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Chic Dogs & Magnolia Dreams

The Art of Intentional Living

Chic Dogs & Magnolia Dreams
The Art of Intentional Living
  • A Woman’s Right to Choose: On Shoes, Womanhood, and Quiet Revolutions

    A Woman’s Right to Choose: On Shoes, Womanhood, and Quiet Revolutions

    May 25, 2025May 25, 2025 A Writer's Thoughts, Health & Well-being
    1 Comment

    I’ve always loved watching the original series of Sex and the City, not just for the fashion or city scenes, but for the connection between the women and how fiercely they protected each other’s well-being. At first glance, the show seemed fun and lighthearted, but beneath the surface…

    Read More A Woman’s Right to Choose: On Shoes, Womanhood, and Quiet RevolutionsContinue

  • The Quiet Rebellion of Reading: Choosing Depth Over Distraction

    The Quiet Rebellion of Reading: Choosing Depth Over Distraction

    April 21, 2025May 26, 2025 A Writer's Thoughts, Books

    There’s something quietly radical about curling up with a book in a world that urges you to scroll. Even more so when you choose a physical book, your eyes will thank you for the relief. We often don’t realize just how surrounded we are by screens until we…

    Read More The Quiet Rebellion of Reading: Choosing Depth Over DistractionContinue

  • Reclaiming My Focus: Is Instagram Still Worth It?

    Reclaiming My Focus: Is Instagram Still Worth It?

    March 31, 2025March 31, 2025 A Writer's Thoughts
    8 Comments

    In a world designed to capture and monetize our attention, maintaining focus has become a daily battle. Reclaiming our attention, focus and energy has become a quiet, yet profound act of defiance. Five years ago, during the Covid pandemic, I found myself in a similar place—reevaluating what truly…

    Read More Reclaiming My Focus: Is Instagram Still Worth It?Continue

  • Note to Self

    Note to Self

    January 25, 2025January 25, 2025 A Writer's Thoughts, Health & Well-being

    Stop rejecting yourself! Stop rejecting your sensitivity, your emotions, your wants and needs. Stop rejecting your darkness and your light. Yes, even your own light makes you uncomfortable. We spend a lifetime of rejecting ourselves and for what? Are we waiting for someone else to give us permission?…

    Read More Note to SelfContinue

  • Note to self

    Note to self

    November 24, 2024November 24, 2024 A Writer's Thoughts
    1 Comment

    Slow down You have time. This idea of not having enough time is what makes you feel anxious, agitated and in a continuous state of perceived urgency. It’s what makes you feel overwhelmed to the point of shutting down. It makes you enter into freeze mode which results…

    Read More Note to selfContinue

  • Note to Self

    Note to Self

    November 7, 2024November 7, 2024 A Writer's Thoughts, Health & Well-being
    2 Comments

    Dear readers, I’m starting a brand new series on the blog and I’m calling it ‘Note to Self’. What are ‘Notes to Self’? These are words of comfort, encouragement  and inspiration to help remind you of certain things while navigating this world and this human experience. I write…

    Read More Note to SelfContinue

  • What does it mean to have the courage to stay in your own lane?

    What does it mean to have the courage to stay in your own lane?

    February 10, 2024February 11, 2024 A Writer's Thoughts, Health & Well-being

    The allure of others Just think about how much time, energy and effort we expend by focusing on other people’s lives. Time, energy and effort we then lack for ourselves and the lives we wish to build for ourselves. It often manifests as comparison to others which then…

    Read More What does it mean to have the courage to stay in your own lane?Continue

  • The power of acceptance in our daily lives and relationships

    The power of acceptance in our daily lives and relationships

    January 3, 2024January 3, 2024 A Writer's Thoughts

    Before I decided to sit down at my desk and start writing, I had a clear picture of what it was I wanted to write about. Practically an entire paragraph mapped out of why the word ‘acceptance’ has been lingering in my mind for weeks, if not months….

    Read More The power of acceptance in our daily lives and relationshipsContinue

  • The sensitive child and her dog

    The sensitive child and her dog

    July 7, 2023September 3, 2023 A Writer's Thoughts

    It must have been the early 90s and I was around 7 or 8 years old. We still lived in Portugal, not far from Lisbon, the capital, and we lived in an apartment on the 6th floor. I remember it was a beautiful and spacious apartment with two…

    Read More The sensitive child and her dogContinue

  • The Poetry of Everyday Life

    The Poetry of Everyday Life

    May 5, 2023September 27, 2023 A Writer's Thoughts, The Poetry Apothecary

    Looking for beauty and noticing the poetry of everyday life, in a world that often seems to be governed by brutality is not naive, nor is it frivolous. It is sustenance. It ignites creativity. It activates the brain’s capacity to solve problems. It activates the imagination needed to…

    Read More The Poetry of Everyday LifeContinue

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Welcome to the Chic Dogs & Magnolia Dreams Blog! So glad you are here. If you are interested in cultivating the art of intentional living, you are in the right place!

