February Faves!

I have decided that at the end of every month I will post via pictures all my favourite moments/things from that month. This is only the first of the series, so let's see how it goes. Also it will force me to post at least once per month. I'm sort of bad at this keeping a blog going, but I'm sure I'll get better :)

Absolutely can't get enough of cinnamon tea, especially in the morning when I wake up. It has such a delicious aroma and it makes any day better.

 

So I have sort of been listening to Ed Sheeran on repeat. My favourite songs are probably: The A Team, Lego House, Kiss Me, Give Me Love, and Little Bird. I think I listened to Kiss Me at least 30 times in a day. This album is so good.

This is my absolute favourite mascara brand and brush. I've been using it for two years now and haven't found gone back to any other mascara since. There are no clumps and it makes my eye lashes look long and voluminous.   

 

What can I say except I'm loving this new style of cardigans! I haven't gotten a hold of one that I like and in my price range, but I'm sure one day I will be lucky to add this to my wardrobe. The first week I would probably want to wear it every day, but don't worry I will resist the temptation. 

Just one of those days...

Now that I am back from my holidays (yes it was very long) and not really working at the present, I will try to be more diligent and persistant about keeping a blog. During my holidays, I had a lot of time to reflect on life and my plans for the future. I have decided to scratch out my initial plans of going to Paris. I realized, I'm not sure if this is good or bad, but I miss the student life. I love living with my parents and not have to worry about the daily frustrations of working, studying and paying bills, but I also enjoyed that part of my life. The one thing if I take any from my experiences living in Costa Rica, is the well-known phrase pura vida. The phrase plainly translates as "pure life," but the locals use it in almost everyday life whether it be as a form of greeting to just explaining that's how things are. It's become my new mantra to remind me to enjoy life and what it has to offer at the present. Not to mention to try and not take even the small things for granted. I am trying to do that. Slowly. But I never expected it to be immediate.

I still want to achieve a few of the goals I made for myself during my "Paris phase." That includes me already signing up for Pilates classes. My first one was on Tuesday and surprisingly it wasn't too bad for someone who only does Pilates irregularly at home via Youtube videos. The Pilates instructor even noted my gracefulness and asked if I used to be a dancer. Ha! Also with that, I have decided to stop weighing myself, at least for the rest of the month. I have become too obsessed with numbers and worrying "oh no, I'm 2 kg more today. WTF?!" Well, no more of that!

Here's to a good start, yes. Cheers!

Je t'aime Paris

 

Probably like every girl that grew up watching romantic comedies, I had a strong attraction to anything French. I started in 5th grade learning French and began to idolize well-know French actresses like Audrey Tautou, Marion Cotillard, Carla Bruni, and Brigitte Bardot. I hoped to travel to Paris and fall in love with some French guy who would sweep me off my feet. Then we would live somewhere in Provence with our beautiful children and a cute medium-sized dog. That was my dream! But you know what I'm still young and who knows what can happen and where life will take you. In a few months I plan on taking a trip on my own to London and Paris for the first time. I have a few internal goals I would like to achieve before I make it there.

Goals:
1. Figure out my plans after I visit London and Paris.
2. Reach my GW2 or GW3
3. Have clear skin
4. Make enough money to buy clothes and be stylish when I get to London and Paris
5. Remember my French, so that if I do meet my French dream guy I won't feel like an idiot for not knowing how to say anything intelligent.

Minty Goodness!

I have a slight obsession to everything mint. If possible I would make a whole room in tribute to this glorious colour. Here are just a few of my shared obsessions:

 

 

 

  

Imagining That I Can

I've always been sort of big on visualization. If you don't know what it is or have heard about but don't know exactly what it is, here is a definition:

a visual image: a mental image that is similar to a visual perception.

wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

As good ol' Wikipedia would put it:

Creative visualization is the technique of using one's imagination to visualize specific behaviors or events occurring in one's life.^[7] Advocates suggest creating a detailed schema of what one desires and then visualizing it over and over again with all of the senses (i.e., what do you see? what do you feel? what do you hear? what does it smell like?).^[8][9] For example, in sports a golfer may visualize the perfect stroke over and over again to mentally train muscle memory.^[1]

So I have tried this for a few things in my life, and only now have realized the power of true visualization. If I really put my energy into believing it is possible, well I'll be darned, but it sure is. I have tried picking up that habit again, as it is always a nice one to have, and am finding it challenging at the moment. I've become preoccupied with a lot of other things and haven't had time to really stop and just visualize. But it's only been the first week, so I will keep you updated later on.

Nothing in Particular

I swear this song has been playing on loop in the back of my brain for the past week and a half.

Dear Self

So I was recently cleaning up some papers that I had shoved into a single notebook while I was moving. And I came upon a letter I wrote to myself when I was very down in the dumps. I've always been the type to love messages in a bottle or the time-capsules that you made in middle school and then opened them years later. This was sort of like that, except it was a single letter sort of explaining how I felt at that moment. At the same time, I was telling myself not to feel like that and to think of the moment as something I can overcome. Not too bad for being slightly depressed, right?

Well here is a copy of the letter:

Dear Self,

I hope you know what you're doing, but I guess if you were, I wouldn't be writing you this letter. So what exactly am I talking about? Your life, of course. So, you've hit quite a few roadblocks in the past couple of months and you've wanted to give up more than once. But you didn't! You kept moving forward. Sure, it was hard to stay positive and you had doubts about even your faith in God. But that's what life is about.

I know that you know all of the things I'm telling you. But sometimes it's good to read them outside of your head. It's good to be reminded about these things, even if it's coming from yourself. You act tough, but I know deep down you're as soft as clay. But that doesn't mean you crumple easily in the face of defeat.

You're very scared that things might not go the way you planned but that's okay. You're adaptable. Your life has prepared you for this moment. When things get challenging , you don't immediately say, "I surrender." You ask, "How can I get through this and succeed?"Sure, not all battles can be won, but all that matters is that you give it your all.

Of course, it's always easier said than done. Don't let THE MOMENT define YOU; instead YOU must define THE MOMENT. I've witnessed experiences where I thought the situation might never get better, but they have. With time, the pain stops hurting and days get a little brighter. It's not to say they won't get bad ever again, but that it's more of a continuous up-AND-down than an up-OR-down feeling. This too shall pass.

For now, forever keep that chin up. Just remember that all the things you've gotten through have lead you to where you stand now. You are strong. If you weren't, you wouldn't have been born. If you were able to get through all of those past experiences, then nothing can stop you. Even if you believe you can't do it now, just know there are many who know you can. I will always believe in you.

Sincerely,
Your Past

P.S. Read this whenever you feel like giving up.