“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

- Paulo Coehlo, The Alchemist

I read this for the first time five years ago, when I started high school, and it stuck with me. Fate, luck, blessings, karma, we all believe in something. My 20th birthday sure felt like a blessed day. I always had this idea about me shooting next to an oleander when in Greece. Couple of years ago, I missed this opportunity when I visited Thassos. This year, one day before my birthday I found in Rhodes the last Oysho dress I've been dreaming about all summer at  50% off.  'All I need now is a tree' I told myself and the next day, there I was, walking on the magic streets of the Old Town when something pink caught my peripheral vision. Not only it was the biggest and most beautiful oleander that I've seen in Rhodes, but it was also on a quaint street, away from the tourist cram. Whenever I look at the photos I remember Stephen Chbosky's brilliant line from 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' and I swear I was infinite.

♪ Moonlight Breakfast- My baby ♪

Oh my, summer is over and I just can't believe it! I've had the worst last day of summer this year with some unexpected health issues but I'm well now. Before the health scare I had some amazing days though: I had a slumber party with my best friend (= movie marathon, playing lots of cards, cocktails and delicious pizza), lots of night rides, saw 'Paper Towns' -it's the only book by John Green I haven't read and I loved the movie, although I read that the movie is disappointing compared to the book aand: I got to see my favorite Romanian band play live- Moonlight Breakfast. I was so excited and they were magic, it's such an exhilarating feeling to know all the lyrics by heart and be able to enjoy top quality music!

Just one day before the concert, I got a very special delivery: my JORD watch! JORD is an incredibly creative company that designs wooden watches . When they contacted me for a collaboration I was over the moon because I've wanted a wooden watch for some time and I thought it was the sweetest way to mark my 20th birthday. I chose the 'Ely Maple' , a timeless and feminine piece. When I received it I was most surprised about its lightness - sometimes I forget I have it on my wrist! I also fell in love with the the type of wood they use for this model- maple, so suave.

I admire everything this St. Louis born company stands for- they chose one particular path in the watch industry- the wooden watches and they never stop creating new shapes, finding new types of wood and dying their models in vivid colors. It's true I chose a neutral tone (you know me and my obsession with nude shades) but you should check their Wooden Watches For Sale to see their scarlet red ones, so alive and playful! I also love the attention my watch has gotten, everyone is surprised to see a wooden watch and couple of my friends actually started wishing to get one as well- should I hope for a 'Wooden Watch Club' in the near future?

The Medieval Town of Rhodes is one of the most enchanting places I've ever visited! It has about 200 streets with no names, so it was a real pleasure getting lost there a couple of times (although mom was genuinely scared). Most of the times you'll get around thanks to the many maps they have in the city, but in case you panic you can ask for the Sokratous Street, which is their main street, with tons of souvenir shops, local furs and leather stores. The old town has ten gates, and I recommend you enter it via Amboise Gate, the one near the Palace of the Grand Master because it's near the New Town (the high street shops are 5 minutes away from this gate) and you reach the top of the Sokratous Street, so the only way is going down the hill, which makes for a casual walk. Once you've reached the end of the street, and you're at the Liberty Gate, you can exit the Old Town and you're in the port. Couple of hundred metres on the seafront and you're at the place where the famous Colossus of Rhodes used to be- now there are two towers with dears which show where the feet of the Colossus used to be- I was genuinely impressed, especially because I was obsessed with the seven wonders of the world back when I was nine.

I've included an overload of photos in this post, because there are so many beautiful places I discovered on the quaint streets, so I really felt like I should share my travel tips with you, as always. The ice cream in the Old Town is divine, it's the first place where I've found orange ice cream and I swear it was like a frozen orange fresh, so good. Also, I've seen the most incredible garden: Sokratous Garden, a place with lovely greek deco, great beverages and an impressive amount of orange trees, lemon trees, mostly every tree viable in Greece you can imagine. I've included travel notes above most of the photos in this post.

