Helsinki the way I like it

Finally, in the end of this week, it happened. Something that I've been waiting for 1,5 years. It snowed! 40cm of snow covered the streets all around the city. And I loved it!

Huge piles of snow everywhere

L, I've been telling you so many times that you should come visit Finland in the winter - maybe we could go see Santa together ;) And ski!!

Snowy streets

Last winter it didn't snow properly before February and in January I was already in Dublin. Missed the whole thing. It's so nice to have all the four seasons and after seeing the Irish climate I really started to appreciate the Finnish weather a lot more :D

Department store Stockmann

So today I had a nice, long walk in the city, just enjoying the white pretty view that I had been missing for so long. With all the christmas decorations it was just beautiful everywhere.

Of course I had to pop into a few stores during the walk, and one Zara bag really caught my eye.. But I managed to keep a tight hold of my wallet ;)

Esplanadi park

By the time that I got to Esplanadi park from my house, it was already dark outside, but I didn't mind :) It's just impossible to be on a bad mood with all the lights and snow!

Esplanadi park

Shoe dreamin'

The problem that I had with my dresses goes for my high-heels too - they all seem out-of-date. In the summer I was fine, I always knew what to wear, but I keep running into trouble when trying to find something to wear for the fall/winter season. I'd love to shop for shoes too, but the only thing I can afford at the moment is window-shopping :') I've been drooling over nude pumps, especially those that have a strap around the ankle...

Asos - Promote Pointed High Heels with T-bar

Asos - Prior Pointed High Heels

Love them both and can't choose between the T-bar and double strap around the ankle. Maybe Santa sees this post as well, makes the decision for me and and makes my dream about up-to-date shoes come true.. ;)

Christmas party preparations

What do you do when you're under a strict student budget but have nothing to wear for the many upcoming christmas parties? There's no way you could buy new dresses, not to even mention shoes or bags. But the things in your wardrobe are a bit out-dated and don't seem to be proper for any of these occasions.

The answer is simple. You call your mom, let her know about your vision on how to pimp your old dress, go to a fabrics store, get piece of this and that and let the sewing machine do the magic (under your mom's strict supervision, of course :D). Hehe.

The problem with my velvet LBD was the length. I like the dress, but apparently I was fond of shorter dresses a couple of years ago. Me and my mom made the original one from scratch and now just added two pieces of burgundy velvet - one to the top and one to the bottom of the dress. 

This dress will do for a couple of events, but luckily I have some other plans too. Mom, just wait and see ;)

Cat eyes

Still having no colorful makeup at home, just my very natural eyeshadows, I decided to play with the eye liner first. Instead of the very modest thing that I usually do, I decided to try a thicker, bolder lining this time. Real cat eyes ;)

Kittycat

I used a light beige eyeshadow on the entire lid and applied a little bit of sparkly light eyeshadow in the inner corner of my eyes and right below the eyebrows. After that I grabbed a hold of my eye liner and drew a line that is thinner in the inner corner but gets thicker towards the outer corner. I also made a bolder winged-out edge, which I usually never have in my makeup. Also, I put neither any eye-liner on the lower lid nor mascara on my lower lashes. It's weird, I feel half-naked :D But the cat-eye line is intense black and thicker than the usual, so I guess it would just look ridiculous on me if I had more makeup on.

This is something that I could try for an occasion for which I would have to dress up a bit more. For going our or for a nice dinner. There's no vivid colors in this look - just the bolder line - so I could try to combine it with red lips, if I dare.. :))

Colored up

I've started to get bored with my usual eye makeup and I feel like I need some fresh ideas. I don't like to play with colors so I usually stick with very earthy and natural shades. I do have an eye-liner and if I feel like having some effort, I might use it, but it's a very basic thing that I do. I begin with a thin line in the inner corner of the eye and make a little thicker when I reach the outer corner. It's like a very modest version of cat eyes, I think. For going out, I use darker eyeshadow but it's always the same - gray smoky eyes - and that's it.

I would like to try something new, maybe a new color, but I'm not sure what would suit me. I've always thought that purple would be 'the color' for me if I ever decided to use any brighter-colored eyeshadow. But after randomly coming across with some pictures, I got inspired of other colors too. Maybe a darker shade of green or gold - or maybe even blue (which I've always hated) ?? Maybe I could try bolder cat eyes as well.. hmmh.

