Angels and Demons

Angels and Demons Cover Art

    I have always enjoyed mystery stories, but I had never experienced something like the thrilling riddles that Angels and Demons contained. The struggle between understanding religion and science is brought to extreme measures and this shows how much we take religious/scientific peace for granted. 
    I had heard some small conspiracy theories starring the Illuminati but I never knew exactly what it all meant. Dan Brown set it all up in such an interesting way. As horribly evil the Illuminatus society turned out to be, I could not stop thinking about how ingenious and brilliant their tactics were. Despite some of the gruesome parts of this story, I feel like the chase and the time limit really sped up the pace of the plot. It was amazing to see how much action and strategy that Dan Brown could fit into just a few hours in the story. This makes it relatable because so much happens in our lives in a flash. We go through such an incredible load of experiences in our short life times and Angels and Demons really explores the possibilities. 
    It's great to see someone be as smart as the main character, Robert Langdon. He and his partner, Vittoria Vetra, race through Rome with only their brains as a weapon. The amount of history and information that Dan Brown was able to squeeze into this story is fascinating. While I was reading the book, I felt as if I was actually there, walking through the streets, seeing the famous monuments and statues.
    I am excited to now be able to see the movie and after that, spend my weekend curled up with The Da Vinci Code. I'm looking forward to all of the new puzzles and secrets that are going to boggle my mind.

Hair: Braids, Ponytails and Twists!

Logo cutegirlshairstyles.com

    If there is one thing I have the most fun doing, it would be hairstyling. I used to just wear my hair the same way everyday until a couple of years ago, when I started to experiment with various styles. This year I have become a bit famous for my creativity and everyone asks me to do their hair! It is so much fun and I really enjoy the feeling I get from making people feel special. 
    After I had kind of worn out all of my styles, I started looking for more, and for tutorials on how to master certain techniques. I found Cute Girls Hairstyles and I could not stop looking at all of the inventive and original ideas that Mindy McKnight has thought up. Her 5 daughters are adorable and I am so jealous of their beautiful long hair. This blog has taught me so much about hair and how to get it to do what you want. Cute Girls Hairstyles follows a lot of the newest trends since her daughters are in school. This made me realize the reason why you see a lot of the same hairstyles everywhere. 
    Recent fads I have seen in the past few years, that have been continuously reborn throughout generations, have been Top Knots and French Braids. When the buns were popular, you didn't see braids at all and vise-versa. That gave me an inspiration: to always try to wear what is not in style. That way it's always fun to see how people are fascinated with what is different and then slowly see the transition in what everyone wears. 
    If you ever need any ideas for a hairstyle for any occasion, go to http://www.cutegirlshairstyles.com/. For a quick preview of what you might see, I posted the links to some of my favorite styles down below. ⬇︎

Bow Braid:
http://www.cutegirlshairstyles.com/hairstyles/time/10-15mins/diagonal-bow-braid/

This style is so beautiful, but it is equally hard to accomplish. I have tried this braid so many times, and I haven't been able to get the hang of it yet! I wish you good luck!

Flower Bun
http://www.cutegirlshairstyles.com/hairstyles/time/5-10mins/dutch-flower-braid-updo-hairstyles/

Crown Rope Twist http://www.cutegirlshairstyles.com/hairstyles/time/5-10mins/crown-rope-twist-braid/




 
Another one of my favorite hairstyling sites is http://www.hairromance.com/. Be sure to check it out!

And as Mindy says, "Happy Hairdoing!"

The Hundred Foot Journey

Poster The Hundred Foot Journey

    My mother invited me to see this movie along with my dad at our local theater the other day and I absolutely loved it! Helen Mirren is such a fantastic actress and I think that she was perfect for the role of Madame Mallory. Her entire demeanor brought so much to the movie. I also couldn't resist the Indian family that the story centers around. Their dad was just too cute! And the kids made their life more realistic and human. I had never heard of Manish Dayal before and I could not believe how much I loved him. Apart from being super handsome, he made a great Hassan, an underestimated (but ambitious) self-taught cook. 


   I loved how this story had a simple plot and domestic conflicts but complicated emotions surrounding it all. Through this, we are once again reassured that it is best to follow your dreams at any expense with the hopes that you will be happy overall. However, you will not always find happiness in the expected places. Hassan makes it to the highest he could go in professional French cuisine thanks to his natural ability to mix cultures through food ingredients. While in that top position, he realized that it took a lot more than fame and fortune to feel the beauty and satisfaction he got from the life he left behind him. This movie if full of color and great photographic scenery, you can almost smell the aromas coming from the kitchens.  This feature is definitely on my top ten movies list and I could watch it again and again. I like this kind of feel-good stories and The Hundred Foot Journey is my favorite so far. I hope you enjoy it too. Salút!

Life Is Sweet

©http://www.eatingwell.com/

    Smoothies are a perfect way to have the sweet, cold dessert that you're craving while still watching those calorie and sugar counts. Even without adding any sweetener, these great drinks are a delicious treat! Ever since a Vitamix lovingly entered my home, I have really been splurging on my concoctions . It's really fun to experiment and create my own recipes. My favorite is what we normally call a Triple Berry smoothie, but instead of using ice and regular berries, I use a mix of frozen berries. I make sure they are always organic.

      I'd like to share my love of smoothies in a little list of recipes. I have tried to include ingredients that comply with common food allergies and sensitivities.



