No Christmas Tree This Year

The end of 2014 is just around the corner, and we are getting ready to finish our projects the best way we can, while having some time to think and consider the year that have passed by. Making plans for the next year was never my thing, I usually don't make BIG plans. I know they can change in a blink and I run the risk to be disappointed. Instead of that, I like to make plans as I go, according to the situation.

This year, for the very first time in a life time, we decided it's time to make a change. We don't welcome a Christmas tree in our living room anymore. The main reason is that we want to make our friends aware that our resources are not unlimited at all. Earth as we know it will soon change for ever. I don't want to seem cynical or hypocrite. I know that we are far from recycling the way we should to make a difference, but that is precisely the reason I want to start with this little step. I see cut trees all over the place, in all markets and at the hypermarkets entrances. They are cutting so much for the profit, without thinking that one day there will be nothing left. And we keep hearing this every year, but we never take measures. We say - if the trees are already cut, why not buy?

And there is another problem: Many families with children taught them that Christmas means having a Christmas tree, how to change that? Well, when very little, children don't know what a Christmas tree really is. My niece, who's only 5 months old, doesn't know it for sure. When children are growing a little bit, they can be explained why there shouldn't be a Christmas tree in the house.

But where all this Christmas tree tradition? After all, Christmas trees were not so popular until 1848 when Queen Victoria convinced her husband to have a Christmas tree as he had in his childhood. This tree was featured in an illustrated magazine at that time and suddenly the Christmas tree became very popular. People felt an incredible urge to copy the queen, so the demand for Christmas trees, as well as Christmas decorations grow incredible large.

I grew up having a Christmas tree every year. I can't remember not having one. But after the last two years when we had a Christmas tree in a pot {we lost one and the other is beautifully in our country yard}, this year we are going to say "No" to having a Christmas tree.

September breeze

I'm on vacation. It's a lovely September weather, and it feels like there it's June, not September. I can hear children screaming on the beach, the waves slowly hitting the shore, the sun is terribly shining on the sky, and I'm having a frappuccino in my hotel room.

It's too hot to stay on the beach, and I'm not allowed to stay in the sun when is that hot and burning. In fact, none of us should stay out in the sun at the evening hot hours, although many are looking to get as much sun as they can get, forgetting that a nice healthy tan can be achieved only at the early hours of the morning and right before the sun sets in the evening. No need to burn your skin, ladies!

On the other hand, here are some vacation photos I did till now. ;) and there are many more, but it's hard to post them from my phone! :) Enjoy!

a sketch after a photo <3 p="">

the perfect sunset ;)

an a view from the hotel room

...and me!

Happy National Day of Romania!

Happy birthday, Romania!

Today it's a special day for all born Romanians living all over the world. So where ever you are, dear Romanian sisters and brothers, wave the Romanian flag and be proud of being Romanian.

Happy National Day of Romania!

Christmas rehearsal

Cooking some Romanian traditional food today. These are meant to be meat rolls in cabbage leaves, called sarmalute, but they are without meat because we only eat fish, no meat. These are vegan, with mushrooms, rice and soy +other vegan goodies replacing the meat, but they are absolutely delicious if you know how to combine the ingredients and use proper spices!  Hint: they are better served and cooked homemade in a guest house, rather than served in a fancy restaurant!  

So today we've made a rehearsal for Christmas. I can't wait to decorate our home and make up the Christmas tree!

+food +romanianfood +romaniantraditional +sarmalute +sarmale +veganfood

Barcelona City Love

una publicación de Cristỉña Gàbriella Pärüś.

Happy New year everyone!

Happy New Year! 

And hope you all have a great magnificent year! 

We have enjoyed a super new year's party with lots of laugh and delicious food, and I only went to bed at 6AM, when I was more than exhausted! 

I love this pinky

After 6 hours, I was on my feet again and thought ...why not start 2013 doing something that I truly love and enjoy? So I took my sewing tool and started to sew on this new collar I'm working at these days: a soft pink with silver inserts, gorgeous to wear when spring comes in town. ;)

sewing and sewing

And because the New Year's Eve we have to shine, I've wore my nails in glitter! 

I love this manicure!

And we've enjoyed our xbox by playing bowling and other games.

This is me looking for the ball...

A golden night

A golden night by cristina featuring sheep shoes

30 Days of Pinspiration!

 Pinterest is the place where I find my daily inspiration. It's a place where you can find magnificent inspirational photos that you can save and share with your friends and family. 

