seriallist

A girl can dream

Everybody can be beautiful. I’m not talking about the soul, the inner beauty, I am talking about the appearance. Some may say that concentrating on that is shallow, I say it is healthy and useful.

It makes you fell good, it makes you self-confident, it even makes people that surround you be drawn to you.

I am a girl, but I am more inclined to be willing to help another girl if she is pretty. Or if she is nice. Did you know that little kinds don’t know the difference between a beautiful person and a kind one?

I want to smile more. And to have an open heart.

But I came here to talk about something else. What I am dreaming about…

* Long hair. I am growing it out for two years already. After being blond and every colour you can imagine I decided one day to cut it short, into an A line bob and start all over again. So far so good.

* Body hair. What is up with that? Why is it growing like it’s no tomorrow? I have clothes, ok, I don’t need to be a yeti in order to be warm.

* Toned body. I don’t want to loose weight, I want a toned body, especially my lower half. And a six pack :) Did you know that you can gain muscle only after you’ve lost the fat and it is very hard for women to get a six pack? That’s why women shouldn’t be worried that they will look muscular if they start working out.

* Tan skin. It looks better. But not grilled-chicken-tan, but a healthy, glowy one. Preferably from a gradual tanner. I never seem to have the patience with them.

* Nailpolish. I don’t understand how girls always have nailpolish on. I can’t keep mine for more than a day on to save my life.

* White teeth. I went for a professional teeth whitening in November and it didn’t work. It seems that my teeth don’t react to the gel (carbamide peroxide). Maybe I should try something with peroxide instead. But on the bright side my dentist told me that my teeth color is B1, which is the lightest color of natural teeth. Yeay for that! But we won’t give up so easily :)

This is a quite a ramble :) And I’m not done. But I think it is enough dreaming for a post.

Now I want to know, when do you feel beautiful?

One thing I should learn

I am working on it, honestly

“If someone is doing something you do not approve of and it has no effect on your life, then what do you care? Leave her alone”.

This is what I should learn, to accept people for who they are, to not be judgemental. I should learn to mind my own business and let people be, do, be with, think whatever they want.

I think the problem is that I don’t want to see people I care about get hurt, or make mistakes. But, on the other hand, it is their life. They have the right to make whatever mistakes they want. Especially if it makes them happy (well, except doing drugs :) )

And I should learn to pay less attention to little things that makes me judge. Like stupid Facebook statuses, people’s grammar mistakes (I am an extreme grammar nazy). Which is ironic, because I write in a foreign language and probably make a ton of them, but I don’t want to be judged because of them.

But I’m getting better at it. Besides, it only makes ME feel bad, and ruins MY day, which is stupid, isn’t it?

So I better go make myself a cup of tea and enjoy my day. I hope you enjoy your day, too! ;)

The importance of wanting

I think that everything is possible. It’s just a matter of desire and effort. Some wishes need just a little bit more effort than you usually make in order to be realized. Just a little extra push.

Some wishes remain just a dream because we don’t want to disturb the comfort of our routine, and because we are lazy, and because we will need to make other decisions after we achieve the goal.

Usually we think that realizing a dream is the end of the road. Most of the times it’s just the first step on the ladder.

Just thoughts out loud. I need to want what I want more.

There’s a good quote for that. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

Do you get inspired by quotes? Sometimes I feel sad that some quotes are so overused that you get immune to the wisdom of their message

If you ever want to visit Moldova

Ruth asked for some travel advice about Moldova and I think it is a great idea for a blog post! I’ve asked my friend from America who lived in this region for almost two years, and I couldn’t have answered better myself. Here’s what he said:

“First and foremost, you won’t get anything out of the experience unless you really throw yourself into the culture. Moldova isn’t a country that should be experienced lightly. If you want to go to a touristy kind of place, snap a few pictures, and head home without having attempted to learn anything about the local people, I’d suggest going somewhere else.

Get to know the people. Moldovans have such vibrant personalities, and they’re really not afraid to show you who they really are within minutes of meeting you. Learn as much Romanian as you can before you go and while you’re there–for one, it adds to the experience (speaking with someone in their local language is always better than trying to communicate across a language barrier), and as a bonus, people will be pretty impressed that you’ve learned it.

