2015 School Supplies

One of my goals this years is to be more organized with school, study more and commit to a everyday two hour study schedule. I did not have to buy a lot of school supplies this year, since it is my last year, but I got some things and I did some diy's too. The school I go to we have 14 subjects, but we don't need to have binders and notebooks for all of  them, because we have books for each subjects.

I got a pink folder to put all of my tests and assignments. I kind of did a DIY on it, I cut some magazines and randomly selected some images, and did somes collages. It doesn't even make sense.

This my agenda/planner for this year. I really like it, it has a clean and simple design on it, and it is very easy to organize your schedule. It just had one flaw, it didn't come with a pocket folder to put stuff on the inside, then I did one with paper and just glued some magazine images on it. I think it looks pretty cute. I put some post-it notes on the inside too. I love this panda ones, they are very helpful and cute.

I have lots of binders, but for this year I am just going to use one, and I chose this polka dot/teal blue one. I think it is cute and fun for school, and it keeps me pretty organized. I bought some dividers to separate some of the most important subjects. The black one is Physics, the grey is Math, blue is Chemistry, green is Biology and orange is Portugue grammar/literature.

This is my last year's notebook for writting class, and I am going to use it again this year. I love writting class, the teacher is actually really nice, we always have debates about movies and books, and we have liberty to write and speak in class.

Book Review: The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan

I'm so sad that the series has ended, I wanted it to be continued forever and ever, but well I think that can't be done. When this book came out I had a lot of mixed feeligs about it, I was happy, but sad too. Because it was a great part of my life ( well, it was not like HP, but for me they were on the same level), and I did not want it to end. I remember when my friend recommended it to me, it was 9th grade, and at first I was not going to read it, because I had seen the movie and I thought it did not make sense. I used to say " Oh, but Harry Potter is way better and bla bla bla", I didn't even give chance for the series, but my friend convinced me, and it turned out to be one of my favorites series of all time.

Well, I can't say that I didn't love this book, because if Rick Riordan had written a book with only 5 pages about Percy Jackson, I would still say I loved it. But this book kind of got me disappointed, I was expecting a lot more from the last book. I missed the narrative from Annabeth and Percy's point of view, although I was really satisfied with the other chapters. 

I thought I would not like the Reyna and Nico chapters, but I absolutely loved it, they were my two favorite narrators. I have so much to say about this book and it's ending, but I don't want to spoil anyone who's reading the series or this book, then I'm just going to finish up saying that this whole entire series is awsome, and totally recommended to anyone who loves adventures. This book is awesome to give to kids who want to get into reading, and grow up with a series.

There are two series with 5 books each, one is called "Percy Jackson and the Olympians", that is focused on Percy and his adventures. And the second series is called "Heroes of Olympus", that follows 7 demigods that have to destroy Gaea and save the world. There is a lot more than this, but if you want to read the series without knowing a lot, these are the basics.

The book came with this fan art poster, I love it!

My Favorite Childhood Book

 I've been a book lover since forever. when I was little, my mom always read to me and took me to libraries and bookstores, and I think that influenced me a lot. If my mom hadn't encourage me to read, I probably would not enjoy reading as much as I do now. 

 These two books are part of a series called Adventure Museum. The Van Gogh one is called " Who's going to find Van Gogh's treasure?" (literally translating), and the Michelangelo book it's called "Who's going to find out Michelangelo's secret?".

I found out about this series when I was 11 years old, my middle school teacher told my class that we could go to the library and pick up a book that we find interesting. And then I picked up a Leonardo da vinci book ( that was part of the Adventure Museum book series), I found it fascinating and when I finished it, I noticed that there were other books and that it was a series. And that was how I discover about these two books.

The book takes place on a museum and you follow two main characters, pablo, a dog that has colorful paws, and a person. The second character does not have a name or a gender, and that is why it is so fun and interesting to read, it's like you are in the book, and it's differently written, I don't know how to explain this exactly, but it's like the book is narrating what you are doing. Here is an example from the book, " you climb the stairs and positione yourself in front of the green door...".

The book tells the story of the adventures of these two characters, that involves time traveling, meeting artists and their past and a horrible vilan that wants to steal the museum art work.

The Van Gogh book was the one that started my obsession with his art. I remember that my dad had these old magazines, that had on the last pages an artcle about art, and when they had an article about Van Gogh, I used to cut it off of the magazine and pin it on my board. And when Van Gogh's favorite color was yellow, mine was too. I remember that I graduated middle school wearing a yellow dress.

