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Week 21: Greek. eShakti Review
Greece is a country of beautiful and feminine women with striking features. Only last week I discovered one of the most famous Greek actresses of the 60s, Tzeni Karezi, and decided to create a vintage inspired look to pay tribute to her style and beauty.
To be honest with you, the photoshoot turned out more "belezza Italiana" than Greek, but I decided to share the results with you this week anyway :)
This pretty polka dress I am wearing is from eShakti. eShakti offers custom clothing for women of all sizes. It is quite incredible how fast they created and delivered the high quality dress which was exactly what I wanted and fitted me perfectly! Having a 32D chest and a tiny waist might not seem like a problem, but it is definitely hard to find a dress that fits my chest and doesn't hang loose on my waist. Luckily, clothes at eShakti are made exactly for your body using measurements which you provide before making an order. Additionally, you can fully customise any piece and choose the neckline, skirt length, add/remove pockets and so on, which means you get a truly unique piece for an astonishingly affordable price. Check eShakti out and see for yourself!
I think eShakti is especially great for bridesmaids dresses. I have linked a few of my favourites for you:
Week 21: Greek. Finding Santorini in NYC.
One of the best things about New York is that it is so multicultural. You can find any part of our world secretly tucked away with love on one of the many streets of the city, or openly blossoming as a miniature version of countries like Italy, China and Russia.
Being a great appreciator of Greek cuisine and culture, I enjoy finding new Greek restaurants or spotting new murals and pieces inspired by the colors of Santorini. One of my favourite "portals" to Greece in NYC is Souvlaki GR (116 Stanton Street).
Photography by my favourite NYC photographer - Dennis.
For this Santorini inspired photoshoot I wore a beautiful blue-patterned, white dress from Shein.
Dress - Shein | Heels - Steve Madden (I also love these) | Bracelet - Club Monaco | Sunnies - Ray Ban
SHOP THE LOOK:
FOR More looks featuring Shein clothes, CLICK here!
Week 20: Kauai Island. Pualani Hanalei Look.
Finding a beautiful and original swimsuit that doesn't cost over $200 has always been a challenge for me. I consider myself somewhat of a bikini collector, and with every purchase of new "little triangles" I find that it gets harder and harder to impress me. After my frustration with shops in NYC where I could find only one(!) bikini top I liked at Billabong, I packed my 45 other swimsuits (the majority of them were gifts from online stores) and was ready to get bronzed in Hawaii.
After a few days on Kauai island my collection of swimsuits rose to almost 60! Kauai has so many bikini shops with an amazing range that it was hard to resist the urge to shop.
Hanalei definitely has the best shops in Kauai, and I specifically recommend you visit Bikini Hanalei (5-5084 Kuhio Hwy, Hanalei) where they have Pualani bikinis. Their bikinis are bright, stunning and affordable, and they are of a great quality. Today I am showing off my photos in the Pualani bikini which was picked for me by the beautiful shop owner, Sandy Shope. In Bikini Hanalei you will also find mermaid tails that will match your swimsuit, so check it out if you are in Kauai :)
Thank you to my husband Ben and Kauai photographer Marcus Bloss for this beautiful photoshoot!
I will share more photos from another shoot with Marcus Bloss next week!
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Week 20: Kauai Island. Adventures with horses, scuba diving and flying high.
When Ben and I were deciding on which Hawaiian Island we wanted to spend our vacation, we were torn between Maui and Kauai. After giving it some thought, we decided that since Maui is more developed and touristic, we can visit it in the future. Kauai, on the other hand, is the most wild and adventurous island in Hawaii. Now seemed to be the perfect time to explore Kauai while we are still young and a little reckless :)
Scuba Diving
The most important part of out trip was getting PADI certified. Soon I will tell you how to get your PADI certification, and share my diving experience and learning process, but today I want to focus on the actual dives we did in Kauai.
I have always wanted to go scuba diving, but I had no idea that I needed to learn so much and pass so many exams beforehand. Luckily, Ben and I had already finished our scuba course in Manhattan (here). Make sure you apply for the exam and pass confined water skills portion in your home city before you go on the vacation. Afterwards, I suggest you pass your open water skills portion (4 dives in total, usually takes two days) somewhere you are really excited to dive, like we did in Kauai.
We were diving in Koloma Landing. The surge was incredibly strong, but we still had a great time and really impressed our instructor. We passed every skill, never freaked out and weren't afraid to descend deeper (so far my record is 50 ft).
I think the highlight of our dives was seeing a few GIGANTIC sea turtles. I have a huge obsession with them, and I think I screamed underwater in excitement when I saw a turtle for the first time. We even swam next to each other which was an incredible experience.
Now Ben and I are planning our next diving trip and thinking about taking the advanced scuba diving courses. Ben is interested in the Rescue Diver course, and we are both excited to get the Wreck Diver license. Wreck diving allows you to dive deeper and explore ship and aircraft wrecks underwater. We are also talking about getting Dry Suit certified this winter, as it allows you to scuba dive in icy cold water. My SO heard diving in Alaska is amazing. :)
Horse Riding
If you are ever in Kauai, I recommend you visit the Silver Falls Ranch on the north shore. The ranch is beautiful and it has many exotic birds and cute, little boars running around. But of course, our main reason for visiting the Ranch were the horses. Ben and I took the horse riding tour that travels through the wild, tropical land and lush gardens and takes you to Silver Falls. It was a long and beautiful ride and I loved my horse so much.
Helicopter Tour
I was so grateful to Ben for organising such a wonderful Hawaiian trip that I surprised him with a helicopter tour over the whole of Kauai Island. Kauai is the oldest and the greenest Island of Hawaii. Over 80% of Kauai is uninhabited and wild, which makes it the epitome of savage beauty. Seeing the lush island in all its magnificence from a bird's eye view is something we will never forget.
It is hard to describe all the wonders of nature we have seen, but I guess the most famous sightseeing was the Jurassic Park Falls in Hanapepe Valley. We were also lucky to see Waialeale Mountain. Waialeale, if you didn't know, is the second wettest spot on Earth and it receives about 450 inches of rain every year(!).
The helicopter tour was great and we loved our pilot/guide. I booked the tour from the Safari Helicopters and definitely recommend them.
I would also suggest you go zip lining and maybe even try skydiving in Kauai. In the next post I will tell you more about the St. Regis Resort we stayed in and suggest places to go (and not go!) in Kauai.
P.S. I had to rewrite this post at least three times because Squarespace was crushing and deleting my progress. Anyone else experience the same problem with Squarespace when using Chrome?