Dress Picks

Your holiday black dress

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Ah the holidays. There’s so much joy and cheer. There are also many, many, many things to do and events to attend. Between your office party and friend party and family get together, not to mention New Year’s Eve, it can get overwhelming. What do I wear? Well we are here to help! Here is your holiday dress by color.

Your holiday little black dress

We all have our color. Mine is green and in fact, I wrote all about it last Spring. You can read that post here. That color that just looks amazing on us … it fits with our eyes and our skin tone.

Today, though, I’ve decided to show you some of my favorites in lack. Who doesn’t love a good little black dress?

Also every good holiday dress needs the right bra. I know for me, it can make or break my whole evening. Luckily I’ve teamed up with Thirdlove, a company prides themselves on good-fitting bras and underwear. They have this super fun quiz here. What bra should you wear this holiday? Spoiler: I got the 24/7 t-shirt scrappy bra because I’m a slight grinch. They are so kindly offering all my readers a 15% off discount code. Make sure to use this code: TL15BRABLEMSDEC when making your purchase!

The quiz

And now onto the dresses

Your holiday black dress

The little black dress is the easiest go-to. If you’re a girl who just likes to go with what you know will look amazing, a little black dress is perfect. You cannot go wrong with it.

Dresses, bras and holidays

Have you found your perfect holiday dress? What color do you prefer? Make sure you go give Thirdlove some love.

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Dress Picks, Stories of women

Guest blogger Alex, Medicated Follower of Fashion

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Today we have a guest blogger while I explore Madrid. Meet Alex, a lovely blogger I met through one of the style blog linkups I participate in each week. She’s fabulous and I hope you enjoy!

Hi! My name is Alex and I write over at Medicated Follower of  Fashion.  I’m 34, married with two lovely boys and live in the UK.  I suppose I really ought to explain my blog name.  I started blogging in 2009 after the birth of my eldest son. Very shortly after having my son I was diagnosed with Post Natal Depression and I found blogging a great outlet for me.  Something that gave me a great deal of joy and helped me feel more, well, “me” after having a child was clothing, fashion, style and kids clothing too.  I’ve always loved dressing myself  (sometimes in weird and wacky ways!) and one of the best things, for me, at that very low point, was having someone new to dress.  Someone who for quite a long time couldn’t express an opinion!

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Nina's corner, Spain

Closet space in the US and Europe

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There’s no doubt that many things are different between the US and Europe. In addition to different languages (except for a few countries of course), different food and different customs, the spaces are quite different. Things are just bigger in the US. In Europe the buildings are older and there’s just less space in general. Plus I’ve noticed that people in Spain like to live near each other more. You see that everyone not only lives right in the cities, but also they choose to live in the center of towns and villages too. That, however, is a topic for another blog post.

I recently came across a company called MakeSpace and it prompted me to think about about my dream closet. After all, I really do love my closet space that I lucked into here in Spain. Is it my dream space? No. But we will get into that later. Also for those who are not aware, MakeSpace is a self-storage service that moves your unwanted stuff and stores it for you. They have several self-storage locations throughout the United States.

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Dress Picks, travel

5 tips for winter travel wear

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tips for winter travel wear

Last weekend around this time, I found myself in Cordoba, Spain. I had decided to take a day trip with a friend. Winter is setting in here in Spain, so I had to dress accordingly. Did I wear a dress? Of course! I did choose carefully, though. So I thought I would share my 5 tips for winter travel wear.

My 5 tips for winter travel wear

Many of us find ourselves traveling during the winter months. Perhaps you decided to take your two weeks off around the holidays in the Czech Republic. Or perhaps you have some time in February and decide to make your dream of visiting Paris a reality. Or perhaps, like me, you’re an expat who plans to travel through Europe little by little on long weekends and days off from your job. Either way, we do find ourselves as tourists in the cold. And as long as you are prepared, it can be just as much fun as traveling in the warmer months.

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Spain, travel

8 hours in Córdoba

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8 hours in Córdoba

One of the amazing things about living abroad are the day trips that you can take. Sure, I do love traveling to other countries and the further away spots in Spain. However there are some weekends where you don’t want to be away the entire weekend. Day trips are perfect for this. This was exactly how I saw Córdoba, Spain. We only had 8 hours in Córdoba.

