engrish

ok so this time the song is first because you have to set into the right kind of mood to feel this post. press play and start scrolling down to get an special experience.

working in the same place for five years can get a bit boring from time to time. luckily i work in a japanese store where we get these lovely surprises from asia to cheer us up:
(8 hours a day, 5 days a week. gotta love it!)

cup to the cakes

so yesterday i got this big craving for cupcakes. even started to make some, but forgot to add eggs to the recipe (i will totally make a good wife someday hahahaa).... so today it was time to try again! elena and i made a big batch of muffins and had so much fun decorating them. this time we even remembered the eggs.

the night of the arts

...which was boring. i usually love it, but this time helsinki was just full of drunk 16-year-olds who were acting stupid. and no arts at all. so we made art of our own:

two weeks

-some people randomly dancing at the mall
-elena's delish bagel
-my new best friend, mr. cough medicine. he makes me really, very and truly tired.
-a really good song:

all is love

if you haven't heard it, listen to it.
if you haven't seen it, watch it.

that's all for today!

c'mon!

this picture will help me remember tonight for the rest of my life. i went to my mom's office and found this from her wall - she told me that this was one of the first things i had ever written(i learned to write english before finnish when we lived in maryland). haha! way to go me - clearly had the right attitude already at age 6.......
when we came home, something magical happened that made me so happy. dad got excited about something i've been trying to get him to understand for years now. following a series of serious compliments. i feel like i'd just won a war. a really, really long and tireing, but important, war.
it feels so good, and i can't stop smiling!

silence

i got these stars as a birthday present from jared a year ago (you try to take a good picture of tiny glowing stars in a pitch-black room....). at night i like to name them by the names of people around me - and think why those people deserve to get stars.

little did i know last night while i was naming a star that i would lose my voice today. i woke up and tried to answer my phone but all i could get out of my mouth was pathetic whispering (yes, i'll go see a doctor tomorrow...this flu is getting on my nerves!). now that i've spent the day quiet in my bed i've really gotten this urge to call every person i know and tell them why they are the stars in my roof. i will do it when i get my voice back..because i can. and people deserve to hear those things every once in a while.

meri ♥ mikael

"We all are a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love."it was just a year ago when we were encouraging both, meri and mikael to ask each other out on a date. today was the day when they got married for time and eternity in the helsinki temple and i was able to participate in their beautiful reception.

i'm SO happy for you guys! (haha... this is probably the mushiest entry my blog will ever see!...until the next wedding.)

up!

today i have finally been up and going! i got to close the store a few hours earlier due to this dumb flu i've got. kirsi also got a job from us - it's going to be so sweet to work with her! after work i took a longer route home and went to sit by the temple for a bit to think about stuff (=last night i wrote down over a hundred questions i've got on my mind as i attempted to get some sleep). it was good to see some friendly and familiar faces from russia there. friendly and familiar faces make my days.

but i knew.....

sneezing
coughing (your lungs out)
fever

ihateit.

luckily i've got the best brother who went and bought me popsicles and pudding! and the office.

flow through my lens

this will be my last flow-themed post, i promise. tapio let me use his scanner to get the film pictures on my computer. i love them!
(i wanna be like those two someday.. we saw these old people around the festival area quite a few times, just enjoying the music and atmosphere)

pro/con

-the flu
-being at work when you're sick
-hitting the corner of your eye with your car door (=a black and swollen eye.......)
-sleeping from 6pm to 1am and not being able to sleep after that
-the knowledge that you still have to go to work tomorrow

+the pictures i took with my disposable camera last weekend
+having lunch with kukka in the middle of a work day, yay for her working next to our store!
+sleeping
+mama making me sandwiches
+flow-memories
+writing a letter to jónsi (hahaha i took the cancellation pretty seriously hahah), and getting the most beautiful response from the website administrator

and the pros win! but still i'm hoping to have a better day tomorrow....

ilosuru-uutiset

this picture says it all.
(jónsi cancelled his show, and i can't find words to describe how disappointed i am. stupid bass player breaking his arm.......gaahhh)
and also, elena says hi!

it's not too late to feel a little more alive

standing in a crowd of 15 000 people and feeling every single piece of the music going through your whole body. it is magical how that feeling makes you forget all about school applications, bank statements, tests, government papers, money, interviews, worries - basically every stressful thing in your life. there's just you and the music, and you're feeling like a million bucks.

i've come to the conclusion that half of the international applicants get tired of the idea of studying in the US during the time you have to get the application done. there's so dang many things to do; you have to be sure every single paper is the right one and has the right texts in them, arrange so many things and on top of that stress about moving to another country and building your life there. i've been losing sleep a lot these days because i've got so many questions on my mind when i go to bed; what if i don't have the right form? what if the government office sent me the wrong paper? what if i don't fit in? what if what if what if.

the funny thing is that even though the whole progress has taken a lot of time and energy, not for a second have i felt that i don't wanna go through it. i know that it's worth it, and i have the motivation to fight for it. kinda like life itself. sometimes hard, but always worth it. yah yah!

today i heard some great music with great company. broken bells, air, big boi, aeroplane, magnetic man. ahh! more to come tomorrow. soooo looking forward to that!

preparing meri for the big m

today was the time to throw meri her bachlorette party since she is getting married in a week. here in finland we've got this tradition where we make the bride/groom do some embarrassing stuff. as for meri, we made her dress up, then do some random tasks with strangers on the street. after, we went to a thai restaurant and ate heavenly food. mmmmmmmm!
flow starts tomorrow. and i am EXCITED!

sverige, jag älskar dig

this was probably the 50th time i've been to stockholm, but i still can't get enough of its pretty streets and pretty people. i would have so much to write about right now. i could tell about my big purchase today that will take me far away from home. about all of these great thoughts i have in my head...... buuuut! sleep wins, for now. work in the morning. and a new day. this one has felt so long - in a good way.

sthlm

today i've learned a lot about where i come from through my dad's old journals. it's given me a lot of perspective and understanding. i'm lucky to have such great people around me, especially my family. we might not be perfect - not even close, but that makes us human and gives us the chance to progress.

we also had the biggest thunderstorm i've ever seen in my life. it reminded me of apocalypse now; the skies turned black in 10 minutes and the lightnings were HUGE, long and loud. it was good to sit downstairs with mama and count how far away the storm is. important moments.

now i have got to continue packing...and in 12 hours we'll be on a ship on our way to stockholm, sweden! this mini trip will be awesome! ruska, anne and i have a shopping ban since ruska and anne are broke and i should be flying to the us in a month. we'll see how that goes...wish us good luck! urban outfitters tends to be a bit tempting from time to time.......
NU KÖR VI! vad fint :)

noooo....energyyy.....to.....writeeeee.....anything

...so i'll just post a few pics from yesterday and today! they've been inspiring in many ways. and so much fun!