Postcards from the Mountain

Happy Sunday, guys!

A Sunday spent at home working on a personal project and wishing it all goes well once it's ready to be presented. Good things come to those who work their asses off, am I right? 

Today I want to share with you some photos I took when we went on a road-trip to the north/center of our country, more precisely Serra da Estrela, earlier this month. It's a huge difference in terms of Architecture and weather - much darker and cold, but so so green. Beautiful! My eyes were stuck to the car window - when I wasn't sleeping.

It was a weekend off with my boyfriend's family and my sister-in-law's boyfriend, just to relax and enjoying ourselves. I was sick as hell during those two days, I barely could speak and sometimes I thought I would cough my lungs out (ew, but truth!). Actually I got sick the day before (which was the day I delivered my thesis. Crappy immune system!!). Damn luck! Still I went with them with as much warmer clothes as I could lay my hands on, beanie, the warmest knit scarf I could find, and my brothers huge Deeply jacket - he doesn't wear it anymore so I saw an opportunity and took it, hehe - which kept me warm and cozy during that weekend.

We stayed at a rural place that has been converted into Rural Tourism. Rustic outside, modern inside (click here to see more photo of the place)! Amazing restoration of the buildings by keeping the original structure - old church and their buildings turned into rooms, small apartments, restaurant, there was also a place for a pool side and coffee shop. Natural ingredients, delicious food, great environment and amazing people. Surrounded by beautiful nature, animals and silence. Just the perfect place for a getaway, even with grey skies and rain. 

I had so much fun on the snow...! I could barely breath due to laughing so much and stay put on my two feet 'cause of the amount of snow. So cool... I had a blast! Seeing my father-in-law sliding around like a kid was the best, for sure! 

And the result of this trip was staying home, in bed for the next four days, killing the f* flu. Oh well, but it was worth it. Cannot wait for the next time!

I hope you like the photos (:

Lots of Love,

Maria

Detail photos of the Quinta de São Estevão

A small waterfall on the side of the road. We actually went under the bridge to take the photos

Me, goofing around and trying not to fall into the freezing water, haha! I look like a boy...

Random photos when we were on our way to the mountain range

The boys having fun / Part of the mountain range, from the car window

All photos taken and edit by Maria Marques

Pick of the Day - Minimal Zipper Bag

Find it HERE

Hello there!

So far this Saturday has been spent on bed, in my pajamas, reading things and blogging. I'm feeling sick again, which isn't good at all. 

But thinking on happy things, my birthday is coming up and I'm looking for some goodies to fill my grumpy mood and closet. I finally surrended myself to smaller bags. For summer, it's always good to have a petite bag able to carry your essentials. Found this beauty at Parfois yesterday and I just had to add it to the list - but they didn't had it in black! It may look like "Oh, there's nothing to it. So simple!" but well that's what I like. I tend to immediately imagine the bag with a stripe shirt, jeans or shorts, white flats or espadrilles... With something casual and minimal! I'm always craving over the Céline zipper bags - which sadly I cannot afford - so when I finally found this one I was more than happy. There are similar on H&M and Zara. 

See you later!

Love,

Maria

Over cities of dreams

Photography by Rui Ferreira

Hello, sweeties!

Had to do so much errands since Wednesday that it has been chaotic! And you can see the rosy cheeks I have on these photos. I was so tired from going up and down the streets... Holy molly! Today was just another day of running around between the different buildings of the University (f*cking thesis...). But, all is resolved and I now relaxing at home, with my furry lover. Later I'm going to pick up my nephew at the kinder garden.
The warm sunny days gave place to grey, cloudy skies, rain and cold. I had to pull out my coat and knits again.

This is one of my favorite looks - casual and sporty - to do the bunch of errands and things on the to do list. Black, navy stripes and white sneakers, what else? And since there is a pearl fever going around, I decided to use mine once again - still wanting a bracelet and thinking on the necklaces, though they look chunky on my collarbone. I try, and try, and try to take the damn cat hairs from my coat but it's a never ending battle that I will always loose. 

And since is going to take a while since I'm graduated from my master degree, I decided to purse one of my passions - drawing! I've been doing some portraits for private "clients" - if I can call them like that - and other few works since 2008/09 (thanks to my stepfather who helped with materials for me to develop my skills). Now, after so many people telling me to go further with this, my boyfriend telling me that it could work out (of course it's going to take a lot of work and commitment) and with his help as well, I'm pursing this! Besides dance, drawing is another way for me to clear my mind. I'll soon share some random drawings here for you to see (:

And the title couldn't suit this post better! Time to purse my dreams!

If you wish to know the music just click here.

