September 18, 2015

Life Changing Summer.

All Photos: Armina Bavcic | Dress: Spell Design | Crown: Kreativni Nered
It's funny how no matter how good of a planner you think you are a life sometimes jumps at you with more things at once.

 This Summer was a life changing for me while at the same time very different then any other, busy and dynamic both professionally and more so on private level. My priorities definitely changed, but more details about the change in one of my next posts ;)

My boyfriend and I decided to settle in Barcelona where we purchased our first home together and plan to stay here for next three years and possibly also live here after his basketball career ends.  We also decided to furnish our own Summer home in Dubrovnik, an apartment which my boyfriend had for some time now and which was just sitting unfurnished for years. This was the dynamic part of Summer where I spent most of the time chasing the workers who were pre-paid to work on the apartment to actually come and work. Needless to say, Dubrovnik apartment is still not done and they promised to have it done by end of (last) June.
I used the opportunity of spending the Summer in Dubrovnik to collaborate with some Croatian designers and crafters. One of them called  Kreativni Nered  (in translation Creative Mess) made me a gorgeous needle stitched white crown featured in this post alongside of my favorite Summer boho vintage lace dress from Spell Design.





The City of Dubrovnik and surrounding area is absolutely gorgeous so it wasn't hard to find a great shooting location. My friend Armina suggested Arboretum Trsteno, gorgeous small botanical garden where Game of Thrones was filmed close to the beach with breathtaking views and untouched nature. Arboretum Trsteno is known by it's natural beauty and the 500-year old giant natural monuments - Asian plane-trees. 



One can easily get there in some 20 minutes by one of the regular buses connecting Dubrovnik with the Dubrovnik coast land. Trsteno boasts the15th century renaissance summer residence of Gučetić-Gozze family, with its garden which has been cultivated from the 15th century until today. The garden encompassing the summer residence, aqueduct, mill, the fountain with Neptune and nymphs and the belvedere pavilion overlooking the sea and islands is the finest example of Dubrovnik summer residence garden architecture.


How was your Summer ladies?
Are you well rested and ready for a new back to work season?


XoXo
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September 2, 2015

What would you do for love?



"There really is nothing else quite like it.
We read more books, watch more films
and listen to more songs about it than anything else.
It quickens the heart, lights the soul and makes us whole."

As I already posted in last several posts, this Summer my boyfriend and I moved to a new apartment in Barcelona but also into a new Summer home in Dubrovnik so this Summer was all about packing, unpacking, cleaning and decorating for us. The good part of moving into a new place is that you are forced to go through and organize all your stuff and get rid of the stuff you really don't need anymore. 

My favorite part of settling into a new place was unpacking my photo albums and my jewelry. I peaked into each of these little precious boxes of earnings, necklaces, bracelets and rings and with this I opened mostly fond memories connected to the jewelry piece I was unpacking.



Most of my jewelry I got as a gift. Some of it is connected with gentle, loving, positive emotions while some make me a bit sad as I reminisce, such as my late grandmothers pearl earrings. 

For centuries people have been gifting jewelry as a symbol of love, a promise, friendship or appreciation. No matter the value, jewelry symbolizes the gift of heart, a gift of emotion which intensifies and revives with each wear.  

I often find myself impulsively clinging on my heart necklace whenever I watch my boyfriend play an intense basketball game, when I feel proud or when I just miss him for being away for home on a longer trip for a number of days in a row. Every morning I am putting it on my neck it feels like I am getting a big hug from my boyfriend no matter if he is home or not at the time. When I put it on, I feel fully dresses and ready to go about my day.

Photo source: http://www.beigerenegade.com/ 

Shop Michael Hill Rings 

Shop Michael Hill Necklaces



When I first discovered Michael Hill Jewelry, the historic brands vision and direction of designing and crafting contemporary jewelry collections really hit home as they simply 'get it'. They know how to show emotion in a way that is bigger then words and their jewelry design caters to a whole rainbow or emotions, types of love, type of people and gifting purposes. The brand was founded in 1979 in New Zealand by entrepreneur and visionary Michael Hill and since it has expanded globally. 


