AJIO dress // Zara wooden minaudiere // Daniel Wellington classic petite ashfield wrist watch // BCBGeneration sandals

Photos by Sheila Vaz in Coonoor

Exactly one month & ten days ago, I turned 26! Summers in Mumbai are no fun, so since 25th birthday in Bangkok last year, I decided that I would bring in every birthday at a new destination. This year’s destination wasn’t really new – we’ve stayed at Coonoor once, three years ago & I’ve also visited on two other occasions. It’s a charming hill station in the Nilgiri region of Tamil Nadu, kind of a hidden gem – the ‘town’ area is really populous, but the region around Sim’s Park is lovely & quaint.

I found an amazing little homestay on airbnb, a room in a century old colonial era bungalow. We had arrived the previous day from Ooty. I actually sat & filmed a chatty video in the late morning & it ran a lot longer than expected. After I was finally done, we started out for lunch, but not before seeing a gorgeous ginger cat sitting in front of a little bush of flowers; he was very loving & receptive to pets & scritches – I truly believe meeting him was my birthday gift from the universe.

As luck would have it, we didn’t manage to get a rickshaw to take us to lunch & ended up having to take a bus & walk. Luckily, I picked a truly gorgeous spot with a panoramic view (the name 180° McIver is very apt!) & we were also blessed with amazing weather. We crashed almost immediately after, because I left very early next morning for a quickie trip to Delhi with Google – but that’s a story for another day.

If makeup is your thing, you can watch my birthday get ready with my video below.

Also here’s a rare picture of mom, she takes almost all of my pictures but has to be forced to let me take hers. I asked her to wear this top, so we could match.

It was a truly lovely day, & I know I’ll probably visiting that charming town again sometime. Now for something absolutely random – I’ve recently gotten a steam account & really delved into gaming again, after years! I’ve been obsessed with this sim called Stardew Valley, it’s really calming but it sort of sucks you in. Do you game? I’d love to hear about your all time faves! x

The post Turning 26 🌼 appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.

Not everything I’ve pursued over the years has always worked out amazingly well. You take a shot. Sometimes it’s gold, sometimes it’s not. But I know that if I just took the conventional route, life would be a lot less interesting.

Being curious is great. It can enhance your professional & personal life no matter what stage of life or field you’re in. But did you know that Curiosity is Learnable?

Merck kicked off their curiosity initiative last year by releasing the State of Curiosity Report; they then started the the Curiosity Lab Partnership, a six month experiment to prove that Anyone Can Be More Curious! The aim was to find how one can increase curiosity so as to ultimately lead to more or better science-driven behaviour.

I thought Thelma being his curious, playful self would be the perfect visuals to accompany this post!

The Four Dimensions of Curiosity

The first step to understanding what can encourage curiosity is to break it down which is where these come in.

Inquisitiveness refers to how a person reacts in response to feeling curious and includes exploratory behavior like freely asking questions and thinking and acting beyond one’s own job requirements. For me, that’s reading, staying updated with different trends & developments on blogs, podcasts & YouTube. Even watching a movie or TV show that’s relevant to what you do can help you increase your knowledge & motivate you to maybe try something different.

Creativity in problem solving can be thought of as a desire or willingness to challenge the status quo and an ability to identify new approaches to problem solving. We Indians have a word for this – jugaad! Unplanned hiccups always arise in every field & creativity includes brainstorming for effective solutions while still keeping your cool. It’s the ability to think on your feet!

Openness to other ideas can be defined as preferring a variety of experiences, being attentive to the world, and open to new ideas, whether they come from oneself or from others. It’s good to be confident in yourself or your skills, but it’s also important to know how to be a part of a team. Listen, consider & value other people’s experiences & suggestions. Don’t be so stubborn, you see your perspective as the only right way. I think this is one of the harder things to do because being stubborn is an easy trap to fall into. Over the years, I’ve trained myself to be better at this, following & engaging with intelligent people from all disciplines on social media like facebook & twitter really helps me learn new things.