Recipe: Banana Bread

I love drinking my afternoon coffee with some cake, and sometimes it is hard to find a healthier version of a coffee cake. And this one is delicious, it's very moist and very filling. It is very easy to make, I just put everything in a blender except the breadcrubs flour, that I would recommend to blend it by hand.

I would recommend you to put the breadcrub flour a little at a time, because this type of flour is kind of heavy, and if you think that the mixture has enough flour you don't need to put all of it. And feel free to substitute any of this ingredients for similar ones, especially is you are gluten free.

     Ingredients:

• 4 Bananas
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups breadcrub flour
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon of backing soda

▲ OOTD & Weekend Pics ▼

I went to my family's beach house again this weekend, and it was a very good weekend. On Sunday morning the ocean was incredible, the beach shore was filled with sea shells, and I gathered lost of them. I even did a a kind of DIY pot jewelry holder with one one the shells.

The outfits I wore one on Saturday and one on Sunday, with the first outfit I went to get some ice cream with my parents and with the second one I went to a barbecue. My pair of shorts is from Hollister, the pink flowered cheer flowy shirt is from a boutique in my city, and the blue flowered tank top is from Sears.

Book/Movie Review: If I Stay

 I picked up the book on a black friday sale last year, but I only got to read it this summer (January). It was a quick summer read, it has less than 200 pages, and I thought it was so good. I really liked the writing style of the author, it was like hearing the main characters voice talking and telling you her story. The flashbacks were cool, it made the book unique and fast paced. 

 I really liked the main character, Mia, she was very related full, and the plot too. The plot was something real, something that could happend to anyone, and just thinking about that during the book made me a little emotional some of the times. I am probably going to read the second book.

 I watched the movie before I read the book. I went to the theaters with no commitment to read the book, well I didn't even know that it exsisted then, and I didn't know what was the movie about, but I absolutely loved it. ( My opinion before reading the book) I thought the movie was magnificent, the actors were great all together, the family's involvement with Mia's life was something I have never seen in a movie before and I cried a lot in the movie, because you can relate with the plot and the main character, is something that could happend to anyone.

 I thought that when I finished reading the book my opinion would change about the movie, because it is hard to see a movie that is true to it's book, but this movie was very faithful. However there are some things that the movie missed like, when Mia went to summer camp and the physical appearance of the character, especially Mia's. Well, I really don't bother about physical appearance matching, but Mia described herself as ordinary because of her dark hair and eyes, and in the movie she is not like that. Well, this is my opinion about the book and movie, feel free to tell yours, if you read the book or watched the movie.

25 Facts About Me ✽

If you read the title, you already know that this is my 25 facts about me. This was very fun to do, because sometimes you just forget stuff about yourself, and writing this 25 facts down made me noticed how everyone is unique, because no one has the same exact facts as you and me, and that is awesome. Difference is good, it inspire others. Well, maybe there's someone in the world that has the same 25 facts, but let's start, shall we?

1. I love cinnamon, I put it in everything, I am not even kidding. I like putting it on fruits, cereal, hot drinks, ice cream and in recipes.
2. I am alergic to animal fur. I cannot have stuffed animals in my room, and i can't have dogs or cats.
3. I wanted to be a lot of things growing up, an archeologist, a coroner, an astonomer and a lawyer. But those things changed, and I am trying to figure out what I really want.
4. I don't like loud music and crowded places.
5. I haven't been drinking any type of soda for two years now. It was my new years resolution for 2013.
6. My first over 200 pages book was Eclipse ( from the Twilight series), it took me a year to read it.
7. I prefer plain french fries, no salt.
8. I am a very thorough person, I always know where everything is and I will know if it's missing.
9. I really dislike the plaid trend. I don't know why exactly, but it does not look good on me.
10. I never wore bold lip colors, I don't think they fit me that well.
11. If you ask me what my main language is, I won't be able to answer. I learned portuguese and english, both, at the same time. Even if I know one of them a little bit better than the other, it is not enough to tell which one is my main language.
12. I used to straighted my hair every single day. Last year I decided to embrace my natural curly hair.
13. This year I plan to start a ballet class and a french course.
14. I like mixing gold and silver.
15. I hate painting my nails.
16. My favorite subject is history and literature.
17. I have an obsession with Van Gogh since I was 11 years old, when I read a book about him and his art.
18. My lucky number is 18.
19. I can't leave the house without a watch on my wrist.
20. I have been very interested in mythology, since I read the Percy Jackson books.
21. I like drinking my morning and afternoon coffee only with sweets.
22. When I was little I was a total fan of Barney.
23. I wrote a short book for my portuguese/literature class when I was a freshman, and it was about secret agents.
24. I always eat an orange after lunch.
25. I love finding and buying vintage stuff.

