Heart Shaped Canapés

There is something about the brides this year, they are all simply stunning. Simply magnificent and radiating happiness. When you’re close to them, you can feel it, almost touch it. The weddings are such great moments.

Simply lovely.

I am very happy this past weekend was a wedding weekend, too. Provence, hot weather, light breeze, cold rosé, sweet smiles. Celebrating the love of a beautiful couple of friends, meeting up with other friends, having fun, drinking champagne. Thanks guys and may your happiness last forever!

 

And here goes the final outfit you got a sneak peak of the other day.

Outfit

Skirt - Akari Skirts

Underskirt - real vintage, used to be my grandmother's

Top - Mango

Shoes - my wedding shoes!, Guess by Marciano

Bag - Ted Baker

Sunglasses - Paul Smith

Hat - Agnès b.

Weather is Hot, Why Shall We Not?

Paris has been a real furnace for two weeks now. There were some days and nights with a slight breeze. On Monday, no breeze whatsoever. Unable to sleep, I went for a cold shower at 2AM. 

This helped. It also reminded me of high school in South of France and how on some days I used to hop into the shower every hour to refresh myself when working on an essay or preparing for exams. This, obviously was not on days when I stayed at friends' houses where I did the same refreshment procedure, but with the help of a pool. Studying in Southern France, most of my friends had pools. Thanks again for having me over, guys, I swear there were many other things that I like about you, not just the pools! 

It's very funny how our bodies adjust to the climate we are currently living in. The first winter when I moved back to Prague after three years in the South of France was dreadful. I was frozen all the time. Outdoors and indoors, too. Now, with the current heatwave, I just don't understand how was I possibly able to live for three years in a room where every summer (end of April till end of September) even at night the temperature rarely went below 30'C. Oh and I even enjoyed it.

I really don't envy people who have to wear suits to work right now. Well, then, they probably have AC in their offices. I prefer not to have one and be allowed to wear short skirts and short sleeves. A girl is supposed to look hot when she feels hot, right?

Outfit

Dress - Malandrino pour Lacoste 2011?
Hat - Agnès b. S/S13
Belt - gift from my grandmother when I was about 12
Shoes - Minelli S/S13

8 Tips for a Summer in Paris

Whether you're just visiting (or planning to visit) or living in Paris, here are my TOP 8 things to do in the city during the hot summer months:

1. Eat Ice Cream - the best one is at Berthillon, on the Ile Saint-Louis. Do you prefer your classics like vanilla, chocolate or pistachio or would you go for the amazing forest strawberries or salty caramel? Not your cup of tea? Go for the Earl Grey flavour, then. There are cocktail and summer inspired ice creams, too - Pina Colada, Strawberry Daiquiri (with real rhum).
2. Make your Own Ice Cream - you can also make it (if you have a freezer and a blender). Ice cream is great, everybody agrees on that. But eating too much ice cream might be not as great for your bikini body. Here we have to thank Rosie from The Londoner, again, for her amazingly simple, healthy and delicious recipe for a dairy free (means no cream) gelato. I did it twice in a week when I discovered it. Yum. Eat as much as you like!
3. Have an Apéro - Parisians "stuck" in Paris (= those who are at work and envy those who are on holidays at the moment) tend to make the evenings as holidayish as possible. Going out for an apéro right out of work is a nice way to do it. Sit in a bar or café, in the evening sun (or hiding from it when it's too hot), sip a rosé, a beer, a summer cocktail or an ice tea (made from real tea and ice), chat with you friends or your other half and order some apéro food (tapas or a planche).
4. Les Berges - I already wrote about the new Berges here. An ideal spot for an apéro. En attendant Rosa might be the place to go to.
5. Picnics - if you can, grab your picnic basket and your plaid, your dinner (probably a refreshing cucumber salad you just made) and your husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend/friends/book/iPad (pick the one you want, you can combine them, no worries) and head out to a park or on the quays. Sit there, eat, chat and marvel at the beauty of Paris when the sun sets above the Seine.
6. Play tennis - there are few cheaper and easier spo(r)ts than tennis (courts) in Paris. The city owns numerous courts around Paris, you can book most of them online and it will cost you only 7€50 per hour (4€50 if you are under 26). If you're lucky, you might even get a spot in Jardin du Luxembourg... You can also do Swedish Gym, Zumba, Yoga etc. outside and for free. Just put your request in the good old Google.
7. Paris Plage - stick your feet in hot sand, take a dance class, play pétanque, go buy yourself a drink or an ice cream wearing just your swimwear in the heart of a big city, take three friends and have yourself a merry beach volleyball match, chill out. It's Paris Plage again!
8. Festival Cinéma Clair de Lune - 9:30 PM, in a park somewhere in Paris, fancy watching a movie? Just sit and watch, its for free. Programme here.

