weekend

Rome wasn’t built in a day…

…and apparently it will take a lot longer to get rid of my post-pregnancy tummy…or ass! I am not complaining in any way as getting back in my pre-pregnancy size this fast after giving birth was a big and welcome surprise, but that doesn’t mean that I do not want my abs to get back to where they were asap! I am well aware that this will take time as it took nine months of expanding to deliver the miracle that soundly sleeps in her bed as I am writing this, but I am willing to start working hard to get back to where I was in March last year. I am also well aware that this will be a long and hard road especially since I plan to continue to feed Leia with breast milk and the moment I start dieting (not some sort of crazy diet, but rather a light one) my milk starts to decrease in quantity so I have to be careful with that. So, on that note, my tummy and ass will have to wait a bit because…priorities!

As I mentioned before, I feel quite lucky that mom jeans and high waisted anything is fashionable right now as I have an extra layer to cover up and keep everything in place. These jeans I was wearing last Saturday when we took these photos are not the coveted mom cut, but rather a relaxed crop cut, but I love them nonetheless for the fact that they are crazy comfortable, a light wash (perfect for spring) and because of the cool catus embroidery that immediately got me thinking about summer. Yes, they are also a size 34, which means that I am still not wasting money on clothes that I will not wear once I’ll be back in shape and surprisingly they are from Bershka. I say ‘surprisingly’ because I can’t remember the last time I shopped from them mainly because I think that I am over their age-target (read that : ‘I feel too old for their stuff’).

On me:
Jeans – Bershka; Sweater – Bershka; Sneakers – MTNG; Bag – Atelier Lemnia; Bling – Tous (bracelet and ring); Watch – Apple

Since I worked up the courage to go into their store, I also bought this lovely spring sweater (that does absolutely nothing to keep me warm), specifically choosing this colour to match my rope sneakers that I bought in Madrid last spring. This lovely bag that I am sporting is my second addition from Atelier Lemnia (I just LOVE them!) and was a gift from close friends. It is the perfect size to fit my upmost necessities: phone, lipliner, lipstick, keys and gum and it is the perfect size to allow me to have my hands free and care for princess Leia.

On D:
Jeans – ZARA; T-shirt – Replay; Sneakers – Replay; Vest – ZARA; Bling – Fossil and Tous; Watch – Apple

D also went for the same color scheme : khaki and blue. He chose his distressed khaki pants from ZARA – yes, like I said, ZARA makes some amazing pants these days – and paired them with a Replay t-shirt. He added a little twist to his attire by adding a splash of orange with his belt and sneakers (also from Replay). Since last Saturday was a bit chilly and he still is in the healing process of his (almost) finished sleeve, he decided to keep warm with his trusted vest from ZARA. Btw, notice how cool his tattos are? I can’t wait to see the finished sleeve in about a week or so… and I also can’t wait to share it with you! Accessory-wise, beside the all-present Anex Sport stroller, we both wore our Apple Watches, D chose both his Fossil and Tous bracelet while I opted for my now-omnipresent Tous bracelet and ring set as well as my sapphire ring.

Since yet again I am on active mommy-watch (as I probably will be for the next few years) I will have to conclude this post right now, but, as a sneak-peak into our next post, I have to say that it will probably be about princess Leia if she decides to give me enough time to put together a post worthy of her (text and photos). There are also a few things that I want to share with you about what we’ve learned during these first 10 weeks of having a kid as there are some lessons that I would’ve gladly not learn the hard way. Until then, I’ll just leave you with these pics!
L.

March 23, 2017March 23, 2017

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#Lucky

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

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

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

On me:

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

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

On D:

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

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

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

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

March 17, 2017

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Rollin, rollin, rollin…

Remember that old Limp Bizkit tune? Rollin’? Yeah, that was the soundtrack of my teenage years and it suddenly started playing in my head again the moment I started rolling this puff pastry perfection. This again is not an everyday food as this is nowhere near healthy. This is rather a weekend treat, or more say a monthly treat as the only healthy ingredient here is the parsley and, to be honest, there is not much of that either. But just as all teenage pleasures are, this is something amazing and not at all healthy. However, this is extremely easy to make and it can be really filling and satisfying during a cold rainy autumn day.

