Love.

Love is tricky.
And love is blind.
Love acuses weaknesses and fears.
Love causes pain.
Love keeps you awake, keeps your mind awake.
Love has funny ways of entering your life and funnier ways of leaving it.
Love comes when you least expect it.
Love is complicated but it does not cross my mind living a life where it does not breath.

Friends.

September 12. Portsmouth.
A not so far away pub. Full of people. Drinking.
Hard to find but I managed. Had some help.
I was late but got there.
Brought some friends. New friends.
Met new people. Soon-to-be friends.
We had some drinks. Uncharacteristic of me.
Arrived with the R girls. Went home with the Southsea people.
A half hour walk. Or more. I wasn't counting.
We talked. We got to know each other.
We made it home. We live so close.
Another day. Another pub.
Fish and chips before. Not the best.
A quiz I never had a chance to win.
We didn't win. We had fun.
Yates it is. I had Coke... now that's more like me.
Our first picture together. International friends.
7 weeks have passed. Feels like I've known you all my life.
Unexpected friendships. The Best Kind.
So glad I met you.
I feel happy around you.
I LOVE YOU ALL!

Calzedonia

I love all seasons but Autumn has got to be one of my favourites because the world seems to transform into a much cozier place with all the leaves falling from the trees and turning into beautiful yellow, red and brown shades, the days getting smaller and the nights longer... Everything about Autumn seems to be perfect!

Amongst the many things I love about this beautiful season there's one very special thing that I particularly always look foward when this time of year comes and that is Calzedonia adverts.

The first ever Calzedonia advert that I remember seeing and loving was in 2008. At that time I was 12 years old, the age when I started thinking about the future, specifically in the marriage and family department. This advert was about a little baby girl who grew up always choosing to wear Calzedonia socks and tights. It's a 30 second long advert that tells a beautiful story about a girl who turns into a woman wearing Calzedonia in the main events of her life and 12 year old Carolina fell in love with that story!

Seeing the advert now, being 19 years old, it doesn't have that same effect it did all those years ago but it does bring back lovely memories and a feeling of comfort.

Since that advert there have been other ones and they are always so lovely to watch, they're beautifully created pieces of art. I would never get tired of watching them because they feel like a hug to me!

The most recent one - last year's one - is called "Life is a Journey" and it features Julia Roberts in beautiful landscapes: Scotland, Paris and Florence. The simplicity of this advert is what really makes me smile everytime I see it.

Calzedonia Autumn adverts are one of my favvourite things in the entire world and I honestly cannot wait until the next one comes out! What about you? What is one thing you always look foward to when this time of year comes?

Love,

Carolina Rosalie ♥

Coconut Cake

When I had my "Get Together With Friends" I asked my mum to make my grandma's coconut cake which is delightful. I thought you'd like to know it's recipe as it is a lovely cake to make whenever you feel like having something sweet and light.

For the cake you will need:

250g of caster sugar

250g of plain flour

125g of butter

8 tablespoons of milk

80g of coconut powder

4 eggs

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 cup of warm sugared milk - to had later to the cake

Pre-heat the oven at 180º degrees.

In one bowl whip the egg whites stiff and in a separate bowl cream the sugar and the butter together. Add the egg yolks to the sugar and the butter and mix well. Add the coconut powder and after that the milk. Stir in the flour with the baking powder and mix. Add the stiff egg whites and fold in.

Take to the oven in a buttered and floured cake form.
When the cake is half baked - when it's been in the oven for about 20 to 22 minutes as it takes about 45 minutes to bake - pour the warm sugared milk over it.

When the cake is done take out of the oven and sprinkle coconut powder on top. Let it cool and then it's ready to serve.

If you bake my grandma's cake let me know how it turns out and if you like it or not!

Love,

Carolina Rosalie

Les Misérables

I had heard about the musical Les Misérables and that there was a movie version of it and although I love musicals and movies combined together, I did not have much interest in watching this one, up until I saw the trailer one day.

Weeks later I sat at my desk with my laptop and I watched two different versions of Les Miserábles. First the 25th Anniversary Concert and then the movie.

The Anniversary Concert is called "Les Misérables in Concert: The 25th Anniversary" and amongst the cast there are a few very talented stage actors which are part of my personal favourites. These actors are Ramin Karimloo and Hadley Fraser who took part in "Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall", Samantha Barks who usually plays Éponine in "Les Misérables" at the West End and Nick Jonas who has a special place in my heart due to his Jonas Brothers past.

I enjoyed watching the Anniversary Concert but because there was no staging the scenes, I didn't really understand the whole story as I had never seen any version of Les Misérables.

After watching the concert I watched the movie and let me tell it is bloody brilliant. It's such a good movie that I bought myself a DVD of it as soon as I could. The fact that it is a musical with pretty much no dialogues - so they sing a lot which I love! - combined with the fact that it has the most incredible cast combined with the fact that it has such a powerful message, sold me right away!

The more I watch it the more I fall in love with it!

Even my sister who does not like musicals likes the songs of this one!

This musical has only made me love musicals even more and it has made me understand that they're what I want for my life!

Love,

Carolina Rosa

Get Together With Friends

A couple of weeks ago I had a little get together with friends because I hadn't seen them in a long time. And as I love to bake I decided that it would be great to bake a few things for them. As we were only three I ended up baking just a couple of things and I buying a few others.

I bought three types of biscuits/cookies, little rusks, tuna spread, duck spread and two different juices. I then baked Tanya Burr's chocolate cookies and my grandma's coconut cake - which is not in the pictures because it was still in the oven when I took them.

After eating we watched a movie called "August: Osage County" to finish off our little get together.

Love,

Carolina Rosalie

Arrow vs. The Flash

It was only this year that I started watching the show Arrow. I had known about the show months before but I wasn't ever interested in knowing how it was or what it was about. But on a random day when I had absolutely nothing to do with myself, I got a sudden wish to watch Arrow as I zapped through the channels and stopped at the one where it plays. I went to the automatic recordings of the show, chose the first episode of the first season and started watching.
On that day I got in touch with a side of me, a trait of my personality that I knew existed but I never realised how strong it was. That side of me believes in justice and equality, it believes that the people and the things who do harm to others and to the world deserve to be punished.

Gladly season 1 and then season 2 were being re-aired, two episodes per day from Monday to Friday. In 3 weeks time I watched all 46 episodes - 23 from each season. The bad thing was that I didn't know when I'd get the chance to start season 3. After way too many months waiting for season 3 to re-play I decided to watch it online - the thing was I wanted to watch it on TV because in my opinion it's 10 times better than to watch on my laptop.

This brings us to the present time. I have started watching Arrow, Season 3 last week and I am loving it!

I watched the first 7 episodes of it and then I had to stop and watch another show that is very much connected to Arrow. That show is called The Flash and it is a spin-off of Arrow.
There are certain episodes where the 2 shows mash-up and one has to be caught up on both of them to fully understand every single thing of the episodes.
So I stopped watching Arrow on its 7th episode and I started watching The Flash. Again I had heard about The Flash but I never thought it would be as great as Arrow. Turns out it is better!
I am now on the 13th episode of Arrow and I've finished watching season 1 of The Flash. These 2 shows have been my company for the past couple of weeks and I couldn't have wished for a better one - I'm aware how lame this sounds!

 

Love,

Carolina Rosalie ♥