Arms in the air!

Anything you say can and will be used against you. Kidding, ha. 

But this really is my current state of affairs. I have two exams left (woo!) that I want to do well on, and between that and furniture shopping there's little time to breathe (i.e. blog). 

P.S. Ikea is hell on Sundays. Is there a time when it's really empty? I wanna go and take my sweet time to buy all the decor stuff - photo frames and mirrors - but I can't stand the queues. 

P.P.S. they have the best hot-dogs. Yes I just said that. 

The joy of new apartments - yay!

Hello darling friends, 

I've got great news! After months and months, my sister and I are moving! We've found the dream apartment, well, my dream apartment that my sister is slowly falling in love with, and moving date is less than a month away. 

So, enter endless scouring of the web, looking for decor&design inspiration. 

I like all-white bedrooms, and lots of pillows.

I REALLY do love white bedrooms. 

Quirky chairs and cute poufs! 

Visible spices!!!

Inspiring workspaces!!!

from this tumblr & this tumblr & this site & this tumblr & this tumblr

What are your favourite design ideas? Do you have any awesome blogs for me to visit?

The mirage of the red carpet

I have a guilty pleasure. I admit it. I eat up celebrity news (and by celebrity I mean Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Garner, not Snooki and Ke$ha!) like they're going out of style. That said, red carpet season is like a second Christmas for me. There's just something about the impossibly pretty dresses, many of which have simply no other possible destination than the red carpet.

I have a weakness for Angelina, and while she's somewhat human, sometimes she pulls off something so. freakin. wonderful, that I'm just speechless. This Atelier Versace she wore at the Golden Globes is one of those times, and Style.com agrees. 

Elizabeth Olsen is such a pretty girl. And the dress she wore at The Critics' Choice Awards is gorgeous.

Salma Hayek all dramatic and glamorous in Gucci also at the Golden Globes. 

Elle Fanning looking so cute and age appropriate in Rodarte at the Critics' Choice Awards. 

Tilda Swinton in my favourite designer, Haider Ackermann, looking so cool.

Who were your favourites on the latest red carpets?

Fashion Blogger's Guilt

In the time I've been blogging (2 years on and off on several blogs and several situations) I've discovered a very  particular and very unpleasant feeling: what I call fashion blogger's guilt.

In general, fashion bloggers, this overwhelmingly female group, may be considerably less tech-oriented than most other Internet authors. These are women, a lot of whom blog as a part-time thing. They have large lives outside of their blogs - which is why it happens that sometimes it's easier to get sidetracked by real life and simply forgo blogging for a few days, or more.

I don't know if I managed to get my point across without sounding sexist towards my own gender, but then again, I am writing this after a Saturday that meant work and study for the finals I am not ready for. The main idea was, that, well, forgoing blogging for a while comes along with a nagging feeling of guilt that in and of itself can stop you from finding the remedy to the situation - publishing a post.

I've been beating myself up for days - I had a wonderful Christmas break, the kind you have when you go back home after 4 months of not seeing your loved ones, but after it, somehow, I couldn't snap back. I had plenty of opportunities to take a half hour, edit some photos and post them, simply saying, "Hey guys, thanks for the support, here how I'm spending the holidays, hope you're enjoying yourselves". But for some reason I didn't. And I kept feeling a bitter dose of FBG, every day, all day.

Which is not ok. I'm a full time student at a very demanding University, I work quite a bit and I'm trying to have a social life - blogging is something I enjoy, and if I can take it to the next level, that's great. But if I cannot, it is not the end of the world.

So what did happen since I last wrote?

• I went home to Romania and saw family and friends, my heart almost exploded with joy
• I partied way too much, including a crazy New Year's Eve party
• I turned 20 (twenty!!!) 
• I returned to Belgium and entered an insane time of preparing for final exams 
• I became forever grateful for the continued support of you guys, I love and appreciate every comment I receive
• I got lots and lots of loving from this guy below

Love,

Jo.

5 fashiony things reserved for the Winter Holidays

1. Ugly Sweaters. Everyone knows this! They are considered truly awful in any other part of the year, but Christmas-themed sweaters are considered cute, fun and even kind of stylish (well, some of them) during the festive season. Bridget Jones made them pop-culture, but these things have been around for ages!

Frankly, I think they're quite cute, on Christmas Eve, you know, when you're being ironic.

2. Festive headwear. From hats with decorative snowflakes to earmuffs and reindeer headbands, this stuff is fun to wear... for a few particular days at the end of December.