Or combine all of the above.

Oh, and RELAX, take it easy...

Any other tips?

Getting Wedding Ready

There is one moment, somewhere between 24 and 35 when many friends start getting married. Since our wedding in 2009, we've been invited to an average of four weddings a year. Four weddings a summer, to be correct. The sad thing is, we can't even make it to all of them, impossible to attend two weddings on the same weekend but definitely not in the same city...

I love weddings. The atmosphere, the happinness, the food, the friends, the flowers, the dressing up and of course the prospects of a happy-ever-after couple. The real trouble is dresses. My husband doesn't understand why I can't wear the same dress two weddings in a row. Well, it just wouldn't be appropriate, especially if you're meeting the same people at a different wedding. I have several nice dresses, unfortunatelly, most of them don't fit any more. Not having enough money to buy a new dress, I decided to wear a beautiful festive skirt for next weekend's wedding and save money with buying only a fancy top to go with the dress. Since I needed to know the exact colour that would go with the skirts, I put it on yesterday and went shopping. In the two hours I spent in Benetton, H&M, Zara and Mango, two girls asked me where did I buy my skirt, because they liked it very much. I had to disappoint them, it is a Czech handmade skirt by Akari my parents gave me last Christmas. And it's beautiful, thank you again!

Sorry for the weirdly shining skin, it was 32°C in Paris yesterday and I had to apply my SPF 50 sunscreen to go out.

Outfit

Skirt: Akari

Top: old one from Zara

Hat: Agnès b.

Bag: Ted Baker

Shoes: Birkenstock

Sunglasses: Paul Smith

The good thing about an Akari Tutu skirt is that there is no risk that it won't fit any more, it is a one size fits all and you just make it tighter or not depending on the current shape and size of your waist! Plus it has a bow, there are never enough bows. I even had a big bow on my wedding dress (but that's a different story).

And you will of course have to wait until next weekend to see the final wedding outfit...

Pale and Interesting

Recently, Holly Becker from the Decorate Blog, posted about Fashion Style and how it's actually linked to your "Home" style. I never thought about it that way, but it's actually true. I tend to wear colours and materials I like to have in my home and vice versa, mostly whites, greys, soft pinks and blues. For instance, I would never wear a red and black dress because I just don't feel good and like myself in this combination of colours. I would never use black and red tiles in my bathroom or even for cushions on my sofa. The only red think we own is an old battered antique coffee mill and a teapot (both gifts we received) and the only black things are the pans and some knife handles. In my wardrobe, there is nothing red, only nail polish and a few black but mostly charcoal grey pieces like socks and stockings, a cardigan, a blazer and a cape, winter pieces, basically.

One of my favourite interior design books is Pale and Interesting by Atlanta Bartlett. If you live in the US, Atlanta Bartlett has a great interior design shop of pale and interesting things, too. Today, with the hot weather outside, I felt like wearing a pale outfit. Muted and pastel colours are my thing. It's great that every person has different tastes in colour and pattern, it makes the world look like a rainbow.

Outfit

Top - Lacoste S/S12 similar here

Skirt - BCBG Max Azria

Shoes - Dessine-moi un soulier

Hat - Agnès b.

Love Is In The Air

I don't know about you, but I love weddings. Those happy moments and memories you'll remember forever (or at least for some time). Last weekend, we went to Poznan to make some new happy memories and be part of the D day of our amazing friends. We thought it would be a beautiful and nice wedding but it just completely exceeded our expectations.

Stary Rynek, Poznan

I cried a bit during the ceremony in the beatiful Poznan Cathedral, even if I could't understand half the things the priest was saying. The young couple was just so beautiful, I was in awe.

At dinner, we were all to find our seat according to nametags. These were the sweetest wedding nametags I have ever seen in real life. When I was a little girl, there were three sweets I very much liked to eat but was unable to finish. Therefore, my parents, quite understandably, never wanted to buy them to me (it was always such a waste...). The three sweets were Almond Magnum Ice Cream, Pink Cotton Candy and Huge Flat Lollipops. Just like the ones we got as nametags at the wedding! I am still afraid I won't be able to eat the whole thing, so I take pleasure in looking at it for the moment.

