Holiday Photos: Ölüdeniz & Fethiye

The last but one post about my holiday in Turkey! After we travelled around the country for more than a week, we then arrived at Ölüdeniz at the Blue Lagoon, one of the most beautiful beaches in the world (or so they say). After some problems with finding the villa and getting the keys, it was time to put those swimming suits on and relax! And I ask you, is there a better place for doing that than here:

Lace shorts

These shorts are really too short. It gives waaaay too much uhm, insight when I bend over, haha! But I really like them, in fact: I've been living in them the last couple of weeks. I bought this hat in the New Look sale, where I also bought a lovely leather jacket (thank you New Look Press Team!) and I've been wearing it a lot too: it's great to cover your dirty hair! I don't wash my hair that often in during holidays, mainly because I'm lazy and just stay at home so nobody can see me, and also it will make your hair get greasy less quickly. Score!
I'm leaving you now because I'm going to my favourite restaurant tonight! Well, I hope it's still my favourite, we haven't been there since there's a new owner, so hopefully it will still be as good, or better!

Holiday photos: Lake Egirdir & Pamukkale

Read the first two parts of my holiday recap here (Istanbul) and here (Cappadocia)
After four days in the wonderful Cappadocia area we drove a whole day to arrive at the second greatest lake of Turkey, Lake Egirdir. Swimming, relaxing and especially sweating (haha :D) were the keywords here! We wanted to rent a boat to explore the lake by ourselves but in the end it was just too hot to do more than reading your favourite book on a sunbed (under the umbrella of course), eating an ice cream and taking a dive into the lake every hour. Heaven!

DIY Inspiration

If you follow me on twitter or facebook, you may have noticed I've really gotten into making my own dresses. Since my mum gave me this awesome book for my birthday, I've been sitting behind her my sewing machine all day to sew my very own dress! I'm lucky that both my mum and my grandmother know something about sewing (okay, my grandma is kind of an expert in this area) so I got some help from them, but I'm proud to say I've finished my first dress EVER a few days ago and I've already started a new one! This is the first dress I made,  the Diana Ross dress:

I know it looks more like a sack than a dress and it really needs some ironing, but it looks pretty cool on! Of course the fabric is hideous and totally not suitable for a glamourous Diana Ross-like dress, but this was just my 'test' dress and I wouldn't be wearing it anyway (some hems are really badly stitched...) so I just used some old fabric! I would definitely make this one again, but I'd choose a fabric more like this:

For you know, when I get invited to sing at a glamourous party. Ahem.

Anyway, the dress I'm currently working on is this 60s Twiggy dress, of course one of the more complicated dresses of the book (I like to think after making one dress I'm an experienced sewster...):

It's quite difficult - My grandma and I just spend 3 hours on the buttoned neck alone. But I really enjoy it, it's such a satisfying feeling to wear something you made yourself, something that nobody else will wear! (And in my case, probably wouldn't WANT to wear :D)

Sooooo I've started to google DIY fashion and such and I discovered this awesome DIY blog by a girl named Geneva: A Pair and a Spare. I think I've spent one entire afternoon browsing through her archives, she's so talented and creative! I've got so many DIY ideas now: Dip dye T-shirts, cut out dresses, embellished shoes,... I love her 'Buy it or make it' section in which she shows how to re-create that $1000 designer item for a fraction of the price! Awesome, right?? I'm so becoming one of those annoying DIY people who walk into H&M, looking at the clothes and saying "I could SO make this myself" or "This is so badly hemmed" :D

Some DIY items I'd like to make:

Galaxy print T-shirt: from here

Dip dye! (from here)

More dip dye (from here)

 Okay, this isn't something I will really make, but  doesn't  this ombre dress look amazing?  (Image from here)

Neon necklace & maxi dress from A Pair and a Spare

 Isn't that dress gorgeous? And really easy to make too! I'm invited to the wedding of a Moroccan girlfriend (for the first time in my life! Excited!) and as I don't think a traditional Moroccan evening dress (like this) will suit me, I'll try to make this one! There are no men allowed at the party (men and women celebrate separately on Moroccan weddings) so basically the women can wear anything they want :D I'm so looking forward to it!

What do you think?

