Update and Breaking Down part1

Hello lovelies,

This past week has been quite busy. The first weeks of a new job are always a period of adaptation. Adaptation to the new people and to their rules... but so far everything is going well and I'm liking the work I'm doing. Of course is to soon to tell if this will keep up, but I will enjoy it till it lats.
Another thing that has been going on in my mind lately is how Christmas is just around the corner. I'm the kind of person who does't want to hear about Christmas before December but it's getting really hard to do it. People all around me keep asking me if I already have a Christmas tree and the decorations up. I guess I can't run from it any longer and I better start preparing the house because the 1st of December is next Thursday, can you believe it!?

This weekend I went to the cinema and guess what film did I watch? Breaking Down part 1. Now once again I'm not the kind of person who in normal circumstances would pay to see this kind of film. But I am the kind of person who would do it just to hang with her friends and in the end having a good time anyway. So I did go see the Twilight Saga and it wasn't the worst I've seen, (almost...lol). I particularly liked the part when Edward tries to speak Portuguese, yes he tried because I couldn't really understand with the funny accent going on, lol. Anyway it was a good try and I had fun looking to all the pretty dresses Bella wore (Oh yeah and Jacob is not bad t look at also).  Here's my favorite:

Loved the wedding dress and all the details really really pretty. what do you think?
Hope you have a great week. :)
**Rita**

Having a Coke with you

is even more fun than going to San Sebastian, Irún, Hendaye, Biarritz, Bayonne

or being sick to my stomach on the Travesera de Gracia in Barcelona

partly because in your orange shirt you look like a better happier St. Sebastian

partly because of my love for you, partly because of your love for yoghurt

partly because of the fluorescent orange tulips around the birches

partly because of the secrecy our smiles take on before people and statuary

it is hard to believe when I'm with you that there can be anything as still

as solemn as unpleasantly definitive as statuary when right in front of it

in the warm New York 4 o'clock light we are drifting back and forth

between each other like a tree breathing through its spectacles

and the portrait show seems to have no faces in it at all, just paint

you suddenly wonder why in the world anyone ever did them

I look

at you and I would rather look at you than all the portraits in the world

except possibly for the Polish Rider occasionally and anyway it's in the Frick

which thank heavens you haven't gone to yet so we can go together the first time

and the fact that you move so beautifully more or less takes care of Futurism

just as at home I never think of the Nude Descending a Staircase or

at a rehearsal a single drawing of Leonardo or Michelangelo that used to wow me

and what good does all the research of the Impressionists do them

when they never got the right person to stand near the tree when the sun sank

or for that matter Marino Marini when he didn't pick the rider as carefully

as the horse

it seems they were all cheated of some marvelous experience

which is not going to go wasted on me which is why I am telling you about it

—Frank O'Hara

Stuck on the Puzzle

After spending almost three months sending CVs, portfolios and going to interviews I finally am starting my new job today. It's not exactly what I had in mind but then again my mind is always deviating so I'm surely going to make the best off it, plus is a design related job and I can't really complain right now. Sometimes I wonder if I still am capable of human interaction. All this time I've been so concentrated in my little world I'm afraid my social skills aren't on it's best... I shall not panic for I have a second plan. whenever I don't understand or don't know what to say... I smile and get on with my life. Don't get me wrong I'm actually quite excited about tomorrow, in the measure of what is possible. I even did my manicure and brushed my hair so I look my best, at least I can count on that if all rest fails. I think... Whatever happens I'm glad I can finally get busy and actually earn some money so cheers to that.

Me nostalgically trying to look cool (not really) 

On to other subject...as you might know, if you follow my blog, I'm a film addict. My latest obsession is a British film called "Submarine". I firstly felt curios about this film because of one song that plays in it. "Piledriver Waltz" from The Artic Monkeys. That is my favorite song from their new album, so I figured if the film makers had such good taste in music the film itself couldn't be that bad. And Oh Boy! this film really made my day and I'm even going to say it's on the list of my favorite films. Plus I found out, after seeing the film, that the soundtrack is all by Alex Turner! So not only just I loved the film but I can't stop listening to the soundtrack.
I  need to leave you now for tomorrow I need to get up quite early, but I will leave you with this lovely song from Submarine. Hope you enjoy and have a great week.