And the 30 days of Pininspiration present the most beautiful pin boards on Pinterest! 

I absolutely love this site! Of course, there are a few others like this one, but none of them is so captivating like Pinterest is! If you're not using Pinterest yet, you should definitely grab an username and start creating your boards! It's easy and ...FREE! To get started, click here. It only takes a few minutes to create your account, but will keep you captivated all day long once you start using it! ;-) So be careful! It can become addicted! The best part is that you can install the PIN IT button, a tool that allows you to save whatever image you like from webpages all over the internet! You just have to click on it and a windows will open, allowing you to choose the board you want that PIN to go. Is that easy!

My Pinterest.com Profile

And if you are not following me yet on Pinterest, here is my page

 I have 27 boards, more than 4000 pins and 3500+ likes! 240 people following me and I follow ...2145! My profile is in Spanish, but you can choose among different existing languages.


You can read more about Pinterest here.
I will get back with my favourite boards ever. There are few boards that catch my eye and I would love to share those with you!

Oh, I almost forgot! Only...ONLY 10 days, 11 hours until Christmas! Horay!

Another lesson

Struggling to do whatever we want to do, but you don't always get. And your plans are twisted in a blink. Due to my anemia, last week I collapsed and broke my nasal pyramid on the left side. I was under shock at first, a lot of blood all over, my husband was also shocked this happen. One BIG lesson I have to learn from all this: always care about your health. I knew I am anemic, BUT NEVER EVER thought that I'm gonna collapse! But it happen! And luckily, I was sitting down on the couch edge when happened and not on the feet! Because otherwise I could hurt myself more and broke my head or something...

Anyway, I had the occasion to see how a beaten woman looks like and - more important, how one feels! Because after this, I took my husband (or he took me) to the neurology, and then to CCT and then to EEG. The rest of the patients were looking and wondering what happened with me, because I had some scratches on my face, from the moment I "met" our living room carpet. It feels terrible having people staring at you like that. On my paper was blank on white saying: CCT - cranial-cerebral trauma. Kinda harsh, isn't it? But even when you broke your nose, that is how they call it. Overall, I'm OK, Saint God! My nose will be as new in a couple of weeks, first week I was looking like one of those woman who have been abused, but now I got my face back. I never imagined that a little crack on the side of my nose can do so much harm and can make me look so bad!


OK, that's it! Take care if you know you have problems and do some checks from time to time, even when YOU THINK you're OK. 

Back to my quiet world, the Christmas is coming, people! What do you want for Christmas? I know I want more crafts (besides being healthy!!!) and let my imagination go wild next year! Here is one of my sewing projects!

The is always a first time for everything

Next week I'll have my first fly and I'm a little bit anxious about it. I've never been in an air plain and I've always wanted to fly and see how it feels. Or maybe that wasn't the real reason: the real reason I wanted so badly to fly is because I so much want to travel the world and see new different places and cultures. But this urge to see this and that got fast into regression when the crisis come over us and the hope for something better was vanished away. And the thought of relocation, too. I mean, there are people in Spain who cannot afford to pay the rent or the mortgage and what am I dreaming about?!?

But getting back to our trip, I truly think it will be marvellous, in that particular good way! And I'm going to enjoy every moment spent there. It's out first trip together on board and it's the first fly for both of us. What a beautiful trip will that be!

Holi-Holi-Holiday!

I'm dizzy. And lazzy. I would rather read my "With every day" romance book than to pack my things. Even if I'm packing for the sea side vacation which I expect for so long. And maybe that's because I've heard some news about the breaking weather or the poor water condition. The fact is that I'm not in the mood because this is not what I so much wanted for our holiday. There's nothing sure that we will somwhow manage to go to Greece at the end of the summer, somewhere in August or Septeber when we weather is very warm and it's a pleasure to be there.
Well, instead of Greece I got Black Sea again and that's not the best option so far. We have to stick with it and enjoy our trip to paradise. I'm greatful I can see any sea this year, when others cannot even leave their houses for one weekend! I'm more concern about the sea weed being present into the water, making it very unpleasant.

I'll go back to packing...and then to that fancy reading!

happy new year!

Ok, OK, now that Christmas has passed and we only have the New Year's coming up I just wanted to say that I'm still looking to pass that exam on July 2010. So I have already placed an order for the biology book.....it will come soon, but I expect this to be after Jan 1st 2010 :)

soon...! till then, have a magnific new year's night with your family and friends!