Blogger Style: Tanya Burr

When I have hard times at uni - Spring is synonym of fear for me, since I can see the deadlines getting closer and closer each day - I tend to spend my evenings chilling with my laptop, and since I don't find myself interested in many series recently, I spend my time on YouTube. I have a lot of YouTubers that I love, starting from SunBeamJess, with her amazing makeup looks and marvelous books videos, but recently I rediscovered one of my all time favorite, the amazing Tanya Burr. Her makeup tutorials, her blogs, her hauls, I love everything that she does and really look forward her videos. And obviously, I also follow her blog and her Instagram. Recently, I've really been looking for models in order to upgrade my style a little bit. I've then watched a lot of her makeup tutorials, but also really enjoyed her outfits posts on Instagram and her try-on hauls. Her classic style, upgraded with some funny touches and elegant pieces really charmed me, so today I've decided to share with you some of my favorites outfits of her. A fresh new model to start the Spring off right. 

Coffee Time

Grungy Chic

Classy Classics

Credit photos: Tanya Burr Instagram

xo

Amy

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Spring Inspiration

"You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep Spring from coming"

Pablo Neruda

"The Spring"

Now that the winter's gone, the earth hath lost

Her snow-white robes, and now no more the frost

Candies the grass, or casts an icy cream

Upon the silver lake or crystal stream;

But the warm sun thaws the benumbed earth,

And makes it tender; gives a sacred birth

To the dead swallow; wakes in hollow tree

The drowsy cuckoo and the humble-bee.

Now do a choir of chirping minstrels bring

In triumph to the world the youthful spring.

The valleys, hills, and woods in rich array

Welcome the coming of the long'd-for May.

Now all things smile; only my love doth your;
Nor hath the scalding noonday sun the power
To melt that marble ice, which still doth hold

Her heart conceal'd and makes her pity cold.

The ox, which lately did for shelter fly

Into the stall, doth now securely lie

In open fields; and love no more is made

By the fireside, but in the cooler shade

Amyntas now doth with his Chloris sleep

Under a sycamore, and all things keep

Time with the season; only she doth carry

June in her eyes, in her heart January.

Thomas Carew

xo

Amy

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Student tips: Studying at Home

When you start studying at the university, you think that you will have the motivation to go to the library everyday. Well, let's me start again. When you start studying at the university, you think that you won't have to work on your courses everyday, then you realize that it is the only way to get that diploma. Then, you start thinking you will bring your lovely brain and face to the library everyday and work from 9:00 until 18:00. But then you realize that this doesn't happen in real life. Going to the library is awesome. You see people studying all around you, and it does motivate you to do your own work. Plus, you don't even try to go on FaceBook or Instagram, you would be too ashamed if one of those serious student surrounding you saw you doing nothing productive. 

Yet, at some point, you realize that it is not possible to go to the library everyday. First of all, sometimes you don't want to take your bike because Amsterdam is - again - rainy and there is almost a storm going on outside. No way you'll go to the library. Second, you can just have to do some laundry or anything else and will have to be at home, then going to the library will only make you lose time. Or sometimes you just don't want to go there, tired of having to be silent and ashamed to check your Instagram. The good thing to do then, is to understand how to be productive when you study at home, which is not that easy in the end. Home is the place for temptations. You can just spend your day on YouTube, or eating, or sleeping. But sometimes, you have to work from home. So here are some tips for you to succeed!

First of all, get ready for the day. Shower, put your make up on - nicely! Just like you were going to uni - do your hair, and pick up a nice outfit! It is important to dress up, put on some jeans and feel ready for the day. If you stay in your pajamas all day long you won't do anything, and don't feel in the working mood. So dress up and get ready for a day of work in! 

Then, plan your day, including everything. At what time you start working and with what you start, for how long, etc. It is important to be really organized, even more when you are home. Don't forget to include your daily chores, your lunch, and your breaks! It is important to get one break of 10 minutes every hour. To be focused when you are home can be quite complicated, that is why breaks have to be in your program! However, during your breaks, don't start watching YouTube videos or whatever of this kind. This will just make you want to see more, and might end up doing nothing. 

Another important thing is to create yourself a nice working area. A clean empty table is perfect for that, then lay down everything you need! No food around - keep snacks for your breaks -, only a huge bottle or glass of water. Then don't hesitate to add a cheeky little detail, such as a plant. It is proved that they make you happy and positive, so don't hesitate to have a green friend nearby! 