Distress tolerance allows a person to take risks, to persevere and to approach the new and unfamiliar without fear. No matter how inquisitive, creative, and open a person might be, they may find it difficult-to-impossible to ever express their curiosity without a significant tolerance for distress. Its importance in the role of curiosity cannot be understated. I personally see the ability to manage stress & new situations without letting them overwhelm you. When I’m travelling alone, I know that everyday is an adventure. It isn’t always glamorous, & sometimes things can have negative outcomes, so I try to see everything as a learning experience, & not feel too down about it. At the end of the day, I just see everything as a learning experience, so instead of a regret, I’ll have learnt something that I can use in the future, or at least I’ll have an entertaining story, you know?

Like many skills in life, curiosity is something you can work at, nurture & get better at! You can visit curiosity.merckgroup.com for a lot of relevant & useful resources such as this fun Curiosity Selftest (I got Enthusiastic Innovator, in case you’re wondering).

I hope that this article inspired you to be more inquisitive, experiment & even try something you’ve been afraid of doing! If you have any tips on how to stay curious, do share them in the comments below & start a discussion.

This post was written in collaboration with Merck Group. You can read more about the Curiosity Report & the #CatchCurious Initiative here.

The post How I Stay Curious & Creative 💫 appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.

But I’m here now, & it’s about time I write my December wrap up. I did one of these posts for every single month of 2017, even though I was late on some months & combined June and July, so it’s very satisfying to work on this post too – they’re one of my more self indulgent series & I definitely plan to keep this going into 2018 too. But as usual, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Varying Paces

I started December fresh off a relaxing holiday. I was very charged up & enthused at the start of the month, & just felt like I had a lot of momentum & wanted to channel that into more regular creative content. Well long story short, that didn’t happen. About mid way through the month, I lost some of that momentum & just kind of fell into a slump. It’s easier to explain away times you’re feeling low & unproductive if you have a tangible reason for feeling that way, but I spent time feeling sad & negative and couldn’t really figure out why. But, I decided to just go with it & take it slow. I do feel guilty about not being as consistent as I’d like, but I’d rather write & create from a genuinely happy & passionate space, you know?

Highlights of December

December did have some really memorable days – The first highlight had to be meeting Shruti from StyleDestino, (the badass in the snapback standing next to me at the top of this post! a vegan luxury fashion blogger that I’ve known for ages online. She’s the most committed vegan I know & I’ve actually learnt a lot from following her on instagram. She passionately champions everything vegan, sustainable cruelty free, not just in food choices but also with regards to fashion, cosmetics & other luxury spheres. She’s currently based in Dubai but was in the bay for a bit & suggested meeting up & doing a vegan food trail of the city.

Although I’m not turning vegan anytime soon, it was still really enriching to hang out with her & look at things from a different perspective for a day. It was enriching & fun & I even vlogged the day – we’re definitely going to try & plan something else the next time she’s here.

Also in December, we attended our first Pet Festival in Mumbai! I had been excited about this ever since it was announced much earlier in 2017, had even booked tickets for mom & me a few months ago. Last minute, dad said he wanted to come too so the three of us took Thelma & went! It ended up being pretty dog centric; mom & I even had to carry Thelma because of how angry & nervous the dogs made him (& a labrador that came too close got a swift, hard slap). But overall he was such a star & got so much attention!

Most people hadn’t seen a cat his size plus he was really chill with everyone touching him, so it was fun to take him out!

Etc.

watching…  I spent most of December watching this God awful American police procedural called Blue Bloods. The acting, storylines etc. were all just terrible but since I didn’t find anything else to binge, I still watched almost five seasons of it & absolutely abhorred every minute. Guess if there’s one thing I can take into 2018, it’s no more hate watching. I’ll just seek out stuff I like next time.