**Rita**

Package Palls Experience

It was ever so fun to make part of the Package Pall experience.  My PP was Amber Kozo and she is from Maryland, U.S.A. Her blog is  www.novels-and-nonsense.blogspot.com. We had to put together a package full of goodies and send to each other, can you imagine having more fun?! It was really fun changing e-mails and getting to know Amber better. Amber just graduated in May and loves everything about the crafting world, that's definitely a thing we have in common! :)

Here are some pictures of the package I sent to Amber:

I sent her some Handmade little bag, a Tela Bags pocket money purse, 2 frames one of them handmade, a hair ribbon and some accessories, a kitten notebook with some lovely cards to go with it, a sunny pencil and a cow rubber, a Amalia's postcard, and finally a Edgar Allan Poe book (that I must have forgotten to include in the picture!)

When I got Amber's package I was completely out of my mind, not just because I love getting mail, but because everything she put together was so adorable. 

When I opened the box I had a lovely card from Amber:

Everything was wrapped with a local newspaper and also tagged with lovely descriptions of the goodies inside (so nice I almost didn't want to spoil it by open it):

When I finally open it I was so pleased with everything. She sent me a Blue scarf, I really was needing one. A picture frame, some Mint nail polish, along with some extra nail goodies, I've been looking for that color for ages so you can imagine how thrilled I was when I saw it. Very cute blue buttons, a hand made ring, and finally a set of cards that are so lovely.

Thank you so much Amber I really loved everything. Hope you find my package nearly as lovely. :)

I also want to thank Gentri for organizing everything it was really a fun experience. Here's also a link to Gentri´s blog, please go and say hi!! :)

**Rita**

No to Procrastination!

Procrastination has been an issue in my life for quite a while but I've been struggling with it more this days. It seems that every important thing I have to do is replaced it with a not so important task, like I'm running away from things. I don't know how many of you suffer from this terrible act but this can actually affect an entire life! I went to Wikipedia and read that: "Procrastination may result in stress, a sense of guilt and crisis, severe loss of personal productivity, as well as social disapproval for not meeting responsibilities or commitments. These feelings combined may promote further procrastination. While it is regarded as normal for people to procrastinate to some degree, it becomes a problem when it impedes normal functioning. Chronic procrastination may be a sign of an underlying psychological disorder. Such procrastinators may have difficulty seeking support due to stigmatic beliefs that task-aversion is caused by laziness, low willpower, or low ambition." 
Now I'm not saying that I have all that but I definitely feel like I'm getting there. So you can have an idea I am the kind of person that likes to draw and be creative, but the minute I'm asked to draw a specific thing or to create some specific layout for someone rather than pleasure I get all procrastinator about it, not just with that but with other things as well. I tell myself I have plenty of time and then end up doing it at the last minute. This cannot be normal am I having a psychological disorder? I know I'm totally sounding like a hypochondriac right now but I really feel like this kind of behavior is getting me nowhere and it may also be affecting my creativity. So I decided NO MORE!! I don't want to be this kind of person it is not healthy nor productive. 
There's a list of things I have to do and been wanting to do but have postpone it too long, and I believe getting organized and having schedules is gonna help me overcome this issue.


List of things that I must do:
-Get the website layout ready by next week,
-Get the front door poster ready by next Wednesday,
-Create new blog buttons,


List of things I've been wanting to do:
-Start exercising everyday,
-Learn how to play the Acoustic Drum Box,
-Read a book at least every two months,
-Start drawing everyday,
-Learn HTML properly,
-Learn French


I can't remember anything more right now but the important thing is that I'm committed to go trough with this. In the end the truth is if I don't do this for myself who will? :)
There's also this really funny video I found on youtube about Procrastination I think yous should see:

p.s. Don't forget to enter the Giveaway while you still have time...

Sponsor Giveaway

Please Welcome sponsor number 4 and her giveaway. She is a lovely Portuguese lady that is in love with all things crafty specially Jewelry. Do read about her yourself...

E-mail: blog.mariajoao@gmail.com

Blog: http://mariajoao-bijuteria.blogspot.com/

Facebook: http://facebook.com/mariajoaobijuteria

I’m a 18 year old portuguese girl, who loves arts and craftwork. I like a lot of handmade things, but my favourite ones are jewelry.

