Do you perceive yourself as being a Real Fashion Blogger?
For some reason I have been thinking about if I am a real fashion blogger or not and what a real fashion blogger actually is. I came to the conclusion that I am not a real fashion blogger and that I cannot ever become a real fashion blogger. why? Well here are my top five reasons:
1. Real fashion bloggers KNOW about fashion
Thats what I think. I think real fashion bloggers should know about fashion. This does not mean that they have to know the newest trends, but they know either about current trends or about past trends, they know about designers, about materials, shapes and prints. I do not know and I do not feel like I want to know. I love clothes and I love to think about what to wear but I am not interested in designers, in fashion history or in the latest trends. So this is reason no 1 for why I could never be a real fashion blogger.
2. Real fashion blogger try new items/styles/designs/colors
I pretty much stick to the same style and even to the same colors in yeeeeaaars. I always liked and always will like blue, black and white. Pink and grey have been added in 2014. Thats about it ;) I wear the same sweaters and jeans that I bought back in 2011 and my favorite dress is from 2006! Of course I add new items and somehow also new styles to my closet every now and then but at the end of the day, I look pretty much the same every day, I stick to my style and thats why I think I could never be a real fashion blogger.
3. Real fashion bloggers have loads of shoes and bags
I have tote bags and two pairs of shoes for Winter and two for Spring/Fall. And I do not feel like getting more because I think two pairs of shoes for one seaon is absolutely fine. 100% failed for being a real fashion blogger! ;)
4. Real fashion blogger truly inspire
I follow like a few fashion bloggers on instagram and here in the blogger world and I LOVE looking at their OOTDs and I get inspired by them - because they wear things differnetly, they have really individual outfits, they are creative in their looks, they just truly inspire. My blog here is a lot of fun for me and I love taking those outfit snaps with my husband. But I do not believe that I truly inspire with my rather casual looks. I may inspire with my food-posts though ;)
5. Real fashion blogger iron their clothes
Haha. yeah, true story. I never iron anything and hence, I can never look like a real fashion blogger ;)
One more reason could be that I am against fast fashion and most fashion bloggers are living fast fashion. But this one does not really count, because I am convinced that one can be a great fashion blogger without promoting fast fashion.
By the way, I do not think that it is a bad thing not to be a real fashion blogger. Its not like my goal to be one. My goal is to be happy and I totally am happy - with my style, my blog, my life. These are just some thoughts that I had.I do not mean to criticize anyone with this post and I complety respect if you think a real fashion blogger does not have to fit into any of the five points I mentioned here.
I can totally see that this post is sliiighlty provocative and I am looking forward to read your commnts on it! What do you think makes a real fashion blogger? Do you see yourself as being one? I really would love to know!!!
Sending much love to all of you wonderful people out there! Thank you for passing by!
Happy Monday!
Yay - snow pictures! And me not even wearing a coat. Haha. Well sorry for that but to be honest I spent most of this beautiful Winter day inside and just went outside for a few minutes to snap these pictures of my cozy Winter outfit to share with you :)
I LOVE this long sweater of mine! I got it second hand (its H&M) and I truely love its shape. Since its H&M its not like super good quality and I really would love to find a high quality sweater like this from some ethical brand. In case you see a similar one somewhere in an ethical online shop PLEASE let me know! So I paired this sweater dress or long sweater or whatever you would call it, with some simple (second hand) blue jeans, my big and warm Winter boots and a little bit of fun blingbling.
How do you like this look?
Do you prefer the really cold kind of Winter days or the warmer ones? I really cannot say what I like better - I LOVE how pretty everything looks when its all white and icy outside, but I do not really like the cold and I am always afraid to slip while carrying my girl when I walk outside on those icy days. Also I cannot go running when its all slippery and I like to go running around three times a week, which I really miss when I am not able to do it. Anyway, today it is really really warm again back home and I am somehow enjoying it ;)
Have a most woooooonderful week everyone!
Sending lots of love!
Today I want to talk about one of my New Years resolutions...
