Krakow Days

We stopped in Krakow for only a couple of days but I really liked it! It's a vibrant and lovely medieval city with a beautiful main square and an interesting old town. There are a lot of young people living in Krakow which adds to the lively atmosphere.

Beautiful day in the city centre

Rynek Glowny is the main square in Krakow. There are lots of cafes, pubs, restaurants and food stalls all around the square. We had delicious barbeque food there! The traditional polish dumplings are also really good :)

Dumpling stall at the main square

Jewellery boxes and other cute trinkets :)

We also visited Wawel Castle a short walk from the centre...

I wish we could have had one more day in Krakow, but even though it was a short visit we managed to see a lot around the city. We took a bus ride to visit Auschwitz as well. It was really sad to see but I felt it was a necessary part of the trip. We missed the salt mines which seems to be a popular attraction. Maybe if we return to Krakow again we'll get to see that too.

The place we stayed at, Venetian House Aparthotel, was lovely and right on the main square. On the last night there we made ourselves some tea while we got ready to go out and snapped a few photos from our window :)

Pinterest: Dessert Recipes

A few of the delicious recipes I've found via Pinterest lately :)

1/ Fig and Almond Frangipane Tart
2/ Poached Apples with Vanilla Yoghurt
3/ Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies
4/ White Chocolate and Cherry Cheesecake

 

You can see more at my Pinterest Dessert board here!

On Stress and Relaxation

via Pinterest

Hi all. This week has been pretty stressful, lots of things going on and also my Sis was having some intense head pains. We were in and out of A&E, scans and she was also admitted to hospital for a night. It seems to be a flare up from stress, thankfully she's a lot better now. 

What helps you to manage stress?  For me, getting lots of sunlight being out and active during the day, running on my treadmill and also just taking time to relax. I love reading a book in my room with some aromatherapy oils burning and a warm cocoa. I found this link a while back - 55 ways to take care of yourself, for the busy girl. I hope it gives you some good ideas too when you're feeling stressed. For now it's Saturday and I'm ready for the weekend and a good night out! :)

September Loves

Happy September! :) I hope the month has started off well for all of you. This month I have lots of items on my beauty wishlist but I'm also organizing my current makeup collection. If you're a makeupalley user you can check out my swap list here.

At the moment I'm all about radiant glowing skin and also going back to rich eyeliner colours which I've mostly skipped wearing during the past months. Here are a few of my most-wanted this September. I've already ordered a few things online and looking forward to reviewing my favourites when they arrive :)

Raspberry nail polish:

Bliss face mask:

A new fragrance:

MAC Supernova blush:

Honey bodycare:

Nars Eyeliner Stylo:

Which beauty item is on your September Wishlist?

Lake Bled to Venice

Travelling to Italy we first took the train from Bled to Villach (back into Austria).

This is normally a direct train but unfortunately there was some disruption to the line that day so the train we were on was only stopping at Villach Westbahnhof and we needed to get off and change trains to get to Villach Hauptbahnhof (the Central Station). Luckily the bf speaks German and found this out from the conductor otherwise we'd be totally lost!

It was extremely cold with a bitter wind when we got off at the Westbahnhof and since it was almost an hour's wait for a connecting train, Keira and I sat in a stairwell for some shelter and warmth and snacked on some crackers we had got from a plane flight previously, we really were a pitiful sight! We met another lady who was travelling to Italy also, but she had accidentally got separated from her husband and mother who she was travelling with because she had jumped off the train at the wrong stop! This is honestly a reminder to me to always be prepared because she didn't have any of their mobile numbers, no money and no card, it was all with her husband. There was no info office at the station so she decided it was best for her to wait until her husband returned to get her. We gave her a "survival pack" =P which was a chocolate muffin and some food we had with us. When our train for the Hauptbahnhof arrived we said bye hoping she wouldn't have to wait there until night time :(

Once we had arrived at Villach Hauptbahnhof we took the coach to Venice, a 5 hour trip away. It was a long journey but the coach was really comfortable and the scenery was very beautiful through the Julian Alps :) The coach actually arrives in Mestre, and then you need to take a quick ride on any of the buses going onto Venice island.

Our route on the Villach to Venice coach...

 Finally, we made it! Venezia! ♥♥

7 things for 7 days

I recently saw a post by missdanielle.com about mini-goals she's set for herself. The idea of 7 things for 7 days was originally posted by Louise from Sprinkle of Glitter and I thought I'd join in with my own goals :) My 7 things for next week:

1. Keeping fit

I'm aiming to do one type of exercise every day. I like to jog but I also want to add more weight training for toning. I love Pilates but haven't done it in a while so I hope to do at least one session next week.

2. Taking care of my skin and hair

We've been getting a lot of chocolate gifts and sharing them in the house lately. It hasn't been great for my skin! I'm booking a facial or will do my own face mask at home :) I also just cut my hair this week so need to keep it conditioned.

3. Choco-detox

Not to eat any more of the chocolate in the fridge! And to take a multivitamin every day.

4. Read my Spanish

To spend more time this week studying and practicing my Spanish.

5. Get in touch

To message an old friend I haven't contacted in a while.

6. Organize my beauty products

I want to give away anything I don't use regularly or put it up for swap. I love those big clear beauty trunks for organizing makeup, I'll try to find one of those too.

7. Look at further degree courses  

My last thing to do is probably the most important right now. I've graduated from uni but I'm considering doing a further course. It's quite daunting just thinking about studying again after a few years of work, but I'll check all the different courses that are available and make a short list of the ones I might go for.

For the original 7 things post you can visit Louise's blog here...

 

Have you set any goals for yourself recently?
Or if you've also done a 7 things post please leave your link here and I'd love to check it out :)

Touch of Gold

A few of my weekend buys! I bought some tiny golden earrings at a stall by the river. One pair are little snowflakes, not really the weather for them but I thought they were cute :)  The necklace is for my friend. I find buying clothing and accessories for other people can be quite hard, I can't always tell if it's really their style, but I hope she likes this. I also bought another Stila CC in lillium, that and petunia are my favourite blushes.

You might have noticed, I love figs! This candle smells so divine, I got it as a two-for-one this weekend from Ecoya and it's called Caramelised Fig. I wish I could send this scent through your monitor or something right now because seriously you would love it and my bad iphone pic is doing it no justice at all. If you have not heard of Ecoya, they are an Australian brand that do natural home fragrance, bath and body goodies :) Their jar candles are made from pure soy wax.

  

I actually have soy wax for making candles in my house. I tried making them with essential oils before but I'm not sure the scent turned out strong enough in the end. Will keep experimenting!

Do you like scented candles? Are there any favourite scents you have?