Hey Stranger

I ‘m enrolled in five online courses, and already watched 3 Netflix series that I didn’t even know I liked. I am sort of sleeping “well” and I think I am one podcast away to become a life coach lol

My nights are very productive, I am the major of a city after all (shoutout to animal crossing for keeping me sane) and my mornings consist of pretending that everything is normal and baking the occasional banana bread (what’s up with that? The world is in chaos and suddenly we believe the cure is a ripped banana loaf?-weird)

The weekly groceries delivery reminds me of the situation tho, I truly appreciate the measurements that delivery drivers are taking to keep them and us safe but, opening the door to a surgery ready civilian is kind of shocking.

I was convinced that my antisocial self would thrive in a situation like this, but apparently I’m not that “different”, I’m a regular human being that needs social interaction from time to time.

I miss, my "going to Hobby Lobby Saturdays" to buy overpriced trinkets I'll probably use once to decorate things that honestly don't need decoration, but hey! "I have a 40% off coupon" so I need a ceramic bunny with sparkly eggs that say "Happy Easter" to remind me of the essence of the day, because you know it’s all about a bunny laying a colorful egg and you eating your weight on chocolate on Easter Sunday (mom if you are reading this, I am being sarcastic, don't excrete me from the family).

Heck! I even miss the smelly overly crowded feeling you can only get on your daily commute using the wonderful public transportation.

Nothing like a “what will I encounter today” adventure game at 7:00am to start you up! should I encounter an alpha male? a pretty common type of male who’s greetings start with “hey beautiful, this seat is empty” followed by an obnoxious back and forth of “I am sorry! I am married, I am not interested” and a “So? I am married too, no one is talking about things we don’t want (insert revolting self entitled laugh here)” -Yikes! or maybe I’ll encounter a “momster”, a self proclaimed strong single mother that can get away with everything because “she is a mother” who has way too many kids, and zero respect for the rest of us, you know what I’m referring too, the one who’s children can literally kick you from start to end of their trip and she will never ever say a word because “kids” augh! or maybe if I am lucky and the public transportation gods shine their light over me, I’ll encounter a unicorn! A female or male creature of any age, who consensually start a conversation with you, or who simply let you be if they notice you have earphones on and minding your own business - Love me one of those to start the day in a good mood!

Anyway, you get my point, I miss the good and the bad! Don’t get me wrong, I am happy with my decision of staying home, it is the only option and is the right one! But you know, a girl gets lonely sometimes!

What I’m trying to say is that, I know this is temporary and I am blessed with health so I shouldn’t complain, but honestly, I wasn’t ready to stay home for more than a month and watch the world burn on the news you know, I lost my job like millions of people and I  cannot find a job because there are none, I've spent more than 24 hours online trying to submit my reemployment assistance and beg the government for my own money because life keeps going and rent is due on the first. I managed to submit the form on a Tuesday at 4:00 am, almost 3 weeks ago, but I am still waiting for an answer, an update, anything! I have so many friend nurses risking their life daily, and so many family members deemed "essential" exposing themself everyday just to enrich wealthy companies that obviously have no regard for safety nor humanity and are taking advantage of the situation, but "at least they have a job" ( I will not go there, I will not go there...)

I've been lucky enough to have not experience death of a friend or relative due to this pandemic, but the future seems uncertain the world is struggling and I’m just here trying to keep it together by becoming the next master chef, because I cannot do anything about it, absolutely nothing!

I am sorry if you thought this was going to be an uplifting post but, this is the reality and we cannot hide from it, we can only do the best we can with it.

I wish you are doing fine, staying healthy and taking advantage of this time to truly connect with yourself! You might be surprised to learn things you never knew you could do, something as simple as a really good cachapa (I had to mention it, I am very proud of her and will attach pictures with no shame!) or maybe start that project you always wanted to start but never could because you "didn’t have the time" excuse, that I am pretty sure you will not start and never will, BUT! maybe you will start a new one, an unexpected one and maybe that one will change your life!

This science fiction apocalyptic (zombies are still an option) world time is meant for self reflection and self improvement, let's hope that we as a society learn something from this and stop F*ckin polluting so much and start paying attention to the things that truly matter, because honestly so far we suck!

Till next time! see you outside, don't be stranger, stranger!

Love,
S

Instagram Worthy Halloween Decor for the Modern Witch

Hello Everyone,

Today I want to share my tips and tricks for a very warm Halloween home decor, yes, you read that right, Halloween can be "cozy", there is such thing as a cozy witch house!