I also watched the last few episodes of Major Crimes, another (really great) American police procedural. Definitely had very mixed feelings about the last season, since I loved the show from the beginning but hated the serialised turn they were taking. Oh & there were so many tears. It finally wrapped up earlier this month.

listening to… I’ve got pretty obsessed with Portugal. The Man‘s Woodstock album in December. Lots of great songs in there & I had it on repeat for a lot of the month.

cooking… I started cooking again for a bit in December & it was fun! Our NYE meal (made by me with a lot of help from mom) was Mutton Shepherd’s Pie & Japanese Garlic Fried Rice. Both were keepers & the fried rice has already been made twice more in January.

buying… December was a month of a lot of big purchases that I was looking forward to for a while. I overhauled a lot of photo / video equipment (new camera, lens, etc.) & made a detailed video about it. It was very satifsying to buy things that I’d been wish-listing & planning for a while, even if I did have to cut back on other stuff in the month.

Lessons I learnt from 2017

2016 was the most transformative year I’ve had in a while. I travelled alone, adopted more cats & learnt so much about myself in the process (I summed it up neatly in this post). In contrast, 2017 was slower, it was about getting into routines, some more self discovery (& some improvement too). It was about getting much more selective in many aspects of my life. Of course I learnt some things too, some practical, some emotional. It was about feeling wise at times & feeling like an very stupid at other times, c’est la vie.

stubbornness… This word characterises a lot of 2017 for me. Blogging & being a digital media creator has changed a lot since I started – Some for the better, but a lot for the worse. In 2017 I decided to be a lot more stubborn about my work. Saying NO to a lot more things if I don’t believe in them. While I’ve always disclosed collaborations or sponsorships, I decided to become much more obvious & transparent with disclosing the same. I faced a lot of pushback from clients & agencies, but my first loyalties are always going to be to you guys. I’m hoping that as time passes, brands will realise that audiences are smart & you don’t have to deceive them to market products.

In my personal life, this just meant not putting up with bullshit & being fine with keeping my friend circle very small and not really doing things I didn’t want to do. I went out a lot less & I definitely met fewer new people. I do want to change that a bit this year, but at my own pace, you know? I’ll always go through periods when I want to go out & want to meet new people and periods when I want to withdraw for a long time. I guess I want to get better at managing my social anxiety & not let in rule my life, so I’m still striving for a balance.

breaking bad habits… Ever since I can remember, I’ve always identified as a shopaholic. I’ve always bought too much of clothing, shoes & makeup. For a longest time, I made the silly mistake of thinking that spending excessively on these things was just a character trait / flaw & that I’m always going to have these habits. In late 2016 though, I wanted to downsize a lot & that made me take stock of just how much I have, how I’ve used so many things I bought just one or two times (or not at all!) & that my spending habits were pretty shitty. For the longest time, I used my job as an enabler to why I’m buying so much (‘I can review the makeup!’; ‘I can film a haul!’, ‘I can do an outfit post!’). So in 2017, I made a conscious effort to buy less of these things – for makeup, I went on a detox / buying ban which I wrote about here. For clothes / shoes / accessories, I just tried to be a little more mindful & buy less statement pieces (which I end up wearing very less of) & more neutral / workhorse / practical pieces. I succeeded at the makeup detox & really want to write a detailed follow up post on that. For clothing / accessories, I still bought a lot of things but I guess I improved? I feel like I shopped a bit more mindfully & used a large portion of what I bought often, which felt great. Moreover, it didn’t feel like I was making some kind of big sacrifice by cutting back & I feel these are changes I can sustain better for the rest of my life.

being vocal… I’ve always been opinionated. But I guess as a lifestyle blogger, there’s kind of these pressure to only talk about frivolous luxuries & stay more politically neutral. In 2017, I got louder with my convictions. The world feel’s like it’s going to hell anyway, I don’t want to be quiet & complacent any longer. So yeah, I got more political. I educated myself more & tried to use my platform for hopefully educated even more folks. Lot of 2017 was rocked by the whole #MeToo movement where so many women got vocal about sexual harassment – something most of us tend to deal with on a daily basis (let’s face it, things are pretty shitty for women in India especially). I got more comfortable with sharing my own experiences too, there was no longer a sense of shame around things that have happened to me. I guess I finally placed the blame where it belonged. I saw a lot of women I know get similarly vocal & it was wonderful – even if most of what we’re talking about can seem bleak & negative, at least we’re talking about it. It’s better than nothing. I will continue to talk about issues that affect me / us as I see fit. And it’s very heartening to see a large part of my audience being very receptive to that. If you aren’t – tough luck, I’m not shutting up (but I’m trying to get better at listening & learning too).

