Celebrating Advent and Christmas

just a detail from my Christmas tree!

This month's prompt for The Peony Project's linkup is Advent.

As I may have mentioned earlier in my blog, Christmas is my absolutely FAVOURITE time of the year! I just love putting up my Christmas tree, curling up by the fireplace watching Love Actually while drinking an enormous cup of tea, and buying presents for the people I love the most.

However, this year, Christmas won't probably be nearly as magical as it usually is. My exams start on the 5th of January and I would really love to pass them... so I won't be able to spend as much time doing that kind of stuff as I always do. Also, money is kind of tight (university life, yay!) so I can't buy as many gifts as I want to.

This has made me think: I haven't been focusing on the right things through all these Christmases (is that a word?). I think it's very easy to forget what Christmas is all about.

Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus, who came to rescue us from our own darkness. It's a celebration of hope for better days, because we are saved - we just have to follow that light. It's also a celebration of love, because there's no bigger love than the love God showed for us by giving his son to the earth. So, instead of focusing on material stuff, we should put ourselves out there and give more this season! I know this sounds kind of 'obvious', but when I look around, it's not obvious.

I must confess that a part of me is sad because I won't get in the 'spirit of Christmas' like I was used to. 

But, if that means I will enjoy my favourite holiday in a more genuine, thankful and generous way, well, that can be a good thing!

I shall end this post with a quote from my favourite Christmas movie, Love Actually:

"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion makes out that we live in a world of hatred and greed— but I don’t see that. Seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it’s not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it’s always there. Fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of those phone calls from people on board were messages of hate or revenge, they were all messages of love.

If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaky feeling you’ll find that love actually is all around."

So, this season, let's spread the love all around! Let's look at the true meaning of Christmas and bring that love and hope to the people around us who need it most.

As I've referred earlier, this post is for The Peony Project's monthly linkup!

The Peony Project is an amazing community of women who love blogging, Jesus and each other. If you are searching for that kind of community, you're always very welcome!

love,

Mariana ♥

Taking Time

In my actual season of life, it's been really easy for me to feel overwhelmed with anxiety. So much to do and so little time.

The solution I found may seem kind of weird, but it works!

I find it necessary to take more breaks and enjoy the moment. It may sound like a contradiction: 'so you're feeling overwhelmed? taking time for yourself doesn't sound like a wise option'.

But taking a break doesn't necessarily mean procrastinating for an hour, sleeping on top of my books, or lying on my bed staring at the ceiling and wondering what to do with my life.

Here are some of the breaks I get to have, and that make me feel better when I'm feeling stressed or depressed:

- Having lunch with my friends from college at the mall.

- Seeing my high school friends, who are 'the family that I chose and that chose me too'. They can always make me feel like myself again.

- Marveling at nature: near my faculty the trees have such beautiful colours and I can't help staring at them, trying to capture the moment. I also get to see beautiful rainbows sometimes, like in the picture below!

- Fridays, after my WORST class of the week (with my terrible Anatomy teacher who terrorizes me and makes me feel completely anxious and stupid) I have the BEST time of the week with my boyfriend. We get to do lots of fun together and it feels like home to be with him! (I won't get extra cheesy, even though I could)

How do you take time for yourself during stressful times?

love,
Mariana

Community

The prompt for the first Peony Project link-up is Community. It's kind of a 'free' linkup, there aren't many rules, so I will basically start by defining what community means to me.

Community happens when people come together and unite their efforts towards something. It allows us to experience new perspectives, to learn new lessons, and most importantly, to create relationships which will make us feel less lost in this big world.

Friendship, for example, is a form of community - and, now, I will share the story of how finding a group of friends I could relate to changed my life.

I've mentioned that my early teenage years were a difficult time. I spent a lot of that time inside a funk and without considering getting out, but my two best friends kept throwing me a ladder and offering me their help to pull myself together. 

Things changed for the better when I started high school. You know the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower? (It's my favourite of all time, by the way). I was a wallflower myself, but a very lucky one, because, like Charlie, I found the most amazing group of friends ever. 

Even though I already knew some of those people (including my best friends), I finally understood that I was not the only one who was hurting. I started having REAL conversations with them, about the good and the bad, and feeling like somebody thought like me helped me a lot. Despite all the fights and tears, I felt like I belonged somewhere. 

I learned so incredibly much about myself and about the good and the bad there is in people.