"When given it’s an expression of love.
Young love, old love, motherly love, straight love,
gay love, forbidden love, brotherly love, it seals
love, nurtures, creates, kindles and declares love
for all the world to see."

"We don’t care what kind of love
you’re into, we just want to make
sure you get your fair share."

by  Michael Hill Jewelry
"We’re for Love."

What would you do for love? I would love to hear a story behind your favorite jewelry piece in a comment bellow.


XoXo


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August 30, 2015

3 Great Fall Styles to Invest In


As you might have noticed if you are buying and reading fashion magazine, visiting fashion sites or have noticed the fast fashion store commercials and billboards, 70s are THE theme this Fall.  

Brown suede is one of the signature fabrics of 70s style, I especially like vintage cuts brown suede trench coats and jackets. I got a gorgeous vintage double breasted jacket in Lovely 31 vintage shop in Astoria, Queens in New York, near where I used to live few years back similar to the one bellow on the right and I still love to wear it, especially with navy stripe sailor shirts and black pants for work or jeans for more casual look.


Burberry | Gucci

This Summer I already prepared for Fall and purchased a gorgeous dark green wool hat hand crafted by   MIYUU Barcelona amazing quality for a great price, plus, you can customize it together with the designer as per your wishes. 

If you are not a hat collector like me and are just thinking about buying your first hat, this is a great year to incorporate it with seasonal trends easily, read my older post on   how to style hats and how to choose them based on your face shape and hairstyle.



Heels are great but if you are a pedestrian and take public transportation to work or do not like to wear high heels these lace up ballet flats are gorgeous trendy shoe you will love to wear this Fall!

My favorite styles are pictured bellow but I also made a selection of different price options to shop for each of the three Fall styles I recommend to invest in.

Asos | Aquazzura | Office

What is the 70s trend which you plant to incorporate into your look this Fall? :)



XoXo


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August 8, 2015

Normcore - fashion's new buzzword.



"Normcore is a unisex fashion trend characterized by unpretentious, average-looking clothing. "Normcore" is a portmanteau of the words "normal" and "hardcore". The word first appeared in webcomic Templar, Arizona, and was later was employed by K-Hole, a trend forecasting group, in an October 2013 report called "Youth Mode: A Report on Freedom".


As used by K-Hole, "normcore" referred to an attitude, not a particular code of dress. It was intended to mean "finding liberation in being nothing special."However, a piece in New York magazine that began popularizing the term in February 2014 conflated it with "Acting Basic", another K-Hole concept which involved dressing neutrally to avoid standing out. It was this sense of "normcore" which gained popular usage."

I remember attending Milan Fashion Week few years back and by attending I don't mean taking photos in front of the show venues but actually going to see the show as part of my actual work schedule. There was an army of peacock looking bloggers stopping the anyways messy traffic to take the photo of themselves 'crossing the street' trying to have their boyfriend photographer catch the taxi as a backdrop, at the time that was 'a thing'.

In between the two shows I met with Yvan Rodic,  the blogger behind the Facehunter blog to talk to him about doing a project for my company and potentially attending local Croatia Fashion Week. I remember I was wearing a t-shirt I got in New York years back, skinny black jeans, high black heel sandals and a blazer, I also had a hat on, as you do know already I am a hat person and have a quit a collection. A person from an office in UK came to meet me for a show and we started talking and introducing ourselves to each other, when I said I was a fashion blogger for a number of years now (on a side with having a corporate job) she was surprised and said, Ouu my..I would never say, you don't look and talk like a fashion blogger. 
   At first I didn't know if I should take it as an insult or a compliment. She explained, you don't use word 'like' all the time and you are not dresses head to toe in weird clothes. So, I took it as a compliment.

In recent fashion forecasting reports and magazine editorials and articles I noticed the trend switch and more frequent mention of the word 'normcore'.

 Normcore is to be differentiated from a term 'basic bitch' which some bloggers derogatory use for someone who is unflinchingly upholding of the status quo and stereotypes of their gender without even realizing it. According to urban dictionary: "This is the person who engages in typical, unoriginal behaviors, modes of dress, speech, and likes. She is tragically/laughably unaware of her utter lack of specialness and intrigue." From my understanding, this would be the person who blindly follows trends and has no personal sense of style which makes him or her blend with the crowd.

With noticing more and more bloggers dressing 'normally' with a touch of uniqueness when it comes to jewelry or other accessory I can't help but wonder is blending in the new standing out?

I would love to hear your thoughts!

XoXo


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August 7, 2015

Super Simple Delicious Matcha Green Tea Ice Cream


When I lived in US my favorite Summer drink was Starbucks Green Tea Frapucinno, sadly, they don't serve it in Barcelona Starbucks cafes. Matcha green tea ice cream is actually a huge hit this year all over so it's being served at placed like McDonalds, Crispy Kreme, Haagen-Dazs and many others. 

Thus I decided to share a very simple 3 ingredient recipe with you which I tried and LOVED! 
You can buy green tea powder in any healthy food store or in Croatia order is from The House of Green Tea online.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup heavy cream, cold (240ml)
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) sweetened condensed milk, cold (76g)*
4.5 teaspoons green tea powder (12g)



PREPARATION:

1. Mix 4.5 teaspoons of green tea powder in 3 soup spoons of hot water and let cool.
2. Whip 1 cup of cold heavy cream until stiff (you can use hand mixer or a regular manual whisk). Heavy cream (sweet cooking cream) whip it to stiff without sugar.
3. Mix green tea mixture with 1.2 cup of cold sweetened condensed milk.
4. Add in green tea and (sweetened) condensed milk mixture into heavy cream and fold carefully until combined. 
5. Move the mixture to a container and cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 6 hours or overnight ( I left it overnight).

Extra tip: If you like your ice cream sweater add a one tea spoon of vanilla extract to mixture while whipping. I recommend to add raisins, cranberries, coconut or grounded almonds when serving the ice cream. 

I hope you really enjoy this delicious Summer treat! 


XoXo

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August 6, 2015

Trend Alert: Flare Crop Pant.


Even though I have a decent collection of pants and jeans I always somehow end up wearing dresses and skirts. When it comes to my pant of choice I go for skinny or lightly flared jeans which used to be very hard to find in my size which is extra long but not wide as I am 6'1'' tall. 

When I started working in office environment I opted out for dark wash high waist or light flair denim pants or cigarette pants but in recent two years I discovered that crop pant which I always feared as I thought they looked on me as if 'I had a flood at home', with being so tall....but I learned to love and wear them in different fabrications and styles with flats and heels and they actually do look very flattering on tall girls. 

Theory 

Paris Streetstyle

The pant of this season is definitely the culotte pant which has enjoyed quite a reign on the runways lately, so it should come as little surprise that fashion's next favorite pant wouldn't be too far off, actually in the Fall we will be wearing the cropped flare. Whittled through the leg and kicked out at the hem. Get ready to see them from Zara to H&M as high end brands like Giambattista Valli, Alexander Wang, Michael Kors, Theory, Derek Lam 10 Crosby to name the few have already showed them on their Fall runways.

I got my eyes on few of inexpensive and easy to wear every day versions from Hong Kong based brand Wnderkammer. 

Wnderkammer

Wnderkammer

Lyn Devon | Top Shop

A La Russe | Banana Republic

Are you wiling to try flare crop pant? See more fab pieces to shop bellow from $30 to $1000!


XoXo

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July 19, 2015

Quick Sunday Recipe: Chicken Orzo Summer Salad.