Looking Forward To

There’s a lot I’m looking forward to this year! I really want to put out a video of my favorites for the entirety of 2017 but it’s proving to be a task to choose products & get them all together & sit & do it. But it’s definitely on the agenda. Our first trip of the year was to Ahmedabad for Uttarayan, but I’m also looking forward to planning the next one & making some bookings!

I currently have a lot on my plate (multiple videos to film, even more filmed ones to edit etc.) & I’m trying to tackle it all without getting too overwhelmed. I’m still very excited & optimistic for the year!

Obviously some crappy stuff happened too but I chose to keep the lift more positive & commemorate things I actually want to remember. What was 2017 like for you? I’d love if you can share your highlights in the comments! x

The post Looking Back | December + Things I learnt from 2017 🌊 appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.

Meow dress & pink bag – Bangkok street shopping // Ray-Ban round copper flash sunglasses // Jord Cora Koa wood watch // Good After Nine tuxedo cat ring // Lavie sandals

lips – Lakmé Lip and Cheek Matte Mousse – Blush Velvet | nails (fingers) Lakmé Absolute Gel Stylist – Gold Dust (toes) Nykaa Nails Matte – Strawberry Shortcake 

Photos by Anushree Gavas at The House, Versova

Anyone who knows me even a little (either online or IRL) will know that I’m a crazy cat lady. I’ve been one my entire life but all those feelings have multiplied manifold since I adopted my first, second & then third cat!

I recently got together with my talented friend Anushree to shoot this feline appreciation outfit – can you imagine how excited I was when I reached our shoot location & saw playful cat silhouettes on the wall?!

Ever since I was a kid I’ve also flip flopped on my feelings for pink. But right now I’m really liking dusty, pale blush pink (millenial pink!) & I feel like I could wear this colour for a month straight.

When it comes to accessories, I’m an extreme minimalists but I’ll almost never leave home without a wrist watch. I’ve been wearing my new Jord Wood Watch absolutely everywhere since I got it & they’ve kindly given one of you lucky folks to opportunity to win one of your own!

Just go here to participate in my Jord Watch giveaway. It’s open internationally & will take less than five minutes to enter (last date: 9th June 2017).

I also made a little Jord Watching Unboxing / OOTD Video to go with this post, you watch it below or on YouTube! x

The post Meow 😻 appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.

It’s a pretty well documented fact that we walk our cat. Yes, you can giggle if you’re reading this for the first time, I’m used to pretty bemused reactions. Although we have three cats, we only walk our eldest, Thelma because he’s bolder & curious about the world around him.

I’ve blogged in detail about how we leash trained our cat & shared more pictures of Thelma on a harness here.

I took these photos last year, when Thelma was still our only cat (we’ve added two more since). Summers mean less frequent walks because it gets a little too hot for Thelma to handle – he actually pants like a dog in the heat. But he looked so cute here, among the periwinkles so I had to snap a few photos. The first one might be my favorite photo of him ever!

I hope these photos brightens up your day. Have a great week ahead! x

The post Walking the Cat | Summer Time appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.

It hasn’t been all awful, however. I just happen to have the bad habit of focussing entirely on negative things sometimes. So instead of writing this post right away, I waited till we were well into April. And I found that all the positive things in April made me forget the misfortunes of March entirely. And in the process, I learnt something new about myself too! That I tend to focus too much of negative feelings when things aren’t going my way, but give it a few weeks & I only tend to remember the fun, the good, the truly memorable. And the shitty stuff doesn’t hurt as much!

Weekend Travels

Like I mentioned above, March was in between major travel for me – still missing Feb’s trip to Bangkok while looking forward to the next one in early April. That didn’t stop me from getting a couple of weekend trips in!