I can honestly say that this has all my favourite ingredients in it, including the puff pastry and, as with all the great food inventions, I have not had something similar in ages – like ever since my metabolism decided to give me a kick in the ass and make me adopt a more healthy lifestyle. Now that I am pregnant, I do try and keep it healthy and I am rather careful about the quantity of food I ingest, but from time to time (‘a weekly or more often’ time to time) I indulge in all of my favourite foods because hey, I am going to get fat anyways so I might as well enjoy life a bit. That being said, I try and indulge in mostly homemade fat-bombs as I have some sort of control where the ingredients are concerned. Which brings us to today’s recipe… as the temps lower, I tend to crave more fatty, not-necessarily-healthy foods that give me that much needed mental sanity during pregnancy.

Here’s the ingredients we used, but you can actually use whatever makes your tummy and brain feel happy:

1 layer puff pastry – you can buy this in virtually any supermarket and if you want to make a sweet roll try the slightly sweetened version though I prefer to use the unsweetened variety for sweet treats as well
1 cup of olive Philadelphia cream cheese – I use this variety for the earthy olive taste and because it is light and easy to spread
100 g diced bacon
1 red onion – medium sized
80 g graded emmentaler
80 g grated mozzarella
50 g parmesan flakes
20 g fresh parsley – the healthy ingredient (notice the ratio between the one healthy ingredient and all the rest)

The mechanics behind this amazing roll:

Mince the onion and the parsley and place all the ingredients in (preferably) clear bowls for the photos.
Preheat the oven at 180 degrees C.
The fun part begins… Gently unfold the puff pastry layer and spread the Philadelphia cream cheese first – this way all the ingredients will stick to the pastry.
This is where it becomes interesting. No matter which order you close to add the ingredients, the important thing is to always add a layer of cheese in between the other stuff thus making everything stick together because everyone knows that cheese is the glue to life!
This is my ingredients order: cream cheese, onion, grated emmentaler, parsley, grated mozzarella, bacon and parmesan flakes.
This is the step where that Limp Bizkit mega-hit kept playing in my brain – now you gotta roll that thing up making sure you do not a)spill the contents, b)rip the pastry.
Once you safely roll the ‘thing’ you gotta cut it – again a BE CAREFUL! moment – I cut in into 2 cm thick loaves.
Place the rolls on a tray and into the oven they go for about 20 minutes – make sure you check on them after 15 minutes as the buggers tend to burn quickly.
That’s about it!

Since this is a very unhealthy and amazing dish, packed full of fats (the unhealthy type) and calories, you should consume it with caution. It does not look extremely unhealthy if you decide to only have one serving, but let’s be honest, can you really stop after only one roll? I couldn’t and hence this is definitely a dish that I will make as rarely as possible.

It is however extremely tasty and filling and you will probably stop after two or three servings. The nutritional info is curtesy of MyNetDiary and since they rated it as a class D food it only goes to prove my theory – this is not a healthy food! But it is great for those long weekend chilly afternoons so give it a try!

November 6, 2016

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At dawn…

These are among my favourite photos so far that we took for this blog, and these are the first photos we took at dawn or shall I say after dawn hence they are a bit foggy. The reason we did not take as many photos of the two of us (or at least usable photos) is because it was kinda difficult to get the camera to focus where we wanted it to because it was so dark already when we actually got to taking pics of us. But I was way beyond excited when I saw the photos and could not wait to start editing them a bit to make them blog worthy. I think D enjoyed this photoshoot the most as he got to experiment with different settings and lights and the end result is just amazing.

What I am wearing is probably going to be my autumn uniform as I feel that this combo is the winner for me right now. I just love a chunky big sweater, especially when it is paired with thigh-high boots. For some reason it just screams autumn perfection. I also love the ‘forest green’ colour but unfortunately I found out that I do not have as many pieces in that lovely regal colour as I’d like so measures must be taken, but with caution as I have no idea how things are going to fit post baby. On the other hand, chunky sweaters and thigh high boots are always going to be in style and are always going to fit the same way so I am stocking up on stuff that I will probably wear over and over again.

On me:

Sweater – ZARA; Jeans – H&M; Boots – Steve Madden; Bag – Chloe; Hat – ZARA; Bling – Swarovski; Watch – Apple

A bit more details on the outfit… As I bragged in the last fashion post, I found two new pairs of pregnancy pants in my size (34) at H&M and I will proudly wear them all autumn and winter long. The ones you get a sneak-peak of in these photos are one of them and I have to tell you that maternity jeans are the most comfortable pants I’ve ever worn but still manage to make you feel good. I paired them with this big chunky sweater from ZARA in this lovely rich green hue that just goes perfectly with my muddy-green Steve Madden boots. At first I was quite skeptical about jeans and thigh high boots as I was more accustomed to pairing these boots with thighs but after seeing these pics I am sold on this warm combo.