... I told you back in this post in a sidenote that I have this little challenge going on for the year 2016. I will not eat any white flour nor any refined sugar during the entire lenght of year! Oh yes! Today I want to tell you a little bit more about this challenge and why I decided for it :)
Maybe you have heard of the term acid-base-balance!? In case you havent, let me just tell you a little bit about it... our blood basically needs the right balance
of acid and basic (alkaline) compounds to function properly. Kidneys and lungs work to keep the acid-base balance. So food is digested in our bodies and is broken down to a kind of ash residue, which determines alkaline vs acidic foods.
This ash residue can be either neutral, acidic, or alkaline. In general alkaline foods contain higher amounts of potassium, calcium, magnesium, and iron,
and will leave an alkaline ash, while acidic foods contain higher
amounts of sulphur, phosphorus, and chlorine and leave an acid ash.
Food such as meat, eggs, dairy products, sugar, coffee, white flour, and soda ar highly acidic! A diet high in acidics is responsible for various diseases such as arthrosis, gallstones, high blood pressure, depression, fatigue, etc. etc. etc.
Now as you may guess I am already doing pretty good eating loads of alkaline foods, since I am not eating any animal products (which are all highly acid). However, I still used to eat white flour and refined sugar from time to time. Because I want to get an even better balance when it comes to my acids and alkalines, I decided to stop eating refined sugar and white flour - for now I say for one year, maybe it will be forever after this one year :)
Now that I wrote a little bit about the background let me continue with how the challenge went so far. First of all, leaving out the white flour and the refined sugar I realized that I end up leaving out all the empty calories, so this challenge somehow also became a no-empty-calories-challenge to me. Since January 1, everything I put into my body is rich in nutrients and can actually be used by my body - it does not stress my organism (as meat and dairy products, sugar, white flour, etc. do). Do you wanna now how I feel since?
Its been three weeks so far and I have to say that the first few days without sugar have been a little hard for me. Those of you who have babies too, you know how much you are craving energy when you are breastfeeding. And sugar is the fastest and easiest way to get energy. When I left out the sugar, I ate even more to get all the energy I need. The first few days this was difficult to me but now, three weeks later, I feel great with it! I do not have any cravings for sugar and I enjoy eating a loooooot of carbs to get the energy I need (without gaining any weight). I do not miss white flour at all, to be honest. I love my whole wheat pasta, my whole grain spelt pancakes and my whole grain bread. I need to find a place where they have whole wheat brezels though, cause I begin to miss pretzels ;)
So I feel GREAT and I am happy that I decided for this challenge... but this does not mean that its easy or even possible not to eat refined sugar and white flour! Why? Let me tell you!
In almost every processed product there is sugaar! Go to the wholefood shop and take any hummus, any vegetable broth, any sandwich spread - in every second of the products you will find SUGAR! So far I was not able to find a vegetable broth without sugar so I cannot say that I am doing perfect in my challenge, because I still use the broth. Also white flour - in Germany, when a bread is declared as "whole grain" it must only contain 80% whole grains so the 20% left is white flour in every second bread. Also, there is sugar in almost all breads. Hence, in case you do not do EVERYTHING by yourself, it is more or less impossible to go 100% sugar and white flour free!
I realized from the first day on that I will not be able to make this challenge 100%. I do not yet know great alternatives to vegetable broth that do not contain sugar (any ideas?), I cannot bake my own bread every day (we do aorund once a week but sometimes we also buy organic whole grain bread) but I am getting better every day :) I am totally fine with the fact that I am not doing it 100% because I know that I do my best and I feel already a difference. Also I know that those traces of white flour and sugar will not have much impact on my acid-base balance nor on my intestinal flora (which is the second reason for who I do this challenge - a healthy intestinal flora is key to good health and wheat and sugar are destroying the healthy bacteria down there (as do animal products by the way))).
By the way, there are of course also some processed foods who are very alkaline and I am definetly going to share a few with you on the blog throughout the year :)
I will also share more background information on why sugar and white flour, next to animal products, are bad for your intestinal flora and for your health in general - so be ready for that ;)
So far, I hope you enjoyed this post! Have you every thought about if your acids and alkalines are in balance? What do you think about my no-empty-calories-challenge? Could you do without refined sugar and white flour for a year or even longer? I would love to know!