In early March, mom & I had the chance to visit Mahabaleshwar for the first time. It’s a hill station in Maharashtra that’s most well known for strawberries. The trip was courtesy of Saj Resorts & we stayed in Saj on the Mountain, a beautiful property with little row houses. We tried our hand at some adventure sports, visited all the touristy sports, shopped at Mapro, huddled by a bonfire on one crazy cold evening & of course picked and ate lots of strawberries! I’m usually always on blogger mode even while travelling but I took that weekend as an opportunity to just kick it. The purer air & cool climate just enhanced our experience & I’ll be sharing a post about our trip really soon!

Later in March I also had the opportunity to make a quick trip to Delhi / NCR for the TATA Tigor Car launch. Going to an automobile launch is always fun (even though I’m no authority on the subject).

I stayed at the Andaz by Hyatt Hotel at Aerocity & I really liked the aesthetics of the place. It had a very strong design focus, definitely one of my better stays at Aerocity (still didn’t top Pullman though).

Our itinerary included waking up before 5 AM on a Sunday (!!!!) but we got to drive through Gurgaon & visit the Heritage Transport Museum at Taoru.

The museum is so beautiful with a large & wonderful collection of vintage modes of transport from the early 20th century onwards. It’s mostly cars, but there were even horse carriages & one pure wood train coach used by royalty.

I was really drawn to all of the vintage muscle cars (some as big as mini buses) but the tiny red Reliant Robin, a three wheeled British car from the 70s ended up being my favorite vehicle there.

I also vlogged that entire weekend, so you can watch it here (there’s a fair amount of giggling involved).

There’s More…

Watching… I ran out of shows to stream, so I began watching NCIS. There’s a lot I dislike about the show, it’s factually inaccurate more often than not & most of the characters are so annoying, but I hate-watched three seasons, hehe.

Listening To… More of Sergio Mendes from last month & some Chillhop music too! Chillhop is like an interesting genre, it’s hip hop beats you can relax & chill out too. I frequently use chillhop music in my videos & I’ve found that I really like turning it on in the background while I work.

Buying… I hadn’t planned on any big purchases in March, but my beloved iPhone 6 Plus showed signs of giving up on me, so I caved & bought an iPhone 7. After hours of excruciating debate on color, I settled on the silver version & I absolutely love it. I’m enjoying the improved camera quality, & all the Delhi photos above were taken on my phone. Not bad eh?

March 2017 Favorites

As with every month, I have a March Favorites video up as well, discussing some of my summer makeup must haves & my newest obsession. I filmed this on the first of April but took some time off for my vacation, that’s why it’s only just gone up. More details, as always are on the video page.

That’s all for March. Hope you guys have a good summer & manage to beat this heat somehow. Many more travel, beauty & food posts are coming up soon! x

The post Looking Back | March 2017 appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.

And after almost 8 years (magalic.com turned 8 on Jan 5th) I wondered if maybe, just maybe, I had outgrown this space. But it didn’t take me long to realize that I still very much loved this blog, I just missed certain aspects of old blogging. Most of my favorite bloggers from, say even five years ago have stopped blogging because instagram is easier & quicker, & does anyone even read blogs anymore?

But the solution to my funk was staring me in the face all along – I don’t have any control over the blogosphere on the whole, or other people but if I miss doing something I love, I should just start doing it again!

Here’s the first post of my new monthly series – Looking Back. It’s kinda similar to the Just a Minute series that I did in 2013-14. Just a monthly post wherein I share anything that I haven’t had the chance to share elsewhere. Updates / changes to this blog. Exciting (& maybe not so exciting?) things happening in my life. And a round up of notable pop culture (movies / TV shows / music / books) I consumed that month. And it’ll be picture heavy, of course. Just a hodge podge word photo dump of the month gone by.

I’m a bit late with my first post as it’s already the 15th of Feb, but better late than never, am I right?

Three’s Company

If you read my farewell 2016 post, you probably remember Brittany another little kitten (& our first female!) we were fostering since mid December through World for All, a local animal rescue organization doing wonders for stray cats & dogs in Mumbai.

