There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it

Well, it looks like the boxaholic period has finally begun.

Just before last weekend we got some of these awful cardboard boxes and started packing to face our future. I´d like to say that we are making a wonderful job but actually, the ONLY things we´ve packed so far are The Gentle One´s books. Just his books, not mine. Didn´t even try.

'Why?', I can hear you intelligently asking.

And the reason is, to be completely honest, that I don´t want to do so.

Please, do not get me wrong.
I am dying to move to Romania and start this atonishing adventure, but if only we could wake up one fine morning in our new apartment without all the Last-time drama...

The idea of packing it´s truly hard to me because, as soon as I place the first book, dvd, or framed picture in a box, I´ll be saying goodbye home and I am not ready, not quite yet anyway.

I might get started to freak out a bit here. A little bit. OK, maybe a huge bit.

We are supposed to be moving in less than a month. A MONTH, do you understand? And by then I won´t be sitting in front of this desktop computer anymore, I won´t bake cupcakes on my old oven, I won´t read books by the window (here we go with all the Last-time drama again...). Indeed, in less than a month I´ll have left this house forever.

Yes, I know this house is old (older than Matusalem, actually), and we (well, that´s The Gentle One) spend a lot of our spare time fixing up ruined supplies, but the thing is that we´ve been living here for the last seven years and a half. This house was our first house, the place where we first moved when we started our relationship. 

This shabby house is our home. And now we must leave. OMG.

Ok, I´ll keep breathing, I promise.

[Uses the asthma medicine again]

So, I decided to start documenting the little things that make me happy all around the apartment.
Like my summer reading refuge by the window, the light in my boudoir, or the glowing purple colour we painted the walls many years ago. Because someday I won´t probably remeber the place clearly, and then I´ll have my pictures at least.

'Cause, you know, baby? Life is my palette

There are many bloggers I love out there.

 One of them is the gorgeous Magda, whose last post made me think about what products I would choose in the case of someone asking about my favs.

I am not a favs person. 

I mean, I like many films, books, writers and music bands, but it is truly difficult to me selecting the very best. Indeed, I always feel a little weird when people ask me about it: 'What´s your favourite actress?' or, 'What about your fancied food?' are just not a good way to start a conversation with me (and sometimes people can become very insistent about this type of things). 

As a logical consequence, I have chosen the cosmetics that I use currently, rather than my front-runners (because well, I simply don´t have a clear list of them).

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my top ten in cosmetics!

♥ Eyelashes. I don´t really care about brands as long as they feel cozy. The ones here are a cheap pair from Primark Beauty. They are called 'Full Look Lashes'.

♥ Nail polish. A very basic, right? I am in love with a relatively unknown brand. Leticia Well offer a stunning finish with these raven black (colour #227) and sparkling ruby red (# 231).

♥ Eyeshadow. I have never been a huge fan of eyeshadow, but pigments are a different universe (and I am on the boat of liquid eyeshadow too). Right now I am very fond of Detrivore´s Livor Mortis (a very dusty purple with powerful undertones).

♥ Enlightening concealer. Totally sold to the natural look you get by using it. When I want to keep it simple, this is always my first choice. I use Softfocus Concealer by Kiko Milano Makeup.

 
♥  Liquid black eyeliner. Kind of my personal signature, I'm sure you've already noticed that. The bottle in the picture belongs to H&M cosmetic line and I bought it last week during an eyeliner urgency. Usually, I prefer Yves Saint Lauren Eyeliner Effet Faux Cils Shocking, but as I mentioned I ran away of it in the last minute before an important event.

♥ Vegetal moisturizer cream. Nothing like vegetal oil to keep your skin silky. The specimen here is Yves Rocher Organic Vanilla Lotion.

♥ Lipstick, lipstick, lipstick! My current two favs are Kiko´s  Rouge A Lévres, and Revlon´s Va Va Violet (ey, ideal name for me!). 

♥ Fluid Comfort Foundation. Don´t try to look for it in the picture, I totally forgot to include it! However, it´s the very basic product I use everyday. Yves Rocher makes a fantastic product called Couleurs Nature. My tone is Teint Trés Clair.

