A Coffee Date at Nucha

You may remember from one of my last posts that I went to have a coffee date with one of my blogger friends Maggie from Ohmagblog recently, but I never showed you all the pictures from that day!

We went to have some coffee and sweets in a place I like a lot but I didn't have the chance to go in a long time. The place is called Nucha and it has some really delicious cakes and pastries.

I normally don't go to this place because it's a little bit expensive and also because it's located in Palermo and I don't visit that area that often. But, as I needed to get some good photos for my blog that day we decided to go somewhere special.

The truth is that during weekends all the nice coffee places in Palermo are all packed with people so we ended up going to Nucha because they have a couple of seats available so I decided to stay there. It was a great choice because I remembered how much I love this place! 

Nucha has a very beautiful decoration, very clean and bright. It's one of those places that you feel cozy and comfortable to be there. Also, the food is delicious, they have many great options to have lunch but my favorite time to go there is in the afternoon for some coffee and tea because I love their cakes and pastries. 

On that day, I chose to have some organic green tea along with a cinnamon roll which was absolutely delicious. Maggie chose a coffee and some waffles with yogurt and fruits. Not only they looked great for pictures but I can imagine they were also delicious. 

Anyway, I hope you like these pictures and I invite you all to check out Maggie's blog because she has a great style and I love her content :) Also, let me know what is your favorite thing to order when you go for a coffee date with your friends? I'm very curious to know! :)

3 Ways to Have More Fun During the FIFA World Cup

I know, I know this is a little bit off-topic but I really can't hide my excitement about the FIFA World Cup starting this week!!! If you have been reading Seize your Style for a while and maybe following me through Social Media, you may already know that I'm a huge (and I mean HUGE) football fan. In fact, when I was younger I wanted to become a sports journalist so I really enjoy writing about sports, and especially football, whenever I can. 

Anyway, for any football fan, the World Cup is a big highlight and a very exciting month, full of great matches to watch every single day. It's the opportunity to see all of the most amazing players and teams from all over the world competing together. But even if you are not that much into football, it doesn't mean that you can't enjoy and have fun during this time. That's why I thought about putting together this post and sharing 3 simple ways to enjoy and have more fun during the World Cup! Let's get started!!! 

First time I went to see a match of my team Boca Juniors, you can see my face full of excitement

1- Organize some gatherings with your friends to watch the matches

To me, football is all about getting together, I do enjoy watching a match alone but there is nothing like watching an important match with a group! The World Cup gives you a lot of opportunities to organize some gatherings with your friends, family, co-workers, almost anyone, to enjoy the match. You will feel a lot more excited when you are surrounded by other people because the excitement is contagious and also you can prepare your favorite food and drinks to enjoy it even more! ;)

I watch a match with the Croatian crowd during the Eurocup in 2016, it was so much fun!

2- Create a betting competition with your friends

There is nothing more fun than trying to guess the match results and organizing a betting challenge or competition with your friends. You don't necessarily need to know anything about football to guess your results. It's all about intuition, because sometimes during the World Cup some of the craziest results can occur, so I recommend following your gut on this one. Also, it's a great way to get more engaged with all the football matches, because you will always have a team you are cheering for! 
In addition, it's not necessary to bet money or having any prize for this competition is just to have some extra fun with your friends. 

3- Get creative with your outfit or makeup to support your team

During the World Cup, it's the best time to get creative and put together a special outfit to support your team! Also if you like makeup you can even create a special look with the colors of your team or a special nail art, the options are endless!! 

Left: When I was supporting Croatia during the Euro 2016 because I was there. Right: Showing my love for Argentina. This picture is super old but I love it! :P

So, even if you are not a big football fan there are a lot of things to do to have fun during the World Cup. I always feel a general excitement and positive vibe around this event so that's why it's my favorite sports competition. Anyway, I would love to know if you follow any sports competition and in case you also enjoy the World Cup let me know your plans for this amazing month!! :) 

Afternoon Tea at L'Orangerie

L'Orangerie is definitely one of my favorite spots in Buenos Aires. It's for sure the best place to enjoy the most perfect afternoon tea and I was very lucky to go there last week with one of my best friends to celebrate my birthday! 
It is located inside the Alvear Palace Hotel in Recoleta neighborhood and it has one part that it's like a winter garden and the other part it's located in the middle of the hotel. The Alvear Palace Hotel is one of the most beautiful and traditional hotels in the city so it's always very special to visit.

