la hong - flagshipstore opening

on tuesday, i attended the flagshipstore opening of viennese designer "la hong". some friends of mine were kind enough to take me there and i have to say it was quite the experience. there were lots and lots of people and it was really crowded at "stilwerk" in the second district of vienna, where the party took place. highlight of the evening was definitely mischa barton who attended the show as well - but it was obvious that she felt very uncomfortable with the masses of people and photographers around her. 

i have to admit that i really didn´t like la hong´s new line, which is inspired by the theme "rise like phoenix from the ashes". my friend and i only saw 3 pieces that we liked - but as always, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it´s certainly not my place to judge. it was simply too crowded there, so we all decided to go back to the bar of the intercontinental hotel (AMAZING chandelier over the bar) where we also started the evening and sip on yummy drinks in a more relaxed environment. 

because i was craving a good friend´s night out and didn´t want to stress myself with taking photos all the time, i decided to take the evening off from blogging and left my camera at home. but if you want to see some pics of the night, head over to mangoblüte´s blog, she has some really good impression pics of the night. but at least you can see here what i was wearing for the store opening:

these are the pics that we took during the evening (wanna see more? follow me also on instagram KETCHEMBUNNIES):

pants/jacket: zara
shoes: dune (similar here)
fur collar: vintage (similar here)
white blouse: h&m (similar here)
bag: louis vuitton

staying in barcelona: where to eat, where to sleep

this will be the last post about our short city trip to barcelona. with millions of different options of where to eat the best tapas and fish or which hotel would be the best, i found it very useful to get some guidance of people who had already been to barcelona or were living/working there. now it´s my turn to share the best restaurants and hotel recommendations with you guys, just in case you´ll need some tips for your next city trip.

SLEEPING

we stayed at the k+k hotel picasso in the born area next to the barri gótic of barcelona.

the area is simply amazing, lots of cute little shops, tapas bars and cafés and just 10 minutes by foot to the "las ramblas" and to the harbour. the hotel itself is brand new, funny thing is that the facade looks very antique - but it´s not. i loved the rooftop!!! terrace (amazing view over barcelona) with the pool and the huuuuge buffet breakfast. another cool thing is that the bathrooms were integrated into the living space of the rooms with frosted glass. totally worth staying there.

K+K Hotel Picasso

Passeig de Picasso, 26-30

08003 Barcelona

SEAFOOD AND PAELLA

just 200 meters away from the hotel you find "la gambeta". the service is super fast, the ambience of the restaurant is very chic and cozy and the food is amazing. if you go there, you have to try the paella - it´s sooo delicious and typical for spain! 

Restaurante La Gambeta

Carrer de la Fusina

 3  08003 Barcelona

GETTING HOME DRINKS

another bar that´s located right behind the hotel: incógnito bar. shabby chic would be the right definition for this bar, perfect to just sip on delicious mojitos and letting the long days of sightseeing ease down.

Incógnito Bar

Carrer de la Fusina 6

08003 Barcelona

STEAKS

since we went to barcelona for my aunt´s 50th birthday, we were looking for a special location to celebrate her birthday in style. morelia restaurant was a recommendation by the resident manager of our hotel and it was a total hit! the restaurant offers a fusion of spanish/argentinian food and wonderful steaks.

we also decided to take a little bit of everything for starters and really everything that i tasted was phenomenal. they also serve some kind of baked cheese with herbs which was one of the best things i ever tried in my hole life. 

Morelia Restaurant and Cocktail Bar

Pl. Comercial, 7

08003 Barcelona

TAPAS

guys, i am so sorry but i don´t know anymore where this amazing tapas bar was - but it doesn´t really matter because in the area of el born you find thousands of amazing places to have tapas and really good spanish wine! but i will try to find out the name of the place and amend this blogpost once i have it!

a golden thought

over the past few months some glossyboxes have been collected and i´ve been using them as a storage for jewellry and nailpolish. nevertheless, i always wanted to recreate something else out of the covers but never knew what i wanted to do. in the meantime i´ve been unsuccessfully looking for a nice, rectangular tray to hold my candles and display my favorite small things! so when vicky came up with this idea to spray paint her dino last week, i finally knew what the solution was. she was kind enough to lend me her gold spray and i started gilding my boxes. here is the outcome of what i did! do you like the golden look as well?

here is what i was working with:

a blue and gold box in the entryway to hold my keys and loose money:

this is the tray i´m most satisfied with:

for the vanity station next to my bed i wanted to do something more creative to hold little things like earrings, lipbalm or earplugs (yes, i really need them to sleep) in place. so i started looking around my apartment for things that would separate each section and found chinese chopsticks and pink straws.

