Body Mist Shinjuku Bloom by & Other Stories

When summer was here, hope it will come back in a few days because right now it's pouring and pouring, I was getting sweaty pretty easily, I did not know what to do. It's not that I was smelling, but I used to rinse off my face and wrists with cold water just to get something refreshing. Around two weeks ago, a friend of mine, got me this: Body Mist Shinjuku Bloom by & Other Stories.

It costs about 15€, I guess 20 $ and comes in nine variations. Mine is a mixture of orange blossoms, cherry, vanilla and sandalwood. I take this when I'm on the run and have it in my purse all the time, so whenever I need a refreshment and something to awaken me up, I spray it onto my face and neck. 

Love the cherry fragrance, but it's really juicy and you have to like it ;-) Go out and try out the other ones. What do you use for as a beauty-summer refreshment?

Black x Gold Fever

Not only do I love love love golden jewelry, I love the mixture of black and gold, especially in jewelry and leather goods, look at my first designer bag Z Spoke by Zac Posen. When I saw the new lookbook of the autumn/winter 2013 collection of & Other stories, I just had to get these!!! The box-chain necklace, the bracelet and these rings. Love the two tones, right now, I just adore everything edgy and black :) Maybe it's because it's getting pretty cold here in Germany.

Additionally the other day I saw a girl with this purse in the elevator, I did ask her where she got it from. It was H&M and on the onlineshop it was just sold out! Super funny! In a couple of days, this minimalistic purse with the imprint LOVE was just sold out. I've got lucky and found it on my satuday shopping spree in a shop and couldn't decide whether I should go for red or black. Decided for classic black then ;-)

I did more shopping this weekend because the first TOPSHOP just made its way to Germany and it was the weekend before leaving Berlin for college. Going back to school I guess, yep, my internship is almost over but I'll show you more of my purchases in a couple of days.

Stay tuned and happy monday :)

Food Friday: Vegetable Pasta x a hint of Garlic

When I was in the U.S. and we were super hungry and needed something very fast, we would do this kind of recipe. Easy peasy, fast and delicious.The kids would love it and it was pretty healthy I guess, since you can add any vegetable you like as well as a salad and some chicken. Have whole grain pasta instead of the usual ones, you will eat less and feel fuller soon.

Ingredients:

Whole grain pasta.

Half an onion, two garlic cloves,

fresh and dried tomatoes, some leeks,

one zucchini, red and green pepper, parsley

just about any kind of vegetable you like.

This was more of a leftover dinner, since these vegetables were the ones I had left. Start with cooking the pasta, since they'd need 8 -10minutes. Cut up the vegetables into small pieces. Put some oil in the pan, stir-fry the onion, tomatoes and one garlic clove.  

Tip: If you're cutting the garlic into big pieces, it won't taste as much, but if you cut it up very tiny and small, the garlic flavor will come out. So, do it as you like, I've cut it up into big slices.

Then add the vegetables, start with zucchini and add the peppers, stir until cooked, put the heat on low. Season with herbs, salt and pepper, add the dried tomatoes. Stir and then add some pasta, mix everything, taste and flavour it. Let it heat up for about 2-5 minutes and then you're done :)

Have some green salad with fruits, and if you like, some protein like stir-fried chicken. I always do chicken very light, until they are cooked instead of brown-fried. Stir the chicken with oil and some seeds, season with pepper, salt and chili pepper. 

Garnish everything with cut up parsley and enjoy your meal!!! :)

Featured on Andy Sparkles

The wonderful Andy Sparkles did an interview with me and has asked me about my internship at the German fashion blog Les Mads, she also asked me about this blog, my must-haves for autumn/winter 2013/14 and what my future plans are.

How come that I know of her? Funny story, though. Back in 2011 I think, we both won a trip to Berlin due to a Glamour magazine hair model contest. We were there to find out who of the hairstylists is getting into the CULT team of Sebastian Professional. We met up there and then I've found out that she was just doing some modeling jobs, too. And now, two years later she has been doing great with modeling and it's so funny whenever I see her on magazines like Neon I'd be like: Hey guys, I know her!!! :) 

This year, she also started blogging and on her personal blog Andy Sparkles, she's showing a lot of outfit posts, but as well as beauty product reviews, her beloved cat and anything what inspires her. The pictures of her outfit posts are taken by her sister Christine, which I like the most because combining the pieces with each other are really striking.

Below are the pictures taken from the CULT style night back in 2011, each with our hair stylists :) .

Unfortunately the interview is in German, but let's see if I'll manage it to translate the whole thing to you ;-) So, to all German readers, follow this link here to read the rest of it! Thank you Andrea for this lovely feature on your personal blog, I hope to see you soon, wish you all the best, much health and many hugs.

Love,

Minh.

Staying healthy x my food routines

How is this post going to be? Let's see.

Sometimes, when you're busy and exhausted, being tired all day and don't have time to think about a recipe or you just don't want to cook, anyone tends to just have a snack or eat something fast. And yes, I have to admit that I haven't worked out since two weeks now (skating is no workout for me, it's more like a pleasure) and I do feel kind of guilty, but I am not saying that I don't have time. 

I honestly don't like it when people say that they don't have enough time for something because if it's important they'd make time. Anyways, my point is that if I do not workout, I have other priorities like seeing friends and doing activities like skating, cooking, visiting the baltic seas since I'm going to leave Berlin in two weeks :( :( 

Still, the thing is you can actually stay healthy when you are aware of what you eat. I just want to give you some tips to stay healthy when your calender is about to explode. And no, there's no calorie-counting or making-oneself crazy about food choices. But I guess, that's everyone's own choice if you want to nourish your body with fuel or rather with a short sugar-spike.

Breakfast: Start your day with carbs and fruits, be it a fruit salad with some bread and cheese, an egg-omelette with a bagel or oatmeal topped with sliced fruits. Load up on carbs, prefer whole-grain and oats. No processed food at all.

Lunch: And then usually I'd have some fruit between breakfast and lunch again, just to have something fresh and enough sugar for the day. For lunch I often have a whole-grain sandwich with protein, salmon or cheese. Spread some vegetable spread on it or have a salad and bread. I'd always try to have some carbs, raw vegetables and protein.

Afternoon-Snack: Working or being at college all day, I usually have a down-turn around 3 to 5pm, in which I just want to sleep or rest a bit. There's no way out but having an afternoon snack since power-napping doesn't really work with me. Try it out, maybe it does work for you? It's recommended to be 20 to 30 minutes long. As an afternoon snack I'd have some fruit again, almonds, dark chocolate, green tea or self-made granola bars.

Dinner: For dinner I usually stay low-carb. Yes, I have to admit that I try not to eat carbs at all for dinner. It's not a diet for me, because I still eat carbs now and then but since living in the U.S. I've noticed that having no carbs at night I do not feel full as much so that I sleep better. Furthermore eating low-carb at night I can maintain my weight and I think it's reasonable that you do not need carbs at night anymore, since you're heading to bed afterwards. 

Oh boy, this is another food post I guess but I think you guys should know what my food habits are, you might question some of my recipe-posts. So, yeah, these are just a few tips to stay healthy and if you try it out, you might feel better, too. Be aware that I'm not saying this will work out for everyone of us and that this is the best to follow. It works for me, so try things out and see what works best for you :) We're all different and therefore have different needs and intentions. Maybe you're an athlete and you need tons of carbs, so go ahead, your body will thank you for ;-) Some of my friends, which have been influenced a bit by me, said that they feel much better and their skin is becoming better from day to day. I sincerely believe that you can eat your way to a healthy body, skin, appearance and will gain more benefits from it.

Start with healthy food shopping. And YES, I definitely indulge in some ice-cream, chocolate bars and pizza now and then, too. My mantra is: Go for 80% healthy, clean and raw and then 20% anything you're craving for (mine would be ice-cream in the summer). Many have asked me: Aren't you lusting for some cheese cake or chips and nutella sometimes? My answer: No, I think it's because I try to eat as clean as possible so that my body does not crave for artificial sugars and so on. Nevertheless, if there's a party or a BBQ, I definitely eat, lots, but do not feel guilty at all since I'm eating clean most of the time.

And never forget: Always have fun by doing it. If you do not want to make small changes in your food habits, then don't. This is a post for everyone who likes to experiment!

Click for more food pictures I've taken of my eats in the past, just found them on my computer...