Lifestyle

May 21, 2022

That Sweet RV Lifestyle

Kondja Veii

lifestyle, travel

If you have been following me for a while, you know that my family and I decided to make a huge lifestyle change and live in an RV full time, while traveling through the US. We'd been living in Europe for the last 8 years and decided it was time to begin the transition back to life in the States. Only problem with that, we weren't sure where. With me being from the DMV area and Milan from NYC, we just knew that neither cities were where we envisioned setting down roots and raising our family.

RV living has really allowed us to travel far beyond that typical touristy set up and truly immerse ourselves in the culture and surroundings of different states, mimicking what life would be like should we fall in love with a place and decide to set up camp and call it home.

On another level, it's granted us so much freedom and many, many experiences that we probably would've never thought we'd be able to do. For me as a "stay-at-home-mom" and hubby working remote, we've been living our lives from home pre-pandemic. So it wasn't impossible to explore what life could mean for us if we made home mobile.

So far we have sojourned Sedona and Flagstaff, Arizona. Joshua Tree, Palm Springs (a little disappointed that we left before Coachella and Stagecoach, but fingers crossed for next year). Anza Borrego, The Salton Sea, San Diego area, Santa Barbara area (absolutely fell in love with this cute beach town). We did Death Valley for Christmas and drove up for a very Vegas new year. We did a brief stint in Yuma, AZ before setting out on our journey to the East coast.

Heading east we stopped over in El Paso for a couple days, still very much in shock at how close Mexico is. It's how we look at VA from Georgetown in DC and my mind is blown. Please excuse my ignorance, this immigrant girl is not as versed in North American geography as she'd like to be. So, El Paso, then overnighted in Fort Stockton, arrived in San Antonio where we stayed for 3 weeks visiting friends and doing some RV maintenance. We then spent 48 hours in Houston...ahhh Houston. Listen, as much as I love the idea of a house with acres for a vineyard and maybe some hens and goats, my soul really comes alive in the city. Houston did it for me. I also read that it's one of the American cities that has a very extensive restaurant and museum scene. Great for creatives, perfect for artists. Duly noted.

NoLa was next and as excited as I was to experience this notorious city, New Orleans did not live up to the hype. Yes, it's a major city but you'll find way more tourists on a day-to-day basis than a local. The food scene is something to write home about, for sure...but everything seemed to be focused in the French Quarters. Is that all there is to NoLa? Anyway, nightlife seemed to be active, whether it's your kind of vibe is a different story. And as the stereotype goes, for me at least, NoLa is for a quick weekend away with a small group of friends, or a girls' trip (wink wink) or even a semi romantic baecation where all you do is eat, sleep, get fly, repeat. I don't see us returning with the kid in tow, but I am open to give NoLa one more go around.

Pensacola, Florida was beautiful. The weather, the cute little downtown, the postcard beaches with white powdery sand and teal-colored water. All the rumors are true-there's nothing like a Gulf Coast beach. It served us Caribbean beach ratings right here in America. We drove through the charming neighborhoods and it was beach front goals to the fullest. And the sunsets? Soul tinglingly spectacular.

I've anticipated the month of May to be an intense one. On the list of things; putting some plans into motion and finalizing others. The saga of big life changes continues over here and having to adjust to a new new normal has me charged with excitement and anxiousness. While all this is happening I'm just happy that we'll be stationary in Central Florida for the most part. Preparing mentally and hoping for only good things moving forward.

I've pretty much summed up the last 9 months of life on the road and I feel so blessed and content that this is life for us right now. It's not for everyone, this lifestyle, but for anyone who's looking for more..? More adventure, more memories, more time with our kids or partners- yes! It's for everyone looking for another level of connection less to physical things and more to things that inflame different doors to your soul. Everyday I am amazed and in complete awe of our planet, the landscapes that exist and people from all walks of life that decided to make their life what they want it to look like. But that's a conversation for another blog post.

For now, I leave you with a few thoughts that resonated with me a little deeper, and as always, sending good vibes your way.