On D:

T-shirt – Mango; Jacket – SuperDry; Jeans – Review; Shoes – Nike; Bling – Fossil; Watch – Tissot

To keep things in the ‘exciting’ department I decided on wearing hats this season therefore I expanded my (small) collection with this lovely fun black one from ZARA that I will probably also wear over and over again. I realised that I should at some point invest in a new black bag as I only have this Chloe piece to play with and I do not want you to get bored by our posts. Also jewellery wise I did not wear much aside from the Swarovski bracelet and my new Apple Watch that I’ve grown to love more and more these days.

D really tried to go with the green theme and wore his army green Mango t-shirt as he realised that this is the only dark green piece of clothing in his closet – we really need to take measures where our greens are concerned. Since it is getting chillier and chillier he wore his badass leather jacket from SuperDry that is never going to go out of style and that he got few years ago. Since he also lacks in the green-shoes department, he went with the safe option of black Nikes that go just right with these perfectly tailored jeans from Review – yes, I know I rave about theses jeans all the time. Since he doesn’t own and Apple Watch (just yet!) he wore his lovely Tissot T-Race alongside his Fossil bracelet that is becoming as popular as his wedding band among his accessories.

I really can’t wait to take some more photos in the dark and I am so glad D enjoys them so much as we get to take so many lovely photos and thus making memories and successfully following my pregnancy belly with lots of pics each week.

October 23, 2016

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Finally craving meat!!!

As you know, I’ve been really struggling with meat these past months, meaning I could not even look at it without cringing. Therefore getting my much needed protein throughout my pregnancy has been a real struggle. I am not saying that being a vegetarian is wrong or anything, but I had a really good deal with meat before I got pregnant: I ate it once per week because I really do love a good steak, or burger. Since this has not been an option throughout the past six months, I ate lots of eggs, cottage cheese and other foods that provided the right amount of protein for me as well as for my baby.

Last week something weird happened and I found myself craving meat. Naturally D immediately got dressed and off to the supermarket he went to cure my craving – to be honest, he always does that for me, he immediately tries and satisfy whatever craving I might have. Since I can only have well done meat my only viable choices are turkey or chicken as I can’t stand the thought of a perfectly good veal or pork meat not being medium-done (it should be illegal otherwise). For some reason, chicken seemed to be the winner option as I always found it easier to digest than turkey and so a chicken dinner it was!

To make sure that I will not ruin my meat craving forever I tried to cook it with as many citrusy flavours I could while still taking advantage of the amazing indian seasoning we always seem to have in the house – we both love indian food so, so much! That being said, I also like my food spicy, but since heartburn has been a real bitch lately I only spiced things up at a moderate level. This dish is easy to make, but you have to take into account the time it takes the meat to marinate – in this case, I left it in the fridge for one hour, but you can leave it for as long as you’d like, even overnight.

Here’s what I used:

2 chicken breasts (no skin, boneless)
1 pink grapefruit (only the juice)
1 lemon (only the juice)
15 gr fresh oregano leaves
2 tablespoons tikka masala powder
1 tablespoon hot chilli powder
1 tablespoon yellow curry powder
2 tablespoons dijon mustard (since I can’t drink my wine, I might as well use it in my food – or at least some variety of it)

What you need to do:

Cut the chicken breasts into strips – I did that in order for the flavours to get into as much of the meat as possible, plus it’s fun to eat chicken strips.
In a small bowl mix all the powder seasoning together.
In a large bowl prepare your marinade: both of the citrusy juices, the powder spices, the oregano leaves and the mustard and mix everything well.
Put the chicken strips making sure they are well covered in the marinade, cover the bowl with plastic foil and into the fridge it goes for as long as you want.
Give the cast iron pan a light spray of avocado oil and put the chicken in for about 4-5 minutes on each side.
That’s it! Mix some salad greens next to it and voila!: the perfect healthy dinner!

