Challenge

My amazing friend M challenged me to give 10 facts about myself and then answer 10 questions she provided and since I loved reading her answers, here are mine :)



Facts:
1. I've become completely obsessed with my nails and nailpolish in general. I now have all these topcoats, undercoats and a wide range of colors. I don't think I can go to a beauty store without buying a new color. Just yesterday I bought a polish in "black diamonds" color and as soon as I finish this post, I am going to do my nails :D


2. I love all things Nordic. I'm obsessed with Swedish novels (Girl with a Dragon Tattoo series) and TV shows (Wallander). I've watched the entire Danish drama Borgen with subtitles and loved it. I constantly talk about Finnish food - rye bread, the butter, the salmon and the deer and Finnish cottages. And I love to follow blogs of girls that live in Sweden and Finland. (M :))


3. For the past year I've been really keen on the idea of having as little as possible. For example - clean out my closet to leave on the key, quality pieces and learn how to mix and match things so well that I only need to pack several things on a trip. That has also led me to pre-plan my outfits which I've never done before!

4. I really like to be outside. For me, even ten minutes of fresh air can make a huge difference for the day. Hiking, jogging, or just walking around is my favorite.

5. I really love to read but I'm often bad at finishing books. I will start three books at the same time and keep them by the bed and I can never clear that area because I'm always "in the process" of reading them!

6. I always have at least 25 tabs open on my Google Chrome browser. It's a combination of university pages, streaming movies, tv shows, news articles, youtube clips and always my gmail.



7. My current background photo on my laptop is a photo I took with my DSLR camera - a closeup of berries in a winter background. I love taking photos outdoors and it makes me happy when I create something that I can look at for a long time.


8. When I have internet, I always spend at least 5 minutes a day on instagram. I follow all the fashion bloggers and trendsetters, as well as all the fashion houses and brands and it's a very quick and visual way to see get inspiration for outfits and all things fabulous. I have to add here that I also like looking at pictures of food :D

9. I am very conservative with my accessories. I wear the same watch, rings and bracelet all the time. Once, I love something, I love it. I keep telling myself to get more accessories but when I get to the store, it's so hard for me to find something new! So I end up wearing the same things all the time!


10. Travel is my oxygen. In 2013 I plan to travel to at least 5 new countries!

M's Questions:

1. What music are you obsessed about at the moment?
This is hard..my music choice depends on my state of mind and what I'm doing. I love to find music that noone else knows about. Usually the songs are really unique and intense. I am constantly obsessed with Florence and the Machine, any remix that has beautiful vocals and a sick beat, Adele when I feel like singing along, any Clint Mansell soundtrack when I just feel like music without words. I've had Santigold's "Disparate Youth" on replay as I've been doing applications :) (Also, sometimes I like to listen to girl power stuff like Ciara's "Like a boy" or life power stuff like Jay-Z's "Onto the next one")

2. Where do you see yourself in 5 years from now?
In a beautiful apartment in Europe, with a lot of light, beautiful cups and glasses and a teapot, with cozy furniture and tooons of books and art, doing what I love and having a lot of traveling planned. I would get a coffee machine so I'm always ready for M's visits. :D

3. What new language would you like to learn?
I am like 50% through French and 10% into German, so I should probably prioritize at least a little advancement on those.. but I would absolutely love to learn Spanish.

4. What's your biggest dream at the moment?
To create a lifestyle where I can see the people closest to me as much as possible, while also traveling and discovering new things all the time.

5. How do you like your eggs? (lol)
Ha! I am an egg lover. I like them boiled (that's usually my breakfast), poached (I am not good at making poached eggs, but restaurants are!), fried (this is embarrassing but I actually dab my fried eggs with a napkin because I don't like too much oil) and omellette if I'm having a big brunch after a big party night :)

6. You just won the first prize in a competition organized by a traveling agency. You get to take your best friend with you and travel to whatever destination you wish. Where would you go and why? How would your friend's preferences affect the choice of the destination?
Oh, this one is easy. Iceland. Because my best friend and I already decided that we would both love it there. I wouldn't go anywhere she wouldn't want to go and I wouldn't want to go anywhere I didn't want to go, but the world is big and we have tons to explore!

7. What would you cook for a dream date?
Honestly this one depends on the setting for me. If this is in a warm location - then grilled fish, vegetables, light salad and cold dessert to serve with white wine. If this is in a cold location - then bake meat with potatoes, vegetables baked in a sauce separately, bread and guacamole and olive oil as appetizers and hot, freshly baked dessert with red wine.

