Cote d'Opal

Here are some pictures from Cote d'Opal and Calais. Beautiful, heartbreaking scenery and winds.

Paris, je t'aime aussi

I know, so many others said that before me...but how could you not say it! I feel like shouting it! And Paris answering me back: "Moi aussi, Cherie. Reste ici chez moi!" ❤❤❤

For someone (me) speaking fluently French, being in Paris for the first time it's like a dream come true. I know so much about France, Paris, french culture & co that being there felt like the place to be. The french je ne sais quoi, the incredible landscape of Nord-Est Coast (Calais), the langue like music to my ears, the charm of Paris are simply irresistible!

I know Paris it's big and touristy and crowded but being there gave me the feeling that it's worth spending a year or two...(Gasp). Luckly it's only 4 and a half hours drive. Hope to come back soon, really soon!

Masking tape

is getting more and more popular. Used as simple strip of color to creating more complex designs (as in the video) it's definitely a must have in every house.

Cross Red Tape

P.S. I just ran over to my local art and craft supplier

On finding my voice

Let's run away

I read a great article over on A Cup of Jo yesterday, where the mom and full time blogger, Joanna, speaks about a blogging as a career. I am reading her blog for years and it has always been a great source of inspiration. I mean interesting links, cool people, funny stories, cute babies, the latest trends in fashion, beauty, design and the list could go on. She has all my appreciation and admiration for what she does, for begging successful, for delivering a great content and of course for sharing her experiences with us.

Here is Joanna's advice for growing a blog. I copied it in bold below and wrote some notes to myself and to whomever landed here by chance.

People will like reading your blog—and you'll enjoy writing it—if you're true to yourself and your posts come from the heart. When you write a post, imagine your mom or best friend reading it. Does it sound like your voice?
No it's not exactly my voice as English is not my mother tongue. I am Romanian, start learning English when I was 12 (never had a passion for it) but I always loved Latin languages. I am fluent in French, perfectly understand Spanish and Italian. And above all, two years ago I moved to Germany and start learning German from zero. No wonder I am sometimes confused :)

Does the topic fascinate or inspire you?
Yes, of course. I am deeply interested in the things I share, or better said, I want to share. I want the blog to be a place of reflection, where I put down the thinks that go through my mind, where I collect things I like, things I want to remember and also to use it to improved my skills: writing, English, photography, photo editing, to build my self esteem, to let go of some old prejudices and so on...I am writing this very quickly without to much thinking otherwise I wont post it, I know myself .

Is the post clear and enticing and visual?
Visually I could work it out, but for being clear I writing I need more practice, I know :) I remember my friends telling me when I was trying to elaborate whatever "You know we love you, but get to the point!"

And because I am not a native English speaker, I had to look up enticing(there's no shame, learning is a lifelong experience). Mirriam nicely explained the meaning: to attract artfully or by arousing hope or desire. This is really something I should think about more often. Why others should read my blog? For now it's not an interactive experience for me (I put the questions, I answer). It's more having my own, little corner on the internet :) If there's some here just say hello. I would be happy to hear from you.

Do you have a point of view that's different from other bloggers? Write about what you love. I wrote a short interview about blogging here. As I've said before, I think everyone has an amazing blog inside them, or a story to tell, and I really encourage people to go for it. If you're starting out, best of luck! :)

Joanna Goddard from A Cup of Jo

You can find the entire article here. I know for sure I will come over and over back to it. Thank you, Joanna

Friday, 13

Happy birthday to me!

Let's ride this wave

I was born 28 years ago on a hot summer Friday night in a charming transylvanian town. Though I never gave importance to age nor numbers, today, this number seems pretty big (not to say old) to me. In fact whenever someone asks me my age I need some time think. Ahhhh twentyyyyyyyyyy...how much was that again? 26! already?! no,no, no wait. 12- 84! ahhhh...28?!? 

Yeap 28 it is! So welcome year 28! Hope you are bringing me something good!

Weirdest thing

I have an anonymous blog but I am afraid of posting because of what others may think about me.

Rainbow

Things I hate...

price tags on books.

Endless source of inspiration

Design*Sponge is more than a website is a platform dedicated to interior and product design, home cooking and DIY projects. They also feature designers, artists and everyone who has something interesting, creative, out of ordinary to show. They have a huge success with over 250000 daily pageviews not to mention the RSS subscribers and Twitter followers and they are definitely one of the trendsetters in home decoration and design online community.

My favourite sections are: sneak-peeks where you can see absolutely fabulous homes or working spaces of real people, DIY projects and the most fun before&after.

I want to keep this idea on mind: how you can transform white cold tones into milder ones with...black tea! I want to use this for big size passe-partout as suggested in the article! Quite handy, no?!

Photo from Designm*Sponge

Welcome Spring!

Instagram

Day by day it's getting warmer despite the weather changing very fast! That's a good sign, it's supposed to be like this! Oh hello spring! We've been waiting for you!

<3

(10/10)

Easter Reloaded

Instagram

This is the last post about Easter, I promise. As I am Romanian, my family and friends back home are celebrating Easter tomorrow and via Facebook I get slowly back into the mood. I am not that religious and for me Easter meant more new clothes from the Bunny, spring holidays and mandatory colored eggs.

Another old tradition from Transylvania is the "the sprinkle" (it's so funny, I don't even know how to translate in English). In rural communities on the second day of Easter the youngsters went through the village to sprinkle with water the women in the family and the girls they liked, offering their best wishes. The water was used as a sign of fertility and abundance. The boys received traditional Easter food (lamb, cakes) and of course colored eggs and strong drinks.

Nowadays it's used perfume instead of water and if you received on of the visitors you will have luck all year round. I liked it so much as a teenager because everyone was allowed to stay out late :)

And with this the Easter fever is over.

(9/10)