blinded by the bright

just a quick good morning from israel!

hope everyones having a great week so far.

im sure to have a bright day with this highlighter orange tee  ;)

i guess i hopped on the neon trend...

top is from fox, skirt from plato's closet (dallas), wedges from golf

bracelets from forever 21

a day off

so today we had off of work to celebrate shavuot holiday, which meant sleeping in, going out to eat and a little shopping  ;)

i only slept in till 10 (that's nothing for me!!), but i literally stayed in bed till noon reading the 3rd hunger games book. anyone else reading the series? im so into it & its hard to put down!

anyways, after getting out of bed, showering and changing our wintery bed sheets to cool, crisp summery ones, we went to nazareth for some lunch and a little shopping. we ate on the patio at a place called "cafe cafe," where i had again cheese ravioli with roze' sauce and a pecan, iced cafe, which is like a blended coffee drink with pecan bits. dekel had shakshouka with sausage and a beer on tap. it was a delishious meal with great conversation. i love our day dates!

then we needed to let our food go down a bit, so we walked around the shopping center in nazareth called "big" and popped into stores such as zara, pull & bear and fox. i left only buying one thing (proud of myself, i must mention), its a cute black and white top which i plan to wear tomorrow with skinny jeans and heels to a friend-from-work's brit mila. she just had a baby boy!

 

i wore forever 21 razorback tank, zara sandals, tnt bright, beaded necklace & one of my many wrap skirts, last worn to the beach here, its seriously so versitile!

you can get your wrap skirt here!  :)

my new top!

what has your weekend been like so far??

color of the day: purple

hello lovlies! just a quick note to wish everyone a relaxing, long holiday weekend. here we are celebrating shavuot, so last night we had a fun(ny!) dinner with my family & tonight we are going to dekel's family's house for another yummy meal, i will be making cheesecake. wish me luck!

 last night i wore a tan, sheer maxi skirt that i scored from marshall's when i was in dallas last, my purple razorbak is from forever 21, sandals from zara and my amazing earrings were a steal from ebay!

have a great weekend, ya'll!

mi amore

i have many loves.

a few of them include trying new things,

in new places,

with this guy.

we went to a new-to-us cafe in afula, near our home, and ordered cheese-stuffed raviolli with roze' sauce. utterly delishious!

 we also shared the hallomi salad (we order this salad often!)

i threw my hair up in a bun atop my head, wore my black maxi skirt from zara & a simple off-the-shoulder tee stating "amore." louis couldn't be forgotten, either  ;)

my weekend consisted of...

studying. with a mojito in hand. for a test. that i can only hope i passed.

(mojito recipe here, but i substituted coconut rum for regular white rum & mango puree for pear juice)

talking evening walks right at sunset with husband

skyping with a best friend  :)

what did your weekend consist of?

like a postcard

i wish i were here:

 wearing this:

picnicing on this:

doing this:

photos via

what are your weekend plans??

please share, as i am stuck indoors studying for a financial investments exam i have on sunday...

say what!

the other day i got to thinking how far i have come in this journey of learning hebrew. i currently consider myself fluent, after living here for (almost!) four years and finally being able to understand at least 95% of the language, even though i am learning new words and phrases every day.

hebrew has both masculine and feminine words, which took me forever to absorb since there are "exceptions" to the norm. i still make mistakes sometimes, using masculine verbs for a woman or vice versa...woops (mentioned in my "akwards" from this post!). i also still think, process information, count and formulate what i want to say in english in my head, which i am working on, but i said something the other day in english that is also a word in hebrew and i thought it would be fun to share some random words with you guys that have meaning in both english and hebrew, even though the definitions have nothing to do with each other. even making this list was hard because i had to say the word out loud and since i, obviously, hear the word in english first, i had to sometimes ask dekel what it meant in hebrew again...if that makes any sense...

anyways, enjoy your first mini hebrew lesson!

