Sunday 30 April 2017

Fashion Corner - Red Blazer




This week's Fashion corner is all about my fave blazer, I just love the colour!


My new fave blazer is dark red and it's fro  Massimo Dutti. I have always wanted a blazer in this color, but never found one, so glad I finally did. I combined it with a blue shirt from G-Star and some dark blue skinny jeans. I then added my necklace from Phantasya and painted my nails dark red. 



- Blazer: Massimo Mutti
- T-Shirt: G-Star (similar)
- Jeans: Jack Wills
- Booties: Navyboot
- Necklace: Phantasya (similar)




Saturday 29 April 2017

Tenerife - Travel Diary


Another early morning start it was on that Thursday, just two days after coming home from Dallas, but I was very excited, because this time the journey took me to Tenerife with th my family.
After a coffee and some breakfast it was already time for boarding, the flught was four hours long and the view during landing was absolutely fabulous. We saw El Teide, the vulcano mountain and the coast of Tenerife, just breath taking. A bus took us to the hotel, the Riu Palace in Costa Adeje. We enjoyed a little champagne while they handled everything for check in and just enjoyed this great on the balcony. Then it was time to get changed into something more summery, before eating lunch by the pool. A yummy Gazpacho and little hamburgers it was with a cerveca (beer). It's actually the first time for me in Spain, which made this trip even more special. Afterwards we explored the area arohnd the hitel, meaning Costa Adeje and everything around Playa del Duque. There are some cute little shops and cafes around there, with a fab view of the atlantic ocean. Back at the hitel we took a shower, git changed and headed for dinner, which was really good with a lot of choices. The evening ended with a drink outside on the terrace listening to a live band.





The following day was a Friday, after breakfast it was time for some shopping. We spent about three hours checking out the shops, in the end I bought a bikini at Tommy Hilfiger and it was definitely time for a coffee before heading back to the hotel. Now, it was pool time! I git changed as fast as possible and webt to the pool area, we found a great spit, had lunch there and just enjoyed the sunshine. A good book, some music, that's all I need. I also tried the infinity pool, with their little beds to lie in , just perfect. Even just looking out to the ocean, it's just so relaxing. We stayed at the pool for a long time, had dinner and looked at the beautiful sunset with a drink in our hands.



Saturday meant a slow start, after breakfast we explored the area the the right of the hotel, also very cute, with some stone humans right by the beach. Then it was time for a coffee before heading the the golf course of Costa Adeje. Don't worry I didn't golf 😉, just watched and enjoyed the great view and the nature. The sport still seems very borning to me and it just takes forever. Afterwards we enjoyed a beer at the club house and went back to the hotel to have some dinner. The evening ended with a yummy mojito at the bar.




On Sunday we git up earlyish, because I wanted to the deckchairs close to the infinity pool, we got them of course. The day was dedicated to pool time, reading, listening to music, relaxing, swiming in the infinity pool, eating... I think you get the pictures. It was the warmest day so far, with a warm wind called Calima, bringing sand from Africa. We started dinner with a drink outside on the terrace and then sat outside for dinner, because it was so warm. Right after sunset in the blue hour we walked around a bit and explored Costa Adeje by night, so beautiful. When we got back we heard this great music and headed up to the stage and bar area, where the band called UK Menace performed and dragged us to the dancefloor immediately. So we danced, had a drink, sang and list ned to their songs. They covered the Jersey Boys, which was fab.





Monday was another sleeping in day, followed by breakfast, coffee and some relaxing pool time. It was still really arm, so of course the infinity pool brought the right cooling. At about three pm I went back to the room, showered and we explored the shops we haven't been yet. I bought a lovely scarf from Marccain, so in love with it. It was only on Monday when we went to another area to eat dinner, with a much better view, why didn't we go there before?! We went to bed early, because we wanted to get up early the next morning.




