Mars Mellow: Up close & personal

Showing posts with label Up close & personal. Show all posts

15 August 2016

3 Year Blogiversary

image taken from pusheen.com

It's been quite an adventure and I wouldn't change it for anything in the world but lately I've been feeling like this stage in my life is coming to an end.

I feel like I've learned all I intended to and then some and it's time to move on and leave room for my newest hobbies.

Thanks for reading and see you around!

9 August 2016

Pokémon Go is taking over my life

I was in my late twenties when the Pokémon TV series were aired. Although most friends my age wouldn't dream of watching anime or cartoons unless their own kids made them watch, I've always enjoyed them. I remember being in Uni and setting my alarm to 8:00 on Sundays just to watch X-Men and go back to sleep afterwards.

When Pokémon Go was released I was thrilled. I've never played any Pokémon game before because I was born a generation too late but hey, I'm catching up!

This is a short post to tell y'all how this game has affected my life so far:

These are my strongest Pokémon so far. They're not exciting by any means but I'm waiting to pass level 20 and catch some higher value friends so they can evolve into powerful buddies.

I have a PokéStop just in front of my apartment and I can load up on PokéBalls from the bedroom if the GPS is feeling generous. Last Sunday, the hubby and I went down to the beach and I actually picked a spot within range of the PokéStop so I could fill up my bag every 5 minutes. I even used the countdown option from my phone so it would ring every 6 minutes (for good measure).

I didn't enter any gyms until late in the game as I was still finding out how things worked and how I was supposed to combat much higher CP Pokémons. I've recently found a gym near my office that I can take down every day during my coffee break. So far I've only been 6 times, that's 60 gold coins that I will exchange for an incubator once I've saved up enough of them.

Later today I'm going to head out with the hubby and try out the improved sightings feature that is supposed to be working now. My goal is to catch a few more MagiKarps in order to evolve one into a mighty Gyarados, only 50 left to go... wish me luck!

My favourite Pokémon from the TV series besides Pikachu was Charizard. He'd crack me up when he refused to fight, that's so like me, disobedient and lazy.

I also liked Vulpix and Eevie because they're sooo cute and fluffy. I've managed to capture a few Eevies but not enough yet to make a Vaporeon although I like Flareon better, but he's not near as good as his water counterpart in combat.

What about you? Are you playing Pokémon Go? What level are you at?

5 August 2016

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

Last Wednesday I turned 44, that's loads of ducks y'all: 22 + 22, lol.

As a birthday present to myself I took the day off from work yesterday. On the day itself I had lunch with my mom, her boyfriend (he's the one on my right) and my dear friend Tania.

They had a very nice and sweet surprise prepared for me: a delicious chocolate cake. I wish I had taken some pics of the view from the restaurant but as I live so close to the seaside I tend to forget that it really is something special.

My mom had given me some money that I put to good use. I was in need of some new sunglasses (I wear prescription glasses as I'm a bit nearsighted) and I chose these by Prada, you can see them better in the picture below.

The lighting was awful in the store but hey, I'm all for keeping things real...

And last, but certainly not least, the hubby gave me the best present of all: an iPhone 5s. My old one had been stolen from my car back in February and I was making do with my old iPhone 4s. When I downloaded Pokémon Go it wouldn't work properly so he took pity on me.

On the day itself I finally got to catch my first Pikachu, yay!

25 July 2016

Out of Order #6 + Coupon Codes

It's official, I've become one of the million freaks that are walking around trying to catch as many Pokémon as possible without being run over by a lorry or bump into a tree. I've only been able to collect 36 Pokémon so far because the app isn't working properly on my brand new iPhone 5s.

I downloaded the game when I was still using my old iPhone 4s and it drove me crazy as it took ages to load up and would close the app by itself after a few minutes when left unused. Luckily, the hubby gifted me the iPhone 5s as an early birthday present, love you hon!

Unfortunately, the game still doesn't work properly as it freezes when capturing Pokémon. When I start the game up again the supposedly captured creature doesn't appear on my list, it's very frustrating. It also decides to freeze entirely by itself sometimes or it doesn't load up properly.

As I don't have anything new to share with y'all in the beauty department, I'm leaving you some discount codes that were sent to me with my most recent purchases.