Sending muuuuuch love!
Seems like I am too lazy to come up with titles for my outfit posts this year...
... I hope you dont mind!
So here is outfit number 2 2016 - my much loved pencil skirt from Hess Natur (I wear this one a loooooot, especially now in Winter; its 100% wool!), my woolen sweater which is also from Hess Natur, a second hand cardigan (form H&M) and some borrowed boots. You know what? I think this is my first 100% ethical outfit! I wear only second hand and pieces from ethical brands in this look! Wow! This makes me happy :)
How do you like this combination of pink and grey? Not that its new in any way; I feel like all I wear is blue and white or pink and grey, but hey, I can come up with a whole lot of different looks with those four colors ;)
By the way, these pictures were taken in my cousins backyard. We are spending a few days with his kids at his place while he is on a seminar. Its nice to be here and to spend some time on the countryside. I always enjoy spending a few days on the countryside :)
Whereas there is no snow back home, here is quite a bit and we went for some beautiful walks last weekend. I hope it will last a bit so maybe I can take some pretty pictures in the snow :)
How was your weekend? I hope you got to spend some time outside too :)!?
Have a wonderful week ahead everyone and enjoy it to the fullest!
Sending much love!
This is a post I wanted to make for a looong time...
... about a year ago, I wrote a post about eating a plant-based diet during pregnancy (you can find the post here). You can actually find a lot of information about what to eat during pregnancy on the net, also loads of info about a vegan diet during pregnancy, but for some reason the period of breastfeeding is less popular. Its harder to find information about that actually- as if it is less important! I think it is AT LEAST as important what you are eating during the period of nursing as what you eat during pregancy. So here are some info about this topic.
First of all: it is absolutely easy to get all the vitamins, minerals, all the protein and all the calcium you need, when you are vegan and breastfeeding. It is actually much EASIER than when eating an omnivore diet. Because when you eat meat and dairy this automatically means that you eat less fruits and veggies and since meat and dairy is less nutrient-dense than fruits and veggies you get less nutrients (on an equal amount of calories). That said, let me go into the details :)
Breastfeeding is very exhausting for your body! You need loads of energy (food) and loads of nutrients to make sure YOU get enough of everything. Your baby will take what it needs, it comes first - so make sure there is always enough left over for you!
Eat 300-500 calories more than before pregnancy. Of course you do not have to count calories. Just always eat in abundance and you will get the right amount! Never restrict yourself, always eat until you are fully satisfied. And do not be afraid of gaining weight: as long as you eat healthy foods you can eat as much as you like and you will not get fat. Look at me - I often eat up to 3000 calories a day and I do not think that I am a fatty!?
When you eat healthy (low fat, plant-based) you will loose your pregnancy weight automatically because your little one will suck it all out of your body, dont worry. My current weight is below me before-pregancy weight (-2kg) even though I eat really a loooooot... but my baby also drinks a lot ;)
Now there is this craze about proteins and that you may not get enough on a plant-based diet. One question: have you ever heard of someone with protein-defiency? No? Well, it will be difficult to find someone because only when you go hungry for weeks, you risk to become protein-defienct. Here is a quote to explain further:
“When your caloric needs are met [by eating whole foods], your protein
needs are met automatically. Focus on eating healthy natural foods;
forget about trying to get enough protein. Your protein needs increase
in direct proportion to increased caloric demands and your increased
appetite. Guess what? You automatically get enough. The same is true
during pregnancy. When you meet your caloric needs with an assortment of
natural plant foods, you will receive the right amount of protein- not
too much and not too little.” -Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Eat to Live
The same goes for calcium by the way - more and more studies prove that too much calcium (loads of dairy products) actually harms the body and we get right the perfect amount when we eat a diet based on fruit and veggies.