Fashion wise, it was a really hot day so I chose my white Zara skirt because of its light fabric and my new nude sandals. I've had the hot pink top for two years now, yet I never had anything to match it with until this summer. Of course, you don't stand a chance without having a hat on in the sun, so I wore my new hat, the one I wrote about here.

♪ Parov Stelar - The Sun ♪

I've just started to sort all my photos from Rhodes (I didn't realise I took so many until a couple of days ago my iphone didn't let me take any because my memory was full)- the thing is Rhodes is so charming, full of beautiful beaches, rocky mountains, astonishing trees that it's hard to resist the urge to snap everything you see, and I'll make sure to post the travel photos in the next posts.

We stayed in Ixia, a really popular resort which is near the capital, so every night we'd usually end up wandering on the quaint streets of the Old Town of Rhodos. Ixia is most known for the powerful waves the Aegean Sea has in the area, so most people choose it as a destination for windsurfing. Therofore, you can't really swim for a long time because of the water currents, but that doesn't mean you're going to have a bad time if you don't know how to surf! Me and my family made up a lot of fun games, like fighting with the waves, who can stay more still without being carried by the waves and it just doubled the fun! Of course, the Mediterranean Sea in Lindos is so quiet and clear that we rented cars for two days and went to the beach there, because sometimes you need a good old-fashioned swim (more on the city of Lindos in a future post).

As for my beach attire, every year I promise myself I won't buy another beach dress. This year I couldn't help it either, because I finally found my dream dress: a butterfly shaped one, white, with adorable details and a really good price from Marks & Spencer.  As for the hat, I was going to "Mission Impossible : Rogue Nation" with my family two days before we left for Rhodes  and I was complaining how I never find a summer hat. Two minutes after this talk, we pass the C&A windows and I see it. After the movie,  I rush to the store and it's nowhere to be found, except on that mannequin in the window. It was a whole adventure, because it was the last one and it didn't have the tag so they had no way to scan it. Fortunately, they managed to find the code in the end and I have to say the hat saved me from the unbearable heat we had in Rhodes! I got the sunnies last year from Accessorize and I still adore them and the swimsuit is from Oysho.

♪ New Day- Jay Z & Kanye West  (Watch the Throne)♪

I've always loved birthdays, but I have to admit I was freaking out a bit about my 20th. I finally feel like it's the absolute end of the teenage years (funny now, what should I do about the name of the blog? When I started it in the 9th grade I was like "I'm gonna name it 'Teen Fashion Diary' because most likely it won't last more than a couple years"). Young adult life: ON. I live far from my family now, I'll have a car with me at the university starting this fall, I have to cope with being on the budget and focus on my studies. 

Fortunately, turning 20 was actually an incredible experience: it was on the last day of my holiday in Rhodes: I had a good swim in the morning, an amazing lunch with my family at my favorite place in Ixia, Elysee and a long walk in the old town of Rhodos where I did a special shoot (you'll see it soon, you know how I love to mark my birthdays on the blog with photo shoots).

And the most unexpected thing about my birthday: the gifts. I usually post one photo on Instagram and that's it, but yesterday I was in the mood of taking photos and nobody ever wants to model for me (yes, lil' sis, I'm talking about you) so I ended up taking these shots.. You see, this year even my parents and best friends gave me my birthday gifts with a month in advance- and I'm grateful because I got to use my iphone 6 an extra month of my summer vacation this way. Before we took off for Rhodes, my cousins came up with a surprise: they got  me 'Fangirl' by Rainbow Rowell and some amazing 'Game of Thrones' posters. Rainbow Rowell in honestly my favorite author at the moment and this book is perfection.What never ceases to amaze me about Rainbow Rowell is that you can always find yourself in her main characters. Still, Cath, the heroine of 'Fangirl' remains the one I can relate to most: maybe it's her sense of humour, or the 'Kanye emergency parties' she throws, or the fact that she writes fanfiction with an astonishing devotion and has a romanticized idea of love. 

When I arrived in Rhodes and found so many great shops I made the decision to get some gifts for myself from my savings. As much as I love the gifts from my family, they don't see the point in getting an YSL lipstick for example and I just wanted to spoil myself a little in order to remember this birthday forever.
I feel blessed and I want to thank all my loved ones for always supporting me and making my 20th birthday the best!

