Fretalian Friday.

Cobalt blue dress and mustard beret, Monki. Snakeskin print belt, Asos. White lace socks, Lindex. Black suede wedges, Steve Madden.

(Photos by me.)

My favorite clothing store in the whole world, Monki, now has a webshop. This is both fantastic - since I rarely have enough time or energy to drive for hours to get to one of their stores - and very, very dangerous. How am I supposed to refrain from indulging in all that awesomeness when it's right there, only a few clicks away?

I decided that the best way was to go through all the different categories and order the five items I, ehmmm, "couldn't live without" (yeah right) - oh, and maybe I should mention that this is an incredibly affordable brand - and now I have begun a complete no-shopping-regimen. The somewhat disturbing reality is that I own tons and tons of clothes and shoes that I haven't even worn yet - ergo, no use whatsoever for more shopping.

This mustard beret and cobalt blue sheer chiffon dress were two of the "can't live without" pieces, and I love the way the colors compliment each other. I wore this on Friday when we had friends visiting - Ronnie made the most delicious Italian dinner, which I didn't match that well, fashion-wise, since I was going for more of a French touch. Whatever, we'll just call it European Fusion! Or maybe... Fretalian?

Our friends were, as you can see, absolutely thrilled to get to spend their weekend in our lovely house. Sure, it could be that they're just crazy about eachother, but I prefer to think that they were blown away by our company.

Biianka, who is usually not too excited about having new people in the house, turned out to be quite the friendly little darling all night. Here: one cute kitty butt. 

Ronnie has an awful lot of amazing qualities, and cooking is definitely one of them!

I was in charge of the Saturday morning breakfast, and I took my task quite seriously - I baked not only one loaf of bread, but two! A dark bread with lingonberries, raisins, cranberries and pumpkin- and sunflower seeds. I had one of my sandwiches with brie, parma ham, tomatoe and basil and the other with brie and apricot marmalade.

All in all, it's been quite the pleasant weekend - I hope you've had a good one, too!

The Back Home Breakfast.

My first morning back in my house, naturally I had to make myself the breakfast I've been yearning for these past three weeks!

Nothing against American breakfasts, gosh no, but after a while... I just get fed up (haha) with pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs. And when I left New York, I was also pretty much done with my usual everyday Starbucks morning meal: greek yoghurt with granola, fruit bowl, mocha frappuccino and tomatoe and mozzarella panini. Don't get me wrong, I love all of those things, but after puking my guts - and my breakfast - out on Union Square the day before I left (thanks to menstrual cramps), I didn't really feel like having that specific combination ever again.  (Believe me, it didn't taste nearly as good on its way up as it used to on the way down.)

Ooops, sorry, no talk about throw up close to photos of delicious food! My bad!

Let's get back to today's long-lusted-for breakfast.

 To drink: blueberry tea and many, many glasses of fresh juice, made out of...

...two oranges, one pink grapefruit and lots of carrots. (I totally hated myself when I stood there, making it, and caught myself thinking "wow, I've really missed my juicer". What's happened to me? When did I become the kind of person who misses a juicemaker?)

Sure, scrambled eggs are fine, but I prefer my eggs boiled, ideally by me. I happen to have a sixth sense - I don't need a timer, I always know exactly when to take the saucepan off of the stove for the eggs to be just the way I want them. This particular skill only works on eggs and may not be very useful in other areas of my life, but it does comes in sort of handy while making breakfast.

Now, onto sandwiches:

Shrimps and mayo. This may seem completely gross to you, but then I'm going to assume you've never had fresh Swedish shrimps. (Or you have but just don't like it, in which case I feel sorry for you since you must have something seriously wrong with your tastebuds. Justkiddingbutnotreally.)

Smoked ham and yellow bell pepper.

Brie cheese and apricot jam. Proooobably the best sandwhich ever. Well, at least if we don't count the shrimps-and-mayo-one.

Now I have to get some work done, while trying to ignore the fact that my kitties are furious at me for not letting them out. Baz is meowing mournfully by the door, Biianka laying on the kitchen table where I'm sitting, watching me with eyes overflowing with resentment. I've told them time and time again that I just want them to stay inside for one day, to get used to the fact that they're back home, but I don't think that's going to work. I'll have to get my writing done fast and then follow the cats outside to keep an eye out for the devilish Sotis. Because this night will not end with Biianka being chased up a tree by that little demon. It won't!