Their afternoon tea service includes very tasty sandwiches, scones, the most delicious French-style pastries and it also includes a cake, which you can choose. Along with that, you can enjoy different blends of tea but also you can drink coffee or hot chocolate. In my case, I have decided to enjoy their special Alvear tea blend which has almonds and rose petals and it was perfect!

One of the things, my friend and I loved about this place is that you can totally feel like a princess because everyone that works in the hotel treats you like that! The staff is extremely kind and professional but also very warm and friendly and that was a huge plus!

In addition, the decoration is completely stunning and luxurious so it was a perfect experience to enjoy that delicious tea and sweets at the most beautiful place in Buenos Aires. I hope you like the pictures and please let me know if you also like this kind of places! 

Argentina Travel Bucket List

I think it is time already for me to share a travel bucket list from my own country! I know I have been choosing to travel overseas in the last opportunities but that doesn’t mean that there are no interesting places to visit in Argentina. It’s quite the opposite actually, there are tons of incredible places that I really want to visit soon.

Argentina is a very large and diverse country, you can get almost any kind of landscape you want to see here, from the coast of the Atlantic Ocean to the mountains of La Cordillera de Los Andes, you have forest, jungles, waterfalls, and of course the classic Pampa Humeda, with endless green fields.

So, for today’s post, I would like to show what the top places from Argentina that are currently on my travel bucket list. Let’s start!

Iguazu Waterfalls

This has to be my number one travel destination for sure. I have mentioned it before here on the blog, I totally love waterfalls. Wherever there is a waterfall in a country I’m visiting I have to go see it. So, it’s so funny that having the Iguazu Waterfalls very close to the place I live, I still haven’t seen them. They are considered one of the world’s seven wonders and I can understand why! They are massive and very impressive!!! In addition, Iguazu Waterfalls also offers a lot to see in regards to animal species and jungle environment. So this is, without a doubt a very interesting place to visit!

Image Source: Gerencia de Viajes

Perito Moreno Glacier

This is another place that I can’t understand how come I haven’t visited yet! This glacier is located in the southern part of Argentina right by the mountains and close to the border with Chile. Not only you can see a great glacier formation but also the whole landscape is beyond beautiful with the mountains and the forest. It really looks like a very quiet and peaceful place. I have also heard recently that this is the biggest glacier in the world that you can appreciate from a very close point. But what is even better is that you can actually book a tour to walk on the glacier!! Imagine how cool that must be! I really would love to try it!

Image Source: Happy Tellus

Image source: patriciagallardo.com

Salinas Grandes

Going to the northern part of Argentina, the landscape varies a lot! We say goodbye to the green landscapes full of trees and rivers and we go to an almost different world. Dryer but not because of that less interesting. The mountains turn from green to red and other different colors because of the minerals they have and the vegetation becomes less frequent. In the middle of this region, you can find an incredible place: The Salinas. A huge extensión of salt, it’s like a desert but instead of having sand all around you have salt, which has the most incredible White color. I can’t tell you how many amazing pictures I have seen from this place. So, that’s why I wanted to include it on my bucket list, you should definitely google it!

Image Source: Perfil Turismo

Image Source: Hills to Heels

Ushuaia

Last but not the least I want to include Ushuaia, the city at the end of the world! How crazy must feel to be so close to the Antartic. Not only because of that, this city has many interesting things to see, you can also go by boat to see the Beagle channel, you also have mountains to practice some ski and the landscape I’m sure won’t disappoint anyone because it’s so impressive.

Image Source: Patagonia.net

Image Source: Tolkeyen Patagonia

Well, these are my top spots to visit in Argentina, I hope you like them and please let me know if you have a travel bucket list from your own country. Also, I would love to know if you plan to visit Argentina someday.