8 hours in Córdoba

How to get there

If you find yourself in Spain and want to pop around to nearby towns, villages and cities, there are several ways you can travel. Here are a few:

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Dress Picks, Spain, travel

What I wore exploring Jaén

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exploring Jaén

Recently, I found myself exploring Jaén. Jaén is a city that is just about an hour North of me in Granada. These days, I do not have tons of money to travel to big, extravagant places. However that is okay as I live in Europe. There are so many neat places to see only a few hours from where I live. So exploring Jaén was one of those closeby but awesome trips.

The dress

As most of you all know, I’m the girl who is always wearing a dress. I love traveling in my dresses and wear them all year long. So when I was exploring Jaén with my friend Sharifa, I of course opted to wear a dress. I had found this grey dress at a shop in my neighbourhood in Granada called Humana. It looked perfect for a work setting or really just anything. I loved the buttons on the front too.

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auxiliar life, Nina's corner, Spain

5 ways I’ve experienced culture shock in Spain

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culture shock in Spain

Friends, I’ve experienced culture shock in Spain. In fact, I’m experiencing it now. All of my close friends and family members already know that I’m an open book. I like to talk about my struggles and as a highly sensitive extrovert (God that’s the weirdest combo, by the way. You have overwhelming feelings and aren’t afraid to verbalise them … sometimes not in healthy ways either), I always feel the need to talk out my feelings with at least 10 people. You add in the fact that some of these people speak only your second language, and it can feel isolating.

So instead of posting one of my fun travel posts, I’ve decided to push that one back a few days and write about what is actually happening. I promised you all that I would paint an accurate picture of what life in a foreign country is like. And culture shock is a part of that experience. Everyone experiences culture shock, we just all experience it in different ways. And some don’t want to or need to talk about it. However that’s not that case for me. So I figured I would share my experience here for several reasons.

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Spain, travel

Castillo de Santa Catalina: a castle in Jaén

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castle in Jaén


The lovely province of Jaén sits in the North of the region of Andalusia, Spain, where I live. While many tourists who find themselves in Spain opt to visit places like my home of Granada, Malaga, Sevilla or Cadiz, Jaén should not be overlooked. If you are a fan of history and castles, you will definitely want to add Jaén to your lists of stops throughout the wonderful region of Andalusia. El castillo de Santa Catalina sits just above the city of Jaén, the capital of the province. The city is a mid-sized city worth a visit for a weekend or a few days.

Last Saturday, my friend Sharifa and I had a nice little visit to the castle. The views were absolutely breathtaking and I’m now planning to see as many castles as I can in Europe. It’s my new mission.

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Dress Picks, Nina's corner

My wedding style: a collaboration

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wedding style

New fashions added daily at SheIn.com

I don’t know about you, but I’ve found myself at plenty of weddings and also in several weddings over the last several years. I suppose it’s because I’m 29 and everyone but myself (okay that’s an exaggeration) is getting hitched. The thing is, I’m not one of those bitter people. I really, REALLY love weddings. I love wearing dresses and love any excuse to wear one! Furthermore, when my friends ask me to be their bridesmaid, I’m overjoyed. I love being there for my friends and helping them in any way I can.

So when Ada from Elegance and Mommyhood approached me about a wedding style collaboration, I of course said yes. In fact, there are six of us collaborating today! This dress is absolutely perfect for a wedding and in a less-expected color: green! I love dark green and feel like I look best in it, so I had to order this from Modcloth. In fact, I had been eyeing it for about a year before purchasing it.

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Dress Picks, Spain, travel

My farewell to the sundress in Ibiza

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sundress in Ibiza

Ah Ibiza. A little over a month ago, I was wearing my sundress in Ibiza. The weather was absolutely perfect. Now I sit in my apartment in Granada and it is quite cold outside! Winter has arrived in Spain! And while winter here will be way more mild than what I am used to in the United States, winter is here nonetheless. I am for sure excited to wear lots of boots and tights with my dresses. However I will miss all my sundresses. They are comfortable and easy to wear. This one is one of my favorites.

When I was in Ibiza with my friend Shola, we thought this made for a lovely backdrop. I am a big fan of green, after all. If you wish to read more on my Ibiza adventures, you can check them out here and here.

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