Wedding outfit

Dress: H&M, two or three years ago

Shoes: Dessine-moi un soulier, gift from friends

Clutch: Christian Louboutin (part of a bigger bag)

Lipstick: YSL Rouge Pur Couture, n13 Le Orange

We ate well (best wedding food we've ever tasted, I'd say), had great fun with friends we haven't seen in a long time, danced a lot, cried a bit (again), met new people, spoke several languages, sang a song in Polish, danced cancan when the band played "Jóžin z bažin" (where did that one come from ?!?), marveled at the newlyweds, revered in their happiness and love and were astonished by the posing skills of the beautiful bride. Oh, and we drank vodka, of course. When the sun got up, we went to sleep. What a great day. 

It was a beautiful day with beautiful people.

In the morning, on our way back to the hotel.

Congratulations to the newlyweds again! Love you guys.

Travelling outfit

Shirt: Zara A/W12

Trousers: Lacoste Live S/S12

Shoes: Fees de Bengale

Bag: Le Pliage, Longchamp

Glasses: Paul Smith

Berlin airport.

Could we have more such weekends, please? Thank you!

Delicious Trip to Cambodia

In Paris, people queue. For everything, not only at the post office like elsewhere. You queue to get your baguette on Saturday morning, you queue to get into an exhibition and you often queue to get a table at a café or restaurant. 

Our last queuing happened to be for a table. And even though the wait was long, it was worth it. Initially, we were supposed to have dinner with friends but as it turned out, our friends had the date wrong and had other plans for the night. Since we were there and I was very hungry, we decided to give the restaurant a try anyway. S. knew the place already since he went there for lunch a few times.  He told me it was nice. I read reviews online and they said it was a nice place with real authentic food. Well, this was largely underestimated. 

Now I've eaten there, I completely understand why people are willing to wait so long or a table in this particular Cambodian restaurant... It completely fell in the "oh so delicious" category. Oh yes, it was so good I had a gourmet déjà vu. Several years back, (10?!?) I met a young ethnologist in Prague. He was specialising in SouthEast Asia and in need of books from France. I brought the books to Prague and got invited for a dinner in a Laotian restaurant. That was the first time I ever ate sticky rice. That was the time I fell in love with coconut milk and peanuts in my plate. 

Yesterday I had a navin (cocunut milk with prawns and pork) and after the first mouthful, I was not the grumpy hungry person anymore, I was happy. Stepan had a "picnic from Angkor" and seemed quite happy too. 

If you like Cambodian food and aren't afraid of waiting, I can only recommend Le Petit Cambodge, close to Canal Saint Martin. 

Outfit

Shoes: H&M with orthopedic soles

Jeans: Vero Moda

Wrap: Uniqlo, an old one

Top: a super old one, it used to be my grandfather's!

Bag: Longchamp

PS.: This is the first ever post completely written and published from my phone, sorry if it's not aligned as it should be...

Swimwear Struggle

Last summer, we didn't go to a holiday where swimsuit would be necessary (we didn't go to a nudist camp, the weather just wasn't hot enough and the sea was far away). A month ago, I took out my two swimsuits to try them on. I kind of hoped one of them would be ok. Well, one of them is ok but since I changed underwear sizes, it doesn't fit anymore. The other one is about eight years old and falling into pieces. It probably shouldn't have come as a surprise to me but it did. I definitely need a new swimsuit...

I thought it would be easy to find a new swimsuit in Paris (the capital of fashion and a place where everyone goes for a summer beach holiday). Something simple, not too expensive and that fits. Let's just say I was very naive.

My search started online. Since I know which Victoria's Secret sizes fit me and they have plenty of nice and simple swimsuits in many colours, I went on the website and picked a swimsuit. Actually, I put several swimsuits (5?!?) in my shopping basket because I couldn't decide which cut and colour I liked the most. After a few days of thinking I choose one (and it was on sale, yey!). But... oh well, there is a "but" of course. Since my last two Victoria's Secret orders got lost somewhere in the shipping, I decided to go for the express shipping where you have to pay 20$ and can see where the package is and it makes it to you quicker (about 8 days instead of 21). Since the swimsuit was on sale, I thought "ok, no problem to pay 20$ for the shipping". But I didn't realise there were the "normal" international shipping costs that would add themselves to the total. This would have made for almost 50$ in shipping costs for a 40$ swimsuit... I ended up deciding it was a bad idea.