1. poor- means fate in hebrew
2. bore- is a hole (in the ground, like a pothole)
3. beastly - this is an israeli snack
4. pot - means vagina in hebrew (innappropriate, i know! but i couldnt help but to share this with you guys!!)
5. bite- means house
6. mean- means sex
7. wreck- means empty
8. teal- means rocket
9. peel- means elephant
10. mime- means water
11. or- means light (not in context of weight)
12. shy- means gift
13. run- means happiness
14. gum- means also
15. gun- means kindergarden
16. toot- means strawberry
17. dug- means fish
18. putt- is a loaf of bread
19. yum- means sea
20. guy- means valley
21. bar- means wild
22. luck- means nailpolish
23. he- means she/her (weird, i know!)
24. who- means he/him
25. pee- means times (like x2)
26. door- means generation
27. can- means yes
28. low- means no
29. shell- means of (like posession)
30. tough- means children
31. ten- means give (but in masculine form)

sopapilla cheesecake

in one week, we will be celebrating shavuot. this holiday commemorates the anniversary of the day god gave the torah to the entire israelite nation assembled at mount sinai (thanks wikipedia!). during this holiday, dairy foods such as cheesecake, cheese blintzes and cheese ravioli are traditionally consumed. dekel's work is holding an annual "dairy cake competition" and the winner receives a weekend giveaway in the city of our choice here in israel. so, thanks to my sis for the great idea, i think i will whip up this easy, breazy sopapilla cheesecake:

 

via

sopapilla cheesecake

*2 cans pillsbury crescent rolls (since they dont have these here in israel, i will have to find some sort of alternative)
*2-8oz blocks cream cheese, at room temperature
*1 1/2 cups sugar
*1 teaspoon vanilla extract
*1 teaspoon cinnamon
*6 tablespoons butter, melted
*honey, optional

spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray. unroll and press 1 can (10 oz) of crescent roll dough  into the bottom of the baking pan & press the seams together.

in a separate bowl blend the cream cheese, 1 cup sugar and vanilla; spread evenly over top of dough. unroll the second can of crescent roll dough  (another 10 oz) and place on top of the cream cheese mixture pressing seams together again. pour the melted butter over top layer of dough.

mix the cinammon and reaming 1/2 cup of sugar together. sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture generously over the top of the cake. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes until bubbly and browned. drizzle honey, if you choose. allow to cool before serving. serves 8.

do you have any baking specialties ?

secret recipes ?  :)

all laced up

skipped work today to study for an exam i have in 2 hours this afternoon.

not that im counting down or anything...

decided to throw on this simplistic, yet edgy outfit to lift my mood.

im wearing a tnt crop top, forever 21 skirt (a gift from my sister) ,mango heels and cuffs from my etsy & i followed this smokey eye tutorial, just for a change.

wish me luck on my exam!

my weekend consisted of...

school. we wrapping up our third-to-last semester as MBA students. today till next sunday will be spent studying for exams. yuck!

via

sleeping in till 11,
then hitting up the beach with a few friends on a sunny friday afternoon

via
hangin out in comfy pj's, enjoying coffee & chocolate croissants for breakfast, rice & chicken for lunch and a lovely skype date with my family from dallas

(pups included!)

what did your weekend consist of?

summer inspirations

i am more than thrilled that the weather has finally warmed up so we can relax at home with our windows open instead of cooped up, covered under blankets and in socks. i can now shuffel around in my summer sandals and sundresses and dek & i can even plan beach dates! i am such a summer girl, its not even funny.

i am loving all of the summery blog posts out there that warm you up just reading them, like this one & this one. because of them, i decided to share some of my own summer inspirations, if you'd like to see  :)

going braless, only when appropriate, of course

bike rides in the fields

relaxing in the sun, soaking up the rays

wearing all white. and breezy maxi dresses.

even better if combined into one  :)

going makeupless, with sunkissed skin

salty, summer kisses

all photos via

what do you love most about summer? 

my weekend consisted of...

finally getting around to scratch the 'scratch map' i got dek for his birthday (back in january!), making us realize how much more we have left to travel the world

visiting the market in daliyat el-carmel,
drooling over goodies from sweets to olives 

enjoying the weather by wearing a flowy dress and sandals

& having a photoshoot with my latest purchase, the hat!

updating & adding new items to my etsy, check it out here!

what did your weekend consist of?

** i owe you a petra post & i promise ill get around to writing about it...