Holiday Photos: Cappadocia

From the hussle and bussle of Istanbul to the peace and quietness of Cappadocia: what a difference! We took a plane from Istanbul to Nevşehir, right in the middle of Cappadocia, Anatolia. We rented a car and drove to Göreme, a small village known for its cave houses (we stayed a few nights in one too!) and rock formations. On our first day we visited the 'love valley': just look at the shape of the rocks in this valley and you'll get where it got its name:

Countryside

We've been having a few days of sunshine here, OMG! As much as I enjoyed my holiday in Turkey, I'm glad to be back because it was just too hot for me. Call me crazy, but the ideal temperature for me is 20-25 °C. We've had over 40 degrees in Turkey, and that was just too much for me: I'm sweating on places I didn't know I could sweat, my face looks like a tomato and I can't go outside without slapping on a whole bottle of sunscreen SPF 50. So it's a mystery why I keep going to superhot places every year, huh?
Oh, and creating a nice outfit in 40 degrees is such a struggle: even naked I'm still sweating my ass off! (I didn't try that out though. I like to keep it classy.) 
I do try to enjoy every sunny day we get here in Belgium, so yesterday after running some errands, my sister and I stopped at this small road not far from our house to take some pictures! We got some really strange looks from cyclists who were slowing down to see what we were doing (taking photos of the LANDSCAPE, obviously!) The concept of blogging isn't really familiar to most people here! Anyway, I'm talking too much again, enjoy your evening!

H&M skirt & bag, New Look shoes & T-shirt, sunglasses borrowed from my sister!

Yes, this is where I live. I believe 'isolated' is word you're looking for...

And a totally gratuitous photo of me being angry at the other people on the road:

Driving would be so much more fun if there were no other cars. Or bicycles. God.

Holiday photos: Istanbul

I'm back! Did you miss me? :D I'm kicking off with a holiday post immediately, simply because our belgian weather hasn't allowed me to take proper outfit photos yet since I'm back. Boo!

I'll just start at the beginning of our trip: Istanbul! I must say I was looking most forward to this part of the holiday, and I wasn't disappointed. It's a vibrant city that is standing with one foot in Europe and the other one in Asia. Thanks to its geographical position, it has been a cultural and historical center for centuries, and this has left its mark throughout the city: mosques, palaces, churches, old markets etc. We could easily have stayed a few days longer because we haven't seen half of it yet. Anyway, less talk & more pictures! I took over a thousand photos (again), so I made a small selection - otherwise I'd still be talking about this holiday next year :D Enjoy!

Guest Post: The Ginger Diaries

Hello everyone! My name is Nikki and today I am taking over the blogging wheel from Siel while she enjoys some time off in fabulous (and hot!) Turkey. I myself only got back from my mosr recent vacation a few days ago and boy did it do me good! To stay in the mood, I decided to make this guestpost all about travelling. Hope you enjoy!

I am a globetrotter by heart. I have always felt the need to explore and see the world. I used to read the travel magazine we could get for free at the local supermarket every month and imagined myself picking apples in New Zealand, riding the waves in California, drinking tea in England and celebrate Christmas on a beach in Brazil. Since we are a big family, going abroad wasn't a possibility for us. My parents bought themselves a camper instead and we drove to the same campsite every year. I met many friends in these years and we still keep in touch. But after a while I felt too mature to travel with the parents (teenage rebelliation, ya know!), my friends didn't come anymore and it all got a little boring up there.

In 2009 I found myself a travel buddy: my boyfriend. Eventhough I was only 17, my parents allowed us to go to Paris by ourselves. Slowly Europe became our playground and I can't wait to see what's outside its borders! 

November 2009: Paris and Versailles

April 2010: Italy tour: Pisa, Rome, Venice, Pompei,  ... the whole package! 

August 2010: Czech Republic trip: Prague, Pilzen and Karlstein

September 2010: London

December 2010: Köln, Germany

April 2011: Disneyland Paris

July 2011: Barcelona

September 2011: Paris and Versailles

July 2012: New York City

July 2012: Washington DC

 Not Pictured
Dusseldorf / December 2009


On the wishlist
Austria: Salzburg and Vienna
American West coast, montana and Southern states
Kopenhagen
Scandinavian cruise
Iceland
Australia & New Zealand
Ireland
Edinburgh

You can find me over at my blog The Ginger Diaries or on Twitter! 

Guest Post: The Styling Dutchman

Ola lovers! I'm Annebeth aka The Styling Dutchman, and today I will be entertaining you in the absence of Siel, since she is off on holiday doing awesome stuff while I'm stuck at home in rainy Belgium, twiddling my thumbs and watching Dr Phil reruns.

How will I entertain you, you ask me? HA! With pictures of my NAKED BODY, of course!

My naked body, covered in clothes. (Ugh I'm so lame)

A rainy day outfit, perfect for the crap weather in Belgium.

sweater: ASOS - skirt: Forever 21 - raincoat: Sheinside - sneakers: New Look - watch: Swatch

Now I ask you, ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED? I hope you are! If so, drop by my blog sometime. Let's keep in touch <3