Iron? Not to worry about, as long as you eat ENOUGH! The key to getting enough nutrients really is TO EAT ENOUGH! Now you may say that I am crazy and that you learned your whole life that you should eat less!? Well, just think about it - the more good food you eat the more nutrients you get, the less you eat the less you get. When you decide that you want to eat only 1300 or so calories per day than better make sure that those are superfoods only so that you get your nutrients. In case you do not only want to eat superfoods, just make sure you eat enough during the day, loads of veggies and fruits and you will get everything you need. During pregnancy, during the nursing period and beyond :)
This said, I have a few recommendations for you, representing the way I eat during nursing period (and beyond):
1. Eat vegetables in abundance!
Your veggies are life! Make sure to eat loads of green veggies such as salads, kale, broccoli, spinach, swiss chard, etc. etc. they are extremely nutrient dense. One great way to get your greens is by making green smoothies! Just blend your greens in a high speed blender with your favorite fruits and voilà; you have a nice healthy snack!
2. Eat Fruit in abundance!
Fruits
are the highest quality source of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients!
Plus they are super sweet and yummy. Have you tried to make a whole meal
of 1000 kalories from fruit only? Its fun and yummy! You can find loads
of inspo on the net.
However,
I know that those of us living in the northern hemisphere have a hard
time to find an abundance of fresh and ripe fruit in Winter. This is why I recommend for anyone who feels its difficult to get hand on an abundance of fresh fruits (which is the case in Germany):
3. Add nutrient dense juices and super foods!
In Summer its easy to eat loads of fresh and ripe fruits but in Winter it is difficult here in Germany. Its important to eat your fruits fresh and ripe to avoid bloating and problems with the digestion, but except for apples, bananas, oranges, and a few others, you will have a hard time to find ripe fruit during the German Winter. This is way I like to add Barley Grass to my daily routine. I wrote more about why I LOVE barley grass back here. I also like to add a little bit of nutrient dense juice to my water. Juice from e.g. aronia, acerola, cranberry or sea buckthorn have loads of vitamins and minerals plus they add some flavor to my water ;) As with the barley grass and with everything else, quality is very important to me. I get my barley grass from Jomu and I love the high quality demeter (organic) NFC juices from Voelkel. Please do not misunderstand me here - I do not recommend drinking loads of fruit juice! I recommend adding small amounts of high quality, carefully pressed, nutrient-dense deliciousness :)
4. Eat enough calories!
This really is so important! When you are breastfeeding you. need. to. eat. enough. Really! When you loose too much weight at once during nursing period, the toxicants stored in your fat will go directly to your milk and, hence, to your baby. Toxicants are always stored in fat, so be careful about it :)
Further, as I wrote already above; you can only get enough nutrients and energy when you eat enough. Dont worry about your shape, it will come back automatically when you eat healthy!
Plus - make sure to always supply vitamin B12! The baby will not get any of your stored B12 reserves through the milk but only the one you actually EAT!
Wow, what a long post! It was so much fun to write! A huge thanks to Voelkel for the juices and to Jomu for my much loved barley grass! I am such a lucky women, I am! :)
By the way, most of you know, but I still would like to repeat, that I only recommend sustainable, organic brands here on my blog. And I only recommend products that I really USE in my everyday life and that I really like!
Now, this said, I guess this post is a wrap :)
Sending muuuuuch love!
Here is my first 2016 outfit post...
... Winter decided to come all the way to Germany anyway (after we have been waiting for over a month for it to arrive) so the weather was getting colder and it was time for me to get some big scarfs out. I am still layering instead of going for the big coat, so I was wearing a long sleeve under my sweater and just a light jacket on top. It was just right this way, with the big scarf and two pairs of tights on top of each other :)
So my first 2016 outfit is my H&M skirt with a H&M turtleneck sweater, my old old black blazer kind of jacket, my oversized scarf from before last Christmas and my second hand Zara bag. I have been wearing the skirt back here which was like four weeks after delivery when my womb was not yet formed back. At that time the skirt fit perfectly and now its too big actually. Its a pitty because I think its so super cool! I can wear it when I tuck in a top, a long sleeve and part of a big sweater, but when I wear a single shirt only, it really is way too big. Anyway, its a pitty now that its too big, but wait for my next pregnancy (yes, more babys are planned ;)) - then I will totally be happy that its fits my baby belly! I am already looking forward to it actually :)
So how is your year going so far? Mine could not go any better I think. I am very very very extremly happy and so far I thought every single day of the year that I am just such a lucky gal! I am back to work, working three hours a day which is great because I really missed having a routine these past few months. Also, I am super happy about my no-empty-calories challenge (only whole wheat grains and no sugar for one year!) and I feel super great in my body. Furthermore, I have the most wonderful little girl ever and the absolutely peeeeerfect husband, plus this cozy new apartment, awesome friends, loads of projects and ideas for the blog in mind and well, I am just happy and grateful!
