Confederations Cup 2013

BRASIL WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today was the final of the Confederations Cup, hosted in Brasil!

We played Spain at the Maracana Stadium in Rio (where I'm from!!) and we won 3-0!!!

Needless to say, I am very happy! Now if we can only win the World Cup too! However, Luis is a fan of Spain (ew), so he's sulking while I'm celebrating. I already know we're going to have issues if Brasil plays any team he likes next year... I guess I'll just have to convert him by then.

But for now... Patria Amada Brasil!

Brunna's Book Club -- Twenty Somewhere

I have decided that our book club will be a weekly thing... Hopefully.

This week's book is Twenty-Somewhere by Kristan Hoffman

It's narrated kinda funny, but I like it. The story jumps around from the three girls' points of view and it's a great initiation into the real world story. 

It's about three long time friends who have just finished college and are moving on with their 'real' lives. One girl moves in with her boyfriend and stays at home aspiring to be a writer. The other gets a job at a prominent company. The third moves to England for grad school. They manage to somewhat keep in touch and the reader follows their lives along through their career and social (read boy) adventures and problems. It's really one of those novels that gives the reader realistic and relate-able characters.

While the writing style took a few chapters to get used to, the overall story was a really good one. I definitely recommend it.

Let me know what you guys think about about this novel! And I'm always open to new book recommendations!!

Shopping With The Ladies

Jessica, Karima and I went shopping... Again!

We actually just went to the mall with the intentions of getting our nails done, but as you should know by now, one thing led to another and money got spent.

Our first stop was Charming Charlie's because they just opened at Cumberland a month ago and we hadn't been yet! And there's a Michael Kors opening up soon too. Exciting!

I went craziest here because they were having a buy one get one FREE sale! Look at all the goodies I got without even spending $35!

The wallet was my favorite by far

Look at that adorable bow! (For some reason I couldn't get it to face the right way...) It's blue, my favorite color, and has my beautiful bow on it. Plus it opens up to this:

iPhone case and wallet all in one!!! I've been dying for one of these wallet cases, and now I finally have one! It was so cute, I bought it full price!

Then I went crazy on the earrings

They were so cheap, plus buy one get one free, I couldn't help myself when I saw all these adorable bows!

Who cares what else came in the set as long as I now have a bow earring in 3 different colors?

And on this last one, it was the Eiffel Towers that won me over. I'm still not sure what those circles are yet...

And it would be wonderful if my pictures cooperated with me again.

I also got this lovely shirt on the buy one get one free sale.

Jessica got that black top too. Aren't we just so cute??

And we found tiaras inside Charming Charlie's! My twitter handle is Princessa Brunna, because princess is in English and princesa is in Portuguese, so I just combined the two to describe who I am. Regardless of how much money I have or my standing in life, I am so definitely a princess, so I had to try on tiaras!

The cuteness is overwhelming! And the tiaras all looked wonderful on me. I really do believe I should have been a princess.

Then Wet Seal was having a 50% off sale, so I got this adorable blazer!

It's too casual to wear legitimately with a business outfit, but it'll add a classy flair to any outfit I put together. Not to mention that while I have probably half a dozen black blazers, I don't own a white one. Finally!

Then we hit up H&M because they were having a $4 Fourth of July sale. Here's a screen shot of the Snapchat Jessica sent me of me trying to poke out my stomach to look pregnant like Karima (she's having a baby girl!!!)

We did end up visiting the nail salon and getting our mani-pedis. I hadn't had one since my 18th birthday! It was long overdue!

I fell in love with the super girly, and as Karima put it, princess-y, nail polish and glitter look. Unfortunately, my nails are disgusting from spending so long without being done and working so hard in restaurants and fast food, so even done, they look stubby and gross. But this is it. I'm determined to start taking better care of nails again. I used to go to the nail salon every 3 weeks before I moved out. I won't splurge like that anymore, but I can do small nail maintenance at home and only go every other month or something like that. We'll see.

On the way home, we blasted the radio loud and I was jamming and driving at the same time, while Jessica and Karima laughed their heads off at other peoples' expressions. How can you not enjoy a night with a sunset like this??

Overall, it was an amazing day spent with my girls, and the day ended on a good note.

Pitbull and Kesha Morning After

The concert last night was AWESOME!!!

We had quite the adventure yesterday.

After the forgetting everything debacle, we left from Alexa's place to go to Aaron's Amphitheater. Somehow, we managed to pick up 3 teenager (probably barely out of middle school) hitchhikers who also happened to be going to the concert. Good thing too, because we wouldn't have had enough money for parking if they hadn't pitched in!

