What I Received For Christmas *2018*

Hey everyone! Happy Holidays! I've never done a "What I got for Christmas" blog post before, but I do love to watch Youtube videos of what people received for the holidays (my particular favorite is watching Olivia Jade's luxury Christmas present videos). Since I find these types of posts interesting and fun to read; I wanted to also share what I bought or was gifted. I am not trying to brag about the presents I received, I just wanted to share (since I post so much about my life on here). Also, these are just the main gifts I received for Christmas because my stocking was mostly socks, lip balms, and scrunchies.

Green Hunter Rainboots

I've wanted Hunter Rain boots forever, and when my mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas, my immediate thought was... Hunter rain boots! I've never owned rain boots before and that became a problem because I would wear my sneakers or booties in the pouring rain. Also, it rains SO MUCH in Rhode Island, so rain boots are definitely a necessity. Also, they're kind of stylish? Of course, I wouldn't aim to wear them when it wasn't raining, but how cute would they look paired with black legging!?

 Rose Gold "Love" Bracelet

I am absolutely obsessed with this bracelet. I went into a boutique in my neighborhood and saw these bracelets for $40 and begged my mom to buy it. This bracelet is based on the Cartier 'Love' Bracelet which ranges in price between $2,000 - $10,000 based on which color and style you buy. Until one day I can afford that bracelet, I am happy with my own version of it.

 Pink Handbag from Fossil 

My aunt surprised me with this Fossil light pink handbag that I absolutely adore. About two years ago, she bought me a turquoise coach bag ( as seen here ), which I use all the time. She always buys me colored handbags because I just love bright accessories. Light pink has been a staple to my wardrobe lately because since I now own Adidas pink sneakers, which a switch from my usual Stan Smith sneakers. Light pink was my grade in high school's color (class of 2018), so it's followed me to college evidently. I forgot most of my handbags in my dorm room (cons of taking public transportation home) so I will be getting a lot of use out of this bag.

AsaVea Hair Straightener

I have never been able to flat iron my own hair, and that really needed to change, so I finally invested in a straightener. My friend had recommended this straightener, so I ordered it off of Amazon for Christmas. I am super excited to try it/learn how to straighten my hair. It seems easy to use and will be great for me to keep and use at school or at home.

Beautiful Boy

My friend, Nicole, and I went shopping in downtown Manhattan at the Union Square Christmas Market to buy gifts for our parents, but afterward we decided to go to 'The Strand' bookstore. I love that bookstore and of course, I ended up buying a book. Beautiful Boy by David Sheff just became a movie starring Timothee Chalamet and Steve Carell, and now I want to read the book before seeing the movie. Funny enough, this is now the second book I have that has Timothee Chalamet's face on it since I own Call Me By Your Name (a book that I love and will talk about soon). A review on Beautiful Boy will be up once I finish reading it!

Smashbox Palette

My cousin gave me bought me a Smashbox Contour Palette, which I am super excited about! I don't know how to contour my face, but I have watched so many videos on how to do it. I have quite a few Sephora Giftcards and will probably buy some brushes for this palette.

--

If you celebrate Christmas (or any other holiday!), what did you get? Comment below!!

xx

Christina Madeleine

Two Coffee Shops in Providence & A New Blogger

Hey everyone! In the typical blogger fashion, I went to some cafes in Providence to do some studying with my friend Colleen. I had principles of marketing final earlier that day and my brain was absolutely fried, and so I needed to leave campus for a bit.

Around 1:30pm, we went to the Nitro Cart - Nitro Bar ( https://www.thenitrocart.com/ ), which is a Rhode Island coffee shop that has portable carts that come to Providence College and Brown University when it's nice out. They have nitro coffee (which is all the craze now!) on tap, and I might have a small obsession with it.

So, the Nitro-Bar is located inside the DASH bicycle store. I was able to hear the founders of the NitroCart speak at my college, and they said that the reasons were for 1) it's hard to find space 2) the bicycle store had the customer demographics they wanted to reach.

The bicycle store is technically next to the coffee bar, but some of the bikes line the walls and they sell merch as well. 

We ended up sitting at this cafe (in a different seat than where this photo was taken) for about 2.5 maybe 3 hours. What started as Colleen planning out her English final, and myself working on making a study guide for Macroeconomics ended with us drinking copious amounts of coffee and blogging! Which brings me to this... Colleen made a blog and it's really good!

