If the sun doesn't shine on you, use electricity

I wish you all

bright, cheerful, light
year 2010!

My inner hippie dating Mr Holmes

I started my day with sewing a button to a coat my boyfriend got from a friend yesterday. Some hours after getting it he and his bicycle were hit by car. He didn't get hurt, but his leather jacket did. The only way to fix it would be with at least 55 safety pins, but he doesn't want to look that a wannabe punk. In his new coat he just looks like Sherlock Holmes.

When I've finished writing this I'm gonna sew new buttons to my cardigan. I bought it yesterday from sales, cause in the morning I realized there were two big holes in the sleeve of my old beloved comfort cardi. I have no idea where they came from, maybe there were moths in my closet in London or something. I wouldn't be surprised of that. Not that I wouldn't have other cardigans, but I have no black/dark gray one that would go with anything. This one will get colorful buttons to cheer it up and make it more like...me.

I also fixed a skirt bought from a charity shop. It was a bit too small (and after my time in London a bit more too small, damn crisps and sandwiches). Now it's shorter, but definitely looks good on me. And I love the color, it's actually brighter than in the pic. When I wear it my boyfriend can't anymore say my style looks like black-and-white TV. He doesn't seem to like the way London changed my style. It may just be that I'm not used to have this many options in my closet, so I still use the same ones I used for those three months. But some way London really changed my wardrobe. It became blacker and simpler. And even though I like it myself, I really want to find the colors again.

That's why I'm so happy we found this fabric from the flea market today. My boyfriend bought it for me so I could make a skirt of it. I love the colors, and even more I love the pattern. I'll try to make something of it during my Christmas break. Although I'm better planning than really doing, this time I don't want the fabric just got lost among all the other almost-started-projects.

So I've had an creative day. Even though these are just little repairs, I feel good I got them done. If you wanna see more serious craft projects, start to follow my crafting blog IKOMI. From this day, I'm gonna translate my new posts into English, so more people will get something out of it. I'd love to see you there.

Things I irrationally dislike, part 1

Tins and jars that have texts telling what's inside them.
Like sugar or cookies painted/printed to the tin itself. I have no problem with handwritten labels, feel free to use them if you like. But if the designer of the pot thinks s/he can tell me what to store in that particular one, it just makes me mad. Therefore I never follow those "instructions", vice versa. We have biscuits in a jar saying sugar, semolina in a tin meant to coffee and rice in an old liquorice box. So if you visit my home and find white stuff in a pot named salt, the only thing you can be sure about is that it doesn't have anything to do with seasoning.

As a tea lover...

This whole blogging thing is very 2009 to me. I've had had an online journal for a group of friends for 5 years or so, but not anything "open to the masses" before signing in to Blogger. Last summer, when I had a long holiday and time to just wander around the cyberspace, I really found blogs. First I just read them and bookmarked my favourites. Then I started to write one about my craft projects. The one you are reading now is my fourth blog started in 6 months, so you could say this has become a part of my life. And I love it. Keeping a blog gives me a space to write to, a place to express myself and my creativity. I also love reading other blogs and have found it as a lovely way of finding new ideas and inspiration. So that's why I want to give some of my top reads a little award to say thank you and please keep going! I have so many favourites it wasn't easy to pick, but I finally chose these ten blogs to award this year. They are in no order, just listed after the language.

Blogs in English
Fine Little Day: My newest love. I adore her pictures, the most beautiful ones I've seen in a long while. This blog delights and inspires me every time I browse through it. And believe me, I do it a lot.

Quircology: Quirky, weird ideas collected in a funny blog. Makes me smile, we seem to have quite a similar taste with the author.

Bonjour!: I love the way she writes, I love the pictures. Beautiful and simple enough at the same time.

habit : A photo journal kept by two women and their visitors. The different viewpoints to their daily lives just take my breath away.

The Gypsy Feet: Finally a blog to share my love of feet shots! Haven't sent my own one yet, but surely will some day. Their posts just always make me feel happy and warm inside.


Blogs in Finnish
visuaalisesti vaativa: Something very inspirational, love the language and the topics she writes about. This is something I fell in love with in the beginning and haven't missed a post since.

Pretty Gingham: This blog just makes me feel lighter. It may be the beautiful text she writes (in English as well) or the breathtaking pictures, I don't know. I just know I really enjoy reading it.

himalainen: I love the language she uses. The words, the tone, the way to twist the words. I also love her pictures and the way she looks at the world. Her posts always touch me some way.

mehukattitonkka: I don't know this girl, but the way she writes makes me think her as a friend. Love her pictures and the way of writing about ordinary things as they were huge and special.

This Picture: One of the first blogs I fell in love with, and the one whose new posts I still eagerly wait. I especially love the outfit posts and her finds from flea markets, but this blog offers so many different things I never get bored reading it.

So thank you, and here we go. Feel free to forward this award to anyone that makes your blogosphere brighter. We still have a couple of days left before the beginning of a new blogging year.