Since the chicken is grilled in virtually no oil, this is quite the healthy option that still has loads of flavour and does not feel like you are eating paper. The nutritional info is for 100 gr which is more than you can see on my plate in the photos and it has a decent amount of protein as well as virtually no fats or other nasty stuff. I love the fact that you can feel the citrusy taste so much and I think that complements chicken just perfectly especially when paired with indian spices!

October 15, 2016

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Weekend Breakfast Perfection…

After about 100 weekends when D surprised my very pregnant self with breakfast, I thought it was about time I returned the favour, so here we are… I baked him the best breakfast muffins I could come up with (being in the kitchen involves a lot of improvising for me). Just to get you in the mood, they contain prosciutto (because I forgot to buy bacon and prosciutto was the only thing I had in the fridge), red cheddar and a touch of garlic. Since it is the weekend, we tend to not count calories, fat or any other nasty stuff that could get our morale down, but I am telling you, these muffins are not for those that are on a diet, no, they are a cheat meal!

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Thankfully, if you have them for breakfast, they are not as bad as they seem on paper because you have an entire day to consume all that savoury goodness. That being said, I tried to keep them on the healthy side by not using white flour and by switching from sour cream to a much lighter yoghurt and low fat milk. I did not keep that in mind where the red full fat cheddar was involved, but you could easily switch to low fat mozzarella and skip the butter if you want them to actually be diet-friendly. I did not really want that because, hey, I am pregnant, and I need a day or two to indulge in my cravings fatty or not!

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So, getting down to the nitty gritty, here’s what you need for these dreamy breakfast muffins:

200 gr wholemeal flour
300 gr red cheddar
125 gr plain yoghurt
300 ml milk
80 gr butter
one garlic head
3 tsp baking powder
1 egg
A bit of oil for your tray (I used avocado spray oil)
12 slices of prosciutto

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Processed with Snapseed.

Following the steps is quite easy and it takes you about 7-10 minutes:

Grate 200 gr of cheddar, cut the remaining cheddar into small slices, lightly beat the egg and mince the garlic.
In the flour bowl mix together the baking powder,milk,yoghurt and egg.
Incorporate the grated cheddar into the mix.
Put the butter in a pot and slowly heat it up. When the butter is all melted add the garlic and stir well for about 1 minute. Take the pot away from the stove.
Spray the muffin tray with a bit of oil.
Now you are going to make muffin sandwiches with quite a few layers: first, put the prosciutto in each muffin shape, add about one tablespoon of batter, add a teaspoon of the garlic infused oil, the cheddar slices and finally another tablespoon of batter.
Put in the over (pre-heated at 180 degrees) for about 20 minutes, until they are brown on top. Yes they are not the best looking muffins once you get them out of the oven.
That’s it! After they have cooled a bit, carefully take them out of the tray and serve them.

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The combo of aromas is just too amazing and we both ended up finishing the entire tray of muffins in one sitting, but, to be honest, since it is the weekend I do not want to ruin my mood by thinking of how the scale is going to tip at my next doctor’s appointment. I can tell you that the little bundle of joy (which is very energetic these days) enjoyed them very much and I hope you will too!

October 9, 2016

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Craving potatoes…Again…

We haven’t posted a recipe in a while now… Not necessarily because we have lacked in the cooking department – in fact we kinda did, with all the construction works going on – most of our cooking has been about D cooking wonderful breakfast recipes as surprises for me during weekends, therefore, no photos were taken to document that. Since some (all) of his dishes turned out AMAZING we will re-do them and post them here. Today is all about yesterday’s dinner and me craving potatoes again.

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This is a very easy to make dish, basically you can add anything in it, but I have to warn you, it needs 1.5 hours to be ready from the point when you only have the ingredients until you can actually enjoy it, so start before you are hungry. The ingredients are basics and to be honest, we had most of them in our house. This is yet again a no-meat dish because I still seem to have an adversity towards meat these days.