I’ve always made simple things, like bracelets for my mom, or necklaces for grandma, but never thought of creating my own little business. So, three years ago I created my first blog, with some of the jewelry I created. A year later my technique was getting better, so I created a new place to host my jewelry. But as the names of the blogs where I hosted my jewelry had never fit me very well, I thought I should create something that had my name on it, so the third and last (I hope! :P) site is the one I own now, Maria João ♥ Bijuteria (Jewelry).

The products I create now are completely diferent from the ones I created in the first site, because my knowledge has grown as the years passed.

My jewelry has a touch of classic and vintage elegance. I work with pearls, natural beads, stones, Swarovsky cristals, polymer clay… Almost everything comes out of my imagination and everything is handmade. I try to be original, but I know that unique things are hard to make.

I hope you enjoyed knowing a little bit about me and my work :)

Love,

Maria

Maria João his giving away one of her gorgeous handmade watches as you can see in the picture bellow,

For a chance to win this amazing giveaway you must:

1. Follow Curioser via GFC,

2. Follow Maria João Bijuteria via Google Friend Connect,

3. Leave a comment telling me what's your favorite item from Maria João Bijuteria and your email address.

.

For extra entries:

Follow Maria João Bijuteria on Facebook.

Don't forget to leave separate comments for each entry. You can enter this Giveway until the 30th of November. Good Luck to you all!

Autumn Fruits

Around this time in November is very common to eat what we call Castanhas in Portugal. These are little brown fruits that may look like nuts but have nothing to do with it. We normally eat them roasted or baked, it is ever so good. Along with cooking Castanhas we celebrate Magusto. Magusto is a popular party where people get around a fire to roast the castanhas, sing songs and drink some wine with it. This tradition normally has place in Portugal or Galiza. Normally kids celebrate it at school as well in the day of S. Martinho. 

My family normally just buys some castanhas and bakes it at home so we can eat it like a dessert. If you haven't try castanhas yet you must do so at some point, it is a really delicious treat as you can see in the picture bellow.

Castanhas 

Another fruit that I so like is the pomegranate. My granny always gets to buy some juicy ones at this time of year. I just like it's texture so much. But you probably heard of or have eaten it already...

juicy pomegranate

What about you, what's your favorite Autumn fruit?

**Rita**

Let me tell you about Myazaki

I feel such a nerd watching this animes but I so completely love the work of Myazaki and Studio Ghibli. I don't think I will ever stop loving and watching it, every story is so unique and the drawings are amazing! I'm going to leave you with some of the films I've seen this week and also some of my favorite ones. 

So this week I've watched 3, get a life, right? The first one was Kiki's Delivery Service. It's a story about a 13 year old girl who is going to initiate her life as a witch spending 1 year away from home. Totally loved it and think her cat is so so cute. I wish I had one myself...

My Neighbor Totoro. The story of 2 little girls that have their mom in the hospital and just moved to a country house with their father. The fun begins when they discover that the house and the woods surrounding it have some magical creatures. In my opinion it wasn't as good as Kiki's but so worth seeing and Totoro is really funny. 

Ponyo. This is a story based on the Little mermaid original tale. Ponyo is a fish that wants to be a human. That becomes possible when she meets her friend Sasuke, a boy who is going to help her through a number of adventures. I liked it very much specially because Sasuke and Ponyo are always so cute to each other...   

Howl's Moving Castle (I watched this one a while ago, definitely my favorite one so far, liked it so much that bought the DVD.) A story about a girl that is cast a spell and ends up being old. Sophie then goes to The Land of Nothing to find Howl and his moving castle so she can be a young girl again. Needless to say she has a number of adventures and ends up falling in love with Howl. Seriously you got to watch it, the story is so lovely... 

There are a number of other ones worth watching as well (Spirited away, Princess Mononoki....) if you have the time and like animation go for it you wont regret it.
**Rita**

Meet sponsor Numero 3: Nadine from Time 2 Shine

Hello again hope you're ready to meet lovely sponsor number 3. This lady has been one of my favorite blogs to read and I would totally recommend you to go check her blog out, I promise you wont regret it!