 I was obviously ecstatic because I haven't met that many people in real life that blog or want to. Also, the demographics of bloggers are usually older than me and in the United Kingdom (which I absolutely love, but also means I haven't met them).

Nitro Bar closes around 5pm, so around 4, we decided to leave, as to not overstay since at that point we had been there since 1:30. We really didn't want to go back to campus yet, so we just looked up another cafe to go to!

Before we started the ten-minute walk to another shop, we just had to take a photo of this sign. I am a fan of cute signs like this!

Okay! Next, we went to White Electric Coffee (http://whiteelectriccoffee.com/#thebestcoffee), where we proceeded to both get another coffee and camp out.

The aesthetics of the two coffee shops are a bit different. Nitro-Bar has more of a clean and minimalist aesthetic, while White Electric's is warmer and crowded with lots of browns, reds, and LED lights. White Electric Coffee reminds me of a store I would find in Williamsburg, Brooklyn; so I was a fan of that. I am going back to both places definitely!

I have yet to try to food at White Electric Coffee, but it's on my to-do list for the second semester.

Above is a photo that I took of my cappuccino, but Colleen's blog is up on the screen.  next to I am literally so proud that Colleen made a blog (so catch me promoting it a bunch), but she's one of my closest friends here. So please check it out! Her link is: http://stainedpetals.blogspot.com/

We left the cafe around 6pm to come back go back to campus. It's so dark and cold out now; so it was a tad depressing to go back to the dorm, but it was time to. We were completely bundled up in our big blanket scarves and winter coats. 

I hope you liked this post! Check out about the time I went to a different cafe in Providence called Sydney (it's Australia inspired) here. My last post is about what music I've been listening to, and I actually wrote that while sitting in NitroBar (don't forget to comment what you've been listening to on it). 

If you have finals, good luck! See you in my next post!

xx

Christina Madeleine

What I've Been Listening to *December 2018*

Hey everyone! I've been listening to a lot of music lately (the only way to get through finals week) and I wanted to share my top tens songs from my different playlists. I will also add some pics of what my covers for each playlist are (or maybe a photo that sets the vibe).

My First Semester College 

(I titled it 'Off the Rails' because college is so crazy)

1. All in White by The Vaccines

2. D'You Have A Car? by SWMRS

3. You're Going to Hate This by The Frights

4. Inside Your Mind by The 1975

5. Television / So Far So Good by Rex Orange County

6. Clean by The Japanese House

7. Lethal Combination by The Wombats 

8. I Like America & America Likes Me by The 1975

9. Your Graduation by Modern Baseball

10. Orpheus Under the Influence by The Buttertones

Study Study Study

(Can you guess what this playlist is for?)

         

This is my school's humanities building where I spend a good portion of my time

1. Visions of Gideon by Sufjan Stevens

2. Elegia by New Order

3. LostMyHead by The 1975

4. The Theory of Everything by Jóhann Johannsson

5. Hedwig's Theme by John Williams

6. The Call by Regina Spektor

7. The Night We Met by Lord Huron

8. The Funeral by Band of Horses

9. You're Not Good Enough by Blood Orange

10. Mystery of Love  by Sufjan Stevens

Oldies, Throwbacks, and Memories

Photo from Tumblr

(My Playlist of all throwbacks, Disney, and Broadway songs)

1. Stockholm Syndrome by One Direction 

2. The Club from the 'In the Heights' Soundtrack

3. 'Who Am I?' from the Les Miserables Soundtrack

4. Where You Are from the Moana Soundtrack

5. Champagne from the 'In the Heights' Soundtrack

6. I've Been Waiting For You by ABBA

7. A Girl Worth Fighting For from Mulan

8. Fathoms Below from 'The Little Mermaid' Broadway Soundtrack

9. Baba O'Riley by the Who 

10. I'll Always Remember You from Hannah Montana

Question: What songs have you been listening to?

xx

Christina Madeleine

Thoughts and Ramblings of a First Semester College Freshman

So...it's been a month since my last update. To me, it's very strange that I haven't updated in that long because I am constantly talking about my blog and thinking of ideas, yet don't write anything. I've decided instead of apologizing in every post, that I will make 2019 my year with 'This Fashion Girl' because, at this point, this blog is part of me.

