The Hive day two

Hi guys!

How are you? I hope it's just as lovely and sunny outside where you are as it is here. :)

Today is my birthday (eeek 26.....), so I'm just dropping in to post part two of my The Hive report and afterwards I'm going to grab some ice-cream with my mum .;)

So about Sunday, the second and last day of the conference: here is what I wore first.

♥ cardi + flats: primark ♥ dress: vila swapped via kleiderkreisel ♥ belt + bracelets: h&m ♥ necklace: jewelmint ♥ bangle: accessorize ♥ watch: new yorker  ♥

The second conference day again offered some really interesting and cool keynotes (if you're interested in the topics you can check them here). I took home some great inspiration and there are a lot of things in my mind concerning the blog, that I will or will not apply on it in the future, we'll see... ;)

Anyway, in general although all keynotes were great, my two very favourites were "The business of blogging" by Designmom (I didn't know her blog before, it's amazing!) and I also really liked the keynote by Zilverblauw because of her likeable and strong way of presentation.

In between the keynotes there were little breaks with yummy lemonade and some of the most delicious muffins I ever had. Oh and then in the afternoon some photography workshops took place, they were categorized in food photography, how to make a home studio and so on. I was able to get some good advice and got to know the image editing software Lightroom for the first time.

Unfortunately Farah and I missed out the last words of the hosts because we had to catch our train back home, but even without the farewell keynote I really enjoyed being part of this conference with all the other bloggers! Kudos to the hosts, speakers and catering for organizing such a cool event! I'd love to visit The Hive 2, 3, 4 and so on in the future and I hope there'll be the chance to do so.

Also a BIG THANK YOU again to Sophie of Kleiderkreisel, who made it possible for us to go on this trip and take part in the event (and also thank you for the great idea of founding Kleiderkreisel, I'm totally back into swapping business since I've returned from Berlin)!

Happy Wednesday to everyone!

now playing: boysetsfire - last year's nest

"The Hive" day one

Hi guys!

Let me tell and show you a bit of my fabulous weekend in Berlin today. To give some background info again: I won a trip to the first European blogger conference "The Hive" in Berlin at a contest at Kleiderkreisel. In the last post I showed you a bit of what Farah (my "plus one") and I did on the day of arrival, this post is about the conference.

First of all, here is what I wore:

♥ cardi: zara ♥ dress: primark ♥ belt: pieces ♥ shoes: h&m swapped via kleiderkreisel ♥ necklace: new yorker ♥ watch: casio ♥

By the way, this red wall was a very popular photo backdrop among the conference visitors ;)

So, on Saturday I unfortunately missed the opening speech and first programme point because I took the wrong subway and tram and whatnot. Anyway, I managed to arrive just in time for the following topics about new and traditional media and the business of blogging.

At first I felt a bit strange sitting there like in university, with the only difference that somebody is speaking about my favourite hobby instead of philosophical problems or American literature, but actually it's great to learn something about blogging with so many other people in the room sharing your love for it.

The Hive took place at a location called betahaus Berlin.

At noon there was a lunch buffet down in the café with some yummy couscous dish. This was the first real chance to mingle with the other bloggers, chat and look forward to the upcoming programme.

A very interesting keynote for me was the one about German laws and legal problems where I learned that posting photos from other sites and linking back is not as legal and okay as I had thought...

There were a lot more different keynotes that afternoon, but I don't want to go into detail too much, so if you're interested, the programme is still online here.

One more thing about Saturday: in the evening there was a The Hive party at the Cosmo hotel. I assume it's a rather exclusive hotel because the prices for drinks were a bit steep. Also there was the important Chelsea-Munich football match on TV, after which unfortunately most of the guests left. However you couldn't blame them, after all it had been an exhausting day with lots of new input. ;)

Farah and I brought the evening to an end at our hotel's bar afterwards.

Oh and here is my party outfit:

So that was day one. You can drop in for the post about day two tomorrow if you like! ;)

Until then I wish you all a lovely day!

now playing: mumford and sons - little lion man

Michelberger Hotel and Szimpla bar

Hi guys!

Farah and I arrived safely in Berlin yesterday and checked in at the really cool Michelberger Hotel in the late afternoon. As the blogger conference didn't start before today, we had the chance to roam the city - or at least "our" district - a bit last night.

But first, here are a few (mobile phone) snapshots of the hotel and our room:




Our room is smaller than expected to be honest, but it's cozy and furnished in a kind of 70s meet country mix with a tad of modern style in the cute little bathroom. However it was a big surprise when we discovered that the shower and bed are only separated by a (yes, transparent!) glass pane, so if you're in bed you could watch the other one taking a shower! Ehm yes, strange idea! I don't know who did the interior design here, but he or she must have been a bit voyeuristic?!
And as the shower/glass pane/bed all point towards the window, even the people from outside could watch you under the shower if you forget to close the curtain.
WTF?! xD

Apart from that, the hotel in general is really stylish! It's full of all sorts of furniture and decoration from different eras, very knick-knacky and shabby chic. There are books on a shelf in most rooms and I read there are even some rooms with instruments to play on or with a Play Station and a projector and whatnot.



In the evening, after resting ourselves a little, we headed out for food and drinks. We grabbed falafel in a Lebanese snack-bar and then looked for a very special place: Szimpla bar.
It's funny because Szimpla actually is a really cool bar in a run-down house in Budapest (I wrote a post about it here), but they also have a "branch" here in Berlin.
Okay, the one here is not in a run-down building and doesn't look as charmingly fucked up as its bigger sister in Hungary, but they offer a great range of Hungarian wines, beers and spirits though.
So we sat there in some lovely vintage armchairs, sipped on our Pálinka and cocktails and made plans for today.
Today is going to be the first conference day, so I'm excited and curious about the program.

Until next time! Have a lovely day! :)