My weight loss

I have been asked to write this article multiple times by my dearest Jane and I have failed to write it for more than a week. So here it is, finally, Jane, I think you`re the best and I`m sorry.

Lately, a number of people asked me how I`ve lost so much weight. To start off, I`ve never been fat in my life but my weight had varied and not too long ago it was 125,6 pounds (57 kilos) versus my current 114,6 pounds (52 kilos). As you can see it is not that much but since I`m 5 foot 4 (160 cm) it is significant.

I got stuck on about 122 pounds 4 years ago and I finally broke it. What`s even better, it is really visible in the belly area. So what is it that I do? I follow a couple really easy steps that have much bigger impact than you`d imagine and all of this without starving of course.

What I did is I cut down portions and I learnt to wait after meals. Three months ago I read an article about how even skinny people eat much more than they need because they eat fast and it got me thinking. Do I need all I eat (with the exception of gummy bears, those are essential)? I was gonna do a test for one week. I stopped eating in the middle of my regular portion (eating still 3-5 portions a day depending on how busy I got) and waited for 10 minutes. To my greatest surprise, I felt full. So I continued. By the end of the week I lost 3 pounds and my belly looked significantly more flat.

It`s been 2 months now. I have lost 11 pounds and I am hoping to lose 4 more. The great side effect of this is that you completely change your eating habits and shrink your stomach without really changing what you eat too much – it sure does help to eat healthier though. When I try to eat as much as I used to (and it was still not a lot before this) I get really sick to my stomach and I have to stop. In other words, my body is looking out for me now, how wonderful is that?

I am going to see a trainer today to help me out with my eating habits and exercise, which means so an update is to come! Hope this helped.

Much love and style!

Kris&Susie

DIY Dry flower and seashells decoration

I was driven to this by circumstances. Since I live in the Czech Republic, I don`t go to the beach every weekend and therefore every time we would go to Greece, Italy, Croatia… I felt like I needed to import as many seashells as possible. This resulted in an excessive amount of seashells in my room and I finally decided to do something about it. I can assure you of this – more projects are to come out.

This is a super simple decoration and rather than a “how to do this”; this project is more like “look, you can do this” and I personally view it as an idea more than a tutorial.

What you`re going to need:

• A glass, vase, bottle or even a jar –
  
  the only requirement is that it`s see-through
• Dried flowers of your choice or even fake flowers, just plain branches would sure look great also (I am using dried peonies)
• Seashells

You start by putting a little amount of seashells to the bottom of the glass. This creates a base. Then go ahead and place your flowers or branches however you like. Then add the rest of the seashells. I learnt this the hard way – if you start by pouring all of your seashells in the glass (which I naturally did since it looked like the easiest way) there is no way you get the flowers in after it is full.

Voila, this is the finished product. I will for sure re-use this idea at some point and I`d prefer a round vase for it, I think it would look more beachy but that`s just me. Hope you like it and can find some inspiration in it! Be sure to let me know.

Much love and style

Kris&Susie

Fall outfits 2013: Fifty shades of grey

The very last outfit of the series is rather a professional one. Not everyone is so happy or confident in the fall colors or just colors in general. That`s why I thought I should put a more neutral outfit together.

In order to keep this look simple and professional, I strictly chose only shades of grey for it. As you can see, I paired a gray coat with a bit lighter gray tights and I added a black scarf on top.

Tip: When throwing an outfit of shades of the same color together, make sure to use different shades (makes the outfit more interesting and not quite so plain and boring); unless you`re putting a shirt and a skirt together and you want it to look like a dress. While using different shades, they need to match together. It is easy to do it with grey but if

you were to try it with let`s say red, be sure to have all pieces in the same color family. If you put orangish red and then rather purplish red it is not going to work.

Here I am wearing a pair of neutral black heels with a moderate height. It gives me those few extra inches I can definitely use since I`m only 5 foot 4 (160cm) without hurting my feet.

Tip: Party heels – up to you. Work heels: never higher than 3 inches (7,6 cm), ideally around 2 inches (5cm). Not only does it allow you to be able to walk on them all day without being in pain, it is even required at some places and higher heels are viewed as slutty and inappropriate for a workplace. As much as I love high heels, I strongly recommend obeying this rule and it applies for job interviews also.

I often change the belts on my coats but I decided to leave this one just so the overall look is softer and less defined.

Tip: Whenever you think you need more definition in winter coats and let`s face it – they generally don`t give you much definition at all, change or add a belt. This shows your waist and turns the coat into a more A-shaped one. If you prefer to have a more straight figure in your coat, either use the belt your coat is provided with (usually these are textile and don`t hold much, they`re just there) or don`t use any.

My scarf is layered, black on top of a white base, which makes it look softer which compliments my face. Being so pale, I need to watch what I put right next to my face and black has always been a no, unless there`s a trick to it – like this one.

Hope you find this helpful.

Much love and style!

Kris&Susie

Fall outfits 2013: Transitioning dresses to autumn

This is just a small tip about transitioning summer pieces into autumn and winter pieces. I found out that I can actually do this with good 2/3 of my dresses (so about 40 to 50 dresses or so and no, I do not need to see a doctor). The greatest discovery for me was that it works wonderful even with my favorite lace dresses.

Tip: So what is it that I`m talking about? Dark or simply thicker tights, color doesn`t really matter as long as it`s not nude. Depending on the dress you can add a belt too. This one is obviously too busy to have a belt but I do have a simple white lace dress I love to wear in summer with a skinny white belt and no tights and in winter with a thick statement black belt and black tights. Sometimes it doesn`t seem right until you put it together so don`t overthink it and just try putting it together. It either works or it doesn`t. I will have an article on that topic some time soon for sure.

This dress is a must have, it is a classic black and white combination and it is great for everything, parties, theatre plays, exams… Just go and buy something like that, you can never have too many, I for instance have four. And whenever I am out of outfit ideas (I hate to admit but it happens) I just wear one of them. Simple, dressy, elegant, you really can`t go wrong with these. This one is a bit more romantic thanks to the applications on top but if that is nothing for you, get one that is simple (I have two of each, naturally, I might need to see a doctor eventually…).

Just to give you a little bit of background – this dress is actually famous. My friends and I make black and white Charlie Chaplin-like movies and I wore this in one of them. Since it does have English subtitles you can even watch it. This was last winter and I had owned that dress for a while at that point and despite loving it very much I like it on Susan better now. And I know she loves the dress just as much as I do so it`s in good hands and her boyfriend likes it too!

Sorry, I`ve had trouble putting this video up, not sure what`s wrong with it so here`s the link: Ráďa`s Merry Christmas.

I get a little sentimental talking about the history of my clothes and I am not far from believing they have a soul, lol.

Anyways, hope you found this quick note useful. If at any point you had any suggestions be sure to let me know, I do take requests.

Much love and style!

Kris&Susie