Happy Independence day!

Bah, we didn't have blue-and-white candles.. Had to settle with these!

Some dinner with wine..

.. and getting ready for the live broadcast from the independence day ball at the President's castle

Our favorites so far:

Jenni Vartiainen

Satu Taiveaho

Gotta love KELA

I got a nice christmas present from KELA (the social insurance institution of Finland): I need to pay back a share of the student grants that I received this year. I've been working too much this year so it's my own fault, but still! F! :D So now I'm trying to cut on stupid expenses and save money for my exchange next spring (yeah, good to start now in December eh?).

Christmas presents are not a stupid expense, I meant something else, like always taking taxis after a night out :P But I thought it might actually be nice to get a self-made present for a change. ...And I wouldn't have to buy that many things.

I was visiting my grandmom the other weekend and found this needle that you can crochet with (I google translated this, so I'm not sure whether it makes sense or not. But L, I think you know what I mean). I don't know why, but I think it's fun and I'm quite fast in this too :D So I decided to make a pair of mittens for I. Haha, I know, I know, it's silly but he asked me to! I don't have any instructions on how to make them but I just started from the tip of the fingers and got the pair finished in one night while watching TV with my grand mom :))

Here it is, ugly - but made with love :D I'm going to decorate them somehow but I just don't know what to do yet :P

Hehe

Basic blacks

Salissa Dress / InWear

Cut-work court shoes / Zara

My wardrobe has been lacking some basic stuff for long and it still does, but I have made some progress recently. I just found a nice pair of black high heels a week ago and they're comfortable and in my opinion go together with almost everything. I have all kinds of heels but basic black? Nope.And today I went shopping with my mom and we found this basic black dress that I can wear for different kind of occasions by changing the accessories to go with it. It'd decent enough for more formal events but I could also spice it up with something more outrageous and wear it even when go clubbing :P

Now I just need some nice parties for trying these out :))

The new secret weapon

I'm really lazy in washing my hair, even though I only have to wash it every four days. It takes so much time with all the haircare products and blow-drying with a big round brush that it's actually sometimes hard to find time for the whole process :D So in the last days when I can still somehow manage without washing my hair, I usually just wear it up or put on a headband or something. Wearing the hair down is usually not an option anymore, but with this miraculous product that I discovered last week, I'm able to wear the hair down even if it was ages ago since the last time that I washed it :D Haha I know, gross, but this stuff really rocks! :D

Lost my efffin phone - again!

I have this beige trench coat I always wear with dresses so I usually have it on when I go clubbing. I know that there are huge holes in the pockets (lol) and I try to avoid putting anything in them, but sometimes I simply forget that. And this has had its consequences before.

On Saturday I had the jacket on again and of course I kept putting my celly in the jacket pockets. When I remembered the holes I quickly grabbed the celly and put it in my clutch, but it found its way to the pocket time and time again. Anyway, when I got back home later on that night, I noticed that I didn't have the celly with me anymore!! :'( ugh. I had taken some pictures and now they're lost too and since I don't have a camera, there's no way to take pictures anymore. At least not before buying a new celly..

Exams ahead - messing with my hair again

Why oh why do I always get this sudden urge to do something new with my hair when I should be sitting still and focus on studying?? The exam on business law that I had a month or two ago made me cut my hair (a lot!) on my own and the exam I'm gonna have on Friday apparently had a similar effect on me yesterday.

