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Seaside season is officially over…for us…

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

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

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

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

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

August 26, 2016August 26, 2016

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This was UNTOLD

Like I said, we only managed to get our camera at the Untold festival on the first day, during the day, because the security guards were afraid that our lenses might be too big and we just might take some unauthorised photos of the festival. Needless to say that they were a bit too focused on the security part to actually acknowledge that our camera, even though it is big, is by no means a professional camera. So the only photos we have of the second edition of the festival are the ones we managed to take on the first day, hence all the almost empty food venders.

On a more positive note, even though we did not think it was possible, this year, the organisers managed to top last years’ festival. I am not talking about the artists as that was quite obvious from March, I am talking about a way better organised festival area. True, there was a lot more security than last year, but then again, a lot has happened in Europe since last year, and despite that, the access was way easier and quicker than last year. Last year, even though we had VIP tickets, there wasn’t a special queue and we had to wait for more than three hours to get our access bracelets, this was not the case this year and we managed to get inside the park in less than 5 minutes which was great for me. Also, this year, the bracelet looked way more exciting and fun even though the closing mechanism was a lot worse than last year.

Moving along from all this nonsense and onto the actual festival. Yet again, once you got in, you had the distinct feeling that all your worries are left outside and you are now into a place of tranquility and magic. That is until the night comes and you are constantly accompanied by amazing music but your worries are still not with you. Seriously, this year the line-up was insane, I mean Tomorrowland-insane, and that got me really pissed-up because it was no way in hell that I was able to make it to all the shows I wanted to see, even worst actually, there were some shows that I couldn’t see until the end because our bundle of joy just wouldn’t let us – read: I needed my rest. I really do hope that next year the line-up will be just as good if not better (there still were a few artists missing – Steve Aoki, Deorro, just to name a few).

This year all the food points and the fun corners seemed to be even more exciting than last year and it was nice to see that some of them we already knew from the first edition of the festival. The fashion corner of the festival was really nicely done, with places where you could try on whatever it was that you heart desired, there were enough drinking spots that you could never get dehydrated, I am telling you, the organisers really deserve a medal. Wait, last year they got the big trophy, the one that actually confirms the fact that this was the greatest festival in Europe. We’ll be definitely cheering for them this year as well.

Another improvement from last year was the sound system. The Vip area really struggled with the quality of the sound last year, but this year it was impeccable, as well as the toilet maintenance from that said area – this is always really important to me, especially this year. The only downside really of the Vip area is that the food was limited this time (Biutiful terrace) and completely absent last year, so I’m thinking that by next year we will get a few food corners to choose from.

All in all, this still is our favourite festival of the year, this year it will be the only one we will attend as my belly is really starting to grow every day more and more and we need to start redecorating and preparing for our new member of the family.

August 18, 2016

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Disneyland

This is most definitely one of those posts that requires absolutely no text whatsoever. I mean, if you need convincing to go to this lovely fantastical place, then my text will not do much convincing anyway, so I’m not even going to bother! Everyone, adult or kid, needs to visit Disneyland Paris at least once in a lifetime! Both D and I were lucky enough to have visited it twice so far and we made a pact to not stop now! Despite not wanting to write any text, I do have a few pointers (two actually) that might actually prove useful and money-saving:

You should avoid eating at the A la Carte restaurants simply because the food you’ll find at the normally-priced restaurants throughout the park is very, very good – remember, we are picky when it comes to food – and it’s simply not worth it paying triple the price.
Do not miss the daily parade!!!!!! Seriously, do not miss it!

That’s about all I am going to say about Disneyland Paris and now, I am going to let you enjoy the 100 or so photos I managed to select from our day of fantasy!

July 19, 2016

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L’Atelier Renault / Desperate times need desperate measures

Right… After a short break in posting, here we are back to our first day in Paris… I must underline yet again, the fact that we came to Paris for the third time and these posts will not include any landmarks or other tourist orientated places. The first day we arrived in Paris was the day of the semi-final between France and Germany, but I desperately needed two things: the Loubilaque lipgloss and some eye make-up remover from Guerlain. Now, because we spent some time in front of the Louvre, there was absolutely no time to get to the FanZone area to watch the game, we were both hungry so we had to improvise. To our surprise, we ended up being very happy with our improvisation.

