More Snow

For a change, there is something to look and wonder at by the window - it's been snowing again!

I'm a winter child and cannot get bored by snow. I'm always amazed when it falls, the flakes never cease to amaze me, whether they are fluffy and heavy, or small and crystal-like.

I will never forget when I first realised snowflakes look like tiny flowers, standing in the sandpit in nursery school. It's one of my first memories and sense of awe I felt then will remain with me forever.

We took a walk by a small lake today and saw this mini-snowman, perfect in every detail!

This dress was soooo cheap, probably because nobody else thought it was actually wearable... The collar remind me of snowflakes. :)

Wearing: Invázió dress, thrifted hat, Topshop skirt (an actual pregnancy item), 

random leggings, Docs.

Recolour

I asked my Sister to take some pictures of me so there is finally a change in the background! She took some great pictures - the only problem is that I was shooting jewellery in a darker corner just before and forgot to change the settings... So the focus and colouring of the pictures looks a bit funny but at least they are interesting. :)























The jacket I'm wearing is the one I've exchanged the buttons on back in December - you can read about this awesomely simple DIY here!







































This bag was my Christmas present from my Mum, and to put it simply, I'm in love with it. :) The handles are leather (as well as the adjustable strap, which I took off for now), and the bag has millions of pockets and it's colours are just gorgeous... The girl who makes them really pays attention to every detail and the bag is beautifully finished. A perfect example of how much joy a handmade item can give you... This bag is truly special and so much more personal than a mass producted bag with a brandname stamped on it.























Meet my good old sweater dress which I didn't used to wear for years because I was ashamed of my funny curves and here I am, not only wearing it in public, but also posting pictures of it on the Internet. Blogging can work both ways - it can make you more self-conscious about what you wear, but it also gives you more confidence, in your style choices as well as in the acceptance of your shape. At least that's how I experience it. What about you?  

Wearing: the black thrifted jacket self-customised, the dress was a present from my Mum ages ago, the handmade bag is from Jojó Art Shop, hat from a Chinese shop, 

scarf and cuff from Brigitte Bijou, necklace and bracelet from Bershka, 

Calzedonia tights, Doc Martens boots.

Glamour in the City

Are you wondering how the hat goes with this outfit? Well, I didn't choose it to wear for myself, but carried it to a photoshoot I had the pleasure styling!

We had such a great time the day before with Gabi, the subject of the portrait/glamour session, working out her outfits and combining pieces of her wardrobe and clothes and accessories I'd brought. The main thing for me was to create looks she'd feel comfortable and great in - and most importantly, truly herself.
Here are some of the many great pictures Zsófi took that day.

Meet wonderful Gabi, with hairclips made up by me with flower pins I'd brought, after Zsófi's genious suggestion to use fallen leaves.

How gorgeous is the setting? No wonder we couldn't resist playing with the leaves!

(You might remember this overdress of mine from this guest post over at The Ginger Diaries blog. It suits Gabi so much better! :)
Here are some other pictures in another outfit - a darker tone in another great setting, a steep old street.

Zsófi is a brilliant portrait photographer - catching so much of Gabi's personality, and so many facets of it.

It wasn't the first time we worked together with Zsófi Raffay on a photoshoot and I sincerely hope there will be many others! :) Here's Zsófi's website and her blog, plus her Facebook!

I'm wearing: 

Promod trench, Takko jeans, Shoe Zone boots, Zara bag, Chinese scarf, Debenhams hat.
Gabi's wearing:
In the first look: Her own dress and shoes,  my overdress and trench, hairclips by mother nature. :)
In the second look: Her own dress, coat and scarf, and my Debenhams hat.

The Age of Magenta

This handed down flowy blouse is a big question mark for me. I love strange garments so its odd cut and sheerness wouldn’t be a problem. The problem is the „feedback” I got on it – namely that people think I’m older than my actual age when I wear this.

