Things I'm looking forward to...

I love when I have some things to look forward to. I am not talking about weekends, or meeting friends. Those happen anyway and I always look forward to these days :)

But you know, sometimes you plan ahead a trip, event ect. I am so hyped and excited about four different events:

Katy Perry concert - it'll be on 18th March, so it's the first of these events/happenings that I am looking forward to. I don't have many artists whose concert I'd like to see, but Katy Perry is the one I really want to go to!!! I already know that I will love that concert!

Väriestejuoksu - this is something so different and fun! It's this color run (about 5km) where you have different obstacles on your way. I am going there with my friend Jane and I am sure we are going to have sooo much fun. And to top that off - at the end of the event there will be a fun color party ;) More about the event HERE.

Trip to Turkey - both of my sisters and I will go to Turkey, Alanya for a week in the beginning of May. The plan came so quickly..and within days we had boughts the tickets. I am so excited! Last summer when me and my older sis went together to Turkey (Kemer) then we had so much fun!!! I am sure this year it'll be even better..we are more ready for it and we know more about Turkey ;)

I took this photo last summer in Kemer, Turkey

Naisten Kymppi - I have been to Naisten Kymppi once in my life..I think I was 13 y.o. Every year my family takes part of May Running Day (Maijooks), but since I live in Finland now, it'll be just easier to go to Naisten Kymppi (it's basically the same as Maijooks, only the distance is 10km instead of 7km). I am going there again with my friend Jane. I guess we both will start jogging/running when the snow melts, so we can be ready for that 10km distance :) More about Naisten Kymppi HERE.

I definitely have some fun events and trips to look forward to among with all the little daily and weekly things!

Life in general.

I have been pretty absent in my blog. At the beginning of this year I lost my grandfather and so it's been hard.. I haven't really felt like writing. I have just been trying to go along with everyday life - work and rest at home. It's Sunday night right now and I am going to have a dinner soon. I love weekends. I had my sister and her kids over here yesterday and we had a nice Saturday brunch. And today I have been just at home, Jay and I also went to the foodshop. I have had some very bad stomach issues so I have been extra cautions of what I eat.. But it seems that I have figured the problem out and I know how to get my digestion and stomach issues back to normal. At least I hope so. It will take a while, but I truly hope that eventually it's all right again :)

I can't tell there's anything super interesting happened. Life has been pretty normal (apart from my grandpa's death). I obviouslt went to Estonia to his funerals. Besides that I have been working, I have met with my friend Jane two times, been going to the Finnish classes and zumba. So, I would say during the workdays I am pretty busy. That's what makes weekends even more enjoyable and special :) :) I especially love loooonnggg sleep :D Nothing beats that! And these lazy and slow mornings.. half a day in PJs.. ohh I could go on and on.. :D Weekends rock!

I have also gotten quite a few mail this week: letter from my friend Shawny from AU, letter from Rebecca from USA and a nice late Christmas gift from my besty Elisa from Mexico :) I am such a lucky girl to have such great friends! 

Lazy, rainy Friday + new year resolutions

I am laying on a couch in the living room, drinking my second cup of black tea, munching on chocolate and listening to Chandelier by Sia on repeat (I love the video soooo much!). Jay and I were supposed to go to water park today, but Jay stayed up all night and in the morning he was so tired. I myself went to bed 3am and woke already 8.30am.. So, I didn't get much sleep either. In the morning we went to the food shop and Jay wanted a breakfast so we went to the Hesburger. I was so hungry, but didn't order anything because something is bothering my stomach and I still haven't figured out what. I must start eating some food groups separately to eliminate those food that are okay for me to eat and don't mess up my digestion system. It actually is so stressful because I have this problem for few months already and it just sucks - I don't know what I can eat without having stomach hurts and constipation afterwards. :/ I hope soon I can figure it out and just quit eating foods that irritate my body. 

The weather is horrible today! It's raining like no other. And it's supposed to be winter - where's snow? Jay is going to work tomorrow and according to our plans right now we will go to the waterpark tomorrow when he's off. 