What's this post about? Well, I have learned a lot in the last 3.5 months of being in college, and have some thoughts and experiences I want to write about.

1. The first two weeks are the absolute worst

In all the movies and stories, you hear about how college is such a magical time from the point of moving into your dorm to graduation. My first day was so stressful starting with finding a bug into my desk to not being able to find half my items. Also, there was a pressure to "go out" that night, and I was so exhausted I just went to bed. My orientation group was not very friendly, and it's funny now because I am very good friends with my leader for activities, but not close with all the initial people I met. I also cried so much during the first two weeks because it felt that everyone found friends so quickly, which is absolutely not the case. There is also a jump from taking high school classes to college classes (different times, and time management), which is hard at first.

2. It's 100% okay to not feel like you fit in 

I say this all the time to my friends here, but I don't feel like I fit a type of mold that the people at my school are. I stand out in different ways (for example I am one of the only people that come from New York City in my grade) or I will wear some eccentric pieces that no one would care about at home, but here people will stare. I also try my hardest in classes (even ones that are slightly boring), and I am very eager to learn, and sometimes it feels like everyone around me hates being in classes. There are times where I feel like I stand out for negative reasons, but I've also met people that like to be creative, and talk about intellectual things, and those people who are "your people" come in time. As long as you love the college you go to, fitting in should never be a worry. People are drawn to those who stand out than those who blend with the crowd.

3. Everyone is struggling, it just might not seem like it 

The worst part of the beginning of college was looking at the social media of my friends from home, and feeling like they are having so much fun...and I wasn't. Everyone posts on social media their new friends, and all the parties they go to, but no one will post all the times they cried, stressed, or homesick.

4.  Some friendships from home are just "high school friendships"

My best friend from home, Bree, said this to me a few weeks ago when I was very upset about how a friend of ours had been treating me since they stepped into college and before. I am not saying ditch your friends from home as soon as you get to college (those are some of the worst types of people), but if a friend from home isn't treating you right; it's okay to let go of them and just keep the memories.

5. You meet people in the weirdest ways

My friend group in college was formed by a bunch of coincidences, and honestly, I can't picture life at PC without them. My childhood friend from pre-school and I reunited this year, and through her, I met two girls who happened to live two dorms down from me (and I didn't even know that until three weeks into the school year), and our group grew to six people. These girls have been my rock for the last few months, and we have gone through some whacky adventures in Rhode Island. I've also met people through getting ready on the floor bathroom, filming videos, and going to Bingo.

6. Taking part in activities that YOU enjoy is a saving grace

The first club I joined when I got to college is a choir. As you know, I sang in my high school choir for four years, and I decided to continue in college. Singing is very important to me, and to have a small community of people I spent two hours a week with sounded like the thing I needed to not be so sad at school. I also joined PCTV (you can check out the tab to see the videos that feature me), and I did that because that's what I wanted to do and be part of. In the next semester, I plan on joining more activities in order to meet more people, and further develop my interests. '

7. Working hard is SO IMPORTANT

College is no time to slack off. In most of my classes, our homework counted for very little and our grades were solely based on group projects and tests. In group projects, you need to pull your wait or your group will be penalized and everyone knows the person in the group that is doing nothing. If you don't understand something, the professor moves on and you need to go to tutoring or office hours. A few posts ago, I talked about how much I didn't like my classes, but when I worked so hard this semester to understand and honestly it hasn't been that bad. Two of my best classes were Macroeconomics and Math when I really thought it would be Western Civ. I felt so defeated in high school and felt as if so many people were smarter than me, but at PC I feel so smart and accomplished. Professors will recognize hard-working students and be more thankful and nice towards the students that seem interested than the ones who look bored.

8. I definitely need to take better care of myself

There were times when I would go to bed at 2am and wake up at 9am for my 10am class, and I honestly hated going to bed that late. I wasn't doing work. I was on my phone. Next semester, I need to go to bed early, eat better, and go to the gym. It's so easy not to workout and makes excuses, but I would waste so much time on my phone when I could've gone to a yoga or Zumba class. I would find excuses to eat dessert at every meal and feel gross later in the day. I have found errors in my ways, and honestly, it's hard to not eat badly when everyone around you is. Also, colleges give out so much free food that might not be the healthiest but is so good (i.e Insomnia cookies and chicken wings).