Over the years, we have debated a lot on this blog about weddings: the right dress, where to find a cool bridesmaid dress, the perfect hairstyle and yet I seem to have missed one important thing...can you guess it? I was talking to a friend the other day about the comedies I've watched lately and I couldn't help but wonder if the engagement party is a big deal for most brides, like American movies seem to indicate. This led me, of course, to the question: What does the future bride wear? I started to play around in Polyvore, looking for dresses which would be right for an engagement party , taking in consideration different personalities and then it hit me: the outfit has to make THE RING stand out. 

That's right, we never discussed the ring. Maybe it's because women are not the ones who choose it. I suddenly became really curious if one could order an engagement ring online. It turns out it's a really popular option nowadays and one affordable brand got my heart! You know I love shopping online and discovering new sites. I love to read about their story, go through most of their online stock, search for its presence in the social media etc. Jeulia is the brand I discovered, and its story is so sweet and sincere: the owners were classmates in college and lovers. They both dreamed of opening a jewelry store and when they graduated they promised each other that when their dream would come true, they would finally marry. The husband thought of the name "Jeulia" because his wife is named Jolie (and let's face it, it's also a great reference to jewelry!). I just melted when I read their story, and I fell in love even more with their engagement rings!

The Jeulia rings are stunning, and they come in so many different styles and colors! I have to confess I never saw a black diamond engagement ring before, I honestly think they're so cool, which is why I had to include my favorite in one of the collages I made (for the "Punk Rock bride"). Although they are known for their engagement rings, they have expanded in both in necklaces and bracelets areas (the EKG golden chain is so rad!).

So, let's talk about four different styles of engagement outfits and about their matching rings, of course:

♪ Madonna - Iconic ♪

I've always wanted to receive my birthday gifts when it's my actual birthday, but it seems this year my family and my best friend S. had other plans! I was supposed to return from Iasi on a Sunday after I finished my work, but I called S. on Saturday night to catch up, one thing led to another and we decided that it would be best for us to properly visit Iasi for three days (we try to visit beautiful places in Romania at least two times a year). She arrived on Monday and we had a great time walking around the Palace of Culture (you can see it in these photos). Then, a massive rain changed our plans, but I believe it was for the best: we hid in the cosy Starbucks Garden and had 'refresha beverages' (a summer special, I'm not usually a fan of black tea, but I really loved this one!) and then proceeded with a shopping spree in Palas ( it wasn't my first this summer, neither S.'s but we sure had a lot more fun shopping together).

Now back to the gift part: S. couldn't wait for another month to give me my birthday gift and considering the fact I last saw her in April, I was on the same page. Just after she arrived in Iasi she gave me a pretty Zara bag and when I opened it I saw my dream summer dress (pictured above) and Madonna's latest album "Rebel Heart". Back to the dress, I changed in an instant and it fit just perfectly so I decided to wear it for our walk. It's been my favorite ever since, because of the back cut and its fabric, it's the only dress I have that makes 36-38 Celsius degrees bearable. 

As for Madonna's latest album, I think it's underrated. She always tries to reinvent herself (I'm not talking about her fashion in this post, her music strictly) and I honestly loved her new take on pop. Obviously, it was thanks to Diplo's contribution, singers like Kanye West (who produced "Illuminati" and "Holy Water" ), Nicki Minaj ( "Bitch I'm Madonna"), Alicia Keys (playing the piano in "Living for Love") and so many other talented people. S. really knows me, it's been our no. 1 choice for our car rides lately!

♪ Cristi Cons - Mouline ♪

We have some beautiful cherry blossom trees in my hometown and each spring I would tell my best friends: "We have to do a photoshoot with a cherry blossom theme!" and then something would happen like a test, or a party you have no outfit for and you must go shopping, or an unexpected trip. I realized that I finished highschool and moved out of my hometown WITHOUT taking a single photo of these beautiful trees.

