A pink heaven on my feet

It's lovely to live close to one of the most beautiful cities (if not THE most beautiful city) in the world: Venice! We spent last weekend there, enjoying the museums, window shopping and real shopping (obviously), sipping overpriced coffee, visiting the oldest casino in the world, eating ice-cream and loving life! 

There is just one down side when you're from around here: you do wanna dress "Italian style"; fashionable, trendy and not touristy. You wanna show you are from the area which usually comes with pretty but pretty uncomfortable shoes! That, again, is a huge problem when you're in Venice where you walk miles after miles after miles while discovering new streets, trying to find the exhibition site and eventually getting lost on your way back to the hotel. Not so easy. I opted for sneakers for my weekend trip, but trendy ones with a wedge. I admit I had previously never worn them for more than three to four hours at the time while mostly standing or sitting. In Venice however, we walked for hours and hours straight. The first day was somewhat okay but I suffered after just 30 minutes the next day. I obviously needed new sneakers, real ones. I managed to get comfy yet trendy ones: I loooooove my pink Nike Dual Fusion sneakers!!! They feel like heaven and saved my weekend in Venice. I will definitely wear them next time to the lagoon city and make sure to combine them with an Italian brand purse. They already go with my opi nail polish. Good to go!

Stylish water intake

Once in a while my old problem of drinking too little reemerges. I need to constantly pay attention to get enough fluids into me throughout the day. Once every now and then I get a headache attack at night right before going to bed and it happens usually because I forgot to drink a lot.

Italians drink lots of water during meals and I got used to this custom. This helps to hydrate my body but the water with the meals alone is not enough. 

That's why I like to come up with healthy drinks that taste better than plain water and that make me crave fluids even more. Today I made a non-alcoholic Hugo - not so low-calorie but definitely one of my favourites.

Don't know what Hugo is? Hugo has been a popular drink for the past decade around here. It originated in Northern Italy and is the popular summer drink here as well as in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It's base is a prosecco and the special taste comes from the elderberry flower syrup and the mint leaves. Here is the original (alcoholic) Hugo recipe for a great summer drink:

3 ice cubes

2-3 tbs of elderflower flower syrup (the more you use the sweeter the tase)

100 ml of Prosecco 

50 ml of sparkling mineral water

1 tbl of squeezed lime juice

4-5 mint leaves

for a hint of colour throw in a raspberry or a small strawberry

And this is my non-alcoholic Hugo version, basically just leave out the prosecco and add more water:

3 ice cubes

2-3 tbs of elderflower flower syrup (the more you use the sweeter the tase)

250 ml of sparkling mineral water

1 tbl of squeezed lime juice

4-5 mint leaves

for a hint of colour throw in a raspberry or a small strawberry

For a healthier Hugo version use less syrup. This drink does obviously not substitute plain water, as the non-alcoholic Hugo is sugary due to the syrup. I like to sometimes just add some lime and a hint of the syrup to my water just to make water more fun! By the way, I buy the elderberry flower syrup at my local Ikea! Cheers!