My work starts next Wednesday so I have few more days to just rest and do fun stuff :) From next week I am attending zumbas classes once a week, on Thursdays. I wanted to join the class in autumn already, but it got full before I managed to enroll. They opened an enrollment for the spring classes today and I quickly enrolled and paid for the classes - there's all together 16 classes and it only cost 50 euros :D What a bargain! I hope I like it..I have never been to that particular zumba class. I love Hyvinkää Fit24 zumba a lot, but I have also been to Willa zumba classes and I don't like these. But I will see how I like that new one :)
I thought I might write down here some of my new year resolutions;

• Read every month at least one book
• Workout - zumba once a week :)
• Keep up with my Finnish studies
• Get my stomach problem solved and eat only the foods that are good for my stomach
• Buy myself ice-skates and go ice-skating as much as possible this winter! (we have an ice rank very close to our home)
• Spend my 25th birthday in another country (I'm dreaming of Rome or London)
• Be very positive and open minded
• Help those who are in need - donate clothes, food, money ect. (I tend to do that anyway, especially at Christmas time, but I do want to do that more often throughout a whole year
• Find more time to visit my family in Estonia
• Go to IKEA (random, I know, but I have never been to IKEA even though I live in Finland :P)
• Invest in quality not quantity!

And I'll end this blog post with my current favorite:

Happy 2015!!!

It's 2015! Jay and I went to my friend's place yesterday and after few hours there we drove to my sister's to say hello to new year - 2015. It came with a big nice fireworks and good champagne. We actually drove home and didn't stay a night at my sisters. It was honestly so good to sleep in our own bed. I slept pretty long - I woke up 12pm today. When I woke I searched out my last year wishes, read them and wrote new ones for this year. It's always fun to see what wishes and dreams came true, what not. 

Today I didn't do much.. I just enjoyed being at home. I planned to do a liquid day - means eating nothing, just drinking, but oh I am weak. If Jay woke up and wanted to go out for dinner I was so up to it :D haha. It's okay, I'm far from perfect. 

I really hope this year some of my dreams and wishes will come true. Some of those are pretty big, some small. I think it's very healthy to dream - big and small :) And even if they don't always come true, it's still always nice to have things in your mind that push you harder in life!

Book to read..or not to ?!

I love reading. Always have, always will. I used to write long book reviews, but now I don't find so much time to write so much about each book. My average is to read 2 books in a month. I work so I don't have tons of free time to read, but I like to read on my way to work and on my way back and also before I got to sleep at night (but surely not everyday I have strength to read). Anyway, I decided to write here shortly of each book that I have read since September. 

"Across the Universe" by Beth Revis - it is the first book of that series. It's about a girl whose family and herself will be frozen and they are travelling across the universe and after 300 years they should be unfrozen when they arrive another planet. But the main character wakes up way earlier than planned and where she finds herself is not what she expected..

"Mad About the Boy" by Helen Fielding - It's the new book of Bridged Jones. I actually have not read any other Bridget Jones books, only seen the movies. But I really enjoyed "Mad About the Boy" (and now I understand its love and popularity). It was very funny and light hearted and just a fun easy read! 

  

"The Beginning of Everything" by Robyn Schneider - I really enjoyed reading this book for some reason. I liked that I knew nothing about that book.. I only had heard that it's good. So, I ordered it and enjoyed reading without knowing what's the story-line. It was again an easy read, but at the same time it made you think about many things in life. I don't want to say too much about it, but you can find more about it on goodreads. 

"The Book Thief" by Markus Zucak - I had heard about that book (and the movie) a lot, but never really had chance to read. Finally my workmate also read it and recommended and then I decided to order and read it as well. I might say it took me quite long to read it.. it really needed much attention and concentration. It was about a girl in Hitler Germany..that's all I want to say about that. She loves reading before she even knows how to. I have not yet seen the whole movie (just the beginning), but it seems that the book is much deeper and has much more to offer than the movie. Even though it took me a while to read it through I really enjoyed it and it was such a good and eye opening book!