9. Continue following your passions

I have so many career goals that I want to achieve in my life, but I also have passions outside of my major. I plan on pursuing a writing minor (and possibly economics) with my Marketing major because I love English (can't you tell?). I am working next semester to take classes that not only fulfill my core requirements but also make me want to go to them. I plan on sticking with blogging and posting more because that's what I like to do, and in the long run I know will be worth it.


Thank you so much for following me along this journey of self-growth and education.

Here's a picture of me in Haven Brothers diner at 12:30am.

My outfit:

Skirt- TopShop

Black Tights- H&M

Black Bodysuit - Forever 21

Christmas Hawaiian Shirt- H&M Men

Here's a picture of me and Ailish on our last "free" night before the rest of finals week

xx

Christina Madeleine

Apple Picking in North Kingstown, RI

Hey everyone! About a month ago, my aunt took me to her house in North Kingstown, Rhode Island (about a half hour from Providence), so that I could get off campus (and take a shower that didn't involve wearing flip-flops).

When I pictured going to school in Rhode Island, I thought that I would be able to see the water from my dorm, despite the fact my school is a campus in a city. Three of my cousins have gone to other colleges in Rhode Island, and two of them were on sailing teams so my thoughts of Rhode Island was always the ocean. As nice as my college is, there is no water view from my dorm or from any part of campus, so it was super exciting to go to my aunt's house and literally be on the water.

 During this weekend, we were celebrating a birthday; so we took a boat to the restaurant (and I ate real food, hence not from a dining hall).

 The next morning, we went apple-picking at Narrow Lane Orchard. I had never been apple-picking before (the closest one near me are probably an hour away in New York).

 Sometimes it's hard to eat fresh fruit in college, which I know sounds crazy but is kind of true. My room is stocked with microwavable mac-and-cheese and bagels, and I definitely needed to bring some fresh fruit in there.

 On our way back to campus, we stopped at a pumpkin farm shop. It was completely stocked with gourds and fall decorations.

 I am not allowed to have real pumpkins in my dorm, so it was sad to not buy any, but when my parents come up for parents-weekend maybe they'll get some. My dorm room has fake pumpkins in order to have fall vibes.

When I got back to campus later in the day, the sky was so beautiful at sunset. Definitely, one of the perks of my school is how pretty the sky looks in the evenings. This photo was taken by our soccer field and hockey complex. 

How is Autumn going for you? Have you ever gone apple-picking?

xx

Christina Madeleine

My Trip to the Jersey Shore 2018

Hey everyone! From July 29 to August 3, my family went to Long Beach Island and brought my best friend, Bree, along! Growing up, my family and I would go to the Jersey Shore every summer, but after Hurricane Sandy, we hadn't gone back until last year when we stayed in Ship Bottom (which is on the island). This year we stayed in Beach Haven, which is a very popular area. We also vlogged the whole trip! So you can check out our videos (it's split up into two videos):

Although most of our trip is vlogged, I wanted to share some photos as well!

We were outside during golden hour on our first night, so we took the opportunity to take photos. Bree had gifted me the lovely sun hat. 

There's a restaurant called Chicken or the Egg (also known as Chegg), and we went so many time...but this was my breakfast one day. It is a buffalo chicken omelet. 

We went to a snow cone place, and I bought a "Hawaiian" Ice, which was just super sweet ice that vaguely tasted like pineapple. It was good regardless!

Bree, Jenn (our friend who is in the vlog), and I rented bikes for a few days. One day, we biked two miles to the Wawa to buy breakfast, lunch, and coffees. I ended up having to balance the food in the bike basket while pedaling. If you ever go to the Jersey Shore, I highly recommend renting bikes! 

 Our last night, we went out to eat. The colorful houses in the background are so cute, and every time we always obsess over them. I would love to own the purple or blue one.

That same night, the four of us have a tradition of going to the waterfront in Ship Bottom to take photos.

I know this is a super quick post, but please check out my vlogs of the trip (we put a lot of effort into them!). I just wanted to highlight key moments, but most of the trip is documented on video. Sometimes we think we're funny...sometimes!