EDIT:

Which of the above colors would best cheer up the dull, usual thing?

The usual, with purple-gray eyeshadow

A new friend for my Paddington coat

My wardrobe had been missing a simple, feminine black jacket that I could wear on the chilly days in the fall. You know, when it's too cold for trench coats but still too early for winter jackets. I have one in red and I love it, but I can only wear it with something very casual. It's exactly like the coat that Paddington the bear has and somehow it just looks ridiculous combined with feminine clothing like dresses and skirts. 

My mom gave me a hint to go look for a coat in a store called Halonen that I would usually never enter. She had seen some coats there that were similar to what I had described I'm looking for. So on Saturday I randomly went in, spent 15mins there and walked out with a big smile on my face. I found a nice jacket at a decent price, and to my surprise, they happened to have some kind of a campaign on. When I went to the cashier, they told me to go choose a scarf that I would get as a gift when I buy a coat from them! :) Yay!

The new coat

So when I bought the coat, I chose a furry, grey tube scarf that actually goes quite nicely together with the coat too. I haven't worn it yet but I'm guessing it'll come in handy in when the weather gets a little colder. I think the coat is practical because it seems ideal no matter where I'd go; for the university, work, movies, for a night out with friends etc.

Havin a bad hair day? Me too.

Do you know those mornings that you get up and look in the mirror and see something that really is not supposed to be you. The sight reminds you more of a troll or a scare crow. Something happened to your hair while you were sleeping - it's like, a child had played some hairdresser games with your hair and you went to bed with all sorts of ponytails and braids on. And the result is difficult to tame. The problem is that the hair is frizzy and has these uneven waves, but you wouldn't necessarily have to wash it.

I discovered an easy trick for those mornings. A simple bun that doesn't require any - I mean ANY - expertise.

First you tie your hair on a 'low ponytail'. Then pull your hair through the elastic so that you get a loop.

Then grab a hold of your hair, right above the ponytail, and pull the two sections in your hands apart a bit, so that you have enough space and loose hair to press the loop in.

You just kind of press the loop through the rest of the hair and hide it there. Done. Ta-daa, nobody will see the scare crow or troll in you anymore ;)

Easy eh? Probably not, since I'm no pro and can't even explain the simplest thing here. So here's the video that I found and took hints from for my simple version of the bun :)

House warming (burning) party

On Saturday me and Ilkka finally had our house warming party. It was about time for that since we had already moved in two months ago. The furnishing and decoration were almost completed - we got the couch and the glass cupboard a couple of weeks ago and we also bought some extra chairs for the party and painted them black so that they would match better with everything else. We're still missing one big thing - light in the living room :D We haven't found a suitable lamp here and I couldn't buy a temporary one just for this occasion! I don't think anyone would? But we got a lot of compliments on the apartment and I guess people liked it here. Or maybe they're all just being overly polite :D

Cupcake recipe

Anyway, I owe my sis big time for all the arrangements. She's one hell of a baker and makes miracles in the kitchen. I've seen her creating the most delicious treats and I knew she would be of a great help in preparing the things I had planned to serve for our guests.

Ingredients: chocolate, chocolate and ummm? Chocolate!

I've been wanting to make cup cakes for a long time so we decided to give it a try now. My sister makes delicious muffins so we thought it can't be too hard to make cup cakes either. Oh well..

Dough ;)

The dough was easy - a piece of cake! Exactly like in the case of muffins, we just added some french creme and honey to it.

The making of chocolate chips

For the chocolate chips I had to use a bit of imagination, but this step wasn't too difficult either.

Getting ready for the oven

 After one layer of dough, we put dark chocolate chips in the dough and added the second layer of dough.

Baking time!

Baking the cup cakes in the oven.. oh my. That was troublesome. The first set was a disaster. We had too many cups in the oven at a time and as the cup cakes started to heat up, they became three times of the original size. The mess was horrible. It was like one giant piece of..well, I don't know what.. a pancake?? :D so we opened up the oven and the raw cup cakes went all flat. Fail. The second set was a lot smaller but we kept it 15 mins in the oven. Clearly that was too long - everything burned. Epic fail. The fourth and fifth were ok, but still we succeeded with only 80 out of 120 cup cakes so I wouldn't exactly call this process a success.