8. What's your relationship like with chocolate?
Very intimate. :D I absolutely love dark chocolate. I sometimes eat white chocolate, never milk chocolate, but the dark.. ohhh my. When I was studying for exams my mom bought me a chocolate as big as my pillow and I nicknamed it the exam candy :D I can even admit that I always, always have dark chocolate in my purse. And I have now discovered how tasty it is with a cup of latte.. As M once said: "there are coffee days, there are chocolate days.. and then there are days when you can have coffee and chocolate.. and those are the best" :D

9. Light or dark shades in nail polish? Why?
:D See my Fact #1! Right now I'm wearing light pink, but soon it will become diamond black. I often wear shades of red because my outfit is always some combination of black and gold with red lips so red nails are always perfect! When I feel edgy, I like very dark colors or very unique colors (like a purple grey that looks awful in the bottle but somehow really cool on the nails).

10. Let's say you're going out with your friends next weekend. What kind of an outfit would you put together?
I have to start with the shoes. I would either wear my new black suede Michael Kors pumps because they are the highest shoes I have and they just go with everything or the Zara golden pointy toe shoes because they are a combination of gold, burgundy and black and sooo comfortable. Then I would wear a dress. Mostly because I don't get to dress up that much, even in clubs, so if I was out with my best girlfriends, I would feel confident and fun and I would wear a dress. I would love to have a golden dress actually and try to pull off the greek goddess look. That's been my dream!





Weekend outfit

A little bit of black.  A little bit of gold.  A little bit of badass. ;)



Sketching the dress

M had an idea of a tuxedo-inspired cocktail dress. Black and white, with a sexy collar and a sexy back, not too long and form fitting. Sounds easy enough to sketch, right? :D

The top part of the dress was the hardest. I would start with something very revealing and then slowly add more material but not too much. Then I would look at a male tuxedo and see where I could add those elements.  Some of them turned out more formal than others. 




                                                                What do you think?

Mirror, mirror

I have to be honest, I have really been struggling without having a proper mirror and light at home. I've moved my mirror around the apartment so many times and still can't find a good place to take a photo of what I'm wearing!

So I've been resorting to change rooms, bathrooms, glass walls, elevators... or in this case the mirror in my friends hallway :D Who would've thought that having a proper mirror would be so difficult? :D I'm working on it!



You can tell I am wearing my big warm scarf a lot these days. I think it's because the rest of what I'm wearing is not very warm so I tell myself that if I wrap this big wool thing around me, it will keep me from getting sick while I run around in short skirts in the winter :D Silly girl.

Details

Patent leather. Gold accents. Pink Nails. Love :)


Summer purchase in the winter




What's red and suede and bright and has gold accents and makes me happy? My new clutch!

I first saw this bag at Aldo in the summer but decided that I don't "need" another clutch. But soon I found myself back at the store, looking for it and alas, they sold out! Little did I know that they will be in stock again in the winter and on sale ;)

And since I am so happy with this purchase, just one photo wouldn't be enough :D





Ready, set, SHOP!

  One of my favorite things during the holidays is strolling through the department stores and shops. I love the festive spirit and the Christmas decorations and the fact that it's perfectly acceptable for everyone to be spending time and money shopping ;) Of course we're supposed to be buying presents for our loved ones but it doesn't hurt to admire some lovely additions to your personal collection :D

I just love walking through and looking at beautiful things, trying them on and dreaming about outfits, parties, holidays.. Somehow there is something magical about this time of the year!

...unless it's Sales time. Then it's just MADNESS! :D







Scarf & Boots





The last several days have been really cold. You know when you wake up the morning and your bed is so warm, and you just kind of stick out your nose from under the covers and you just cannot imagine that someone is making you leave this wonderful warm place when its so cold outside?

I usually lie around for another ten minutes trying to think of what to wear (a complete excuse to stay in bed longer ;)) So this morning I decided that unless I am bundled up like a doll in a big warm scarf, I refuse to leave the house :D Oh, and these are my new boots! ;)

Estee Lauder newbies




After months of search and wait, I finally have my powder. Whew, what a process that was :D
I have to say thank you to my lovely friend in Vancouver who got me the Estee Lauder powder and liquid eyeliner with a big discount :) I've already used the powder today and I love it! 



Food Adventures Weekly

I used to capture my food ALL the time. I was one of those people with the big camera and the iPhone who would make everyone wait before eating so I could get "the perfect shot" :D I get teased about that a lot. At dinner one of my friends will always say: "WAIT! Nobody eat! Larisa hasn't instagramed yet" :D

I'm a little more tame now, but I still like to snapshot my culinary experiences!

1. Homemade Guacamole - simple and divine!


2. Grilled Salmon Salad  - I rarely eat meat, even when I go to restaurants and salmon just always sounds so delicious on the menu!


3. South Indian -  My first time trying this type of food! This was a completely vegetarian meal with a lot of beans, lentials, potatoes and other veggies, so of course you have to have some carbs like rice to balance it all out. The coconut chutney (basically a coconut sauce) was my absolute favorite. Yum!