This trip was super special to me since I am going to college in Rhode Island, and Bree is going to a university in California. Also, I am so glad I got to spend time with my parents.

Leave a comment if you watched the vlog/what did you think of them!!

xx

Christina Madeleine

I am officially a #collegeblogger

Hey everyone! The last six weeks I have been on a hiatus from blogging due to many factors. I worked at a summer camp for five weeks with five and six year olds. My job consisted of teaching little girls how to sing Disney songs and taking them on field trips and basically catering to their every need. I would come home so drained, and I was completely not my self. I absolutely love working with children, but it took me away from my other passions. The fun part though was that a lot of my friends worked at the same camp as me, and we would grab dinner and hangout which meant a lot considering we are all going to different college.

I could apologize for not being a good blogger, but instead, I wanted to focus on the future of this blog. As known, I started this blog when I was thirteen (so either sixth or seventh grade), and now I will be entering my freshman year at Providence College and now I'm 18. Since I am also moving states I wanted to update my blog persona. There's a ton of college bloggers out there, but now that I am officially one... I want to do the best I can.

Photo of me in front of my high school with my college gear :)

So let's talk about what I'm studying, how I feel, and how I am preparing. I'm a bit nervous about starting at a new place and especially living there. I'm more excited than anything else but it's definitely scary. I am living in an all-girls dorm (that's the only option for freshman girls), and I got the dorm that I requested (a double!). My roommate and I have been non-stop talking about how we want to decorate our room and that's very exciting! Our dorm theme colors are white, gray, turquoise, and navy. Maybe I'll even do a dorm post....hmmm.

I am also trying to be more organized, which I always say I'll do, but this time I am serious. I put all my classes into my Apple calendar, and I plan to put all my extracurriculars, events, tests, deadlines, and blog posts into it! There will definitely be an update about how that works out, but I am hopeful!

Since I am a Marketing major (as of now!) at the Business School, I wasn't able to pick my own classes, but this semester I am taking Financial Accounting, Development of Western Civilization (a four-semester class that everyone takes at my college), Economics, Marketing, and Math Business Analysis. I don't have much experience in most of those subjects, but I am up for the challenge. Providence College is a liberal arts college so there will be a balance between my business major and humanities classes over my four years (especially when I take up a Writing minor).

There's a lot to look forward to despite how nervous I am. There's sports events, extracurriculars, meeting new people, going around Providence and Boston, learning new subjects, becoming more independent, and so many more things. It's so easy to become flustered and anxious, but I am trying to keep my head up and go into this experience with an open mind. I think my blog is going to grow even more with me now that I have the motivation to keep going with it.

I am super excited for the future and I've decided I am going to try to post twice a week from now on and be more interactive with the blogger community!

xx

Christina Madeleine

Follow my twitter to keep up with me and tweet me :) https://twitter.com/thisfashiongirl

Book Review: Love & Gelato

Hey everyone! I can't believe it's been six months since my last book review! My GoodReads goal is to read 25 books this year, and I am only up to four so far this year. Since it's Summer now, I've decided to get back into reading. For my graduation, my friend Eleanor bought me Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch and I was able to read this book in about five days because I was so captivated by it.

Synopsis from GoodReads:

“I made the wrong choice.”

Lina is spending the summer in Tuscany, but she isn’t in the mood for Italy’s famous sunshine and fairy-tale landscape. She’s only there because it was her mother’s dying wish that she get to know her father. But what kind of father isn’t around for sixteen years? All Lina wants to do is get back home.

But then she is given a journal that her mom had kept when she lived in Italy. Suddenly Lina’s uncovering a magical world of secret romances, art, and hidden bakeries. A world that inspires Lina, along with the ever-so-charming Ren, to follow in her mother’s footsteps and unearth a secret that has been kept for far too long. It’s a secret that will change everything she knew about her mother, her father—and even herself.

People come to Italy for love and gelato, someone tells her, but sometimes they discover much more. 

My Thoughts:

To sum up the plot in a straightforward sense: Lina's mother dies in the first few pages of the book, but her mother had arranged for her to move to Italy to live with a father she had never met. The plot is more than that because she is given a journal that her mother wrote from when she spent a year in Italy when she was in her twenties. Lina meet Lorenzo (who goes by the name "Ren") who's mother is from Texas, but they live in Italy, and they become friends instantly. She also meets other teenagers from the International School who all have really interesting back stories, but none of them are fully Italian.