It's all about the icing

Luckily for us, it's the icing that counts so I guess we were able to fool our guests big time ;) Hehe. Besides, 120 cup cakes would have been too much, since there were quite a lot of them left even though we only had 80 to serve.

sis <3

So thanks to my sis, we got everything ready in time and managed to hide the evidence of any trouble in the kitchen. By the time that our friends got here, the horrible mess and the smell of the burned cup cakes were gone ;)

The Blue Coffeehouse

On Sunday, me and the friend that I got to know in Dublin went for a nice long walk around the bay of Töölö. It was a bit chilly but since we were on move the whole time, I didn't get cold and got to enjoy the sunny weather - there were practically zero colds in the sky. The fall is here and you can cöearly see how the leaves on the trees have already started to become yellow, orange and red. The park surrounding the lake is slowly turning into this parade of colors!

Walking in the park

I haven't been to the area too often, even though I know it's nice, and apparently I've missed a lot. My friend told me about a café located on the opposite side of the bay to where me and him live and he said that the view from the terrace is supposed to be breath-taking. I wanted to see it and we got lucky since now in October it's open only on good weather during weekends.

Sinisen talon kahvila - the Blue coffeehouse

View over the bay of Töölö

This was my first time in the 'Blue Coffeehouse' and I can't believe I had no clue that this kind of a place even exists in Helsinki. We had a cup of coffee there and just chilled out for a bit before continuing the walk.

The Blue coffeehouse from the opposite side of the bay

As we were walking back from the coffeehouse, me and my friend started talking about the house warming party that me and Ilkka are throwing next weekend. My friend gave me a lot of good hints and one of the most important things was that I should have more chairs for the party. I hadn't even thought of that! I only have four chairs and even with the couch and the bed there are not enough seats for the people that we have invited. I need to get everything ready for next Saturday!

Ducks :)

Looking at these pictures now makes me  a bit confused. I really can't understand the fall in Finland - how is it possible for the weather to change so radically? Yesterday it was all sunny and today pouring with rain. Ugh. Maybe the fact that it's a Monday today has some kind of an influence here...

Early birds and shuttlecocks

In the end of the summer, me and a friend of mine that I got to know through work got a random idea that we should start playing badminton together. We've both played before and wanted to start again, so it really seemed worth considering. My friend soon discovered that we could get a serial ticket to this recently opened badminton hall via Citydeal practically free, so we decided to get all wild and actually buy the card.

My super racket

We knew that there would probably be some restrictions on when we could go play because the card was so cheap, but after a quick check on the website, we both thought that it's just the weekends that the card is not valid on. Boy were we mistaken :D The first time we went to play was late on one evening during the week. We went directly to the reception and showed the card to the staff. A lady behind the desk was looking at us like we were insane and after an awkward silent moment she finally let us know that we're in the wrong hall. Great. She charged us 12 euros for one single hour, the same amount of money that we paid for the whole serial ticket, haha. Also, we noticed that it says on the card that it's only valid between 7am and 3pm during the week. Obviously, the only time that would suit us would be at 7 in the morning - before she has to go to work. For a moment I felt desperate - I'm no morning person, I can't do this! But we decided to give it a shot since we had already bought the card.

Team Frontside Ollie ;)

It's been three weeks now that we've managed to get up early once a week for badminton, and I love it. At first I'm always dead tired and so is she, but it's so much fun to play that it doesn't take long before we're already bouncing around the court filled with energy. Well, at least moving our bums a bit ;) Oh, and there's a nice sauna too! Like I mentioned in the beginning, the sports hall is brand new so its nice to go to a sauna that gets properly heated and is all neat. So after the game, we always go bathing in the sauna and have a nice, relaxed start for the day. Me likey.