"The Year I Met You" by Cecelia Ahern - I didn't have to know anything about the book to know that I would love it. It's written by my all time favorite author and I love absolutely all her books. I never have to disappoint. I love that feeling when her new book arrives and I can lost myself in reading it and discovering all its beauty! Ohhh.. I love it :) The Year I Met You was so interesting, heart warming, funny, sad, realistic and much much more. It's about a woman who must be in gardening leave. She must wait a year until she can work again. And that year helps here to figure out a lot about her life..and she has a help from her neighbor..they help each other!

"If I Stay" by Gayle Forman - I didn't plan to read that book, I only wanted to see the movie. But I had no time to go to the movies so I ended up buying the book and reading it. I must say it was pretty average and nothing special. It felt too obvious and too easy to read. Even the sentences were somehow too easy. I cannot really explain it.. Later I saw the movie too and it also was very average, but definitely a bit emotional. The book should have a second part as well, but I haven't read it and I'm not sure if I will.. Maybe. 

"Will Grayson, Will Grayson" by John Green and David Levithan - for some reason I really love John Green books - I have read all of them now and I'm a fan. It was fun to read that book because it was written by two authors and they both created a character Will Grayson. At first I was a bit confused and didn't realize that the second chaper Will Grayson is not the same Will Grayson who was in the first chapter. From that on I understood that the same Will Grayson appeared every other chapter. It was interesting to read about their lives and see how their lives cross. 

"Orange is the New Black" by Piper Kerman - I actually have not finished reading that book yet, but I still decided to add it here. I like that it's based on a true story. I know many people have seen the tv series, but I have not (I might start watching them when I finish reading the book). Piper writes so honestly and with great details about her life and how she ended up in a prison for over a year. She describes her prison life and makes you feel her own feelings during that time of her life. I have read only 70 pages so far, but I have already balled my eyes out and I am hooked on her story!

This year I also try to do these little book sums up in about every 3 months. Mostly for myself to see what and how much I read, but also to give some recommendations.

I really enjoy watching THIS youtube channel. She gives very good book recommendations and you can hear about new books :) I have bought many books that she's been talking about and I have loved them a lot!

My Christmas 2014

Christmas is over for this year. It was our first year to spend Christmas here in Finland. My younger sister and my older sister with her husband and kids came over to our place. We had a nice traditional Christmas Eve dinner, later opened presents, ate desserts, talked soooo much, danced, made funny jokes, laughed, filmed, took photos, walked a dog ect ect. It was a very fun night :) They all stayed over and surprisingly we managed to find a place for everybody to sleep! Next morning I had a lot of cleaning to do, but it took me so little time to get my home look normal and tidy again. My sister Anni stayed her for 3 days and my older sister's dog Bonnie also stayed here (she's still here) because they wanted to go to Estonia and needed somebody to look after Bonnie. I was super excited about that because I love Bonnie and I always miss having her around. So, I have been walking with her outside every day abour 4-5 times. It's so fun!

Our Christmas tree and gifts under

Me, my older and my younger sis :)

Table of desserts

 My two best sisters!!!

 Little Jonathan! He makes us all laugh and be a bit childish!

 This year Santa (aka my husband) was so generous and I got pretty spoiled. I got really really really nice gifts. I am so grateful for all I got (from all of my other family members), but surely the most grateful I am of my family around me. This Christmas Eve was really special and fun and I am glad that even though we live here in Finland we can still have family around and we can still have our traditional Christmas Eve celebration :) Next year we will be celebrating Christmas Eve at my sister's house. At least that's the plan right now :)

Like I said my younger sister stayed here at our place longer. So, on Christmas Day we spent most of the day eating left overs from Christmas dinner, played a lot (Monopol, Alias, Pokker), laughed SO much and walked Bonnie many times! Jay also had days off so it was fun to spend time together doing nothing important, but still having fun and being relaxed!