The hardest part will be to discipline yourself of course, but I guess only time will learn you that! Have a good study at home moment day!

xo

Amy

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March Favorite: Blogger Bag, Yves Saint Laurent

Happy first day of Spring! Even if it is all gloomy, and cold, and rainy and windy in Amsterdam, I had a little bit of Spring when passing by the cutest flower kiosk ever, with loads of tulips and daffodils. I love Spring. It is simply maybe I enjoy coming out of the cold season, forgetting about the snow and just looking forward warmer, better days. You feel lighter in Spring, I believe. Lighter weather causes litter clothes, and then you obviously want to go for a lighter bag. I don't think  I could have found lighter than this YSL Blogger Bag. You can only fit your phone, your keys and you cardholder in here. This is a bag for a minimalist girl, - not me then - only willing to carry her essentials. Even though I do believe this is too small, I also like the idea of this cute little bag, perfect for a night out or to go out for a walk on a lovely springy sunny Sunday. Spring makes me want to change, to be lighter in my head and not only in my outfit. Maybe this bag will just be the one that will oblige me to be lighter? It's so pretty I'll forgive its lack of space!

xo

Amy

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Unicorn Cake

It's been ages since I published my last recipe on the blog. However I don't have that much opportunity to bake in here Amsterdam since I don't have the material, plus most of the time the ingredients needed are pretty expensive. Still, last time I went back home, I met up with my boyfriend's sister and we decided that it was time for us to try to bake a unicorn cake. We saw them all over internet, and they were too pretty to be avoided. Nonetheless, today I won't share a recipe or some baking tips like I usually do, because to be honest, to bake this unicorn cake was a real nightmare. The recipe we got wasn't that easy, we messed up the cream, had too many issues with the sugar paste, and well, it took us almost 9 hours to bake it and decorate it, no lie. 

So today I've just decided to put the link to a recipe - not too complicated I thought, and with loads of details on the equipment needed and technical tips - by Juliet Sear, and the  to share with you some of the most amazing cake design for a unicorn cake. I know, it is pretty tempting to bake such a pretty thing, but still I have to warn you, to bake a unicorn cake, when you are not a 5 stars baker, might end up in tears and blood - I'm not really exaggerating, even though it was tears of laughters because, tired as hell, we laughed at this disaster; and by blood I mean my arm was hurting so much when I was making the butter cream that I thought my muscle was going to explode. But well, the suffering was worth the taste and the visual result! So if you feel brave, take a chance on the unicorn. 

xo

Amy

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Hemingway in Love

Some weeks ago my boyfriend and I went wandering into a bookstore in Amsterdam named American Bookstore. He wanted to really get into readings, to read more and enjoy it more. So we went for some errands, looking for the perfect book that will make him fall in love with literature. As he was reading some blurbs on back covers I stumbled upon a book I firstly love for its cover. I know, it is stupid to choose a book for what its cover looks like, and even shameful for a literature student, but the golden art deco decor really did catch my eye, and I just grabbed it to see what it was. The title was as striking as the cover. "Hemingway in Love". This title was almost a contradiction for me. Years ago I read "A Moveable Feast" by the famous American writer, and his love stories, the fact that he got married several times and had numerous affair during his stay in Europe did convince me that Hemingway was far from being a man in love. As I was reading the blurb I almost felt bad. His dear friend - and also author - A. E. Hotchner is the author of this book, and tries his best on the back cover to change our mind on who Hemingway really was. A man in love. In love of his first wife until his last breath. In love with a woman he lost because he was young, not aware of the consequences of his acts, not aware that she was the love of his life. Hotchner depicts Hemingway in a way we never saw him. He tells the Parisian years, the trips to Spain, the plan crashes in Africa, the love affairs, the sadness, the hospitalization, the suicide. As a close friend, thanks to his novel he lets us enter the secret world of Ernest Hemingway, and makes us realize just how wrong we were to make up our mind on him so quickly. 

This biography, "Hemingway in Love: His own story", went straight to my heart. As I was reading I went through many different feelings, but the leading ones where for sure sadness, compassion and love. This book is not only the 'truth' about Hemingway, it is not only a biography, it is Hemingway's injuries, his regrets, his unstoppable love for his first wife. To read it is to look into one of the most important American writer's wounds. After that read, you'll never see Hemingway as the same. Now for you he will be an amazing writer, but also a heartbroken man, who lost the love of his life. 

xo

Amy

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Birthday Girl

Today is my birthday. I'm turning 22, yet I don't really care becoming older. I used to care a lot about my age. I started university when I was 17, and always wanted to be out of there at 22 with an amazing diploma. I'm 22, still at university in the first year of my master degree, and I don't think I have already been as lost as I am today. I don't really know what my future will look like. I know what I want, but not how to get it. I'm struggling with personal issues, just as many people of my age do. But still I'm fine with that.  My 21st year taught me how to take care of myself and how important it was. I met people along the way who helped me feeling better and becoming a better person. I've learned that it was ok to feel under the weather, to feel lost and unloved. I learned that it was ok to have doubts, to cry time to time, to crave for something irrational. I've learned a lot, but I can't remember wishing for any of those things, last year, on the 11th of March, when I turned 21. 

