I simply like music that makes me feel off side myself, with piano, acoustic guitar and a good drummer. No matter the style :)

Hozier has a great warm voice, clear and his songs are - most of them - divine! However I'm not a big fan of "Take to the Church", but I know his album has so much better composed music than that one.

Hozier's band are so talented and give him such a musical support.
I already regret the fact I skipped his concert when he came to Portugal :)









And have a good day!

Today I show you the accessory I wore. My mother bought me, at second hand shop, this beautiful belt made with coins.
She saw it and thought of me. And I really like it!

I had it for some time but I had put him at some very safe place and forgot it. Recently I found it and today decided to wear it.

This belt is handmade, with coins so of which from 1962, from Pakistan. Its beautiful right?







 


My co-workers talked all day long about the noise this belt made, but I love it!

Lately I've been very lazy when it comes to showing my own work... No can do!
If I don’t promote my own work, nobody else will do it for me, right?

In the beginning of the year of 2016, I made one illustration for Bianca Charity merchandise, which aimed to teach people that animals can be a part of our family.

Several t-shirts were made with this illustration including this one I wearing here.



This one is a loose and short model bright pink color and is just perfect with black short.
If you are interested in getting one for yourself, order here: fazendoanimaisfelizes@gmail.com!
Check other models, with this illustration, available here www.fazendoanimaisfelizes.blogspot.com

If you are thinking about hire me as designer, please feel free to contact me by email: geral@anaperes.com.
Thank you for reading this post!

Today is a very important day in my life! 7 years ago I - officially - stopped smoking.
After being a smoker for over 10 years, and tried to stop numerous times without success, one day I decided it was enough.

Why I stopped?
Because of money and health!
By the time I stopped, I was smoking pretty much for a girl under 30 years. I started to feel the tobacco physically, every time I ran I lost my breath...
The money issue was also a very important reason. I don't remember the price of each pack but I remember to make the math and each month I spent almost 60 euros a month. Too much!

Was a very drastic decision I admit! I was thinking about that for some time and I felt so hard to just stop or to reduce the number of cigars a day. So on June 14th I decided not to buy any more tobacco what so ever and I kept my promises and was strong even when I had this needs specially after lunch/dinner or when I got out with my friends. A couple of months later I smoked again when I was going out in Évora. First, tasted like nothing, second was amazing, last smoke felt so badly. This helped me to keep strong not to smoke.
Ever since I didn't smoked and the urge to smoke decrease a lot.

During the first months I dreamed pretty much I still smoking, woke up so tired and coffin but with time this dreams just started to be rare and now I feel so grateful about my decision and feel so proud of myself for staying strong all the way.

I started to travel instead of spending all that money in cigars, started to feel much more healthier and to save money!
Oh my, every time I think about the money I would spend if I still smoking! The price of cigars are so high nowadays and is so good I don't have to spend that money any more :)

If you want to stop smoking, be strong! Its very hard but very rewarding.
And enjoy the rest of your day!

I find very hard to go back to my daily routine after a period of vacations, no matter the length of that period.
In my case, I had been in holidays for one week and one day, but I travelled so the feeling to going back is almost deception and frustration.
Going out of my routines, is very easy for me, because I'm always on the move doing or planning something. Holidays can be the gasoline I need to burst my creativity, make it work properly again whenever I've been in a long non-stop period of working.
That is the reason I need multiple vacations throughout the year, otherwise I would gone insane, I think.

However, going back to my work and daily routine always makes me feel a bit disappointed. I do not fell the same person, my core changed, my core have something added that is only mine and no one else can see it. Travelling makes me feel a bit more complete than before, because of what I have seen, have lived, learned therefore I feel completed, one step forward ambitious. But I'm the only one like that... The others around me, didn't changed.

The worst part, is when they want to know details of your trip and I don't want to talk about it, because was MY trip, that life experience is personal but they seam to want to drink a bit of my life experience through my words, my stories and I want them for myself. They are mine and just mine.

Going back to work, after holidays and travelling, is almost a physical and mental effort I have to make... But tomorrow, I will do it!

Last weekend I went travelling! I love to travel and see new places/countries.
As you may know, since I quit smoking, once or twice a year I travel, with the money I use to spent in tobacco.
So this time I went to Luxembourg.