Everyone says we shouldn’t be concerned about the opinion of others. „Be yourself”, I've heard this so many times it sounds phony. Because the same people would then ask you to be yourself but… Look your best! Always! Look as young as you feel! You deserve it!

Uhm, what exactly is it that we deserve? Being constantly worried whether we’re perfect enough? Whether we bring out the best in our looks all the time?

I don’t think any woman deserves this. I have the right not to be beautiful, not to dress pretty, not to look my best. It’s tiring to bring the best out of ourselves in every little detail, and being tired is not fun.

There are so many things I could strive for apart from looking this way or that. I would like to be a kinder person, a more patient person, a more generous person, I’d like to lose much of my selfishness, I’d like to smile more and be less defensive.

So next time people say I look 30 in this blouse and instead of feeling the whole world come tumbling down around me and seeing myself like a wicked harridan in my mind’s eye, I’ll try my best and be patient and generous and smile.

And I’ll tell them I’m actually 20.

:)

Wearing: blouse: handed down, jeans: Takko, shoes: Vagabond, hat: small shop at the local market

A Day Away - Lake Balaton

On the train again!

Boyfriend and me went off for a day to see friends by Lake Balaton, the biggest lake in Hungary, simply called „The Hungarian Sea”. We’re a landlocked country, so obviously we all have strong feelings about this huge lake, as well as myriads of childhood memories. Honestly, the whole country holidays at Balaton.

The first glimpses of the lake. Our luck – a rainy day, with storms ahead… The sky was interesting though.

Lake Balaton’s prime years were in the 60’s and 70’s, up into the 80’s. The reason might seem strange if you’re unfamiliar with Eastern European history. When the Berlin wall was built in 1961, it physically separated two parts of the same country, Germany. Families, lovers were parted, forbidden to meet for years and years. Sounds absurd doesn’t it?
After socialist Hungary opened its borders for Western tourists, our „Sea” became the meeting point of East- and West Germans, who otherwise couldn’t have met up easily. It became a place where Germany was united again.

We went to see an amazing exhibition in this wonderful building, the Vaszary Villa, of video installations, where some of these long-ago tourists talked about their summers by Lake Balaton. Some reminisced about the happy, carefree cameraderie, others remembered finally meeting their father after years of separation, there were touching reels of old film, oozing love, showing a girl scene after scene, enjoying Balaton’s delights, and then there were the haunting stories of several people who were smuggled to West Germany after first travelling to Hungary.

These two cars, typical of the East- and West German tourists, a Trabant and a Mercedes, tied together with the Hungarian stripes, are an absolutely wonderful symbol of it all…

If you read German, here’s a link where you can see more:  http://www.hungaricum.de/balaton

Although this time we missed most of the summery delights of Lake Balaton, I still loved its overcast beauty and the stories at the German Unity at Lake Balaton exhibition... I'll definitely return...

Lazing in the Castle

What a lovely Saturday afternoon! We walked up to the Castle with Sophie and Eszter and played tourist, snapped some pictures and as it was really hot, just hang out looking down on the city.

OK, here I'm looking down on my shoes instead.

The castle district is like a journey back in time, most of the buildings have hundreds of years behind them. Some of them are surely haunted, like this one:

Striped walls, I wish they were still in fashion!

This lady matches her surroundings so well, I couldn't resist taking the picture.

Do you remember the stall with the handmade bags from my previous post? Well, check this out:

I swear I didn't have this custom made, still it matches the blog exactly with its dots and grey trim! I'm so happy I have a blog-bag. :)

A close-up with my necklaces (also handmade).

The owl ring Sophie gave me just because she thought I'd like it! Of course I like it! :)
Thank you Sophie, and for taking the pictures of me!

My skirt, Sophie's bag and dress

What I wore: Skirt: H&M, Top: Zara, Shoes: Humanic, 

Hat: Interestingly I have no idea where it's from, Belt: Reserved, 

Bag: Handmade from Gouba, Necklaces: Handmade from Jojó Art Shop