Sentimental in Berlin Blog: May 2016

Sunday, 22 May 2016

Perks of a London Sample Sale

So it happened that I as at work, doing some overtime and just before leaving I ventured onto Facebook and advert just popped up!

- It was the Mary Katrantzou designer sample sale! Well it seems Facebook is reading my mind, because she is my favourite contemporary haute couture designer. Her jaw-droppingly bold patterns and colours are her unique, identifiable features! I have already mentioned one of her dress here. -

I sent an RSVP immediately that I wanted to attend and as I had attended sample sales in the past I never really bought anything, or only small items, mainly because I could only go there after work - like the Tom Dixon sample sale when the last piece of the beautiful copper lamp was just picked up before us arriving to the place -.

Ok I knew I would not do this mistake again, so I woke up really early and around 7:30am I was already on my way to Bond street station! I arrived there on time by 8am, but there was one thing I did not expect....a massive queue, but at least I saw that anyone leaving was carrying a black plastic bag...I was sure it must be really good and affordable....

And so I went in and it was great! Just enough people rummaging through the dresses, skirts, tops, shoes, bags, coats etc! So many things! Different sizes, even size 14-16 was or large was available. I tried to be fast, because in the end I had to be at work by 10am...so I collected all stuff I wanted to try on, when I realised there were no fitting rooms...so basically I just looked around and everywhere there were ladies in their underwear trying on the different pieces.

The saving? Well it seems, most things were approx. 90% off!

The verdict is you can be super chic for super cheap :) you just need to know where to look for it! Your golden ticket for this is on StyleBarista.

Oh I could have bought so many things, but I restrained myself in the end for only:
- 1 silk top (gorgeous - no photo yet)

- 1 top with super bold prints...seeing it on the photo, everybody was a little bit shocked, how loud it was, but actually I wore it on Tuesday and I got so many compliments on the colour, the pattern and that it looked good on me :)

- One really cool jumper - The Tikki Man

- 1 fantastic umbrella. The first brolly I own! Being in London for 9 years, but never had an umbrella...never wanted one...but this just looked so good, so I could not leave it there...and now I actually even like walking with it!

mary-katrantzou-blue-umbrella-symbol-navy-product-1-22137804-3-882397828-normal

- and 1 gorgeous cross-body bag! Pink and brownish-khaki leather with metal and blue velvet. So pretty!

Mary_Katrantzou_Small_MVK_Bag_Pink_Leather_Blue_Velvet_Front

Sunglasses are from Amazon.

And if you want to see more of Mary Katrantzou's, check out these celebs below wearing her creations, from Beyonce to Keira Knightley.

Celebs wearing Mary Katrantzou

Keira, Beyonce, Diane Krueger and Rihanna all wearing Mary Katrantzou

Celebs wearing Mary Katrantzou_JessieJ_Rihanna

Rihanna and Jessie J wearing Mary Katrantzou

♥ ♥ ♥

Photos are from here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Saturday, 14 May 2016

Leaving Lunch in Leman Street Tavern

Happy Sunny Saturday dear Sentimentals!

I work in a big multinational company however our team is quite small, only 8 people, so it is really natural that as time passes we build trust in each other and become friends. So when someone is leaving...one of the pillars (all 8 of us are ;) ) of the team, we get a little emotional.
We sometimes go for a leaving lunch or just drinks after work, well this time, we went for both! Lunch and drinks!

We not only had the last supper, but one of us has also just got back from maternity leave and we could celebrate both leaving and coming back!

We went to Leman Street Tavern, a new restaurant slash cocktail bar in the city! I passed this place many times before. Never went in there but always wondered how it was as it looked really cool. Well there is no disappointment in there! The design is really great and there is great attention to detail in every little bits! The whole place resembles an old fashioned train station "Leman Street" with strong industrial concrete and subway style lamps mixed with chandeliers, lots of travel inspired vintage pictures and globes. It looks very welcoming and cozy! The back area is little bit on the dim side, but in the front where we were was really bright as the huge window panels walls let all the sunshine in.

Many of us had the fish and chips which was huge and tasty. I had the sea bass, which was not the biggest portion ever...I mean in other restaurants normally you get two fillets and not only one, but oh well it was really well prepared! Very tasty and the match with orange, lemon and thyme was a really great combination! We also had the rabbit, the sausage ring, the half chicken and the Angus beef. We were left with full tummies and to not to leave us with dry mouth we tried the Picpoul from their wine list.

