Christmas deco stuff

I love the rustic appeal of this room - especially the rustic oven. 

The little pops of red and blue add freshness to the space. 

And who says that old skates can't be used as a decoration?

I really like the simplicity intertwining with the warmth of the space.

The straw goat is definitely a nice original touch:)

I find these hanging hyacinth bulbs really cool!

The hanging pineapple is a very special pineapple - it's a Christmas pineapple;) 

Maybe I'll decorate my room like this for the Christmas 2011!

a checkered ribbon + a hyacinth bulb in an empty tomato can = perfection

Photos by Peter Carlsson for hus o hem

Love, Teja xoxo

Merry Christmas

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas!
(with lots of presents;))

Love, Teja and Em xoxox

Winter Fashion

Looking chic at below zero is a challenge, I grant you, but luckily, I found some really nice examples of chic winter fashion:

So how to look great and be warm and cozy at the same time? It's all about mixing and matching.

Rule 1: Complement a retro coat with a retro hat as seen in the next two photos:

Love the peacock green coat and the chic clutch.

This is a great example of layering.
Make sure to combine ethnic patterns with more subtle cream-colored pieces.
This way, the patterns stand out more. The red tote adds a nice pop of color!

Love this look! The loafers and the dandy-ish scarf are so chic!

Rule 2: Combine a winter coat with ankle boots, preferably in the same color.

Dark tones are a winter classic but in this case
a bag or a scarf in a different color would really brighten up the whole outfit.
Having everything in the same color can be a bit too matchy-matchy.

Rule 3: Earthy tones are a must-have

A nude top, khaki pants and wine-colored pumps,
plus a lovely fur coat is a winning combination:)

Rule 4: When going for the lumberjack look - don't be shy - go for the whole enchillada:) Not feminine enough for you? A sexy red lipstick will take care of that!

Photos courtesy of karla's closet, the sartorialist and stylescout.

Love,

Teja

...?

What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?


What would you do if you knew that everything would be okay?


What would you do if you knew that everything would work itself out?


Love,

Teja

What's on my Playlist

Hoku - Perfect Day: because - every day is perfect in its own, even if we don't know it;)
LMFAO - I am not a whore: because even the title makes me giggle:D
Ingrid Michaelson - Be OK: because it's a perfect pick me up song
Beats Antique  - Nesatovo: because I love the mixture of the Balkan beats with contemporary music
Kelis - Trick me: because it's a great chill-out song
The Chemical Brothers - Galvanize: because I love the music fusion of the oriental music and hip-hop.
Ratatat - One: because it makes me wanna dance!
BOB feat. Hayley Williams - Airplanes: because there's something really catchy about this tune. I dunno, I just like it!
Ofra Haza feat. Iggy Pop - Daw da Hiya: because they are one of  the best artists of the 80s. This song is the perfect blend of their talent.
Beck - Loser: because of the funny lyrics:)
Snoop Dogg feat. Pharell - Drop it like it's hot: because of its sexy beats.
Moby - Flower: I just can't help it - I love this song!

Have a great day!

hugs and smoochies,

Teja

Teja's Easy Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

My version of the chicken enchiladas is milder and healthier (hence the mozzarella not the ‘’real’’ cheese) because everybody in my family has a really sensitive stomach :S  So as you will see, I also don’t even use any chili powder – but the beauty of every recipe lies in little details, such as spices, so you can use this recipe as a basis and then spice it up (no pun intended :S). Just have fun with it!

You’ll need:

1 chopped onion

200 g cubed chicken breast meat

1 can (cca. 250 g) of tomato sauce

2 buffalo mozzarellas

12 large flour tortillas

Spices: salt, pepper, thyme, oregano


Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (340 F). Grease a large baking dish.

2.   In a medium saucepan over medium heat, sauté the onions until tender and golden brown. Add the cubed chicken breast meat. Add salt, pepper, thyme and oregano. How much? Depends on your personal preferences. Stir until golden brown. Add the tomato sauce and stir until it bubbles.

3.   Fill each tortilla with the chicken mixture and roll up. Place them seam side down in the prepared baking dish.

4.   Cover the tortillas with the remaining tomato sauce and place the sliced buffalo mozzarellas on top.

5.   Bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until the mozzarella is bubbly:)

Bon apetit!

Teja xoxo

Vintage Sort of Preppy Chic vol.2

I simply love the preppy chic style! I love the old-schoolness of it (is that even a word? Oh, well:))
That's why I was browsing the net, looking for inspiration - and what did I find! :)

Could this outfit be any cuter?
Seriously, this is the Audrey-Hepburn-meets-the-21st-century style!

Love the retro scarf and brooch on her. Complemented nicely with a pair of oxfords.
Very 1940s!

I love the scotch-colored loafers! The blazer is also awesome!

The colorful Elsa Nalin:) The vintage necklace is off the hook!

I am a sucker for any kind of floral embroidery - ergo - I'm in love with this skirt!!!

I love the combination of a pale dress with a hot red lipstick! Divine!
Natalia Alaverdian of the Russia's Harper's Bazaar has nailed it!

So perfect! The scarft, the blazer, the shorts - even
the friggin pose with a cigarette!:)

Nice!

Have a fun weekend!

Love,

Teja xoxox

Images courtesy of the sartorialist and Vanessa Jackman

Inspiration: Lady Desidia

I was browsing the net for new inspirations and I found this jewel of an artist: Lady Desidia!

I will let her art speak for itself:

It just doesn't get any cuter than this, does it? :)

I love the originality of her designs! So cool!

A brooch. Love the little bunny!

Dude, I wanna have a necklace like this! So on my Christmas wishlist!

Each ring is in its own little cupcake paper cups! Cuuuuute!

So from afar, the rings really look like edible cupcakes!

Why don't we have a Lady Desidia Shop like this one, in Slovenia? Whhhhyyyy?

Take care,

Teja xoxox

Of Being in the Moment

I have always admired buddhist monks. They seem so... content. So disciplined. So focused on the HERE and NOW, which for our Western culture seems almost impossible. Our mind is forever going from the past, regretting our past choices (''I shouldn't have been such a doormat in high school, no wonder I was bullied''/''I shouldn't have married him, why didn't I see this catastrophe of marriage coming?''/''I should have studied harder, then I would have got an A,'' etc.) and fearing the future (''Am I going to be single forever?''/''When will I find another job in the times of the recession?''/ ''Will I even get my pension when I get old? Who's going to take care of me?'').

See what I mean?

The buddhists call this ''monkey mind.'' The term describes the restless and unsettled mind (which we all from time to time have) which goes on and on, never stopping in the present. But what if we could train ourselves to stay in the present? What would our lives be like? Much more focused and less stressful, I can tell you that:)

When I feel overwhelmed by my monkey mind, I do this simple and short exercise:

Sit in a comfortable position. It doesn't even have to be a full lotus or half lotus. You can just be comfortably sitting in a chair. Sit up straight and take a deep breath. While you breathe in, think ''breathing in, I know that I am breathing in'' and when you breathe out, think ''breathing out, I know that I am breathing out.'' Repeat as many times as you want.

After a few repetitions, I usually realize that in this moment, I am safe and that all is well. My fears are somewhere in the future. And I cannot control the future. I can only control the present. So I practice breathing:)

It may happen that after doing this exercise, you monkey mind will go back to its full throttle. Unfortunately there is no fixed formula that will ''cure'' your mind. You will have to make a pact with yourself that you will practice being in the present until the day you die.

I have been practicing being in the present for more than a year now and I still catch my monkey mind dwelling on the past or escaping into the future. It's not easy at all. But totally worth the effort:)

I think that Master Yoda (I'm a Star Wars fan, by the way:)) would say: ''Much to learn you still have, young padawan.'' :D

Yep, I do.


May the force be with you;)

Take care,

Teja xoxox

Fall Fashion

Yesterday I started thinking about the Fall and Fashion that comes with it. Many don't really like the Fall. They associate it with gloomy rainy weather, the cold, the lack of sunshine and in a sense, with the decay of nature, because leaves are falling off, leaving naked branches.

And just like the trees change their fresh green wardrobe, so does the fashion with the shades of red, yellow, reddish-brown and rich chocolate brown. So perfect.

I like the Fall. Yes, the weather can get a little gloomy, but there's Halloween, hot chocolate, baked chestnuts... and Fall Fashion:) Here are my favorite combinations:

Alice Gabb

Mi Rim Lee (I hope I got her name right), the fashion editor of Korean Harper's Bazaar.
I love the combination of mustard sweater with baby blue shirt!
The open-toe shoes are a bit much for November, though:)

The cream-colored trench coat is a classic must-have. The bag is also really cool!
I just wish the woman on the picture would smile more:)

I love the quirkiness of this outfit!
This woman really has the cojones:)

I just can't get enough of Caroline Issa's immaculate taste. So chic!

Karolina Kurkova, elegant as ever in Roberto Cavalli. I love, love, love this look!

Images courtesy of: street tonic, trendy crew, stylescout and Vanessa Jackman.

Take care,

Teja xoxox

Yugo Nostalgia

Lately, I have been feeling just a tiny bit nostalgic. I sometimes really miss my childhood. It was a good childhood. I grew up in the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia which disintegrated in 1991. After that, my country was called the Republic of Slovenia and I never felt more proud. For the first time in our history, we even had our very own currency - Slovene tollar (sl. slovenski tolar). I remember exactly what I bought with my first 100 tollars (cca. 50 cents in today's euro) - two scoops of ice-cream. In 1991, one scoop of ice-cream cost 50 tolars - that is a little less that 25 cents (!) in euros. In the summer of 2010, one scoop of ice-cream cost 1,20 euro in Ljubljana (the capital of Slovenia).

This post is about the things without which I couldn't imagine my childhood:

Candy called ''505 sa crtom'' (Eng. 505 with the line),
as you can see from the image.

The ''Rondo C'' candy

The Croatian cartoon called ''Čudesna šuma''
(Eng. The Elm-Chanted Forest). I loved it!

A Croatian cartoon called ''Čarobnjakov šešir''
(Eng. The Magician's Hat)

Katrca

VW beetle - we called it ''hrošč''

And of course - Yugoslavia would not have been
Yugoslavia without Yugo:) My mom used to have a yugo:)

Last but not least, what made Yugoslavia special is that when the children reached a certain age, they had to take a Pioneer Pledge (serb-cro. Pionirska zakletva) which went a little something like this:

Danas, kada postajem pionir,

dajem časnu pionirsku riječ/reč -

da ću marljivo učiti i raditi,

poštovati roditelje i starije,

i biti vjeran/veran i iskren drug,

koji drži datu riječ/reč.

Da ću voljeti/voleti našu domovinu, samoupravnu SFRJ,

da ću razvijati bratstvo i jedinstvo

i ideje za koje se borio drug Tito.

Da ću cjeniti/ceniti sve ljude svijeta/sveta koji žele slobodu i mir!

Today, as I become a Pioneer,

I give my Pioneer's word of honour -

That I shall study and work diligently,

respect parents and my seniors,

and be a loyal and honest comrade/friend.

That I shall love our homeland, self-managed SFRY.

That I shall spread brotherhood and unity

and the principles for which comrade Tito fought.

And that I shall value all peoples of the world who respect freedom and peace!

Source: Wikipedia

This is how they were dressed:)

I wasn't one, though. I was born two years too late:)

Enjoy your day!

Love, 

Teja xoxox

The hard work of happiness

It can happen to all of us - sometimes you just feel sort of... down. It's like, no matter what you do, you are in that funk and then you're like, whoa, I am in a funk and I don't like this at all! The crazy thing is that... the more you think about about it, the lousier you feel.

Why does this happen? It's because people mostly think only about what they don't want instead of what they do want. And when we're all fired up and upset, we tend to really focus on what we really don't want to happen (''I really don't want to fail this exam,'' ''I hope my husband doesn't leave me,'' ''I hope my friend doesn't think I talk too much,'' etc.), just adding the extra stress. For example, if you're afraid that your friend will think that you talk too much, by worrying so much about it, you will really start to babble. I mean, who doesn't babble under stress? God knows, I do! And then of course you catch yourself - talking too much.

I think it all comes down to control issues.We like to control things. Who are we kidding? We LOVE to control things, we love it when things turn out exactly the way we want to. It's like nirvana. And by being so fixated on stuff we don't want to happen, we actually create it. I have a quote by David R. Hawkins on my wall, I really wanted to share it with you guys. It says: ''Worrying is a way of thinking that if you just keep persisting on it long enough, you will change the result and gain control of it. You don't. You just constantly entertain yourself with that silly thought. It's a way of trying to control the outcome by chewing it over and over again.''

The worst thing about being in a funk and not liking it (actually, you're more like hating it), is that the vicious cycle is then complete. And you spiral down, down, down.

The good thing is that you can change that and you're mood can go up, up, up:) Even if it's not in your nature. So, if you're feeling unhappy, you could:

1. Play a happy or a funny tune, I'd personally recommend Weird Al Yankovic's I'm fat or Cartman (Southpark) singing Lady Gaga's Poker face. It can be of course anything that makes you laugh:)
2. Try laughter yoga! You could organize weekly laughter yoga sessions with your friends! Just be careful - once you start laughing, it's really hard to stop:)
3. Read jokes. Read lots of jokes in your newspapers, magazines, internet. Memorize as many of them as you possibly can, so that next time when you're in a funk, you'll think about that joke and you'll feel better.
4. Call a friend that has a lot of positive energy and always seems to be cheerful. Don't have one? Maybe the time has come to make one;) Just hearing their cheerful voice will make you feel better:)
5. Watch stand up comedy clips, etc.

In a nutshell, the main point is that you do not dwell on your unhappy thoughts. By the way, I found this really cool website about happiness called the Happiness Institute led by Dr. Timothy Sharp aka ''Dr Happy''. I especially loved his blog. I wish there was such an Institute here in Slovenia!

Have a happy day!

Love,

Teja xoxox

Vintage sort of Preppy Chic

Hi, everybody,

I am a huge fan of vintage clothes and the trend called ''preppy chic'':) It usually has a sort of vintagee feel to it, so let's talk about that. The ''preppy chic'' must-haves are: 

1. dark-rimmed glasses, preferably Ray-bans wayfarers (the more Clark Kent-like, the better)
2. a white blouse, preferably with bib-like collar or ruffled shoulders. Or both;)
3. a woolen short skirt or a skirt made of any thick material (you can play with patters here)
4.  knee-high socks (you can choose any color you like but I would stick to neutral tones)
5. the Oxford shoes aka the Oxfords. Love them!!!

This is the somewhat stricter version of the preppy chic with black glasses,
 a black skirt and black shoes but she balances the strictness
quite nicely with nude tones
and the gorgeous nude Chanel bag.

This is, as you can see, not a typical example of the preppy chic
but I included it in my post anyway because it falls into the ''vintage'' category
(ruffles on the blouse, school girl cardigan).
The little pops of red really complement Alexandra Golavanoff's outfit. 

I love this vintage blouse. And the girl's hair. If I had long lang hair, I swear I would wear them like this the whole time!

The rockabilly version of vintage chic.
Love the bow in her hair and the pattern on her blouse.

Cute shoes! Love that shade of lipstick! Also a bit rockabilly-ish:)

So young and already so chic.
These oxfords are definitely on my wishlist!

This outfit is my absolute favorite!
Louise Ebel brilliantly mixed and matched a long slinky nude dress
with a leather moto jacket, nerdy glasses and beret and actually made it work!

Take care,

Teja xoxox

Images taken from Trendycrew, the Sartorialist, the Stylescout, and all the pretty birds.