Cheer up and Rock and Roll

Never mind that I'm losing one shoe, I'm in a rock and roll mood!

Don't ask me which move this is though. :)

Believe it or not, I received this dress as a present when I was 12. I'm sure you have some relatives who only see you once a year. Well, mine must have thought I'm a proper, round adolescent girl. As the smallest in my class, I really didn't have the size and shape to fill in this dress... Till last year.

How many times does it happen though that you can wear one of your childhood dresses in your twenties? I'm enjoying it to the full!

I'm so happy to have found these steps! I loved the setting so much that taking these photos really cheered my day up - I'm feeling better about taking my own pictures now. :)

And I'm super happy with how this picture came out. For a change you can actually see my accessories properly. :)
For those of you who are interested in why I don't laquer my nails, it's beacuse of my job. I love polishes, but I draw and print, so the polish would be chipped in an hour and dissolved into oblivion in the next.

This is where I'm reminiscing about my teenage years. (I don't miss them, by the way.)

Dress: gift, Leggings: Chinese shop, Shoes: Vagabond, Belt and roses: H&M, 

Bracelet: Takko, Earrings with feathers: C&A, Big ring: small boutique, 

Silver plated copper ring: Jojó Art Shop  


OOh, I almost forgot again, I finally got myself a Twitter account! Find me @madelinequaint!

Illustrated Shoot - Haunted

The End

Drawings by me, trousers by Promod, sandals by Tamaris, top by Zara, bangles by H&M, 

necklace by my Mum, shirt belongs to my Boyfriend.

Special Birthday Guest

If you just thought "Oh my, she's gone blonde!", it's not me. :)
Meet Anna,  my sister whose birthday we celebrated yesterday!

Have you ever heard of a girl who doesn't like layered cakes? Well, now you have! Anna's birthday cake was a special walnut-hazelnut pastry with a vanilla sauce, called "the wasps'nest". I assure you no insects are involved in making it.

How much better is she at posing than I am? And she has fab legs... And fab fashion sense. Our styles differ, but not that much, really. See Anna's more refined take on polka dots!

Congratulations to Anna on her birthday, especially as she just won two Erasmus scholarsphips to study abroad, one to Denmark and one to Italy!

Here's her present to mark the day: a tiny silver Vespa to bring luck in Italy (and Denmark too:)!

Anna wears: Dress - New Yorker, Coat: New Yorker, Shoes: Humanic, 

Necklaces: both birthday presents :)

The downside of silver Vespas is that they don't carry you home and you still have to wait for the tram. Oh well!

Polka Dot Day

I always wear the clothes I photograph around Budapest, but I have to admit I didn't carry this cute little parasol into the city. I just couldn't resist taking pictures with it. :)

Today the sun couldn't decide if it wants to shine full on, speckle me with spots or hide altogether. Hence the strangely lit pictures, sorry!

I bought this dress after Christmas, severely reduced, and it was definitely worth it, I wear it all the time. Apparently many bloggers have it, but I only saw it's red sister on Marisa Violeta. :)

Portrait of a bookworm

If we're talking polka dots, I couldn't help bringing along some of my favourite childhood reads from the Polka Dot Books series. Klára Fehér's book is not translated into English yet, but it would be a great project to do, and it would make an amazing film. I've been planning learning scriptwriting just for the sake of this book. I still love "Bezzeg az én időmben", as well as Erich Kästner. This yellow book here is "Lottie and Lisa".

What amazing covers! I'm still in love with them. And probably being subconsciously influenced by the pattern to choose certain backgrounds...

In other news: I hope you like the updated blog layout with new sections to browse through! I've been pondering a FAQ tab too, or maybe an IAQ one would be more interesting, for Infrequently Asked Questions. :)
Any feedback on what's already uploaded and any further ideas or questions very welcome!

Oh, the detils: Dress - Zara, Tights - Calzedonia, Bag - Thrifted, 

Tiny parasol - It's been around for ages, I actually have no idea where it's from...

Pálinka and Broderie Anglaise

What is pálinka? The lovely, fruity, rich and very strong national spirit of Hungary. Why is it so good? It's made entirely of fruit, and fruit, and more fruit. What sort of fruit? Any and all types, really, from plum and apricot to walnut, quince, and all the berries you can imagine. Why am I writing about this? Because this weekend the famed Pálinka Festival, where all the distillers present their best pálinkas, is held in the Castle of Budapest, and obviously we had to pay a visit!

My favourite type, the "ágyas pálinka" (fruit-bed pálinka) is aged together with fruits - even more fruitier! Here, I am tasting a green walnut pálinka... Look at the colour, enjoy the rich scent, then taste! Wonderful!

Good pálinka has a culture, just like wine. I never used to like alcohol, but gradually warmed to wine and pálinka, mostly because of the work that goes into making them. Hungary is not a beer country, but we're really very good at wine. And pálinka. :)

But you might also be interested in what I wore, so here's a picture where you can sort of see all of me... (and a bit of the castle.)

If you wondered what Broderie Anglaise is, it's the embroidery technique used on my blouse, involving cutting out the patterns from the material.

This blouse was made by my Mother when she was younger, using an old pillow case. Can you imagine the care that used to go into embroidering pillowcases? I'm so amazed by the detailing on this ex-bedlinen. It felt fitting to wear it to an event celebrating practically handmade drinks.

Top - handmade by an unknown housewife, refashioned by my Mother, 

Leather skirt - thrifted, Leggings with holes - Chinese shop, Ballerinas - Vagabond, 

Clip-on earrings - handmade by me, Bracelet - by my lovely little Cousin,

Necklace that looks like a huge doodle by an annoyed child - Rossmann.

Invitation to Discuss and a Red Fish

Dear Readers, Picture Viewers, Random Blog Finders,

I proudly present the new commenting system on my blog, Disqus! You might have seen it over at Kendi's blog, or Sarah's, who actually helped me with some useful tips in installing. The most useful of them definitely being "don't panic". :)

I would like to thank each and every one of you who left me comments, followed me or e-mailed me so far, it's been a wonderful experience, starting blogging and meeting so many nicer than nice people all over the world! From now on, connecting will be even easier, it will be much easier for you to find my answers (or anyone else's) to your comments, and if you feel like, you can reply. That possibly means a start of a conversation! How great is that?

Hopefully the change to the new system will work fine, but please e-mail me if something doesn't seem to be working, or the settings aren't practical, or something along these lines.

To celebrate, let me include this picture Zsófi Raffay took of me last week, needless to say, she's brilliant, and this picture is so much more me than the photos I'm trying to snap of myself. The fish I'm holding is a recurring star in her photography, she hands them to her models to see what they'd do with it, sometimes with hilarious results. :)

Looking forward to reading your comments and answering them too! See you soon! :)