Well, we were happy with having just two cats. It seemed like the ideal number to have in a city apartment but then she bonded so well with our eldest, Thelma that is seemed criminal to seperate them. So now we have three cats.

She’s getting older now, but they’re just the very best of friends & my heart swells just seeing the way they interact with eachother – it’s not like they don’t fight, but she also grooms him so much, & he instinctively hugs her when they’re close by, & it’s just the cutest thing ever.
Our middle cat Honey isn’t pictured here, because there was definitely a bigger adjustment period with him. And he still largely keeps his distance, but the apartment is big enough for that. And they have their tender moments too!

Blog Updates

I redesigned the blog at the end of last year. It’s subtle enough that you might not even notice, but to my eyes, it both looks nicer & functions better than ever! It’s also now a more secure website (https instead of just http) & is running like a well oiled machine.

I’ve always considered this blog to be a reflection of me. Over eight years, it’s changed a lot & moved in different directions as well – but I’ve been pretty stubborn about one thing – that I be the only writer here. I started this blog just so I can develop a writing habit & I’ve never really connected with blogs that run under one person’s name, but have an army of writers, or worse, unpaid / underpaid ‘interns’ generating content for them. But I’ve also come to the realisation that I want to diversify. I want more voices on this blog & I want to share more stories. So I’m (slowly, apprehensively) opening up this blog to contributors. I had one of my oldest blogging friends, Roanna (of JupiterSkye) kick things off with a little Oman travel guide. If you’re a female that loves writing & has a story to share, whether it’s a travel guide, beauty post, recipe, DIY or something else that you think would be a good fit, just shoot me an email (or a twitter DM) & let’s chat.

What Else?

Watching… I cancelled my Netflix subscription sometime last year. It felt weird to do that after a year of being a loyal subscriber, but it was easier to love it when I had access to the US catalog. Once they started banning VPNs, & took off M*A*S*H, I realized that it wasn’t all that attractive to me any longer, besides, saving almost ₹600 rupees per month isn’t half bad.

I’m an avid Amazon shopper, & of course a prime member, because who doesn’t love free, quick shipping with no mandatory minimum purchase? Plus, it’s just so cheap right now. Sometime in December they launched their Amazon Prime Video service in India, & while the catalogue pales in comparison to Netflix, it’s nice since I paid the same amount for a year’s prime subscription that I used to pay for a month of Netflix. And since I was already paying for Prime, the video is practically free. I’m re-watching Seinfeld from start to finish for the second time. It’s been about six years since I last watched it & it’s mostly been hilarious, this time mom’s watching too (she doesn’t like it as much though).

Listening To… João Gilberto’s greatest hits. I’ve been on a Bossa Nova kick for a few months now, I never thought I’d get this obsessed with a genre of music sung in a language I don’t understand, but it’s actually helping me pick up a bit of Brazilian Portuguese. I also listened to a fair amount of the La La Land soundtrack since I watched the film in December. I still don’t get the fuss about that movie, to me it was just ok & I find it mind boggling that people are tripping over themselves to watch it just because it’s a musical & brilliant / funny shows like Galavant failed because there just isn’t enough audiences for musicals. I guess people will watch anything that’s hyped? Sigh. But I digress. Another Day of Sun (the opening number) has to be my favorite part of the film, because of the very upbeat / catchy vibe & that ridiculously extravagant dance number. It isn’t on YouTube yet, but I think Jimmy Fallon’s take on it for the Golden Globes cold open was wonderful too. More music data on my last.fm profile.

Buying… Not much. I’m on a makeup buying ban / detox until the end of this year, so there’s none of that this Jan. I did buy some fashion items just before the Bangkok trip, because I knew I wanted to make a lookbook there (The Bangkok Lookbook is LIVE & I really like how it turned out). I’m really trying to move away from consumerism on the whole in the new year, but what can I say; old habits die hard. I manage to save up by not making frivolous purchases, but then I want / need something big, like a gadget & boom! there goes my bank balance. Sigh. I think I’m getting better though. It’s not like I’m saving money on the whole, just redirecting old obsessions to new ones, like travel.

