Budapest: The Gem of the Danube

When travelling to Europe, most people think to first visit London, Rome, Paris and Berlin. 

What they don't know is what they could be missing out on.

Situated on the banks of the river Danube, Budapest is a major European "must see". 

Blending Gothic, Neo Renaissance and Modern, Budapest offers an architectural and cultural journey only a few cities around the world have. 

I lived in Budapest for about 3 years, and go back a few times a year - it keeps calling! 

There I learnt what it means to be independant, how to manage my money (hum, yeah whatever, I will never learn that!) and there I found out what it really means to live! Trust me once you get a taste of this city, you won't be able to get enough!

Budapest is divided into two parts by the danube, namely Buda and Pest, connected by 8 bridges - each showing a different style. 

The two mostly predominant sights one has of the city are the Buda Castle (on the Buda side, of course!) and the parliament's building (on the Pest Side).

Worthy of visiting are Hero's square, the St. Stephans Basilica, the Aquincum area (the remains of the ones Roman Budapest), the Opera House, the Fishermen's Bastion, the many Baths (e.g.: the Szécsényi or the Gellért Bath), and.and..and..well there's so much to see! 

Budapest is not only home to many historical sites, it is also the home of the wild! It houses some of the best party places of the continent, and it represents the experience of a lifetime for many exchange students! There is something going on for all musical tastes, for all drinking tastes, and for all "wallet" tastes. Regardless of the day of the week, or time of the day, Budapest has always something going on, open air events are the hit of the summer, while the Ruinpubs are the everyday all year long must stop personal tipps: Szimpla Kert, Instant, Kőleves (in summer), and Ötkert (in summer) !

Some highlights you shoudln't miss are the Wine Festival every year in September (although not widely exportet, Hungary produces some of the most amazing wines you could drink, offering a great variety of Reds, for instance from Villány and Eger, and Whites from the Tokaj region), the Sziget Fesztival every Summer and the yearly Palinka Festival! 

Note: Palinka is a national drink, a fruit brandy which taste might take sometime to get used to - as it is really strong!

There is just so much more I could write about this city, but sooner or later I have to go to sleep, work is waiting for me tomorrow, or rather, it won't wait for me!

So all I have been trying to say is, next time you plan your city trip, keep in mind this gem on the Danube in Central Europe! And once you opt for Budapest make sure to "live the vibe" of the city and not just to visit it!

Good night !!

xx

Photo: The Parliament captured with my iPhone from the Buda Castle on April 20th 2014, a slighly rainy day. 

Ps: Below are a few links to motivate and help you:

http://www.budapest.com/

http://www.ucityguides.com/budapest/sights-attractions-tours.html

http://ruinpubs.com/index.php?id=ilbud

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buda_Castle

Style tip: my little blue must have!

I'm so in love with spring.. And can't wait for summer! Did you notice how all the stores are full of colorful, vivid, small accessories? It's so hard not to give in! 

I just bought this little purse today, and I have to say it will be my new can't live without! Who said we only need big shoppers?! I mean my basic needs fit this purse perfectly... My phone, my credit card, my id, random thrown in cash, lipgloss, and tissues! Perfect for an effortless street style! Can't wait to make it hit the road! 

Bag: Zara 

Denim; the never dying trend of the season(s)

Hello my lovely readers! 

Today´s post is dedicated to one of the few "it gets never too old" pieces: the Denim Jacket (and Denim in general anyway)!
I personally owe a couple; they take me flawlessly spring-to-fall and are easy to match! 
You can (almost) wear them with everything, whether pants or skirt, patterned or block, a denim jacket impeccably matches most of items in your wardrobe. 

But what is "Denim" exactly? For those who don' t know, well,  Denim is "nothing" but a hard cotton textile ;) 
You already knew that and are thinking "duh" I know what denim is?
Now, what you might not know is that Denim finds its origins in the city of Nimes in France and that the Nimes' residents initially called the fabric "Serge de Nimes", which was later shortened too "Denim". 
A lot of people often mix up Denim and Jeans (yup I also call it Jeans Jacket sometimes, but whatever, even though I sound wrong at times, people get what I mean!) - so let´s make the difference clear. Denim is a fabric, and Jeans is a garnment!

The word Jeans for instance is completely unrelated to the word Denim (as per its origins as least). The first denim-similar pants ("jeans") were seen in the Italian port city of Genoa. Genoa, in French, is called "Gênes" - see the connection? 
Well Genoa was more famous for the production of corduroy, the "predenim" material (as I call it), which the French tried to reproduce but did not succeed. Instead they created denim - or "Serge de Nimes". 

Of course the interpretation of the origin might not be 100% accurate, but I do see the pattern and sense in it.

Levi Strauss might have put into the market the jeans pants as we know them todY (initially used as work trousers), but I like to believe that without the old continent tres-chic´s nation (namely, France), maybe we would not know of this easy going street wear garnment at all. 

In the 60´s Jeans have been seen as a rebellious item (even James Dean had them on in one of his movies - "Rebel without a Cause" - an all time classic for me!), they could not be worn in theaters (even my Grandma, an elegant typical 60's lady, went all crazy on my mum whenever she had them!), and they were not part of everyone's wardrobe. Today even my Grandma owns a pair of jeans, she even owns a denim jacket!