-Kondja

Blazer: Thrifted

Crop Top: ASOS

Shorts: ASOS

Shoes: Senso (sold out)

Bag: NastyGal (sold out)

Sunnies: MonroRS

February 14, 2021

Love, Love

Read

Kondja Veii

lifestyle

Valentine's Day, you either hate this unofficial holiday or you love it. Between the PDA and couples posts all over social media and people professing their deepest feelings for their significant others, it can be a lot. And depending on where you are (romantically) in your life, it can easily influence you to either ends of the "dis tew much" spectrum.

To me, Valentine's Day is just another day to show the people in your life how much you care about them. Whether it's your partner, or best friend or family members it's really about spreading and sharing the love.

And if you're single or not necessarily interested in spoiling other people, there's always spoiling yourself. From you, to you. Treat yourself to a self care weekend, buy yourself some chocolates and flowers. Make yourself your favorite meal, topped with a cheeky dessert. After all self love, is the best love. So love on yourself a little extra today.

This Valentine's Day I teamed up with the creatives over at AvantGarde Beauty Studio, here in Belgrade. They specialize in all things beauty, decked with certified estheticians, nail techs, hair stylists, make up artists- who's work ranges from regular make up applications (weddings, birthdays, events), to more theatrical, stagecraft style make up. Anything beauty you can think of, they offer the professional service.

We came up with the idea to do something cute and fun, using Rihanna's 2017 Elle cover shot as inspo. I loved working with both Ivana and Filip on this project and cannot wait to share with you all, all the other ideas we have up our sleeves. So what do you guys think? Did we nail it, or what!?

As always, I will be sharing a few shots over on my instagram, so follow me there (@_heyprettyface) if you're not doing so already. And if you are here from instagram, leave me a red heart in the comment section down below, so I know. Sending you all so much love this Valentine's Day xoxo.

Kondja

Studio: @avantgardebg

Creative Director: @urban_clown

MUA: @caniceva

Photog: @ngm011

April 07, 2020

Things I Wish I Knew Turning 30

Read

Kondja Veii

lifestyle, fashion

This year took me for a loop and I was not ready. What started out as eagerness, enthusiasm, optimism, and overall contentment on turning the big 3-0. Quickly turned into confusion, frustration and a whole lot of adult anxiety. It seemed like I was being tested in all aspects of life.

The confidence that took me years to build came crashing down like a ton of bricks and up to now I still can’t pin point when and where the diversion began. Needless to say, my 30^th year was centered around relearning myself, rewiring my thinking, reengaging with my passions and taking on new approaches to things I thought I had on lock. Like motherhood. In the time that I was going through a mental renovation, my toddler decided to assume a completely new personality. Things that were a breeze for us like going to the park or just being with him by myself became such a struggle and mental mind fuck. At the time, I didn’t know what was going on and resentment decided to let itself in the back door.

Resentment toward myself for not being good enough and patient enough to handle my own child, resentment towards the husbae for not taking me seriously and making it seem like I was always overreacting, and lastly toward my son because what happened! You were always so good! What happened? Of course, at the time I didn’t know this is what I was feeling, only now that I’ve had time to process can I put this experience, this time into words. As I type I can’t help but feel ashamed that I allowed these emotions to consume me in this way.

So, motherhood took an unexpected turn, cool. Then self-doubt reintroduced itself, hello old frenemy. Wtf do you want now? Well, let me just say, self-doubt is a bastard. Constantly having mini panic attacks when you’re presented with opportunities you prayed for, only to suddenly feeling like you’re so unworthy and incapable of executing on them has to be one of the worst feeling ever. And then self-doubt comes in with the game winning bucket called comparison and envy. Cringe.

I’ve had to be intentional once I realized what was happening to my mental state. It was deteriorating slowly before me, but I wasn’t sure if anyone else realized it. How could they, after all, no one I know has mind reading powers. Being someone who’s a “don’t worry ill figure it out myself” kind of person, I’ve had to constantly talk myself into communicating my feelings, whether I think they’re trivial or not. By communicating what I was feeling, when I was feeling it, allowed me to acknowledge and expose the source of chaos and give it a name. Progress!

