Prince Edward visiting Slovenia

If this is not the time to write a new blog then I don't know what is.

Yesterday we had the privilege to welcome the Earl and Countess of Wessex to Slovenia. It was their first visit to our beautiful country and as far as it goes they absolutely love it.
And I wouldn't be myself if I wouldn't dress up appropriately. I was thinking about my British Union jack dress at first but the chances to actually meet them were not good so I went with the themed outfit for the day.

Then I'm sitting in the old town and all of a sudden a few cars, almost like golf carts, come around the corner  and there they were. So I quickly packed what I had and persuaded my friend Neža to jog along. So we followed them and while they were in the City Museum I answered some questions for our TV channel and hours later I started getting texts saying how big a star I am and that I have to check THIS LINK.
And then prince Edward appeared with his wife again. The cars were waiting for them but I got some time to quickly snap a few pictures.

And that is it. The best day in a long time. It's not all prince Edward that made it so, not at all, a lot of the credit goes to my dear friends, Ashley and Neža, visiting my grand mother, going to church and for the great evening attending two concerts in the centre which were both absolutely amazing. 

Queen's 60th Coronation anniversary

God save the Queen!

Rule Britannia!

60 years ago, on 2nd June, over a year after her father, King George VI died, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary was crowned at the ceremony held in the Westminster Abbey.

So on 4th June this year when the celebration was held in London, UK, I held a small party myself, even though I was sick, and I also proudly presented my new British phone case.
Yes, recently it's really been all about the UK: viola case, my room, clothes, etc. And now my phone. Many of you know that my phone is not a good one, not even a 'smart' one so you can't buy a different case, different design. But luckily I have the best sisters and brothers who have the best kids and so my oldest nephew Luka made this amazing British flag out of FIMO clay. Thank you, Luka, for taking your time. And thank you, Nokia, for making the cases so strong and everything that even though one puts it in the oven and bake it so the clay sticks onto it there's nothing wrong with it now, or didn't do any damage to the oven or anything, like it can sometimes happen in a microwave you know.
So yes, here is the case and many more pieces, many more flags of different sizes to make some more fun, useful, British thingies like earrings, bracelets, necklaces and whatever else we think of.
In case you're wondering, that is a tealight holder. ;) Plus there are two heart shaped as well. Incredible. True art. :)

Hair tutorial

The whole hair tutorial step-by-step is now HERE!

Hope you like the look, found something similar to it yesterday on youtube and figured I could try it out today as there was time to spare (not really, no time at all).
It's quite easy, cute and very suitable for Summer as you have all hair off your neck. You can play it up with a bright scarf or cool it with one colour only. It has a certain retro vibe to it which I also love.

Photo: A. Sečnik

If you have any similar hair styles do share. Would love that. Thanks. :)

Trip to Potsdam and Berlin

On the second weekend in May Ana, Maša and me drove off to Potsdam to visit Ana's exchange roommates. The drive was awesome, the people there amazing and the fact that we could get away from our daily happenings and practices and were able to just relax was priceless.

I will spare the words and just put some pictures on and hope you'll like them. :)

ps: this (Sneky) is my nickname by Ana and Maša

 If you haven't been to Berlin or Potsdam I suggest you take a trip. Potsdam is a really beautiful city and is shadowed by Berlin which doesn't do it justice. Plus it's easy to get to it, even if you're staying in Berlin you can get to it with a train that is in your daily Berlin transport ticket anyway. :)

Concerts in Spring

So March and April were pretty busy this year. Especially because of all the different concerts that were going on.

In March we started with our Academy Chamber Orchestra and performed in Slovenska filharmonija with some marvellous pieces with amazing soloists. Feel free to listen to it and enjoy it here.

Screen shot.

Second up was again our opera, Orpheus, by Monteverdi. I must say that even though we had a lot of everything going on at that point, that was beginning of April, I loved every minute of it and would do it again with joy. You can read my previous entry about this opera here and listen to it again or for the first time here.

Practise. (phone pic)

Then it was time for our next big academic project. This year orchestra, choir and singers all joined for the remembrance of three great opera composer, Britten, Wagner and Verdi. We had the privilege to work with maestro Letonja, who conducted us with care, love and patience. I can only say that I hope I will get to work with him again. In this project I also managed to combine two of my passions, playing and singing. Choir conductor asked me to join the singing forces and because there was a lot of us violas for the second part of the concerts I was able to fulfil my choir class and go stand in the back with my fellow co-singers. You can see and hear our wonderful concerts (only one out of three we did with this programme) here.