I learned to hug and be hugged, to have the courage to express my problems, and to do my best to help out my friends in the hard task that is growing up. 

I am so incredibly grateful for that experience of community.

Now that I'm in college, it's way harder to stay in touch with these incredible people. But it's necessary to me; so I try my best to call and have meals with them whenever I can!

I'm also meeting a lot of new people at school, and I'm starting to form a really nice group of friends. We usually meet at lunchtime and have amazing conversations. Hopefully we'll also be able to form a  lovely community together :)

In the online world, I am also a part of a community! 

"The Peony Project is a community for women who love Jesus, love blogging, and are looking for a common space to share ideas, encourage one another, and make real, honest friendships with one another."

I was barely a blogger when I joined The Peony Project. I'm still a baby blogger, but these ladies have been helping me a lot with making my blog a space to express my thoughts and beliefs! But The Peony Project goes way beyond just blogging: those amazing women pray for each other, share their worries and concerns, and I feel close to their hearts even though I live so far away from them.

If you relate to the sentence above, please click the link and join; I'm sure you won't regret it!

What does community mean to you?

love,

Mariana

Stuff I'm Thankful For: Strength for Tuesdays

Tuesdays are the hardest days of my week - eleven hours at college, and the only break is lunch time!

(this is my second home right now)

My average Tuesday starts with waking up at 6:40 and rushing to college to start with Anatomy at 8... and it ends at 8 pm, with me landing in bed, exhausted, after my nerve-wracking BIDS class (it's basically building data bases and stuff like that)

It's obviously not my favourite day of the week, and every Monday night all I can think is 'I can't believe I'll go through a Tuesday tomorrow'. But then I remember: that's not good. There are good things in Tuesdays and I know I can make them great days!

Every Tuesday, I'm thankful for:

- another day when I have the chance to study what I love the most. I am so very much in love with my degree, even the hardest parts of it!

- lunchtime, when I get to eat delicious food at the mall nearby and spend two hours hanging out with my new friends! 

- getting to know people at college better. I spend a whole day around my class, so there's a lot of time to figure out those new people!

- going home feeling physically and psychologically drained, and knowing that I'm giving all of me so that I can be a doctor someday and help people.

What makes you thankful in your hardest days?

love,

Mariana

About Depression

This is the kind of post I'm never sure if I'm supposed to put in my blog. 

But aren't those the most important posts?

I've never talked about this to many people. It makes me quite uncomfortable to be honest, and I always fear that people are going to think I'm an attention seeker.

But. maybe, that's the main reason why I ought to talk about it, as openly as I can, in my blog. So that people who are struggling know that they're not alone - even though they may feel as if they're stuck in a dark and deep pit; so that they know that it's okay to ask for help to climb out of it.

Stuff I'm Thankful For: Autumn Love

Autumn is, by far, my favourite season. 

It's a season of change, which brings me great joy and excitement!

from Tumblr!

I'm going through some MASSIVE changes in my life right now. 

I'm trying to adapt to a completely different way of life. There's just SO. MUCH to study from 2000-page books - yes, Gray's Anatomy, I'm looking at you - so many new people to meet, so much effort to preserve my previous friendships, and to get to spend time with my lovely boyfriend in my free time!

However, sometimes I feel the need to stop, look around me, and give thanks for the beauty that Autumn brings.

Here's a list of things I'm thankful for this Autumn:

- golden trees

- sunlight (we hardly got any of that this summer!)

- libraries

- being in love

- gaining my independence

- having meals with new friends

- stepping on the fallen leaves

- random acts of kindness

- cups of tea

- coffee!!!

Well, these are just a few. Eventually, more will come!

love,

Mariana

New Beginnings

Here's to new beginnings, to scary challenges and to breaking out of our safe bubble!

I'm sorry for the lack of posts through the last week, but starting college can be overwhelming - thoughts and prayers are appreciated!

Day Five: Passionate

"I am passionate about (people)."

Today's Blog-tember post prompt asks me to tell you about my passion, and that, dear readers, is people.

from Tumblr

I am fascinated by people. I love how complex and unpredictable people are. 

I know there's so much evil in this world, and it breaks my heart to hear about corruption, murder and wars. I hate to hear that innocent people die everyday because of other people's thirst for money and power. It's disgusting that these two things are so many times put above real values: life, respect, love.

