Good Bye 2011!

I'm not a big fan of the New Year. I always get attached of the old one and I hate that it goes by so fast, making me one year older. This year I say goodbye to one of the best years so far. It's the year I said yes to some big changes in my life, like marriage, leaving Romania, quitting my job and last but not least, staring this blog. It was a successful year, one that I will remember with great pleasure. And I should not forget the people that have stayed by my side, new ones and old ones (Thank you!). To sum it up I say Cheers 2011 and all that you gave me! 2012 you'd better kick ass because, besides the plans I have for this new year, I look forward to all the surprises and new challenges you have in store for me. So Happy New Year People! Let it be a good one!

And a song that I love and reflects my mood, U2 - Magnificent!

A Christmas to remember

This was my first Christmas away from home. Until now every Christmas I would drive home to my parents house and spend a proper traditional Romanian Christmas with the family. This year was time to start creating our own traditions, at our new home in Switzerland. And we managed to create the perfect setting for the perfect Christmas with friends. We cooked, we ate and drunk good wine, we laughed and enjoyed the company of great people, we gave and received presents and we managed to relax watching Christmas movies. Thank you Emilia & Robert, Cristiana & Ioan, my hubby - Traian for this very special holiday. Looking forward to many more together.

Christmas Eve

Santa's Elves 

Full House 

Christmas table

And the Bird, that was so delicious 

The boys enjoying the food and the wine :)

Around the table - Cristiana and Ioan

Desert - Chocolate cake, my Moms recipe.

Me and our youngest guest, Bianca

Have a look also at the presents I gave and received this Xmas. I love all of them!

I got: 1. The Carrie Necklace 2. Pandora Charm Bracelet 3. A very pink fluffy robe 4. A very stylish hair brush with a matching purse mirror and a Twilight necklace for the fan that I am 5. A cheese fondue set for all the dinner parties I am going to host 6.  A shoe calendar for 2012 so that every day I have a new inspiration.  

I gave: 1. The Steve Jobs Biography for a passionate reader 2. The Xbox 360 Kinect for a playful husband 3. Mac Cosmetics for a beautiful friend 4. A knitting set for a very creative friend 5. Logitech Speakers for a former DJ 

[Pictures taken by Emilia, my photographer friend  and by Traian, my hubby]

Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays my dear readers! I wish you all a nice time with your dear ones and a lot of presents from  Santa. Let's spread the joy of this holiday!

It's coming...

It's near, I can feel it! Christmas is right at the corner and tonight was another special evening at our home this time. We set the fire in our fireplace for the first time. The Christmas songs are in the background and we have the snow (not as much as some want, but we believe in miracles :))What more can we ask for? Ah, yes the presents that are on their way...I can't wait to share what I get with you and see what everyone got this Christmas...but all in due time. So for now, let's enjoy the warmth of the fire!

Nuremberg - the place to be before Christmas (part 2)

The goodies that made the walk in the city so much more interesting...lot's of  flavors that  made you  wanna try everything.

Christmas decorations, they were so perfect and special that they made me think of childhood and all the toys I used to love.

Images of the city center

And us...

As promised, I share with you the magic of Nuremberg, as we captured it in our pictures. It was a great weekend and I can't wait for Christmas to be here, for Saturday evening when we will be all sitting around the fireplace with a glass of wine and the lights of the Christmas tree that will create the perfect ambiance. By the way, we still have to decorate our tree and I still have some last minute shopping and wrapping to get done. This is the final countdown...

Nuremberg - the place to be before Christmas (part 1)

It's Saturday night around 10.30 in Nuremberg and I'm sipping my Lebkuchen Latte wishing that this weekend would never end. I've been transported in the world where Christmas has already arrived, where the streets smell of Christmas and where people seem to live only to serve this holiday. The city looks and feels amazing, the decorations are from a fairy tale and the Christmas market, the biggest one in Europe, they say, it's full of goodies. All my pics are still on the camera so I can't share them with you yet. But this is me reporting live form a place that seems to be surreal...Love love Nuremberg!

Les petites choses

Christmas yard decorations made of wood. Pretty nice...

Chai Latte, new tea flavor that I tried this week

Chocolate Liqueur -  a very nice gift from a friend.
 I put a drop in the pancake mix and they were so yummy  :))

Dorothy's Red Shoes. On Friday we bumped into this homemade Christmas sale,
 where you could enter only if you had red shoes.
 So everyone had to change their shoes and put on the red ones
that were standing by the entrance. Fashionable idea...

This is the best cupcake ever...
It may not taste delicious but it looks amazing.
 It's a very cute jewelry box that was designed for sweet girls :))

Saint Nicholas

Yesterday, as every 6th of December we celebrated Saint Nicholas. As per tradition St. Nicholas brings candies and gifts to children on the night of 5 to 6 December. Usually he leaves the presents in a pair of boots that you have to prepare specially for him. I remember that when I was little I used to spend a lot of time at my Grandparents house and one December my Grandma said to check my shoes that were left on purpose on the hallway. Of course there were lots of presents left for me and in order to keep the magic alive, the hallway window was open and she said that Santa got in through there and that if I look through the window I would see him leave. I was 4 years old when I saw Santa on his open sleigh fly through the night...

This year Saint Nicholas found me in Switzerland and made me smile when I woke up yesterday morning.

My shoes filled with goodies from St. Nicholas

Santa's bag filled with more goodies, this time from the work  St. Nicholas

Swiss Tradition for St Nicholas- sweet bread 

What is your St. Nicholas tradition?

First very busy week in a while

Girlies, I have just finished one of my busiest weeks in the last couple of months. I'm a bit tired but so happy that I have all this good things coming my way. As you know I started working on Monday (after 7 months) and we also have a very dear friend in town for two weeks. So my time was pretty much divided between playing tourist with my friend and working my ass off at work. About work, it's great, I love it, but as any new job, it can get pretty overwhelming. There is a lot to learn, everything is on high speed but I just love everything about it, and can't wait for the new week to start. One thing I still have to figure out is how to make time for my blogging activities. I just think that this week I missed a lot of great posts from the blogs I usually read and I haven't found that extra hour to write. I just have to prioritize better I guess... Now I'm trying to concentrate this week in one post and I want to share with you my first collages, made by my humble person :) Here goes this week!

1 to 6 pics from Christiana's (1) birthday party that was at our apartment. We had a great time, for food we made pumpkin pie (2) and mini bruschettas (3).
(7) The most delicious cookie according to my hubby.
(8) First day of work on Monday at 8am.
(9) Morning coffee in the train to Bern with my friend Alexandra.
 (10) Advent calendar on a building in Luzern.
(11) Decorating idea from the Handmade fair in Luzern.
(12) Christmas cookies at the Christmas market.

Me and Alexandra (or Bibi as we call her) visiting Luzern yesterday. We even bought the same dress for our Office Christmas parties (we won't attend the same party :)  

Have a great week!