The Phantom of the Opera

February 1st, 2014

Today is saturday and I'm sick/ill... I believe it's a cold. I am really sad that I am sick because today I wanted to go to a concert, a Michael Bublé concert. He's having 2 concerts here in Portugal and I cannot go because I am sick... and also because I didn't get tickets but I could have last minute!

Anyway, I can't go so I have to find something to do. As usual I go on my computer and I watch videos.
This time I decided to watch videos of Nicole Scherzinger and for the past couple of months I have been obsessed with a video of her singing a song from The Phantom of the Opera. In the video she is singing a duet with 4 men and one of them really catches my attention. I search to find who he is. His name is Ramin Karimloo. As I do I go and search more things about this man. I find a video of him and Sierra Boggess singing a duet of "The Phantom of the Opera". I keep on playing the same video over and over and slowly I start falling in love with these two characters. I go on the search box and I type down "Phantom of the Opera". Amongst the many videos of this musical I see there's an almost 3 hour long one, so I figure it must be either a movie or a play. I click on the video, put my headphones on and I just sit there waiting to see what happens.
The characters start talking and the story starts to evolve and as the minutes go by I feel happy as I've found something to watch on this sick/ill day.
Midway through the play - I quickly figured it was a play and not a movie - I feel the need to pause the video as tears are streaming down my face and I am heavily breathing. In am so into the story that I feel everything the characters feel, specially the main one: The Phantom. For some sort of reason that I do not understand, I have connected with The Phantom rather than connecting with the others. I'm usually more of a good-guys-connecter type of girl! But this time it was different. I felt the pain of The Phantom, all of his emotions and his heartbreak!
I need to stop crying and compose myself before watching the other half of this play. I want to see without having tears in my eyes but I also don't want anyone of my family to see me crying. I go on to the room with my laptop and I place it on the bed. I then move myself to the bathroom to wipe down my tears and wash my face. As soon as I feel more composed, I go to the bedroom, I sit on the bed and I place the laptop on my lap. I put on my headphones and I press play!
In about 1 hour and 30 minutes the play finishes. I take off my headphones and I just sit there and contemplate everything I've just seen.
This was my first time seeing a proper musical and it's no surprise to me the amount of love I have for it!

Months have passed and it's now 2015. This amazing musical has stuck to me and with me and it most certainly will for the rest of my life!
When I was a little girl I always knew I wanted to be an actress but I only wanted to do movies or tv and I never considered doing theatre. I felt like it just wasn't for me... After watching "The Phantom of the Opera" for the first time ever, knowing nothing about the story and having felt the way I did, I have been re-considering theatre for the past year. Now I am not shutting out this option, in fact I am very much open to it!
It would be lovely to do movies and tv, I still want it but there's something about musicals that I deeply love! If I could only choose one of these "stages" I'd choose musical theatre. It's a combination of two of the most perfect things in the world: acting and singing!

Watching the musical "The Phantom of the Opera" has completely changes my life and I will for ever love it, adore it, worship it!

Love,
Carolina Rosalie ♥

June

Looking back to the past couple of months I feel like I've not been the most productive of people. Half of me knows why and doesn't regret it completely but the other half wishes that I had at least tried to do more.
I find that I am most productive whenever I plan things, make lists, set goals. So for this post that is exactly what I am going to do. I decided that rather than just making a list of my goals for this upcoming month and keep it to myself, I should share it because why not?!

If you'd like to share with me some of your goals for the month of June, feel free to do in the comment section below. But for now, here are my goals:

 1. Start practising Buddhism

 2. Keep improving my health

 3. No skipping uploads or posts

Love,
Carolina Rosalie ♥

Respect

Throughout my 19 years of life I have met a lot of people and, at some point in my life, I have considered some of them friends. At the present moment I feel like if I am seeking true happiness I must only surround myself with people with whom I have a relationship that is mainly based on mutual respect.

And throughout my 19 years of life I have come across some very disrespectful people and I have come to realise that that will probably happen till my final days. And I am very much okay with that because I know I have the choice to leave, I am not obligated to be friends with someone who doesn't respect me!

In the past month I have felt like some of the relationships I am in, some of the people who I have surrounded myself with are not respectful towards me. If I was my 16 year old self I would totally let it slip, I'd put it under the rug. But for the past year and a half I have been finding something that I have lost a long time ago. That thing is self-respect and I think it is the most important thing to have when making friends, being in relationships, dating and even just meeting people.
When I was younger - and even in the last few years - I had no respect for myself and because of that I ended up being in relationships where I wasn't happy. 

This wasn't supposed to be an advice post but it turned out to be so my advice is respect yourself first!

