Meli's secret

Hey ladies!

I'm sure there are lots of Victoria Secret fans out there. I'm one too! In fact, I love their products. They smell so so good and make every woman feel attractive. I specially love their body lotions and body sprays. Here are my actual favorites:
1. The Passion Struck Blush body lotion, a fast-absorbing lotion which smells like strawberry and salted amber. It makes my skin feel so soft and silky.
2. The Mango Temptation Fragrance Mist, a refreshing spray with mango and hibiscus nectar. With this spray on my skin I don't need any perfume.

Now which are your favorite products form VS? You can share your opinions with us if you want to ;)

Luxembourg's cupcake heaven

Hey pastry fans!

Do you feel like eating a yummy cupcake in a really cozy and modern atmosphere?
Well, then we suggest you to try "Cathy's Cupcakery".
This charming little bakery house, situated at the very center of Luxembourg city,  offers all kinds of delicious pastries and innovative drinks. Of course, their specialty are the cupcakes but they also offer really good cakes, pancakes and even dishes for lunch. They offer for example amazing bagels.
Their drinks are also really good. My favorites are their chai latte and the apple/cinnamon iced tea.

Don't wait for too long and go have a look at this really sweet bakery.

The solution for tenacious hair

Dear readers, I'm going to share with you a problem I deal with for a long time and the solution I found for.

I've been struggling for years with ingrown hair. Since I epilate my legs I suffer from hairs that grow back into my skin instead of rising up from it. They are irritating and embarrassing.

I've tried all kinds of remedies, from exfoliating skin scrubs to miracle creams. But nothing really helped. 

Now, I found a new product from the brand "Laurence Dumont" which I can just recommend. It is a exfoliating body spray which limits the ingrown hairs and hydrates the skin at the same time. It is based on fruit acids without being aggressive to the skin.

Everyone has a different type of skin but for me this product works just fine. You just have to use it every day.

Here in Luxembourg, you can find it in drugstores but also in the beauty departments of every bigger supermarket. 

So, don't let stupid little hairs dictate your everyday life! 

(Over)Weight

Today I want to write about something that I have struggled with, since ever I guess and that is (my) weight.

Since I was a child, I had to deal with overweight and it wasn’t as if I had been obese, I just always weighed more than I probably should have or more than „society“ categorized as „good“. Not only that I have suffered from that situation, but my mother did suffer too because she had to deal with people telling her that she didn’t give me the right food to eat, that it may be to much or unhealthy for a child. I know that my mom did a great job as a mother; she cooked every meal by herself and never gave me store-bought food to eat (I’m not saying that parents who give their children store-bought food, are bad parents). It must be horrible to hear  that you’re not “feeding” your child right, when you do your best to be a good mother.

I remember that at the age of 11, my mother and I went shopping and we looked for a bathing suit for school. It was a quite expensive shop and specialized on swimwear etc. Anyways, I had difficulties to find a fitting bathing suit because of my body shape when the saleswoman turned to my mother and said: “Well that happens, if you’re giving you’re child too much fast food and too much soft drinks”. What did she know?! I got over it, but I’m sorry for my mom who had to deal with it.

My childhood has been all about my weight. People at elementary school never accepted me because of my overweight. Children made fun of me, gave me funny names and bullied me. Gym teachers (especially women) never liked me; sometimes they even encouraged other children to make fun of me. At that time, I’ve never felt like being accepted. I was already a really shy child, but this experience made me so unsure about myself, it made me feel as if I couldn’t accept myself and my body because others didn’t and this really bashed my self esteem. Children easily believe what they are told, and if everybody’s telling you all the time that you’re fat and ugly, there comes a time where you begin to believe it. Children can be really mean sometimes and now I've realized, that whether you’re pretty, slim, chubby, intelligent, small or tall, people will always find something to criticize, always!

 I’ve never seen myself as obese; I never thought I wouldn’t be pretty just how I was, until I was told so. I don’t want to blame anyone and I’m not begging for pity. I want to let you know that, if you were or still are unaccepted because of you’re weight, looks or because you just don’t fit in that costume that the world has made for you: don’t give a f***! Because you are beautiful, handsome, gorgeous and wonderful just how you are. If you accept yourself as you are and if you love it, than the others have to be fine with that, or else you don’t need them in your life. You have to live with your body, your mind and soul, no one else but you and who cares if other people don’t know to appreciate your gorgeousness?! As long as you are in peace with your body and soul, you shouldn’t let the pressure from the outside mess up with that.

If the pressure get’s too much, don’t be scared to confide in someone. I wish I had, but I didn’t. Sometimes, it is nice to have a family, a friend or just a beloved person telling you that nothing is wrong with you and that you are perfect on your own beautiful way.

Today, I’m still not really comfortable with my body, but I’m working on it. I think that you shouldn’t just leave things as they are. If something’s wrong, fix it, if you’re unhappy with your body, work on it. And by “working on it” I mean both, physically and mentally. I’m probably not the right person to tell you to get fit, because every time I tried, I failed. However, I think that you have the power to be whoever you want to be and to look however you want to look. But also, you have to accept your body how it is and I think that this is even more difficult than the “get fit” part. To accept your body, when others don’t is really hard, but necessary. If you don’t accept and appreciate yourself, how should others then? Being confident and loving yourself, starts with you.

Remember to stay strong and to love yourself, always and uncompromisingly.

"Beauty is being the best possible verison of yoursself on the inside and out."

Behind a vegetarian mind

First of all, I’m not trying to convince you to go vegetarian and I do not advertise for anything. Just came here to share with you my story on why I decided to go vegetarian.

What is even the difference between vegetarians, vegans or whatever, don’t they just all eat rabbit food?