So we did get up early, ate breakfast and started our journey to explore the island by car. Our first stop was Candelaria. The have a very pretty church and cute beqch with black sand, that was great see. Of course it was also time for a coffee, before continuing the journey to La Laguna, the former captital of Tenerife. It's such a cute little city, with adorable houses in different colours and some impressive churches. We bought some postcards there and looking at them, decided to head to Punta del Hidalgo. Well, as we were driving these clouds appeared, arohnd these mountains and suddenly we were in between them. Driving down to the nirth east coast they weather didn't get any better, so the view there was nothing. The houses and hotels there also seemed abondoned, which was reall weird. We had our sandwiches and continued our drive to Puerto della Cruz. That one area there right by the see looked great, so we wanted to there, we didn't find parking though and the area with the hotels looked old and dated. So we wnet to the botanical garden there instead. That was very pretty. Then we continued our drive, so some great photo options, but they were all nothing because of the weather. In Icod we went to see El Drago, a very old dragon tree, which actually doesn't look that big on picture, but it's huge. Then we drove to the Buenovista Golf Club, which is in an amazing location right by the see, so beautiful. We were even able to see the sunshine, so we were hoping to see some sunshine soon. Well, we had a yummy avocado and salmon salad there and watched the golfers before driving away again. That's where the journey got really interesting. It was clear that we had to drive over a mountain pass to get to the other side, but the first part of the road was steep, bumpy and a but if an adventure for sure. It was going up and up, not stoping. Almost at the top the sun was finally creepy out of the clouds and we made it out of them, seeing blue sky, beautiful green landscpae and some great views. The highlight: we saw El Teide, so brwath taking. Driving back to the hotel afte that was awesome too, with a view of the sea. At the hotel we inly had a quick dinner, before heading to bed, I was exhausted.

Calendaria
El Teide
La Laguna
El Drago

Garachico
I took it slowly in the Wednesday, the weather wasn't too great at first, so I sat in the sunlounger in my comfy nike sports stuff, wrote blog posts, read and listenined to music. The weather didn't get any better, so we walked along the boardwalk and checked the shops, we haven't seen yet. Then we had lunch in the pool restaurant and relaxed a bit by the pool before going up to the room and getting changed. For the evening we reserved at the Krystal restaurant in the hotel, they only have a few spaces and the food was absolutely delicious. The evening ended with a drink by the bar.


On Thursday they weather was better, or so it seemed, it was fine in the beginning and then the clouds came up. Just before that we went to the beach with thesegreat stone sculptures and took some pictures. Then we resturned to our sunloungers, but it git colder and colder, so we went up to the room and watched a bit of TV, before deciding to see another golf gourse and goung shopping in the Siam Mall. After shopping we had a beer and pizza at the mall and went back to the hotel, where we only had a small dinner and just watched TV.



Friday was our last full day and it started with sunshine, so we went to relax by the pool. Even though the weather orecast wasn't great, it was warm, so perfect pool weather. Some reading, relaxing, music and a beer, all I needed. At around 4 pm we decided to go to this other mall in Las Americas, because they had they shoes, we didn't find the day before. The taxi dropped us off and funnily enough it was the first store right when we got out of the taxi. I still can't believe it, but I found three pairs of shoes in that stores, all in 36, that never happens to me with my small feet, so of course I got them all. We also explored the other shops there and then walked to the beach, where there were many surfers, a beach bar and some funny sculptures. Then we took a taxi back to the hotel and drank our little cavas we got from the hotel for easter, a toast on the holidays. After dinner all we did was pack and go to bed, because we had to get up early on Saturday.




The bus for the airport picked us up at 7.40, so we ckevked out early, had breakfast and then headed to the airport. That took us quite a while, because we stopped at several hotels. Then we checked in, enjoyed a coffee and waited for boarding. The flight was great with a view of Gran Canaria and then the coast of Spain, the Pyrenees and the alps.



Tenerife has been absolutely amazing, I feel in love with the island, especially the different kinds of nature they have there, it's a great island, we lots of things to do. I would definitely recommed going.

Thursday 27 April 2017

The Cornish Escape – by Lily Graham

Original Cover
My own copy














The blurb:

Get swept away along the beautiful Cornish coast with two love stories, centuries apart in time but entwined at their hearts.

Victoria Langley’s world crumbles when her husband leaves, but she knows exactly where to go to mend her broken heart. The rugged shores of Cornwall will be her perfect sanctuary. 

In the quaint, little village of Tregollan, nestled in the sea cliffs, Victoria is drawn to Seafall Cottage, covered in vines and gracefully falling apart. Inside she finds a diary full of secrets, from 1905.

Victoria is determined to unravel the diary’s mystery, but the residents of Tregollan are tight-lipped about Tilly Asprey, the cottage’s last owner. Just as she reaches a dead end, Victoria meets Adam Waters, the lawyer handling the cottage’s sale. He’s handsome, charming, and has a missing piece of the puzzle.

Tilly’s diary tells a devastating love story that mirrors Victoria’s own. Can Victoria learn from Tilly’s mistakes, and give herself a second chance at love? Or is history doomed to repeat itself?

An unputdownable and gorgeously romantic read about lost love and new beginnings set in the green hills and rocky cliffs of the breath-taking Cornish coast. Perfect for fans of Phillipa Ashley, Emma Burstall and Liz Fenwick.



My Opinion:

*Book provided by the publisher on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

After Victoria finds her marriage shattered to pieces, she buys a little cottage in Cornwall. It's a new start, a project and when she finds the diary of a woman called Tilly some mystery is added to the story.
Victoria is determined to solve it and tries to find out more about Tilly and her family. On the way she discovers a lot and also meets some new people, one of them being handsome Adam, who is even connected to the mystery and might have a missing puzzle of the story.

I loved the intrigue in this book and how the chapters alternated between the diary and present day. I have to say that I was more drawn to the relationship between Adam and Victoria, but still enjoyed the connection to the past. On top of Adam and Victoria developing feelings for each other, there were their ex partners, who didn't make the situation easier. Some misunderstandings and drama totally made their journey more interesting.

I loved the scenery in this book and Lily Graham captured it beautifully. I was a little disappointed by the ending, not because it was bad, just because I wanted more, wanted to find out more and read more about the characters.

This is definitely a very captivating read, full of great characters, connecting storylines and a wonderful setting.


Rating:





Lily Graham on Twitter: @lilygrahambooks
Website: https://lilygraham.net
Goodreads - Amazon UK - Amazon US

Wednesday 26 April 2017

Simona in Dallas


April 3, 4am: Good morning! It’s travel time!

So, we left for the airport at 5am, I was all ready and checked in an hour later and another hour later I sat in the plane. And guess what, another hour later I landed in Frankfurt. There I finally had some time. I went to my terminal and then enjoyed a coffee and some fruit. Then it was time for boarding again. Of course I booked a window seat and got cosy immediately. The plane took of around 40 minutes late, but that was ok. I started off reading some magazines on my iPad and then I finished Annie Lyons’ The Choir on Hope Street. Then I started listing to some Harry Potter and ate lunch. Lunch was not great, but oh well…
Afterwards, it was movie time! I started with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and then continued with Bridget Jones Baby. I loved Fantastic Beasts, it was just so fab to be back in this magical world and I just love Eddie Redmayne. Bridget Jones was just so hilarious and so much fun to watch. I also watched some other series, listened to some music and just watched where the plane was going, this is always really fascinating to me. I got another meal, but it wasn’t really better than the other one. I really like looking out of the window. There was lots of ice over Greenland and northern Canada and then it was really cloudy. The landing in Dallas was fab. The flight definitely didn’t feel like 11 hours, which is always a good thing.
Arriving meant immigration and customs of course. It’s the first time I had to do it with a machine, which was actually really easy. The annoying thing: There was German lady who had no idea and I was nice enough to help her. Even though there was the German option she wasn’t able to do it. The questions were all in German and pretty much the same like on the customs paper we had to fill out. And then she wasn’t even able to press “send”. Well, I continued to Baggage Claim. It took quite a while for my suitcase to arrive, I got a little worried for a while. Customs was easy afterwards and the guy was really nice and friendly. Then I was finally able to walk out of the airport and got greeted by my second momma Wendy. It felt like I never left. We got to her car and drove to her place. Of course we exchanged pressies first and let me just say one thing: I brought lots of chocolate! We spent the rest of the day talking, grocery shopping, eating and watching Homegate TV. I just love this channel. I was actually really awake the whole time and only got tired around 8pm. In the end I really was up for over 24 hours.



Tuesday was a chill day, because I didn’t feel too well. So we relaxed on the sofa, talked a lot, watched Homegate TV and did some work on the laptop. In the evening I felt better, so we made a fab salad and drank some sparkly rosé and on top of that: we enjoyed the Stars game, they won!!!

Wednesday meant sleeping in, getting ready and then hitting the mall. We went to Galleria Dallas. Finally some shopping time: Nordstrom, Macy’s, Steve Madden, Bath and Body Works, Banana Republic, Abercrombie and Fitch, Coach, Sephora etc. I bought a dress at Banana Republic and bought a lot at Sephora. We spent a lot of time in there and I finally got my Tarte Rainforest of the Sea palette, among other things. We had lunch at the Grand Lux Café, I had a very yummy omelette. The rest of the day was spent chilling, cooking, eating, talking and watching HGTV.



Thursday meant some more shopping. This time we went to the Allen Outlet Mall. They have a great collection of stores: Tommy Hilfiger, Coach, Kate Spade, Nike, Guess and many more. I got really crazy at Nike and Coach. Unfortunately, there weren’t any restaurants around, just a food court. So we left really hungry and went to La Madeleine for lunch. Then we went back to Wendy’s house, where we enjoyed the rest of the day with some blogging/writing, drinks, TV and of course some hockey fun. My time at home lost the first game of the playoff finals and it got worse the Stars lost against Nashville. That game was fun at all to watch. After the game I enjoyed some Holly Martin writing and went to bed.



It’s Stars practice day, finally!!! I have been waiting for this, so yay! We left and got some Starbucks and then headed to the Dr Pepper’s Arena. Some players were already on the ice when we arrived. It was so much fun to watch practice and Tyler Seguin and Stephen Johns were so funny, loved watching them. I didn’t get to see Tyler last year, so I was really excited. After practice we went to stand in line to see some of the players. Nine of them came out, including Stephen Johns!! Usually it’s like one or two. Tyler didn’t come, but that’s fine. I will be putting up a hockey post as well, so if you want to hear more details about the practice and the game, look out for it.
At practice we met up with some girls from Wendy’s readers group and then also went to lunch with them. They are a lot of fun and lunch at The Cheesecake Factory was great. Wendy then took me to a store called Lolli and Pops, it’s full of sweets and chocolate. They have an amazing collection of things, we got some things to try, like rosé champagne gummy bears and special truffles. In the evening we enjoyed some pizza from Mellow Mushroom and just chilled.




On Saturday I went to see Wendy’s daughter play tennis. We sat outside and I kind felt like in an American movie, when all the parents watch their kids play a sport. We chatted and I told her things about Switzerland, Wendy is writing about a Swiss hockey player at the moment, so we started comparing the countries. After tennis we headed to First Watch and had brunch there. I had a very yummy Kale Tonic with cucumbers and apple in it, it was SO good and I also had avocado on toast, loved it. Afterwards, we went back to the house relaxed a bit and then got ready for the game in the evening. We left around 4.30 for downtown Dallas. We got there at the dot at 5pm and headed straight to Pira for dinner. Then it was AAC time. We got a beer, watched the players warm up and then it was time for the game (more again in my hockey post). After an exciting game we won. It was truly a dream come true, especially because I finally got to see Tyler Seguin play live. I had fun with Wendy and the girls too. At the end of the game we all got some goodies at the official team store and drove home. For us the evening wasn’t over yet. Wendy’s husband was actually watching the game, we didn’t tell him the outcome though and it was fun to watch it like this. We enjoyed some truffles and rosé too. We got to bed late, but I was very very happy.





I slept in on Sunday, if you can even call it that, because I couldn’t really sleep. I had a dream about Tyler Seguin though ;). We made a slow morning with breakfast, some photo editing time, coffee and a shower before heading out to Target and Whole Foods. I got some Fruit Roll-Ups and we got some lunch as well. Back at the house we made our lunch and totally enjoyed it, then we just hung around. I started writing my blog posts, editing photos and videos etc. Then we went out out again to Ulta and some other places, where I got some more stuff. In the evening we watched TV, enjoyed pizza and I started packing. I actually finished packing, but for a few things.



On Monday I enjoyed the time with Wendy, finished packing, went to Hallmark to buy some cute cards, had lunch and then it was already time to leave for the airport. I checked in pretty fast and then it was time to say goodbye to Wendy. Of course I cried, I had such a great time with her and she is just so amazing. I’m grateful every day to call her my friend. I went through security and then bought a Clinique chubby stick at Duty Free and a Mac lipstick as well. Afterwards I headed to Starbucks and got myself a Cappuccino and a Peach Green Tea Lemonade. Boarding for my flight was a little late, because they had rain and storms. So we took off 40 minutes early. I actually saw the city again, which I hoped, but it was only shortly, because of the clouds. During the flight I first continued writing blog posts, listened to some music and Harry Potter and started editing my Dallas vlog. Then they served us dinner, but only after waiting for a while, because of turbulence. I had chicken again, like every time on a flight, because I the pasta tends to have to much cheese. After that I watched Florence Foster Jenkins and got cosy with fluffy socks, my travel pillows and my poncho, which I used as a blanket. Then it was time to sleep. I turned my iPod on, but my sleep mask on and closed my eyes. The flight still had four hours to go. I felt like I didn’t really sleep, but when I checked my watch the next time there were only two hours to go. I continued dozing until they served breakfast. After that it was already time for landing.

We landed in Frankfurt at 8.20. That meant I had about four hours to kill at the airport. The firast hours was spent with getting out of the plane and changing terminals. Then I went to get coffee, also had a smoothie and continued writing blog posts. I also continued editing my vlog.
I landed in Zurich at 2 pm, exhausted, but happy to finally be home.




I had the best time in Dallas!!! It was wonderful to see Wendy again and spending time with her. Of course my other highlights were the shopping and the hockey!