After we got to the amphitheater and parted ways with our hitchhikers, we met Mami Chula from the radio!

We then made our way out to the green, because we're broke teenagers and could only afford lawn seats. We had plenty of fun jamming to Kesha and making fun of all the middle school girls dressed in tacky, revealing, and plain not-cute outfits (Seriously, Kesha fans have no taste. There were girls running around in really high tutus that showed their underwear, a girl with a male 'part' drawn on her back, girls wearing Victoria's Secret underwear with nothing but those lacy, designed stockings over it, and too many more horrible outfits to count.) Not to mention that Kesha herself had plenty of expletives to share herself. I'm sure all the middle schoolers' chaperones were appalled. Not a big fan.

Although this one girl did manage to get an amazing photobomb in while Alexa and I were snapping selfies!

Props to her!

It was easy to pick out the fans too. Kesha's fans all looked like tacky middle schoolers and Pitbull's fans were dressed in heels and clubbing dresses. Two very distinct artists and groups of fans. I arrived not really being a part of either group, but I left as a Pitbull fan!

I mean come on, the man is always in a suit. And it is a known fact that men in suits are just better. Class over swag any day. Plus, his part of the concert was incredibly turned up. I had so much fun!

But I'm going to back track just a little bit. The concert was so much more eventful than that.

During the Kesha part of the show, Alexa and I ran into my cousin, Aglaia, and her friends. They ended up leaving and paying the extra $10 to get into the VIP section, which was really just the covered part of the amphitheater that was closer to the stage.

Aglaia and I

We eventually joined them, and just in time too. Less than 15 minutes after we moved into VIP, the apocalyptic rain that has daily been hitting Atlanta came in full force.

We were well into the amphiteater and less than 5 minutes after the rain started came this stream of water coursing through the seats and aisles. Plenty of people lost their drinks that they had left on the floor.

People from the lawn also came streaming in. It was pouring rain and no one wants to be wet at a concert. And it was no big deal. It was during intermission and people were just chilling anyways. The people packed in!

But of course, every party has its pooper. There was this one lady there, that I'm pretty sure was already tipsy by this point, who decided she was the concert police. She got up from her seat, went into the crowd of wet concert goers that escaped into the VIP section, and started yelling at them, telling them they had to leave. It was ridiculous. She was yelling and cursing and getting all up in people's faces. It was absolutely ridiculous. I wanted to slap the lady and kick her out myself.

Of course, before the concert started up again, security came through and put everyone back where their tickets designated them, but she was so sure that she was the reason why they all left. It was so annoying. I was furious that she couldn't just sit down and enjoy the show like everyone else. Although after my initial anger died down, I did feel bad for her. I can't imagine having the kind of life that you can't enjoy a simple concert without causing confusion. I couldn't help but wonder what was it about her life that was so unsatisfactory that she has to find satisfaction from ruining others' experiences. I said a quick Hail Mary for her after I realized that, and tucked her away in my mental list of people to pray for.

She later came up to me during the show and apologized (because at one point I told her to stop bullying people and she called me a skinny b****... She wasn't exactly the tiniest person on the planet so I suppose that was meant as an insult) and at this point was completely drunk. She started telling me about her husband, her breakdowns, and her grandson. She also fist bumped me and told me no hard feelings. I doubt she remembers our conversation today, but that was just a lesson to me that you never know what anyone else is going through and you can't judge them by their actions.

Our heart to heart happened towards the middle of Pitbull's show, and boy was that show awesome!

I tried so hard to get a good picture of him on stage! I was jumping up and down, dancing, and screaming with all I had. It was a really good show. I'm pretty sure that when he started calling out all the Latin American countries, I shouted myself hoarse when he said Brasil.

After the show ended, Alexa and I hit up Waffle House before crashing at her place.

I had a lot of fun and it was totally worth only getting three hours of sleep before work!

Pitbull and Kesha!!!

Guess who's going to a concert tonight???

That's right, this girl!!!

I am soooo excited!!! ...Or at least I am now that I remembered about it.

I have had the most forgetful day ever! I woke up this morning and when I got into my car, I realized that I had forgotten that my tank was empty. Then when I got to work, Karima called me because I forgot that I had to pick her up to bring her to work. Then at around 5, Alexa texts me asking what time I was picking her up to go to the concert... I had forgotten all about it! Good thing too, or else work would have gone by super slow and today was a good day at work.

Anyways, now it's getting ready for show time!

Thank goodness I always keep extra clothes in my car!