Vegetarians don’t eat meat nor do they eat fish. They don’t eat any animals (yes, fish are animals). If you’re not eating any meat but you’re still eating fish (fish or any other form of sea life) you’re not vegetarian, you’re a Pescetarian and if that’s your choice, it’s totally okay! So than what are Vegans? Vegans don’t eat meat, fish nor do they eat anything that comes from an animal. Quite easy to understand, isn’t it? Well if not:

Now, what the heck makes you go vegetarian?

Wherever you are in the world, if you tell people that you’re a vegetarian they will always ask: „Why?“

And today I decided to share my „therefore“.

You hear lots of people who gave up meat, say that they never really liked the taste. That’s kind of different with me, because I loved meat. I even got grumpy when there was no meat for lunch or dinner and now I feel almost ashamed about this behavior. Vegetarian or not, you should always appreciate the food you’re eating because there are so many people in this world who don’t even have any.

Anyways, at the age of 17 I discovered an animal rights organization called „PETA“ which stands for „People for the ethical treatment of animals“. After spending some time on their website, I discovered a video about seal slaughter. It was terrifying and horrible to watch. Reading about animal abuse and watching this video made me realize how bad humans actually treat animals. At that moment, I told myself that, at least for me, I couldn’t ignore this and just get over it. I needed to change something and I don’t mean to change the world and become a vegetarian superhero, but just for my conscience, for my life and myself I needed to change that situation.

Yeah... well than I had a 1 week holiday and didn’t change anything. I ate quite a lot of meat that week. When I came back I was ready to try to eat less meat, but not giving up on it just yet. My family and friends were quite skeptical about it and to be a 100% honest, I wasn’t even convinced by myself that this would work.

Well, time passed and the desire to eat meat became less and less until one day it disappeared. I still ate fish for a while and than I gave up on that too. Something I totally forgot about and which I had to give up to was … Candy! At least the candy made out of gelatin because sometime that has been a part of an animal too.

Now I call myself a vegetarian for more or less 5 years and I’m more than good with that. Most importantly being a vegetarian taught me to appreciate every bite I’m eating and to be grateful for every meal.

A second question I get a lot, is if my family is vegetarian too. No, they are not.  They are eating meat, sometimes I even cook it for them (because I can) and sometimes they eat the vegetarian meals I've cooked. At first, they didn't really believe that I could live without eating meat, but gradually they realized that I wouldn't be eating meat anymore and they were just fine with that.

I’m not forcing anyone to go vegetarian. I just think that it is important to be aware of what you eat and where it comes from.

 Well I hope you enjoyed reading my story on how I live as a vegetarian and I leave you with a quote I  really like:

“The world has enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed.” Mahatma Gandhi

The ultimate chocolate sin

As an absolute chocolate lover I developped a recepy for the ultimate chocolate cake.
It is a soft chocolate cake with a creamy chocolate topping. 
It is simple and yummy!

First, you have to melt dark chocolate with a cup of milk, stirring occasionally. Allow to cool. Whisk two eggs and half a cup of sugar in a mixing bowl, then add for about 3 cups of flour and a table spoon of baking powder. Gently fold in the chocolate-milk mixture and a cup of melted butter. Whisk until you have a smooth mixture. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes. Put the cake aside too cool. Meanwhile, you can prepare the topping. It is the most easy topping ever. You only have to melt chocolate with cream. Once the chocolate has melted completely you'll have a brilliant mixture you can garnish the cake with.

Soup-a-licious!

If like me, you love soup and curry even more, this recepy is just perfect!
My carrot and curry soup is spicy and creamy at once.

The preparation is really easy:

Preheat medium pot over medium high heat. Add butter, garlic and carrots. Let it cook for about 5 min. Add 4 cups of chicken stock, curry, salt and 1 to 2 potatoes. Cook until the carrots and potatoes are very tender. Mix the preparation, for example in a blender, until it is smooth.
Let it cook again for a couple of minutes while adjusting the seasonings. At the end, pour a bit of cream to make the soup even more creamier.

Et voilà! 

Blue labyrinth

I hugely recommend you to read the latest novel of the success duo Preston and Child's.

A long-buried family secret has come back to haunt Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast.

It begins with a murder. Pendergast's most feared enemi is found on his doorstep, dead. Pendergast has no idea who is responsible for the killing, or why the body was brought to his home. The mystery has all the hallmarks of the perfect crime, save for an enigmatic clue: a piece of turquoise lodged in the stomach of the deceased.
It leads Pendergast to an abandoned mine on the shore of California's Salton Sea, which in turn propels him on a journey of discovery deep into his own family's sinister past. 


Pendergast is being stalked by a killer bent on vengeance over an ancient transgression. And he soon becomes caught in a clever plot, which leaves him stricken in mind and body, and propels him toward a reckoning beyond anything he could ever have imagined.

Icy twins..

I absolutely want to share with you my latest lecture highlight:
"the ice twins" from S. K. Tremayne

I didn't know the author before reading this book, but I was not disappointed. He really knows how to create a fantasticaly scary atmosphere. The story is haunting and will knock you off your feet. Once I begun to read, I could not stop, because it develops such an suspense. 

A year after one of their identical twin daughters, Lydia, had died in an accident, Angus and Sarah Moorcraft move to a tiny scottish island which Angus inherited from his grandmother, hoping to put together the pieces of their shattered lives.

But when their surviving daughter, Kirstie, claims they have mistaken her identity—that she, in fact, is Lydia—their world comes crashing down once again.
When a violent storm leaves Sarah and her daughter stranded, Sarah finds herself tortured by the past—what really happened on that fateful day one of her daughters died?