I decided to give going natural another chance. Moment of silence for my confidence. I know you’re probably thinking “okay, and..?” but no one told me the amount of “sitting with yourself” this would need. On top of getting braces! A goofy smile and untamed hair, this was elementary school all over again. Let’s face it guys, I’m a blogger. I take pictures of myself for fun. It’s a humbling, confidence crushing time and I’ve had to figure out different ways to build myself up. We’ve managed to make some progress in that regard and my solution as of now is taking it a day at a time. Ask me again tomorrow and it may be a different story. I’ve always said being a blogger, takes a certain level of self-security (that I thought I had) but it’s brutal y’all. All I’m saying is, if you see me with a new chin, mind your business.

The year of 30 was a revolving door of Instagram vs reality scenarios, to the point where my whole being needed a moment of stillness to come to terms with the changes that need to happen and the work that needs to be done. I would say throw the whole year 30 away but I needed the wakeup call. I feel like this was God’s way of telling me to chill out, be present and stay grateful. Yes, a lot of things happened that left me confused, but a whole lot of amazing things happened too. By focusing on all the negatives, I let all the positives come and go without giving God the recognition and praise He deserves. Everything in my life was being taken for granted and God said “fine, I’ll just take some things away then”.

Faith and spirituality are both such a personal thing, to me, that I would never impose my beliefs onto another. But in the same breath, I’d be a selfish fool to think that I get to skip to the part where He grants me all my hearts desires without acknowledging Him first. Walking into 31, I’d like to first thank God for life. Overall, I am happy, I am healthy, my family- the same. We are all so blessed and we want for nothing. I’ll continue to work on myself with the understanding that I can't do it without Him. I will continue to give God the glory and thank Him for all He has done and for all that He’s going to do. I feel like if I can stay focused on that mindset, everything else will fall into place.

As I reread this thought piece, the word that keeps coming to mind is GRATITUDE. Which is something that we should all be practicing as a verb and not a noun. And so I'll leave you with this quote that writes... “the more you are in a state of gratitude, the more you will attract things to be grateful for.”

Cheers to making 31 one to remember, to staying grateful, to living intentionally, to manifesting abundance, and to praising God in the hallway until He opens the next door.

-Kondja

Suit: Thrifted

Bra: Women’s Secret

Socks: Fendi

Necklaces: Ombu Homemade

December 12, 2019

Munich: A Visual Diary

Read

Kondja Veii

travel, lifestyle

Earlier this year, my partner and I jumped at the opportunity to spend some time together without our little one. He had a work thing, I didn’t have any commitments that weekend, it was perfect timing. To be fair, we had also just spent the whole month of January traveling as a family and were just overdue for some alone time and a night out.

Like most parents who finally get baby free time, we were ambitious with our plans. In reality, we slept in, we were spontaneous with our restaurant choices (if you’ve got toddlers you know how risky that can be), we spent the whole day jumping in and out of museums, bookstores and palaces without worrying about the time or the weather, and when we felt like having dinner, we got to freely indulge in drinks without having to worry about getting someone back to the hotel in time for their bedtime routine.

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves on this trip. If you ever find yourself in Munich, Makula if you’re up for a taste of West African fusion food. Restaurant Savanna for Southern African cuisine. Marienplatz is the standard must-see locale. Maximilian Strasse is a fashion lover’s dream come true. Isator Park for the impressive graffiti wall art. And lastly, The Munich Residence in the middle of downtown is an absolute playground for all travel bloggers and history enthusiasts.

Happy traveling guys!

-Kondja

Bag: A small Italian boutique

Sneakers: Nike

December 12, 2019

Hair Trends Or Transitional Natural?

Read

Kondja Veii

fashion, lifestyle

According to Harper’s Bazaar the No.1 predicted hairstyle for this summer was the blunt bob. But I’m always late to the trend party and had no idea about this walking into the hair salon. Honestly, I’d been transitioning and wanted to get rid of my relaxed ends. A blunt bob is what I left the salon with. And I totally get why this style made it to the number 1 spot. Although the article mentioned an ode to the 70’s I felt like I traveled back in time but to the 90’s. Effortlessly sexy, free and definitely bombshell worthy.

I was getting the whole 90’s video vixen vibe so it was only right I played the part. Think…Pharrel’s “frontin’” video. Gosh I love that song!

-Kondja

Denim jumpsuit: Zara
Shoes: Simmi Shoes
Basket bag: Zara
Scarf: Vintage Shop in Brooklyn