Sweet Tooth

I love baking. If I could I would bake the whole time, 24/7. I also finally bought some jars for my spices etc at IKEA, 4 pcs for 1,79 eur!! I love thrifty finds.

Today was the day I made my own iced coffee and it turned out quite tasty.

Here is how I did it:

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup espresso

sugar

ice cubes

some whipped cream for topping

Just pour in the milk, add the ice cubes, then the coffee and you are done! :)

Apartment Gardening

Last weeks were great! Not have only I been decorating my new home, we finally got the time to spent some time outside of it and went on some gorgeous trips. But what I love the most is my little herb/ flower garden which I hope will last long enough:

... basilicum that has seen better days, rosemary and something that smells like a citrus

 

...lavendel!

... a new tiny orchid (a present from my godmother)

... something

... and some succulents for my future terrarium

 

I love my garden.

Cooking alone ...

Yesterday was an incredibly hot day, so I have decided to make something light for lunch and since I LOVE bruschettas, I tried to make someting similar my own way :)

The ingredients I used were:

(serves 2 breads)

1 big tomato

1/2 onion

garlic (for taste)

1 tbs of oil

pinch of salt

some herbs

I have actually used herb salt, you can find it in supermarkets next to normal salt

Step 1: Slice the tomatoes and remove the skin (or you can keep it, I don't like tomato skins so I remove them) and chop the onions.

Step 2: Mix them in a bowl together with your salt, herbs and oil.

 Step 3: Make toast. I used my frying pan since our toaster is unusable at the moment ...

Step 4: Spread the garlic over your toast - just basically rub the surface of the bread with the garlic - or just chop it and add to your mix in the bowl

Step 5: Put your tomato/onion/herb mixture on the bread and enjoy! :) 

Hope you liked this recipe. I certainly did :)

PS: Do you have any fast tasty and cheap recipes?

Rifle Paper's Botanical Journals

This picture I found on Zu's blog

This Papercut Storybook Illustrations by Neiko Art - and found via I am Carisu

The cat is just so funny :)

My Favourite Dress

I bought this dress at Peacocks a loooong time ago (when it still existed in our city) and it is my most favourite one.

This bow headband at Dolly Darling

These pressed flowers by Cupcake's Clothes

This dress at Whitney Deal

This amazing textil design by bluebellgrey

Sneak Peek

This week is super busy. I have finally access to my new flat, but I had to clean it for the past 3 days to make it "liveable". Here is a little sneak peek on what is going on in my life:

My sister is spending her free time changing my blog design and I love it! It does look more professional now. And she is also helping me to clean the flat as well - big thanks to her and my boyfriend, who at least tried ;)

I am currently reading Three Men In A Boat. This is the second time I started reading it and stopped at the same passage. The book is very funny though and I am enjoying every line of it:

The surroundings of my flat are great, there are a lot of old people, green scenery wherever you look and the flat is super sunny. And there was this picture hanging on the walls which I intend to keep :)

We renaimed Joncey to Biscuit - my sisters think it suits him better. Btw, he is a little devil - he tries to look like an angel, but he definitely isn't:

And that is basically it.

New Family Member

I present to you: Joncey!

Joncey is a new kitten we just brought in from an old couple and he is a sweetheart. He was affraid at first, but since all cats love my big comfy bed, he is now unstopable and tries to destroy everything in reach, including precious body parts.

Update

I have been a naughty, lazy blogger

But I am back now. As for starters, I decided to update my 25 before 26 list! There are quite a few things that have changed and I feel pretty much awesome right now:

1. Move into a place of my own (any small apartment would do) - I am moving in this Saturday! I have never lived by my own before, so this is a big step for little me.

2. Find a solid interesting job

3. Read a book a month - books read so far: The Hunger Games Trilogy. That makes 3/12, 9 more to go ... Although I am terribly ashamed for the embarassing number 12 - I will definitely increase it

4. Dress more classy - I wear dresses now

5. Grow my hair long a dye it red again - the 1cm/month growth rate is really starting to piss me off, but at least they are growing and becoming healthier again

6. Get fit and lose at least 5 kg - there is a fitness center 5 min. walk from my new home, so I am affraid I can't pretend that I have no time anymore

7. Try out at least 5 DIY tutorials myself

8. Save some (a lot of) money - that means bye bye nail polishes and cute hair accessories

9. Improve my English

10. Bake something once a month - there were some cupcakes, and cupcakes and some more cupcakes in my previous baking excessions 

