To Love Is To Share

To share happiness, sadness, achievements, failures. Love can be selfish, but it can also be caring, passionate. To love is to share a life in common. A life in the plural.

My boyfriend and I bought a digital money box to put some coins in every once in a while, even though we still don't know what we are going to use it for.

It has been suggested that we save up until Christmas time in order to have sufficient money to buy the gifts we idealise for each other. I have also thought about using it for future travels together, although that would take a while. Or we could just use it whenever it was necessary, it's always nice to have a backup. Be free to share what you usually spend your savings on :)

We opted for a digital one because it makes it so much easier to keep track with how much money you have deposited, even though this way you are confined to coins. I suppose you could put notes in there (if you are feeling rebel) and then add it to the total of the coins.

What I really adore about it is how it knows which coin we are dropping because it measures its' size. You can see on the screen how much you have added before it gives you the total result. There's something addicting about this process; so far we have collected 10€ and it was bought yesterday...

Hope this post has inspired you to save up instead of spending it all ;)

Happy Friday! x

Book Review: Girl Online by Zoe Sugg

I love reading and I have been a fan of Zoe, or Zoella as she is best known, for a couple of years; when she announced that she was writing her own book I felt happy for her and excited with the thought of one day having it in my hands.

In this kind of situations, when we know the author as closely as we do (fans/readers) because of her blog and youtube channel, the pressure and the expectations are incredibly high. Each one of us has an idea of what we want it to be, how we want or how we expect it to be written.

Personally I was hoping for a different story. Zoe announced what it was going to be about and she shared the name of the main characters and gave a little hint at the plot and in my head I started imagining the way it would develop - it didn't disappoint me. However, there were some moments that made me cringe and I even got second-hand embarassement. Sometimes it was just too corny. I can see a Disney adaptation in the future exhibiting during Christmas time.

But the truth is, I loved it. It is honestly so easy to follow and I was completely hooked. It took me about three days to read and it could have been less if I hadn't been so busy. There were some bits that I wished had been explained better but they are insignificant, I just pay too much attention to details. It is truly well written, I have a few favourite quotes to share! It also portrays difficulties that are felt nowdays (and always) like bullying and panic attacks.

I recommend it and I will definitely read book two :)

Favourite Quotes

"(...) sometimes you just have to let people go."

"There are some people you officially fall in love with, within seconds of meeting them."

"Just because most of the world does something, it doesn't make it right"

"Because when you find someone who really likes you for you, and you really like them for them, you have to do all you can to not lose them."

"you are my inciting incident"

"It's very hard to be good all of the time."

"It's so hard to try to describe how I'm feeling. The best way to put it is that when I'm with him I feel like I've met my matching person."

"Whenever something horrible happens to you time goes by so slowly that every second feels like an hour, but whenever something really amazing happens to you time goes by so fast you blink and an entire week has gone."

Happy Friday! x

Book Review: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Today I bring you a review of a book I had to read for a university class.

I have watched the movie adaptation of one of Jane Austen's novels, Pride and Prejudice, so when I was told we were to read Sense and Sensibility I dove into it with that adaptation in mind, even though it is two different novels.

What I read didn't differ much from the movie I saw in terms of society and plot. With this novel, Jane Austen intended to characterize and stress the differences between sense and sensibility (the title couldn't be more obvious) and how that affects the relationships and feelings of the characters.

We have Elinor who represents 'sense' and Marianne, her sister, who represents 'sensibility'. Both will learn and help each other through heartbreaks and the pressure of society, thus leading to a better division of their feelings.

The plot is engaging and it has some funny parts, especially when Austen ridicules the excess of the feelings of either sense or sensibility. There is a lot of kinships and sometimes I found myself confused, focus and rereading helped.

Overall it is a fun read and I would like to watch the movie adaptation of this novel and read Pride and Prejudice :)

Favourite Quotes
"'Of his sense and his goodness (...) no one can, I think, be in doubt, who has seen him often enough to engage him in unreserved conversation. The excellence of his understanding, and his principles can be concealed only by that shyness which too often keeps him silent."

"I wish, as well as everybody else, to be perfectly happy; but, like everybody else, it must be in my own way."

"(...) it was impossible for her to say what she did not feel, however trivial te occasion (...)"

"She said little, but every sentence aimed at cheerfulness, and though a sigh sometimes escaped her, it never passed away without the atonement of a smile."

Happy Monday! x

My New Year's Resolution Is...

First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2014 had its ups and downs but overall it was a great year for me. I laughed, I cried and I learned with my mistakes. I am not in the habit of elaborating resolutions for the new year but, instead, I think on how I can better myself as a person and I reflect on my failures and successes. My goal is to comprehend myself, to grow, to improve my flaws, and that is something that you can carry with you and accomplish every year.

There are other more objective things that I wish to improve on (eg. stop biting my nails) but I can never think of any when it comes to the time nor do I bother to go forth with them (like everyone else), so I decided to get a little help from... a generator.

The only thing I needed to provide was my name and then choose what I wanted to improve on in 2015. I decided to go with the option 'random' just to see what I got and despite all the funny suggestions, there was one that really struck me and it was as follows: "In 2015, I resolve to spend more time making eye-contact than staring at my phone."

I don't think anyone, including myself, ever thinks of the times when we are hanging with our friends or family and we completely remove ourselves from our surrondings by turning on the wifi on our phone and emerge on the social media apps.

Although I recognise that this generator is meant to give funny suggestions, I really want to set myself the goal of enjoying the personal company of others and I highly advice everyone else to do the same. You will always have social media, but people don't last forever. Live the present :)

Lets kick off 2015 with the right mindset and companionship!

Happy Friday! x