Wednesday, December 31, 2014

My 2014

Before 2014 comes to an end I want to share a best off of my year...





My first outfit posts of the year 2014...


...My somehow different outfit post from February...



...Some more outfit posts, including this outfit where I am wearing Christmas gifts only (cardigan, dress, shoes and necklace) and an outfit from my monochrome week in February...

...small journeys, between others to the town of Rostock in Northern Germany for a training for multipliers and to Hessen for a further training on how to manange your own non profit project (picture below with the sunrise) ...





...my first Spring outfits in March plus me selling FRNCK (http://www.leamariefranck.com/) jewellery on a market in Leipzig...

(by the way I really miss wearing my much loved skirts now that I am pregnant... :))

...a vegan brunch in my living room in April...



...a wonderful Easter holiday in Northern Germany with my family...



... a most amazing trip to the US in May... including a visit of the Grand Canyon, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Chicago and of course Ohio :) 


... a beautiful weekend trip to Vilnius in Lithuania in June...





....Some Summer outfits and of course lots of vegan food in July, August and September...





Wedding preparations in September and of course my wedding on October 1st :) 





Some Fall outfits in which I try to hide my belly which is already growing (yet, we do not tell people yet that I am pregant...)

A most wonderful Honeymoon to Tunesia in November... and a growing belly :)




The lift of my small secret: My Pregnancy makes it on my blog :)

And finally, gift wrapping and a wonderful Christmas celebration 2014



This is a wrap up of my 2014. Of course many more things happend in my life which did not make it on my blog. Some of the things I learned in 2014 will make it on my blog sometime next year (like what I think about finding the perfect job and how to design ones life), some things will be kept in my mind and my heart. 2014 was a great, adventourus, intersting, and educational year filled with joy, love, happiness, sometimes frustrations but most often hope and confidence. This year, I think I learned more about what is important in life than in any other year and I am really grateful for this. 

Now, I am exited to welcome 2015, the year in which my first child will be born! I am all ready for new adventures to come! 

Happy 2015 for all of you!

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Christmas 2014

My Christmas 2014...

... was really wonderful, like every year. I spent the most wonderful time with my family, I got awesoem gifts, I saw many friends and I enjoyed really good food. I spent Dec 24 with one part of my family, Dec 25 with my husbands family and Dec 26 with another part of my family in Berlin. The pictures in here are from Dec 26.

How do you like my maternity dress? I bought it second hand (like the other one which I am wearing you in my last post) and I just love the light pink color and the cute shape.



How was your holidays and how did you spent the days of Christmas?
I hope you all enjoyed your holidays and are ready for New Years Eve now!? 

I am actually going to Lissabon for New Years. I can`t wait to share pictures and outfits from there with you guys!

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

My Birthday and Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of you lovely readers!

I want to say THANK YOU for being part of my blog and my life and I wish you all a most wonderful christmas!
Enjoy being with your families, friends and neighboors, eat well and relax as much as you can. This is the most important at this time of the year. Christmas should not be stress but it should be love and relaxation :)

Like every year, my birthday was on Dec. 22 (which means yesterday :) ) and I had a wonderful day with my family! We had a great breakfast together, I got beautiful gifts (I am sure I will share a few of them on my blog later... like my much much loved new Poncho from the German organic brand Hess Natur :) ) and I even got some first gifts for our baby. Oh guys, the baby things are too cute! I may share a few of them with you too :)






So this is my happy gift-unwrapping face from my birthday yesterday :) 

These days I feel so happy with my big belly and my family around me. The dress I am wearing in here is actually my first maternity dress. Its from the H&M MAMA collection and I bought it second hand from my new favorite mothers-and-mothers-to-be-online fleamarket. (a German one which is called mamikreisel.de)





So once again, a most wonderful christmas to all of you! I actually hope in the coming days we all stay away from our blogs for a while to enjoy the company of our families. This is at least what I will do :)



MERRY CHRISTMAS

Friday, December 19, 2014

Yummy yummy chocolate-coconut muffins

Time for a yummy recipe which you can try during the holidays :) 

I love the combination of coconut and chocolate so I came up with these muffins with a super yummy coconut topping.



What you will need:

1 1/4 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup warm water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp distilled white or apple cider vinegar


Blend everything together and fill in a muffin tin. Bake for 15-20 minutes. 

And for the topping: 

Either vegan coconut-whip cream from the store
OR
blend full-fat coconut milkwith some sugar and vanilla and leave in the freezer or fridge for a few hours (more healthy, more yummy, more good ;)) 

These are just a great treat for you during the holidays. When I feel like eating something really sweet (which happens more often now that I am pregnant) I always prefer to make something myself instead of buying sweets. These muffins are not what I would call super healthy, but at least you know whats inside and you can choose e.g. whole-grain flour, brown sugar or agave syrup instead of sugar.

So enjoy and let me know how you liked these yummy little baked goods :)

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Pregnancy Must Haves - Winter Edition - Part I

I am new in this world of maternatiy clothing...