My new take-away mug

I guess the whole badminton thing is more about just meeting the friend and catching up with her. It's so nice that we've stayed in touch, even though we're no longer working for the same company. My working contract ended in August and I continued with my studies as the fall semester began, but we still talk and meet up every now and then :)

Last night I was on the phone with her and started complaining how I envy her for her handy take away mug for coffee. She always has an easier start for the badminton mornings - a mug of delicious hot coffee on the way to the sports hall. I've been looking for a mug like that too, but they don't sell proper ones anywhere! So today at 6.30am, as we were sitting on the bus on our way to play badminton, she grabbed a second mug of coffee from her bag and gave it to me! And told me that I can keep the mug! What a luxury :)) I need to figure something nice for her too! :)

Newbies in the beauty dept.

I'm so proud of myself for finally purchasing something online like modern people do. I ordered two get started kits from bare minerals for me and my sis last week and was all happy happy joy joy when I got a notice from the post office that they had received my delivery from the UK!

My roughly handled package

On the other hand it's easy to shop this way, but boy did I become frustrated standing in the queue at the post office. It's easy to find time for window shopping and stopping by in shops since I get to voluntarily spend my time there. But waiting for my turn to get the delivery.. oh my. I was already late for a meeting with my friends from the Mannheim exchange and of course wearing things that were too warm for a sunny (!!) fall day - a thick jacket and a woolen scarf. Bahh. I bet I looked like an anxious little brat when I was standing there :D

Get started kit x 2

Anyway, I got the package and now I'm practicing with my new toys ;) I can't say that I was astonished of the result after trying on the mineral make-up for the first time, but it sure feels lighter and looks more natural on me than any other make-up. I guess I still need some practice, but so far I'm happy with the purchase!

2 foundations, a veil, a bronzer and 3 brushes

This is what's waiting for my sis as well ;) Let me know when you can come pick it up! <3

Updates on the wardrobe

I've been running around like a maniac, trying to find that white blazer from Gina Tricot that I spotted a week ago. I went to try it on in the city centre but I noticed that here was a stain in the one that I tried on. That piece was the only one that they had of size small so I just walked out of the store empty handed. Now I've been to 4 other GT's and none of them have the white one in size small! I even went to check out the store in Kouvola when we were driving back from our cottage and they didn't have it there either. I was so frustrated that I decided to forget about it and look for something else.

So I started to update my wardrobe for the fall with other things. The first purchase was a dark, burgundy nail polish. Then I spotted a simple tank top of the same shade and later got a thin belt from my grand mom - also of the same burgundy shade. It must be decades old!

Tank top H&M, belt from grand mom & 'Las Vegas' nail polish, Mavala

I haven't given up on the white blazer yet, but I fell in love with a completely different one that I found in Stockmann. It's also warm and soft but the silver chains give it an edgier look. And I guess it's actually more like a combination of a blazer and a cardigan. With this on, I shouldn't be shivering in the chilly lecture halls :P

Blazer, Oui

I guess I've said it a million times already, but I really hate shopping for pants. But last weekend I managed to find new pants as well! They're so soft and feel nice on - and are a good match with the previous purchases ;) Aftert bringing them home, I started thinking that I might have seen these pants somewhere before. L, are these the similar to the ones that you just found in Zara?? My apologies if they are, haha. This might just be the very first time that we're glad not to live on the same continent ;)

Skinny pants, Zara

The pants have golden buttons and I really like the combination of burgundy and gold. Maybe that's why I couldn't resist the burgundy scarf that had golden details in the ends ;) It looks a bit purple in this picture but the color is supposed to be similar to the pants. Just slightly darker.

Woolen scarf, Zara

I guess I can now manage for a while. But that white blazer.. I'm gonna find it somewhere! ;)

A new start

Fall is my favorite time of the year and as always, it represents a new start for me. The new start doesn't necessarily have to be a radical change, even though I've been through those too. It could be a new apartment, new hobbies, different kind of courses that you're attending or a new decision about your life that you just made.

The start of the fall is nothing mind-blowing this time, but instead a bunch of decisions and small changes. There is a theme, though, that binds all of them together: well-being.