However, when I'm walking on the streets and I see an elderly couple holding hands, or a little boy picking up a flower to give to his mother, I see love. I see that human hearts can hold such beautiful, powerful feelings, and that those feelings should prevail instead of greed, hate and anger.

At the same time, I can't help but to marvel at the wonders of the human brain. How can such a small organ come up with science, music, stories, laws? I find that thought wonderful, even though we so often misuse our skills.

I know that a lot of us are hurting. There are so many circumstances that cause us pain and hopelessness. But no matter how dark things get, there's always a spark, and we've got to pursue it so that things can get better again. To me that spark comes from God's love, and I feel like one of my missions in life is to help people find that spark when all hope seems lost.

I'm currently feeling really tired, so I'm sorry if this post isn't as articulate as it should be!

How about you? What fascinates you in life?

love,

Mariana

Day Four: Fashion Trends

'Pick a fashion trend you love and a fashion trend you hate. Win us over!'

I am not quite the fashionista, but I do love to have my own style and there are some pieces of clothing that I wear a lot. 

Even though most of the time I'm pretty lazy when it comes to pick my clothes, I still have my preferences: flannel shirts, high waisted jeans, cosy sweaters, cute dresses... However, my favourite pieces of clothing are skirts. I love wearing skirts, which is not that common where I come from; most girls prefer sticking to their jeans and shorts!

This is a picture of me wearing my favourite skirt. Despite having to be really careful while wearing skirts, and not being able to feel as comfortable as I do in my jeans or leggings, I think this skirt makes me look pretty and elegant! 

A fashion trend I hate: besides the classics (Crocs, I'm looking at you!) a piece of clothing I find really ugly is that kind of dresses that look like rectangles. I have no better way to describe them. I don't think I would ever wear one...

from Zara website

What are your favourite and least favourite fashion trends?

love,

Mariana

Day Three: When I Grow Up

'"When I grow up I want to be...." Feel free to answer as your 5-year-old self or as of now.'

I was a dreamy 5-year-old. My dream back then was to train dolphins at the aquarium, because I loved (and still love) being around water and dolphins are cute (I know, those were really 'elaborate' arguments!). I also wanted to be an elementary school teacher because I loved bossing the other kids around and helping them with homework!

Now, at the age of eighteen, I can say a lot more about what I want to be. As I have said numerous times on this blog, I want to be a doctor. I feel called to help people, to be a healer. But there's more to it. I want to be a mom and to have a family. I want to give my contribute to society. I want to make the world a better place. I want to go on mission trips and volunteer to work as a doctor wherever I'm most needed. I want to stay involved with music in any ways I can, and to write at least one book. I want to cook and have a pet turtle.

I will fight to do it all, and I won't let nobody on earth stop me.
I will find strength in God to make a better person of myself.

One more post for the Blog-tember Challenge!

love,

Mariana

Day Two: What Makes Me Happy?

'Write about what makes you happy, from the little joys to the huge game-changers.'

One day last year, I was having it pretty rough, so I decided to write a list of things that make me happy, to cheer myself up. And guess what? It worked! So, I'm going to share it here, with some new additions that I have found over the course of my senior year:

Fall. Rain when I'm at home, looking from the window. Tea, cookies, hot chocolate, coffee, scones and cakes. Baking scones and biscuits during winter and making crepes with ice cream in the summer. Everything related to Christmas. My sister. Wearing costumes. Talking about the little things in life. Milkshakes. Feeling understood. Having projects. Music. Playing piano, guitar and singing. Belonging to the choir. Dance lessons. Dreaming of having a family. Unexpected afternoons. Deep moments at parties. Good books. Romantic comedies. Classic movies. Musicals. Feeling like everything is settled, for a bit. Stepping on dry leaves. Walking to school in the morning. Writing. Making lists. Reading poetry. Knowing that people think of me. Sunday night dinners. Watching soccer with my family. Watching gymnastics. Feeling in control of my body. Storytelling and hearing stories. Family lunches. Going to church. Feeling connected to nature. Meeting with friends you haven't seen in a while. Being in love. Being loved in return. Running into his arms after we've been apart for so long. 

What makes you happy?

love,

Mariana

Day One: About the Author

'Imagine the front sleeve of a hard cover novel. Give us your "About the Author" so we can get to know one another, and for fun tell us what your imaginary novel would be about.'

This is my first post for the Blog-tember Challenge!

Mariana is a curly-haired music lover with a passion for literature and helping others.

She is (hopefully) studying Medicine in the University of Porto.

