Mother Earth, you have our attention!
One way or another, our lives have changed dramatically over the past weeks. Covid-19 and its rapid spread, halt our daily busy life into a stop, made us shelter, and distance from each other.
It’s the first time in recent history, that this happen globally, affecting every country on every continent. Just like billions of people everywhere, I have been confined at home, with my kids, leaving my Barcelona apartment only for the necessities.
I try to play my role, helping to stop the spread of this virus, and educating my kids to do so as well. (Something that I come back to later on). I also have lots of time to think about the present situation, as I am sure, many people do. I follow the news, the developments and try to stay away from panic and fear. Those two things are worse than the virus itself.
SO LET’S STAY POSITIVE! I have been following and focusing on the bright side of this current situation. Obviously, my biggest sympathy goes to the people that are suffering and are in poor health, or already lost their lives, or their loved ones. Just like in every situation, there is always something good in something bad.
In Japan, they call in Yin Yang.
I want to point out, that just in 3 weeks of slowing down industries, travel and every day “routine”, our Earth already took a note.
A positive one. Water has been clearer, air has been fresher and amazingly, the ozone layer has recovered noticeably in such a short period of time.
I hope that everyone noticed and that maybe it will change laws and the way we treat our planet.
People also have opportunity to practice many things, that we are not accustomed to do. It’s the best time to stay home, clean your house, organize and practice discipline. Staying fit and trying not to eat too much is very challenging while staying at home ALL THE TIME. That’s where discipline takes place, and everyone should improvise and try to do the best they can. There are only few rules to follow during this time, and yet, some people have very hard time to do so.
People should also practice solidarity, togetherness (while staying apart) and being considerate.
There is no room for selfishness during this time.
Parents should spend some quality time with their kids, oversee their schoolwork, and maybe try to be their teacher for once.
Families should pull together during this tough period, help one another, since there are many people losing their jobs over this short period of time.
This health and economic situation are uncovering some uncomfortable truths about our society, our character and our laws.
Let’s get out of this situation as better people, better society, and with more values. I hope that politicians, lawmakers and industries learn from this period and we will improve. (Like improve our view on doctors, nurses, fireman and pretty much everyone, who has been on the front line, dealing with this virus and helping the sick.
They are the true heroes of 2020 so far!) We still take too many things for granted, and I think that our planet – Mother Earth – is telling us something. Are we smart enough to learn? Or is it going to be just a scare, little hiccup in our way to destroy our planet completely.
I certainly hope that we are going to change our ways.
“A matter of skin and heart”
I know it seems like there will be no party for the New Year´s Eve this years!
I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes…you’re Doing Something. “
In the next few paragraphs, I would like to share a piece of my life story. Some aspects of my life that not many people know but those things formed me as a person, the kind of adventurous and entrepreneurial woman that does not stop dreaming. What is the origin of my love for travel, my desire to discover new things, and try to learn new languages. Some dreams were shattered along the way, but the new ones arose from my way of living, and my way of wanting something more out of life. That is, maybe, the part of Keilley, that I would like to share with you now.
My mother was the source of my love for traveling! My parents split up when I was about two years old and I don’t have any real memories of my father, maybe only that he traveled for work often, and one day, well, he simply didn’t return. He worked as a promoter/producer of forro band, a type of music well known in the northern part of Brazil. He worked with big names in the industry at that time, and he became a well-known producer.
My mother was a gospel singer in Bahia. Part of her job was to visit churches in different cities and towns, located in my native Bahia. We started to move around when I was about three years old and we visited many churches.
My older sister also took on singing gospel and I took the opportunity to preach. I like to talk about God with people already at that young age. I remember many occasions when I could talk with someone about God, and their eyes would get misty, maybe because my words were coming from my heart, and were not polluted by adult thinking. So we kept on traveling, meeting more people and getting to know more places.
My mother was always on lookout for a better job, better conditions for her three kids (yes, I have a younger brother as well), and to allow them to get the best education possible.