I decided to stay at home instead of wasting time on moving my bum to the university, and I was supposed to get a lot done here. I had such good plans! Actually, I was quite productive in the morning and finished this final report for another course, but in the afternoon when I was supposed to open up my books and start studying for my exam, I ended up doing highlights AND cut my hair instead. It was so hard to do that alone and somehow in the middle of everything I got this huge knot in the back of my hair and with the hair dye.. ohh, it got stuck big time. I had to rip the whole god damn thing off and it really hurt!! :D But I survived and I don't think you can see that there's some hair missing in the back.. :D

Haha, I think I have to put myself in handcuffs and chains in the beginning of December when I have the rest of my exams, or else I'm gonna end up bold or something.. Soon there's gonna be nothing left to cut or rip! :D

Copy-cats by accident

We've had quite a few skype sessions with L this fall that have ended up in hysterical laughter because of shoes. We both have such a good taste in shoes that we've bought at least 3 similar pairs in like 2 months or so ;)

Hehe, do you remember when you were so thrilled to show me the new flurry leopard print pumps? Right when I saw them I had to go grab mine - 'look look look I have similar ones but with zebra stripes!!' :D And the ballerinas! Yours were black and mine dark brown, but both had this similar decoration in the front of the shoe. Haha, and now the boots. The same color, casual style and round shape in the front, and they both have heels! I guess the only difference is that mine are just a little bit higher? :P

Yup, there you go ;)

Girls at the Helsinki food and countryside show

What a random Friday. Me and my friends had to go to this fair yesterday for a project, and gosh we got surprised when we got there. We had thought that we're just gonna quickly go in and get the hell out of there as soon as we can, cause we thought it would be really boring and just full of exhibition stands that are all the same. But there were so many things to see there!!

So when we walked in, we all went to different directions and were supposed to meet once we were done with our business ;) I headed straight to the hall of handicrafts and immediately forgot what I was supposed to do there. I saw so many beautiful handmade jewelry that I just had to stop every 2 meters and try the prettiest things on. Most of the pieces weren't even that expensive but seemed to be of high quality. Some even reminded me of Lapponia jewelry because of the design, even though they were nothing like the ones I've seen in Lapponia's collection. Anyway, I was impressed of the exhibitions there and was so proud of myself for not spending any money on the pretty jewelry :D

Fair purchases

So many nice colors :)

Next, I met my friends at the outlet hall and we went to see the beauty section. There were make-up, cremes,  hair care products, nail polish, perfumes... Ohh we bought so many nice things at a ridiculous price there- I have 4 new lipsticks now! :D I actually bought only 3 of them but the cashier gave me one extra, third from the left (the darkest one). I tried it on yesterday and fell completely in love with it. We'll see if I have the balls to really put in on some day ;) hehe.

Me and a horse that likes eating purses

I tried to pet it but the horse wasn't a fan of mine :D

When we we're done with shopping, we went to see farm animals :D God it smelled bad there but the animals were so cute!! :D I can't stop laughing when I look at these pictures.. Gosh we had a.. random day :D I'll just post some more pics of what we saw there ;)

We missed the goat agility show!!

The kids were all excited to see the sheep

My absolute favorite - the llama!! :D

You can't even see how big these dudes were!!

The sheep dog doing his thing

...chasing the herd around the arena...

The chubby little pony

So, who would have guessed that this is how we spent our Friday night... :D

Thoughts from today

I remember reading lots and lots of articles on social media marketing when I was working on my bachelor thesis. I was excited to learn about new, trendy things that they didn’t talk about on the lectures yet or ask to elaborate on in case assignments or exams. This was finally something that I was truly interested on and sometimes I even enjoyed studying on the material that I had found on my own. Even though I wasn't that happy with the final version and would do a lot of things differently now if I could, I have to say that I learned a lot during the process.

I miss that feeling. That I get to do exactly what I want to do.

I realized that I’ve been on a really bad mood lately and I think that this is a part of the reason. I haven’t felt too excited about the things that I’ve been working on lately and I feel like I’m wasting time unless I get to do something that I’m actually keen on. I need to feel enthusiastic about the things that I do!

It's not that I don't like what I’m studying or don't appreciate my work, I’m just missing that spark somewhere.

Actually, just writing about this weird feeling makes me feel better. I just need to find an inspiration and get that spark back. I don’t know what it is and where I could find it, but I know that I will find it. But it has to happen soon.

