December Favorite Bag: Claude, Sézanne

Christmas is over, but the presents wish list never stops growing, even after this season's spoiling. And I couldn't really leave a month go without a bag favorite, definitely one of my most loved series. So to end the year, I chose a very French bag, from a very French brand. Claude, by Sézanne. But to talk about this bag, we need to talk about a broader and bigger legend: the Parisian style. Everywhere around the world, the Parisian woman is seen as the most elegant, the most stylish, the most beautiful woman, able to adopt an effortless style but to still be the best dressed and the classiest. The Claude bag does embody this legend. It is a French bag, its name screams its nationality. It is the claim to the world, "this bag is French, this bag is the Parisian woman's bag!". How true though. So classic, so timeless, this model is definitely the reflection of the legend. We can easily imagine an elegant Parisian of the 60s with this bag at her arm, and also see it perfectly worn in 2018 in the streets of the beautiful French capital. Sézanne is a very French brand, and does spread this beloved Parisian style all over the world, but this bag is its manifesto. It is a bag that screams, "Wear me and become the elegant Parisian woman". A legend to be carried in Paris, and everywhere around the world. 

xo

Amy

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Merry Christmas

A day after the 25th, it is my pleasure to wish you a very merry Christmas. I hope you had a good one, loads of present, of family time, of food and laughing. Merry Christmas!

xo

Amy

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A Christmassy Day

Christmas is simply the best time of the year. It is a time for giving and sharing, a moment made for spending time with your family and the ones you love. Since forever now, I love Christmas. It is, to me, a period filed with beautiful and warming memories, a moment where I can settle and simply enjoy, without thinking about anything else. But the Christmas day in itself, the day where the magic happens, is not everything. All the preparation that is happening before that is equally important, and it is only thanks to that that Christmas can be. That is why those Christmassy days matter so much.

A christmassy day, to me, is a day where you wear christmas leggings and chunky sweater, a day where you can just relax and think about Christmas, only. Today, I am wearing this very wintery outfit, and drinking hot chocolate by the fire. So cliché but oh so nice. Christmas music or a Christmas movie in the background, maybe a good and cosy book, sitting in my favorite armchair. There are obviously some marshmallows in my mug, and some christmas cookies in a festive plate by my side. I have lit the Christmas tree, there is some snow remaining outside, but the sun is shining and I can see that it is cold and crispy. I cosy up a bit more, finish my hot chocolate, and add the final  decoration the house. Maybe later, a bit of baking, but before that, I spend hours wrapping christmas presents, making them pretty, making them look festive. The night is coming quickly, and the fire is warming up my home and my heart. Christmas is a time for sharing time, love, and presents. But it is also a time where I cherish those lonely moments. Those moments when all is calm, all is bright. A perfect Christmassy day, just like the ones in Christmas tales. 

xo

Amy

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Currently Loving...The Envelope Bag

As you might be aware by now, I am a lot into handbags. I love the idea of a new bag, one that I will be carrying around everywhere, then forget about, then find again, and fall in love one more time. They are more useful than an expensive lipstick, and less hard to get than a nice boyfriend, they are the easy therapy for all sad girls. Recently I fell in love with not solely a new bag, but a new type of bag. Which does announce a chase for all the good ones that will fit my criteria. And my new crush went for the envelope bag. I stumbled upon a beautiful one in & Other Stories few months ago, that I mentioned in my favorites list, and since then, I am on the hunt for the most beautiful one I can find. But well, let's be realistic, those bags are so unpractical. I mean, they are the smallest thing ever, they do not have any handle, you have to carry them in your hand or stuck under your arm, they are a complete nightmare. Nonetheless... God. They are so gorgeous and elegant. I feel like I am so ready to suffer for them, to have to take only the necessary with me and not my whole life. I feel like sacrificing a lot to look elegant and classy. When you carry an envelope bag it is more than just looking cool, it is looking like a mysterious girl. 'What does she have in her tiny envelope? What does she carry? Where is she going?'. The answers might be as unglamorous as "I am so mad because I actually needed for once this pack of tissues", or "I am heading back home grabbing my backpack cause I can cope with this size and this carrying style". But it does not matter. As long as you are elegant, who cares? 