How do you feel about this new year so far? Did it also start in the nicest possible way for you?
And how do you like my outfit by the way :)???
Sending loads of love and wishing you a great week ahead!
Let me share my beauty favorites from 2015 with you...
... before I truely dive into the new year with my blog, I want to take a last look back. Today I want to share my favorite body care, skin care and make up from 2015 with you. I used all these products a lot throughout the year and I love all of them. They are all organic, natural and from great brands!
So let me start with my favorites in body care:
1. Burts Bees Sugar Scrub! Yummy! I love the smell, I love the way it makes my skin feel super soft and I love how it leaves some moisture and fat on my skin after using it. I got it as a gift for my birthday 2014 and I used it carefully during the year (I could need some new one actually... )
I wrote about it back here too
2. Dr. Hauscka Rose Body Oil. Dr. Hauschka definetly is one of my favorite organic cosmetics brands! The body oil is really like the best I ever had! I used it for the first time more than ten years ago and every once in a while I am lucky to get one as a gift from my mother - and then I spoil myself with this luxury product :)
3. Weleda Shower Gel. To be honest, I could not really choose which of the many awesome shower gels from weleda is my favorite - I LOVE the wild rose one, I LOVE the pomegranate one and I LOVE the sea buckthorn one. Since this is the one I am currently using, I put this one on the picture.
4. Lavera Body Butter. Since I love the smell of macadamia nuts and since I love a fat and thick texture when it comes to body care, this body butter from Lavera had to be on my favorites list too. However, I used several aaaaaaaawesome body lotions throughout the year, many of them from Lavera!
5. Korres Body Lotion. Wow! I got to know Korres at the really end of the year and baaaaam - I promise you that they will be on my favorites list for 2016 again! What a great brand! Why did I not know them before? Anyway, the Marrocain Rose body lotion and body butter are amazing! I love the texture, I love the smell and I love the design ;)
Here are my face care favorites:
1. Annemarie Börlind Eye Cream. This one is my favorite from all of them. I used this eye cream a year or so ago when I visited my mother and since, I wanted to have it too. Its quite expensive though, so I never really wanted to spend 18 euro on an eye cream... well, lucky me that I got it for Christmas :) its my favorite eye cream ever! So rich, so good, so perfect! Really!
2. Love me Green Face Cream and Face Mask. Love me Green is one of those super cool brands that I got to know in 2015 - and I am so happy about that! The regenerating day cream is one of my favorites as is the moisturising face mask. Wait. Actually I liked the regenerating face mask better. Or no. The moisturising one. Or maybe the rege...
You get the idea ;)
I wrote about it back here, here and here too
3. Lavera Beauty Balm. This one really saved me on those tired days when I had had a little bit of a hard night. I never use makeup but this cream really made me look good on bad days. Thanks for that Lavera!
4. Lavera Cleansing Milk. My favorite for my sensitive skin! It cleans well, makes my skin feel nourished rather than dry after using it and helps with small blemishes.
5. Dr. Hauscka Day Cream Rose. Body care or face care, no matter what, Dr. Hauschka simply is awesome! Try their products, then you know what I mean! You really can feel the quality of the products on your skin and when you listen carefully you can hear your skin saying "thank you!"
And now the last one: Make up!
1. Benecos Eye Brow Pencil. Something that simple yet something that made me incredibly happy throughout the entire year! I LOVE this eyebrow pencil. Since I got it, not a single day passed without me using it (okay, thats not true, there were those days spent in PJ where I did not leave the house... and I did not use my eye brow pencil).