11. Surprise my boyfriend every now and then with original gifts

12. Eat cake for breakfast - God knows this was NOT such a great idea (maybe because I did it more than once?)

13. Have a picnic in the city park - the weather is too hot now, but I'll risk it anyway

14. Finish my origami bouquet

15. Embroid some kick-ass pattern

16. Attend a crafty workshop

17. Re-read the Greak mythology stories - I sort of started reading a book by some Frenchman, but couldn't finish it whole. But I guess this counts anyway, since I have read more than half of it :)

18. Get my ears pierced - 10.04.2012 right one; 13.04.2012 left one

19. Be an active photographer again

20. Wear more dresses - I have bought 3 new dresses

21. Spoil myself with a professional massage

22. Get a tattoo maybe? - hahaha. NO. Well, maybe. I don't know.

23. Go on holiday

24. Save all my photos on an external hard drive (would be a great present) - 16.06.2012

25. Spend one whole day in my jim jams - this is going to be more than one day, I can feel it in my lazy bones

Retail Therapy

This week has been very interesting on so many levels. It is finally warm enough to wear just dresses and some light sweaters. Also, my job got somehow more interesting - the less time I now have to spend there the more I enjoy it - especially the salaries. I finally managed to watch Doctor Who and enjoyed it. Also, I have fallen for retail therapy ... again. I love to buy things that I know will wear all the time.

I have for example bought these cute rose earrings:

FINALLY found some shoes that match the colour of my expectations and the heels are the perfect height:

Giuliana shoes from Humanic (29,95€)

My sister talked me into buying this case at H&M for my iPod, so I couldn't resist:

H&M case (7,95€)

And lastly, I bought a new dress, very 60's like ( I might finally get to make a "What I wore" post with this beauty), some more earring and hair accessories:

H&M dress (24,95€); H&M earring (4,95€); H&M hair flowers (2,95€) 

Hope you all had a nice weekend!

Ever since I started following The Dainty Squid, I became a little obsessed with nail polishes. And since it is so much fun, I also started to experiment a little with the decor.

 Now, most of the "deco" I tried were polka dots (who doesn't love polka dots, right?) They are super cute and astonishingly easy to make.

So I tried pink and gold (liked that a lot, although you can't see much on the photo)...

... brown and gold (not so much)...

 

... blue and white (baby blue, yay!)...

 

 ... and many many more which didn't make it to this post.

But since yesterday I have stripes on my nails, basically just because I seem to have lost my "dotting tool" (a pencil with a nail in it, what about that), and I sort of like it. It is different than the previous ones (although I have already had stars on my nails as well), and I think this patterns will appear on my nails more frequently. And the cute little flower ;)

 Today is a very VERY special day! Baggie is 2 years old now (how time flies!), but she will always be my precious little kitten.

And since it is a big deal for me, I prepared a little photo story on how we two met.

It was 30.06. 2010 afternoon, when we decided to take my boyfriend's dog out for a walk (they actually have 8 dogs, but only one is used for walks on a leash). The weather was nice and the birds were singing, what a perfect day! I now remembered that the reason I stayed for the afternoon was that I missed the bus back home (thank God for that!). 

As we were passing the local compost heap, we heard a tiny "meow". And then out of nowhere, this little black ball of fur appeared, no scared at all of us or the dog! There was another "meow" and I knew instantly - I am taking you home with me. (My boyfriend still accuses me of kidnapping her, but I don't believe she belonged to anyone - she was alone on a compost heap!)

 The next thing I remember is that I had to hide her a week, since the elders had a strict "no pets" policy at home (I am not proud of that period - I treated her like a little prisoner :( ) But as time passed by, everybody got used to her so well, that it still surprises me. Well, cats ;) 

 I have decided to name her Bagheera, since I find it to be quite a suitable name for a black kitty cat. The thing is, she looked like the ugly duckling - shaggy fur, crazy eyes, chaotic movements and the sudden jumps and runs ...

 ... but she grew out of it very soon. Her fur is so beautiful now, and her eyes are the only thing you can see when it is dark

 Baggie is still very curious ...

  ... and quite derpy as well ...

 ... but I love my little baby so SO much. She is the best and we share common interests - sleeping being our favourite one.

Happy 2nd Birthday Baggie !!!

Since I love cupcakes, I have decided to bake some myself last weekend and share the recipe. The dough is actually from a new cupcakes book I got as a gift and is super easy and tasty. 

Tiny Baby Cupcakes with Lemon Icing and Cream Topping

You will need:

2 cups of flour

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1/2 cup of sugar

2 eggs

1 cup of milk

6 tsp of oil

For the icing:

1 cup of sugar

4 tsp of lemon juice

and some double cream for topping

Yummy!