Love,
Carolina Rosalie ♥

Meaning

Life is made out of moments: good and bad, bright and dark, joyful and melancholic. Whether I am going through the brightest of times or the saddest of days, I always like to find things to inspire me.

Quotes are very meaningful to me!

Here are some of my favourites...

Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.

 F. Scott Fitzgerald

Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.

 Napoleon Hill

An obstacle is often a stepping stone.

 Prescott

The mind is everything. What you think, you become.

 Buddha

You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.

 Christopher Columbus

People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing. That's why we recomment it daily.

 Zig Ziglar

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.

 Lao Tzu

Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.

 George Bernard Shaw

In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.

 Abraham Lincoln

Love,

Carolina Rosalie ♥

Life Changing Changes - People

Hello everyone! This is the third and final episode of my series "Life Changing Changes". Today's post is about the people in your life.
I have had a lot of people in my life, some of them negative people whom I've got positive lessons from. (More of that on my video)
Through the years I learned a whole lot about people. I have learnt that people can have a negative effect on you and you may not realise it and other people can make you feel like you're on top of the world. It's not until you have good and positive people in your life that you realise who are/were the bad and negative people.

My advice would be to "delete" the negative people from your life. If you're not sure how to do it check out the video I did on this subject, which will be up tomorrow on my channel.
If you can't quite understand whose having a negative impact on you, once again, be sure to subscribed to my Youtube channel to be notified for an upcoming video where I will give some real life examples and explain how I figured out who were the people that did not deserve a place in life.

It might not be easy to "delete" people from your life, especially if they are someone who you constantly have to deal with but if they aren't doing you any good, what's the point of having them in your life?! If they are having a negative impact on you or your life, you're not going to be 100% happy when you're with them and you're not going to be yourself.

And that's the end of my series. I hope it was helpful to some of you!
Make sure you are subscribed to my Youtube channel and don't forget to watch the videos of this series. Feel free to check out all my social media and don't forget to follow me on Bloglovin'.

Love,
Carolina Rosalie ♥

The Age of Adaline

On the 8th of May 2015, a girl called Carolina was feeling very anxious. Not because of coming up school exams or a medical appointment she was extremely nervous to go to. She was just anxious...
She decided to do something about it and so she got ready, left the house and went to wonder about in a shopping center.
When she got there she wondered through a few stores and bought some things to pamper herself. But the anxiety levels were still very high and so she went to the cinema and bought a single ticket.
A movie was probably the one thing that would calm her down. (Being in a dark room full - or empty - of strangers is quite relaxing, some might say!)
When she got there, there was only one woman in the room... but as the minutes went by the room started filling up. When the movie started everyone went silent!

At last the anxiety levels had dropped and Carolina was calm & relaxed!

"The Age of Adaline" is a story about a girl who, just after losing her husband and being left with a 5 year old daughter, suffers a terrible car accident. From that moment on her life changes completely... she stops aging.
At first it's not noticeable but as the years go by and her daughter starts getting older, people start wondering why she looks so youthful!
One day a police officer stops her on the road and notices she looks too young to be 45 years old. And from that moment Adaline starts a new chapter in her life, a chapter where she will not remain in the same place for over 10 years, a chapter where she'll always run away and become a new person.


During the movie Carolina found herself experiencing a lot of mixed emotions and there were times when she wanted to cry because she truly connected with Adaline. There was something about her that Carolina found quite special!

If like Carolina you sometimes find yourself trapped in a world where you feel like no one understands you then go and see this movie. Carolina couldn't find someone to connect with in the real world but she most certainly did it in the imagination world!
Love,
Carolina Rosalie ♥

Life Changing Changes - Exercising

Hello everyone! This is the second episode of my series "Life Changing Changes". Today's post is about exercising.
I've never been one to do sports or to exercise much, I just did what I was required in school and when I was younger I did basketball and gymnastics but I was not good at either of them. I also had swimming lessons for a few years but that was (1) because I needed to learn how to swin and (2) because I have a scoliosis and swimming makes it better.
When I started to care about my weight and my looks I felt like I needed to lose weight because I've always been a little chubby. But it wasn't until recently that I actually started exercising.

My tips on how to evolve and become stronger and more capable of doing certain types of exercises are:

• Start at your own rhythm/pace
• At first do things you feel capable of doing and as the weeks go by you will evolve (e.g. If you never exercised in your life start with a 30min. walk for the first week and then add some exercise to that walk or add more time to it on the second week. Keep adding something as the weeks go by)
• Create a playlist with songs that get you going or exercise with a friend and give each other motivation
• Try new things (easier to people who have access to a gym) - if you can try different types of exercise do it, that will prevent you from getting tired of your exercise routine
• Change your routine every once in a while

Once again, as I've said in my previous post, I am not a professional. These tips are based on my personal experience and they might not work for everyone but I still wanted to share them.