Her main interests include: traveling, walking around with her boyfriend, playing music, singing in the church choir, dancing, reading and writing, cats and spreading positivity. 

Her favourite season of the year is fall and she loves Christmas very much as well.

She believes in love above all things.

I would actually love to write and publish a novel, but the inspiration hasn't struck me yet.

I'd like it to be an adaptation of my own high school experience: overcoming fears, finding myself, approaching problems like heartbreak, bullying, self harm, eating disorders etc. I would like that novel to give hope to teenagers like me and to make some people feel understood!

love,
Mariana

September Goals and Expectations

The month of August has flown by, and September is knocking on the door, bringing fall, college and new responsibilities my way...

but I have to embrace them and evolve, because that's just how life goes. New challenges come to defy us; friends come and go. It scares me and excites me, I go from feeling fascinated with the idea of going to college and building my own life, to sinking in the deepest funk, feeling lost and worthless.

However, I know where I want to go. I shall renew my strength and carry on, working towards my dream, God's plan for me.

So I decided to write down some goals and expectations for September:

1. To organize myself
2. To stay positive
3. To finish driver's theory
4. To be able to manage my timetable
5. To have fun with my friends until college starts, and after that, to stay in touch
6. To be consistent with the Blog-tember Challenge, a link-up hosted by Bailey Jean from Brave Love. Hopefully it will allow me to put a little bit more of myself in this blog!

Well, let's see how this goes!

What are your goals and expectations for this month?

love,

Mariana

Roadtrip to Italy, Part Three

This post describes my favourite part of the journey: getting to know more of Tuscany than traveling magazines show!

the city council of S. Gimignano

The main advantage of roadtripping is that you aren't confined to one place or city: you are free to get on your car and explore the region!
That's what we chose to do in this part of our trip. We visited four other amazing cities of Tuscany: S. Gimignano, Siena. Lucca and Pisa.

All Bodies Are Great Bodies

This post may be somehow different from my usual posts, but I feel like it's a positive message I need to share!

Through my teenage years, I was never confident about my body. I used to look at some of my friends from middle school and think: 'Why are they so skinny? Why don't they have big thighs or large breasts like me? How come they can eat so many chocolate bars and stay thin as sticks?'

Roadtrip to Italy, Part Two

After driving through the south of France, we finally got to Italy, a country that I had never visited before!

the leaning tower of Bologne

Roadtrip to Italy, Part One

On the 7th August, my parents, my sister and I embarked on a journey we will never forget: a roadtrip from Portugal to Italy!

We woke up pretty early, put our bags in the trunk of the car, and drove away from our beloved hometown in direction to Italy. No words can describe how excited I felt for this trip!

On Coming Back

After almost three amazing weeks that I spent traveling, it's time for me to come back home and pick up my everyday life from where I'd left it!

beach in Fonte dei Marmi, Italy

It's kind of hard to leave the exciting and unpredictable traveling life and to return to the same old routine, especially when most of my friends and my boyfriend are gone on holidays. I must admit it makes me pretty anxious to make plans right now - I don't know if that's good or bad.

However, it's an amazing time for me to organize myself, a month away from starting college! That involves some shopping, working more in this blog, renewing my wardrobe (!!!) and restoring my old bike, and probably kind of a makeover... because everything is changing and so am I.

Change makes me feel extremely anxious and excited at the same time. I know I'm one step closer to my dream of becoming a doctor and saving people's lives; but, on the other hand, it means I'm about to step out of my safe bubble, my comfort zone where I kept myself throughout high school. It means that I'm going to start working harder than I ever had, being the only one responsible for myself.

I've been reading many, many blog posts and searching Pinterest for tips on surviving my first year of college, and if any of you can give me any help, please feel free to do so :)

In the next few days I will post pictures and stories of the many places I've been to!

love,

Mariana

Stuff I'm Thankful For #3

After the first week of my 3-week holiday, I can say there's just so many things I'm thankful for!

Cerveira was absolutely beautiful and as soon as I got to that little house in the middle of the mountains I just felt like God had brought me to that place for a reason! I was in awe with the greatness of nature and the beauty of that place.

Tomorrow I leave in my roadtrip to Italy, and I'm super excited about it!

So, this week I'm thankful for:

- my amazing boyfriend who I will miss so much while we're both on holidays. I am so lucky to have him in my life!

- as I have mentioned before, getting to spend a week in such a beautiful, peaceful village. I will post more stories and pictures when I'm officially back!