The swimsuit deadline was approaching on me (last weekend was a pool-side weekend) and I didn't have much time to go looking for something, just a few hours after work. My mission started in Galeries Lafayette in Paris. They have a whole new floor of lingerie and swimsuits. Well, that's the problem, a whole floor (especially if it is a Galeries Lafayette floor) is a lot and even more if you have a little over an hour to go through it. There were some swimsuits that were on sale (couldn't find anything nice in my size) and thousands of others that were full price. Which basically means some of them were super expensive. And the ones that were not were either ugly or not in my size. Maybe I wasn't looking right but I just couldn't find anything that would fit and look nice a that wouldn't cost 200€.

On Friday night, we were leaving for the pool weekend. On Thursday afternoon, I still didn't have anything to wear. I decided not to panic and go to Zara and H&M and find something very cheap and simple (even if it was just for the weekend). It is sales season in Paris right now. This means you can find a cheap swimsuit but it also means extremely crowded and hot shops on a Thursday night. In the 15 minutes queue in Zara, I was just hoping that one bikini would count as one piece and not two. Naive again. Six pieces in the changing rooms means three bikinis only (when you have two or three different shapes and then you need to try on the sizes, it is not practical at all). I randomly choose three bikinis. None of them fit. I gave them back and went on with my quest. I went quickly through Pimkie and Bershka that were on my way but they only had things for fourteen year old girls (in cut and colour as well as size-wise).

Then I took the plunge in H&M. First floor was ok, there was air. But swimsuits were downstairs. I love shopping but if I wasn't in such bad need of a swimsuit, I would have left right away. No air, just heat and sweat, packed with angry and aggressive people. And a depleted swimsuit rack. I wasn't really looking at the colours any more. I just took anything that was approximatively my size. Impossible to find a top that would have the bottom supposed to go with it. At least not in any normal sizes. Most of the bottoms were either size 34 or size 44 ie 2 sizes too small or 3 sizes too big... most of the tops were the same. I hoped something would fit. The queue was about 20 minutes long. This time it was seven pieces only. I picked those that looked the most likely to fit = three bottoms and four tops. If they have stuff that fits Beyoncé, they must have something that fits me too, right? Well, if Beyoncé wasn't the one on the H&M swimsuit advert, the swimsuit racks might have been less depleted... I ended up finding a top that fit "ok". It was a completely different colour (dark grey) and cut from what I wanted and it scratched me a bit but I took it anyway, for 7€. One of the bottoms seemed to fit but the colour was ugly and didn't go with the top at all (it was khaki-taupe). I took it and went back to the racks, hoping to find the same cut but in a different colour. All was 34 and 44 again, some 42. And then I found a size 38 hot pink bottom. Somebody probably wanted to buy it and hid it behind all the 34s and 44s. Sorry lady, I took it. After another 15 minutes queuing at the cashier (that's how many people there were), I payed my 12€ for the swimsuit and went home. EXHAUSTED.

I still don't like my swimsuit but at least I wasn't naked at the pool during the weekend and it cost me only 12€.

Yesterday, I bought a swimsuit online on ASOS. It looks like my size and well, I can always send it back if it doesn't fit... Wish me luck! And ladies, tell me, where do you buy your bikinis? Especially those of you with small ribcages and fuller breasts like me?

June's Photoshoot

Bare Shoulders and the Green Heart of Paris

There is always something happening in Paris, or many things at the same time. This year is André le Nôtre's 400th death anniversary and landscape and gardens are naturally the theme of many events. Right now, there is a "garden" in front the Hôtel de Ville - with real grass and flowers (and bees on the flowers!), an orchard, some herbs and trees, lounge chairs to take a break and take in the sight and smells of this place. 

But then, there is something new in Paris and it's a public space and it's great and supposed to be permanent! It is "Les berges". This part of the Banks of the Seine (which by the way are on the World Heritage List) used to be an average urban highway. Smelly cars used to drive close to the water, between the Musée d'Orsay and the Eiffel Tower every day excepted for Sundays. This is history. From now on, this part of the Banks (almost 3km long), very close to the water, is car-free and people friendly. You can sit on a bench by the water, eat, play badminton, go to a skatepark, boulder, do push-ups, go to a zumba class, run with a trainer, run a 100m (there are four pink tracks!), have a nap, take a pilates class, spend your time drawing on an enormous chalkboard, have a glass of wine... (and so much more), watch bees fly around and boats go around and be in a nice place in the heart of a big city. THANK YOU PARIS.

All of this makes for a really nice walk especially on a sunny day, the first day of 2013 I managed to wear a strapless dress and needed a hat not to get sick from the sun. Finally.

Outfit

Hat - Agnès b.
Cardigan - a basic one from Zara

Dress - from a little no-name shop in Paris

Shoes - Birkenstock, perfect for my not so happy feet and hips

Bag - Le Pliage, Longchamp