I came across with an article on social media marketing today and it really caught my attention. It argues on some of the key findings of the research studies that I got familiar with when I was writing my bachelor thesis, and I just realized how perishable some information actually is. It’s kind of like canned food in your cupboard; yeah, you can store it there for a really long time, even years, but it has an expiration date on the bottom. Same thing goes for the new things that you learn, the new theories that they develop - they’re all good until somebody proves them wrong or presents better and more accurate findings.


http://www.penn-olson.com/2011/02/15/facebook-marketing/

I think I should check my cupboard and replace some older cans with new ones - maybe that would lead to the inspiration that I'm seeking after ;) The key idea in that article is that getting engaged and active in the social media is no longer the thing - being too active and overwhelming or having nothing special to say can turn the audience against you. Providing people with value-adding content, on the other hand, can keep them interested, but is a work of art.

Last days of my beloved 'leather' jacket

Bahh, where did all the pretty and colorful leaves go? And the bright and sunny days? Grrrr, the fall is passing by and the weather's getting uglier and uglier so it seems that I also need to start packing my favorite fall stuff in cardboard boxes and take them back to the basement. I still haven't let go of my leather jacket and I've tried to wear it with warmer stuff, like these boots, but yesterday I almost froze to the bones so I think I'm finally giving up :D

I have done a complete inventory on my wardrobe during the fall and thrown a lot of older stuff away. Jackets and coats, however, are all still there, but I don't like much any of those that I could wear during the coldest seasons. There is a red one that I'm in love with but still, there's a desperate need of new ones.. I've been looking for a new winter coat  but I haven't found anything nice yet..

In Flames or not?

A friend has been asking me to go see In Flames with her at the Helsinki Ice Arena on the 16^th of November. I listen to a lot of that type of heavier music but I’m not too familiar with the band itself, so I’m not sure what to do. I heard about the band in 2009 when a Finnish exchange friend introduced me with a couple of their songs and I remember listening to them non-stop for a while. I guess In Flames is categorized into death metal or heavy metal but their music is a lot more melodic compared to many others. I still have those songs ‘Alias’ and ‘Come Clarity’ in my playlists and even though I still like them I’ve been too lazy to find out more about their production.

I know the feeling that you get when you just absolutely love a band and get to see it playing live - it’s something unbelievably awesome! If it was HIM, I would have already bought the tickets!! ;) But now I’m not sure if I want to go or not. What if I realize there and then that meh, I don’t like this, and I stand in the crowd and everybody else except for me is just rocking their ass off? :D

This friend just told me that she’s gonna compile a Spotify playlist for us, ‘all time greatest of In Flames’, so that we can learn the lyrics by heart, buy tickets to the concert and scream our hearts out there :D Haha, I got all excited and had to google their latest album, and it seems that I already found something new that I liked! Maybe I should just take the chance and go..? ;) hehe.

In Flames - Deliver Us / Sounds of a Playground, 2011

Saturday night rush

Me and my friends have talked about the nightlife in Helsinki and all agree that there are not that many good clubs here at the moment. The life cycle of the type of clubs that we prefer is about 3 years and in the beginning they're all usually nice and full of people. Eventually the bouncers start to let younger and younger people in to maintain a proper level of customers and the club loses its attraction on the people that used to go there, i.e. people at the age of 20+. At the moment there are just a few decent places that are not full of teenagers so that’s why we always go to the same places. Even though we have lots of fun every single time that we go out together, it would be fun to see something new. Get new experiences.

So that’s why I was excited to go see a friends' band's gig at a small club in Kallio on Saturday night - even though I hadn’t heard their music before. Finally something different! :) After the operations management horror lecture on Saturday, I rushed back home to get ready for the evening. I had such a hard time choosing what to wear, cause I have a huge bruise in my arm from last weekend that I absolutely had to cover somehow, haha! I didn’t have any options so I had to go with a simple black dress that has ¾ sleeves :D

I quickly stopped by at a friends place and we all went together to the club to meet I and his friends. It was quite crowded and people were so excited when ‘Stockers!’ hit the stage. They played a lot of songs that I liked, but I don’t know the names!! Bah. But here’s one of my favorites from Saturday that I found on Youtube:

Stockers! - Closer

After the gig we left to another club that I usually don’t go to that often, and we just danced there the rest of the night. Awesomeness! :D Hehe, Sunday was, again, a lazy day and the ultimate highlight was a home made nacho plate ;)

I hate shopping for pants!!