Blog Name/Link: Time 2 Shine // http://time2shinenow.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/miss_paperheart
tumblr: http://shinyshoesyeah.tumblr.com/
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/misspaperheart
Story about my blog:
I like music and movies a lot, also I love frozen yogurt and pasta equally as much. I tend to dramatize tiny, little problems and I really enjoy rambling about these to anyone who wants to listen - or not. This is why I started to write this blog in the first place, but over time blogging really took my heart and now it's an important part of my life. I would have never imagined how much joy it would bring into my life - namely meeting you guys all over the world. Anyways, there are loads of things I like to write about. Let me think. There would be my love for TV series (Hart of Dixie, newest addiction), my passion for books, my obsession for all things Australia...So come on over, I'd be more than happy to meet you guys.


Here are some photos from where this beautiful lady lives,

 and it seems she is also a chocolate cake lover,

I'm seriously drooling over this pictures, I myself can't resist chocolate cake, but then again who can?
Thank you so much for your lovely post Nadine!
**Rita**

Meet Halina from Moments of a Libra

I'm very happy to present Sponsor number 2, please give a warm welcome to Halina...

Hi! Halina from Moments of a Libra here. I'm 26, currently a full time business that loves everything creative, especially photography and painting. Lately I've also found a passion in traveling and not a day goes by without me dreaming about another trip to Italy. I ponder a lot about life (maybe even too much at times). I firmly believe that humans are intrinsically creative beings that need to balance an analytic way of thinking with our intuitive. The last mentioned, i believe, is truly neglected in modern education. 

My blog started of as a way for me to share my creative projects with the world, and has developed to a space where I share my everyday thoughts and photos. I have gained so much from blogging in terms of improved photo skills, so this is something that I say to everyone considering becoming better at something they love to do: start a blog today! Just put your projects out there! The beauty of Blogland is that there is always someone there to support you.

Thank you so much Halina! I encourage you guys to go and say hi to Halina I'm sure she would appreciate it. 

**Rita**

Meet Kelsey from Eat Drink Be a Tourist

Hello Lovely readers! Today I have the pleasure to introduce to you one of my lovely sponsors for the month of November. Meet Kelsey:

Hey there!  I'm Kelsey, a born and raised Southern California girl with a sarcastic sense of humor and intense love of adventure.  I blog about the "funner" things in life.  When I first started my blog, I wanted it to be about the three things in life I love most - eating, drinking and being a tourist.  I wanted to write about the great restaurants and bars in San Diego and all the fun adventures I got into throughout the city.  Over this past year of blogging, my blog has evolved into a sort of life and travel blog - a place where I can document the things I love, the trips I take, the recipes I cook and the ups and downs of life.  

Now, how about some fun little facts about me:

I'm a natural blonde but sometimes find myself wanting to go dark.

I can hit a golf ball 250 yards & played golf in high school.

I dance and sing to country music in my room when I'm getting ready.

I've never seen Titanic, Dirty Dancing or Breakfast at Tiffany's.

I'm a Dodger fan and dream about having season tickets.

I snort when I laugh really hard & I've been told it's cute. 

I have been to 26 states including Alaska and Hawaii.  

I have traveled to 6 different countries in Europe - Germany is my favorite.

I would love nothing more than to go to cooking school. 

Come see me over at my blog!

You can also find me here:

Twitter

Pinterest

Cheers!

Kels

Thank you so much Kelsey! Please feel free to visit Kelsey and share a bit of the blogging love. **Rita**

Interesting facts Monday

1. If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee. 

2.  Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure.

3. The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.

4. A cockroach will live nine days without it's head, before it starves to death.

5.  Dentists have recommended that a toothbrush be kept at least 6 feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush.

6. TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.

Wishing you a great week. **Rita**

November = Giveaways and new sponsors

Can you believe there´s just one more month till Christmas? It seems 2011 just started a couple days ago and it´s just ending. It was also around this time last year I started blogging, more precisely the 30th of October, this means my blog is 1 year old!! I seriously enjoy having this blog and loved all the people and wonderful bloggers I´ve met trough the year. It really makes my life better. 

To celebrate this event I´ll be hosting some giveaways and be posting some sponsor stories. So if you would like to be featured on my blog just send me an e-mail with your button and your story. It can be a  little text talking about your blog, likes, deslikes or some other funny stories you would like to share. 

hope you had a great halloween by the way! 

**Rita**