My Night Skincare Routine

I noticed that having a skincare routine every night has a great impact on my skin in the morning. I used to not have any type of skin regiment, and my makeup didn't apply smoothly. I have normal to oily skin, but it can be dry in cold season, and all of these products work amazing for my skin type.

The first thing I do is wash my face with the First Aid Beauty Cleanser. This is the best cleanser I have ever used, it has a clean scent, smooth texture and a white/silver color. It removes like 50% of all dirt and makeup that accumulated on the face throughout the day.

The next step is to remove all excess makeup that is on my face that the cleanser didn't remove. But I use this product specially to remove waterproof mascara. I always repurchase these types of makeup remover that are half oil and half water, they are the best ones to remove eye makeup, this one is from NIVEA.

After removing all excess makeup, I moisturize my face with this First Aid Beauty ultra repair cream. And it does what it says, it is the most moisturizing cream I have ever used my entire life, I am not even kidding, this skincare line is awesome and I am very excited to tryout some other of their products. 

Next step, applying oil. I never cared about oils and stuff, but when I got this maracuja oil by Tarte I fell in love with this it. I have to say that the smell is not very pleasent but it gives your skin a natural glow and it make the skin smooth and hydranted.

Last step but certainly not the least is lip balm. I usually use Vaseline, because it is a miracle product for dry lips in the winter or even sun burned in the summer months, and it leaves your lips glossy.

Summer TBR ✔

There's only two weeks of summer left and two weeks for the beginning of school. That is why I want to read all the books I can, because I know that when school starts the only thing I will be reading are textbooks and nothing else. This are the books I am planning to read this month and next month. Some of them are in portuguese, because I need to do well in my writing and literature classes.

1. Unwanted by Kristina Ohlsson

Fredrika Bergman is an invetigative analyst that has to uncover the mysterious abduction of a little girl from a crowded train, in Sweden. But the nighmares are just at the start, when the little girl is found dead with the word UNWANTED written in her forehead everything changes. 

2.   Mathilda Savitch by Victor Lodato

Mathilda Savitch lost her sister, pushed in front a moving train by a man that is still at loose. Her parents are devastated and just want to forget about the tragedy, but Mathilda is determined to investigate her sister's private life, like e-mails, diary and anything that she can find that can help her uncover her sister's death. 

3. Anne Frank - The Diary of a Young Girl

I can say that this one is a classic and very helpfull if studying WWII. It  is the diary of a young girl named Anne Framk, her and her family were jews that were hiding from the nazis. And in a diary she writes all that happens in her life during the war, and the diary reveals how he human spirit has an indestructible strenght.

4. The Infinities by John Banville

It is about this family that gather in their old family house, because of the father/husband, Adam, that is sick and dying. But the family does not have a good relationship, the communication between them is tense. But they are not alone, the greek gods, malicious spirits, arrived and observed in silence. But the silence doesn't last that long, it is a matter of time til the greek gods interfere in the life of these mortals.

5. Senhora by Jose de Alencar

Senhora = Mrs

 This book is a brazilian classic, my literature teacher recommended to our class saying that it was important to read it. This book was published in 1875. It is about this poor girl named Aurélia Camargo, she lost her father and brother, but she had her mother that told her that needed to get married. She fell in love with Fernando Rodrigues Seixas and he was going to ask her to merry him, but changed his mind because she was poor and he was too, and he would never be rich by her side.

 Then he decides to merry Adelaide, rich girl that offered him a dowry.

 Aurélia discovered that her grandfather left her an inheritance and she became wealthy. She buys Fernando dowry and marries him, but they live a false marrige, bacuse she never forgave him for what she have done to her.

▲ A Summer Weekend ▲

 This past weekend I went to my family's beach house and it was great. Although it rained a lot at night, the day was hot and vey sunny. I didn't do a lot this weekend, because I just wanted to relax at home and at the beach, but I did walk along the beach shore and went out grocery shopping.
 If you had asked me a few years ago if I liked the summer time, I would probably say "God no! I want school again". But well, that was 4 years ago, in middle school, when I didn't need to have that much of responsibility. Now that I am a senior in high school and I'm having more and more responsibilities and always having to think about the future, I am starting to appreciate the summer and having no school, and doing leisure activities.