... and I love to get into it :)

My belly is growing around 1 cm a week, so I need more and more maternity clothes by now. In the coming months I will share with you some of my must have pieces for a Winter pregnancy and I will also share a few tips and tricks with you :)

My first must have piece for Winter is definetly a big enough coat! I do no longer fit in my normal coats so I needed one in a different shape and I found this one:


The Coat is from Monki and the wide shape is just perfect for my belly. Its super comfortable and cozy. Since its not labelled as a maternity piece it is also less expensive. And this is also my first tip: 

Go for the normal collections in your favorite shops and just look for pieces in the oversize-style or one to two sizes bigger than what you usually buy

For everything you need from the maternity collection, buy it second hand. The jeans I bought now will no longer fit in a few weeks and I will need new ones again. So I better buy them for a little money second hand and I just resell them after a few weeks. Its better for the environment, its better for your bank account and its a lot of fun! Plus you can afford buying a little more ;) 

Now, for under the coat my first Must Haves are knit dresses
You can wear your normal knit dresses for the first (at least) six months of pregnancy and they will look great! The good thing is that leggings and tights are acutally really comfortable to wear with a big belly so its easy to make a nice outfit with a knit dress and a tight which you used to wear before pregnancy. 

For later I recommend to buy maternity tights and leggings but in the first few months you will be totally fine with your normal ones. They strech :)


I hope you enjoyed this first Pregnancy Must Haves post :)

Thank you a lot for your sweet comments on my last post and have a wonderful end of the week! 
I am going to northern Germany today to see my family for christmas. I can`t wait to meet them and show them my belly... and tell them the sex of our little baby!

Sending you all lots of christmas-love :)

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

My Pregnancy - First Trimester

Today I want to share with you some of my experiences during my first trimester of pregnancy...


...some of you may know and some may not, but usually people divide a pregnancy up into three trimesters, month 1-3, 4-6, and 7-9. I want to make a post about each of my trimesters, starting today :) 

For many women, including myself, the first trimester is the hardest one. There is one main reason for this: Most people do not know that you are pregnant! No one can tell from looking at your belly! Maybe you do not want to tell people yet, because you want to wait until the "critical phase" is over... well and because of all of this, many women feel so alone!
The problem is that even though no one knows about the huge miracle going on in your body, your body is working like heck. I felt so tired and so fragile in these first three months and I could not explain to people why. I wanted to sleep all day but I had to work and I didn't want to tell my boss yet that I am pregnant so I had to pretend that I am good. I felt so sick when I smelled certain things but I did not yet want to tell the colleague who was having this smelly lunch package. This is why the first trimester is so difficult. You are so alone with your changing body and all these weird emotions coming up. 

For this reason, my first advice is: find other pregnant women or young mothers to talk to! 

It feels so wonderful when you can share your experiences with someone, when you can talk with someone who understands how you feel and with someone who has been there too or maybe even is there too.



Next to the emotional level, there is your body which is making all these weird things. I felt sick for almost five weeks in a row (even though I was lucky enough that I did not have to throw up one single time) and I felt so tired

You know that I eat a rather healthy diet but in these first weeks of pregnancy, I just wanted to eat pasta, pesto and chocolate every day, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I got sick when just thinking of green smoothies or veggie dishes. I just wanted everything I would call unhealthy. It took me a long time before I allowed myself to eat what I felt like eating - and with the day I felt better! So I learned to listen to my body and to do what it tells me to do (even though that included eating pasta and pesto for 5 days in a row, in the morning, for lunch and for dinner!). 
Another thing that made me suffer was that I was soooo tired. Especially in the first weeks, your body needs so much energy to create this whole new person in your belly, so sometimes there is just not enough energy left for you. This was difficult for me to accept, since I am usually a very energetic person. I did not want to allow myself to slow down and take a nap every afternoon. I wanted to continue like always. Well, as soon as I changed my attitude and I began to relax, to do less and to slow down, I felt sooo much better!
So there are two more things I can advise:

Eat what you feel like eating!
Take some time off whenever you can! Relax!




By the end of the first trimester, some people could tell from looking at my belly that I am pregnant and this was such a great feeling! I also began to tell more and more people and I shared the news with you :) I feel so much better since! When people know you are pregnant, they act differently and you begin to really enjoy your pregnancy. Now its okay not to carry the groceries anymore, cause people understand why you do not do it. Now it’s okay to sleep for 30 minutes after lunch, cause people know it’s for your baby. And now it’s okay to say no to an invitation or event, because people understand you need to take care of your belly. For me, this was the time, when I truly began to enjoy pregnancy and I know from many others that they felt the same way. 
Now that I am already in my sixth months, I really really enjoy my pregnancy. I actually LOVE to be pregnant now. I could not have imagined this a few months ago! I do no longer feel sick but rather great and I love to see my belly growing... and I love when people look at my belly in the streets and I can tell from their face that they are thinking "oh, this woman seems to be pregnant". 

On the one hand I wish we could just skip the first three months of pregnancy and begin from month four or five on, but then I also think there is a good reason for why the first months are so difficult to most women: our baby wants us to learn from the beginning that from now on we have to pay attention to it, no matter what. Even though we cannot see it, we should pay attention to it and do what is best for it. My little wonder forced me to sleep a lot, to relax a lot, to slow down and to eat what I felt like eating, and it thereby showed me that from now on, I cannot only focus on myself any more but I have to take the baby into consideration all the time! I am somehow grateful for this lesson. 

And I also have to say that I enjoyed every single day of the first trimester, even though I felt sick and tired, because I knew its this little wonderful soul in my belly who is making me feel tired and sick. And I am just so grateful and happy about this wonder that I am completly fine with feeling sick or whatsoever ;-) 

Well you guys, these are my thoughts and my feelings about the first three months of pregnancy.
I would love to read about your experiences if you have any :)