Indian Summer - a throwback

Hi lovely people, 

it has been so quiet here for such a long time ) : Summer passed by so quickly, time ran, 2 journeys in between and now it's officially autumn. 

Summer here was well spent, most of my time (apart from working) I spent in cafés, bookshops and the botanical garden. I've read a lot and bought new books. I spent quality time in my grandparents garden and in the forest. I went to cute cities and bought new notebooks and art postcards. I went to Crete in august. I cared for my plant family. 

Summer was good. ♥

Enjoyed tea, a new book and a letter in my grandparents garden.

Found the prettiest illustration book by Maria Sibylla Merian

Best place to read and sip on a cup of coffee with almond milk.

Forest adventures and stuff I bought in august.

Pretty flowers in the botanical garden.

Travel diary: Summer vacation on Crete, Greece

✈ Hello lovely people,  a few days ago I came back from my summer vacation on the greek island Crete. We had an amazing and relaxed time. We stayed in a little village, a 2 1/2 hours drive from the airport and the more touristic towns. But the way was worth it all! Our village was quiet and small, with some family taverns and only one little supermarket. But we got everything we needed there, fruits and veggies, noodles, rice, almond milk, tomato sauce...What I really loved is that most of the veggies were harvested on the island, same as the yummy olive oil, honey and dried herbs. So good to buy local and it was much cheaper than here at home. 

We lived in a cute Air bnb house at the edge of the village. It was so peaceful and beautiful there, we felt very comfortable. Also our Air bnb host Jenny was so friendly and we could use the pool, too!

☮ ☮

View from our balcony: Olive trees, hibiscus, oleander and the pool. Perfect for cooling down, the weather was always about 30 degrees.

This view! Every day we ate breakfast/lunch/dinner on our balcony and had this amazing mountain view ... ♥

In the little village Sivas you can find a really cool shop! Botano is a shop full of spices, herbs, tea and some nature cosmetics/soaps. I went there several times and never left empty-handed. ☻

Look at this cute interior! You could also serve yourself with some harvested tea blends with herbs from the island.

Some of the things I've bought: Tandoori Masala spice, Cold, Flu and Immune System tea, Cretan summer tea, wax creme, jasmine soap (the scent is heavenly) and Citrus Forest tea ♥

More of the shop's inside. So lovely. And there was a sleeping cat on the bench ( :

In the afternoon we went to a Kafenion in our village. The boy enjoyed a mountain herb tea and I had a frappé and some homemade cake. During this vacation I started and finished reading "The Alchemist". Still don't know what to think about the book...

Our favourite spot to eat "outside" was Kipos Garden Taverna. A family restaurant where the guests sit in the hosts garden. The restaurant was a little bit outside of our village, but it was so worth it to dine there. That's prob why we went there two times. Every tavern we saw or visited in our village served lots of yummy vegetarian dishes.

I enjoyed "Kipos Salad" which is basically made of shredded lettuce, spring onions, goats cheese, olive paste, pomegranate seeds, honey, mustard and oil/vinegar. This salad was soo good, combined with white wine & the homemade garlic pita breads - a dream.

The cats were keen on Robin's bifteki :D

July favourites

Hi darlings, it's the end of the month & here's a new favourites post for you! This one is pretty much geared to my summer vacation, colourful, bohemian and comfy!

1. Lately I want a pink bikini! Don't know, but I like the colour. This one is from H&M and they also have it in red, which I like, too! Maybe I will pick one of them for my beach days in Greece. Or maybe both ( :

2. Another pink thing. This maxi skirt from Mango looks so nice! I can imagine wearing it on hot days combined with a simple white top. It looks flowy and airy and uncomplicated to wear.

3. I am in need of a new face wash. I discovered Pacifica, they have such cool stuff! Vegan and cruelty free. I already tried the quinoa, calendula and aloe gentle face wash and I loved it. For summer days I wanna try this sea foam face wash with coconut water & sea algae complex. Good to wash off sand, sweat and sunscreen.

4. A pair of silver earrings. I like these indian ones by A la, a shop from the Netherlands. They're small and won't disturb on a beach day.

5. Seriously? I was looking for rope sandles for like...years! Now they pop up everywhere on Instagram, so I decided to get myself a pair for my vacation. They're comfortable and best of all: Vegan! They go with every piece in my wardrobe, so I think for summer I can't make anything wrong with these fellas!

Spa Night in the bathroom

Hi wildflowers,
admittedly I am quite stressed at the moment. I cannot wait for my summer vacations to come in 2 weeks.
I guess we're all wrapped up in work, tasks and life situations that make us feel burned out and just tired. Personally when I feel like this I need to stop and give myself some etxtra care to re-center my body, mind and soul.

