Oldies

I was cleaning out my laptop and found some old pictures... oh, souvenir, souvenir. I am a nostalgical person, these pictures present a moment of my life, and I think they worth a post...

In these pictures, I was (18 or 19?), was back in China for holidays... the city you see is not Shanghai, it is Hang Zhou, my favorite city (yes, more than Shanghai, my mother town) for its history and culture. I would like to buy a house by the West Lake (西湖)  if one day I can afford... listen to the sound of the rain, tasting a pot of hot Longjing tea and read all the beautiful or sad stories took place there....

I must be around 21 in the pictures...just moved into my ancient flat (on the boulevard Général Jacques) and playing around to take pictures with a girlfriend.... haha, I almost forgot that I had shorter hair!

My dear Dad saw me off at the airport... he offered me the chance to come study in Belgium and he is ready to give me the whole World... <3 you Dad, even I have never said that....

These pictures were taken in 2008(?), with my lovely Chinese class, celebrating Chinese New Year in the restaurant Cité du Dragon... I miss all of you and you were one of my favorite classes definitely! Hope all you guys are doing well and enjoy life!

I took these pictures of J.O. on the first day I got her from the shelter... she had a haircut (well, shaved is more suitable!) on our way home, she was so dirty since she had lived in the street, when I saw her in the shelter, she was the dirtiest baby ever, she had bubblegum on her hair, poor thing... she was so happy to find a new home and fell asleep almost immediately when we got home... you are one of the best things I have in life...

My vistit in Amsterdam in 2008, it was wonderful, the city, the weather, all the visits to the museums... think I will go back soon.

I heard this old song on the radio this morning on my way to work...I had litterally tears in my eyes. Such a beautiful song after so many years....

Enjoy xxx

My workout inspiration: Eva Longoria

(picture source: Bebe sport)

This is the ad that Eva made for Bebe sport in 2008, can she be any more gorgous in sportswear...? She is an inspiration and motivation for me to work out and stay in shape...<3 her so much!! And she is a true athelete and practise Yoga on a regular basis in real life!

Enjoy the pictures and hope they motivate you to hit the gym and live a healthy life.   

Bebe sport makes cute workout clothings, one of my favorite brands for workout attires, check out their website:

http://www.bebe.com/s?searchKeywords=bebe+sport&Action=submit

xxx

P.S. I have 1h Zumba this evening... how are you going to move...? :-)

                           

Warm your heart with a delicious soup...

                      

The cold weather has made its come-back since Sunday evening... I think a recipe of a delicious soup should please a lot of you to fight against the cold. And also, lots of you told me that when it comes to cook veggie, sometimes there's a lack of inspiration...so here it is , an easy way to eat healthy.

I have chosen this special pumpkin+sweet potatos soup because it can be served hot and as well as cold. It has a soft/slightly sweet taste, perfect for fighting against the cold in this early Spring time.....

You need these:

• 
  
  1/8 pumpkin
• 
  
  3 small sweet potatos
• 
  
  Knorr veggie cube
• 
  
  alpro soja cream

Some people keep the skin of the potatos and pumpkins, but I prefer peeling the skin to have a more smooth texture for my soup.

Cut them into small pieces.

Put all the veggie in a pot.

Put 2 Knorr cubes (you can add salt and pepper later)

Put some water to cover all the veggie... don't put too much water since if the soup is too thick for your taste, you can always add some water... but this soup is supposed to be a thick one.

Cover the pot and cook the veggie.

Once the veggie is cooked , use a blender to mix them

Until you obtain a smooth, thick texture.

Now taste it, and add some salt and pepper if it is necessary.

Serve it with a touch of soja cream...

Bon appétit!

Let this delicious soup warm your body and your heart!

Just a side note to my dear colleague Joëlle who is a big fan of all my recipes and who gives me lots of positif feedback... hope this soup will bring you a touch of softness and warmness in this phase of your life which is not easy at all, as they said, you have to go through the rain in order to see the rainbow... lots of love          

(Une petite note à ma très chère collègue Joëlle qui est une grande fan de toutes mes recettes et qui me donne beaucoup de bons feedbacks... j'espère que cette petite recette de soupe t'apportera une touche de douceur et de chaleur surtout en ce moment de ta vie qui n'est pas facile. Comme on dit, il faut traverser la pluie pour voir l'arc-en-ciel...

                                                plein d'amour     )                                                    

 xoxo

Yogiiiiiii Hotiiiiiiiies :-)

Lots of girls have asked me how they should dress to go to a Yoga class, here's some of my input:

• 
  
  No big oversized T-shirt since you will feel embarrassed when you do some postures like "down facing dog" (pyramide in French)
• 
  
  Comfortable material like coton or specialized fabric for sport to keep your body cool and warm
• 
  
  Comfortable pants in which you can move, no golf pants for example

Here're some of my work-out attires. A pair of fitted black pants is my "uniform", these make everyone's butt look good :-) My favorite brand is Lululemon Atheletica, unfortunately they are not available in Europe yet, but you can buy from their online store (be careful, you will have to pay custom charges! :-( )

http://shop.lululemon.com/women_pants/pl/c/560.html

On the top, I always wear a sport bra... you have to be confident enough to wear this in the gym because not a lot of people do. :-) Can you tell that I am a "sport bra whore" :P

When it is getting hotter, I love running shorts! The ones with built-in undies... so you can do all the postures safely without worrying about showing what you don't want to show...

I love Lululemon for shorts as well, but I just recently discovered Stella Mccartney for Adidas, they make some super cute runnning shorts!

If you don't feel the bra+shorts look, then layer a cami tank on the top, you can always roll it up if you get too hot.:-)

A part of my bra collection... I have at least 5 others in the washing machine! I am addicted, can you tell that? :-)

Hope this post give you some inspiration of how to  look cute in the gym. It is such a wonderful moment of well-being when you do yoga/work out, so dress nicely and feel beautiful in your skin!

XXX

Last sunny day

Ok, so we are so used to the fact that the weather forecast makes mistakes here in Belgium... it was supposed to rain this morning but when I woke up by the sunshine on my face, I was so amazingly supprised. Especially I was not waken up by the alarm clock, this hasn't happened to me for sooooo looooong.... :-)

I have decided to enjoy the last sunny day in the park with J.O. my doggy and do some girly reading, héhé...

J.O. was so excited and impatient, on our way to the park, she was running ahead and stopped from time to time like saying, "come on, hurry up....".

We met this lovely little girl there, she was fascinated by J.O. At the beginning she was a little bit shy and hesitated to come to the dog, but it didn't take long for her to make friends with J.O., she ran after J.O.  and smiled all the time... doesn't she have the cutest smile in the World, little miss Sunshine... xxx

(in the picture: Gucci sunglases, ZARA long cardigan, MNG shirt dress, Jennyfer legging, Louis Vuitton Stephane Sprouse leopard scarf, Diesel boots)