So to begin our journey let's start with the basics, in order to achieve a warm ambiance we need to keep our palette as clean and neutral as possible. In my case I picked black, white, and neutrals.Since my rental apartment has a vintage vibe (really, it's outdated but I make it work) I decided to go with a shabby chic kind of vibe. Basically a modern witch that went crazy on her pinterest board kind of thing.

For the "fireplace" aka my recently updated kitchen counter (thank you home depot for selling great wallpaper) I went with a full on wicked composition of pumpkins. I love mixing textures and patterns, so I bought a mix of fabric and black and white pumpkins, thanks to budget friendly Target (I don't know how they do it but you can always find things that you never knew you wanted but you definitely need!) Moving on with the composition, I also added a lantern to add warmth and light, and to create dimension, I found a wooden black Hocus Pocus tray to rest against the wall, it is so cute that to be honest it's the muse of this decoration.

To make it the focal point of my decoration I added a cauldron, and to keep the palette as clean as possible, I added very sassy black witch broom, and the result is a very Instagramable aesthetic.

                      

For my dinning table I kept it simple with a black and white pattern, and added black roses to give it a "I am a witch but a classy one" kind of attitude.

Moving to the other side, I kept it very simple. Just added a spider web bowl and filled it with fabric pumpkins, I added two halloweenish cushions that help put together the spooky hygge living room, and of course the very needed cozy throw blanket to cuddle up to during weekend horror films marathons.

On the entrance I have a shelve that I love! since my home is not very big, maximizing spaces is very important, which is why I keep it as minimalist as possible with the furniture. I collected interesting pieces that could work well with any type of decoration. Since I am a Holiday enthusiast, it is very important to me to have creative freedom. One of my favorite pieces is a book shelve that I have in my entrance, I change it all year round and it is always a very full of fun art and Holiday decorations.

This year, keeping the neutral vibe, I added a composition of lights and different items which will for sure catch my visitors attention.

                     

Going upstairs, remember my bathroom? well a good thing that came from the new layout is that I can switch it up every now and then to reflect the changing of the seasons. For Halloween, I added a a couple of black items and boom! a completely spooktacular mini makeover.

                  

Halloween is by far my favorite time of the year, to me it is not one day, it’s the whole month of October. I am one of those people that plan their costumes and decorations for a year! What can I say, I have a thing for unusual things (said the basic "witch" trying to kid herself) so of course I go the extra mile and plan the decorations for every inch of my house, at the end it’s all about the little details.

With this self reassurance, I conclude my spooky house tour, I hope you guys enjoy it! I know I did. After all, I’m the Pumpkin Queen!

Love,
S.

 

What's Hygge and why is it important?

Hello!

Today I would like to share my experience of living in Hygge, if you are wondering what in the world is Hygge? well, Hygge is a Danish term, that is all about enjoying the everyday, community, comfort & feeling good. It is the Danish way of life, a verb, a noun & a very good way to appreciate life.

I have been a practitioner of Hygge for a year now. I discovered it one day while browsing on Pinterest, the word Hygge was all over the place, from decorations to recipes, so I started wondering, what is this Hygge thing all about and how could I apply into my life? I live in a Tropical weather, where you can wear a sweater maybe for two weeks in the whole year, and I have never experience winter, so how I was supposed to recreate that cozy feeling that Hygge is all about? For some reason I thought that Hygge was meant for colder countries, I always associate it to getting cozy in a cold winter night, but not at all. You see, Hygge is more than an aesthetic. It is ultimately about being happy, and I find that practicing Hygge has made me happier and it has really helped me to enjoy  life.   

There are two books that helped me understand this lifestyle better, the first one is The Hygge Manifesto written by Meik Wiking (The Little Book of Hygge) & is a ten point Hygge action plan to achieving everyday happiness.

The Hygge Manifesto by Meik Wiking

As you can see above, the manifesto calls for us to really be present in the moment & fully engage with life. By achieving physical comfort, connecting with others (not on a screen), being grateful & creating a beautiful atmosphere we can achieve Hyggelig feelings. 

This is why Hygge pays attention to atmosphere, creating a soothing space in which to relax is important. It also requires that we take time to find & enjoy pleasurable things. You don’t need to spend money to do Hygge & it is not just about Scandi interiors. It is about your attitude to life & how much attention you pay to enjoying everything.We all need to take care of ourselves. Sometimes that can be a few small things which really add up to feeling better & being more able to deal with life’s pressures. 

The second book that helped me a lot is "Hygge: The Danish Secrets of Happiness: How to be Happy and Healthy in Your Daily Life."