Here you can read about my pampering rituals when feeling kinda down and stressed-out.


























Face Mask

As we all know, our skin reflects the stress that we have. So during stressful times we should give our skin a special treat with a face mask.

Clay is known for it's healing properties, it draws toxins out, makes the skin softer, clearer and fresher and reduces skin irritations.

I mix the clay together in a glass bowl with 2 TBSP of water (or here Evening Primerose oil), you can also use rose water instead, optional you can add 1-2 drops of essential oil of your choice, I used Lavender. Then gently apply on your face.

Breathe in deeply and start making a big mug of tea while your bath is running in the tube.

Tea

A big cup of tea can always help to soothe us, it's warming us from the inside and makes us feel safe.

I am using fresh, loose tea for my tea rituals, the one on the photo above is by Altar & Leaf Apotheca.
And I believe that wild picked organic tea (flowers and herbs) is better than drinking conventional, flavoured tea from the supermarket. If I have no loose tea at home, my favourite (supermarket) brands are Yogi Tea and Pukka teas. You can also get them in the organic store and these are beneficial, too!

 Surroundings

A happy place where you feel comfortable in is very important. In a tidy and cleaned up place you will feel much better than in a messy one.

Another good thing to calm down is to burn insence, spray some natural room spray in your appartment, use aromatherapy (find out what scents do good for you!), light candles, crystal lamps...the list is long. Grab a good book, listen to music or podcasts, create or do whatever calmes your soul and mind.

Summer things

I can't believe that summer's on it's zenith now, time flew by so quickly. I still can remember the beginning of the year where I was longing for warmer days to come. Now that they are here, I feel like I can't savour them that much. There's always something to do, I really should dive into these beautiful days more...

 

  I took some trips to the city, and here are some things I recently bought:

 There's this new books (which I already finished) "the journey of the elelphant god", I really enjoyed it. As the cover maybe reveals, it's about India. Better said about a woman who is searching her indian roots and meets her family. I found it really emotional and took me right into the colourful brimming streets of India.

Other things that I've found are a rose spray perfume from paris, a little ganesha figure from a street stand in Paris, Patchouli incense, a wooden OM sign and some dried eucalyptus to burn. Only little things but all are treasures in their own special way.

In nature

 Hello lovely people ♥

It's finally july, soon my vacation will start. Bizarrely I am already thinking about autumn...

This summer is strange I find, one day it's super hot and it feels like real summer, the other week is rainy and cold. For me there's no real summer feeling here yet.

Here are some photos from this early summer, when the fields were full of chamomile and margarites.

June Favourites

Peace lovely souls,

here's a brand new post about my favorite things/things that are on my wishlist this month. Summer has officially started, so here are some items that are perfect for this season!

1. I am in love with Hmong bags. This one I found randomly in the internet. The bags are inspired or made by Hmong people, who are an ethnic group from the mountainous regions of southern China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar. I like the pretty colors of these bags, the flowery details and the bohemian attitude. Just check Easy or other pages to find these pretty bags.

2. A book. This one is "Invincible living" by Guru Jagat. It's about applying the simple and effective technology  of Kundalini Yoga and Meditation to everyday life. Best: Kundalini techniques can be done anywhere, you don't even need a mat! This sounds really interesting to me.

3. A beautiful gown by Zara.  Look at all the embroidered flowers! Makes a super pretty summer item.

4. What's super important in summer? Right, drinking a LOT! I really have to force myself to do that, maybe this will help: A bottle to carry around in your bag, filled with infused water, cold tea or anything you'd like. This one is by Soulbottles. I think this one is really pretty, it has the lotus flower on it, which stands for spirituality and epiphany.

5. INIKA Certified Organic Light Reflect Cream is all natural, vegan and cruelty free. It can reused to highlight the cheek, the eyelid area and on the bow of the lips. Will look good on sun kissed skin.

Jardin des serres d'Auteuil

 Hello dear readers, here are some shots I took at the Jardin des serres d'auteuil in may. It's the botanical garden in Paris, which was found in 1898. It's a real green oasis in the buzzing city, it's just so calming to sit on one of the benches outside and read a good book. You're probably forgetting that you're in a capital city.

The garden has beautiful old glasshouses, one with cacti, one with orchids, one with succulents. The big glasshouse is like a tropical greenhouse with banana plants and tropical flowers.

A perfect little hide-out from stressful urban days.