Photo Source: Cristian Alexandrescu Photography

2014 is so close!!! I hope you'll have a marvellous time and that you already have you resolutions list prepared. I'll be spending the New Year's Eve with some lovely people and a special dress code: denim! I know, wearing jeans is so weird on this occasion, but if we are to be honest, I think it's pretty awesome I start a new year wearing what I usually choose on a regular basis. All I want for 2014 is to be just as fabulous as 2013 has been: I finally chose the college that's right for me(hopefully I will get in there in July), I took my driver's license, I turned 18, I received the most incredible gifts , I had the opportunity to visit Paris!

Back to Paris, this is my second post about it, where I promised to tell you the story about what I visited on my first day there. After we saw Pont Alexandre III and Place des Invalides, we took the RER and arrived at the Orsay Museum. I'm totally in love with impressionism, so you can imagine this museum was simply heaven for my eyes! You might know from my old posts I read a lot of books about Vincent Van Gogh's life and art and seeing so many paintings in the same room almost brought tears to my eyes. Never have I felt so connected to a form of art, his technique is flawless and I always get so emotional when I think that the only one who supported him while he lived was his younger brother, Theo. Then there was the pointillism dedicated room, obviously filled with painting from the emblematic master Georges Seurat. Other cool thing is that now I can tell the difference between a Monet and a Manet and I can understand the hype around Cezanne's apples. The architecture of the museum is incredible, as it used to be the first train station in Paris (are you familiar with the movie Hugo?).Overall, the Orsay Museum was one of my favourite sights, and should I ever return to Paris, I will spend a whole day there because we were in a severe lack of time when we visited it.

After the museum, we took the RER once again and went to Île-de-France, where there are so many sights it overhelms you! One thing about the RER: You save a lot of time, which is amazing, but the system is confusing, unlike the METRO. Knowing French really came in handy because we had to ask a couple times to make sure we were at the right line. First we went to Notre Dame de Paris, it's definitely worth seeing at night because the lights are magical. It's a truly imposing building, with an incredible architecture. We walked by Palais de Justice but unfortunately weren't able to see Saint-Chapelle as it was late at night.  We also walked on the impressive Pont Neuf and saw the Conciergerie. It was one of my biggest wishes, as I first discovered Conciergerie on Miss Pandora's blog and thought : "what a pretty castle". Then, I did some research and I was shocked to see the building had actually been a prison for centuries!

We left "the island" and walked on the right side of Seine until we reached Pont des Arts, the famous bridge where you leave a lock. Of course, I forgot mine in the hotel room because we left in a rush. You have to see it with your eyes, we weren't expecting actually that many locks, the amount is just insane! Then it was Louvre time! We first saw the Carousel and Jardins des Tuileries. Before we left for Paris, there were many people who told us the gardens would be disappointing: completely false! It was like autumn, the trees still had their leaves and the grass was greener than ever, so December really is a great time to visit Paris, because you also get to see all the Christmas decorations.

The Louvre Museum was an interesting experience, totally different from Orsay as it mostly has classic paintings. Maybe you'll think I'm weird, but I wasn't impressed with Mona Lisa most. The painting is so small and the tourists crowded to see her just make you anxious and eager to see other things. My favourite section was the wall with a few paintings of Leonardo Da Vinci like 'Lady with an ermine' or 'St John the Baptist'. He is a genius, I just feel that 'Mona Lisa' isn't his masterpiece. We were stuck in the museum for a lot of time due to unexpected rain and we got to visit the most of it, and also got to explore the intricate details of the ceilings, mirrors, furniture etc. 

When we were finally able to leave the museum, we went to Rue Saint-Honoré, a big dream of mine, where I got to admire all the famous brand stores (oh God, the Miu Miu store shines just like a diamond!) and then we visited Place Vendome. This particular place will stay in my heart forever, because it has another level of beauty, combined with luxury, high fashion and really classy Christmas decorations. I just wish that someday I'll be able to actually walk in a Dior or Chanel store, they all looked so magical! We also got to admire Palais Garnier,  which is their National Opera and the Galeries Lafayette (best window of the store goes to Roger Vivier). Looking back, I'm pretty proud we managed to visit all these incredible sights in just 8 hours and I can't wait to travel abroad again!

