do-it-yourself: lampshade renewal

With the boyfriend moving in really soon, I decided to rearrange the whole appartment. Until now, I had the feeling my place was nice, but not really decorated in one consistent pattern of style, and that always bothered me. I just felt like a clean, simple style of furnishing with neutral colours would fit both me and Nick perfectly, so the last few weeks I spent my time redecorating, throwing stuff away and gaining ideas for our 'new' living space.

One of the things I def wanted to re-do was the lampshade in our bedroom. It probably is the most ugly and boring shade in the world, and it was quite challenging to figure out a way how to turn it into something nice. But finally I stumbled across this idea while browsing some blogs for ideas, and I loved it right away. 

Everything you need is an old lampshade (works great with egg-shaped shades also), some coffee filters and glue or tape (I started out with glue but switched to double-faced adhesive tape later on). One by one, fixate the filters onto the shade and let them overlap at the corners a little.

Continue until the whole shade is covered, and that's about it, done :)

This is what our new bedroom looks like, including the redesigned lampshade:

berlin calling!

Remember how I told you about our Berlin trip? Well, Whitsun is over now and we just got back from our little journey, we had a wonderful time and great weather on Sunday (it was all rainy on Saturday, thankfully it changed over night). Although we missed out on the huge variety of shopping opportunities (unfortunately, we weren't able to stop by Bershka, def a must-do for the next trip!), we enjoyed the time off lying in the sun at the Spree, sipping cocktails in the district Prenzlauer Berg and went out for dinner in Kreuzberg.

I didn't take as many pictures as I wanted to, but since our Sunday was really all about being lazy, there weren't too many occasions worth being left to posterity. Friday night, Nick's godfather and his wife celebrated celebrated their wedding with a dinner party, so we hurried up at the Zalando Outlet (which wasn't that great, at least for me, Nick got a jacket and new jeans) to be all dressed up by 6 pm for the welcome of the wedding party. I didn't take my camera with me, but I took some pics with my cellphone:

[Beautiful Mediterranean table decoration]

[The big moment of cutting the wedding cake (such a cute cake, all in pink & white)]

After the amazing delishious breakfast in our hotel, we went out to discover a bit of Berlin, these are all shots from Sunday:

[Sony Center at the Potsdamer Platz]

[At the Holocaust monument]

[I was pictured on a huge screen at the central station :) ]

[Showing off the whole collection ;) ]

[Can you guess how relaxing the day was? ;)]

what to wear: white for spring

Even though the weather reminds me more of fall than spring at the moment, I love wearing light and soft colours these days. My current favourites are pieces in beige and white, combined with golden accessories, fits every occasion perfectly!

Speaking of white clothes, I am soo in love with my white pants right now (seen here). I have owned these pants for years, but never (maybe twice in 5 years or so) wore them,for whatever reason, and this year they have their big revival in my wardrobe. While the combination of colours above is my favourite pairing, I also like the mixture of light blue and white:



Another 'white addiction' is my new blazer which I wore the first time when Nick and I went out for dinner a few weeks ago. Recently, I find myself picking out (and combining) very simple, 'clean' coloured clothes, I guess I just like the 'chic' that goes with it; such as the outfit below:

How do you like the outfits? Do you wear white a lot? Which are your favourite colours this season?

Pictures:

stylefruits.de

new love: mixed goodies

Since my sister had a rugby game in Bremen last Saturday, my mom came along with her and met up with me (I took the train from Hamburg, takes a little more than an hour) to just spend some time together. My mom lives in my hometown Meppen, which is about 300 km away, so I hadn't seen her in a while and I enjoyed our get-together a lot. Of course we took the chance and went to Primark; and although I had been there a few weeks before, I found some really cute pieces. As you can see, I also added a few things I had bought at different stores the weeks before, just give you an impression of what my wardrobe looks like...how do you like my newest purchases?

[Black quilted makeup bag from PRIMARK, love the little diamond on the zipper]

[Nude colored sandals with golden highlights, can´t wait to wear them during summer!]

[Studded bag from PRIMARK, I've been wearing it nearly every day since I bought it...]

[Black sandals with golden highlights]

[[Golden peeptoe flats from PRIMARK ]

[Scarf with leo print from BIANCO ]

outfit: plants & flowers

If I were asked to name the most beautiful spot in Hamburg, it definitely would have to be 'Planten und Blomen' (Low German for 'plants & flowers'), a park right in downtown Hamburg close by the train station Dammtor. Once you enter the park, you find yourself in an oasis full of blooming trees, gorgeous flowers, hilly meadows and small trails leading through bushes and over tiny creeks; just so gorgeous!

Anyways, Nick and I went to Planten un Blomen to relax last Sunday, and besides that, I really wanted to take some outfit pictures there, since its such an amazing location. I wore my new t-shirt which I found at Primark the day before, paired with destroyed jeans, and I LOVED the combination, perfect for a chilled day where you wanna be comfy but still fashionable. But, make up your own mind...here are the pictures, certainly won't be the last time I will use this location for an outfit shooting!

                                             

                                                      

shirt: PRIMARK
destroyed jeans: NO NAME
shoes: DEICHMANN
sunglasses: NEW YORKER

a night out: strand pauli

Last Friday, Nick's friend invited us to meet up with her and some other friends at a beach bar called Strand Pauli right beside the harbour to celebrate her birthday. It als was a farewell party, since she is leaving for Australia today. I had not been to that beach bar before but fell in love with it the moment we entered.