What you will need for about 30 potato patties:

1kg of white potatoes (but you can use whichever type you like)
2 eggs (we use free-range eggs that my mother brings me from the countryside every week)
1 garlic head (not too big as you still want to feel all the other ingredients and potatoes tend to absorb the garlic flavour better than anything else)
about 8 young green onions
300 gr of cheddar (we used both white and red cheddar – about 150 gr each)
50 gr of butter (use full fat butter as it is better)
15 gr of fresh oregano (you can use whatever fresh greens you like)
salt
pepper

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What you need to do:

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees Celsius.
Grate the potatoes and put them in freezing water as you do not want them to turn brown. I was lucky enough to have D help me with this step as he knows how important my manicure is to me and I always seem to grate my fingers whenever I attempt to grate anything.
Cut the onions, mince the garlic and the oregano and grate the cheese.
Whisk the eggs and melt the butter (we used the microwave for the butter for about 30″)
Get a big bowl as you are going to mix all the ingredients together. It doesn’t really matter what order you put them in, but it is really important to mix them really well.
Start making patties from the mixture and arrange them on a tray (use some baking paper otherwise they will stick to the tray and that is very messy).
Put them in the oven for about 40 minutes after which time you should add some cheddar on top of them and leave them in the oven for another 5 minutes.
That’s it! Enjoy!

Processed with Snapseed.

Processed with Snapseed.

This is not the healthiest meal out there, but it is an ok one according to my UP app. Yes it is packed with saturated fat, but it is also almost equally packed with unsaturated fats and fibres. Now all the data you see here is for the entire quantity – that is about 30 patties – yes, we used two trays to bake the entire composition, but you can use half of the ingredients. That means that one patty provide about 70 kcal which, in the grand scheme of things, is not that much. Naturally, nobody can only eat one, so I’d say that one serving consists of three-four patties, so it is rather ok for dinner.

September 29, 2016

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Autumn is here!

Never in my life did I think that I will actually be excited about autumn… I was so sick and tired of the nasty heat we got this summer and to be honest it has gotten worst during the last few weeks – it might be due to my advancing pregnancy, but I just couldn’t take it anymore. And hey, tis the season for lovely rich shades of burgundy, navy and brows, plus if you also add the lovely fabrics we get to wear during autumn, you’ll start actually enjoying this season.

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I, for one, couldn’t wait to actually get to wear some of the things that I got from H&M‘s autumn collection, and the weather on Saturday was perfect just for that. Not too chilly – notice D is in a t-shirt – it didn’t rain, I am telling you, sheer autumnal perfection. Yes, it would’ve been a bit better had we posed on a leaf carpet, but we have three whole months to do just that! True, the calendar keeps telling me that it is not yet the time for opaque tights but pants are completely out of the question for now and it’s way too chilly to go out without them. A cold during pregnancy is not exactly something blissful or romantic…

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Shopping info at the end of the post

So, about the outfit… Ever since I actually developed a real pregnancy belly I have been proudly wearing tight dresses and felt great doing that. I do feel a lot better when I am wearing the said dresses with a nice pair of heels and lucky for me I still keep shoes that are more than six years old, like these booties from Manas Lea Foscati in the photos. I think I have them from before D and I met so, they are more than seven years old but they still look great. Naturally, there is no way I could find them online so I’ve linked an alternative. What can I say about these booties besides the fact that even though I did not think about that at the time, they turned out to be a great investment for autumn thanks to the multitude of autumnal colours that have on them. They are also surprisingly comfortable considering the 11 cm heel. That actually helped me make up my mind about buying another pair of chunky heeled ones – I am more of a stiletto heel type.

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Shopping info at the end of the post

On to the H&M dress… Besides this one still being size xs, it is extremely comfortable over my growing bump and this quite possibly might take me to the last months of pregnancy. I love the colours as well, actually any oxblood item is just prefect for me during autumn. Yes, I am one for the greys and burgundies during autumn as opposed to browns and beiges, though I have been known to enjoy a chocolaty outfit from time to time. Because the dress has a bit of navy in it, I decided to go for navy tights and my navy Michael Kors bag, while going for a completely different palette for the shoes, but it all goes well together thanks to the burgundy in both the shoes and the dress. This dress can also be worn – and I will probably wear it – with shades of grey and black, completely ignoring the colourful side of it.

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As usual, lately, I topped the entire outfit with a very nice long knitted vest from H&M that carefully hides my growing butt and also keeps me warm. The fact that it is black means that I will probably wear it all autumn long and you will probably see it tons of times. I kept my accessorises to a minimum and only wore the new Swarovski bracelet that D bought me last week. These Crystaldust bracelets are just dreamy! They look amazing and are very comfortable to wear every day – I wear mine in the house as well, because hey, who knows who might come and visit me and I can’t not be put together now can I?