Don’t take taxi cabs anywhere. They’re overpriced, and they see tourists coming miles away. If for some reason you must take one, be sure to agree on a price for the trip beforehand. It might be best to ask a local how much a particular trip should cost in a taxi, then shoot for that. Transportation-wise, I’d say no trip to Moldova is complete without being crammed into a Maxi Taxi packed so tightly that you can barely breathe (Maxi Taxis are like busses, and can be caught at any bus stop, but they’re smaller–really, they’re just commercialized 15 passenger vans–and come more often).

Bulevardul Stefan Cel Mare, pretty much “Main Street” in Chișinău, is definitely a street that you must walk down. It’s long, but the view is beautiful, and it goes straight past one of the largest outdoor markets you’ll ever see (Piața Centrala–worth a visit. Buy stuff there).

Besides that, the only advice I can really give is to do your best to enjoy the culture. Go to a concert. Dance the hora. Get into a pointless debate with an elderly man. Cut in line at McDonald’s, and pretend that you didn’t do anything wrong. Your experience in Moldova is entirely what you make of it. I spent three months there, and I consider them to be some of the best months of my life. If you attack your visit to Moldova with fervor, I’m sure that you will have a similar experience.”

My sins so far 2

I think it’s time to make another roundup of my week. We can call it a rather productive one.

1. I finished my exams. And aced all 7 of them!

2. Didn’t work out. Oh well…

3. Finished reading two books, one of them from my list. I’ve noticed that my blog is becoming a very book oriented one. What I’ve read:

* Persuasion – Jane Austen. Not my favorite book by Jane Austen. I liked it, though, but I would’ve preferred it to be a bit more concentrated. But it’s just my taste :) I enjoyed Pride and Prejudice and Emma more. Next up is Sense ans Sensibility. You can find this book for free Here and Here, or download the audio book Here, Here, Here or Here.

* «Про ЛЮБОff/on» – Оксана Робски. An easy book, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the movie but didn’t mind reading it. You can find this book in Russian Here, just click the green arrow (Скачать бесплатно) from the right.

4. I was given two job offers. Still thinking. I’m a bit worried about that.

5. I was awarded awarded the Versatile Blogger Award! Isn’t it fantastic? All thanks to the amazing Charismatick! Still need to write an official post about it. I’m new to the community, so I would be very grateful to know what blogs are worth checking out and deserve this award. Please let me know in the comments.

Not ready?

It happened to me today. In the morning I opened my daily newsletter from Neale Donald Walsh and it said:

” On this day of your life, I believe God wants you to know…
if you do not the expect the unexpected you will not find it, for it is not to be reached by search or trail.
Heraclitus said that, and he was right. Life is delighted to bring you The Unexpected. Are you delighted to receive it?
Indeed, belief in the coming of The Unexpected is the genesis of hope. How can you hope for anything breathtaking or exciting if you can only hope for the already expected? Therefore, you must always think that anything can happen. Form your ideas and your dreams within that framework!
Remember, God specializes in The Unexpected.”

And this is what happened next. The Journalism department chair at my university called and offered me a job opportunity! Isn’t that crazy? The problem is, I’m not sure I can do this. I’m afraid to fail or to stuck with a job I don’t like. That’s when I remembered this article:

You will never feel 100% ready when an opportunity arises.

The number one thing I persistently see holding smart people back is their own reluctance to accept an opportunity simply because they don’t think they’re ready. In other words, they believe they require additional knowledge, skill, experience, etc. before they can aptly partake in the opportunity. Sadly, this is the kind of thinking that stifles personal growth.

The truth is nobody ever feels 100% ready when an opportunity arises. Because most great opportunities in life force us to grow emotionally and intellectually. They force us to stretch ourselves and our comfort zones, which means we won’t feel totally comfortable at first. And when we don’t feel comfortable, we don’t feel ready.

Just remember that significant moments of opportunity for personal growth and development will come and go throughout your lifetime. If you are looking to make positive changes in your life you will need to embrace these moments of opportunity even though you will never feel 100% ready for them.

via 10 Simple Truths Smart People Forget.

I don’t know what will happen next, but at least I will try. I hope it will help someone, too.

My sins so far

I think laziness is my middle name. Or procrastination. Or both. Maybe I’m one of those fancy people with two middle names.

So this is what I’ve done so far in my challenges.

1. Didn’t work out at all. I noticed that it is very hard to mobilize when you are on vacation. I need some serious motivation (says me, looking at my homemade hamburger and hot cocoa).

