"The Fault In Our Stars" by John Green

In the past I've tried to define what I want to do with this blog: do I want to be a beauty blogger? Lifestyle blogger? Fashion blogger? But truth be told, I dislike labels and I don't think I could ever stick to one thing. In my opinion, limits kill creativity and I don't want to feel pressured (by myself) to write about one thing and one thing only. Why do that when I can blog about whatever I like? Exactly!

That being said, you may or may not know I'm an English student, so I read an awful lot, whether it's for class or on my own. A while ago, a good friend of mine started reading John Green's infamous book The Fault In Our Stars, which you have probably heard of by now as the movie is due this year I believe. She said I had to read it "but not in public because you're going to cry your eyes out" and so I did!

In a nutshell
Hazel Grace is a 16 year old girl who has been diagnosed with lung cancer. In order for her to leave the house and cheer up a bit, her mother suggests she should attend a Cancer Suport Group at the church. There she meets charming and charismatic cancer survivor, Augustus Waters, and together they will embark in the adventure of finding out what it truly means to be in love and to feel alive. 

Thoughts

In all honesty, it has to be one of the best books I read in 2013. I found myself smiling more than once while reading it, but when I finished I also felt like I'd ran out of tears. It's obviously a sad story, but it's portrayed in a way that doesn't make you think of the characters as "ill kids", but just kids. Teenagers living their lives. It's brilliant, devastating, funny and frustrating at the same time.

What I found particularly thrilling about the way this book is written is that the author is an adult man, who could've easily failed at portraying the mind of a 16 year old girl, making her sound like a parody of a teenager. It's nothing like it - John Green makes you believe every word that comes out of Hazel Grace. When it comes to female lead characters I always find it very difficult to really like them, because one way or another I always end up thinking they are annoying and/or selfish. With Hazel, though, you've got no other choice but to end up loving her like a friend.

Worth the hype?
YES. Definitely. Don't hesitate to pick it up if you haven't yet because you won't regret it. I know I don't - it's a story that I'm certain will stay with me for a long, long time.

As you can see in the pictures above, I'm now the proud owner of that lovely box thanks to my grandma, so I may or may not be writing my thoughts on the other books soon! I already started reading Looking For Alaska (I'm only 17 pages in, though!) so we'll see. :)

See you soon,

Tania x

January/Sales Wishlist

Hello everybody! How's January treating you all so far? I probably shouldn't be blogging since I have the scariest test of my life on Wednesday, buuuut... I needed a break! (And a great friend told me, "If you're feeling overwhelmed either write on your blog or talk to me" ❤)

It's that time of the year again when we're dying to go shopping and splurge some of our Christmas money on the January sales. I am particularly excited this year and thought I'd share with you some of the items I want to get my hands on this month.

1. Borg denim jacket

I have been trying to get one of these jackets for so long but I never seem to find any when I go shopping! Hopefully that will change soon. The one in the collage above is from Topshop (76€), as seen on Harry Styles' sister Gemma and Zoe Sugg/Zoella in her vlogmas videos. 

2. Tartan scarf

Another classic that my closet is lacking. Probably not a very exciting item, but I really can't wait to have one. The one in the picture is from Boohoo ($24). 

3. Black ankle boots

Now I don't know why they look brown-ish on the picture, but I've had my eyes on a pair of black ankle boots from H&M (can't find the link, but they are about 30€) since I tried on a similar pair in New Look back in September when I went to London. I already have all kinds of outfits in my mind to match with these boots so I better find them!

4. B&N skirt

When shopping with my friend Nerea last week, she got a skirt that I absolutely love but they didn't have my size so sad times for me. Anyway while looking for a similar one to add to the collage I randomly found this one from Mango which I really like as well! I have not seen it in stores here in Spain but hopefully it will be there when I go shopping next!

5. Black collared shirt

I have never been one to wear collars, but then again, I haven't tried one on in about ten years. I'd like to change that and give them another try and I'm in love with that plummy red colour so I think if I could find a similar shirt I would be a very pleased gal. The one in the picture is from Oasis (£38).

6. Album & DVDs

I wasn't sure whether I should include these or not but I really want them, so why not! I have been obsessed with Now You See Me ever since I watched it a couple of weeks ago (Dave Franco might have had something to do with that... but really, it's GOOD) and The Perks of Being a Wallflower is one of my favourite books and I do believe they did a wonderful job with the movie, so I'd like to purchase both of them. Also, Fall Out Boy's new album Save Rock and Roll needs to be mine since I'm going to see them on March! Yipeeeeee!

What about you guys? 

Anything that Santa forgot & you can't wait to have? :)

Tania x

 

Happy 2014!: NYE and Resolutions

Third post in four days and, most importantly, my first post of the year! Hopefully it's just the first of many more to come... But we'll get to that.