I'm actually not a big Pitbull or Kesha fan. All I know by them is probably I Know You Want It and Tick Tock. But the tickets were super cheap on Groupon and why not right? So tonight, Alexa and I are going to be dancing the night away to them. Hopefully she knows more music by them than I do!

New Arrivals - Lanvin

So the other day I did the Rich Girl post and I started dreaming...

I decided to browse through Lanvin's new arrivals.

I have no idea why I would subject myself to that kind of torture, especially since I can't even afford the relatively cheap Kate Spade new arrivals (or any of their pieces for that matter). But I did, so here's the products of my torture.

Price: $4,300

I love the peplum at the bottom of this jacket. I love the high neck on this jacket (Surprisingly so, I usually hate high necks on anything). I love the slimming waist on this jacket. Plus I could wear this to work!

Price: $1,535

Then we have this lovely Faubourg dress. I like it because it's so simple, but intricate at the same time. It gives off a relaxed look because it's loose and 'wrinkled', but at the same time it hugs the body in all the right place (If you click on the link and look at the different angles, you'll see what I mean).

Price: $2,990

This asymmetrical dress falls so loosely on the body, that it's almost not my style. I don't like things to be too loose or else I feel like my body gets lost in the shapeless blob. But this one is so cute, I couldn't resist. It's so 1920s flapper style, and with the current Great Gatsby crazy, it's perfect. Plus I'm in love with that poofy shoulder design, so cute!

Price: $5,780

Last, but certainly not least, we have this lovely evening gown. The question here isn't even "How on earth will I afford this?" but rather "How on earth will I fit into this?" It's so so so cute though! Regardless of price and my inability to fit inside something so slim and lovely. Please click on the link and see the back point of view. There is a gorgeous bow in the back that I simply can't resist. It's beautiful. It's so Anastasia style.

Anyways, the torture is over for today. Now that I have drooled over things I will never be able to afford more than is healthy.

Don't be surprised if I have a few more of these head in the clouds dreamer posts!

Another Fun-Packed Weekend In Florida

People are starting to feel like I go to Florida every week.

I still feel like I don't visit enough.

Oh well, to each his own.

My cousin Monica (not my aunt Monica, they're two different people) came to visit from Brasil. Her and her husband, Marcos, do a trip together every year for their anniversary. It was in April, but they postponed just a little bit. So they spent a week here, the beginning in Miami and the second half in Orlando with us.

Now, my mom was busy working, because she had a big shot client from Brasil visit and he pays for her to pretty much be at his beck and call. So she was super busy and I had nothing to do... I took the car and ran around with my cousins all over the place!

Did I mention I'm allergic to tons of hair products?

I spent Thursday night on that awful Megabus, but it was super empty so it wasn't even so bad. Then Friday morning I went back to the hair salon with my cousin Marcia (I also have an aunt Marcia, so you see the cousin/aunt same names trend right?). I had a keratin treatment done to my hair and I spent six whole hours at our hairdresser's house. By the time she finished, I was ready to shave my whole head off. I can't sit still for that long, but I did take advantage of the time to get some reading in.

Hair done!

After our hair appointment, we went out to eat and then went back to her house and spent the evening looking a wedding dresses and cakes, because that's what we girls do when we have spare time and Pinterest. I found my wedding dress, finally! And it's only $350. I'm amazed. I'm half-tempted to buy it now before it stops being made or sells out or the price goes up. Half-tempted, but reason keeps me slightly in check.

We also discussed how many cakes I'm going to need and how we're going to mesh all the Brasilian, American, Salvadorean, and Mexican wedding traditions into one big event (Luis is half Mexican, half Salvadorean). It was wonderfully, giggly fun.

Finally I went home, stayed up all night on Twitter, then went to sleep. I woke up bright and early to pick up my cousin Monica at 9am from her hotel. She came along with her friend, Leticia, and her friend's husband, Thiago. So Monica, Leticia, and I ditched the guys and had a crazed shopping spree. Our whole family is pretty much up to their necks in the cake business, and Monica is one of the most involved. Leticia decorates the parties and Monica makes the sweets; they're quite the pair.

We hit up Jo-Ann, Michael's, and I introduced them to Starbucks. They cleaned Jo-Ann and Michael's clean of all kinds of wonderfully beautiful things, and they fell in love with Starbucks coffee. I ended up having Starbucks with them 4 times the whole weekend (Yay for more rewards points!).

Me and Monica

We then had the most amazing lunch at a Brasilian steakhouse with Marcos, and the waiter bought me a yummy brigadeiro for dessert. I was in heaven honestly. Then I took them to another Michael's, Sports Authority, Marshall's, and Bed Bath & Beyond. By the time we were done shopping, it was past ten!