Naked Wines: 60￡off a case of wine priced 99.99￡or more (UK residents only).
Code: PBK66
Password: ASP32XYN

Natural Blender: 10￡off your 1st superfood smoothie kit (UK mainland only).
Codes: PBKN615 + CNSNB615

Simply Cook: 1￡trial offer on your 1st box of restaurant quality meals (UK only).
Code: chef70

Brewhive: 24 beer bottles for only 19￡(UK only).
Code: PK25B

Graze: Free snack box (UK only).
Codes: 123H4W + 456H4W + 456TGN + 123TGN

Vision Direct: 10% off your first order of contact lenses (delivery options).
Code: LOOK

The White Company: extra 10% off sale prices (UK mainland only).
Codes: AM583 + AM439 (until 23rd August 2016).

Happy hunting for those of you who are playing Pokémon Go!

14 July 2016

9 Disappointing TV Shows

Ascension: A mini series that makes no sense whatsoever and ends without you getting to know what the story was all about.

The 100: A story about kids learning to survive back on Earth after some nuclear disaster that took place almost a 100 years back. The storyline and dialogues were aimed at a younger audience, I suspect.

Extant: a boring and slow show that I only watched for 1 season as I wanted to see if it would get any better, I didn't.

The Returned: It picked my interest and I watched the whole season just to find out what made people return from the dead but no such luck.

Firefly: I only started watching this because it's mentioned in The Big Bang Theory and I wanted to know what the fuss was all about but I had to stop after watching a few episodes, soooo boring!

The Shannara Chronicles: a friend recommended this tv show and I made it through the 1st season but never again. I may have liked this at a younger age, who knows?

Sense8: Netflix in Spain has barely any tv shows yet so I needed to fill my evenings with something to watch, anything, up to a point. Doesn't make any sense (lol) and is tragically slow.

Breaking Bad: I just can't see what's so good about this series. I've only watched 3 or 4 episodes so maybe I need to give it another chance.

Game of Thrones: I know, I know. I'm the only person on the face of the Earth who's life isn't revolving around watching the next episode. I read the first book on a recommendation before the show came out. Even though I had disliked the book I started watching the series in the hope that they would be better than the book, I was mistaken.

4 July 2016

Healthy Snack Box

Recently I've been cutting on carbs and trying to eat healthier or at least be more aware of what kind of food I'm ingesting.

I'm also going to the gym more often, who would have said? I went to ballet lessons when I was a kid until I was old enough to hate my lean body and flat bosom. So I quit classes and have never ever again found any kind of exercise that I truly enjoyed.

I've been going to the gym on and off, more off than on as I got bored and I preferred staying home and watch Netflix, not that it existed back then, but you get the drift.

About a year and a half ago I started to go to Aerostretching once a week and I loved it. At the beginning of this year I included some aerial pilates and regular pilates into the mix. I've also been taking a few aerial silks and hoop classes lately and I'm absolutely loving them.

At my gym they have been offering us pretty affordable Lipo Laser treatments once a week to get rid of superficial body fat. I chose to reduce my waist area and I'm down from 83cm to 79cm in only 4 sessions.

Sometimes I crave for a snack but I'm not very sure of what I can have without messing up my diet so when I read this newsletter by The Hut Group I was immediately on board. I haven't tried it yet as it's the first I've heard about this box until today but I totally wanted to share this with y'all.

This Healthy Snack Box is sold by Myvitamins for 11.99￡delivery included (UK and worldwide).

Disclaimer: this is NOT a sponsored post, NO affiliate links have been used

27 June 2016

Casa da Ínsua: Hotel, Museum or Little Paradise?

Last week I already shared what I brought back from this Parador but I promised to show some pictures of the hotel itself:

The stone staircase to the lobby.

The inside patio.

A view from the back garden.

A pond full of water lilies.

Casa da Ínsua - pond with ducks and swans

A larger pond with a swan.

In fact there were two swans, one was a bit more aggressive than the other (the hubby almost lost his fingers when feeding them some bread crumbs).

A ballroom with a piano and a huge fireplace.

The Japanese room.

The portrait room.

The old kitchen that is now only used for wine & food tastings and workshops.

A huge clockwork that occupied two stories (the pendulums went all the way down to the previous one).

The chapel that features the clock that I showed in the picture above.

Our bedroom: the bed was huge and high up, I almost needed a staircase to climb on it.

A standard but roomy bathroom.

And we were upgraded to a junior suite (I'm still not sure why?) so we had a sitting room that we never got to use.

There still was much, much more to visit, so if you've liked the hotel so far I'd recommend you pay it a visit if you're ever in the area. The town is called Penalva do Castelo in Portugal.

16 June 2016

My Vacation So Far: Paradores

The hubby and I have taken a week off from work and are driving through the north of Spain and jumping from Parador to Parador. Paradores are hotels run by the Spanish Government in order to maintain older buildings that would go to waste otherwise, like castles, palaces, monasteries, etc.