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!