The flight ticket was pretty chip, with Easyjet and I took only a backpack with essential travel items just for 2 and half days :)

Luxembourg city is very small and you can walk around very well. For 8 hours I walked that streets and saw almost everything I wanted to visit, like Casemates of Bock, the main bridges, High Village and Low Village, the main squares and some churches.
It was really funny to hear all the time Portuguese, in the coffee shops, streets, etc... I never been in a country where so many people spoke Portuguese like Luxembourg.
On Sunday I also met a lady who lived in Portugal for a couple of years and helped Bianca. She took me for a car ride to south-east of the country, we even went to Germany for a beer, with a view to the river and Luxembourg on the other side of the river.

Duration of the visit

The city is perfect for a weekend off. Is a very small city and country, with very typical sights but little to see if you decide to stay longer than 2 days. So I would advice just a full weekend in Luxembourg.

What to see

Do not miss this sites:
- Casemates of Bock;
- 'The Golden Lady';
- City Museum;
- High Village and Low Village;
- Thüngen Fort;
- Cathedral of Notre-Dame;
- Casemates of Petrusses;
- Palace of Grand-Dukes;
- Citadelle.
Just to point out some places worth a visit.
If you have time and the money, there are arranged sight tours to visit the rounding castles.

What to eat

No doubt you have to try their waffles with sugar. They are wonderful.
For those who appreciate, their beer are pretty good. They also have a very long wine list.
The typical dishes are mainly related with meat - cow, pork and hunting meat - which I can not eat. They also have chourizos and similar types of food. So my choice was very limited due to my pork allergy, sadly.

Negatives points

Luxembourg is not a very tourist city. Plenty of shops, restaurants, coffee shops close very early. I had this funny story... Around 16h I entered in this coffee shop, to drink some tea and they were closing. The shop was located in a very busy street and lots of tourists were passing by and they were closing at that hour. They only served me my tea after I told them "take out". So prepared yourself to see lots of shops close very early. Even to get a bottle of water is very hard to spot a place. You will not find many stores with souvenirs.
For this reason I found difficult to have dinner in a local restaurant, I had to choose the open ones. Sunday nothing was open but the international food chain like McDonald or Subway.

Positives Points

The people are very nice, normally they speak french, german and english. Some even speak portuguese :)
The city is very safe. Was one of the most safe city I ever had been. You can feel comfort in the air, is very pleasant to walk around, not to see homeless people, drunk people around or men trying to sell you something.
Even that rain, the air was warm and dry. Very nice to walk around.
The tickets prices are cheap, only 2 euros for 2 hours or 4 euros for the all day, no limit of trips. Very good!Sunday, public transports are free or charge!

Advices

- Take a light but impermeable coat;
- The weather is dry, so drink a lot of water;
- You can choose to not walk so much and get to know the city by buses or sightseeing buses, pretty doable;
- I would advice you to rent a car. Parking space is limited and the buses work very well and they are cheap.

Down to the bottom, worth a visit. Check easyjet flight prices, for example, and visit this beautiful city. Meanwhile some pictures I took :)






























Tell me doesn't make you want to go there?

And enjoy the rest of your day!

Yah!! I'm about to go on holidays.
I need it so much, but so much to make a break on my daily routine, get off of my house, see a new city, new people... you have no idea.

Lately I have been a bit off of myself and I really fell my dyslexia popping up too much. To give you an idea I just update my CV in english with lots of items in portuguese... I just forgot to translate some parts. That made me fell so stupid, but so stupid no one can imagine. I think I will fell stupid for the next upcoming months...
Therefore, I really need to rest, stop a bit and get out of my routine. The last time I had serious vacations was last september, this lack of vacation is affecting me too much as well my creativity!

So I'm going on holidays...

Today I started packing, checking what can fit on my backpack - yes I'm taking a backpack, is only for this next weekend and I don't want to walk around in a new city with a trolley after checkout. Beside that I will have a full day out after checkout and will be much easier for me with just a backpack. I will be a tourist without looking like a tourist :)


And enjoy the rest of your day!

Oh! I haven't post anything about music for so long...
Today I will post about Hurts.

Hurts are a duet band and together they make awesome music.
I like very much the vocalist voice and the way his voice mix so well with the dance style of the music.

These are some of my favorite music from hurts.









And enjoy the rest of your day!