Photo Credit: Cristian Alexandrescu Photography

I hope you all had a jolly Christmas and that you enjoyed spending some quality time with your friends and family, I sure did! The holidays also gave me the opportunity to go through all the photos from Paris. Let me just say that having a photographer with you is really awesome and that I hope he doesn't mind I edited the photos, we always have different points of view on the lighting. 

Seeing me in a dress at +5 degrees , you might think we went crazy and I kept on taking my coat off at every corner! I wish, but long gone are the days when I would freeze at -15 Celsius degrees for the sake of the blog. This was the first shoot , so naturally there was this Paris hype in our souls and that's why we took so many photos. You should have seen us 6 hours later: "Just take one picture of me here, so mom can see I visited this as well" haha.

Now, the amount of things we visited in the first days is INSANE. Some people even wouldn't believe us when we told our story, but we managed so well because I've been planning this trip to Paris for two years and I already knew the location of the main sights and the main streets by heart (God bless Google maps!). I think there are around 100 (good) photos with me from the first day, so I chose to share 25 on this first post, when I was all full of energy and we visited the Esplanade des Invalides surroundings, including the famous Pont Alexandre III. For me, the bridge was breathtaking because I could feel the fashion vibe while walking on it ( all the Vogue Paris editorials shot here plus the editorials of my favourite fashion bloggers like Gary Pepper Girl) and also because it was also the first time we saw the Eiffel Tower while we were in Paris. In the next post I will give you the complete list of sights which we visited during that day and I will share my impressions.

Photo by Cristian Alexandrescu

Dear readers, I haven't forgotten about you, I just had this major event in my life and I didn't want to jinx it! You already know it's been always one of my biggest dreams to visit Paris. Well, it happened, thanks to an international competition, IGAM4ER !!! I put some use to my English skills and presented the concept of our game to many interesting people. Cristi, my classmate,  is the brilliant mind behind all the programming of the game and I'm so proud of him for making such a perfect prototype!

We met incredible people from all around the world and won the "Heartful Prize" of the competition, which got us so emotional! Everyone from the competition worked really hard on their projects and I loved to see all the passion and energy put into their presentations. We also managed to visit some of the most important sights, I will make a post about it once Cristi (who is also a great photographer) will give me the photos.

♪ Lorde- Pure Heroine ♪

Okay, I'm oficially declaring winter as the most dreaded season for blogging! I may have managed it last year, standing in the cold and posing in sheer tops and writing once or twice a week, but things are so different in the last year of highschool! 

I almost didn't go to my cousin's birthday two weeks ago because I had to study for an exam. In fact, I wasn't supposed to go, but it was 00:00  and I wished him a very Happy Birthday (his birthday was on a Friday this year- what a luck!). We started chatting and I suddenly missed him and the city of my dreams (plus I had a really cool gift for him), so at 1 AM it was decided: I would go to his town and surprise him. At 8AM I hopped on a train and spent one night in his town. Best risk I ever took (or maybe the truly BEST risk is yet to come- I don't want to jinx it, more details soon)- I had a blast with his friends, ate the best pizza, saw "Hunger Games 2" and even had some time for shopping. For those of you who don't know, I am obsessed with the books, I read the trilogy in three days and I can say it with all my heart this film is so much better than the first one! I loved it and I recommend it to all my friends.