So Many Reasons to Give Back

Giving back is a very important practice that I strongly believe we should all incorporate into our lives. In a world that is full of violence, poverty, inequality, and many other negative things, we have the power to change that with our actions. And giving back should be our first step.
No matter where you live or in which situation you are there are tons of opportunities and things you can do to help others. No matter how small you think your contribution may be, it may completely change the world for someone else who is in need. 

So, why it's so important to give back? Well, the main reason is that it contributes to creating a better world. In this planet, every action that we make has its consequences. We receive exactly what we put out there in the universe so, the more positive actions we make, the better the world would become. It's as simple as that. So if you start helping others, you may encourage other people in your circle to do the same and that will have a better impact in the world. Imagine what would happen if all of us started to help and contribute to those causes we care about? I'm sure the result would be amazing.
The second great reason to give back is that you will totally change somebody else's life! Even our smallest actions could mean the world to someone else, because we will be helping them to get more opportunities and resources to build a better future for themselves and what could be more rewarding than that?
And last but not the least, giving back will make us feel better about ourselves as well, because, as I said, we will be making a positive impact in our community and the world. Also, when we start giving back to others, we realize how abundant our life is, how many things and opportunities we have. So, this is the best way to thank for all of those things and share this abundance with others. It definitely creates a positive circle because as you start feeling better about yourself by helping others you will want to do it more!

So, now that you have decided to give back and make this positive impact in the world, how do you do it? There are two main ways that you can help:
- By giving your time to a cause that is close to your heart. This means to volunteer in an organization that is involved with this cause. I think this option is by far the most rewarding because you can see your impact first hand. It's true that not all of us have enough time to volunteer but if you do, I highly recommend it because I'm sure it will change your life!
- By giving your resources to a cause. This could be either contribute to an organization with a donation of money or items (food, clothes, blankets, anything you can think of). This will help the organization to reach out to more people and even if you are not directly involved in the action you know that your help is key to achieve this! For double the impact, you can even give both your time and money by organizing a fundraising event.

The Organizations I Currently Support:

In my case, I have started to donate to two different organizations a couple of years ago. What motivated me to do this was that I was receiving a lot of good things in my life and I really felt like I needed to give something back as I way to express my gratitude. So, I started contributing to Aldeas Infantibles, in the first place, and then to Banco de Alimentos. These two organizations are related to causes that are important to me: helping children and fighting against the tragedy of hunger in Argentina.

Aldeas Argentinas SOS Argentina

Aldeas Infantiles SOS is an ONG that was founded back in 1949 in Austria and it currently operates in 134 different countries around the world. It mainly focuses on children that have lost their family care and the organization tries to provide them a warm home where they can be protected and taken care of through their programs. This ONG started working in Argentina 36 years ago to promote, protect and re-establish the fundamental children rights and they are currently taking actions in 4 different provinces here.
What I loved about this organization is that they are very open and they organize events, in which you can go and see for yourself how the work is being done, you can meet the children you are helping and that means a lot me. So if you want to learn more about this organization and get involved with them I recommend checking out their website! As I said before they are an international ONG so I'm sure you can find them in your country.

Image Source: Aldeas Infantiles Facebook Site

Banco de Alimentos

This is an organization that takes care of getting food donations and making sure they reach the people who need it the most. Banco de Alimentos works as a bridge between the food industry and the soup kitchen and institutions that receive help. The organization receives donations from companies, farmers, and supermarkets of food that has come out of the commercial market but it's still perfectly fit for consumption and distribute it to more than 675 organizations based in the city of Buenos Aires and the Greater Buenos Aires. In that way, they contribute to feeding more than 93 thousand people per day, 80% of whom are children and teenagers. 
In addition, Banco de Alimentos is a member of the Argentinian Network of Food Banks and is part of the Global Food Banking Network, based in the United States. 
Learn more about this organization and how you can help by clicking here! 

Image Source: Banco de Alimentos Facebook Site

Those are the two causes I'm supporting at the moment but, as I was writing this post, I realized that there are a lot of other causes and organizations I would like to support as well, especially the ones that are related to education because I strongly believe education is the key to change the future. I'm very grateful for the education I have received and I realize how much being able to learn new things has changed the way I think and see the world. Also having a better education has a huge impact on the opportunities and resources you will be able to get in the future so I believe that good quality education should be available for all. That's why I also want to mention two organizations that are directly involved in this cause and that I would really love to support too.