Is a very straight forward guide to live your life in Hygge, this book is full of small steps you can incorporate into your everyday patterns to help you on your hygge journey like:

•How to create a Hygge Home

•Why allowing clutter in your home, office, and mind is hurting your progress–And what to do instead

•How to gain time and energy without doing anything drastic

•Ways your hectic lifestyle can sabotage a hygge lifestyle

•How to save time, money, and stress with just a few simple changes in your routine

In conclusion, there are guides and books that teach you Hygge but at the end of the day is your conscious choice of living in mindfulness. Most important rule of all is enjoy your time, your time is precious and is important to make time for yourself. So go home, light a candle, get into your coziest pajama and read a book, no one deserves it more than you!

Love,

S.

Budget Friendly Bathroom Makeover

Good Evening everyone,

I want to share with you some ideas  of how to give an inexpensive makeover to an otherwise dull bathroom. As most of you know, living in a rented unit can be a pain, so many restrictions! for me it's torture, and just because I can't afford to live in the house of my dreams at the moment  doesn't mean I can't love my home.  Let's start by introducing you to my old bathroom.

Not very impressive huh? Told Ya!

Moving on, as you can see it's a tight space and very outdated, so how can you make this look better? well, first instead of seeing the flaws in the room, focus on the positive side; tall walls, white ceramic  floor, a white bathtub, and a vintage bathroom vanity. I decided that since the vanity was so outdated or may I say vintage? the rest of the decoration needed to be modern but with nostalgia, best of both worlds.

After deciding what to do with it I started to think of the uncomfortable part, budget; but hey! don't get me wrong, I love working on a budget so to me this was a challenge, how can I make a drastic change without breaking my bank account?

Well for instance, the focal point when you go inside the bathroom is the toilet, not very charming but how can you improve it? well what about changing the towel rack? I could hang them on the back of the door and Voila! Awesome Silvia, great thinking now what? That's right! it's time for an IKEA trip, when in doubt go to IKEA, so easy and cheap.

After explaining to my husband why it was very necessary to wake up at the crack of dawn on a Sunday and drive to IKEA (he knows better than to get in my way when I have a project) I ended up buying only 8 items, I spent around $50 ($60 if you count the hot dog and soda, mandatory for an IKEA trip)

I got home and my personal handyman (shout out to my hubby) started my project right away.

It took me about an hour, mostly because I am a perfectionist and couldn't decide which bathroom items that I already had went perfectly with the aesthetic I was going for.

At the end of a very productive day, this was the result:

TA DA!!

How interesting that by changing and adding a couple of things you can transform a room and still have money for the rest of the week. Of course that didn't end there, once I had the main focus ready, I started to see other flaws that needed to be improved (thanks OCD),  so my next project was the bathtub, which you may wonder, what can you do to a bathtub? well...

Very sad, Very messy :(

For instance the parade of brands and colors had to go, and what best idea than to buy matching containers? I bought mine through Amazon, I decided that I wanted vintage looking bottles, so I choose amber color glass bottles (don't worry we don't have kids and we are very careful, you can buy plastic ones instead if you don't fell comfortable) and to add a little bit more and have an excuse to use my vintage label maker, I personalized the bottles, the end result? magical of course.

                                                 

My bathtub has a tall wall with a mirror at top and a lot of space, I wanted to give the bathtub a spa feeling and add more green to it, so I added a fake plant and a set of ceramic cactus and I must say I was very happy with the end results.

               

Very cute, very nice lol I am very proud of my bathroom as you can notice, but wait! there's more, after all this beauty, I had to fix the mess that I called "my vanity", don't judge I had a lot of things and you know how it is when you just move in and don't know how to organize.

Solution, boxes! when you put loose things (perfumes, creams accessories, etc) in boxes it automatically looks organized (thanks Marie Kondo) so I bought a box set from IKEA and a little jewelry box to match, see below to be amazed.

And with this last informational/selfie picture  I conclude my rental bathroom makeover, see you soon...Fall is coming!!!

Love,
S.

The Starting Point

Hello! 

Well, I finally got the courage to start a blog and here I am! nice to meet you, my name is Silvia (or Silverz if we are close) and I want to share my day to day discoveries with you. So get ready for an all over the place experience, where I will share my recommendations on various subjects like, Home Decoration (Holiday freak right here!), Travel, delicious "not so hard to make" Recipes, and the occasional food for thought (no pun intended) so follow me in this new serendipitous journey.

Welcome to my Silverz Linings.

          Love, 

          S.

Entering the gates of the unknown...wish me luck!