I've always hated aerobics and I thought that attending those kind of classes would be the last thing I'd do. Last spring I gave it a shot. I joined the Get in Gear program in Ireland in February and attended 3-4 fitness classes per week. After coming back to Finland, I decided to get a membership to the fitness centre that my sis recommended to me. I bought the summer season card and started noticing that I actually prefer fitness classes to individual training at the gym and therefore I decided to continue there in the fall too :)

weheartit.com

Another issue related with well-being that is constantly on my mind is my facial skin. I used to suffer from a bad skin when I was a teenager but it got a lot better with time. Unfortunately, it never heeled completely and even today I still have some problems with my skin. I've been planning to do something about that for a year or two, and now I finally got a hold of myself and booked an appointment with a dermatologist. I'm hoping to get medication so that my skin would finally become healthy and I wouldn't have to worry about it anymore.

weheartit.com

Also, I've been checking out alternatives for the make-up that I use, because it doesn't seem to be the best possible choice for me. Liquid foundations and concealers that I use contain oils and their texture is thick and I'm pretty sure they only do harm for my skin. I've been planning to change from ordinary make-up to minerals, since I've read everywhere that they are healthier for the skin - they let the skin breathe and don't block the pores. 

Bare Minerals

I already went to a cosmetics store to try out Bare Minerals and even found the right shades for my fair skin - the problem was that the make-up is quite expensive in stores. I never shop anything online except for airline and event tickets but I guess I have to make a change now. I found out that I could get a kit from Bare Minerals at a decent price if I bought it online and the kit would include everything that I need to get started. So I guess I have to go make the order then.. :)

Mission accomplished - brain switched off

I guess cottage life has done its trick - I have a hard time remembering what day it is today and I feel like I'm totally incapable of stressing out and worrying about things. Boy do I like that feeling. My brain is now on a holiday mode and I could continue like this for at least one more week.

The recipe for relaxing and taking it easy is not complicated at all. I like to keep myself busy and that applies for vacations as well - the thing is that the activities have to be fun ;) Hehe, I'm such a smartass.

Probably the last warm day of the summer

Getting on the boat again

Rowing in the sun

On Tuesday we had a slightly better luck with fishing. We were rowing around the lake and decided to stop next to a tiny island that was surrounded with shallow waters and seaweed - a perfect place for all the fish to swim around in.

A bed of reeds

At first we tried the ordinary worms but only caught a roach again. Then we put a green fat larva on the hook, but I guess it was freaky enough to even scare all the fish :D

The green fatty

After some frustrating moments with no catch, Ilkka decided to cut off the head of the roach and put that on the hook. Apparently the fish had been waiting for a bigger bait, since things immediately started happening after that. We caught a big one and were guessing it was something not worth keeping. After some texting with my dad we realized that it must have been a bream, which is supposed to be delicious if we smoked it, but it was too late by then...  We had already tried fishing with this guy's eyeballs and all the nastiest stuff but didn't get anything :D

One ugly bream

Soon after getting this ugly catch, we decided to stop the slaughtering and changed our gear into something more credible. The rod was left aside for a moment and we moved next to another small island and gave a try with the snare.

Switching to rougher gear

One more roach there in between. 

Roach - again. Damn it. 

Then finally something bigger. That seemed like a decent one..

Wait for it, wait for it...

Ta-daa! A pike! But it was so small that we had to let it go.I wonder if we have some issues since we treated the fish in such horrible ways.. :D Haha, maybe this is the way to relive all the work-related stress and all tension and frustrations. Haha. Or maybe we were just eager to get a proper catch?

It's a pike!

Anyway, not all the activities were related with mistreating the poor fish. We also paid a little visit to a nearby island that is supposed to be an excellent place for picking mushrooms. This hearsay turned out to be true and we found the most delicious ones ever - chantarelles! These fellows found their way to our frying pan pretty quickly.

Chantarelles

We also spent time in-house just talking, reading books and magazines, watching movies, cooking...

The living room in the cottage

...trying to look for a possible hidden cookie jar in the house.. :D

Cookies?

I also started to knit a woolen scarf for Ilkka but it'll take ages before it's done. Maybe I'll give it to him for Christmas or something :)

To-be grey and white scarf

Had to buy long needles so that the loops won't fall off

A little progress

Now we have to start cleaning up the cottage and pack our stuff. The time has passed by so fast that it's already time to leave. Bahh. But I have a plan in mind. That has got to do with a hunt and a certain white blazer ;)