xo

Amy

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Cinnamon Buns Recipe

Christmas is in two weeks, I al listening to Michael Bublé's 'Blue Christmas', and the Christmas spirit is definitely living inside me. I won't be home before one week, yet I did not wait to think about Christmas and start celebrating. Last weekend my boyfriend and I went to a Christmas market in the cute little town of Haarlem, we drank hate chocolates and bought Belgian chocolates, while looking at the marvelous Christmas tree on the main square. I have Christmas presents all around my bedroom, and Christmas music on repeat while working, and Christmas movies playing in the evenings. Since Christmas is just around the corner, and I am in the perfect mood for that, I wanted to share with you one of my favorite recipe for this time of year, the cinnamon bun. Cinnamon and a Scandinavian recipe, how much more can you get into the Christmas spirit? 

As always, the recipe I am using are not mine, I am not such a chef. So today I am sharing with you  one coming from "The Recipe Critic", which is the one I always go for. I just put it in a bun rather than a roll. Check out her blog for more amazing food!

The dough: 

- 2  3/4 cup of flour (no matter which kind)

- 3 table spoon of granulated sugar

- 1 pinch of salt

- 1 package instant yeast

- 1/2 cup of water

- 1/2 of milk

- 2 table spoon of unsalted butter

- 1 large egg

In a large bowl mix the flour, salt, sugar and yeast together. In another bowl over a water-bath heat the butter with the water and the milk until the butter is completely melt. Mix the butter mixture with the flour's mix bowl. Add the egg. Then, knead with your hands until the dough is not sticky anymore. Place the mixture into a greased bowl and let it rest for 5 minutes. 

Preheat the oven at 200°C. 

The filling: 

- 1/2 cup of unsalted butter softened to room température

- 2 table spoon of ground cinnamon

- 1/2 cup of brown sugar

Cut the dough in the shape wanted: 15x9 centimeters rectangle for rolls. For the buns it is slightly more delicate, and I leave it to Pretty Simple Sweet to explain that perfectly! Her recipe is also a good one if you fancy a change.  Then spread the softened butter and the dough, mix the cinnamon and the sugar together and sprinkle the mix on the butter. Shape the bun or the roll in the shape you prefer!

Put the buns in a greased square pan, put a aluminium foil on top of it, lightly. After that turn off the oven that has been preheating, and leave the bun to rise in it for 20 minutes. Then remove the foil and turn on the oven on 190°C and let it bake for 15 to 20 minutes until they become golden. 

The glaze: 

- 1 cup powdered sugar

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 2 to 3 tablespoon of milk

Mix the three ingredients together until smooth and lump free, and drizzle the mix on the buns while they are still warm. 

Nothing better than a cinnamon bun by the fire, with Christmas music in the background.

xo

Amy

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Book review: 'Sweetbitter' Stephanie Danler

'Coming of age' books have a certain taste for a twenty something girl who is still figuring who she is and what she wants. Every time I read another coming-of-age novel I feel different at the end. As if seeing other people change, evolve, have their heart broken, have their life and dreams torn appart, helped me realize that the same is happening to me, that it is okay, and that it will be all right in the end. I will get it together and figure it out. Already at the start of the Summer, 'Hot Milk' did something to me that I wasn't expecting. It did help me look at my relationship with my parents in a different way. This Autumn, another book changed me in another way. The main character of 'Sweetbitter', Tess, is very unlike me. Yet I related a lot to her falling in love and then willing to get lost, willing to do anything that is possible to get away from this sadness that was surrounding her life. 'Sweetbitter' is raw, harsh, poignant. It is not a lovely coming-of-age tale, it is the complete opposite. It is life. All of its mistakes, all of its decisions, all of the bad choices and the wrong boys you meet. 'Sweetbitter' touched me in an unexpected way, actually, this novel broke my heart. You cannot help, while reading the novel, to feel the urge to help Tess, this girl getting lost. You cannot help but think "no, don't do that! It will be okay, you'll see!". All along my reading I could see from outside her bad decisions, her mistakes, the moments where she should have stand up, the moments where she should have shut her mouth. I saw that all the way long, and then I realized that when it came to myself, I couldn't think that way. I was not seeing any of that, for me. In the end, I am just as lost as Tess. But nobody wrote my story to show me that. 

xo

Amy

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Christmassy Weekend Inspiration

xo

Amy

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