I wrote about it back here too
2. Benecos Blush Mallow Rose and Brush. I got these towards the end of the year when I was looking for a new blush. I was looking for a cream blush/blush stick but could'nt find one - so I tried this blush instead. What a find! I love the color and it really feels good on my skin and not dry at all (I usually prefer blush sticks because powder often makes my skin feel dry). It really is a great alternative to my blush stick!
3. Korres Blush Stick Peach. Talking about blush... towards the end of the year I got to know the Greec brand Korres and fell in love. Completely. And especially in this blush stick! It smells like vanilla, is super creamy, has the perfect color and well, is my new favorite I guess.
4. Dr. Hauscka Volume Mascara. I tried quite a few mascaras in 2015, always looking for the perfect one. I have to say that I still didn't find the perfect one (when I laugh tears - which happens often - all those organic mascaras tend to make me look like having a black eye... :() but as long as it is dry, not snowing, and I am not crying, this one from Dr. Hauschka is really good I think ;)
I wrote about it back here too
5. Lavera Lip Stick Sweet Bramble. My lip stick of the year! Love it! The color looks darker than it does on the lips, I was wearing it quite a lot on the blog actually. Always makes me look slightly more elegant, I think ;)
6. Alverde Concealer. This one, next to the Beauty Balm and the Blush, saved me on those days where I looked tired and exhausted. Thanks for that Alverde! I really like it because it has this cooling liquid on the one side and the soft rose colored concealer on the other side. Great product!
Wow, those were a lot of products! Do you know and of them? Do you use any of them? Are maybe some of them in your favorites list too :)? I would love to know!
Have a great rest of the week and a wonderful weekendend ahead! I will be back on Monday with my first outfit post of 2016 ;)
Sending much love!
I am beginning the new year with a look back...
... back on my purchases from November and December 2015. I am very happy with my purchases from those two months since I bought almost exclusively second hand with the exception of one top from an ethical brand (Hess Natur). Hence, before the year came to an end, I managed to meet my goal not to buy from any "bad brand" but only second hand or from sustainable brands. Yes! A good end of the year :)
So here is what I bought in November and December:
A grey jeans and a grey coat both from Esprit, both second hand. I am afraid that I forgot how much exactly I paid but I think it was 30 for both pieces.
I wore both pieces A LOT. A lot means that I am wearing the coat almost every day and the jeans became one of my favorite one. I wear it around once a week. I wore both pieces on the blog here
A high waist skinny jeans from Pull and Bear. I didnt know the brand before, I got the jeans second hand for 10 euro. I wore it a lot since, but somehoe it did not yet make it on the blog - I am sure this will change soon :)
I bought loads of cardigans in November and December... like really a lot! They are all second hand and I paid between 10 and 20 euro for each of them (80 euro in total for 4 cardigans and 1 woolen sweater dress). They are all H&M except for the white and black one on the top picture to the right which is from Zara. I wore all of them a lot, am wearing one right now actually, and two of them made it on the blog: here and here
The sweater dress became one of my favorite ones too. I forgot to take a picture of it but I wore it one the blog here and I wear it a lot with leggings only when I do feel like wearing something comfy and cozy :)
This one was a sale found. I got the blue top from Hess Natur on sale for 40 euro. It is made from silk and hemp and I did not wear it yet because it obviously is a piece to be worn in Summer. I love the material and the oversized shape and I am looking forward to wear this special top when its getting warmer again.
I spent a total of 160 € which is slightly more than my average (looking back at the past 12 months). However, I think 80 euro per months is still good. For 2016 I may have to go down a little since there is quite some travelling planned which needs to be paid. And travel always goes before clothes! At least this is how I handle things ;)
When I now look back at all my purchases from 2015 I have to say that my shopping behaviour really improved throughout the year. In the beginning of the year I bought quite a few pieces that I rarely wear and that are not ethical, however later in the year this changed and I bought more and more conscious and sustainable. I am happy about these posts since they really helped me improving my behaviour as a consumer in this world where we all vote with our dollars.
Are you happy with your shopping behaviour 2015? Are you happy with everything you bought and with the amount you spent? I would love to know!
Sending much love!