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D also went for darker hues, choosing his dark denim pants from Replay. I miss my own similar jeans as they were by far the most comfortable jeans ever. Yes I am talking about their Hyperfelex collection, we both love it and I can’t wait to be able to fit into mine again! He also wore his black Tomorrowland t-shirt that matches the darker richer hues I chose thanks to the copper feather print. D finished his outfit with his denim and orange slip-on shoes from Replay. He almost did a full Replay outfit as his navy leather belt is also from Replay. He wore his usual Fossil and Constantin Nautics bracelets and we both decided on our Longines watches. Even though it was sunny outside, he did not need to wear his Ray-Ban glasses so he just pretended they were accessories as he forgot his case at home.

All in all, I am glad that autumn is here, even though I know that by December I will be so fed up with the cold and I will be anxious for spring again. Actually I think that spring is the best season ever: the temps are perfect, nature starts waking up to life, the trees are in bloom…Yup, I love spring! But I will have to be contempt with autumn for now.

On me:

Dress – H&M; Vest – H&M; Shoes – Manas Lea Foscati; Bag – Michael Kors; Bling – Swarovski; Watch – Longines

On D:

Pants – Replay; T-shirt – Tomorrowland; Shoes – Replay; Belt – Replay; Bling – Fossil and Constantin Nautics; Sunglasses – Ray-Ban; Watch – Longines

September 27, 2016

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Inspiration Board…

Just to give you a quick Sunday update on what is going on in our house… I have put together an inspiration board to help you get a quick sneak peak on the end result. We decided to go with a mix of grey and yellow just to spice thing up a bit design wise… Most of the stuff we bought is from Mobexpert, Vivre, Fleximo and Ikea. Hope we will finish soon and share with you our newly decorated home (or at least pieces of it).

September 25, 2016

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The Lash Room…or how to get perfect brows!

Strike two at writing this beauty post – hopefully there will be no more glitches from WordPress and YES, I am writing this on the Notepad first just to be sure that it will not get deleted again. I just hate doing things twice!

Anyway… Today’s post, as the title suggests is all about getting those perfectly shaped eyebrows, and not having to re-do them every single morning, like I had to for almost a decade of my life. In order to get you accommodated with the subject I have to tell you first about my life with my natural eyebrows. First of all, I was born with bushy wild eyebrows (yes, no sign of that in my recent years), but was unlucky enough to reach my critical age (adolescence) in the 90s when thing eyebrows were the thing. Naturally, being 13 and quite stupid, I over-plucked them – NEVER EVER DO THAT – and some of the hairs did not grow back, most of the hairs actually. As opposed to most other female body parts that don’t necessarily need hair but where hair grows like you give it fertiliser every day, the important hair of the brows is very stubborn when it comes to growing back. This left me with no other choice than to pencil and powder my eyebrows until 2013 when it came to me: I should get them tattooed (semi-permanent make-up). Since back then I was younger, stupider and had fewer financial resources (I was actually lacking in the brain cells department rather than financial come to think of it), I looked online for the cheapest option available and booked it right away. Yes this was two or three months before our wedding day. I figured that I will just tell the lady doing them what I wanted and give her points every step of the way because in my head I knew better than anybody what was aesthetically correct. I have to say that a diploma in Architecture gave me that confidence, but to be honest, that has nothing to do with human aesthetics. My confidence combined with the fact that the lady doing my eyebrows was not the most talented in the world left me with having to put on more make-up every morning than before. Please keep in mind that when it comes to someone tattooing your face, there is absolutely no way of you actually seeing live what she/he is doing and therefore you have no control of the result. I did not take this into consideration then and I did not do my research where her talent was concerned.

These were my ‘before’ – brows (aka my wedding brows – first tattoo)

A year later, still not at my wisest, but getting there, I discovered THE LASH ROOM. I think this is the first place that actually had the wonderful technique of micro-blading in Romania, if I am wrong than this is definitely the best place where you can get your eyebrows micro-bladed – just take a look at their portfolio as opposed to others. Why did I say that I wasn’t at my wisest? Because I still had this fixed idea in my mind that I knew best and did not let the very talented Cristina Delcaru to do her job properly, still wanting thinner brows than she suggested. They did turn out a lot better than my first attempt at getting my brows done and in my head, back then they were perfect and I was hooked on the place. I tend to be the type of person that is very loyal to beauty places if they make me feel good and safe.