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chic_dogs_and_magnolia_dreams

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝐿𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔
Gardener // Blogger // Writer // Fur mom
Inspiring you to create a soft and nourishing life!

A cozy home that feels like a warm hug. Filled wi A cozy home that feels like a warm hug.

Filled with books, dogs and candles.

One that feels both grounding and soothing to the soul, and nourishing to the heart.

#homebody #cozyhome
I started instagram a decade ago. I have been usin I started instagram a decade ago. I have been using it as some sort of a visual diary ever since, capturing the beauty of small everyday moments that bring so much light, warmth and comfort to my life. 

It reminds me to pay attention to the seemingly small things that make up a life and to be grateful for it. To not take any of it for granted, because as we know, it can all be gone in a blink of an eye.

Instagram had always been something positive to me. A place to inspire and be inspired. But now, once you start watching a reel, it sucks you all the way down to the brainwashing abyss. 

And it happens to the most conscientious of us. No one is immune to it. It gradually transforms us into exhausted, enraged and frustrated sleepwalkers. 

I think what this world needs is not more rage and hopelessness. What it needs is anchoring. It needs to believe that it can create something that is sustainable instead of burning everything to the ground. And it starts with each and every individual. It starts by keeping our eyes open and protecting our energy and what we want to stand for, rather than what we are against.

I have been moving away from the enticement and lure of the digital world for a while now. Not entirely rejecting it but being more intentional and aware of how it gradually erodes my attention and sense of presence. 

Setting firmer foot in the real world.

Keeping my eyes on beauty and light. Because that is the only thing that keeps me from drowning in a world of such persistent brutality.

I hope you are well, wherever you may be.🩷

#intentional #analog
"I would rather you'd say thank you!" Marlow's sp "I would rather you'd say thank you!"

Marlow's speech whenever I tell him to stop barking!🤣

#funnydogs
This is what I love most about Winter... Slow, co This is what I love most about Winter...

Slow, cozy and gentle Sunday mornings spent at home with the Chic Dogs.

Sipping tea, wearing warm, fuzzy socks and soft oversized sweaters, reading books, and eating crispy croissants... 

The deliciousness is even more palpable when there is snow outside.

Pure bliss in my book.❄️📚🐕

Hope you are warm, safe and paying attention to the tiny luxuries in your life.💙

#cozysunday
This little life is what I dreamed of as a child. This little life is what I dreamed of as a child. 

A warm and cozy home, where I'm surrounded by love and warmth. 

A happy home that feels like a gentle hug. Especially on days in which the world feels like a suffocating place, loud and harsh. 

A home that smells like warm toast and salted butter on a quiet Sunday morning. 

A home filled with dogs, books and flowers.

A home that is surrounded by my very own Secret Garden... a garden that heals, restores and shelters the heart of gentle creatures.🩷

#homebody
December in the countryside.🎄 Calm, gentle and in December in the countryside.🎄

Calm, gentle and intentional.

Filled with small, everyday luxuries and seasonal warmth.🥧

With dogs of course! 
Always with dogs.🩷

#cozyhome #softness #simplicity
Slow and gentle, that's how we want December to fe Slow and gentle, that's how we want December to feel like. 

Especially the mornings...

so we can start our days with a full battery and move intentionally and gently through the world.

#slowmornings #wintering #gentleliving
Snippets of a cozy life.🫖🥧🎄 #cozylife Snippets of a cozy life.🫖🥧🎄

#cozylife
There was so much I wanted to say before I logged There was so much I wanted to say before I logged on... And now, my mind just goes blank.

November felt like a steep hill. Moving in and out of what seems like a continuous loop of migraines. 

I don't know which one goes first anymore... Do the migraines cause the exhaustion or is it the exhaustion that causes to migraines?! 

There is so much that my mind wants to do, say, create... My body however, refuses to budge and if I dare to neglect her signs, I am reminded with throbbing pain who is in charge here. 

Maybe this is part of maturing too. Learning to accept what is instead of coercing it to be something else. Life is cyclical and this too will pass.

Perhaps this blankness, this void, is exactly where I need to be for now.

The nourishing energy of simple things, a warm home, books and the company of friendly dogs, might be exactly what my body and mind needs right now.

Hope you are well.🍂☕️🥧🩷🫖

#wellbeing #Wintering #softness #simplicity #comfort
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