No, you can't stay under my umbrella. There's no room in here

If yesterday was sticky, today has just been, well, slimy.

On days like this I just hate Finnish winter. And I hate the fact weather changes so fast. It's been snowing for a week now. With breaks, of course, but still, every time I've looked out of the window I've seen some white stuff falling from the sky. Last night, after my sticky indoor day I decided that next morning I'm gonna get out and have a nice long walk in the snow. Well, this morning, when I started my miserable and moody Monday, what did I see from my window? The freaky dog from next door and pouring rain. Almost no snow, just gray, wet, mushy slush everywhere. And when I left, I was wet before I got out of the backyard. And it was so slippery. The worst things of the Finnish winter are slush and icy surfaces slyly hiding under it. It's not easy to balance on a slippery, uneven ground flooding with puddles. Not even if you wore a pair of boots originally designed to the US army. Honestly speaking, using them even for an hour is more exercise than going for a run of two in normal shoes (which, of course, is totally impossible in these weather conditions between Nov and Feb. At least if you don't wanna break all your bones, and I wouldn't recommend it, cause that famous free health care system of ours hasn't really earned it's fame when it comes to taking care of customers.) So, never buy boots with steel caps (if you don't have strong leg muscles, as they are heavy), never move to Finland if you can choose and if you can't, just hibernate over the winter. That's the only way to survive about this mess.

Yeah, that's all I've got to say today. And yeah, this is one of my grumpy days again. But don't you worry, this is the only thing I'm gonna rant about in here (today).

At least I look cool in them.

Moustache-Monday

{via}

It's good to have a pair of moustache in your purse,
you never know when you need them.
(I use mine when I pass my distant relatives on street
and don't wanna stop and have a talk,
or when I need to rob a bank without proper preparations.
They're so handy I even use them as a necklace.)

Dissatisfied

{by Sylvain-Emmanuel Prieur
via (not) common people}

If I should describe this day with one word,
the word would definitely be sticky.
You know, one of those days when
time just flows, you get nothing done
and are moody with no proper reason.
And suddenly you realize the day is almost over,
and it makes you feel guilty and relieved at once.
Both because you got nothing done.

The only real thing I did today was taking a nap.
It may be time to go back to bed,
I have 14 minutes left to feel dissatisfied, irritated and worthless.
Then the day is over, and
tomorrow is definitely gonna be a better one.

{via Sabino}

I Love Stripes

On these speechless days this is more
a photo blog, but I don't care.
Photographing helps me express myself
even when I can't find the right words.

And I'd love to hear what you think.
About my photos, words,
or anything else.

Foto-Friday

6,935,525,643
by Christina Heaston

"There are almost 7 billion people in this world.
There is 1 out of 6,935,525,64 change of you and I."

Dagen Efter

More about trees

According to the recent report of Finnish Forest Research Institute (Korhonen & Mäkelä, METLA), there are over 77.1 billion trees in Finland. This figure doesn't cover hedgerows, trees in cities or growing stocks in parks. Counting those would increase the number with roughly 1.3 billion trees. These interesting (and very well worthless) facts made my boyfriend call me on Tuesday, when he was reading the local newspaper at work. They are now saved in our collection of worthless information (he loves worthless facts, I love the fact he loves them) but in my opinion they were worth of sharing. So I wrote them here just to let you know. Some day you may win a quiz with this, or just impress a cute girl with all the things you know.

This fact may also explain why we love real Christmas trees here. We have where to take from, you could say. For me it's the most important thing of the whole holidays. It may sound silly and even a bit brutal: to cut a real, living tree just to decorate it and have it die in your living room. But still, if I don't have a tree, I don't feel like Christmas at all. I love the smell of it, and that's why I can't have a plastic one. I would love to live in a house with a huge tree growing in the middle (Moomins had one in the comics, didn't they?) but cause it's not possible, I love to have one even for a couple of weeks in the winter. It just makes me happy, I can't explain it better.

This year I got our tree (or I maybe should call it my tree, cause my boyfriend just hates it...) from my father, who lives in the middle of the forest. Our Christmas trees have traditionally been ones growing in wrong places in his yard, and that's why they're never the prettiest ones. They are thin and wispy and drop all the needles in a week, but I don't care. I don't even want a perfect tree like in Disney movies. I'm a Finn and know what real trees look like, and believe me, Disney doesn't have a clue. For me buying a perfect tree from the market place would be as bad as having a plastic one. But sadly enough there seems to be just a few of us thinking like this. Most people want a fantasy tree and that's why the ones sold are planted in and imported from Holland and Denmark. Mind you, from countries having a very few trees, even fewer of them firs. To a country with 77.1 billion trees, most of them firs and pines. To me this sounds mind-blowingly stupid. I just sit in our living room and am happy with my crooked one. It may not be the most beautiful tree in Finland, but it's mine. And it creates my Christmas spirit although we are giving a damn of most Christmas traditions and mostly celebrate with sleeping a lot and eating pasta.