January 2017 Favorites

Since Feb 2014 I’ve been reasonably consistent with doing a monthly favorites video & my January Favorites shares my beauty, fashion & tea! There’s also a cute little video clip of Brittany cat towards the beginning. If you’d like details / links of all the things mentioned (like the source of this cute Mickey Mouse mug) just head on over to the video page.

Travel

Most of January was spent in the shadow of our big Bangkok trip! I loved it so much back in September that I knew I wanted to come back soon, so we immediately planned another one. Here are a few snapshots from our first day.

Mom & I went for just under a fortnight, we stayed in my favorite hostel, ate all the local food (delicious!), drank all of the iced drinks (which was not the smartest idea, in hindsight) & just had a great time. There are already two vlogs from the trip live on my YouTube channel (you can find them at the top of the Travel Playlist) & more will be coming your way soon.

We’ve already planned our next trip – it’s a couple of months away, but I’m just trying to plan everything properly. Not much for the actual trip (we prefer spontaneity) but as a blogger / vlogger, I need to plan / shoot / edit content well in advance so I can keep doing two videos a week even when away from home (super thankful for YouTube scheduling).

So that sums up my January in about 1500 words. Phew. What was yours like? As always, feel free to share any highlights or recommendations you may have! x

The post Looking Back | January 2017 appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.

If I could pick one word to represent the year 2016, it would have to be Rollercoaster 

…very original, I know.

But I can’t think of any other word to describe the exhilarating highs & the deep sadness that this year has brought.

Highs and lows aside, one thing’s clear to me – 2016 has been the most defining year of my life.

In popular culture, this year was defined by losing so many people we loved, some of whom were my personal heroes. I never knew that songs I loved so dearly would become very painful to listen to.

But as crazy as the year was on that front, 2016 has been a fantastic one for me when it comes to work, travel & more. I did so many firsts & achieved a lot of goals.

Travel ✈️

2016 was the year of many, many trips. Some of them were purely work trips, some vacations & some hybrid trips where I got to do a little of both. Some were repeat destinations, while others were completely new places.

I travelled with my mom, friends & (for the first time) alone! Thailand would have to be my favorite trip this year because it was my first ever solo trip. I did my first adult trip to Sri Lanka, for Mercedes Benz Fashion Runways.I fell behind with writing about every trip on the blog, but you can definitely expect some posts in the coming year. But I did vlog (almost every) trip very dilligently & you can watch them on my #MagaliTravels YouTube Playlist.

Cats 

After fostering Thelma Cat on & off last year, we finally adopted him in December. So while he came into our home for good in 2015; for us 2016 has properly been the year of cats!It’s been fun getting to know Thelma more.

We also decided to foster cats more, whenever we can…

and ended up adopting our first foster of the year, Honey.Becoming a two cat household hasn’t stopped us from fostering more, we also fostered Bruce for a short time. He sadly had a gamut of serious health problems that we weren’t equipped to deal with, but I’m happy to say that he’s made a full recovery since.Here’s Tarzan, without a doubt the cutest kitten we have ever fostered. He’s the one that got away for us. We’re so happy that he found a truly wonderful home with an older brother, & his mom sometimes sends us pictures / videos of him – an absolutely treat!
And finally this is Brittany aka Tiny our latest (& first female!) foster. She came to us right of the street with a body full of fleas & a belly full of worms but otherwise very healthy & active.Multiple flea baths & dewormings later, she’s integrated quite well with our other two. She’s still with us, so we’ll be bringing in the new year with three cats! We’re still looking for a good home for her in Mumbai. All our adoptions & fosters have been through World for All Mumbai, they do amazing work & I’m proud to support them.

When I think of the highlights of this year, cats & travel are the two biggest things for me. 2016 brought with it so many opportunities, lessons & personal growth. It’s not like crappy stuff didn’t happen – but I’m proud to say that I was able to use crappy times as a springboard to just concentrate on work & the things and people that truly matter.