♥ And of course I had to include the main tool that helps me with the basis of my everyday look. That´s the Real Techniques Stippling Brush by Samantha Chapman. Ok, it´s not a cosmetic itself but, what could I do without it?

So tell me, darlings, what are your cosmetic favs at the moment?

The fine art of impersonating Violette

 Can you recognize the girl in the picture?

 She´s Violette, right? 

This friendly little bookworm who loves tea, cats and sometimes might be a bit hypocondriac.

That´s the girl, the original one.

If you know her well enough then you are already conscious of her limitated tolerance to deal with strangers on the net, plus she´s not a big fan of huge social networks.

Alright, that´s in theory.

All of a sudden, she has developed a brand new personality (maybe as a consequence of a spider bite, who knows!) and now is playing to open dozens of online profiles all through the web.

 Yes, you guessed: I´ve been impersonated. 

I know what you´re about to say. 

Being impersonated is totally cool, indeed it is the mark of the social  success. And normally I wouldn´t be so upset, but the thing is that this person not only stole tons of pictures from this blog (among them these, these, or these) but also used my nickname, real age, current location, profession and real name to found a net of lies in order to flirt with the first candid person unlucky enough to cross her path (it looks like she is a woman, and even more scary, one of my FB contacts).

And that´s exactly what happened: one of her victims encountered this site and after some logical questions told me all the story and showed me some important information, such as the fake profiles created by this person. 

The worst part (if you ignore my real name and basic information merrily given away) is that she even stole pictures of my beloved ones, including portraits like this, or (OH, God!) pictures of me with my thirteen years old sister. 

And you know what, people? 

For me that´s the limit!

I have serious suspects about the identity of this hussy girl, plus a couple of hackers who can work totally free for me and the serious determination to smash this person with an oficial complaint in the police.

So I beg you to forgive me if, for a while, my pictures contain an awful watermark.

Oh! And if one day I start to make silly posts about, I don´t know, low fat recipes, or cheap trips to Miami, or my last pair of Manolos, well, you may be reading the fake Violette here.

My Transylvanian fate

I am the kind of person who makes plans. I really mean it. 

I write a list with all I need before packing for a trip, I decide what to wear one week before a dinner out, and if I have to host people I choose the menu as well as the sheets for the guest room with time enough (and what I call time enough is considered insane by many others, I can tell you).

Obviously future is a source of concern to me. 

Double concern when speaking about career and professional choices.

I am sure some of you already know about my plans of moving to the UK in order to improve our occupation standards (The Gentle One is also very focused on his walk of life), and that was supposed to happen at some point between this autumn and next winter-tide.

I said was supposed because something else took place.

♥ The Gentle One is fond of taking unadvised pictures.

At mid-February The Gentle One and I decided to take precautions (you never know about life, do you?) and apply for several international programs. My choice was obviously Great Britain and a modest post as Spanish teaching assistant. Meanwhile, my fiancé applied for a vacancy as Spanish language and literature lecturer. His initial idea was asking for a slot at some British university, but (oh, alas!) there was not such an option this year. So we moved to the next reasonable choice: the European continent.

Because well, we were not expecting a real chance of moving to another country apart from England, and the whole thing sounded funny and misterious to us. Were we totally senseless by playing that way with fate?

YOU BET!

As the little unwise people we are, we totally forgot about the grants-thing and continued with our working daily routine for a while. And then, during May, I was told I wasn´t given the teaching assistant job in the UK. No need to say how disappointed I was.

But those bad feelings finally vanished and once more we forgot about all the international issue once again (yes, I told you we can be fool children sometimes), until June.

One fine morning I was still lying in bed when The Gentle One bounced into the room like a flood and simply said: 'Darling, I just received an email from the Foreign Office and I think we are moving to Bucharest'. At this point you might know me well enough to predict my reaction. Exactly. 

I totally freaked out. Like a LOT. 

 I was puzzled and couldn´t figure out how that had happened, after all, we were just playing with possibilities. And playing does not kill anyone, huh?