i simply stuck the chopsticks (the length is perfect) into the box and sprayed them gold as well. after that, i glued the smaller pieces of straw onto the bottom and taaadaaa - pink and gold organization tray was finished:

and a little instagram pic of how i use the golden brush pot in my bathroom:

welcome to barcelona, day three - montjuic

welcome to day three of my barcelona trip! after two days of rain, the weather finally took a turn to the sunny side and it got really warm - just like i imagined it to be before we got there! it was so nice to have the sun shining on your face and sitting in cafés with nothing on but a t-shirt and sunglasses (and trousers of course haha :) ). to see the city from another angle, we decided to go up to montjuic using the gondola that carries over the harbour. it was a great experience, even though we had to stand in line and wait for over an hour - but the amazing view of barcelona definitely made up for the waiting. but look and see for yourself:

Cathy´s Budget Buys I 10 great things under 50 €

 weekends always mean more time to sneak around online shops and finding new great things for my closet and apartment. these are the things that i found to be great deals - super pretty stuff for a really good price (if you are living on a budget like me)! i love love love this chunky jumper and the crystal beanie as well as the tiger studs, i think they will find a new home in vienna real soon! happy sunday evening guys!

1. Knitted, chunky sweater: get here

2. Coated bordeaux jegging: get here

3. Tiger sparkling studs: get here

4. Rope chain necklace: get here

5. Studded clutch: get here

6. Lace up shoes: get here

7. Beanie with crystals application: get here

8. Turquoise candle: get here

9. Flacon: get here

10. Hand creme: get here

cold nights, warm fur

for the end of this week i wanted to give you guys a break from the barcelona related posts and show you one of my last outfits. i am so happy that i finally found a fake fur vest for those cold autumn nights. it´s warm and cozy and adds that little extra to every outfit. just like those leather pants that you have already seen here and here, i´m sure that the vest will be a steady companion through the cold season. as for the silk blouse, i love love love the blurred dots and the texture (also very appropriate for work, i´m wearing it today!). the shoes are the most beautiful loafers i have seen so far and am totally in love BUT i made a mistake and bought them one size too small - now they hurt like hell and i´m hoping that they will get bigger with time - any tips on how to make them bigger real fast? 

i need your help on this guys!!! 

(thank you vicky for taking these pics and finding the perfect lighting)

pants: pimkie (very similar here)

bag: zara

shoes: zara (similar here)

blouse: zara

fake fur vest: pull & bear (similar here)

welcome to barcelona, day two - parc güell

hi lovelies, so we have already reached day two of my barcelona trip. still to come: day three, the hotel where we stayed and the restaurants we visited! on our second day in barca we decided to do a hop-on hop-off tour to see the most of this city in a short amount of time. but again it was raining buckets soooo we got soaking wet all again - but at least we were already used to being wet from the day before.

and because of the rain we were not able to get off the bus until we reached sagrada famila, the famous church by gaudí which is still under construction. we didn´t enter because there was a line waiting for tickets all around the building - i guess we should have bought the tickets online! we continued by foot from there up to the parc güell, another must see (and got wet on the way up again...old news by now). parc güell is amazing but crowded with tourists (yes, i am aware that i am a tourist as well, but still :) ) so we just strolled through real quick and went shopping around the plaza catalunya.

my sightseeing outfit

amazing bubble at parc güell

can you spot the little parrot in the tree? well hidden, right?

sagrada familia 

baby birdies

at parc güell

welcome to barcelona, day one - mercat de santa caterina

it was around lunchtime when we arrived at the airport in barcelona last thursday, the sun was shining and it was warm - what a good start. but just when we left our hotel after check-in, it started raining cats and dogs. so we hurried up to meet my aunt and uncle who were already waiting for us at the amazing mercat de santa caterina - but we got soaking wet anyways (mainly because i was certain that rain in spain couldn´t last longer than 5 minutes and persuaded the others that we didn´t need an umbrella at all...that didn´t go very well!). and since the weather really wasn´t nice at all, we spent the entire first afternoon at a lovely tapas bar inside the market hall, tasting through the different kinds of tapas, cavas and wines, watching all the people around us buying fresh fish, meat and vegetables. here are some impressions of the mercat de santa caterina:

fruit and herbs:

the bar where we spent our time:

super fresh fish

all kinds of vegetables

yummy peppers

fresh juice

all kinds of olives

best rioja i ever had

cauliflower

candy

even more fruits

beautiful vintage flacon that we saw on our way home