On Wednesday I did something unexpected - bought a pair of pants!! Just like that. It's usually a nightmare when I try to find a pair that fits - I don't understand the sizes (lol) and it's difficult to find anything that I'd even want to try on. There's always something wrong with all the pants and jeans and I just don't like it if there are no pockets or if the pockets are too small or of a weird shape etc etc :D Ugh. And I get so frustrated in the fitting room after trying everything on and never finding anything that I could even consider of buying! So I usually just rather just skip the whole process and wear the ones that I already have. Or wear something else, like dresses ;)

But on Wednesday I bought a pair of these greyish/green In Wear pants - just like that. With no headache or stress or rage in the fitting room :D There's nothing special to them, but I'm just so happy to have a pair that doesn't look worn out like all the other in my closet that have been in an excessive use :D

P.s. L, do you remember the Aldo shoes that I found in Montreal? Pure love. I wish buying pants was as easy and enjoyable as buying shoes...

Friday - happy day!

I thought that I had registered for my exam today on quantitative research methods in marketing but I found out yesterday that I hadn't :D Haha, apparently I had registered for the one in December!! Typical of me eh? Of course it was too late to fix that anymore, but instead of feeling bad about it, I felt so happy! I'd have the whole morning and the afternoon for myself then ;)

I was up early and went to the gym so it wasn't a complete waste of time. And in the evening me and my friends went to check out this recently opened bar / restaurant called Shanghai Cowboy. It was cozy and easy-going, kind of like a living room at the heart of Helsinki. We sat there for a couple of hours, talking, giggling and enjoying our drinks but got home early. And that's a good thing since I'm planning to be an early bird and drag my bum to the operations management lecture at 10am tomorrow. Yes, it's a Saturday and I'm spending 7 precious hours of it at the university. But I'll get myself through it knowing that we have some nice plans for the rest of the day ;)

Outfits

 Can't believe that I'm still not feeling completely normal today. But had lots of fun and still laughing at my friends' stories, way to go girls! Now it's time to get back on track, got a lot to do for tomorrow...

Grandmom's shoes from the 50's

Catching up on the weekend

I just finished reading about L’s weekend. The text really made me smile :) I wish you could get the camera soon and include pictures in you blog!! I’m dying to see how it looks like in Victoria! My weekend was nice too. I should have done a lot of things for school but instead I just took all the time for myself and just relaxed.

On Friday I went for dinner with Laura. We had such a good time, just updating each other on what’s going on in our lives and gossiping about everything and making plans. The restaurant was casual and easy-going - exactly what we were looking for that day. We had planned to cook together but were both so tired after a long day at work and at school that we decided to skip the cooking and eat out instead. The food was ok but the dessert.. ohhh heaven!! We chose two different kinds of chocolate cakes with vanilla ice cream and shared them. Just like we did in Montreal, L! The other one was an American style of chocolate cake with cherry marmalade and the other one a ‘Chocolate Fondant’ that was warm and melted inside. And the two of us chocoholics naturally loved them.

On Saturday I had the laziest day in weeks. I think I’ve mentioned about this before? That I never have Saturdays off and it’s somehow difficult to just sit back and relax cause I always feel like I should be doing something.. well.. smart! This time I managed to avoid getting a bad conscious for nothing special and spent my day without even thinking about work or studying. Me and Laura stayed over the night at my mom’s place on Friday and she had to leave early on Saturday morning. I slept late of course and spent my day there. After getting up, I just took the newspaper and made myself some delicious cappucino with my mom’s brand new coffee machine. I think I spent hours in the kitchen, reading the news and slowly preparing breakfast and just listening to music. And, of course, reading some blogs and trying to find ideas for L’s gala event ;) Posted them to you in case you want to go take a look at them!