Screen shot.

And last but not least was a concert with Slovene singer, composer and producer Gal Gjurin. That was a project we had with symphonic orchestra Cantabile, conducted by always amazing Marjan Grdadolnik. We had amazing arrangements going on and even though there were many songs it didn't seem long at all. Some songs need to be even longer, but we will work on that for the next concert. So thank you, maestro and thank you, Gal.
PS: I hope to incorporate my whip cracking techniques somewhere as well. :D

New DIY sweater, a pouch, cushions, flowers, bags, and a viola case

First of all I have to say that I am not forgetting about concerts or my amazing friends but it has to wait for the next entry. :)

So as you might have noticed I wasn't being the best blogger in past 2 months. They have been really busy and then there was just too many things piled up already.

In the beginning of April an attempt to sew a sweater turned out quite good actually. This picture though is taken before the final alterations were made but it is a really cool sweater and it is working well for me.

The next project was this lovely wedding pouch that I was asked to make by my friend, the bride to be. We picked the fabric in Svet metraže of course and here it is now.

Then it was time to finally make some cushions. My mom got me two from somewhere but these were not really nice so I wanted to put them in a different fabric. Went to Svet metraže with my friend and (well you know what happens) came home with the fabric for these two cushions. But I believe you might have figured out that you can't really have just two, when you have some more lying around and when we have some filling for the cushions in our scouts storage. That's why another trip to Svet metraže was inevitable and because I then took more than was really necessary I just did two more for the chairs in my room. Voilà.

And to expand our pin club which I run with amazing help of two vice presidents, Sally and Ashley, I made another 5 flowers, each one-of-a-kind, for my other American best friends. But for everyone who thinks that's all it takes to be in the pin club you are wrong. The initiation that followed was not a joke. Everyone had to promise to obey the one and only rule: to have your pin with you at all times. Plus you have to know the anthem and chant it three times with some awesome choreography included. It is extremely catchy though so you might hear it from me soon enough. :D

Next up are the lovely bags, made for my favourite ladies, Sally and Ashley. In Svet metraže (where else you know) they picked out there fabric and after a couple of weeks I had one evening when I just decided I should saw them already. I don't have the most representative pictures, the insides are pretty much the same as in this one. The last one I made for me, out of the fabric I had left and it took more time because I had to saw all the smaller pieces together and get some extra from an altogether different fabric but it's looking just as good (some say even better).

And last but most certainly not least is my new viola case. Well not new but it does look so. In the same fabric store that was already mentioned too many times today I found this fabric quite some time ago and bought it so I would make a bag out of it. I still didn't come to that because I want to make a really special one so I will have to take more than two or three hours one day. But then one friend gave me this idea to somehow adjust my viola case with something British and there it was, I knew instantly what I wanted to do. Even though it really bothers me that this pattern is not exactly precise I went for it (instead of the London map I used for the cushions that I was thinking about as well) because I really do love entire UK and it's now 'written' all over my viola case, plain and simple. ;)

Looking forward to read some comments so please do share your thoughts.
Thank you.

Happy Easter

Or Benedictus Pascha. It's what my lovely friend Eva would prefer. ;)

Hope you had an amazing time with your family and/or friends, took some time for yourselves, rest (probably not from what I know but still)

and most of all experienced and felt once more the love of God that is above all.

But as you all know we still do need earthly food to keep our bodies going and because it's Easter and because we had a big party yesterday at our place I figured I should make something.
And thanks to my friend Joy I knew just what to do. On Monday, on the most amazing pre-Easter party with Vsak študent (Every Student) organisation she made these little chocolate nests and I thank her again for the idea.

It's so easy to make. And no baking.
All you need is dark chocolate for cooking, pretzel sticks and chocolate eggs.
To melt the chocolate you might want to add some butter and/or milk.
And don't worry about the pretzel being salty and chocolate sweet. It couldn't work better together. ;)

 Now the first thing you have to do is crumble the pretzel sticks so they fit in the muffin paper cups and put them in the most random way you can so you form a sort of a nest.

Then melt the chocolate carefully so it doesn't boil and become all gummy. pour it over the sticks and make sure it connects everything so it will stick together later.

On top of it put a chocolate egg so the nest is more obvious.

Now you're pretty much done but do keep them somewhere cold before you serve them so the chocolate hardens and holds everything together.
Before you serve them try to take them out of the paper cup and place it on a tray. Et voilà. You're all set for a perfect Easter themed snack.
Bon appétit! :)