The only problem, where we all thought they need a bit of improvement was the service. Our waitress was really nice, but we never received for example the dessert menu. I would have really wanted to taste the Cambridge burnt cream with hazelnut shortbread. And when we were about to pay, we received the bill, no staff came back to us and we were just left their for around 15-20 minutes, although the place was not busy. Hence in the end, we had to just pay on our way out.

lunch_leman_street_Tavern with Mary Katrantzou bag

THE FOOOOOOOD #yummy

lunch_leman_street_Tavern Mary_Katrantzou_Bag

What: Leaving lunch in stylish city pub

Where: Leman Street Tavern, 31 Leman Street, Aldgate East

When: daily

Price: average

Worth it? ---> Yes

Stockist

My White Top - Zara ~ £15.99

My Necklace - Iam ~ £5.00 (bought in Hungary)

Bag - Mary Katrantzou ~ £950.00
LipStick - MAC Lady Danger ~ £15.50

♥ ♥ ♥

Thursday, 12 May 2016

Results!! of my hard work!

Hello dear Sentimentals in the world! :)

Finally, after 9 weeks, we got our results from uni!

I remember when I sent my application, I was so afraid they wouldn't take me on this course, although my personal statement and recommendations were great! But I was full of with insecurities with myself! I doubted if I was clever, nevertheless I always had the best possible and even better than that feedback from work, but I felt something was missing. Some kind of reassurance...maybe just a paper stating I was clever and intelligent!

Yes, maybe this masters course is the missing part! Definitely, I feel that I'm stronger now! I started believing in myself! My attitude has changed to that if someone can do it, why can't I do it! What would stop me doing it? Yes, maybe Facebook :D and procrastinating, but I think I found something I am really interested in so nothing can stop me now!

So going back to the first thought...yes I was afraid...and writing the first essay after 6 years (that’s when I completed my bachelor)...was a painful experience...I was devastated… how bad it would be? I had thoughts I might have failed and eventually I would have even dropped out. But 5 weeks later, it turned out I got a really good feedback from the teacher with the mark of upper second!

Then the next essay came and then the exams...and I finished with an upper second and a first class :)

And for the latest trimester I just got the same results :) a first class and an upper second!

I knew one of them was really good but I was not sure about the other one...so teachers kept us in agony for 9 long weeks...why can't they just correct it faster? We have a deadline to write an essay in 2 weeks or in 4 weeks...why can't then they have a deadline for correcting essays as well!

Anyhow besides all these studies, with my 'new super powered me', I even started the PRINCE2 project management course while we had our uni break...and guess what?! I passed both parts of them too! :)

I am literally speechless! Everything is going so well! I just hope that it will stay like this for the rest of the uni now...and now I may even have more grandiose thoughts and plans...maybe a PhD...but that's still far… far away, so till then I rewarded myself for these great marks :) with…

Tickets to.........

I have not been to Wien for 19 years...it definitely changed a lot since then :)

So if anybody can recommend

♥ Any good eatery?

♥ Places to visit other than the big sightseeing things?

♥ Quirky shops?

♥ Cool districts?

♥ Anything else? ....

Monday, 9 May 2016

My morning energising boost! ♥

Good morning to you my Lovelies! J

Isn’t it great that finally summer seems to be arrived to London! How did you spend your weekend? On Saturday, I was on Portobello market with some of my friends and then I joined some other friends on Soho Square J then enjoyed a nice thin crusted pizza in Franco Manca and a drink in The Yard (Soho) while watching all the handsome guys J

But now back to business! Today is going to be work from early morning! Then I cannot just rest because straight after work I will be rushing to the tube to attend university!

I love being busy, however to be able to make through the day without being tired I drink a tasty, very green smoothie to keep me running! J I have one glass in the morning and one for lunch too!

So get a good blender, or what I do is I use a chopper and then a handblender and the result is still a nice texture!

Grab the following, shove into the blender and start blending! :)

♥ 2 small handful of fresh spinach

♥ 1 celery stick

♥ half a cucumber (leave the seeds in)

♥ 2dl cold water

♥ squeeze in half a lemon
♥ 1 kiwi

♥ lastly 1 ripe banana to make it a little sweeter!

And I am in love with marble things these days! And I always said I don’t need a phone cover because I can really take good care of my phones, but everything needs to have a first time and when I saw these marble phone covers from H&M I bought them immediately! So I got this really cool iPhone cover in the weekend J I think it looks really fab and am still in love with it! J