I had my Easter holiday so I went home, where I had the most refreshing break (Oh my God, so much has happened on the 3rd season of House of Cards, yet I was just sitting with my Anatomy books the whole month of March and missing out on all the good stuff! ). One day, I decided to go on a tour of our small hometown together with my best friend (a.k.a a trip down memory lane) and there it was: my favourite cherry blossom tree, fantastic as ever!

What you must know about me is that I like wearing a lot of black these days- I know, this blog used to be all about blush pink, nude and mint, yet here we are! I don't know when or how it happened, but I know that most of the times, when I walk out the door, I'm wearing a black ensemble. So of course I thought I shouldn't take these pictures because I was not matching the tree- at all haha. Then I thought some more and I kind of liked the idea this photoshoot represents- that you shouldn't waste any time when you want something - be it a photoshoot or the job of your dreams and that it's okay to change- whether it's your fashion style we're talking about or your opinions. It would have been awesome to have some photos as the 16 year old me in that mint dress I wanted to wear for the photoshoot back then and compare them to these photos, but I've made the mistake of not taking all the opportunities in highschool and I've decided that this must change in my twenties (only 4 months to go until 20, still can't believe it!).  Thank you Simona for being the most amazing photographer and friend, I love you & I will miss you like crazy!

PS: The title is inspired from the first fashion blog that I've ever come across to, back when I was 15, which inspired me to start my own blog.

Photo Credit: Cristian Alexandrescu Photography

♪ Jay Z- On to the next one ♪

I've changed a lot in the last five months and there are a bunch of reasons: leaving my hometown. living on my own, studying Medicine, being away from my best friends (and coming to terms with the fact that we can only rely on Skype and Facebook to keep in touch), not being able to hug my little sister and parents every day and having survived the first storm of finals in Med School. I don't think anyone can ever prepare you for the first important exams in your life as a student: I had 8 major exams (not counting English, Psychology etc.) in the course of 24 days and it has been the most intense and challenging experience I've ever had. 

I really wanted my comeback post to include a list of the changes I noticed:

- I'm more confident than ever that I chose the path that's right for me- as hard and impossible the finals were, I realized I love studying all the subjects and that I really can't see myself in any other place!

- I don't get scared so easily-  I used to panic before an important test- sure, the fear is still there- but I'm more confident and I handle stressful situations better.

- I know when enough is enough- During those 24 crowded days I had times when I would just sit all day at my desk and then days when I would go out for a movie ( on that subject, you HAVE to see Whiplash, it's genius!), for a Starbucks coffee (we now have Starbucks in Iasi too, yay!) and listen to some good music to clear my mind.

- I like.. snow! I have always dreaded winter and the unbearable cold, but it all changed during the winter holiday. I went on a trip to Busteni with some of my best friends- we stayed there for 4 days and we faced train delays, a LOT of snow & cold and yet I loved every single moment of it because we were together! We cooked all the meals on our own (um, okay, on the 1st of January I gave up and went for a delicious pizza- photo proof in this post), we visited a lot of beautiful places ( the Cantacuzino Castle is a must see, I'm so proud our country has such an incredible heritage), played a lot of hilarious games, danced, laughed- I just felt infinite and I cherish the memories we've made!!

- I have less.. regrets! Every week I did not post on this blog due to university work I felt really sad and had tons of regrets. Now, I finally realized that I have kept in touch with the fashion world by constantly following the updated on various fashion websites and with my readers thanks to Instagram and my Facebook page (you can check them both when you miss my posts, I post updates often). Sure, it's not the same as the act of blogging but, I want you guys to understand how I really feel about Med School right now:

"I began to realize how important it was to be an enthusiast in life. If you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it full speed ahead. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good." — Roald Dahl (one of my favourite authors)

- I really want to improve my... time management technique. I'm starting the second semester on Monday and I hope I learned a thing or two from the first one when it comes to time, so I want to believe I'll update this blog from time to time because there are so many awesome photos I took this winter and I would really like to share them! Of course, I want to also share my thoughts on the 2015 Spring Trends. I guess we'll see, fingers crossed!

Now, some of the photos we took during our AMAZING trip to Busteni: