holiday

Santorini

I couldn´t wait to share my travel adventures with you! I would have already done it from Santorini (although it might have come across as a bit pathetic!), but the internet connection was rather slow. 😉 First and foremost: Santorini is every bit as wonderful as the travel guides will have you believe! Its picture-perfect appearance greeted me every morning and I really couldn´t believe my luck of waking up to such a sight!

Our first day was very stressful since Vinsanto Villas, where we´d paid for our stay in advance, had double-booked and tried to pass a shitty hotel in the middle of nowhere as an upgrade. That made me so furious I was literally ready to jump on the guy´s face when he calmly told us there´d been a mix-up and besides the hotel was renovated, just not our room! haha! How funny is that?! In the end they moved us to Nomikos Villas in Firostefani (we were supposed to stay in Imerovigli) and covered the difference. The villas themselves had nothing wow over them, but our room was spacious and clean, we had a pool, a bar and air condition. And, best of all, we had our own private balcony with stunning views of the caldera!

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Lazy days

Oh, how I missed these lazy days of July, thought they´d never come! I´m working a couple of hours every day, a little more in between, leaving me plenty of time to nap, read, walk my Sammy and make all those fresh summer dishes that´ll turn my body into a 20 year old´s all over again. 😉 Haha! Not to mention how nice it is to have my husband around, have a walk in the warm summer evening and rediscover the neighborhood we moved to almost 3 years ago.

I usually stay in Norway in July since I adore the summer pace, the possibility to go straight to the beach from work or whatever errands you need to run before Norway shuts down in the general staff holiday. There are sales everywhere and the city is warm with beer and joy, people strip down and wiggle their toes, oh it´s an entirely different town! The weather seems to be getting better and better, so tomorrow we´re going to watch the World Cup in the park, beer and burgers parked in front of us. Saturday we´re off to the beach, if the weather allows and the beach makes both me and Sam besides ourselves with joy.

Today we´re having shrimps mayo and later we´ll probably have a walk to Sørenga and sip some Prosecco on the new marina. Hope your July is just as awesome! xxx, Alina

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Traveling

I love my work, I´ve always held a vivid interest in languages and human behavior and my job encompasses both of them. I just wish sometimes I were paid to travel around the world and write about it. And maybe spread some style. haha!;-) I find it hard to work in the summertime or accept the idea that I will not have a 3 months holiday until I get pregnant (if ever!) or retired (depressing). I simply miss my childhood holidays,  a whole summer of glorious weather (there´s been a recent study showing it never rained in our childhood, or at least that´s how we choose to remember it), running around, reading a lot of books too advanced for my age (about people hooking up and men having hairy legs- yikes!), discussing the meaning of life with my friend Irina, the only girl in the village my grandparents felt was good enough for me to socialize with. Haha!

As you have probably guessed, our 10 days in Eastern Europe were not enough to calm the holiday fever, especially since the weather has been crappy ever since we returned last week. So we ordered a week in Santorini in August not bearing to think that we won’t get the chance to wear sandals this year! Now I´m back to counting days, something I´m very good at!

Otherwise July is a chill month at work and I´m hoping for half days and some days off, as well. Today we celebrated 9 years of marriage, we had oysters and white wine, pasta and some rosé, too. In August we´ve been together for 11 years and my husband turns 35 so I´m thinking hard of a present worthy of such an occasion. 😉 Any suggestions?

Meanwhile, I´m on a diet (not a very strict one, there´s always room for wine!) and I hope to turn into a diva by the end of the summer, so I can shine in Greece in my Princess Tam Tam bikini. 😉 Enjoy some pictures from Instagram until next time!

xxx, Alina

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Summer wardrobe

Holiday is just two weeks away and I´m dreaming of perfect outfits to wear in the mild summer evenings. I love fashion, but summer is my absolute favorite season for dressing up and pimping my wardrobe. This is what I´d wear if money were no issue!

Sophia Webster sandals

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I love Paris in the fall

We´re going to Paris for a week in September! Weee! There´s a trade show my husband is attending and I get to toggle along. I´m soo looking forward to it! All the croisants and the eclairs we can eat, walk till we drop, shop at the best fashion boutiques, attend a jazz concert and drink wine all night! Besides, I need to go to some antique markets this time, plus meet a couple of friends. Ai, ai, ai, la vie en rose!

http://www.purple-papaya-films.com

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Santorini

Thinking of going there in September, any of you been there yet? We´ve been looking at this hotel, it looks amazing and the view is divine! I´m looking forward to it already, all the sun bathing, the caipirinha sipping and the lazy days… Oh, holiday!

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Mykonos holiday retreat

This is the British couple Katie and Jonny Friedman´s paradise on earth and you can rent it for holidays if you wish! Facing the Aegean sea, the house preserves the architecture typical for Greece that the owners have spiced up with some designer classics such as George Nelson lamps, tulip chairs and so on. An ascetic feeling predominates and invites you to enjoy your leisure time.

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Christmas at the Tran residence

This year we´re celebrating Christmas in Norway with our friends and my husband´s family. Although it´s nice to go back to my mother country, Romania, which we do every other year for the holidays, it´s kind of comfortable to be at home and go about things my way. So my man brought a Christmas tree and we decorated it with Sam and Beo prowling around it and sniffing the forrest smell, I baked and cleaned and bought some pretty light chains and the imperative hyacinths, the only thing missing is a Christmas wreath, which I´ll make after taking Sam for a walk in the woods. We´re done with finding and wrapping the gifts, what´s left is buying the food and the drinks and finding the pajamas and Home alone 1 and 2. Meanwhile, I´ll be spending time baking some more and making some Christmas chutney while listening to Christmas carols. How are you spending the holidays? Merry Christmas to you all!

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Christmas presents

This year I´m making most Christmas gifts myself. I am usually a workaholic, but this time of the year business is slow and I learned to enjoy it. Therefore I´m baking and personalizing presents I bought, knitting and writing Christmas cards. Nice time to be with friends, too, if you still have any left when you decide work is not everything in life. 😉 Enjoy your advent time!

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Sardinia, mi amore

Last year´s holiday went to Sardinia and Corsica. We tok a cheap flight to Olbia, a quiet little Sardinian town where you can rest for a day or two, eat a lot of gambas and then follow your course. It´s pretty enough and the beach is just outside town, but the real Sardinia is in the countryside or in Alghero or Cagliari. We stayed 4 days in Alghero and it was great. Having rented a lovely apartment through airbnb, we tok the bus to different beaches outside town and couldn´t wait to get hungry because the food was so lovely and fresh! We even managed to get some shopping done- I found an amazing Liu Jo leather jacket on sales!

After 4 days in Catalan Alghero, about which they say it´ s more similar to a Spanish town than an Italian, we tok the train to Cagliari. I won´t say it was easy. There was a lot of waiting and I was starting to think I´d been mad to come up with such a route, but it was so much fun when we arrived at last. Again we rented through airbnb, this time an ensuite room at the lovely librarian Louisa. She had a killer balcony and prepared some drinks to enjoy in the evening. Her English was very good, so was her companion´s, so we had chatty jolly evenings on the terrace overlooking the town. Cagliari is such a beautiful city! Between the old town with the castle and the fortifications, the restaurants, the pine-fringed boulevards or the ragged old town, the Italian charm was everywhere. For the beach you could take a bus just a quarter of an hour away or a day trip two hours away in a little corner of paradise.

On our way to Corsica we stopped for 4 more days in Santa Teresa di Gallura, all the way north, an hour from Corsica by ferry. A lovely little mountainous resort, the village had stunning views and amazing rocky bays. My husband liked it best of all Sardinia. There was no hassle and no shopping, the only thing to focus on was the swimming and the food. Try the asti spaghetti, the female lobster, the real deal was beyond our pockets!;-) Enjoy!

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