I hope you all had a fabulous start of the year. For me, these pictures basically sum up my night. I decided to stay home for NYE this year instead of going out so I spent the first few hours of 2014 laughing, dancing, eating and drinking with my lovely family. I even learned that, while my two year old cousin may not be able to say much just yet, she sure does know how to say "fiesta!" and there may or may not be a video of me dancing to Best Song Ever with her. This cheeky little kid.

To be quite honest with you I don't recall ever having New Year's resolutions. 2013 was not nearly as good as I wanted it to be, though, so why not try and twist things around? That being said, this year I hope to...

> Stop being so much of a worrier. 
If there's a solution to the problem, just find it and move on. And if there isn't, going crazy about it won't do much anyway!

> Stress less/stop putting extra pressure on myself. 
The last few months of 2013 were awful partly because I kept pushing myself harder and harder, so I'm determined to find a way to take things easier this year.

> Come out of my shell a little bit.

I definitely need to open up, step out of my comfort zone and stop being so shy. I'm hoping the first two resolutions above will help me accomplish this one!

> Blog more! 
"I don't have the time" needs to stop beingan excuse to avoid writing. I'm yet to find the direction I want to take with this blog, but I will find the time, simply because I love it.

>Stop putting things off.
If you want to do something, just do it! Don't put it off. Take risks. Bring your projects to life. "Time passes by, young lady. You have a long life and you can start by making it great right now." :) (OTH S3E14)

So that's about it. I honestly couldn't wait for 2013 to come to an end so I'm really happy and excited for what's to come this year. I hope it brings you all lots of love and happiness!

Happy 2014 ❤

Tania x

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Turning 20!

Eeekk pictures have been taken with my dad's new camera, which I don't really know how to work (and some of them with the worst lightning), so apologies if some of the pictures are a bit blurry.

The time has come when I have to make a little change in my bio - I'm not nineteen, I'm twenty! Woah there. It sounds like such a big number. At least to my four year old cousin, who burst out crying and told me she didn't want me to get "old and ugly and wrinkly" just yet the day before my birthday. Lovely.

I don't remember having had such a nice birthday since I would go to those indoors amusement parks for kids. I stopped doing that when I turned 10, I believe, so you do the math. I didn't do anything particularly exciting thish year, but somehow it was special. I was in the greatest of moods, spent my day with some of my favourite people on Earth, got the most thoughtful gifts (see those customized mugs?!) and overall I was just overwhelmed with the love and kindness of the people around me. And to finish off my day, my sister and I had my favourite kind of night: we jumped into our sheep and reindeer onesies and watched One Direction's This Is Us, which was one of my presents from my grandad. I don't think I can ask for more!

So this is my first -cheesy- post as a 20 year old. In all honesty, I'm so grateful. For my family, my friends and my life in general. Thank you for making it all so worth it. 

I'm now off to listen to my brand new copy of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' The Heist full blast while trying to decide what to wear tonight. I hope you all have a fun night and a  wonderful start of the year. 

See you in 2014 :)

Tania x

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Dark days

 

"And then the cold came, the dark days, when fear crept into my mind..."

It feels even wrong to come back here after ignoring everything related to the blogging-verse for the past few months. I'm not going to say I'm sorry because I've got my reasons, but I do wish I'd been around more. I wish I could have. But I haven't been able to.

I ended my last post saying I would start posting soon if uni allowed me to, which as you can imagine didn't happen. Uni has become something tough to cope with these past two months. I have never done badly in school. Surely I'm the kind of student that leaves everything to the last minute (but really, in the Internet era we live in, who doesn't?), but that's never really gotten in the way. This year I started asking a lot more of myself because deep down I knew I could do better than just okay. It was working, I was getting really good results, so I kept pushing and pushing, testing myself to see how far I could take it. I never realized I was pushing way too hard until I cracked under the strain for the first time in my life.

As my grades were going up, a lot of different aspects in my life were starting to go downhill. Again, I won't get into it too much, but let's just say some things got too difficult for me to deal with. It got to a point where I didn't even want to deal with them. I would just quietly accept all the awful things that were coming my way and let this darkness sink into my skin, which I believe led me to become quite a difficult person to be around. And even though I've never felt more lonely or lost in my life, I didn't want to be with anyone either.

In the words of the always brilliant Marian Keyes,

"I couldn't be with people and I didn't want to be alone. Suddenly my perspective whooshed and I was far out in space, watching the world. I could see millions and millions of people, all slotted into their lives; then I could see me - I'd lost my place in the universe. It had closed up and there was nowhere for me to be. I was more lost than I had known it was possible for any human to be." Anybody Out There?