Twenty Sixteen Magic ✨

I’m not someone that thinks or plans too far ahead. You know that question people love to ask in interviews- ‘Where do you see yourself in five years?‘ I don’t think I’ve ever been truly honest with answering that because the only honest answer would be ‘I have no f*cking idea.‘ I’ve never seen that as a weakness though. Five years ago, I would never have dared to dream of the life I have today, but here I am.

This year I’ve truly started to believe in the phrase ‘no risk = no reward‘. I’m not a natural extrovert & I’ve always felt held back by my own fears & personal limitations. This year I made a conscious effort to say YES to more things; even things that scared me. More often than not, I found that my fears were quite unfounded. Everything doesn’t always go smoothly but I never really regretted any of my decisions.

Things I still need to Work On

While I made amazing progress in some areas of my life, there are things that I completely ended up neglecting. I had hopes of getting better organized this year & fixing up my room, but that project seemed to take a backseat to all the other stuff happening. I had also hope to get fitter / more active as aside from travels, my lifestyle at home has been pretty sedentary. I started the year well in that regard but trailed off when monsoon began & wasn’t able to pick things up after that.

Procrastination & mild anxiety are two things I’ve always had problems with, and since 2016 got much more fast paced, these things definitely did become worse. There were entire days that I spent in front of my screen, aiming to get stuff done but I just couldn’t focus. On other days, I found myself very anxious for no real reason. These are both things that I want to learn to manage better in the coming year.

It’s hard to predict the future & I’d rather give my 100% to the present. I’ve been lucky in the sense that hard work had paid off in amazing ways. 2016 was nothing if not incredibly eventful.

Goodbye 2016, it’s been real ✌️

In just over three hours we’ll be ringing in 2017. I’ll be spending it at home, rewatching Seinfeld with a glass of Bailey’s in hand.

While 2016 was pretty good for me, I know many people around the world went through some terrible things. I truly hope that 2017 brings peace, love & joy for all. x

The post Farewell 2016 appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.

International Cat Day is celebrated on 8th of August (today!) Every day is Cat Day here at home, but I thought Cat Day would be a good excuse to just send some cat spam your way!

I did a MEET MY CATS video last month, do check it out if you’d like to know more about these cuties & their stories.

Thelma Cat celebrated his first Gotcha Day (like a birthday, this is the anniversary of when you bring a rescue cat home) about a fortnight ago – I even did a little celebratory blog post to mark the day, it was pretty special. He also has his own instagram page now – @ThelmaCatola where the little brother makes frequent appearances.And this is the newer addition to our family, Honey Cat (kinda reminds you of Hunnicut from MASH, no?) aka Minnow aka SMOL. Yes I know it’s kind of a weird name, but I think we’ve already established that we’re weird namers, right?

We named him after the colour of his eye. He’s the most devilish little kitten but you really can’t get mad at those eyes, they remind me of Puss in Boots from Shrek!

Honey, just like Thelma was also a foster that we never planned to adopt. The first two weeks were pretty hellish because Thelma was used to being the only cat, & Honey was one of the skinniest cats I’ve ever seen, so we had to keep them separated all of the time, while trying our best to gently introduce them. It was pretty hellish & I sort of felt like Jerry after he stayed in Kramer’s apartment in the Kenny Roger’s Roasters episode of Seinfeld, you know?

This was followed by about a fortnight of mutual animosity, disgust & lots of angry hissing, growling & fighting. But you know what? It was all worth it because in time they bonded better than I could have ever hoped for. Thelma is such a loving big brother. Honey is bratty but still loves & admires his older brother a lot.

I spend so much of time playing with them but hardly get around to taking many photos. Honey is growing up so fast & I’ve resolved to photograph them more frequently, I’ve even picked up a few tricks along the way! Cats are insanely attracted to cardboard boxes so if you put them in one, chances are they’ll calm down a bit & stay relatively still. Then I use something to get their attention. For these photos, mom was holding up a white wet wipe & waving it, which held their attention long enough for me to snap a few pics.

It’s funny how much I love these two monochrome nuggets. I can’t remember what life was even like before we had cats (although I did get more sleep back then)… x

The post International Cat Day appeared first on Magali Vaz | Fashion, Lifestyle & Travel Blog.