After dropping off all our shopping at the hotel, Thiago and Leticia went to Downtown Disney and I took Marcos and Monica to Bahama Breeze, where we met up with the rest of the family. You put together more than five of us together, and it's a party. We were a party of 8 at the restaurant. We stayed there until the closed, talking and laughing and being obnoxiously loud. Our poor waiter suffered, having to wait until we left to clean all that up. Plus, he made the mistake of trying to flirt with me, poor boy. My family laughed and laughed at him.

Brian and Cinthia didn't make it into the picture

After leaving Bahama Breeze well after 2 am, we went back to my mom's house and literally pulled an all nighter. Lucky Marcos went back to the hotel, but Monica and all the rest of the family packed into my mom's bedroom and spent the rest of the night talking, laughing, and telling good stories.

Eventually it was time for my mom to go to work and I had to take Monica back to the hotel to pack. After packing, we went shopping even more. Do you see where I get my shopaholic trait from?? They still wanted to visit Apple and GNC, so I took them to Florida Mall. Finally, they wore out. We went back to my mom's house, weighed the bags, ate, and headed out to the airport. After dropping them off at the airport, it was to the bus stop for me.

I love my family so much. I can't wait to see them again!

Brunna's Book Club -- Tell No Lies & Keep No Secrets

Have you ever read one of those books that is so good, you just can't set it down?

I just did!

So I get a free book from the Kindle Lending Library every month. This month, I got Tell No Lies by Julie Compton

And it was so so so so good! It had everything I could ever want for: fiery romance, self-doubt, being torn between decisions, politics, lawyers, courtrooms, crimes, drama, rumors, lies, falling in love with your best friend, dealing with family issues, news exaggerating everything, and more. It was wonderful and I couldn't stop reading this legal thriller.

It's about this awesome, idealistic, believes the world is a good place prosecutor Jack Hilliard. After his boss and friend, the DA, resigns, Jack is the ideal man for the job. He also has a superb marriage with his amazing wife Claire, and has two sons, Jamie and Michael. He also has a super hot best friend, Jenny Dodson, who he just might have a thing for. He ends up falling in love with his best friend and is faced with some serious temptations and problems. Eventually, Jenny gets charged with murdering one of her clients (she's also a lawyer, but at a private firm instead) and ends up facing a super crazy trial.

It was such a good novel, that when I finished reading it and the Kindle offered to sell me the sequel, I hit buy without even checking the price.

Keep No Secrets might have had more drama and suspense than Tell No Lies had. It's four years later, Jenny has been nowhere to be seen since the end of the last book and Jack has managed to rebuild his marriage and career. Then one night he catches his son, Michael, and his son's girlfriend, Celeste, who looks so very much like the lovely Jennifer Dodson, messing around, drunk. He takes the girl home, and later on the week, finds out that she has pressed legal charges against him for raping her. Jack's life gets flipped upside down once again as he ends up on the opposite side of the law yet again and Jenny finds her way back into town, asking for his help.

So so so so good!!!! I definitely recommend it!

Also, as a P.S. I have decided that I'm going to start a sort of blog book club. So every now and then, I haven't decided how often yet, I will post a book or author that I like with a review and recommend it to you guys. Consider these two your first Brunna's Book Club novels!

Happy reading!

One View. One Meal.

I just watched this video today on the Huffington Post!

Everyone go watch it right now!

For every view the video gets from now until the 19th of July, Toyota is donating a meal to the food bank for the victims of Hurricane Sandy!

And this is actually one of those legit chain messages that really do what you say they're going to do. Or at least I hope so since it's a sponsored video and on the news.

Not to mention that the video is actually really instructive on efficiency. I thought it had a great outlook on how to make a process move faster. Very instructional, and one of those things I would recommend as a leadership tool.

So watch the video and make a difference!

Body Image

I watched this video a few weeks ago and it brought tears to my eyes.

All the women describe themselves in such a negative light. No one points out their beautiful features or use negative words to describe the features that are beautiful about them. The other person however, when they're describing other people, not a negative word comes out of their mouth. It's all praise about their thin faces, nice chins, beautiful eyes. And the second picture is so much more accurate.

We are our own worst critics...

It's Water Time!

The trees are turning green, flowers are blooming, the birds are chirping, and the weather is getting warmer.

You know what that means right??

It's water time!

Who cares if it's the pool, a water park or the beach?? I just want to spend my summer by the water. I 100 per cent prefer the beach, but I live in Georgia, so what can I do?