Christmas Day lunch.. using left overs from Christmas Eve dinner

Deal! (not sure who was more happier to make that deal?!)

Walking with Bonnie

Snowy pinetrees!

I have quite long Christmas break as normal for teachers :) I truly enjoy that I can just be at home, take Bonnie for long walks, drink a lot of tea, sleep in, watch movies (watched If I Stay and Gone Girl), read books (currently reading "Will Grayson, Will Grayson"), and just be relaxed. The other day I went to the zumba and I am going again on Tuesday. 

Selfie with my princess!

New Year's Eve is already on Wednesday. I can't believe 2014 is going to end and we will welcome 2015 already. I still remember the millenium.. everybody thought that 2000 is the end of the world. Even though I knew it wasn't true, I was still a bit scared that moment when the clock turned 12am and new year started. :P Oh well, it was almost 15 years ago :D Time really passes by fast! So, we better enjoy every moment of every day! :)

Two weekends: trip to Estonia, Christmas show, ect.

Last weekend I went to Estonia with Jay. He had his brother's birthday and I decided to use that free time to spend some time with my family. I visited my mom and stayed there over night. We had a nice dinner together and then we watched tv together and had some late night treats :) Next day I visited my grandparents. Mom also went with me. Like always at grandparents' place I was eating SO much! After few hours there I took a train to Tallinn, went to the hairdresser and then visited my other grandmother. And of course I ate so much at her place, too!!! Later that evening I did some shopping and then I met up with my younger sister. We went to the movies to watch "Nullpunkt" (Point Zero). It was such a good movie. Actually it was the first Estonian movie that I had ever watched in the cinema. Usually I am not a big fan of Estonian movies, but that one was really good!

When the movie finished we went to my sister's place. I hadn't seen her Tallinn apartment yet. We watched tv at her place, chatted and had late night tea and chocolate :D The next morning she went to work and I met up with Jay. We did some shopping, checked-in at the hotel because we couldn't get a boat tickets to the earlier time of the day..so we decided to spend some hours in a hotel before our boat was supposed to leave. We were actually both so tired and it was good to just sleep and watch tv. We sure got back home pretty late and I had to wake up early next day.. So, I was pretty sleepy at work on Monday :P

But talking of work. Last week was quite fast and busy. On Friday we had Christmas show with kids and that went so well. Parents' gave us some very nice presents too which made that evening even more special :) I was definitely so proud of every kid :)

I decided to take it easy yesterday and so I didn't clean at all (although last weekend we didn't clean either because we were in Estonia). But yesterday I went to the mall to finish shopping for Christmas gifts. It took me about 3 hours :/ I also bought a new journal for myself and I posted a Christmas package to my besty. Most of the day I was writing either letters or Christmas cards to my friends. I am going to send out over 20 cards. So, that took a while. 

Today was woke up so late (11.30am) and had a quick breakfast because I needed to start cleaning. I wanted to get done before my friend was coming over at 2pm. But later she texted me and told she couldn't make it today. So, I spent my afternoon watching some youtube videos and just buring candles and enjoying a good lunch. It's almost 5pm now and I am going to make dinner. Jay got from his workplace a homemade pasta machine. So, I am going to make homemade pasta! We'll see if it comes out okay :P

I cannot believe I have only 5 days of work left and then I'll have my Christmas holiday! I already know that next Saturday when it's my first day of vacation I will stay in PJs the whole day, watching movies (I already have a list of movies I want to see) and just have a super lazy day in!!! After that I can be more productive, clean, go to the foodshop or run whatever errands I need. But Saturday will be a lazy day at home :D 

Christmas is coming up soon and I am so excited. We are hosting a Christmas dinner at 24th December. My both sisters will come with their families. We bought quite a lot of Christmas food from Estonia last weekend. But I still have some things I need to buy here. I am still deciding what dessert to make. I know my sister will bake something, but I might as well.. Let's see. 

