Beautiful Bucharest

As I write this, it's past 1:30 am but Bucharest is very much awake. Tonight Europe is celebrating the Night of Musems. We arrived home less than an hour ago after a busy afternoon. Because we had a family birthday celebration we had limited time to enjoy the musems so we were very selective. And of course we chose the ones that our kids like most.

1. The Fire Tower and its Firemen Museum

We had a pleasant surprise there cause, in addition to the Tower, a firetruck and an ambulance were expecting visitors with their doors wide open. Even I was happy about the hole thing so imagine how happy were the kids:

 

2. The Railway Museum

After a nice and long dinner party, around midnight we visited the Railway Museum. The highlight was the train circuit that I filmed for later entertainment to have it handy when the kids get bored.

I wander why not make it easier and sooner for everybody to enjoy the city like tonight. Bucharest was the same today as it is on any other day. What made it special were the beautiful people on both sides: the event organisers and the musems' visitors that were wandering the streets long after midnight.

Have a great weekend!
Aura

Childhood nostalgia

This morning my childhood smiled at me though these beautifull white convolvulus and I smiled back sharing my joy with Cristian. As soon as I saw these in the yard of Tudor's daycare I felt nostalgic for those happy days.

I stopped for a while and told Cristian how much I liked them when I was a little girl and how nice the Romanian name of the flower is: swallow's little dress (rochita randunicii). It was a Matercard/priceless moment: enjoying nature's little wondres, sharing childhood memories with my son, answering his questions and taking pictures to remind me of all these.

 

What are the things that instantly remind you of your childhood?

A joy a day keeps the doctor away!

Aura

Depeche Mode forever!

source:depechemode.com

You know: boys come and go but Depeche Mode has been a constant in my life for the last 20 years (this sounds like I am much older when, in fact, I will turn 33 soon- not young, not old, just perfect LOL)

Depeche Mode sings my mind and my soul like nobody else. They never disappointed me ( maybe a little when the 2009 concert was canceled, but I can understand that Dave was not feeling well). On the contrary, I fall in love with them over and over again with the launch of every new album, 13 times so far.

Anyways, I could say so much about Depeche, but who cares?! Better listen to them singing than read my blah, blah. I want to tell you one thing though, of which I'm certain: they were in my life before the first boy was and over the last 20 years they shaped the way I love among other beautiful things DM brought to my life. I know all about free love and the beauty of it and my husband should thank them for this...

Gotta go now: places to go, Depeche Mode to see LIVE in concert.

There are so little guaranties that life has to offer but I feel that Depeche Mode will stay with me forever. That's the beauty of being a fan.

What's your favourite band/singer/artist in the world?

xoxo,
Aura

Father's day special, part II : The perfect father

I know, you know, nothing's perfect. Mothers are not perfect and fathers are not perfect either. But I know one father, Dr. Kelly Flanagan, a licensed clinical psychologist, that looks perfect on paper. That is because he put in writing a very touching letter to his daughter:

A Daddy’s Letter to His Little Girl (About Her Future Husband)

"...
Little One, it is not, has never been, and never will be your job to “keep him interested.”
Little One, your only task is to know deeply in your soul—in that unshakeable place that isn’t rattled by rejection and loss and ego—that you are worthy of interest. (If you can remember that everyone else is worthy of interest also, the battle of your life will be mostly won. But that is a letter for another day.)
I don’t care if he doesn’t follow his wallet—as long as he follows his heart and it always leads him back to you.
...
I don’t care if he is strong—as long as he gives you the space to exercise the strength that is in your heart.
I don’t care about the color of his skin—as long as he paints the canvas of your lives with brushstrokes of patience, and sacrifice, and vulnerability, and tenderness.
...
In the end, Little One, if you stumble across a man like that and he and I have nothing else in common, we will have the most important thing in common:
You.

Because in the end, Little One, the only thing you should have to do to “keep him interested” is to be you
Your eternally interested guy,
Daddy"

This may seem a little bit idealistic but it is also the fatherly love every girl would like to have.
Although nothing is perfect, the love we give our children should be close to perfect and most important, unconditional.

You can read the complete letter here and also the interesting conversation built around it (290+ comments).

Do you like the letter?

xoxo,
Aura

Father's day special, part I : The coolest dad

 

Imagine that your father does something special, especially for you, every day! How cool is that ?!
A surprise that you know you will receive at lunch time to brighten up your day and make you cool at school in front of the other kids. Well this is happening daily for Evan, 15, and Kenny, 14 for the last 5 years cause their father illustrates their lunch bags for more than 5 years now.

David Laferriere is an illustrator and a graphic designer who turns his work and talent into daily little gifts for his kids. It all started one morning in an attempt to do something special for his boys.

“It was just a way to have fun with the kids,” David says. “And also start my creative juices before work. I had already been making their lunches, and I experimented with a few things.” 

“They love it, and nothing makes me happier than hearing their reaction at the end of the day.” David says.

You can see the complete collection on Flickr and find out more about the coolest dad on Flickr's blog .

Today we celebrate Father's day in Romania. Happy day for all the fathers! I wish you give a little piece of your heart to your kids every day in your special way!

A joy a day keeps the doctor away!
Aura

P.S.  There will be a special post tomorrow also dedicated to fathers, so stop by and enjoy.

Photo credit David Laferriere via Flickr

Met Gala Glamour

Today I took my time to enjoy fashion at its best on fashion's Oscars. Met Gala formally kicks off the Metropolitan Museum of Art's yearly Costume Institute exhibit. This year's theme was "Punk: From Chaos to Couture". These are my favorite looks:

1. The blacks

Carey Mulligan - one of my favorites too

Miranda Kerr - Michael Kors dress, Tabitha Simmons shoes, Cartier jewels, Christian Louboutin purse.

Gisele Bundchen

Kirsten Dunst in Rodarte

Diane Von Furstenberg

Dakota Fanning in Rodarte

Cara Delevingne in Burberry

2. Blue elegance

Julianne Moore in Balenciaga

Cameron Diaz in Stella McCartney

 3. Something white

Sienna Miller in Burberry

Rooney Mara In Givenchy

4. My favorites


Blake Lively in Gucci Première

Amanda Seyfried in Givenchy Vintage

Sarah Jessica Parker in a headpiece by Phillip Treacy and dress by Giles Deacon
 

 

Uma Thurman in Zac Posen

Which one(s) do you like best?

A joy a day keeps the doctor away!

Aura

All photos are from The Huffington Post and you can view its full coverage on the event here.

Livin' on the wedge

...or so I wish for this summer. I could start right now cause the weather here is summery. Or tomorrow when I would love to wear one of the 2 wedges below. Yeah, yeah, we're talking shoes today...

The pair below was my favourite of the 2012 summer:

My heart instantly sighed for the hearts print, for the lovely colours and the comfortable braided raffia wedge. They have a name: Louis Vuitton Tuileries sandal in silk. Wearing silk on your feet: what more could a girl ask for?!

This one is my favourite so far this year, 2013:

I particularly like the braided bamboo wedge and the metallic leather tone. The name: Moschino Cheap and Chic Woven Wedge sandal. The full description I found here:
Gold-tone metallic calf leather sandals from Moschino Cheap & Chic featuring an open toe, thin gathered straps across the toe, a buckle fastening ankle strap and a woven bamboo platform wedge

Which one do you prefer? What are your favourite shoes for this summer?

A joy a day keeps the doctor away!
Aura

Broadchurch

If you've read this blog before chances are you already know I am an avid consumer of TV series. They are one of my trusted little pleasures that I go to whenever I can find the time. Last find was truly a hit : "Broadchurch". It hit me deep - a real drama that had me crying and living the story as if I were there, in a small coastal town in UK. Unexpectedly a 11-year old boy is found dead and police confirms it is murder not suicide. And so the tragedy begins and it is gradually unfolding to reach its boiling point in the final, 8th episode.

To me this is a slow series in the best possible way, something similar to slow food. And the last murder mystery that was not solved in one episode I can think of is Twin Peaks (released in 1990-1991). So it was high time quality took over TV series about murder riddles and nothing more.

Broadchurch is about feelings all the way. It is interesting that the killer artfully hides in plain view with very little clues offered to us in the seventh episode to solve the mystery. More interesting is that the actor who played the killer only found out the truth about his character 2 weeks before the filming ended. And there were only 4 cast members that knew the identity of the murderer during filming.

Olivia Colman, who played the detective sergeant working on the case, is well praised for her ability to emote. I concur. The series wouldn't be that great without her and I hope she will be back for the second season.

The Telegraph wrote: "the plotting never erred, the pacing was superb, and it appealed to sophisticated notions such as the unknowability of the human heart, and forgiveness. It has been a triumph for ITV."

Enjoy!

Ornaments

Home, sweet home!
I was away enjoying among others: nature's little wanders and some unexpected jewelry shopping handmade by gipsy at a very good price.

What have you been doing/enjoying lately?

A joy a day keeps the doctor away!
Aura