Enseña por Argentina (Teach for All)

I have learnt about this organization a few years ago and I always dreamt about working with them because their objective is to involve and coach young professionals to teach in communities that live in high conditions of social vulnerability in order to assure that everyone has the opportunity to receive good quality education that allows them to build their future and to improve their communities as well.
This organization is part of a global movement that works with the objective of ending up with social inequality through educational quality and leadership.
If you would love to contribute to this movement don't hesitate to check out their website to learn more about this ONG. They are also part of an international network so I'm sure you will be able to find one in your country.

Image Source: Enseña por Argentina Facebook Site

Cimientos

This is an organization that designs and implements educational programs that strive to promote equal opportunities for those vulnerable populations and contributes to the quality of education as well.
Their educational programs are being implemented in Argentina as well as Uruguay and Colombia, in cooperation with other organizations in those countries.
Cimientos' programs are designed to make sure that the students in vulnerable conditions are able to finish high school through student grants and coaching in different skills that will help them to project their future and their opportunities. The organization also helps them to get a job or continue their studies at university. 
If you want to know more about this organization and their work please go to their website to find out how you can help!  

Image Source: Cimientos Facebook Site

So, as you can see there are many different options to give back and you don't really need to be a millionaire to contribute to a cause. Even a small amount of your time, money or resources can make a huge difference! I hope this post has inspired you to look for an organization that works with a cause that is important to you and to start taking actions towards a better world!

Las Violetas, a Classic Place in Buenos Aires

Este post no lo tenía exactamente planeado pero, como la semana pasada fui con mi familia a almorzar a un lugar muy clásico y típico de Buenos Aires que realmente me fascinó, era necesario que se los compartiera acá en el blog!
El lugar del que les hablo es la Confiteria Las Violetas y esta ubicada en el barrio de Almagro. Fue fundado en el año 1884!! Así que realmente es un lugar con muchísima historia para ir a almorzar o a disfrutar de un rico té o café con tortas y facturas. Tengo que admitir que cuando entré por primera vez no podía creer lo hermoso y bien preservado que está el edificio.
La atracción principal adentro está dada por los vitrales que son enormes y muy hermosos! Todo el mundo estaba sacándoles fotos debido a que eran muy llamativos y son, sin duda, algo que no se ve todos los días. Los vitrales reflejan de manera perfecta la elegancia y el glamour de aquellos días en los que el restaurant fue construído.
Como mencioné antes, fuimos a Las Violetas para el almuerzo y yo me pedí una ensalada Caprese que estaba muy rica y fresca. Luego, me pedí una taza de café negro y como se estaba haciendo tarde y el lugar se estaba llenando de gente que venía a tomar el té, vimos pasar un montón de riquisimas tortas, facturas y sandwiches a nuestro alrededor. No saben lo tentadores que se veían!
Espero que les guste este post y espero poder volver pronto a Las Violetas para disfrutar de su servicio de té! 

This actually wasn't a planned post but, last week I went to have lunch with my family to a very classic and typical place in Buenos Aires and I was so amazed by it that I had to share it with you on the blog! 
The place is called Confiteria Las Violetas and it's located in Almagro. It was founded back in 1884!!! So it really is a very historic place to go for lunch or to enjoy some coffee, tea and pastries. I have to confess that when I entered there I couldn't believe how beautiful and well preserved this building is. 
The main attraction inside are for sure the huge and colourful vitraux. Everybody was taking pictures of them because they are really breathtaking and something that you don't see every day. The vitraux reflect perfectly the elegance and glamour of these old days when this restaurant was built.
As I mentioned before, we went there to have lunch and I ordered a Caprese salad which was very delicious and fresh. After that, I enjoyed a hot cup of black coffee and as the place was getting full of people who were going there to enjoy their tea, we could see a lot of cakes, pastries and sandwiches all around us. They look incredibly tempting!!
I hope you like this post and I'm sure I will be going back to Las Violetas to enjoy the tea service next time! :)

Incluso los baños eran hermosos / Even the toilette was beautiful!