 **For more yummy smoothies, shakes etc., click on the Blendbook tab at the top of the page.

©http://foodgawker.com/tag

Nési's Triple Berry Smoothical
    Ingredients
        ~1 bag of frozen mixed berries
        ~1 1/2 cup of plain or vanilla yogurt (Dairy Free: 1 cup of ice and one cup of almond milk)
        ~a splash of orange juice
        ~1/2 of a banana

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

Cover Art The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

C. S. Lewis is a really unique author. I love his writing style and his characters, they somehow feel real as well as having a sort of fictional quality about them. 

    I think that even though this book is very short and easy, it is delightful. I like C. S. Lewis' creativity in establishing this fictional world. I consider the Chronicles of Narnia very entertaining. However, through another author I realized that C. S. Lewis lacks humor in his stories. Matilda, protagonist of Roald Dahl's children's novel Matilda (my all-time favorite book) says,

 " ‘I liked The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,’...‘I think Mr C. S. Lewis is a very good writer. But he has one failing. There are no funny bits in his books.’....
....‘Do you think that all children’s books ought to have funny bits in them?’ Miss Honey asked.

‘I do,’ Matilda said. ‘Children are not so serious as grown-ups and love to laugh.’

    Matilda's wise words ring true to me even today, it's nice to laugh more than once in a while. Sometimes it's fun to read an easy book, childrens' novels are very enjoyable when you let your imagination run wild.  :)

Grace-ful Mia

   Mia Grace Richardson is a talented dancer. I have had the pleasure of knowing her since we were both much younger. She is now around 17 years old and a dedicated ballet student. I always knew, from those fun hula-hooping and tap-dancing moments, that Mia would get far with her art. I was delighted to see her featured in an Ula Sport video spot. My family and I were emotional to see how well her hard work has started to pay off. 

    Ula Sport is a brand that expanded on the idea of the usual "yoga attire". They use super fine cotton and silks from all over the world. The designer has created many styles with the purpose of devising the feeling of a "second skin".  Ula Sport has clothes that are made for anything where you move. They promote their brand by taking talented performers of every kind of dance, yoga, gymnastics or martial art and making videos of them wearing clothes from Ula Sport. 

Click below ↓ to watch the video of Mia Richardson in Times Square. 

Click the link to see more videos on the Ula Sport Website!

http://www.ulasport.com/videos#!prettyPhoto[movies3]/11/

The Language De L'amour: Vanessa Paradis

    One of my favorite languages in the world is French, I love how it sounds in music especially. When I first heard of Vanessa Paradis I immediately became a fan of her music. She debuted her first song, "Joe Le Taxi" , which made it to the top charts, when she was only fourteen years old. I don't understand everything she's saying in the lyrics, but it is about a taxi driver named Joe in Paris. Now in her early 40's, Vanessa Paradis still performs. Her voice is much more mature and she still sounds beautiful. My favorite of her more recent songs is "Il Y A", which translates to "there is".

    Vanessa Paradis is very famous around the world not only for her musical career but also as an actress and model for Chanel. Many other well-known artists have done covers of her songs. Here, listen to "Joe Le Taxi" and "Il Y A" . Click on the videos below. ↓

                                                                Joe Le Taxi

Il Y A

Sweet Poetry

     Although I would not call myself a chocolate person, I enjoy eating Chocolove. My mom and I discovered it at our local Health Foods Store and we both couldn't stop eating it! I prefer dark chocolate and it surprised me how many options I had to choose from. The two chocolate bars pictured are my favorite, especially the coffee crunch.

    A special feature of Chocolove is the love part. On every wrapper there is a different love poem. All of these poems are unique, some are even from famous romantic plays and writers. I have included a picture of the poem from the Almonds and Sea Salt bar below. ↓ The surprise factor is always great, you never know what poem you're going to get and which poet you are going to discover.  If you would like to see all of the different flavors and sizes check out Chocolove at their website: https://www.chocolove.com/

Click to read the poem. Thanks! <3

Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie

Cover Art Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie

    This book was a really cool find for me because it is different from a lot of other books like this. Instead of being the normal sob (but understandable) cancer story, this book tells it from the older brother's point of view. Steven is a middle schooler that has a hard time telling anybody about his little brother's condition while trying to lead a normal life. I like how this story doesn't center completely around the cancer, but it symbolically shows Steven's struggle to get control of his life, trying to support his brother (Jeffery), but also working on his own things and social life. This story was narrated in the sarcastic tone of a 14 year old boy who earns a lot of wisdom over a span of one school year. 

    I was pleasantly impressed by Steven's compassion for his younger brother, he would do anything for him. The "conflict"  or "obstacle" of the story was not caused by Steven's lack of perception for Jeffery's condition, but because of an internal self- acceptance that he is forced to learn. 

I really loved this book, I would recommend it to readers of any age. 

Dinner For Schmucks

Cover Art Dinner For Schmucks

    I watched this movie last night and I could not stop laughing. Steve Carell is just inhumanly funny as an innocent man who stumbles upon a man who learns a thing or two from him. Even though throughout the story, Steve Carell's character (Barry) seems really thick skulled and childish, he shows a kind of compassion and humanity that really makes him different. Even after his only friend puts him down and treats him badly, Barry is still there, doing the right thing. Apart from the comedy side of it, there is a really strong life lesson that I think can make a huge difference. I thought that this film had all the components that it takes to have a great movie; internal conflict, romance, comedy, drama, complications, and a couple of really crazy characters. 

    Take it from me. Even though it's hard sometimes, stay true to yourself and do what you know is right, and everything will work out better.