Sunglasses : Primark  / Jumper Skirt: Gift from my sister (Japan) /  Shirt: Zara / Tights : Calzedonia /   
Shoes : Customized/
  Bag : Brigitte Bijou (old) /  Necklace: Family heritage / Hairclips: Primark 

But ey, after some post-considerations we started framing the whole picture and decided that a couple of years in some other European capital was a good thing for both of us (lots of professional experience and good money to save up). I even got another teaching position over there, so everything looks fine at the moment.

So yes, darlings, this little Vamp girl is moving to Romania on September.

My whole family had a good time joking about spotting me in Transylvania!

Nonce, and as you can see in the pictures, I am having a lovely summer here in Spain (maybe the last one for a while).

Stay stunned, this is the beginning of an era!

Lillian colours

 Can you believe Saturday was the first sunny day of the year? 

Considering I live in Spain it is pretty surprising. And even so, it was not really warm but windy and a little cold. I am sure The Gentle One would have preferred to stay home in comfort clothes and reading books (poor little thing), BUT I had finished my May exams and I needed a break. Besides, my mother gave a gorgeous new purse to me last moth and it was the first real chance to use it. 

Among my multiple and very annoying manias there is one that it can be a pain in the ass sometimes:

If I get a brand new piece of clothing and, by any chance, I can´t inmediately use it for the first time I feel that the piece of clothing in questions starts looking at me with sad eyes... I really mean it. For the las thirty days the purse (which by the way is one-piece handmade collection item from a local artist) has been looking at me every single time I entered the bedroom.

 Every-single-time. 

Trying to sleep? Bag watching. Trying to write a post? Bag watching. Trying to watch a movie? Yeah, you get it. Too much pressure.

So? Exactly! Off we went.

I have to recognize I wasn´t specially brilliant when decided that a light poncho would be enough to keep me warm for the day. As a consequence, we had a really short walk. And this included non-stop walking to avoid freezing, which basically explains why the pictures are so bad (I know you´ll excuse me this time, but I had to choose between proper outfit pictures and keeping all my fingers!).  

 But ey, am I not lovely on this hippie-like attire?

There´s something on it that makes me think about Dark Shadows and Barnabas Collins ♥ 

So tell me darlings, are you already enjoying summer?

Exams and other apocaliptic things

I wish I could say that this little period of blogging inactivity is due to many wonderful events running through my life recently. 

But the truth is that I have been dealing with big dosis of stress as well as very narrow schedules. 

These last two months have been a bunch of kicking-in-the-ass plans, including lots of work to be done, helping my students to prepare their Cambridge level exams and so on.

 And now, in the top of all that, it´s time for my university exams ( which I am very far of being well-prepared for).

That´s the reason why I haven´t been spending much time in the blogosphere lately. Besides, I think world has enough hysterical blog posts anyway. You don´t need me complaining here all the time.

So I prefer to look for some good stress-killers right away.

And I can say I found a perfect anxiety saviour in visiting art galleries.

♥A spot of modern (and unintelligible) art: Fringe-like cars and spiderweb case.

 Yes, sometimes I spend my spare time at museums, even if I don´t like the artist or the collection, because then you can find a chance for having fun and laughing a bit.

For instance, the contemporary gallery here in my town can be really awful sometimes, but I keep visiting. After all, bad art might be really crazy and a good stop on funnyville (and much more productive than eating tons of ice-cream or compulsively buying books that I don´t have time to read).

And oh, I forgot! 

Empty bright corridors are an aceptable place to take some quick outfit pics. You might even consider it the first episode of the saga "Violette over-dressed in a total weird location". Yeah, it could be funny to cast places such as abandoned supermarkets and zoos where you could see how unsuitable is wearing high heels.

Mmmh... totally promising!

Sunglasses : Primark  / Coat: Los Telares /  Tights : Pamela Mann  /  Shoes : Mary Paz /
  Bag : New Look (old)/ Necklace: Random shop

 

 

So tell me darlings, what are your favourite stress-killers?

It was you who poisoned my mind

Do you remeber when I mentioned I had one entire holiday week and how much I wanted to enjoy it?