One of my problems with the book is that it all takes place within a week. Lina has a breakdown literally everyday about her mother, and she goes on this journey with Lorenzo after only knowing him for a day. Also her father, Howard, is super chill with the fact that the daughter he never met before literally three days before is going off with a boy he doesn't know on a motorcycle around Italy. Lina also causes so much drama for herself and the friend group that existed prior to arrival, and everyone just takes her side. I feel like the plot should've been over a long period of time because nothing too deep happens, and by the end of the book (literally six to seven days) after the beginning, she decides she loves Italy and wants to stay there. My other problem with the book is that the descriptions of the places in Florence seem like someone looked at a picture of Italy and has never went there before. An example is how she describes Florence, "The climb was totally worth it. The view of Florence was just as stunning as my mother had described it, a sea of red rooftops under an unblemished blue sky and soft green hills circling everything like a big happy hug" (pg.194). I don't know about you, but I didn't really get the feel of Florence from that passage or describing something as a hug. 

Lina did absolutely no research on Italy before moving there. An example (pg 166):

Lorenzo: "Hey do you want to get a gelato?"

Lina: "Whats' that?"

Lorenzo: "Gelato. Italian ice cream. The greatest thing that will ever happen to you."

If you're moving to a different country, wouldn't you do a little research on the food and culture. Don't even get me started about how she literally knows none of the sights of Florence, and asks Lorenzo everything.

Overall, I liked the book because it was a cute summer read and it made me want to go Italy (despite the subpar descriptions). I think it was a cute book and I got excited over the romances in the book, but I don't think it was a "literary masterpiece," but I do recommend if you want a light and cute read.

I usually do favorite quotes, but there weren't any that particularly stood out to me. 

xx

Christina Madeleine

Send me book recommendations!! Friend me on GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/55538660-christina

Five Years of This Fashion Girl

Five years ago today, I created ThisFashionGirl. I was in seventh grade, five days away from turning thirteen years old. In the last five years, I have posted over 100 times on here and have had about 82,000 views, which is crazy to me.

I haven't posted in the last month because a lot has been happening in my life. I will be turning eighteen years old in five days, but the month of April was pretty hectic. For three months, I worked as stage crew for my school's show, In The Heights. If you have viewed my blog for awhile, you would know I participated in The Little Mermaid last year as a member of the ensemble. I truly love to sing and do theater, but back in January, I was dealing with some feelings that caused me to not be able to participate in this year's show. I wouldn't say it was an anxiety attack, but there are days when you don't feel that great about everything, and unfortunately, that happened during auditions week. Nonetheless, I still was able to participate in some aspects of the show because I worked for stage crew. I definitely have a better appreciation for theater now, and I would recommend people to take part in plays and musicals. For those In The Heights fans out there, my favorite song and dance numbers are definitely 96000 and The Club/Blackout. I mention all of this because, the show took up so much of my time, and was mentally draining so I couldn't find the time to write. I am always apologizing for not writing, but truly I need to make more time for that.

Other events that happened recently is that I lost someone really dear to me. My great-uncle, Giuseppe, passed away a few weeks ago. Last year, when my grandmother died, it took awhile for me to get back into writing about my life, but this time it was even harder. I couldn't get myself to write about style, fashion, books, or movies. I love to write, and I hope to be an author someday; so all the pieces I have written in the last month was about my great uncle and the eulogy nobody read for him.

On a brighter note, let's talk about how I've been running this website for FIVE YEARS! I truly can't believe that I've been writing on here for so long. When I started this blog, when I was almost thirteen; I thought that I would instantly become famous (as we all do), but I feel as though I am successful in my own way Many people give up on blogs and writing, and I am proud of myself for writing for so many years. I think that 2018 will be the year I reach 100,000 views.

Having this blog is so special to me because not only have I been able to connect with so many people, but also ThisFashionGirl is almost a time capsule of who I am. Over the last two years, I've been working to genuinely create content I am proud of and show my personality. I want people to read this blog, and feel as if they can relate to but also be my friend. This blog has documented my struggle with acne, my journey with braces, different changes in friends, my change in style, all my vacations, the books I've read, the shows I've watched, and so many more things. I am so grateful to have the life I live and be able to run this blog. Thank you so much for reading my blog over the years! Here's to at least five more!!!

xx

                                                                   Christina Madeleine

P.S

I will have another post up in a few days because I will officially be an adult on May 8, 2018! Also, I will be uploading a video in a few days of one second of footage I took for my whole year of being seventeen years old.