Right now I just want these upcoming 5 work days to pass by very fast :D

This year I made my own gingerbread dough (I got the recipe from mom). I have baked gingerbread cookies twice - 2 weeks ago and yesterday. I spiced up my cookies yesterday adding dried cranberries and cashews to the dough. These came out the best gingerbread cookies I had ever tasted! (I also used hald plain white flour and half whole wheat flour)

My breakfast yesterday! Still (and always) loving the gingerbread curdsnack :D PS! This mug was a gift from one of our kindi kids :) I got it on Friday after the Christmas show :D 

 Getting reading to write some Christmas cards!

all that food!!! + fun times with our guests :)

I have been coughing for 2 weeks now and therefor I have been so tired and weak. Last work week was actually very nice and quite calm. On Monday I managed to go to Finnish class after work and on Thursday I went to the movies with Jay to watch "The Hunger Games: Mocking Jay - Part 1". It was so good and I cannot wait to see part 2 next year! 

It started snowing on Friday and it made me sooo happy :) At work kids even were sliding in the park :) Oh, I love snow! It gives me such a good mood. I think the snow came down just at the right time..I am so ready for Christmas season!!!

My mom and her bf came to visit us yesterday. They arrived around 4pm, so we had late lunch and went to the shops for a while. After that we were just at my place, chatting and catching up, had dinner ect. Jay had to go to work today morning so we let mom's bf sleep long. Me and mom had breakfast together and just talked about life. It was nice :) Later when Maarek woke up and had his morning coffee we all went to the shops again :) I had few things I needed, so did they. I think we all got what we went looking for. I got a new rug for our bathroom, birthday gift for my nephew, soft and comfy pj pants (which I am use as home-pants :D), some Christmas stickers for work, Christmas-y table runner, pillow cases, outdoor Christmas ornament... I think that's it. I also bought food and such. 

Like always mom asked what we wanted from Estonia.. so I gave her a small list that mostly included food. The most I was excited about my fav Christmas dessert: gingerbread kohuke (curd snack). It's seasonal and so you can only buy it from November till January. I am going to keep them in the freezer so I can have one whenever I want :D She also bought blood sausage that I wanted because it's my fav Christmas food :D We are going to have it for dinner tomorrow, among with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes..oh I cannot wait :)

I also bought my fav Creme Brulee that Lidl always has at Christmas time. We had it for dessert tonight. So delicious!!! And to end all of this food talk, I made my very first gingerbread cookie dough today! I got mom's recipe so I am sure I will have the best gingerbread cookies ever! I am going to bake the cookies next weekend :)
Mom also bought some of my old puzzles (I will take these to the kindergarten) and old pictures, letters ect that I had made/written. The oldest one was a painting I made when I was 1 years and 9 months old :) I am so glad she had kept them all! I had tons of fun going through them yesterday!!! I am definitely going to keep them safe and treasure them :)

The best curd snack in a world:D I love Christmas time!!!

Celebrating Christmas with workmates and more of my week

Hello, hello! Work days have been so busy, but so fun! We went to the Winter Circus with kids and it was so cool! The whole week I have been kinda sick :/ I have got cold and now I am coughing like crazy. On Friday I was feeling extra bad and stayed home from work. I visited doctor to make sure it's nothing serious. Throughout the day I started feeling a bit better ( I was drinking lots of tea, eating honey and garlic ect). The same afternoon I got a call from work and was still invited to our workplace Christmas Party. I actually felt so bad in the morning when I called and told I was sick because I knew I would miss out our Christmas celebration. But at the end I still got to go there. We went to see Mamma Mia musical and after that had super nice dinner at Kappeli restaurant. The food was delicious and musical was so funny! Overall, I am so glad I got a chance to go there and have fun with my colleagues. At work we are now going to practice for out Christmas Show with kids. It's going to be in 4 weeks! I cannot believe how fast time flies!