3. Whimsical manicure/make-up. This make come off as obvious, I haven't really seen people wear snowflake manicures in April, but it really is one of those little things that are too adorable to pass up in this the-best-part-of-the-year. You heard me!

4. That hat/scarf/pair of gloves your grandma/aunt/someone knit you. Maybe it's the softest thing in the world, or maybe it kind of stings. Maybe the colour isn't even near what's "in" or maybe it's simply kind of embarrassing. But for Christmas, if you see them, and especially if you really miss them, you're gonna wear the hell out of those. Sniff. No, really. I wish I still had something from my grandma. Maybe I'll find a pair of knitted socks or something...

5. Glitter everything. As a very un-glittery sort of person, there is one season in the year when I want things that are shiny and colourful and metallic and all that. For some reason, it's not only acceptable but desirable to me, and you can bet this New Year's Eve I'm wearing something gold.

P.S. I just spent about 10 minutes trying to remember the word for whimsical. It's not that I didn't know the English word for it (it doesn't really even exist in Romanian), it was simply on the tip of my tongue and refusing to come out. Must be getting old. Sigh.

Surely you're also counting the days, right?

Of course I'm talking about Christmas. Not in its commercial sense, nor in its religious one. To me, Christmas equals family(particularly after my first four months away from home) and all the best smells in the world (snow, the tree, Romanian "cozonac" and spiced wine). Oh and the Coca Cola commercials! Always the Coca Cola commercials, they practically announce Christmas.

Photo source

It feels surreal that two weeks from today I'll be on the train between Budapest and my hometown (yes the connections are so bad that I fly into another country thankyouverymuch) and dreaming of seeing my parents and my dog! My beautiful lovely boy who misses me so much, my mom tells me he howls of loneliness. 

This is the infamous cozonac. I was never even a fan, really, but it has a totally different appeal when I'm away from home and thinking of it as the symbol that it is.

Spiced/mulled wine or Gluhwein or "Vin fiert" in Romanian is a staple of all the Christmas visits between friends and family and it's a winter "thing" in our favourite bar back home. 

Photo source

Snow. Oh, snow. I loved snow devotedly my entire life, and always mourned its relative scarcity. Then last year happened, and this is what it looked like most of the season. I want it so bad to snow when I go home, because there are slim chances of it in miserable-weather Brussels.

Ahh, there. I've managed to get some of the I-heart-winter energy out of my system.

P.S. I loved the feedback from my Karlie Kloss post. I truly respect everyone's opinions and some of the comments were thought-provoking. I've been having second thoughts about it, but the truth is I stand by  what I said. However, my general attitude in that post wasn't very Christmassy at all so a new post to head the blog was in order! Oh, and I love you guys for the continued love you show my blog, even if I don't have the time to rrreally be on top of it.

Do you celebrate Christmas? What does it mean to you?

What the hell happened to Karlie Kloss?!

'Scuse the rough choice of words.

But I was "introduced" to Karlie Kloss when she was 16 years old, was known for being a former ballerina and having a special walk. I thought she was cool, and loved seeing her climb higher and higher. I loved how healthy she looked, with those strong legs and childlike softness.

Then, something happened. I think Victoria's Secret happened, but then I'm biased. 

However, you can't tell me this (below) is normal and the Karlie Kloss we know and love. I can accept that she's 19 now and growing up, but growing up shouldn't be growing thin. The fashion world wants slim women, which she was. This is starting to border on unsightly and also, really really really bad in the context of so many women struggling with self-image.

You see, it's not just about one girl being too thin. It's about those big fat (sic!) letters practically saying "this is what you should look like, too." Look at her waist. Look at it! Look how her bones poke out and how her stomach is sunk way into her body. 

I thought a lot about whether to post these photos. First, they are nudity. And while I'm not offended by artistic nudity or fashion photography that includes nudity, I know some people are. Second, they are all over the internet anyway. But in the end, they make my point: what happened to Karlie?

Is it a coincidence that after becoming a VS model she started looking like this? 

When VS models started to appear more on high fashion runways (or the other way around?) people thought maybe the runways are accepting more curvaceous women. But actually, it's the VS models that are getting thinner. Which is terrible, because there are a whole lot more 13-year-olds that are crazy for VS than there are crazy for Givenchy, for instance. And the latter, if they are, they understand a bit more. 

To sum up, I think it's great that Karlie is so athletic. I think exercise is wonderful! But I also think women should be encouraged to be their "own size of healthy", rather than having these unrealistic standards shoved in their face. 

Photos by Steven Meisel for Vogue Italia (a photographer and publication that I love with all my heart, just like I love Karlie Kloss).