Today this once labour class related material is being used not only for pants and jackets, but also for shoes, bags and..believe it or not...for couches as well! A talented young business man and designer named Dimitris Zoz owns THE IT Denim Atelier you should definitely pay a visit too!It is in Florence, Italy (I mean, where else?!) so it might not be close to you, but if you are in the region and can visit, believe me, his unique hand made products and trend setting designs are love at first sight!
There you might end up not only buying your next studded hot denim pants, but also a comfortable and fashionable denim furniture piece for your house! Want to know more? Open the following links and definitely take a look at when deciding what your next denim item should be and how it should look like! ;)
http://www.dimitriszoz.com/online/
http://www.dimitriszoz.com/home


As a brief footnote, here are some of my favourite pieces of the season:
From left to right, top to bottom: The top two ones are both light blue Zara denim jackets (both pictures taken from www.zara.com, where you can also directly shop them), Mango Messenger Denim Bag (picture from www.mango.es), Replay CLASSIN DENIM Jacket (from www.zalando,de), and Michael Kors Large Selma Zip Cluth (picture from http://www.neimanmarcus.com where you can also buy it!).  

And just as a note, here is my last addition to my denim collection, fresh from the store. ONLY Denim Jacket (picture from www.zalando.de)

I wish you all a lovely evening xx

NUTRITION: Organic; yay or nay? A brief personal thought

In the past few years I noticed an increase in products with a green "Bio" labels printed on them, in literally all Grocery´s stores I have visited, even at lower priced supermarkets such as Lidl or Aldi. 

At the beginning I thought this was pretty much about money-making, strategically well thought, expensively marketed products and I never really gave it a deeper thought. 

Recently though, as I started meditating more (you should definitely try meditating too! It´s such a great way to keep a positive aura, and keep the stress away from you:) ), I started to change my nutritional habits (less sugar, less trans fats, more proteins and healthy carbs) and decided to start taking care of my health. I am not "old" yet, but it is never too early to start. 

Attention to labelling increased during the past years, more and more companies now print exact labels in regards to ingredients and nutritional facts (e.g.: Carbs per 100g, Kcal etc). Regulations have been changing in Europe and North America, making it a must to list certain ingredients. 

The buyers´awareness of health has also been increasing, I see more and more people looking for healthier food around me and in stores. 
I believe I belong to this group of buyers. I want to see less chemicals in what I eat, I don´t want to eat a fully injected, pumped up apple - That´s why I, in a lot of cases but not exclusively, turn to Organic Food if possible. 

But what is organic food exactly and is it really a ? There have been lots of arguments as to whether organic food is better than non organic or not. Well, I believe it is and here are my top 3 reasons for this.

First of all, the regulations in regards to chemical usage in fertilizers is stricter, maybe you can´t completely avoid chemicals, but you can certainly choose to reduce them by carefully selecting what you eat!

Secondly, artificial food additives are a no go in organic food, this is already good enough of a point for me.

Thirdly, if you are a meat lover (I am not, but I know many who are!) you should definitely go for organic meat rather than non organic, at least in my opinion, as the animals are  grown differently and also fed differently. If you decide to kill animals to satisfy your appetite (ok, I do eventually eat meat too, trying to go down to no meat though...so this point refers to me as well) at least make sure that they are treated and killed with some remains of dignity, I think they do have sensitive souls too (even though a running chicken might not look like such a sensitive creature at first, I still try to keep my thoughts equal for all animals, no offence to anyone..). 

If you are convinced and want to take Organic to a further level, then go for small local producers of organic food, at least for some of your groceries. It might end up being slightly more expensive (if you don´t have that extra dollar, then just never mind, just go for non organic healthy stuff:) ) but at least you will be supporting the local economy in a way or the other. You might not change the world, but it is still a good deed isn´t it? 

Want to know more? Follow this link :)

http://www.organicconsumers.org/

Casually 50 - invited and clueless!

Hello my dear readers! 

I hope you are all having a blessed evening! I finally have some time to rest today. Yesterday was quite a long day! 

It started at 00:00 with a surprise Champagne toast at a relative´s house. A fabulous lady turned 50! Well the toast went by quite fast, I was in bed by 1AM. The waking up for work was a slightly harder part of the day. 

In the evening I even got invited to the birthday´s dinner, which started punctually at 6PM in a cute little italian restaurant in the German woods. A bit exhausting after work but such a great atmosphere and so much fun! 

I obviously had no clue what to buy a 50 year old woman. I wanted something casual and classy at the same time without spending too much money. 

50 is still an age quite far away from mine, and therefore I was quite unsure about what to do, but someone in the family came up with the idea of putting together a timeframed photo album with pictures of family and friends (old and new) as well as dedications from each one of us.

Yes, that was just right! I learnt that there is nothing better than a present which is intimate and personal! 

But hey, seriously, an emotional present needs to be accompanied by some substance as well, say whatever you want but regardless of age, every woman is happy to receive a "tangible and wearable" present for her birthday - I mean come on! SO here comes pt. II of the whole thing, the bling bling side of the story!

I opted for something simple and shiny: two charms from the Thomas Sabo charm club! 

Thomas Sabo has a charm for literally every occasion! Well, she loves shoes and music and guess what? Here are the two charms I chose:

Here is the link where you can find all the charms, this is also where I took the pictures from for illustrative purposes: http://shop.thomassabo.com !

Charms, necklaces, bracelets and all what comes with them are always lady-friendly and highly appreciated presents :) 

As per the outfit I had on, well, I had to think quick (yup, long day at work, and I was running late!) .. this was nothing formal and yet nothing too casual..so I decided to go for an effortless biker look, enriched by Buffalo Lace up heels and a faux leather jacket! In the below pictures I recreated the look for you :) I didn´t always find the exact same pieces I had on BUT the brands are the same, as well as the colours and the style - nothing better than a hard chick look to the end the day! 

Did you like the look? You can shop from the following brands:

Leggings: Mango

Top: Jacqueline de Yong

Faux Leather Jacket: ONLY

Necklace: ZARA

Lace up Boots: Buffalo

The pictures are illustrative and each is taken from the Brands´Website

I wish you all a lovely evening!