Just know that this is in no way, shape or form a sob story. In fact it took me some time to decide whether I wanted this post public or not, but hell, why not. I'm only human and I don't have a perfect life and there's no point in making it look like I do. We all have our ups and downs and I don't know a better way to deal with life than writing about it. I'm turning 20 on December 30th, which is now hours away, and I don't want to start my twenties with a bitter heart.

So roll on, 20. Roll on, 2014.
I'm so ready for you.

Tania x 

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Life Update: Lots Of Thinking & Homesickness

 Sooo... Errrmmm... Hi.

Yes, I do know I haven't posted a single blog post for the past ten decades. I could say anthing, from "I've been too busy to sit down and write" to "I've been on writers block" but no excuse I come up with will be entirely true. September flew by. I know everybody says that about every single month, but it's true. I feel like the last time I checked it was August and I was sitting at home watching Jersey Shore re-runs and now it's October and I'm back to wearing scarves and boots. It was an interesting month, though. It gave me a lot to think about. It gave me a lot to write about.

As you may know, we went to London. I'm going to be absolutely honest, because it's my blog and in your blog you tell the truth (totally quoting Love Actually here): It wasn't the trip of my life. I would be lying if I said I regret going - I absolutely, 100% don't. I loved it while it was happening. I laughed so hard. I enjoyed it so much. I saw my favourite band live twice, which means I sang and cried my heart out. I found out Laia and I are even more alike than I thought. All that was good fun. But we had our ups and downs and at the end of the day I was left questioning lots of things. I'm not going to get too much into that, but things that don't go as you planned can get tough to deal with, especially when you're so far away from whatever you consider your safe environment to be.

Then we went to Madrid. I think saying that the first morning we woke up there I already wanted to go back home is more than enough. Things got really bad for me. I don't really know how to talk about it without sounding like an over sensitive fool,  but it got both mentally and physically painful and I'd never, ever felt that homesick before. It would've actually been an awesome trip hadn't I been desperate to come back. As a girl who loves going away and seeing new things -and as somebody who prefers to keep things inside her head-, it felt really strange for me to have to call my mum being all "Hey, this is happening and I think there's something is wrong with me." 

It's safe to say September was a rollercoaster and I wish I could say it all ended the moment I set foot in town again. It didn't. I'm still questioning lots of things and trying to understand both mine and other people's choices and behaviour and wondering how much of it I can/want to put up with before it starts wearing me down. If you know me, you've probably heard me say that I don't care about this or that a thousand times. But the truth is that if you let them, some things actually end up getting to you. I'm a sensitive one after all... (I know, right? Who would've thought.)

The only reason I kept putting this off is because I knew if I wrote this too soon it could turn into a bitter rant. It isn't. Reading it all back I do realize that some things might sound a bit harsh, but that wasn't at all my intention. In fact, I got something positive out of all of this. I guess being able to see things from another perspective allowed me to notice that there are some people that actually are like home. They are not necessarily (and sadly) the ones you see or even talk to every day, but they're the ones who make you feel safe no matter where you/they are. And for those I will be eternally grateful.

 Hopefully, and if uni allows me to, I will start posting again soon.

Until then, 

Summer Love: Lips - 3 Picks

Happy September 1st, everyone! I'm here, casually blogging from the Hogwarts train. ;) Let me present to you the last three items I've been loving this summer!

KIKO Kiss Balm - 07 "Strawberry"

When I first got an e-mail from KIKO talking about their new Kiss Balms (because I'm a KIKO geek and I'm suscribed, duh), I just knew I had to get one. It's a tinted lip balm and it feels really nourishing on the lips as it's got repairing properties as well as SPF. The website claims they've got "vibrant colors" and I have to disagree on that one because as you can see in the picture above that's not the case and I picked up the brightest shade I could find. Also, it should smell like strawberry, but I think it's more of a red licorice smell - not complaining though!

Kate Moss Rimmel London - 110

I should probably just buy the whole Kate Moss collection because I seem to love them all! This one's a very bright pink-toned coral and I think it's the perfect shade for summer that would fit all skin tones. It does dry out your lips after a while but as a matte lipstick it's a bit glossier than I believed it would be. It's also highly pigmented, so it goes opaque in a swipe.

Rimmel London Apocalips - 501 "Stellar"

I have finally jumped on the Apocalips bandwagon! *applause* I really didn't know which shade to pick as they all looked amazing but in the end I went for Stellar and I love it. When you first put it on it's a bright hot pink (so bright, in fact, that's almost neon!) but as the hours pass by it fades into a softer, darker pink. A swipe is more than enough to make it opaque and it lasts a long time without having to re-apply. 

So that's it for my summer picks.

What have been your favourite lip products this summer? 

Have you tried any of the above? Let me know!