My mother was a gospel singer in Bahia. Part of her job was to visit churches in different cities and towns, located in my native Bahia. We started to move around when I was about three years old and we visited many churches.
My older sister also took on singing gospel and I took the opportunity to preach. I like to talk about God with people already at that young age. I remember many occasions when I could talk with someone about God, and their eyes would get misty, maybe because my words were coming from my heart, and were not poluted by adult thinking. So we kept on traveling, meeting more people and getting to know more places.
My mother was always on lookout for a better job, better conditions for her three kids (yes, I have a younger brother as well), and to allow them to get the best education possible.
Modeling was around me, since my sister worked in the industry and won several beauty contests in Brazil, and it affected me in my early years.
I wanted to follow her footsteps, learn how to walk, dress, and all the other things.
My body wasn’t built to walk on catwalks, and my large breasts were not taken as a great asset in the industry.
My development started early, as soon as when I was ten years old, my chest started to form and didn’t stop growing until I was well in high school. It is not easy for a teenage girl to have her dreams crushed because of her big breasts. It was not only about modeling. Children at school often teased me about it, giving me a hard time, for something that I should be proud of from the very beginning. But at that time, it felt a little bit more as a curse, since it made my dreams impossible.
Around that time, volleyball came to my life, and made me forget about the modeling. Something that served me as an escape, soon became my love.
I put all my energy into becoming as good of a player as I could have possibly be. I felt the passion for the game, and my rapid growth only kept on motivating me more. Soon enough, I could also see pleasant results on my body, which was a great “side effect” of practicing hard every day.
Playing volleyball completely changed my perspective on life and by the age of 14, I ended up totally falling in love with the sport. Soon enough, my younger brother would join me, and we practiced together quite often. The routine of practicing and everything that was around it, made me feel great, and my taste of exercising was cultivated in me since that age. I started to play volleyball professionally, taking the sport more seriously. I went to Curitiba to get to another level. In that city were one of the best teams in the country, more opportunities to develop and get exposure. I did many tryouts and my experience grew rapidly. I got to meet many different types of managers, coaches, and when I look back now, it really prepared me well for the future.
Some time later, I went from indoor volleyball to beach volleyball. It was a new experience, and also a new opportunity for me to travel. Even to the foreign countries.
The emotion was immense. I couldn’t believe that something that I loved so much could open more doors from me.
When an opportunity to play in Europe professionally came by, I didn’t hesitate. When I crossed the Atlantic, and I landed in the Charles de Gaul airport in Paris, I felt an urge of thought, maybe a feeling, that I would never return to Brazil. That Europe would be my new home. It is a sensation hard to explain, and in my native language (Portuguese), we call it “a matter of skin and heart”.
I was enchanted with the old continent.
Every country, every city that I have lived in or visited, made me feel awesome and I never felt like leaving this place.
Spain would become my headquarters, since I learned the language quite easily, and it was not hard to fall in love with the climate and the local gastronomy. Looking back, all of this happened because of my passion for volleyball, and I am eternally grateful for it. It shaped me into a person that I am today!!
By Keilley Lee Marques
080 Fasion Week Barcelona 2020 what fascinated me the most!
When you have a career like Lubos it’s hard to know from where to start, but like always we will start from his early beginnings.
I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. If you are making mistakes…you’re Doing Something. “
Oh yes girls and boys, The 080 Fashion Week Barcelona 2020 was wonderful. It was a week full of glamor and futuristic visions on the catwalk and it gave as a litle glimpse on what is coming for Autumn-Winter 2020-2021.
More than 25,000 people enjoyed this show which ran its 8th edition, the best designers and companies that are linked to European and international fashion weren’t missing in attendance.
Wow!… I still have troubles finding words to put down since I still feel the excitement of every night, every show. It was crazy, the designs, the lights, the music of local and international artists, all behind the backstage; Every after party was wonderful. So hang on and keep reading because I’m going to tell you what struck me the most about Fashion Week 080 Barcelona 2020.