I had my sister with her family and my dad over yesterday. We were celebrating my dad's birthday as well with Fathers Day. It was very fun to see them all. I baked a plum cake and my sister made pizza and brownies. So, I definitely ate quite a lot of sweets. Later I went to the shops with dad and I invited him for dinner afterwards. And today when I had my student here to practice reading, my sister texted and asked if we were at home, they were on their way here. My sis and her son were here with me while her husband went to the furniture shops to find some stuff they needed for their new home. It was nice to catch up with my sister and just talk about everything. And I love my little nephew :D I always like having him around :D

So this weekend I have been with my family mostly! It's 4.30pm now and I am planning on making dinner soon and then I want to watch some tv shows, knit a sock and make a face mask :) Relaxing end for the weekend! Next weekend my mother and her bf will visit us :)

I have been thinking a bit about Christmas gifts already because I know how fast time will go in December. I have a gift right now only for Jay. But I am sure I will go Christmas shopping quite soon - maybe will start next weekend already if I figure out what to buy..

Not the best photo, but this is the Kappeli restaurant..it's all glass and it's already in Christmas lights! So beautiful and romantic!

 Salad for appetizer! Maybe doesn't look anything special, but it was the best salad I had ever tasted!

 Main course - smoked salmon, potatoes with garlic and dill, creamy false morel stew. All so perfect!

Strawberry sorbee with fresh strawberries and chocolate cake!

Hello November!

Wow! Time really flies past (it seems I say that at the beginning of every month:P). The older I get, the faster days seem to pass by. Especially work days. It's actually so great to discover that it's Friday again (who wouldn't like that?!). Anyway, last week didn't happen much. Jay and I went to the movies to see The Maze Runner which I liked, but found it very confusing... I think if I had read the book first the movie would have made much more sense. But either way I enjoyed it and I will definitely go to see the second part when it comes out. 

Last week I went to the Finnish class only on Monday, but it was such a waste of time. I was just sitting there and learning nothing new.. That's why I didn't go to Tuesday and won't go this upcoming week at all. I can come home and work through half of the textbook in the same time they do one exercise in the class.. I know that it was my own mistake to go to the beginners course.. it's just too easy. But it's okay. I will just study more at home and once in a while will go to the class. 

Work week was pretty busy because my group's other teacher had a surgery so I was alone with my kids. This week will be the same way. I actually like being alone, but it's just so much more work.. Especially planning ect. Last Friday we had a Halloween party. It was so fun! I was dressed up as a Super Woman. I forgot to take photos, but I might ask Jay to take a photo of me later this week (I still have a costume at home).  

This weekend was so great. I feel like I got to rest a lot. I cleaned home, had a student come over for a little study time, then made dinner, baked pumpkin pie ect. Only down side was yesterday evening when I had dinner and pumpkin pie - I just ate too much and felt soo bad afterwards. My stomach hurt and I was so weak.. But then Jay and I went out for a walk and it made me feel much better. Today I was much more cautious with meal sizes - I hate overeating! So, today I was feeling so good. I went to the foodshop with Jay to buy next week's food. I also had a student over for an hour, made dinner, had a face mask on, watched my fav tv show and so on. Jay is at work and will come home around 11pm. I hope that this upcoming week will be very nice and easy. Tomorrow I will have a meeting with a parent and on Tuesday I'm going to a Pupper Theater with my kids. And on Friday we'll have a Father's Day Coffee morning...so there's quite much to wait for :) But the most exciting is the fact that it's November..it means next month is December - my favorite time of the year! My Christmas spirit is so eager to come out. This year I want to make my own ginger bread dough, roast some caramelized almons, burn lots of Chirstmas scented candles, put Christmas decorations out (cannot wait!!!) and much much more! I can't wait till snow comes down and I can listen to Christmas songs (I want Pentatonix's new Christmas album!). I am also looking forward to making some Christmas cards from my friends and going Christmas shopping (I have already done some online shopping:P). Oh, there's so much to look forward to, but I know December is a month away. So I better enjoy this last autumn month and try to make the best of it. But last year I felt that December was too short to really enjoy Christmas season, so this year I am not afraid to start a bit earlier with all these Christmas thoughts, treats and preparations :) High Five if you love Christmas time as much as I do :)