy polar bear, but I guess that is normal considering that in approximately 2 and a half weeks I will be delivering the very important cupcake that has been baking inside my belly for almost 9 months now.

That said, we hope you had a lovely time yesterday because we know we had with all our family. Let me tell you a bit about our traditional Christmas lunch-turned-dinner… Usually we get together at noon (1-ish) and eat for about 7 hours non-stop. One might say that Christmas dinner is a marathon for us and that would be very true. Sadly though, being so close to term, we could not spend more than 2 hours with our family mainly because I constantly feel the need to lay on my couch and relax these days.

On me:

Sweater – Pull and Bear; Jeans – H&M; Boots – Ugg; Bling – Swarovski; Watch – Apple Watch

On D:

Sweater – Pull and Bear; Jeans – Review; Socks – Happy Socks; Watch – Apple

On Nauca:

Sweater – Camon

Anyways, we hope you like our Christmas Sweaters and promise that we will post annually silly pics for the Holiday Series posts with our expanding family!

December 26, 2016

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Baby Shower Candy-Bar GOALS!!!

As you know, on Sunday we had a small baby shower party to celebrate the fact that a little princess is coming our way shortly. We partied (not so hard) with only a few close friends and I have to tell you that we felt amazing. Don’t really know about our guests, but we really enjoyed ourselves… (hope you guys had a lovely time as well!)

That said, I really wanted to talk a bit about the amazing candy-bar we had as, in my opinion that was the main focus of the party – seriously, nobody is really interested on how a steak looks! The candy-bar was fully home-made and decorated by HomeMade Candy Bar. If you need a candy-bar or just sweets anytime, anyplace give them a try as the desserts were perfection and the way it looked was simply stunning. It seriously was way over my expectations (we did have a candy-bar that was twice as expensive at our wedding and it did not look anything like this one). This was a 20 persons candy-bar and it had everything a dessert freak could wish for: cupcakes, gingerbread, cake pops, marsh mellows, macarons etc. Keep in mind that you can customise it any way you like as they are very flexible on that department and that was one of the things that made me choose them. Also, they have loads of decorating pieces that really make the brandy-bar stand out and you can opt for any colour-theme you’d like. Notice that I really did not want to use the classic pink and blue theme and opted instead for a purple and turquoise theme which posed no problems for the talented duo (did I mention this is a family business: mother and daughter?).

Overall, everyone seems really impressed with the candy-bar and so were we therefore I really felt the need to talk a bit about them here. All worth mentioning is the very reasonable price (about 150 E for the entire thing) which is amazing considering the high quality of the sweets and the fact that the location of the event was at home (no extra transport fee!) on the outskirts of Bucharest.

November 30, 2016

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Hair greatness – L’Oreal Pro Fiber

You know how when you are pregnant you are supposed to have dream hair, skin and nails? But you are also supposed to feel nauseated 90% of the time and your rings are not supposed to fit you anymore and nor are your shoes? Well none of that happened to me thus far… nor the good or the bad! The jury is still out on whether I should be happy or not about all that, but I guess that feeling normal is a good thing, and by normal I mean brassy hair, a few zits, weak nails but topped by an overall good feeling about myself with rings and shoes that still fit despite being 32 weeks pregnant.That said, during my pregnancy I did not feel the need to ignore all my hair treatments and even tried a few new ones. You know how hair treatments work: you feel a slight improvement but not really that much – and right now I am talking about the really expensive ones as the ones that are mid-ranged from a price point of view do no more than a quick fix of your issues that usually lasts five minutes into the late autumn humidity. Well, not the one I am going to talk about in this post! This one, despite being a medium priced salon treatment was very impressive and three days later it still is very impressive despite the humidity levels hitting 85% in the past few days!

I am talking about the L’Oreal Professionel Pro Fiber Reconstruct treatment. While I always avoided L’Oreal because of the high silicone content, I thought I’d give this one a try because it is receiving quite the rave online. As I stated this one is a reasonably priced salon treatment (about 35 $) but it promises big results. And it does just that! Now, I have no idea if the other treatments in the line work, I can say that this one did miracles on my blonde-damaged hair despite me being quite the skeptic at first and hence not thinking about taking any before of after pics of my hair. You are just going to have to take my word for it and go ahead and try it yourself. My hair before the actual treatment was a mess. By mess I mean 90% of my top crown was brassy and it lacked shine, especially when it was not styled properly – yes, throughout the years I learned a few tips and tricks on how to style it so that it does not look like a hay stack. Going in with the mindset that I should not expect much, I totally skipped the photo/video phase of the treatment but did take a few snaps of the actual products, mainly so that I know what to buy for home if I thought the products were ok-ish (I recently ran out of shampoo and hair mask) – so this post will have to work solely on those pics.

The procedure in itself is very easy and quick and right now, given my current situation I was happy with that because I can not sit in one place for more than two hours and I dreaded the thought of having a long and complicated treatment done. Basically, the stylist washed my hair twice with the shampoo, applied a full vial of the treatment (I currently have a lot of hair with my extensions and all – otherwise you only need half) and on top of the vial applied the activation mask and all I had to do was wait 15 minutes before she gave me a good rinse and the treatment was over – all in all, about 20-25 minutes. This is so easy to do at home and the thing that impressed me the most thus far is the smell – this is perfect for the winter months – spiced vanilla, but a very intense and comforting spiced vanilla! That alone helped me decide on my next at-home haircare!Then it was off to drying but not before applying the line’s serum on wet hair (no pic unfortunately!). This is when I really started to believe that this treatment actually works wonders as you know when your hair is in a bad place it’s always complicated to style it because the brush keeps getting tangled in the damaged parts of the hair no matter how much oil or serums you put into it? Well that never happened during the drying part after this treatment and by the end my hair looked and felt healthier and stronger than ever. I was hooked! especially since, even today, three days later my hair feel amazing, looks amazing despite wearing a beanie twice a day – for the dog walks – and still smells divine!

Obviously that made me buy the at-home products instantly and I even bought the vials just to see if I can fully re-create the results at home. I will keep you posted on that in a later post as I really feel that this new treatment line deserves all the praising it can get especially since it is on the cheaper side and actually delivers the promised results. I really hope that all you ladies out there that, like me, have damaged hair and a skeptical approach to hair treatment will be convinced to give this treatment a try as it really and unexpectedly delivers great results for half the price compared to other ‘luxury’ in-salon treatments.