2. I’ve read 3 books this past week. This is better. At least I’m not a total failure :)

* The first one is called Zамуж за миллионера, или Брак высшего сорта (meaning How to marry a millionaire, or a first class marriage). A very easy and entertaining read, but completely useless. It was written by two very famous Russian bombshells. You can find this book for free HERE (unfortunately it is only in Russian)

* The second one is The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella. Again, an easy, fast food-y type of book.

“Workaholic attorney Samantha Sweeting has just done the unthinkable. She’s made a mistake so huge, it’ll wreck any chance of a partnership.
Going into utter meltdown, she walks out of her London office, gets on a train, and ends up in the middle of nowhere. Asking for directions at a big, beautiful house, she’s mistaken for an interviewee and finds herself being offered a job as housekeeper. Her employers have no idea they’ve hired a lawyer–and Samantha has no idea how to work the oven. She can’t sew on a button, bake a potato, or get the #@%# ironing board to open. How she takes a deep breath and begins to cope–and finds love–is a story as delicious as the bread she learns to bake.
But will her old life ever catch up with her? And if it does…will she want it back?”

You can download the book for free HERE

* The third one reminded me of Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. It is Frédéric Beigbeder’s ‘Love Lasts Three Years’. 95% of pessimism and depression with a happy ending :) There were a lot of deep (pessimistic) thoughts on love and some juicy scenes ;) One roughly translated thought that I liked: Love – the only programmed disappointment, the only predictable disaster, which we want more of. Unfortunately I couldn’t find it in english, HERE is the book in Russian.

Do you have any tips on motivation? I would be very grateful :)

Top 21 sites for Free Kindle e-Books

I love books! Getting a Kindle was one of the best purchases I made in 2011. That’s why I want to share with you my sources of free e-books for your Kindle. Enjoy!

1. Kindle Popular Classics. The Amazon Kindle Store lets you choose from thousands of the most popular classics all available for free

2. Internet Archive is a non-profit dedicated to offering permanent access to historical collections that exist in digital format. Provides over 2.5 million free ebooks to read, download, and enjoy.

3. Open Library‘s goal is to provide a page on the web for every book ever published.

4. Project Gutenberg, one of the original sources of free ebooks, is dedicated to the creation and distribution of eBooks.

5. ManyBooks.net provides free ebooks as a service to the Internet community at large.

6. Google E-Bookstore: The free section is filled with thousands of free, scanned copies of books, available in Kindle-friendly PDF formats.

7. LibriVox: Thousands of free audiobooks.

8. Free Kindle Books offers 1000s of Free Classic E-books

9. The Free Library offers free, full-text versions of classic literary works from hundreds of celebrated authors.

10. Mobipocket (Amazon) is nice because it includes books in several different languages.

11. Free books for kindles books in Mobi/Kindle format;
12. Free classic e-books All of the same books are posted in pdf format
13. http://www.pixelofink.com/
14. http://freeebooks4kindle.com/
15. http://fdbooks.net/
16. http://www.smashwords.com/
17. http://www.feedbooks.com/
18. http://kindlebooksonline.org/
19. http://mehmetgok.com/bestreads/
20. http://www.digilibraries.com/
21. http://booklending.com/

Make sure to like, share, comment and follow for more! You are awesome!

52 Books to read before the Apocalypse

I challenged myself to read a book a week in 2012. I hope you will help me expand my list with your favorite books. Here is what I came up with so far (in no particular order):

1.To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee

2. The Bible

3. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens

4. The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien

5. Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell

6. The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald

7. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy

8. Persuasion – Jane Austen [x]

9. One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

10. The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins

11. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen [x]

12. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov

13. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck

14. The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold [x]

15. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens

16. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams

17. The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom

18. Getting Things Done – David Allen

19. Honeymoon with My Brother – Franz Wisner

20. The Tipping Point – Malcolm Gladwell

21. Catch-22 – Joseph Heller

22. Lady Chatterley’s Lover – D H Lawrence [x]

23. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – Stieg Larsson

24. Eat, Pray, Love – Elizabeth Gilbert [x]

25. The Incredible Lightness of Being – Milan Kundera

26. Life of Pi – Yann Martel

27. Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons

28. Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides
29. We Need to Talk About Kevin – Lionel Shriver

30. The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne

31. Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel García Márquez

What do you think about this list? Did you read some of them? What would you suggest me to add here?