This summer I insist on going to the pool at least once every other week. Last summer I only went to the pool twice and only actually got in once. I did get to go to the beach four times though. Once in Tybee Island, once in Orlando, and twice in Nicaragua (although I didn't go in the water once in Nicaragua).

Point is, summer means water. Water means... bathing suits!

So I totally decided to be a dreamer and go on the Michael Kors website to look at their bathing suits (as if I could ever afford one. Maybe one day when I'm super successful and rich... Hopefully I'll still be young enough when I reach that). I must say though, as much as I used to hate one piece bathing suits, I've recently developed an affinity for them. Somehow, my opinion about them has changed from old people, prudish bathing suits, to classy. Just goes to show how my style is growing and changing.

Here are some of my favorite Michael Kors maillots:

I'm really digging the 'dress' look of this maillot on the left. The plunging neckline, the belt, and the flare bottom really give it a sophisticated look and I feel like I could totally walk off the beach and down the street with that on. Too cute.

And on the right, this is just a really classic, sporty, one-piece look. I also like the belt effect.

I like these two because they have the halter neckline look. The one on the left is very Michael Kors style with that golden neckline, which also gives it a cute accessorizing look.

The one on the right is supposed to be snakeskin. Talk about exotic. I like the halter neckline, and yes, I'll admit, I do like the print too. It's cute!





These one shoulders are totally adorable! Orange is far from being a preferred color for me. As a matter of fact, it's at the very bottom of the palate of colors I like, right along with green. I just don't like orange, but this maillot is too cute, even in orange I would wear it! (Maybe not if I had to pay $112 for it). These two are the same maillots, just different designs, and I'm totally digging them.




And again, here I have the same maillot in two different colors. They're just so cute! The ruffles are super cute, and I really like how the maillot is actually pretty simple, but the design stands out anyways. I also feel like I could throw on some shorts and just wear it as a cute top after leaving the beach!




And we're back to the belted look. I really like belts. They're a great accessory to break the monotony of any one piece clothing (dresses, long shirts, maillots, etc), they're slimming, and they do a super job at hiding that nasty extra tummy fat that's always poking out from me.
I like these two because they have untamed prints. The one on the left could be called zebra, maybe, but they're just two really cute, out there maillots.

This last one is a bandini, not a maillot, but it was too cute let slip, and it covers just as much a maillot, so I let it slide. The two negatives with it: I usually avoid anything strapless, simply because I hate having to keep pulling my top up, it's just really annoying; and second, horizontal stripes always make me look wider (thus fatter) than I really am, and I don't need the added virtual pounds. However, it looks beautiful on the model, so I'm just going to pretend that it would look just as good on me.

All these adorable bathing suits, and the cheapest one was $112. I can go to the mall and come out with 12 different things for $112, and that's on an expensive, splurging day. But hey, it's fun to catalogue browse and dream.

Miss USA

I know this post is a bit late, but I wanted to share a few of my favorite shots from the pageant!

I'm going to start with their glam shots! Might I add that I LOVE the fact that the 1920s thing is taking full swing.

Miss Alabama

Miss Arizona

Miss California

Miss Georgia

Miss New Jersey

Miss North Dakota 

Miss Oklahoma

Miss Utah

Miss West Virginia

My favorite of these is definitely Miss New Jersey, she has such an oriental feel to her picture, and it's so different from the others. I love it! I also like the simplicity of Miss California's look and North Dakota's long sleeves!

Here are my favorite preliminary gowns:

Miss Alabama

Miss Kansas

Miss Mississippi

Miss Nevada

Miss New Hampshire

Miss North Carolina

Miss Texas

Miss Alabama is gorgeous, she should have been the winner in my eyes. She's sooo beautiful and everything she wore just looked amazing. I do love Miss Nevada's dress in this one though, it looks so chic and elegant. I'm also digging the simplicity of Miss North Carolina's dress.

And here are a few of my favorite evening dresses!

Miss Alabama

Miss California

Miss Florida

Miss Louisiana

Miss Minnesota

Miss Mississippi

Miss Missouri

Miss South Dakota

Miss Texas

Once again, Miss Alabama is rocking it! I have something good to say about all these dresses! But I'll keep it brief by pointing out Miss California's sexy red dress, and the way Miss Florida pulled off a long sleeved dress that managed to be super sexy at the same time. Miss Louisiana is rocking the Greek goddess look and shout out to Miss Minnesota, because she would have been in my favorite preliminary gowns two had she not worn the same dress for both, cause she looks gorgeous in that dress! And good job to whoever picked out Miss South Dakota's color scheme, because the blue looks great with her red hair!

And yes, that was my version of brief.

And a special shout out to Miss Connecticut, the new Miss USA!