Waiting for Christmas #24

Two years ago we stood
in front of the cathedral, under the Christmas tree.
I looked up, all those little lamps shining in the dark night.
"It's beautiful", I whispered.
"You're beautiful", he said and kissed me.

I didn't know him yet,
but I knew I would love him.

I wish you a very merry Christmas
with lots of beautiful memories
for years to come.

Details

All these pics are taken in our kitchen.
As a interior decorator I concentrate on
colors and quirky details, they make me happy.
I want my home to be cozy, colorful, unusual and a little weird.
(Just like myself.)
I decorate and craft only when I feel like it,
ant most of my designs are developed spontaneously,
without any exact plans.

Love is...

...stepping out of your
comfort zone.

(S: If you remember where and when this photo was taken you'll get a hug.)

Wednesday's Wish

I wish I could sleep.

Waiting for Christmas #23

It's almost here.
So shut up and just
listen for a while.

Waiting for Christmas #22

This time of the year
you can shine as much as you want.
Use the time well.

Moustache-Monday

This mirror is a birthday present from my boyfriend.
I placed it in our bedroom, on the window sill.
From now on it can make me laugh every morning
when I open the curtains and have a look outside.
Next to it lives a b-day present from Soph.
(In case you can't read the text: it says
"make the same mistake twice".)

Waiting for Christmas #21

Imagination can help you escape
even from the trickiest of situations.

This has been a weird day

Today it looked like this when my dad was driving me home.

I have to concentrate when speaking Finnish. If I don't think what I'm saying, words escape from my mouth in English, and then I get weird looks from people around me. My thoughts are in English, so are my dreams. It feels weird, as this language has never felt natural to me. I had to study hard to learn it, and I only can speak it when I give a damn of all those mistakes I do all the time.

It also feels weird to be in an environment I know very well, but don't remember exactly. There are weird sounds in these building, and a weird smell in our bathroom. On the other hand, clothes I took from my suitcase smell weird too. Mostly like cigarettes and moist. I have to wash the whole lot before I can put them back to my closet. But that's allright, I'm so bored with those clothes anyway. Today I'm pro-choice and enjoy the possibilities of my wardrobe.

It's snowing horizontally, but nobody panics. There are no traffic jams, and it took same time to drive 150 kilometers as it took me to get to work every morning in London (within the distance of 10 kilometers). My boyfriend has filled our fridge with all the food I like, but wouldn't buy myself as the products cost so much. I then went to a grocery store to get some milk he had forgot and got shocked when I remembered how expensive cheese is in Finland. I didn't have any €, so I had to ask my dad to pay. There still is £100 in my purse.

It will take some days to get back here mentally. Right now I can't relax, and therefore can't sleep yet. I might get back to Finnish reality TV and the programs my boyfriend nicely recorded while I was out of here. Today he also gave me one of the funniest birthday presents yet: a mirror with fake moustache clued on it and candies that color my tongue blue. That will entertain me quite a long.

A message I found on our fridge door.

Waiting for Christmas #20

Don't let the darkness get you.
Switch on the lights.

Are we there yet?

{source unknown}

Heathrow calling, can you hear me?

I browsed my blog and realized there is nothing but images for many days. But no worries, words are on their way. Although I enjoy picture books, so why not to keep one?

Right now I sit at the Heathrow airport and wait wait wait. I'm ready to go, but my plane isn't yet. Three more hours to wait, I shouldn't have come so early. But I still think it's better to sit here and write than sit on a train and panic. And now, when I've passed check-in and security checks, I feel a bit calmer. And a bit hungry as well. Have to go hunting soon, I guess.

I got a minicab to the airport. My driver was a young, nervous man with a guerrilla beard. He scratched his beard and gnashed his teeth all the way. It was a bit disturbing, I have to say, but at least he didn't try to talk. I'm far too tired to talk with strangers.

They took my luggage in, I didn't even have to pay anything extra. Which is a miracle, when you think I had 4 bags and 15 extra kilos with me. That's not even a lot, says a girl who's used to carry more stuff than an average camel. This time my biggest suitcase includes for example 3 kilos of crafting materials (including several tools) 2 kilos of jewelry (yeah, I might have a problem), various books, a pair of bright yellow Dr Martens and 1 kilo of pebbles and seashells. In other words, treasures. You can't throw treasures away. Or at least I can't.

At the security check I had to strip a lot. They didn't like me wearing all the layers and I had to take my belt and boots off. I have on me all the clothes that I couldn't stuff to any of my bags. That means, on the top of the basic underwear layer I have a pair of jeans, two pairs of woolen socks, a long-sleeved shirt, a woolen dress, a thick jumper, a hoodie, a coat and two scarves. Yes, it's a bit hot in here. Or it might just be me.

I'm exhausted, hungry and nervous about flying. It still feels good to be on my way home.

Waiting for Christmas #19

It may be that I didn't know him very well.
But at least I remember him well.

Small things that matter

An untitled feeling

Foto-Friday

'i think i'd like to wake up and find a boat in my tea'
by Vera Vodak