Lots of Love,

Maria

Grey Spring Day

Photography by Rui Ferreira

Hello there, guys!

I'm so addicted to this music (Son Lux feat Lorde - Easy "Switch Screens") and it's beat... Lorde's voice is so cool in it, you gotta listen! With the volume up! It just makes me want to dance at the sound of the beat... Cool choreography that would come out.

I'm quite moody 'cause the good warm and sunny weather gave place to the grey skies and wind - even rain! Sun, where did you go, man? And the wind is so cold that makes you go and grab once again the coats, trench and cloaks you've started putting aside. Buh, I hate this sudden changes of weather, you never know what to wear. Still, I tried to keep it simple and still being warm, so I pulled out my cotton turtleneck, my wool cape - great piece, btw! - ripped jeans and heels, and I'm ready to face the grey spring days that has come since yesterday. 

But I'm quite happy 'cause I'm starting seeing some muscle again on those jeans! My workout routine is starting to show its results. Yeah!

Have a warm night!

Lots of Love,

Maria

Pick of the Day - Bucket Bag

1 - 2 - 3 - 4

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New week, new decisions!

Happy Monday, guys! In a few moments I'm starting my workout routine but first I want to share with something I've been looking for quite some time - the bucket bag! Even the name is cute. It's a perfect everyday bag, in a different size and shape. I'm not good with small bags so the ones I've pick have ate least 30cm on height. These are all from Zara - one of my favorite stores. Different designs and shapes but my favorite is the simple one, with no details (the bag itself is a detail!) and very affordable. Two of them has that boho/festival look to it with the fringes and braid details - which I think is cool but not my style - and the other two are more simple and minimal.

Click on the numbers to go to the online store.

Which one do you like, ladies?

Lot of Love

and see you later!

Maria

Leather Overalls & Stripes

Photography by Rui Ferreira

Spring is officially here! YES!

And my morning inspiration to write a suitable text here is just not flowing at all. So I'm just going to talk a little about what I'm wearing. I bought these overalls a few months ago, during sales time - of course I wasn't wearing them while raining and with tights (I hate tights!). And as the good weather has arrived I decided to give them a try. I'm definitely not used to have that much leg showing after spending the whole Winter wearing jeans, but I'm loving those overalls! That striped shirt was a gift from my boyfriend's father, from his store Mike Davis. And I think that is a good combo wearing heels with overalls - just gives a little touch to the whole look - tough I'm dying to wear these with some black espadrilles!

Now, back to work a little and them time to workout this body!

See you guys later!

Love,

Maria

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1º Raid Solidario Assf - Coruche #EXTREMESPORTS

 the location

Hello there, sweeties!

Today I want to share with you something different from Fashion - Extreme Sports. 

I used to be a tomboy when I was younger and my love for sports grew during that time and is still a intense love affair - but in other categories like Dance and body workout. I used to do athleticism, played basketball, volleyball, did aerobic, ballroom dance, contemporary dance and ballet, and from this past year I've been doing some located workout routines just to keep my body in shape and fit - it's just something you have to.

And this is part of my lifestyle! Something I initially set out to post on the blog as well but got lost on the way. One of my purposes on the blog is to show my country and my way of living while still here. And this post is all about it!

So, last weekend we went to see my sister-in-law's boyfriend racing and it was the most eat-all-the-dirt-you-can-if-you-want-to-stay-closer-to-the-tracks Sunday of my life! I mean, my jacket turned brown and my flats as well - really bad idea to wear white flats for this type of events, STILL I was comfortable and that's all that matter. The sun was hot and shinning (when I got home I had a slight shape of the sunglasses on my cheeks and my legs wore soared after spending so much time standing) and we had amazing company and great food! 

I took over 340 photos (yes, a lot of photos!), but of course I selected some of what I thought were the best and captured the atmosphere to shared here with you. This is a passion of my boyfriend as well, in particular the ATV - though I do not know the names I still enjoy a good race. And this one had a particular purpose - the money acquired from this race was to buy an ambulance for a local city! Great work, guys! And Osvaldo ended up on 3rd place of his category - cool!

It really was a cool day and I hope I see more of these! And yes, tomorrow I'll be back with an outfit post! I just wanted to share this with you - I hope you liked the photos -, and I do hope you understand that sports is a part of who I am and how my body/mind are made.

Have a wonderful night and see you tomorrow!

Love, 

Maria

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My sister-in-law's boyfriend / the location 

his motto 

my clean flats and my tomboy look, all before the races started!  

1st race - Buggy Race (I just love the name of these cars!) 

Two wheels motto race - Osvaldo race! Yap, he looks super dirty! 

ATV race - so cool! 

All photos and editing by Maria Marques