Gloria Lladó, with her signature “Eikō Ai” presented the collection ‘Quantum One’ a collection inspired by celestial bodies and the brightness of the Milky Way. Light tones with infusion of brightness, artificial colors, lilac, mint and whitish lights. A sophisticated and feminine woman with delicate and contemporary clothes. All a splendor!
The discreet charm of the French style dazzled the catwalks of the Fashion Week Barcelona 2020 with designs inspired by the powerful and feminine women created by Maite By Lola Casademunt, introducing a game of elegance and daring that seduced everyone present.
Óscar León also showed up with some innovative designs, with new printed reflections, t-shirts, mixtures of textures and with the color turmeric as a novelty. Although he was not forgetting the black color, which is its base.
I was struck this year by the Sonia Carrasco collection, marked by a strong commitment to the environment. Carrasco baptized his collection by giving it the name of the coordinates of the Pacific Plastic Island “45.376543, 59.651328”. All his contemporary designs are made from organic materials, all very beautiful. And what about Juan Avellaneda, it was a celebration of glamor, good vibes and amazing designs in all its forms.
Definitely guys this year the 080 fashion week in Barcelona was full of excitement, an ode to European avant-garde fashion. If you missed it this year, then follow me on Instagram @keillylee and on my website www.keilley.com where You can find everything that is fashionable, the best fashion events in Europe and the best tips for you to live your life to the fullest, because we live to enjoy.
Red Dress
When you venture to live the life to the fullest, enjoying the best moments that God gives you and you overcome every obstacle along the way, it is when you really value your friendships. My dearest friend Tania Askenazí is much more for me, it is a true friendship.
It has been 14 years since we started to live through great moments, shared parties, went on the trips and unique adventures but also we have gone through some difficult moments.
The way we met was very curious. It was for that red dress! lol. I remember we were at a party in Barcelona, and Tania approached me intrigued by a nice red dress that I wore that night. She came over and said “Oh, what a cute dress! Where did you buy it?” And I sincerely confessed: “Well, in a Chinese shop, and and it was very cheap… hahaha.” Tania quickly understood that as I valued top clothing brands, I also appreciated the original and beautiful simple designs, even if they are not created by a large well known firm. Like is life to appreciated the little moments and little things.
Just at that moment a beautiful friendship was born, since beyond that beautiful cheap red dress that caught her attention. We both noticed that we had many things in common, we had much to talk about and many adventures to live.
Tania is a girl that is full of energy, always has a smile on her face that makes your day. It’s that person you always want to have by your side, to enjoy a good coffee, watching a sunset. Or to enjoy a night full of dances, drinks and lots of fun with friends.Today is her birthday, and I wanted to share with you a little of me, because this girl is worth gold.
We always travel together, we have had wonderful adventures in different destinations such as Cuba, Brazil and all around Europe. Tania has always been the friend who doesn’t do something to please you 24 hours a day.
For example, sometimes when she went to sleep I was going to dance (hahaha) and if I felt tired, she was going to ride a horse on the beach. Afterwards, we would meet to enjoy talking about our experiences. It’s like we always understood our differences and made room for one another.
It has really been a very sincere friendship. She really has been a great pillar of friendship, of courage, has always given me valuable advice with the right words (even though sometimes maybe things that I didn’t want to hear, and that’s what real friends do for each other) , and she is someone who understands me very well.
Friendship is to have fun, not to take advantage of the other, true friendship does not imply a plan for exchanging favors, but the fact of always being there during the happiest and also the most difficult moments. That is the true friendship that we have and it’s definitely worth of writing about.
A friendship that not even distance can break, sometimes when I had to go to live outside of Spain for my husband’s work and after months that we did not travel, or because each one with a busy schedule of work and travel. And there are always those moments when I would love to be with her, and I confess, whenever we are separated I count the days and hours to enjoy my “black panther” as we call her with love.
So, Today, on your birthday, I wish you the best in the world, that every day to come be loaded with new learning, new goals met, a lot of joy and enthusiasm that characterize you and that the true friendship that unites us will last forever.
I love you my dear friend…