Well, the faerie of the bad luck was obviously listening, because as soon as I announced my fantastic plans I got sick. Without notice I woke up on Tuesday morning and looked myself in the mirror just to find that I had been converted into a red-eyes-congested-nose cartoon (it looks like the fairy had been working really hard all night).

So yes, I had lo leave all my spectacular holiday ideas involving shopping, dressing to kill extra time, writing and studying as long as there was no energy left for those activities and fever is not friends with fun.

Here I am, after three days of complete home quarantine (bio-hazard alarm ringing) doing nothing but little and boring reading for seminars, listening the same CD´s in a never ending loop, cuddling cats, and playing to organize my shoes a little bit (shoes that should be worn, not organized).

But The Gentle One is so sweet that has been looking after me all this time with a good dose of soup, cuddles and Harry Potter films, that looks like the definitive therapy for ill-timed flu, just because he´s so nice, and maybe a little bit because I can be a total hypocondriac.

But ey, once you overcome the continuous 

OMG I AM SURE I AM GOING TO DIE THIS TIME 

you can act like a normal person again (even pretending that panic attack didn´t happen) and keep going with your life, or at least with the recovery routine.

Anyway, I hope you are all having a great Easter darlings.

Lots of love!

Aurum Masquerade

 Happy Sunday, everyone!

I´ve been pretty busy lately as a consequence of  job overload.

Pre-Easter evaluation is a nightmare for teachers, I can tell you: suddenly you have a large pile of exams to correct, plus half a hundred reports to write. Besides (and as an English teacher), you are charged with the responsability of deciding who is going to take the Cambridge exams and who is not.

Result? No time for reading, sleeping or eating properly.

But now I am done with it and I have one entire holiday week (hurray!) so finally I can tell you about the great masquerade ball which was celebrated last 9th of March.

♥ The Gentle One and I plus my friends Ana and Sade at the photocall, based in one of the Venetian gardens of the palace.

Aurum Masquerade was born as an annual event (this year was its first edition) and designed to gather recreationist, steampunk, lolita and fantasy comunities in a dream location. For this purpose, the amazing Hostal de los Reyes Católicos, a beautiful 15 th century palace in the heart of the city, was chosen. The place is a mixture between Renaissance and Baroque arquitecture, full of charming ballrooms and gardens that inmediately transport you to a glorious past.

 ♥ Some of my favourite assistants (amazing ensembles, don´t you think so?)

 ♥ The amazing organization team. I love her Marie Antoinette style!

We were received by a royal crier, who announced our names before entering to the great ballroom.

After that, The Gentle One  and me were blessed with the honour of opening the ball as dance teachers!

Well, we got really nervous but I have to say that it was an amazing experience to see all the guests following the minuet steps together. 

♥ Funny ball-opening!

After a lovely music selection formed by precious waltzes, minuets and polkas, we could taste the supper.
Dessert was yummy, with lots of cakes and fruit brochettes.
 We could also participate in a draw!
Many amazing prizes were raffled, such as brand lolita gowns, steampunk appliances and historic jewelry.
I was not lucky this time, but my friend Ana got a beautiful necklace.

♥ The girls of the local lolita comunity together.

♥ This moment looks like stolen from Sofía Coppola´s Marie Antoinette.

♥ I truly love her hairdo!

♥ My friends and I (and too much red wine at that time).

I can say that we had the most wonderful of the nights.

The general feeling was the one of being inside the pages of Cinderella and I can´t really stop thinking about next year´s edition.
 

So if you truly want to experience a fairy tale, come to the north of Spain next year!

Creep in, said the witch, and see if it is properly heated, so that we can shut the bread in

 Just in case you are wondering: yes, we celebrated the great Carnival season here in Spain last week.

 It is kind of a great event in the whole country but, in this little northern corner, it is something truly special.

We have our own traditional celebrations which include four days of non-stopping party with lots of food and crazy regional costumes. 

And the reason why it is so different from the rest of the country is that we (and I am very proud of it) have Celtic roots. 