One More Thing:

Get excited for my posts from May through August because I will have photos from prom, graduation, reflection on my experiences in high school, and all the different things I am doing to prepare for college. I think this will be a very great time for my blog. Don't forget to leave comments and share :)

OOTD: Easter 2018

Hey everyone. Happy Easter! Today, I decided to dress up for the Holiday and do an OOTD. It's been a few years since my last Easter Outfit of the Day.

My Outfit:

Black Long-sleeved shirt - LOFT

White Fluffy Coat - Begreh (a store in Braga, Portugal)

Striped Pants - Cue Boutique 

Blue Eye Glasses - Rayband

Silver Hoops - Cue Boutique

White Scrunchie - Walgreens

Black Boots - Steve Madden 

I spent Easter in Williamsburg with my extended family. There were about twenty of us, and it was about four hours of food, laughter, and cake. The amount of sweets and sugar I have eaten in the last two days is actually ridiculous.

Details:

Handbag- Coach 

Rings- Stradivarius ( a Spanish brand)

Red beaded bracelet with cross - a gift from Italy

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter or just day (if you don't celebrate). Thanks for reading :)
Please leave a comment 

xx

Christina Madeleine

My Favorite Vegetarian Meals *March 2018*

Hey everyone! I've talked before about how I've always wanted to try being vegetarian to see if I would feel better and overall to see if I could go for awhile without eating beef, pork, chicken, and other meat products. I'm Catholic, so this lent season I decided to go vegetarian (with the exception of fish) for the religious season. I managed to not eat meat for the entirety except for when I was in Portugal an ate some prosciutto (it was so good there).

With having less meat in my diet, my skin cleared up so much and I was less bloated. On days where I ate a lot of vegetables, I felt overall better than days where I just ate carbs (bread, cheese, etc). It's very easy to become one of those vegetarians who only eat bread, so I pushed myself to actually make meals for myself. I ate sushi during school if I felt lightheaded from lack of calories, but I did feel better for the most part. It's been a few weeks now, and I don't really crave chicken or beef. I don't know if I'll continue a strict pescatarian/vegetarian diet, but I feel in the future I am still going to limit my meat intake.

On that note, I have been taking photos of some of the meals I've been eating/making.

Pasta Primavera in Tomato Sauce with Tofu

When my cousin, Alessia, visited me last month; she showed me how to make this. She is vegan, and for one night her and I decided to cook dinner together. I made this same recipe for my parents last night. I bought a packaged mix of vegetables and a container of chopped peppers. I also bought a teriyaki tofu cutlet. I cooked all of this in a pan with oil.

At the same time, I was boiling pasta and cooking tomato sauce on the other two burners. Usually, I would cook the tomato sauce with the vegetables, but since the sauce was not from a jar; it had to be cooked from scratch in another pot. When finished, I put the pasta in my bowl first and then add the sauce with vegetables. To keep it vegan: put nutritional yeast and turmeric on top. To keep it vegetarian: put cheese on top of the dish.

Everything Bagel with Vegan Cream Cheese

I don't have any photos of the copious amounts of bagels I've consumed in the last month, but trust me it's been a lot. I usually eat everything bagels with either smart balance butter (vegan!) or cream cheese (still pretty yummy), but I decided to try this brand of vegan cream cheese an I give it a 5/5. I recommend trying it. A few of friends are lactose intolerant, but love cream cheese; so I'm going to make them try this. 

Eggs with Rice 

I've eaten this meal almost every day of spring break when I've been home. It's very simple to make and I find it delicious paired with hot sauce. I make a pot of white rice to eat throughout the week, and it comes in handy when I want an easy meal. All you have to do is fry an egg, and then scramble it and add it to rice. I also add nutritional yeast to the meal, and sometimes I will either add tofu or substitute the egg with it. 

Do you have any favorite vegetarian meals? Let me know in the comments :)

xx

Christina Madeleine