Mmmm-mmm-hmmm. Pancake time!

We kicked off this scorching hot Saturday with breakfast at Ritz diner, a block from our apartment.

My boyfriend is almost impossible to capture in a photo, he hides behind his hands or makes ugly faces as soon as I point the camera in his direction - but I still managed to get him in one frame! I'm sneaky like that.

Wow, very flattering. Thank you so much, darling. Did I look like I was ready for a photo?! I don't think so. And that's because I wasn't ready.

I've always been crazy about American diner breakfasts. Pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs and OJ = heaven in my mouth! Ronnie had granola and laughed at my moans of pleasure while I was digging into my pile of syrup drenched pancakes. Mmmm-mmmm-hmmmm.

Our block! Plus a very elegant man in a straw hat. Loving it.

Right now we're back at the flat, Ronnie's fixing with a few things for work, I'm trying to digest my huge breakfast and getting ready to go back out there. We can't really decide if we should go shopping downtown or just walk to Central Park and read in the shade all day. I'm not sure what's the best option considering it's so hot outside it almost hurts to breathe. All I know is that it's time to jump in the shower to cool off. Then I'm so ready to take on this day, wherever it decides to take us!

Let's go outside!

I have been so ridiculously stressed out these last few days - no, weeks, actually - that it's been a constant struggle not to skip meals. When I'm home by myself and I have so much to do and way too little time to do it, I often feel like cooking and eating is such a waste of precious minutes that could be used for something better.

But thoughts like those belong in the past, and so I'm proud to say that I've made sure to be good to my body, providing it with the energy it needs to handle all the stress in the best way possible. (Because not eating never, ever helps with anything. Except maybe starving to death. And we don't want that.)

Yesterday morning, since it was my last breakfast at home for three weeks, I even skipped my usual twenty minutes of Gossip Girl to eat outside in my garden. I'm so glad I did! It's not like it takes longer to eat out in the sun, and it's a much better way to start the day than a couple of rushed sandwiches in front of the tv.

(My breakfast consisted of a bowl of yoghurt with almonds, raisins and lots and lots of different seeds, freshly squeezed orange juice, green vanilla tea and pink grapefruit.)

Yep, I'm writing this at the airport, but when you're reading it I'm on the plane! Keep your fingers crossed that I'm still alive and well, will you?

Now that's what I call breakfast.

I'm in a hurry and all I will tell you is this: I just had a pretty awesome breakfast! Delicious and quite beautiful to look at.

(It's freshly squeezed orange juice, lingonberry tea, an orange, some warm cherry tomatoes, two fried eggs, beans and bacon. Oh, and a really good book.)

Don't think for a second that you'll escape my daily outfit post - I uploaded yesterday's outfit at, like, 4 o' clock this morning and scheduled it for later, in case I won't have time to blog more today! (Yes, I'm obsessed, but you probably already knew that.)

Hope you all have a wonderful Friday! I'll see you again in a few hours. Until then...

Good thing I'm way smarter than myself.

The cats and I are home alone this morning, so I decided to join my furry babies outside for breakfast. I have such a hard time eating by myself - the ghost of eating disorders past rear its ugly head and make me think, like, "what's the point? It's not like anyone can check up on me, plus isn't it better if I save all this food? Then I don't have to buy new groceries before Ronnie gets home!". Stupid stupid stupid idiocy!

But hey, thank God I'm a grown-up now and know I don't have to listen to every insane thought that pops into this messed up head of mine. To help the good thoughts out and keep the bad ones in the trash where they belong, I usually try to make really nice meals for myself when I have to eat alone. That way, when I ask myself "what's the point?", I can answer: "The point is that this food is awesome and beautiful and delicious and you'll feel so much better if you eat it! Plus, when you're done, you're allowed to watch Glee." And the stupid thoughts will be like "hmm, yeah, OK. It does look pretty delicious and I do love Glee". And I'll be like "hahahaaaa! Outsmarted myself again!"


Today's breakfast: Freshly squeezed orange juice, blueberry tea, pink grapefruit and sandwiches with brie and smoked ham + brie and apricot marmelade.