busy bee

things have been a awfully quiet around here lately! i have been super busy with school. deadlines are flying around, i have a trip to berlin coming up and extra work shifts to pay for said trip. do you know the feeling, when everything around you just piles up and up, and you can’t seem to work your way through it? yes, very frustrating. i did manage to squeeze in a little getaway to paris about a week an a half ago. though it was a trip with a purpose! the main reason was to do research for my thesis, but hey – paris is paris, right? here is a little sneak peek of our day researching the ateliers of motnmartre and montparnasse!

happy mother’s day!

dropping by to wish my lovely mom a happy mother’s day – i don’t know what i would do without her!

days in soho

one of my favourite neighborhoods in new york city so far is soho. located in lower manhattan, soho (south of houston street) is known for it’s many artists, art galleries and a broad range of different kinds of shops. we explored this part of town two days during our trip – we had to go back, one visit just wasn’t enough! here are some of the things we saw and did, enjoy!

one of my favourite stores is anthropologie. big sister to urban outfitters, they have gorgeous clothes, accessories, books, home decor and much much more. i love the eye for detail and the unique feel all their items have. their interior design is amazing as well, i wouldn’t mind living in one of their stores!

for some afternoon drinks, we stopped over at the cupping room cafe. also a restaurant, we sat at the bar by the window, enjoying the sun. we didn’t have a bite to eat, but it definitely smelled delicious! also, we didn’t get the chance to check it out ourselves, but the cupping room cafe has live music every night!

i love cupcakes. really, i do. i have been a big big fan of magnolia for a while now, but whilst roaming the streets of soho, georgetown cupcake caught my eye! known from the tlc show dc cupcakes, georgetown cupcake offers some of the prettiest and tastiest cupcakes i have ever tasted. perfect to feed your sweet tooth!

we are both two of the biggest book lovers and we hit more bookstores than i can count, one of them being housing works bookstore cafe. books, books, books and coffee? can’t go wrong with that!

what goes around comes around has some of the most gorgeous vintage pieces i’ve seen in a long time. they also carry their own vintage inspired brand – not made for a student on a budget, but gorgeous and worth checking out nontheless.

after a long day we stumbled upon a little place i have been before: soho park. this little restaurant has a garden feel to it with it’s patio and twinkle lights. it’s a perfect spot to relax with a drink after a day of shopping, and although i haven’t had a lot of the menu, the burgers were very nice!

every flower is a soul blossoming in nature

our morning strolls through central park have left me amazed by the gorgeous flowers and how absolutely beautiful the park is.

hello new york city!

for the next week, pourlecoeur live from new york city! after a nine hour flight and a lay over in london, we finally made it! our plans? discovering brooklyn, soho, relaxing in central park, gallery-spotting in chelsea and lots of museums. that is what you get when two art history students travel together!

do you believe in the easter bunny?

happy easter! my days have been filled with family visits, important deadlines, admiring the gorgeous flowers in our garden and trying to squeeze in some time to pack and prepare for my new york trip next week. hope you all are having a lovely weekend, enjoy all the chocolate easter eggs and bunnies you can find!

a letter to paris

mon dieu, paris! why do you do this to me? with your lovely streets, gorgeous architecture, amazing museums and art, delicious food and pastries, fashionable people and amazing stores, you know how to win my heart over more and more everytime i see you again.

as part of my 20 before 21 list i traveled to paris, alone. a whole day by myself, strolling through the streets of paris, the musee de l’orangerie, galeries lafayette and enjoying the sun at the jardin du tuileries. my phone not working all day, leaving me without any directions, was a little bump in the road – but i managed! i lost quite some time finding my way through town by memory, but all the more reason to go back to paris again, non? this little adventure has got me thinking about the future – a life in paris, studying art history, living in a little appartment with cast-iron balcony railings, eating croissants with strawberry marmelade for breakfast, drinking wine in cafes, wouldn’t that be wonderful? i feel this is the start of a long, long love affair. paris, je t’aime!

a weekend getaway

my weekend summed up in six words? rotterdam, mexican food, cocktails and paul mccartney! my mom and i took a little trip to rotterdam to see paul mccartney (who was absolutely amazing!). before the show we hopped into rotterdam for some cocktails and delicious fajitas. i hadn’t been in rotterdam for so long, and am a bit sad we couldn’t spend more time there. it seems like such a lovely city, i’ll definitely be exploring it soon.! but first up – paris on monday and new york city in two weeks! i might just have to incorporate a travel feature over here!

sunday morning baking

baking has always been one of the joys in my life. measuring, mixing, the smell of baked goods in the morning, it used to be my go-to thing whenever i was feeling stressed out. lately i haven’t been baking as much as i’d like to (after a four berry pie and cupcake fiasco), but sunday morning i finally picked up my mixer and gave it a shot again! i have been dying to make a cheesecake for a while now, but i decided to practice with cupcakes first. these choccolate creamcheese cupcakes with chocolate chips are from a recipe by susanna lee i once randomly found in a cupcake kit.

chocolate creamcheese cupcakes with chocolate chips.

ingredients, makes 16 cupcakes:
- 225 gr. flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3.5 tbs unsweetened cocoa
- 275 gr. fine sugar
- 250 ml. water
- 5 tbs sunflower oil
- 1 tbs white wine vinegar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 200 gr. soft creamcheese
- 1 egg
- 150 gr. chocolate chips

1. preheat the oven on 180°C. coat 16 cupcake liners with baking spray (!).
2. sift the flower, baking soda and cocoa in a bowl. mix in about 200 gr. of sugar and make a well in the middle.
3. mix the water, sunflower oil, white wine vinegar and vanilla-extract and pour it into the well. mix it together until smooth.
4. beat the creamcheese, egg and rest of the sugar until light and fluffy. add the chocolate chips.
5. fill the cupcake liners about 3/2 with the chocolate mixture and 3/1 with the creamcheese mixture.*
6. bake about 25 minutes, and do a toothpick test!

nervous at first, they came out deliciously goeey! enjoy!

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→ not applied to my cupcakes since the recipe did not ask for it, but swirl gently with a knife to marbelize!

a dogs life

although i’m not quite ready to welcome the spring weather just yet, scared it will then make a run for it, but i couldn’t resist sharing these pictures of our two dogs, cervantes & aileen, soaking up the sun in the kitchen this morning.