Hehe, on Sat evening we had a random pre party at my mom’s place and went clubbing with the girls. Had such a nice time and even met some Mannheim people at an after party! :) L, do you remember the picture of me at Schneckenhof? It’s a terrible one it still makes me laugh! I think I commented on it saying that vodka redbull is my friend and you said that vodka anything is my friend. Haha, on sat it really was not a friend of mine at all. Let’s just say that the rest of my night was really not a success, but I got home safe and spent the next day in bed, without exiting the house. I think I’m starting to get old, didn’t feel too good on Monday morning either.. :D

Morning routines

You know how people have morning routines that they simply can’t get rid of? Some need to go for a jog right after waking up and others can’t get their day started without a powersmoothie. Some need to see the breaking news before being able to do anything else and others always put on the tv because the morning show is on, but they never watch it anyway. It’s just something that they’ve gotten used to and it comes automatically so it’s difficult to stop doing the routine.

But why should we?

I have a morning routine too, but it has got nothing to do with sports or anything intelligent. Still, I can’t get my morning started without doing it and I can spend a lot of time on this silly little thing. I’m a coffeeholic and I always need to carefully choose a mug that is appropriate for the day that is just about to start :D I have no ugly mugs in my cupboard, but choosing the right one is sometimes a work of art since they’re all meant for different states of mind ;) Girls…

Bottna - Iittala

The first mug is for ordinary, busy mornings when I need to rush to work or to the university. It’s kind of neutral, but pretty enough to cheer me up when I know that I might have a rough day ahead of me. This mug is from Iittala’s Bottna collection, but it’s actually a tea mug - they don’t have coffee mugs with that pattern! At first I thought that I need to complete the series I have with plain black or white coffee mugs, but then I realized that a bigger mug like that is exactly what a coffeeholic needs.

Bottna Jumbo mug - Iittala

The second mug is also from Iittala’s Bottna -collection, but of a jumbo size :D Like the first one, this is also for ordinary mornings, but I only choose this when I’m dead tired and need to get myself going no matter what. I remember having a lot of bad mornings last spring and on those mornings I'd always choose this mug. It was all about getting up at 6am and finishing articles, reaction papers, essays, case assignments bah :D The mug is sometimes a bit dangerous too; I think it’s almost 4 decilitres so you don’t need to have that many cups before you already overdosing on caffeine :D Hehe

Moomin love - Arabia

The third mug is a Moomin mug and I only have two of them. Originally I got these and the matching bowls and breakfast plates for special mornings with my sister - she used to come over pretty often and we’d make breakfast together and enjoy our time without having to rush anywhere. Nowadays the mug has found another purpose as well. It’s still for lazy mornings and I I would never choose it when I’m alone at home, unless I’m ill. That’s right. The moomin mug also serves for little patients that need to stay in bed to get better :D

Grey Pearl - Villeroy & Boch

The fourth mug from Villeroy & Boch is my favourite. It’s so pretty and big and perfect for those mornings that I have a lot of time for myself. I can only choose this when I can spend some time at home and have a nice, lazy breakfast. Being in a rush and having coffee out of a beautiful cup like this is not a good equation. I would end up breaking this for sure if I'd have to get ready in just 20mins that I have left after snoozing for too long :D

October 18th, 12.59pm

As you can see, I had a good start for the day today. Drinking coffee out of the favourite cup! I have time for myself and I don’t need to be anywhere at any specific time today (that also led to sleeping waaaay too late! I think I got up at 11am but my alarm went on already at 8am...hehe). But it’s not a day off either, bah. I need to study for an exam tomorrow and I haven’t even started yet. But hey, maybe this’ll cheer my up and give me enough energy to get everything done? ;)