First attempt at THE LASH ROOM – freshly done

First attempt at THE LASH ROOM – healed

Fast forward to another year later when I wanted to refresh my brows again, here I was back at THE LASH ROOM. By now, both me and Cristina realised that the first time I had them tattooed it was with permanent ink because a) it just won’t fade and b) it changed into a horrible carrot hue. Because I was a bit older, I was also a bit wiser and allowed Cristina to make them a bit thicker, but not as much as she would’ve liked for them to frame my face properly. Needless to say that I left the place walking on clouds and I just kept staring in the mirror in awe, the entire drive back home. I was simply in love with my thicker, more natural brows! Did I mention that each time Cristina custom made my brow colour just to make sure it perfectly matched both my hair colour as well as my skin tone. Yes they do that at THE LASH ROOM, you do not have to chose just between brown, black or red, the possibilities are endless!

Second time at THE LASH ROOM

And here we are… Two and a half weeks ago I needed to have them re-done because I got to the point where I feel the wisest – might be hormonal. Yes, I re-pigmented my brown in my fifth month of pregnancy and it is totally safe as THE LASH ROOM uses bio-organic fruit inks that are more natural that most of the moisturisers I use these days. As opposed to the last few times, this time it did hurt a bit, but nothing to get my heart-rate up or anything. Why I considered myself to be at my wisest? Because right form the start I told Cristina that she should do what she felt framed my face best and I only wanted to see the end result – I trusted her 100% which I rarely ever do, and I am so glad I did! My brows turned our perfectly, even better that what I remember my natural brows to be, actually a lot better than that! The shade is perfect, the thickness is perfect and overall way they look is absolutely amazing! I seriously recommend this place and Cristina, but I am sure that all the girls working there are extremely talented.

About the procedure:

First of all, your brow designer will do a mock-up of how the brows will turn out and, from my experience, they are extremely patient and considerate with your opinion as they really put your happiness first. After the shape is settled the designer will start mixing a custom colour just for you. She will then start tattooing and this can be done here in multiple ways depending on your skin: either micro-blading, powdered or plain tattooing or a mixture between the three. The first two times Cristina decided on micro-blading for me, but the last time she decided to use the tattooing machine because I do have a bit of scar tissue on my right brow (adolescence zit) and the horrible reddish hue from my first attempt is still visible and this technique is supposed to be better for these issues. After the first lines are drawn, she applies a bit of local anaesthetic and normally from this point onward you just have to sit back and relax for about an hour. Afterwards, you’ll end up with the perfect eyebrows! The aftercare is quite easy but it will take about two weeks during which time, as opposed to a normal tattoo that needs to be washed daily, you are not allowed to get this one in contact with anything apart from the cream you will receive before leaving the place. This makes make-up not really an option therefore you have to plan this procedure ahead. As I said, you have to apply the cream twice per day which will make you look a bit weird (see the healing photos attached). On top of everything, be prepared to have very dark eyebrows for those two weeks until the heal. This is no problem whatsoever if you are a brunette but it can be one if you have lighter coloured hair. Two weeks later you will guaranteed looked a lot better than before!

Before the third procedure at THE LASH ROOM

Right after the procedure

During the healing process

The healing cream

A bit about Cristina:
She is one of the nicest people I’ve met and despite her immense talent, she is very down-to-earth. The thing that shocked me most the second time I saw her is that she perfectly remembered both me and what she used on my brows the first time. This is extremely rare as she must’ve done hundreds of eyebrows during that year, but apparently she has amazing memory when it comes to her work. Despite not being in agreement with me the first two time (where brows are concerned) she still gave me her best and I left the place every time feeling amazing! I am sure that all the girls working there are very talented, but I fell very lucky to have met her and have my eyebrows done by her.

Healed result

About THE LASH ROOM:
This place is amazing, it make you feel right at home. I am very sorry that D couldn’t join me during my procedure as I would’ve liked to have more photos of both the procedure itself as well as the interior of the place, but you can find a few photos online. The staff always made my feel welcome and everything appears to be in pristine and hygienic condition therefore you feel relaxed right from the beginning. They also offer various lash treatments, that I tried at some point. That service is amazing as well, but unfortunately I am the type of person that need to throughly rub her eyes every time I take my make-up off and therefore I could not have a full set of eyelashes and feel comfortable. But those of you that can live without rubbing your eyes, should know that this is an amazing service that should be tried at least once.
As you can see from the ‘after’ photos, Cristina’s works needs no more praising and you should really trust her from the first moment as she will do what is absolutely best for your face!
L.