Claudia Fernandes shares her everyday life in her Instagram account and her pictures immediately make everyone feel joy. She's colorful, smiley and has the cutest family.

Let's meet her!

Ahoy Claudia! Welcome to our journal, it’s a pleasure having you here! Could you tell us a bit about yourself? Where do you live? What do you do?

Hello! My name is Claudia and I live in Lisbon, Portugal, with my family. We moved into this apartment three years ago, when we moved back from Berlin, where we lived for five years.

I work in the marketing area and have two kids, Benny and Alice, he's 5 and she's 1 year old. This is the place we call home!

Your pictures are full of color and happiness, and they usually portrait your family and your everyday routine at home or elsewhere. Is your Instagram account a reflection of who you are?

My apartment is a reflection of us as a family. I've always been keen on colors, I'm drawn to yellows, pinks, baby blues... so if I wear black of darker colors it's usually because I'm not feeling happy, it actually reflects on how I feel.

My place is the place where I feel at home so it makes sense to have it as colorful as possible so I can fell comfortable. That reflects also on Instagram because my account is a mirror image of what my life, myself, my family, and my house is. I usually try to document it as much as I can or when I feel like it, it's not something I feel is a need for me, I don't have a calendar or anything but I post when I see something I like, mostly about the kids nowadays.

It's an actual reflection of who I am without any staging, this is me :)

Why is the city of Berlin so special to you? What are your favorite places in the city?

Berlin is my second home, it's actually the place where I feel most like myself. It's a city that gives me a sense of freedom because you can be whatever you want to be, there's no pressure to be successful, to have the best job or to make the most money, it's a place where you can be yourself without any restrictions. You feel the freedom of being whatever you want to be and just live a slow paced life, almost like you live in a forest but within the city.

I felt that Berlin was very focused on family, and work schedules were always around the need to be with your family and to have quality time with them.

My husband, Daniel, started running marathons so it feels like the perfect excuse to go back at least twice a year. I can recommend lots of places in Berlin, like vegan restaurants and parks, we just love them. We used to live in Friedrichshain and we loved to stay there because it has everything we needed, like Boxhagener Platz, with the market on the weekends, and the kids park at Ostkreuz, that it's like a small train station. For food we love Vöner, that serves the most delicious vegan kebabs.

We know you and your family have a thing for whales. Could you tell us a bit about that? Have you ever seen whales?

Yes! We do have a thing for whales. I've always loved whales, especially the humpback and the blue whale, I even have a tatoo of a whale and its baby in my forearm.

We had the opportunity to see whales in the Azores islands, but we saw them very far away. Also, I remember seeing a tail splashing in the distance when we were at the beach and I almost cried, I got so emotional!

My dream is to actually swim with humpback whales. They are huge but they are super friendly. It would be a dream come true to be able to do that.

Also, I would love to go to Australia to visit Migaloo, the only known albino humpback whale in the world, the only one they ever spotted. It's very common to see him in Australia!

Speaking of whales, we know you have our whale bag! How did you know Don Fisher and what’s your favorite thing about it?

I love the concept of Don Fisher, I love its colors... I think it's super creative and well done. Also, I really love the people behind it, I feel like I belong to the community of this fisherman who catches fish without hurting them.

Also, I love that when Don Fisher goes to fairs or markets, the stands are made with the concept in mind and I think that's why I love it so much, because of my connection to the ocean and whales.

I don't remeber exactly when I found out about Don Fisher but it was on Instagram and I remember being like "Oh my God I want it all!". All the details are amazing.

Thank you Claudia! It's been a delight having you and your beautiful family with us today!

You can follow Claudia's adventures on her Instagram account.