Maybe that´s what makes me get dress as a witch every year, our folklore is deeply coloured by beldam stories. 

And when I say every year I really mean it. 

As time goes by, I collected more than a dozen witch hats. Believe or not, my parents have a fitted cabinet in my room that they call The Wicked Witch of the East cupboard and I suspect that:

1. They are going to sell them all as soon as I move to the UK to recover the ridiculously huge space the hats occupy.

2. If I try to keep the hats in there it will constitute a solid evidence of my mania.

3. I will finish my days at Arkham Asylum, where I´ll be known as The Dark Witch Hat Lady or something like that.

  

Going back to the party itself and, unfortunately for us this time,  

The Great God of Rain decided to spoil the fun.

We had a wet weekend and just one day of sunlight (well, indeed I am trying to keep the positive tone because calling sunlight to that sinister bunch of clouds we had all over the week is a little otherwordly).

The Gentle One and I really did our best to mantain the festive spirit considering the circumstances.

We went out for a walk in our costumes and even tried to go and see the parade, but it became pretty much like a nightmare with all the windy, cold and wet atmosphere. After a while we had to acknowledge our defeat and, as good soldiers, we retired into the warm and charming nineteenth century club, when one can simply spend hours by drinking tea and eating chocolate cake (which of course we did).

I think I didn´t have enough of masks, but I am happy I will have the chance to repeat it next month:

Some wonderful people is organizing a victorian-inspired masquerade for March in one of the most beautiful baroque palaces of my city. So if you are planning to visit Spain this Spring, that can be definitely the opportunity to step aside from crowded beaches and doing something memorable.

The Aurum Masquerade

Tell me, do you celebrate the carnival season in your country?

You can´t trust water: Even a straight stick turns crooked in it.

 

As any other human being on Earth who needs a proper job to survive, I love weekends. 

They are full of all kind of promises: never ending catnaps, romantic walks under the moonlight, tons of good movies waiting to be watched in a sofa & pop corn session... 

Weekends are so nice because they represent a small portion of time in which we can be who we really are, and do what we truly want to.

Usually, my weekends (which thanks to providence last from Friday to Sunday, as long as I don´t have to attend university seminars or work) consist on a relaxing and healthy diet of good books, quiet conversations with my fiancé, and some eventual wine night at home with friends. 

Nothing out of the ordinary.

But this Saturday the impossible came about: it wasn´t raining!

Yes, yes, I know what you are thinking. Not that special, huh? Well, you´re wrong.

Do you know that song from Jane Siberry called "It Can´t Rain all the Time"? I am sure she didn´t know about the north of Spain. In this corner of the world it does rain every winter, ALL winter. We don´t have snow or killing low temperatures, that´s right, but it rains. A lot. There are days in which I think I could go to work by swimming. And I am not the only one who has this kind of feelings about water here. 

But you learn how to live with it because, well, we are the water people. 

Even the rest of Spanish think that about us.

But on Saturday there was no raining prediction, so I inmediately asked to The Gentle One about going out for a while. No umbrella? Where must I sign, sir?

And there we went.

Although there were some clouds in the sky (fine, it was very cloudy), we had a walk ad took some pictures.

I wanted to wear that beautiful coat that my mother-in-law gave me for Christmas because there was no water that could ruin it this time.

But we run out of camera battery soon (we were so excited about the lack of water that totally forgot about recharging batteries). As a consequence we strolled a little bit more and went for a good cup of coffee to our favourite place ♥

And then the second unexpected thing of the day took place.

It was so warm up there, and the music was so soft, and the sofa so comfy, and the delicious vanilla and almond tea was so relaxing... that I fell asleep. 

It was just for a second and It had never happened to me before, but for an instant I was totally asleep.  

I think I was truly tired after a long week at work, I have no other theory, (unless the charming waitress put some drugs on my tea to steal my pretty new coat, but I can not prove it and I don´t want you to think I am a little crazy paranoid lady). Yes, that was a joke.

So I had to stand my man laughing at me for a while.

Fair enough. I would also laugh at him in that situation.

Did you ever experienced a so funny and ridiculous moment in a public place?