I love Summer not only for sunny vacation days on the beach but also because in Summer I get to eat all of my favorite fruits and veggies. I usually eat much more fruits and veggies then meats but in Summer for inexperienced chef like me it's so much easier to play with different fruits and veggies in combination with pasta and a little bit of white meat or fish to create wonderful, healthy and most importantly quick and easy dishes with not much time standing by the stove when it's anyways super hot outside.

Today I am sharing one of my favorite full meal salads - Chicken Orzo Salad with Goat Cheese.
Whenever I eat in a restaurant I tend to order some kind of salad and it's almost always with goat cheese which I adore so my friends already make fun of how predictable I am :)
Still, I think you will enjoy this one.

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July 5, 2015

Moving in a New Apartment.


This year my boyfriend and I are moving in two new apartments, we are finally furnishing our Summer home in Dubrovnik Croatia and moving into a new apartment in Barcelona, Spain. One was planned and one wasn't. :) 

SUMMER HOME IN DUBROVNIK
We hired an interior design company from Croatia to help us furnish and plan lighting at our Dubrovnik apartment which was purchased completely empty. 


As we are not living in Croatia the biggest benefit of hiring interior design firm was that we didn't have to be involved in all details our selves as contacting suppliers, ordering furniture, lightning, paint etc.  Dubrovnik is a small city where there are no major furniture stores so we had most items delivered from Italy or from Croatian capital Zagreb. 

We both love modern, contemporary design so we went for black and white colors in the whole apartment furniture wise, large open space living room-dining room looking at the terrace and kitchen  with an island in the middle (which I adore). In the living room we went with large, textured stone looking wall behind the TV with modern drop shaped fireplace.To break white and black tones we added glass and metallic tones in details and chandeliers. 

Now when all the work is (almost) done we definitely see the benefit of having the interior design team manage all of the tiny details which we ourselves wouldn't even think of, also schedule of lightning in the big apartment is super important and it has been done perfectly so that the whole apartment is perfectly light. 

APARTMENT IN BARCELONA
Although many of our friends live outside of the city both my boyfriend and I prefer to stay close to city center where are favorite restaurants, parks and places to go out are. We searched long and hard once we decided we are staying in Barcelona for at least three more years for a perfect apartment to live it as until now we were renting for three years. Finally, after seeing 7 or 8 great apartments we found a perfect one (read I found the one with a huge closet :) photo to follow in September when I move in).



Apartment in Barcelona is a smart home with a bit smaller rooms and custom furniture in black, white and grey tones. My favorite part of the apartment is large room closet and stone and ebony textures combined in kitchen and dining room.

WHERE TO SHOP?
For small house stuff like dishes, bathroom accessory etc. our go to place was of course IKEA and Zara Home for details. Next, we purchased some amazing pieces on very much discounted prices online on   Westwing (Spain only) and  Vivre (Croatia only). Since we are quite tall, both my BF and I we custom ordered beds, kitchen and all closets in Dubrovnik apartment to better use the space from wonderful company called  Centrala Interijeri and this cost us less then if we would have purchased each piece from the store. In Barcelona we managed to find big enough beds for us at La Tienda Home.


For great quality (not cheap) Italian furniture we looked at  Archi Products (delivered worldwide). We got great big black leather bar chairs at Lesnina (Croatia) and cute details on mobile app.  Fancy.com (delivered worldwide mostly). 

HOW TO SAVE?
We saved a whole lot of money buy reviewing the designer firm offers and then choosing the cheaper chandlers ourselves online as well as replacing designer furniture pieces suggested with more affordable ones. It's important to keep in mind how much time you spend in Summer home vs. where you live most of the year and invest accordingly.


Investment pieces on which you should spend more if you can are those you will use the most: bed (frame and matrace), sofa, dining table & chairs, kitchen appliances and laundry machine. All other you should look to save on if possible. This doesn't mean you buy anything, of course you look for quality but also look for discounts. 

Since I have been searching for great deals on home decor for a last year or so feel free to ask me any questions if you are in the same boat, I would be happy to help! :)

XoXo



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