Since we were on the Champs Elysees, we decided to have dinner and pray for a tv at the L’Atelier Renault. Not only did they have a TV, they have several TVs and we ended up having our very own TV to watch the football match. The most amazing thing about that evening though was not the match, but the food. For a restaurant on the shopping boulevard of Paris, this one was really surprising. We had eaten on the Champs Elysees the other times we visited Paris and, to be honest, the food was mediocre at best, so we went in without having great expectations, we really just needed anything to eat and a TV to watch the game. This posh little restaurant surprised us and made me want to write a review because I feel that other people should give this one a try.

First of all, because the lightning is pink, most of the photos we took turned out shitty, but the atmosphere inside, because of that shitty lightning, was very nice. Moving along, this is the only minus I could find about the place, this and the fact that you have to take a mini excursion to reach the toilet, but that’s ok as you get to visit most of the showroom until you get to your destination. Because we are tourists, we are always on the search of decent wi-fi (well me mostly, as D has a great deal with his network provider), and this place really has decent Instagram-uploading wi-fi, so that’s another big plus.

I really feel that we should be moving along to the food now, as this is supposed to be a restaurant review, and as it turns out, I’ve said nothing about the food so far. So, as stated earlier, we were hungry. I mean, really, really hungry as the last thing we had eaten that day was the food on the airplane at noon. The menu really doesn’t offer a lot of dishes, but it contains everything for to satisfy even the most picky foodie. The downside of the menu is that it gives you very little detail on what a salad contains so I ended up with a lovely green beans based salad. Not that I am complaining or anything, but it would’ve been nice to know in advance. Besides those lovely beans, it also contained the most amazing goat cheese I have ever tried, so the food lover in me was very satisfied. D‘s lamb chops were cooked to perfection and there were no surprises on his plate.

Despite the very satisfying main courses, because we really wanted to make a review on the pace, we both decided to get dessert as well. We got the Atelier Renault Cafe ice-cream, which besides the fact that it was delicious, it was also huge. Don’t get me wrong, when I say delicious, I tend to compare it with the Italian gelato and this one came very close. We also got the Elysee Angelina’s Special Pastry for L’Atelier Renault Cafe which didn’t WOW us but I’d say it was still in our top 10 desserts of all time. The entire meal was accompanied by still water, a few beers for D and a couple of fresh pressed juices for me, and the cheque came at about 100 Euros, which, if you factor in location and the quality of the food, I’d say it’s not out of the ordinary. We had a great time and we got to see full-hand how the French celebrate getting into the final, as everyone came to Champs Elysees after the match.

July 17, 2016

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Social Media in Paris!

Naturally, it is time for the Paris posts to start. As per usual, we are going to start by putting together all our online activity (Instagram and Facebook) throughout our weekend getaway. Of course a whole set of fashion/food/leisure posts are coming your way, so make sure you check our blog daily! in the meantime, here’s a sneak peak!

July 14, 2016

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7&3

Yes, we are back from Paris, and yes, today the Paris posts should’ve started. But, today is the most special day for us because on this day, 7 year ago we shared our first kiss and 3 years ago we signed our marriage license making me change my family name and linking my destiny with D forever. Therefore, Paris posts can wait until tomorrow.

Naturally, everyone has photos taken throughout their relationship, and I don’t know about you, but we rarely, if ever, look through them after a while so, you can understand why I have become emotional once I started roaming through all the photos taken over the last 7 years, the best 7 years of my life. I can’t believe we’ve been in so many places, done so many things and made ourselves so happy during this time. Now, don’t get me wrong, we do fight, we do get upset with each other, but we never let anything undiscussed, even if that means discussing whatever made us angry for a long time (been there, done that), we always resolve our issues.

I can’t imagine my life without D in it and I hope I will never have to. EVER! We have so much fun together, and ever since we’ve met, we’ve always supported each other no matter what and I know that we always will, because, first of all we are best friends and he is the one person I trust with my life. I’m going to let you look through the pictures we’ve taken over the last 7 years because, right now, we are busy opening up a bottle of champagne and really celebrating our love!

P.S.: Next year I’ll give you all the details on my dresses, flowers and venue for our signing party!

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July 13, 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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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!