Cute little sunshades made out of palm leafs, loungers and couches with blankets to keep warm while watching the illuminated ships in the harbour, a wooden plank with torches around it to guide the way through the sand over to the huge bar and roofed seating area, where you can order cocktails and drinks but they also have some easy dishes on the menu (even something for breakfast I think..). With summer coming up, I will definitely return there soon again for some drinks or a lazy Sunday afternoon...

Still haven't really figured out the best way to take night shots with my camera, but here's at least a little glimpse of the harbour, and what I was wearing that night:

Do you like beach bars for summer? Have you ever been to a beach bar or even been to Strand Pauli? If you are ever visiting Hamburg, definitely leave some time open to get a drink there!

top / necklace: H&M
pants: JEANS FRITZ
leather jacket: ZARA
bag: PRIMARK


recipe: mixed salad with barbecue prawns & special cocktail sauce

I am a huge fan of fresh, healthy salads with all kinds of toppings, especially for dinner when I'm hungry and not in the mood to spend too much time in the kitchen. I'm sure all of you know how to prepare a salad with prawns, theres nothing new to that, but after trying some different dressings to go with it, this variation of cocktail sauce is my all-time favorite (works also great with chicken)...give it a try, and I'm sure you will love it!

Here's what I used for the whole meal:


- mixed salad (I often only use marche)

- tomatoes, cucumber, corn (whatever you like

with your salad)

- frozen prawns (I love prawns with herbs;

this time I used barbecue prawns)

- cocktail sauce

- plain yoghurt (I used about 150 gr. for myself)

- herbs (even though I love fresh prepared ingredients,

the mixture seen in the picture below is just perfect for this dish)

- balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper

Start by washing the salad, then cut the tomatoes and other ingredients and toss everything together in a bowl. For seasoning the salad, I only use a splash of balsamic vinegar and olive oil with a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook the prawns and put them on the salad. For the dip, stir the cocktail sauce with the yoghurt (at a ratio of 1:2, or maybe even 1:3), season with herbs and keep stiring until everything is mixed well (should be a somewhat light salmon colour by now).

Using a spoon, I put a blob of dip on every bite of prawn and salad (right on the fork, instead of mixing up the prawn salad with the sauce; that way the aromatic flavour of the dip is being preserved nicely)

 And that's it, ready to eat! Enjoy! 







Berlin for Whitsun

Juggling my everyday life between college and job can be pretty exhausting sometimes. Thats why I love to have events coming up in the close future which I can look forward to; keeps me in a good mood and makes coping with daily chores a lot easier. So naturally I was psyched when Nicks (the bf) parents asked us a while ago if we would like to visit Berlin at Whitsun since they had originally booked the trip but wouldn't be able to go.

  

Being the little perfectionist that I am (...lets say for every other topic than preparing for exams and cleaning my apartment, haha) I instantly started collecting ideas for activities and spots to look at. Berlin has such a huge variety of wonderful things to offer, way to much to look at in barely three days.

While I'm still 'on the hunt' for even more items which could be put on our traveling agenda (both of us are not really into hardcore sightseeing, so its actually more a shopping and restaurant agenda), I would like to share some of my personal Berlin favourites with you guys:

Bershka

I've been wanting to visit a Bershka store so bad, since my friend Annemarie told me about Bershka when she went to Poland a while ago.

Tony Roma's

The seafood on their menu sounds amazing, I love all kinds of dishes involving prawns or shrimps, so delish!!

Beach bar Berlin-Mitte

Since the stores are closed on two days of our three day stay,

I would love to relax at one of the many beach bars on Sunday

(praying for nice weather that weekend...)

Zalando Outlet (!!)

Do I need to say anything more?

Can't wait, yay!!

 Amrit/Mirchi Bar & Restaurant

I've already been there twice a couple of years ago, the cocktails and little Indish fingerfood dishes are soo good and the atmosphere is just really summery and relaxed, perfect for a long warm night outside.




Have you ever been to Berlin? How did you like it there? What did you do while staying there? Do you have any recommendations regarding shopping, restaurants, bars/clubs, etc. ? If so, let me know right away !!

Pictures:

http://www.stuzubi.de/typo3temp/pics/karriere-messe-stuzubi-brandenburger-tor_8922da8c37.jpg

http://www.mode.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/bershka.jpg

http://www.bloomsburys.de/imagesbo/products/502x237/img_carta_tony_05.jpg

http://www.strandbar-mitte.de/strandbar/index.html

https://www.zalando.de/outletstore/

http://www.google.de/imgres?um=1&sa=N&hl=de&biw=1280&bih=841&tbm=isch&tbnid=CS_IkwOrYBmjDM:&imgrefurl=http://diginights.com/location/amrit-berlin&docid=M8CdN_YmXcIEEM&imgurl=http://static.diginights.com/uploads/images/location/a/m/amrit-berlin/preview_image3-default-1.jpg&w=600&h=399&ei=hI-DUfRfxuK1Bsz2gZAK&zoom=1&iact=rc&page=1&tbnh=135&tbnw=193&start=0&ndsp=30&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0,i:163&tx=109&ty=45