Queensday 2012!

Dear readers,

April 30 is a BIG day here in The Netherlands, because it is the late Queen's birthday, which we celebrate in a really ENORMOUS way! I will show you some pictures of it tomorrow, but for today I will only share with you a pastry that we eat today, called "Oranje tompoucen"! Haha, say what? Well "oranje" means orange, because the Royal family's last name is "Van Oranje" and "tompoucen" is just the name of the pastry. Anyway, I am sure you have seen the images of Queensday either online or on the television, so you know the colour orange is a returning theme in everything today, even in this pastry. See for yourself :)

If you are in the Netherlands today and you haven't tried this pastry yet, do so...it is YUMMY!!!

Great party everone!

Love, Melissa

April 2012 Top Finds @ Fashiolista

Dear readers,

Last month I forgot to post the favourites of the month due to my trip to Colombia, but here it is again. This month definitely has a list to which I can only say "amen"! Have a look for yourself!

Cotton and gold-tone necklace by Marni (theoutnet.com)

Crocheted cotton and lace sweater by Vanessa Bruno (theoutnet.com)

Floral print corset (topshop.com)

Which of these fashion favourites is your number 1? I would have to go for the cotton necklace by Marni. I love statement necklaces and I love to experiment with different fabrics, this necklace has both of these elements captured in its design and I think it will look awesome and so sophisticated with so many different clothes AND with my tan from Colombia :D

Love, Melissa

P.S. All items can be found & loved on my Fashiolista page! Are you a follower yet?

Tulips!

Dear readers,

My home country, The Netherlands, is famous for its cheese, it's approach towards the legalisation of drugs and prostitution, but also for its tulips. Although tulips are actually originally from Turkey, we produce a lot of tulips here! As a matter of fact, every year there is this tulip exhibition called "Keukenhof" which is so stunning! In a week or two I will go and visit it for the first time ever, but for now I wanted to share with you these two pics, so you have an impression of what I am talking about plus after seeing these shots I am sure you can understand WHY I am talking about it :) Isn't is just beautiful???

Has any of you visited the "Keukenhof"? If so, what did you think of it?

Love, Melissa

Garden look!

Dear readers,

The time has come for another creation of mine, which I'm calling "The garden outfit"! :P

I love printed dresses for spring and summer and thought silver jewellery and shoes complement the dress very well. To keep the look bright I chose some light blue shades and a pretty pastel pink leather bag!






Love, Melissa

P.S. As always, all items can be found & loved on my Fashiolista page! Are you a follower yet?

Cali!

Dear readers,

The journey through Colombia continues today. This time I will tell you about our visit to Cali, the capital city of the Valley of Cauca, in southern Colombia. The Valley of Cauca is known for its plantations of rubber, sugar cane, coffee and among other things also cocaine.
The latter brings about problems for the city like high murder rates and a high addiction rate. Aside from the negative characteristics of Cali, this city is also known as the capital city of salsa! And don't I just love that... :)

Unfortunately, we were just 2 days in Cali, so we did not have a lot of time to see everything, but always time to take some shots of course! Here some for you to see!

Starting with breakfast in bed...always nice! :)

We stayed at the Ofi Hotel, a very nice boutique hotel in the Versailles neighbourhood.
We took advantage of their membership of the Executive Club of Cali. This club has everything you can wish for: a swimming pool, a restaurant, a cafe, a fitness area, a beauty salon, a hairdresser...you name it! Because of the high temperatures, we decided to take a plunge!

Swimming at the Executive Club of Cali, VERY cool!

Lovely view of Cali from the rooftop of the Executive Club of Cali

The swimming pool



Enjoying a Colombian beer in the pool

Cali is known for its exquisite restaurants, among them the famous restaurant "Platillos Voladores" which literally means "flying plates", but there it is more interpreted as ufo's. Anyway, it is a really nice restaurant, a bit pricey, but for Europeans like us still very much affordable. I had one of the nicest sauces I have ever tasted draped on my salmon :) YUM!

At the famous restaurant "Platillos Voladores" enjoying Asian food

My next post of our trip in Colombia will be about Popayan, a little city in the south of the Valley of Cauca!

What do you think of my Colombia posts thus far? I would love to hear!

Love, Melissa

Peacock!

Dear readers,

Time for a new snapshot of what nature has to offer! Have a look and see the beauty of this peacock butterfly!

Aren't you just amazed by the colours of nature? It is so much broader than the colour pallet we human beings are capable of capturing! LOVE IT!!!

Love, Melissa

Your film!

Dear readers,

It has been a while since I posted a quote, but I have come across many good ones, so you will be seeing a lot of them in the near future, starting with this incredible one, which really made me stop and think about my life right now! Curious yet? I won't tease you...here it is :)

"One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it's worth watching!"

What about you? Thinking about this one?! Let us not regret our lives when our time has come! There is no more today, enjoy and seize every moment! Let us better "regret" the things we have done in our lives than regret the things we haven't done, for every experience is an experience, a moment from which we can learn!

I wish this for you!

Love, Melissa



Tayrona Park!

Dear readers,

While in Santa Marta we visited Tayrona Park, one of the most beautiful natural parks in the world! And so it was...! Tayrona Park is a 45 minute drive from the center of Santa Marta. From the entrance of the park you can either walk or let a cab ride you to the "real" entrance of the park. As you may already know, I am kinda lazy, so we opted for a cab to take us. I mean, it is like a 45 minute walk :P Anyway, from there it took us about 3 hours walking to the jungle to get to where we wanted to be: la playa! We enjoyed our swim in the ocean! I was so sweaty from walking in the damn jungle! At the end of the day we were so tired that we decided to go back by horse to the entrance of the park. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of me on the horse, but I do want to let you know how sweet the horse was and how smart...they walk with such cautious...I felt very safe!

Enough talk, here some photos!

Has any of you visited Tayrona Park? If so, what did you think of it?

Love, Melissa

In between the sun and the rain!

Dear readers,

Pffff, when I got back from my holiday in Colombia I honestly thought I skipped part of the Dutch winter and could finally throw on some skirts, shorts and sandals, but men...was I naive! It has been so cold these past few days! And not just that, it is also windy, rainy and GREY!!! But I refuse to give up on my skirts and decided it was time for an outfit creation WITH skirt, but something with long sleeves to go with that to protect ourselves from this weather! Here it is!





What do you think of this outfit? Is it something you could see yourself wearing?

Love, Melissa

P.S. As always, all items can be found & loved on my Fashiolista page! Are you a follower yet?

Santa Marta!

Dear readers,

In my last post with regards to Colombia I wrote about Cartagena. This post is about our stay in Santa Marta, the next destination on our trip.

Santa Marta is a colonial city, but with a modern twist and a modern vibe. The beach stretches itself from the centre all the way to the outskirts of Santa Marta. The boulevard is a pleasure to stroll on during the late afternoon to watch people and the sun going down, which leaves a beautiful scenery as you can see in one of my pictures here below.

We really enjoyed Santa Marta, because we could finally hit the beach without having to speedboat there :P Also, in Santa Marta you can enjoy better restaurants and FOOD is what we live for at the end of the day, right?! ;) Another reason why staying in Santa Marta is an absolute MUST is because of the famous "Parque Tayrona", one of the most beautiful natural parks in the world. But more on this park in another post! For now, some pictures of Santa Marta! Enjoy!

Love, Melissa

Playa Salguero

Enjoying a Mexican appetizer, this always scores points with me! :D

Santa Marta's boulevard

Sunset!

Enjoying a cocktail on the boulevard!

At restaurant "Le Bistro", sipping a mojito!

Ocean shades

Dear readers,

While having to wait in Madrid for our transit flight to Amsterdam, we decided to make the most of our wait and go shopping...there is seriously no better idea than that! :) I love shopping at Zara while in Spain, since the prices are so much better than they are in Holland, so I bought like 6 items or so, among them these beautiful heeled sandals!

Aren't they stunning? I really love them and they costed me no more than € 30!!! Woohoo...love those prices :D Cannot wait to wear them!

Love, Melissa

Cherry tree!

Dear readers,

Today's picture is one of a bird enjoing a flowering cherry tree in Tokyo. What a beauty!

Enjoy nature as often as possible!

Love, Melissa

Cake mode!

Dear readers,

The Little Cupcake Bakeshop in New York was chosen as the location for this delicious photoshoot by Amber Gray for Marie Claire China and it turned out to be a pretty rad one in my opinion!

Check some of the photos below!

Don't you just love the sweetness of this photoshoot?!?! I am getting all sweet tooth-ed and sugar-coated over here! :P

Love, Melissa

P.S. The blog tour throughout Colombia continues, no worries, just have to find the time to select come cute photos! Next stop will be Santa Marta! :)