This time neither I don't wish anything special for this new year to come. Happiness, love and success of course, but well, I'm not being very original here. Oh well, maybe I have a wish. Just to learn more. I don't talk about the knowledge you gain at university here, but the knowledge you gain when you talk with people you love, the knowledge you gain when you read a new book, the knowledge you gain when you cry while listening to a beautiful song, the knowledge you gain when you spend time alone. All of those things might sound too deep for a birth day, but last year I also learnt that you never should apologize for who you are and how you feel. So here to a new year of self love. 

xo

Amy, just a birthday girl

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Dior by Maria

A wind of femininity blows over Dior since last September, the month Maria Grazia Chiuri arrived at the head of the couture house. After more than a decade at the Valentino house - a step in her career impossible to ignore when we spot the romanticism of the dresses - , she accepted the honor of becoming the new face of Dior. For the first time, a woman is at this position, and after two gracious and feminine collection, we can tell the difference. Elegance, femininity, gracious and precious dresses, the come back of the logo, slogan t-shirts, leather jackets with voluptuous skirts, low heals and waves of blue. Maria Grazia Chiuri tried to come back to the timeless beauty wanted by Christian Dior himself. The woman is herself, she mixes genres, she is not afraid to be a woman, and that is for sure one of the most important matter nowadays. Maria Grazia Chiuri brings back femininity and graciousness, art and fashion, details and modernity. A new era for Dior has begun. 

xo

Amy

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Dance until you smile!

Moments you feel deeply good, happy, without any issue, relaxed, light, are as precious as rare. Happiness is not a magic thought, and it is nor something you can grasp and keep in your pocket, assuring yourself the happiest future ever. Unfortunately, most of the time when you have a good news, or when things finally seem to go perfectly well in your life, no bump on the road, something bad happens. It can just be your exams results, and you failed. Or you realize, when you just left home to meet up in town with some friends, that your bike tire is flat. Just like if something always keeps you away from a flawless and perfect happiness. Life, in a word. 

And when you have something on your mind, when you cannot get out of your thoughts this bad news or whatever, going for a run, having a bath, reading a book, are just useless. You can't get out of your head what bothers you, you cannot appreciate your relaxing bath, enjoy listening to the birds while running in the Vondel Park, you cannot focus on your reading, your mind always goes back to what is going wrong. I speak in the name of the experience. I know what I'm talking about, I've tried almost everything to get away from a bad news. Yet, don't you worry, there is a solution! No, it is nothing like alcohol or drugs, not my type even though I live in Amsterdam, the Coffee Shop is not the solution! Here my solution is way more healthy and funny: dance. I already imagine the laughters and the suspicious eyes, but believe me, to go to the dance floor on a Saturday night after a disappointing week is the cure. Good and loud music - so your mind shut up - and your body follow the rhythm. Your muscles relax, you start to focus on your moves, and soon all of your issues are far away! But well, I'm not a magician, I don't have a cure to stop troubles, yet I can guarantee you, a night on the dance floor will make you smile from ear to ear, and as long as the music is on and your feet in good shape, everything will be fine, at least for a night. 

xo

Amy

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The Dance Lesson

When looking at a Degas painting, I always think of those two words: delicacy and lightness. It is not in the way he paints, nor in the way he draws, not even in the choice of the colors. It is something else, something that we could almost call an atmosphere. Of course, the assemblage of all of his skills has something to do with this final feeling, however it does feel like - and I speak with the voice of the art historian now - trying to explain such beauty, to find how technically it is possible to have such a result, would break the magic that emanates from 'The Dance Lesson'. 

Degas is for sure one of the greatest master of the early contemporary period. He did add something to art history that is at the same time an innovation and a deep love for tradition. He was one of a kind, and it is something that we can feel while staring at one of his piece. The pastel colors, the bodies and gowns of the ballerinas, the point of view Degas adopts, all of those elements achieve to present a pretty unique art piece. It is obviously interesting to study it as an art historian, but it feels like it is even more enjoyable to look at it by avoiding all of the technical and theoretical aspects surrounding it. Maybe Degas just reminds us that art, at first, is not produced to be studied, but only to be enjoyed. 

xo

Amy

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