Back on the blog issues, I've been wanting to show you my new love when it comes to tops, blouses &Co. It has happened to me several times to order things from a site which looked really interesting and then have the items delivered in a poor shape or with a totally different fabric/ shade of color. This is not the case! I'm deeply in love with Front Row Shop ever since I got the package with this perfect blush pink top. The asymmetrical cut, the cool concept of design (that white part of top you see underneath it's actually part of the top, you somehow tie them at the back- so awesome!) and the flawless colors made me choose to wear it to two birthday parties (one of them was obviously my cousin's). If I was to pick my favourite aspect about it though, I would say the fabric: never have I worn a cotton so smooth and comfy, I'd like all my tops to be like this! My honest advise is to consider Front Row Shop next time you feel like splurging online, I'll order for sure again.

♪ Lorde- Tennis Court ♪

My room- or my most important part of it- the work space. You've asked me to do a video tour of my room for years now, it will come someday, but in the mean time I thought I'd share some photos with the most loved corner in my room. The idea came to me this Sunday, when I wanted to show you my new green dress from Persunmall. Of course, there were 0 Celsius degrees, so we weren't able to shoot outside. I was all grumpy and sad in my chair when I thought: "how about taking the pictures inside?".

Now, a little something you should know about my room: 

It's small, too small for two girls to share, and I am sharing it with my little sister (let's hope she won't get mad at me for this post, she always yells at me "it's OUR room" )

I designed it together with my dad when I was 13 and I had to make two major compromises: First, I wanted the furniture to be in one color, that light cream but the brand we chose didn't have enough wood in stock. If I would have waited three more months, it would have been possible but it was summer back when I redecorated and I was in a desperate need of change. Threfore, we settled for the orange combination because I really liked the way they worked together, but now that I'm in my teenage years I'm kind of tired of it. And I say "kind of" because I realized next year I will be in an ugly , boring dorm room and this room will be like heaven compared to it. (I'm taking my LOVE letters with me in college, they can make any room prettier, right?). Secondly, because my room is so small and I wanted such a big desk and we also needed to design a desk and bookcase for my little sister we had to sacrifice the curtains because they would have taken 25 cm in width. You can see the result, I look like I'm sitting in an actual office!

I didn't have any frames on my desk until last week when I found this cute little shop and I just had to buy these two! I came home excited to frame my photos just to discover..I haven't printed a photo of myself in three years haha (maybe I should start saving up for a Polaroid, I've always wanted one).

I use my statement necklaces as room decor, I think it has a pretty neat impact and I always have a hard time deciding which Vogue issues deserve to stay on the desk (I have some stacked in another corner).

So, what do you think about my room?

The last year of highschool isn't kind at all with me, I must be saying this the 100th time. If you have been reading my blog for an year, you must know I pulled a Minnie for the last Halloween. This year I had this whole concept for a shooting as one of my icons Holly Golightly, which was set to be published on the actual Halloween day. What happened? Firstly, bad hair day! I had to re-do this bun like 4 times! Then, tests and homework, I can't believe I'm 5 days late with my post. 

Still, I told myself that even if I failed to celebrate this holiday in the online world, it shouldn't stop me to have fun at school. So, I brought a bunch of delicious candy for my mates and I pulled a Minnie again (the Holly Golightly costume was out of the question, it's so much easier to just drop the ears during study hours). Plus, you can see I bought another pair of ears this year, never repeat a Halloween costume!

Now, on Holly Golightly: I often wonder if I would have adored her just by reading the book. Initially, I watched the movie because Audrey Hepburn played the reading part and she has been one of my favourite actresses ever since I was a little girl. Last year I was over the moon to receive the DVD, because now whenever I need a boost of confidence and hope, I watch it. Holly may be strong, resourceful, optimistic, charismatic, a good actress ( all the man she tricked, we got to give her some credit!), but in the end even she turns out to be a hopeless romantic. The movie's got everything: great lines, lovely decor, romantic plot, funny scenes and a high dose of fashion and style.

Now, a few of my favourite quotes of Holly, all written by the genius Truman Capote:

♪ Avicii- You make me ♪

There was a lovely time in September when the weather was gloomy yet alright and I could wear skirts matched with cozy sweaters all day long. Those were also the days when I had a lot of free time on my hands and I could wander for hours- in funky coffee shops or driving the most perfect car in the world. Oh well...at least I still have the pictures! Hmm..not really, the last time I wore a skirt was when I took these photos and we had the worst light possible, not even Photoshop would do wonders...

