confession #000052

... or, making a statement

finally here it is! my second vlog! so excited about this one ... well, it was a long-ish journey to get to this one.  i actually started recording this some days ago, didn't realise my battery was flat so i was talking to a dead camera *facepalm* and then last night the video took absolutely ages to finalise! so here i am, at the crack of dawn (well, the sun's been up a couple of hours but i'm still dazed) posting my latest.

the vlog is mostly about statement necklaces, as well as a few other happenings in my life at the moment.  i won't spoil your fun ... just watch it now "in full technicolour". enjoy xx

p.s. all the opinions stated in this video or on my personal blog are my own. i am not paid for any mentions or positive reviews.

confession #000027

... or, the reckoning

now that i have somewhat come back to my senses after a much needed sleep and morning lie-in, after a late night flight from berlin back to krakow, i am fulfilling my two promises: (a) that of getting back to  my diet regime and (b) that of writing a bit more about my trip. 

so, starting with (a), this morning was back to a calorie-counted breakfast of crackerbreads, low-fat cottage cheese and soy-based sausage slices.  the latter might not sound very appetizing, but for vegetarians who were not brought up as such and who do reminisce about the tastes of ham, mortadella and salami, these are a very good - and tasty - substitute, with the advantage of being very low in calories.  luckily in poland there is this brand which produces them and i've recently discovered a health food shop close to the flat which supplies them so i've no excuse!  i do hope to manage through the day with this resumed stamina as i've a whole truck-load of cup-cakes to bake for a party tonight.  lord give me strength to resist the party food and alcohol!

looking back at my stay in berlin over the past couple of days, i confess that by the end of it, i was dead tired and just wanted to get home.  it's not that i don't like berlin. far from it.  but since i had only a few hours to spare, i hadn't planned any sight seeing of any sort and just strolled up and down friedrichstrasse ad nauseum.  yes, i did get nauseous at one point just aimlessly looking at clothes and trying them on.  i never thought it could happen but it did.  i'll admit that by my standards, i may have over-shopped, but it was mostly little things so hopefully i didn't blow my budget (i still have to do my calculations on that ...).  friedrichstrasse is excellent for shopping primarily because of its two main department stores - quartier 206 and galeries lafayette - which stock mostly designer and high-end brands.  to complement these department stores, there's about 3 h&m stores as i had mentioned, as well as brands such as esprit, gerry weber, massimo dutti and zara which may be more affordable for us common mortals.  there is also a cos store, which, admittedly, as a brand, i had never paid much attention to.  i ventured in and fell in love with their minimalist, easy style.  since one of my staple looks is a buttoned-up shirt peeking from underneath jumpers / sweaters / dresses, i couldn't stop myself from buying a scallop collared mock-shirt.  i could immediately envisage it worn with most of my outfits and accessorized with one of the statement necklaces i have.  

to give myself a little break from shopping, i walked up to checkpoint charlie which is one of the main landmarks in berlin's topography, and history.  there are still remains of the berlin wall in this area, and i actually came across a very strong open air exhibition consisting of murals on remnants of the wall.  these depicted the world's dictators, including muammar ghaddafi and kim jong-il, who, albeit deceased, their negative legacy is still very much present.  the exhibition is the type of art that i enjoy - art with a purpose, with a message to impart, art which triggers that uncomfortable emotion which shocks you out of the inertia of mundanity. the title of the exhibition itself - more walls to tear down - was very fitting.  this exhibition alone, made my stay complete. 

as you might have noticed, i've once again changed the look of the blog to a cleaner, fresher one, with a hit of neon which is something i'm obsessing about at the moment (more on that on another day!).  i hope you like it! but now, i'm afraid i have to get going with my baking or there won't be any cup-cakes for tonight's party.  

getting bored waiting for my flight to berlin

art, art everywhere ... even in the food presentation

nice and snowy berlin

a little treat for myself - macaron day at galeries lafayette did not help!

just 'some' of the haul

upper east side berlin, like walking on a gossip girl set (well, not quite!) 

gorgeous building on friedrichstrasse 

another gorgeous building, quite different from the one above, but which shows the melting pot of cultures and architectural styles this city can flaunt

murals on berlin wall remnants

such an evocative mural exhibition

keeping cosy at starbucks

not a landmark, but surely a sight synonymous to the city

studded collar and statement necklace - more is more

2 great days which resulted in my mind brimming with ideas.  my colleagues will kill me. 

victoria beckham dress at quartier 206 - the stuff of my dreams

this guy has style - neon lime socks popping out of a very preppy look

confession #000026

... or, breakfast like a queen

oh god, i've done it.  i've done that which i was so hoping to avoid doing.  i pigged out in that most typical 'maltese family at an 'eat as much as you like' buffet'.  and i'm feeling the worse for it. 

i've just got back from the breakfast at the maritim proarte berlin hotel where i'm staying for these couple of nights.  in all truth and fairness, the abundance and variety at this breakfast somewhat triggers you into indulgence.  whether you're a carnivore, herbivore, health freak or sweeth-toothed individual, you're sure to find something to tickle your taste buds. 

as a lactose intolerant vegetarian, i could have opted for soy yoghurt and soy milk.  instead, i decided to have one of my lactase pills which help me digest milk products and had my way with the 'real' dairies on display.  well, i did opt for the bio / organic yoghurt, goat cheese and brie versions ... but still.  tomorrow morning, i promise, i will opt for the soy versions - and other healthy stuff, i.e. less or no bread, more fruit, no fried mushrooms or baked beans ... and no pancake with nutella to end on a sweet note.  promise.  

as some of you know, at the moment i'm conducting a little find-out on where i should take this blog.   if you haven't yet answered my little questionnaire, i would greatly appreciate if you do so here.  from the feedback received so far, more outfit and travel posts are being requested ... so i'm going to be pro-active about it and let you in on a few travel points about this trip, as well as some outfit shots.  hope you enjoy them!

basically, this is the second time i'm visiting berlin and i'm lucky enough to be here for a practical seminar on social media which i need for my full time work, and which honestly speaking, interests me very much from a personal perspective as well.  i'm staying at the maritim proarte which is on friedrichstrasse - the main shopping street in berlin.  i couldn't have asked for a better location! the hotel is just a 5 - 10 minute walk from galerie lafayette and 3 h&m stores so i'm pretty much in heaven! 

having just a few hours to spare during this stay, i don't have much time to visit the sites.  i had done that about a year ago when i first came to berlin, though i must admit that in such a historic and culturally diverse city, i'm sure i haven't managed to cover them all.  i'll write an entire post on the 'must-go' sites in berlin another day as i soon have to go to register and start my first day of the seminar.  some little points about the hotel and its location though before i go ... the hotel itself is pretty fantastic:  the room i'm in has just about everything you can ask for (though i did request an additional, firmer pillow!) and the front desk staff are very kind and friendly.  i think the only thing i'm not keen on in this hotel is the over-abundance of art pieces which welcome you in the lobby and as you walk along the floors to the rooms.  i mean, i love art, especially modern and contemporary, but the sheer abundance of pieces, battling for attention, render it more of a cluttered art shop than a contemporary art space.  i'm not really sure which look the hotel designer was going for, but i suppose s/he wanted to live up to the 'proarte' tag in the hotel's name.  

as i said earlier, i'm here on work-related training, so while the atmosphere at these events tends to be a little more relaxed, an element of professionalism still needs to be retained.  that is why i chose to wear dark skinny jeans and a boxy tuxedo blazer for the first day.  i find the blazer-jeans combo to be such a 'safe' combination that you just can't go wrong with it.  i teamed these with my burberry brit vest - since i'm in the so called 'upper east side berlin' - and leopard print flats.  being (very) short, i could have done with some heels but lately i'm opting more for flats and saving heels for occasions which really call for them.  i decided to pull my hair in a low ponytail, to retain a little air of professionalism about the look (and not give much prominence to my more hipster dip-dye!).  also, i find that blazers tend to look better with hair pulled back or in a top knot, thereby emphasizing structured shoulders and making the look an altogether cleaner one. 

blazer: miss selfridge; vest: burberry brit; jeggings: suite blanco; leopard print pumps: h&m (i'm not proud of the black stockings peeping out but a girl needs to keep warm somehow!); leopard print earrings: h&m; ring: independent store

ok, it's actually time for me to start heading off to the welcome coffee but i promise to write more about this trip later today or tomorrow. have a good day my lovelies xx

confession #000025

... or, the sleep deception

i have a feeling that overtiredness and insomnia have joined forces last night.  despite having an early start to catch a flight back to krakow - make that two actually, with all the hassles of baggage pick-up, second baggage drop-off, second security control, and the occasional air pocket - i could not manage to fall soundly asleep, despite the obvious fatigue. the result is my being online since 04:30 this morning, sporting a pair of luggage sized bags under my eyes. 

in all fairness (and to my defence, in a way), i haven't been just aimlessly browsing.  the quiet morning hours can still be somewhat productive.  even though i have barely unpacked from yesterday's travel, i am already planning my packing for the next trip this wednesday.  i'm off to some work-related training which i'm very much looking forward to, both out of work and personal interest. another plus is the fact that it's in berlin - a city which i've already been to and quite like actually.  alright, alright, it's not up there with my personal top three: krakow (duh!), prague and ljubliana, but it's somewhere on the lines of london and brussels where, if you manage to avoid the tourist traps or the hustle and bustle of daily cosmopolitan life, you're in for a few quirky and interesting surprises.  

the weather for next week seems to promise some more inclement days, but (un)luckily, i'll be spending most of my days away inside.  ever since i discovered polyvore, i tend to start my travel planning there. i usually look up the one item which i'd be dead set on packing for the trip, and work the rest of the outfits around it.  i always try to find the exact items i own or, the closest to.  for instance, the black boxy blazer featured in the set below is river island, whereas the one i own is exactly the same but miss selfridge.  likewise with the jeans - mine are stradivarius, while these are mango, but they're essentially the same.  planning online first, allows me to make the actual packing procedure much quicker since i'd already know what to fish out of the wardrobe.  also, since it's still the early hours of the day, and the mister is still fast asleep (bless him!) i don't want to be rummaging around and wake him up. 

check out the individual items here

as you darling followers know, initially this blog was meant to document my umpteenth attempt at weight loss.  this journey is somewhat proving to be a tad more difficult that i hoped for it to be.  firstly, the regular travelling between poland and malta means that every time i go back to the motherland, i go back to lovely home-cooked traditional meals which are not necessarily diet-friendly.  mind you, i'm not complaining and if mum is reading this: please do not stop pampering me with your lovely meals! there is also the fact that certain things are just not found here in poland.  there's no pastizzi, qassatat, pizza tac-champs, mqaret, figolli, kwarezimal ... all things that i would usually not give much thought to, but when their availability is somewhat scarce if non-existent, become objects of unbridled craving.  after two weeks of indulgence, i find myself ridden with guilt at having sabotaged myself, yet again!

and this week won't be any easier.  airport / airline food, hotel breakfasts, buffet lunches and coffee breaks ... where can i find some discipline to stick to just the healthier, low-fat, low calorie options? can i buy discipline online? does it do next day - nay, immediate - shipping? whenever i'm having a hotel breakfast i catch myself sneering at the other guests around me eating yoghurt and fruit while i'm scoffing a buttery croissant after having already eaten a toast or some cereal.  where do they get that stamina to say no to trying just about everything on display? if anyone knows the answer, please do let me know ...