Estonia Vlog #2

Second part of my vacation vlog to Estonia is now online.

Tallinn in the summer is kind of unbeatable if you ask me (yes I am probably biased but whatever). There is of course so many places in Estonia that are great but I like the city summers. It's jam packed with street food festivals, concerts, rooftop and other parties, picnics and outdoor dining. Tallinn is small so you can walk to most places. If you are super lucky like I was, all this will be accompanied with warm and sunny days and chilly but lovely evenings.



Hope you enjoy watching it and I cant wait to vlog again from New York.

Have a lovely Sunday! x

Life Lately- Estonia Vlog #1

Yes your eyes are not mistaken. I actually vloged!!

Before getting to this point there was a whole process of doubting if I can and should. Then convincing myself I will never know how to use iMovie. Then convincing myself that nobody will ever find it interesting to hear my Estonian accent English on camera. All the same time loving my
friend Simone's vlogs and wishing to give it a try.

So the vacation in Estonia seemed like a perfect opportunity to start. I had a lot of fun filming it and I hope you enjoy it as well. I got so into it there will even be a #2 next week! I dont think I will vlog in Dubai after that but I will most certainly try my best to vlog in New York at the end of August. So maybe I can be a sort of travel vlogger.

Please excuse that only after I filmed all the clips did I realize my camera video quality had been set on the lowest possible (such a rookie mistake!). I have managed to get it a bit better (had no idea how to do it so did an abundance of googeling) so do choose a higher quality from YouTube options once you start watching.

Let me know what you think and have a lovely Saturday.

Travel tips part 1- South of Sri Lanka

I said I will make a small travel guide but I love so many places in Sri Lanka I couldnt make it short. Im sorry.. I cant even fit it all into one post to be honest.
 
Please take into account this is purely my suggestions which are based on places I have stayed or visited. I am not aiming to do an extensive cover-all tutorial here. I will try to be descriptive so you know what to expect cause tastes and expectations are different.

We have been to Sri Lanka twice and these two trips were a bit different. First time was in December-January for 2 weeks and that was our honeymoon. This was a trip I prepared for a long time, made research for hotels, read reviews- the whole lot. We chose more expensive boutique or designy hotels or drove around a lot. The best way to travel on a trip like this is to hire a driver for the whole time. We had our awesome driver Thilak with us and I would suggest him to anyone planning a trip. Just let me know and I can pass on the details.
The second trip last week was purely for lounging on the beach. We didnt care for a fancy hotel but just wanted it to be clean and on the beach. It was all sleep, eat and tan.repeat.

Lets start with the hotels in the south where the beautiful beaches are:

The Three by TPV- a fantastic mix of Scandinavian design and jungle feel. We booked one of the garden suites. This means you have your own little house with the coolest outdoor shower. Food was great, service was lovely. You cant walk to the beach but everything is a short tuk tuk ride away. There is a pool with stunning sunset views.

Another great hotel if you want something with a spa is the Fortress Resort and Spa. We just visited for a dinner and a spa day but it has a stunning beach. The Three is much more private and quiet and Fortress is a bigger hotel nevertheless it is really beautiful!

Now we come to the gem I found on airbnb.com website and that was kind of a highlight of our honeymoon. Its a real life Tarzan tree-house and its totally amazing. Silva Tree-house is in a secluded and private location but very close to the beach. I unfortunately have only one crappy iPhone picture that shows the outside so go check out the photos on airbnb as well.

I have to mention a few things about this place. If you are searching for luxury and you are scared of bugs/geckos/flies etc..this is not your scene. If you are one that appreciates funky design and adventure and want a very special experience with a living room among the treetops- make your booking right away! It is a huge house with 3 bedrooms and its all glass, meaning the views are ridiculous. It also means you cant leave stuff laying around cause squirrels run in and out of the living room and will chew through anything. We loved the Silva Tree-house and I would like to go back with a group of friends sooner rather than later.

Now there are two hotel I like a lot inside Galle city as well. One of them is a colonial style boutique hotel called The Galle Fort. If your thing however is big hotels with the perks of ordering fruity cocktails while laying in a plush sun lounger, having multiple pools and food options on the grounds head to Jetwing Lighthouse. We never stayed there but on both trips we bought their day pass to the pool and just chilled for a day. Its a beautiful poolside and great place. Day pass is not expensive so a good option if you want to stay in a more private hotel but take advantage of those cocktails.

This time around we stayed at Rockside Cabanas which is more B&B style place. Its clean and basic and smack on the beach. Food was not fantastic but the view from our balcony made up for it.

Out of activities we did in southern Sri Lanka the whale watching in Mirissa really stands out. We saw whales and wild dolphins and even thou I get seasick stupidly easy and the sea at 6am was anything but calm, it was amazing. Other than that I would say the south is more for beach holiday. Next post I will tell you about our hiking,climbing, tea plantations and safari which were all fantastic as well.

Hope this is helpful. Please let me know what else interests you and I will try to add it to the next post.

Purple Maxi dress- Sri Lanka part 4

So here comes the last outfit post from Sri Lanka.

I honestly was hoping to snap one more but that did not happen.

Even this one is kind of a half effort if I am totally honest with you. Its because of the stormy rainy evening and night we had. The prettiest light for taking pictures was around 5pm (dont have to wear sunglasses and dont get the angry squint when trying to smize without them) and on the day I wanted to show you my new purple maxi dress it was thundering for hours. We did get the full lightning and heavy rain just after these pictures were taken.

So instead of wondering around we spent a super cozy evening reading, watching the lightning storm and drinking ginger tea on the balcony. Morgan was kind of just playing around with the camera when taking these photos but adding in a full length one and I think we get ourselves an acceptable outfit post.





Guess were this dress is from?

I almost cant believe I am going to say it but its Gap..again! Its their Cami maxi dress.. I swear my holiday wasn't sponsored by Gap (although I wish it was). I just happened to buy a lot of things in the last month and I haven't had a chance to show them to you. Anyway the color, the cut and the soft fabric all make for a great maxi dress and I'm almost regretting I didn't get the navy version as well. I always get so much wear out of simple maxis.

On another note I finished the book I was reading. Its Elizabeth Gilbert The Signature of All Things. I liked it a lot. Its totally different from her Eat, Pray, Love and Commited as this one is a novel but it has the same lovely style and flow.

 I have a few books ready on my to-read list but always happy to add more on to it. So please do let me know if you have read something lovely lately.

Also I have gotten a few emails form you guys asking recommendations and tips about Sri Lanka. Do you think its worth for me to do a small travel guide type of post telling about our favorite hotels etc?

A Day in Galle- Sri Lanka part 3

As after a few days when laying on the beach grew a little uneventful we took a day trip to Galle. Its a short tuk tuk ride away from where we are staying and we decided to have lunch and a small wonder inside Galle Fort.

Not to get all historical on you but just a few facts. The fort was built over 400 years ago by the Portuguese and then extensively fortified by the Dutch later on. Its is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and houses loads of little stores, cafes, boutique hotels and private houses. The architecture is an interesting mix of cultures and has a strong colonial feel to it. The narrow streets have loads of restored houses and old run down ones, funky cafes and more traditions hole in the wall places for curry and all makes it a perfect place to walk and wonder. It is without a doubt worth a visit if you are in Galle or anywhere near.

Last time we were in Sri Lanka we had such a lovely dinner at Galle Fort Hotel that we went back for lunch this time. Its a small boutique hotel with delicious food and is one of my favorite places to eat in Galle.

In matters of outfit I wore my fairly new French Connection Lucky Leaves shirt dress that was perfect for the weather (flowery pattern doesn't show the ever so charming sweat streams one gets in this humidity). The new season FCUK has been pretty awesome, fit and flare is my favorite style and there was a few dresses I would love to get even after I came home with this flowery number and the black one.

We are flying back to Dubai tonight. I do however have one or maybe more Sri Lanka outfits ready for you. And after that I cant wait to show you the little something something I picked up at Dubai Duty Free.

Mint Shorts I Never Knew I Needed- Sri Lanka part 2

I will begin this post making one thing clear.

It is about the most basic shorts ever. But you see..I have not bought a single pair of shorts in 3 years. Yes I actually stood in front of my wardrobe at home staring at the 3 pairs of shorts I own and realized they are all bought years ago and non of them have been worn for at least a year (minus my dog walking shorts but those don't count! dog walking wardrobe is a whole separate subject).

There are several reasons for that but the main one being that skirts/dresses just work so much better with my body type and my style. Secondly shorts are always sooo short! I feel uncomfortable as I would much rather accentuate my waist or show off my back than my legs- its a comfort zone thing.

Until I made the before mentioned random visit to Gap that turned into a wild shopping spree. It was obviously the color that made me even consider them and as I was lugging loads of things to the fitting room anyway I figured whats the harm in throwing a pair of shorts on.. and to my surprise I really liked them! Welcome to my life Boyfriend roll-up shorts.

 

The awesome thing besides the mint color that makes my heart beat faster is that you can cuff them up to whatever length you want. Here mine are double cuffed but I have worn them triple cuffed and they still dont look overly bulky. Material is super soft cotton and they sit on the waist. You could easily get them a size down if you wish for a more fitted look.

We took the pictures this morning on a small walk before the breakfast. I had intended to make it more of a -look at this paradise beach behind me- outfit shoot. But we had a proper storm with lighting and the whole works yesterday so the beach is full of seaweed and didn't offer the idyllic backdrop I was looking for.

In other important news. I miss my crazy zoo at home and therefor am stalking the hotel cat Calico constantly. She has taken a liking to me as well (it might have something to do with be the fact I feed her half of my dinner ever night) so I thought she could fill in for Zulu and Yalla in todays post.

We are off to a day in Galle so I will be back with more pictures soon. Have a great day!

Outfit and a half from Sri Lanka

Hi lovely lovely people! How are you?

Im relaxed.. I mean like taking 3 naps in one day kind of relaxed. I might have been snoozing more than I have been awake for the past few days.

Sri Lanka is as beautiful, welcoming and lovely as we remembered. Last time we were here for 2 weeks so we did a lot of driving around and saw most of the places we wanted to. So this time is mainly for lazy days and quick trips to surrounding villages. We might try to do a day in Galle as well which is one of the bigger cities in Sri Lanka but has a very cool vibe and lots of funky cafes.

We have been taking loads of pictures..mainly of palm trees and the awesome view of the ocean we get from our balcony. I might have to do a separate post for all of those pictures but for today I have a small outfit post and a half.

First up is this white dress that makes me look so much more tanned than I am and I love it. Its a oldie but goodie H&M Concious Collection from few years back.

 It has the perfect lenght and pockets (!!) I really love white and light colors for vacation even thou that means I have to bring twice as many clothes. Mainly cause I will stain them in a day but whatever..I totally wore that dress yesterday and only make one SMALL stain on it!

Now the half of an outfit is a new purchase made last week at Gap. Because when one is not wearing pants you cant really call it a full outfit can you?

I havent been to Gap in ages because for a while there was just nothing for me there. This season however I have bought a maxi dress (which I have with me here and will be in one of the the Sri Lanka outfits series), shorts and silver flats and then this easy breezy shirt:

Its such a versatile shirt as it works for beach cover up but can easily be worn with jeans for a city look. I love the fabric and the cuff up sleeves and well.. its pastel and has striped on it. Do I need to go on?

So I leave you with this picture of a monkey for now and will return soon. Hope you are all having a great Monday!