- my loving family

- my sister, aka my best friend in the world. I'm so thankful for getting to spend so much time with her! I will introduce her to this blog soon...

- the beach and the pool, because I feel like water is my natural element!

love,

Mariana

My Three Week Trip

The time has finally come for me to travel this summer!

Unfortunately, this also means that, for three weeks, there will be very few updates to this blog; I apologise in advance for that! 

Tomorrow (tuesday 29th july) I will leave my beautiful city of Porto to spend a week at a beautiful village in the north of Portugal called Vila Nova de Cerveira. Hopefully, the weather will be nice enough for us to go the beach; we're also going to see some places around Cerveira and in the north of Spain!

A week later, on the 7th of August, we'll leave on a roadtrip to Italy! We're going to visit the south of France and the region of Tuscany, especially Florence.

As soon as I get back, I shall update you all with pictures and moments from my trip! Meanwhile, I'll try and post some news during this time...

where are you traveling to in the next few months?

Love,

Mariana

Stuff I'm Thankful For #2

Time for me to talk about this week's best moments!

not my drawing, found it on tumblr

This week, I'm thankful for:

- once again, the beach! I love living so close to the sea, and, to me, there's no better feeling than getting in the cold water and feeling like a part of nature...

- amazing theatre plays

- happy reunions after you've missed someone so much!

- having the chance to travel for three weeks with my family - there will be a blog post about that soon!

- my creativity and love for art, which has helped me make some birthday presents this week!

- good books - in this case, the Lord of the Rings trilogy which I will review once I'm done with it...

What are you thankful for?

love,

Mariana

Barcelona

Last Spring Break, I went on an amazing adventure with my friends - one I'll never forget for as long as I live!

the view from Park Güell

Earlier in the school year, the twelve of us had decided to go together on a senior trip during spring break, with Barcelona as our chosen destination, for a week. We booked our flights and our hostel around Christmas time so that it would be cheaper; but no amount of preparation could have really prepared us for living with each other for a whole week in a foreign city!

London

I had been dreaming of visiting London for years, and in September 2013, my dream finally came true!

Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square

Despite the fact that I've always considered London 'the city of my dreams', I never expected it to surprise me so much! In five days, I visited most of its main attractions and came back completely fascinated with all that London had to offer.

Traveling

I don't think there is anything like traveling: the feeling of being a citizen of the world, belonging to a bigger place than your town or country.

(picture from my plane to Barcelona this year)

Traveling is my most favourite thing to do, and I am blessed to have wonderful parents who love taking my sister and I in many trips around Europe!

Stuff I'm Thankful For #1

I've found that, no matter how good or bad things seem to be, there is always something to be thankful for.

(consider yourself hugged and a good day for you)

That is why I'm introducing my weekly "Stuff I'm Thankful For" section, in which I will share the moments and things I've been blessed with each week, hoping that these happy things will also bring some kind of joy to my lovely readers!

This week was a great one! Even though some of my friends were away, and the weather wasn't always great, I did a lot of fun and even important stuff.

Scared

Being on the verge of having so many enormous changes in my life isn't easy.

(School is Out by Regina Spektor) 

I'm pretty sure that most people experience this: the end of high school comes and, all of a sudden, you're an adult and have to make responsible, life-changing choices. Bam.

Dance

I absolutely love to dance, and I only regret not having started earlier in my life!

(not my picture)

I have been doing jazz dancing for approximately 5 years, in different places, some better than others; but despite all the dance school changes, and the many different teachers I've had, my love for it has always remained.

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About Time

"We're all traveling through time together, every day of our lives. All we can do is do our best to relish this remarkable ride."

First Post Ever

(I clearly have no idea how to run a blog - but don't worry! I'm a quick learner)

My name is Mariana. I'm eighteen years old and I just finished high school. Just like that, I'm expected to be an adult, without any warning. And that scares me a lot. That is one of the reasons why I'm starting this blog - as a way to express myself through this journey.

Ever since ninth grade, I've felt this calling to help people, to make the world a better place by healing what can be healed - that's why I chose to study Medicine. I believe that it's a part of God's plan for me, and that feeling keeps me motivated through the hardest times.

I also love music, books (reading and writing), cinema, and especially traveling! I shall also post some thoughts about my past trips and those I'm going to do.

Thank you for reading this brief introduction to this very simple blog!

love,
Mariana