If you would like to see the video I made about my exercising experiences and the results, go over to my channel later this week.

I hope this post was somewhat helpful! Be sure to come back next week for the third and final episode of this series and make sure you are subscribed to my Youtube channel to be notified for the videos of this series as well as all my other videos. Feel free to check out all my social media and don't forget to follow me on Bloglovin'.

Love,
Carolina Rosalie ♥

My Makeup Story

Makeup is, in my opinion, one of the best things man kind has ever created!

Is it because I don't feel comfortable in my own bare face and I feel the need to cover it to feel pretty?
No, of course not! I've always felt comfortable bare faced.
Obviously, from time to time, I have those days when I don't like my skin because I have too many spots or my face looks too dry... Everyone has those days, even people who have an apparent flawless skin.

I think makeup is something you use to make you feel better, not because without it you won't feel good enough, but because it is something that enhances all of your beautiful features.

As you know I want to start putting out content that is beauty related and a good way for me to start is to let you know all about my makeup story. So if you'd like to know my story, you will have to go over to my channel soon to watch my video. But here are some key points...

• I first started using makeup at the age of 12
• My first lipstick was given to me on my birthday
• Also on my birthday my aunt got me something big... oohh!
• I made a terrible foundation mistake once
• I only started doing my eyebrows at the age of 18
• My favourite makeup items are lipsticks

Love,
Carolina Rosalie ♥

Seize The Moment

There's this movie called "Boyhood" that I've been meaning to watch ever since it came out. I never got around to doing it up until recently and I really regret not watching it sooner but at the same time I feel like I was just meant to watch it at this time of my life. Had I watched it before and the effect it had on me could have been different and less meaningful!

This post is not to talk about the movie itself but the important message I got from it!
At first I started thinking about my life and what I will be doing with it. In the movie there's this part where the main character Mason goes to visit the college/university he's planning on going to. When that happened I started getting really confused, worried and upset. I started thinking about what life really is! Is it just some sort of path you go down where you do all of these things everyone expects you to do? Is life really just about getting an education, finding a husband or a wife, settling down and having kids and having a job that pays the bills? Or is life made of moments, unforgettable experiences, taking risks, finding "your people"?

About 30 minutes later more had happened in the movie and I started to think that I don't have to do what everyone else is doing and that it's okay for me to still be confused. I realised I will be confused till the rest of my days because a life worth living has got to have moments of confusion. And not just confusion but sadness and all the feeling no one likes to feel.

In the last few minutes of the movie Mason is talking to this girl he met in his first day of college/university and she says to him: "You know how everyone's always saying "seize the moment"? I don't know. I kind of think it's the other way around. You know, like the moment seizes us."
This simple thing she said really made me start thinking about the whole "seizing the moment thing". I am still trying to figure out the reason why. All I know is that it made lot of sense to me!
And because of that I'd like to leave these questions for everyone to discuss in the comment section below: (1) Do you think we seize the moment or the moment seizes us? ; (2) Why is it so easy for us to say "seize the moment" but so hard to accomplish?

Also if you've not seen the movie "Boyhood" yet, I really advise you to. Before watching it I had really high expectations about what it was like and it completely surpassed them!

Love,
Carolina Rosalie ♥

Life Changing Changes - Eating Habits

Hello everyone! This is the first episode of my series "Life Changing Changes". Today's post is about eating habits.
Through the years my eating habits have changed a bit as I developed an eating disorder called "Compulsive Overeating (COE) - More of that on my video.

all the eating disorders listed on Wikipedia

my eating disorder

If you can't read what's written on the pictures just click here.

It was only recently that I've come to realise that you don't need diets to have healthy and clean eating habits, all you need is to have variety.
My main tip is to follow the food wheel. Alongside that you should:

• Cut your portions
• Eat several times a day
• Don't say no to sweets - you can eat them in moderation
• Try to substitute some foods with similar but healthier options - ex: you can replace white sugar with yellow or brown sugar or stevia sweetener

Also I want to say that I am not an expert, I am not a nutricionist. These tips just come from my personal experience and I wanted to share them as I thought they might be useful.

If you want to see the video I made about my eating habits and how I've changed them, you will find it on my channel soon.

That is all for today. I hope this was helpful, even if just for one of you. Come back next week for the second episode of this series and make sure you are subscribed to my Youtube channel to be notified for the videos of this series as well as all my other videos. Feel free to check out all my social media and don't forget to follow me on Bloglovin'.

Thank you for reading!
Love,
Carolina Rosalie ♥