I was just getting used to managing these hectic days, when both me and my parents decided to go on a weekend trip - on one hand, I'm super excited because I get to be with my cousins, my aunt and uncle and have tons of fun but on the other hand, I know how hard it's going to be for me to keep up with the douzen school projects and the five tests coming up. I guess whenever I found myself in a dilemma I run straight back to my blog and look for some advice from my readers- if you're reading this, what's the secret of a good time management? ( Please don't answer: "Cut back on your sleep hours", because that's usually what I do).

My dear readers, are you still there? I'm alive, I'm just burried in homework and with tons of projects on my hands! Being in my last highschool year has been a crazy ride, and it's only been 3 weeks since it started. I don't even have spare time in weekends (I had to cut two hours of studying Biology just to write this, I'm so not getting any sleep tonight!) and I just feel like rambling and writing!! I have discovered so many amazing things in the past month. 

My number one love for this fall is an app which I have waited for such a long time! I don't know about you, but I feel like the internet has completely changed the ways in which we communicate. Whenever I send a message to my friends I think about the third party which might be involved (we are always logged in on  social networks on our smartphones, so it's easy for someone in your life to get access to your secret conversations) and if I can really trust that friend not to tell/ show anyone. I had fallouts many times because I felt like me and my friends should have deleted a talk from our archieve. We even tried talking in encrypted codes, but it was a big mess at some point and we all got the wrong messages. I resigned and started to tone down my thoughts online and prayed for someone to create an app that left no trace behind. Some amazing people seem to have read everyone's mind and created Frankly! You can send text or photos and once you get the message you have 10 seconds to see it and then it's gone- FOREVER. Awesome much?? And it doesn't stop here, you can create group chats which is ideal because you all know I have 4 best friends, chatting together is so much better. Also, picture this- you wrote something stupid and you want to take it back- if the person hasn't seen it, it's actually possible to do this! I've been using this app for several days now and both me and my friends agree it's the one thing that's been missing online for such a long time- the possibility to write down your actual thoughts, emotions, secrets and be.. frank! The great thing is that you can find it on both App Store and Google Play , I use it on both my Ipad and Iphone.

Another cool thing I've discovered- the burgundy sneakers from Nike. I thought a lot whether I should buy them or not, considering they were so expensive but last week I was so tired and anxious I just told myself I need some retail therapy (I'll try to limit on an Oasis scarf next time I get the urge haha). Joke aside, I LOVE them so much, they have this cool fabric inside- feels like I'm wearing slippers! Also new and beautiful- notice my teal necklace, it's an incredible gift I got from two of my friends who visited Turkey. They really know me- you can never go wrong with a statement golden necklace when it's about getting me a gift! Now, about the pile of book/ magazines - I bought them (& many more actually) in September but it's just too much to handle right now- I miss reading, I miss my blog, I miss you !

Me, the Modern Minnie, last Halloween

I was looking at my old outfit posts the other day and I found this cute photoshoot I did last year. And it hit me! What am I going to wear for Halloween this year? Even though it's not a mainstream holiday in Romania, I always pay tribute to it because I found the concept fun and relaxing! For one day, I get to be whoever I want to be and get inspired by different characters/ people. The tons of candies and the cool parties aren't a downside either.

I have no idea what person/creature I should play this year ! Therefore, I started looking for Halloween Costumes Coupons - because I love a good discount and I tend to decide easier when a product is on sale. Still, wouldn't it be better if I went as a fashion icon (famous designer/ fashion editor) ? But what about the Greek Penelope? I can pull off that maxi dress I showed you in the early June. Once again, the endless possibilities that you have thanks to the fashion world and the inspiring things in your life...

I'm going to let you see my three top Halloween 2013 choices so far while I go and search for a great deal on RioCodes.com , hopefully I'll get another costume idea or decide at last: