Madrid week in review....

It seems like every time I come to Madrid to work and spend quality time with my boyfriend at the same time I neglect posting a little bit cause I try to use every second of our time together wisely as these moments to do simple things like walking around the city together or watching a movie are scarce. We both work and travel a lot so this seems to be the best possible deal for the time being.

 After work and while my boyfriend was at practice or napping I used time to read and get some tan  in front of our building.

For a couple of months now I am promising to bring Monopoly from Croatia and this time I finally did, we played couple of times - first time he totally left me money-less but next couple of times I showed him who's the boss. ;)  

I had the opportunity to watch two of the quarterfinal games after which every time we traditionally go to Mimi's - the best craperia and ice-cream place in Madrid owned and managed by our charming Serbian friend Zoran and his lovely wife Soraya. You can read my post about Mimi's here.

I got this James Dean coffee cup to my boyfriend in Zagreb recently when I was getting some small presents for his parents, it reminded me of him cause he has very similar swag that James Dean had and he has his photo on D&G T-shirts he often wears. The sign on the cup said: A rebel without a cause. - this sentence also nicely describes my boyfriend ;)

Although Zoki and Sona at Mimi's have the most delicious cakes, croissants, ice-cream and salty and sweet Nutella crapes I resisted in the light of my "preparation for bikini shape" and only had a lovely ice-coffee late on the photo higher up.

While at Mimi's where we already feel and behave like at home, we call it our cafe "Cheers", the place everyone knows our name, we peaked at the daily newspaper article about my boyfriend and his best friend from the team Novica.   

Later in the week we finally went to get a tailored made jacket for my boyfriend at Scalpers which one could describe as a Rugby Ralph Lauren meets Abercrombie & Fitch hybrid. They are the only ones who were making and shipping internationally the cotton casual jacket my boyfriend wanted. If you are curious to see how this hybrid looks like you can check it out here.

Seems like this brand is in high demand as Spanish people of upper class definitely strive to look as prep as possible, you know: khakis, button up shirt, navy blazer or a cardigan thrown over the shoulders with some loafers on their feet.

Their women on the other hand look a bit like a desperate housewife's club while daughters are dressed to match mothers and boys identically like fathers - all in all, the scene looks like some Stepford horror movie.

Our friend Zoran from Mimi's took this photo, he said: "I wish my iPhone battery wasn't dead, I would take a photo of you two now!" and Ante passed his iPhone to take this picture. I remember having a short flash back of last year of travel back and forward to Madrid and all we went through in such a short time period and couldn't help noticing that we are slowly making a step progress in our relationship where I's are ever so often replaced with WE's.

Pink paparazzi in Madrid.

Since I got a small pink Fuji film camera for Christmas from my boyfriend to always wear in my purse, I took the opportunity to try it out during our afternoon walk around Madrid.  I am totally in love with this small but mighty camera! I don’t have to be careful and look after my big pro camera every single minute cause this one actually fits in every single purse I have J

We used the sunny afternoon to visit some of the Madrid’s best vintage stores and shops like: El Corte Ingles, vintage stores like Lotta, Holala and Templo de Susu where I got the amazing purse, vintage frames and a sweater which you can see bellow on my boyfriend and on its own. We also had some great Rose wine, bought some sexy shower curtains and had some delicious food.

Kisses from Madrid!

Bringing the sexy back!

Other then maxi dresses, sequence pieces and lace I absolutely adore backless dresses and shirts, not so much summer shirts as the cashmere backless winter dresses and/or sweaters, just like the black one I got from Rugby Ralph Lauren two years ago. This sweater actually motivated me to look for maxi backless dresses and inspired me to write this post.

Holiday season is therefore great for me as I got to wear flashy pieces I like on all of these Christmas and New Years parties J Bellow I have selected some of the lovely backless pieces. Tomorrow I have scheduled a motivational post with gorgeous photos of maxi dresses which I definitely recommend for all of the tall girls out there – I am telling you, maxis are a guaranteed stand out.

Do you own any open back pieces lovelies? What do you like about them and how do you where them? If not, why not?

“I feel very strongly about dresses on every level - a dress feels like underpinning.”

Donna Karan

I SPY: at Mimi's in Madrid.

One of my now favorite places in Madrid is most definitely at Mimi’s.

Mimi’s Craperia with its old fashion exterior and more modern interior with crystal chandeliers, 80s cooking appliances, proudly displayed huge jars of everyone’s favorite crape topping – Nutella and most importantly friendly staff from Balkan countries, tons of positive energy in the room and the crapes to die for is definitely a place I open heartedly recommend you to visit when you are in Madrid. Kind warning! – You might get hooked and come back again the same day!

This cool little café in very center of Madrid close to plaza Mayor in the building of the oldest hotel in Madrid, serves amazing crapes of all kinds: salty and sweet, with fresh fruit, ice cream, Nutella, cookies, various nuts or any other toping you can think of appropriate to be eaten as a full meal morning to evening. You can also purchase your crape as part of the daily special with a cup of coffee and a soft drink on a side if you wish.

This is where my boyfriend and I come after his games when I visit, hang out and eat our favorite crape with Nutella, banana, cookies and coconut with vanilla ice cream on a side!

p.s. My friend Zoran saids their Tiramisu is also amazing!

What's yours favorite place in Madrid?

Día dos: YSL Restrospective @ Madrid

I was thrilled to go and see Yves Saint Lauren Retrospective exhibition here at Madrid’s La Central yesterday! I felt like walking into fashion Narnia. There was about 20 minutes wait to get it although exhibition is open since the beginning of October, seems like the interest is vast. The entrance was free as the exhibition was sponsored by the Pierre Berge Yves Saint Lauren foundation.

Exhibition was shown on three floors and it was organized into 11 sections that display about 150 examples of haute couture and prêt-a-porter, shown together with various photographs and films and with about 81 sketches, 46 toiles and models for hats showing the work and life of this remarkable designer from his first creations in Dior in 1958 to his last collection presented at the Centre Pompidou in 2002.

Through this exhibition one can see many garments that revolutionized the traditional definition of the elegance with garments like: tuxedo and jumpsuit…. all still relevant today, which provoked scandals in their day. As they say, Coco Chanel has liberated women, but YSL has liberated fashion.

The other focus of the exhibition was the process of creation on its own, showing personal universe of YSL and places and things out of which he pulled his inspiration like Russia, Morocco and Spain.

As YSL’s partner Pierre Berge said about YSL:

“His work went far beyond that of mere fashion designer. It was created by an artist who revolutionized his own time.

It is true that his work is not sculptured in marble but it changed the life of women, empowered them and gave them confidence and self-esteem.”