Also, my friend Sharan posted about dealing with body-stress during exam time, and it’s really interesting. There are some things in there I haven’t really thought about during my thesis writing hours… it’s almost the same thing right? I especially agree about scented candles. Scented candles are my jam. I bought some from IKEA recently for a decent price. Candles are soothing and help me keep calm.
Not to be cliché and re-use a gif so soon like I don’t do that anyways but…
I also like to have a cup of tea at all times when I’m working at the computer. Or generally at all times. Pretty much all the time. I think I have an addiction.
One for me, another for me..
Using that gif to segue into something else… Last night I finally started reading Muumipappa ja meri, which is one of my 25 before 25 goals. So far so OK, but it’s slow. I should probably dedicate a notebook to it. I wonder if any of my Moomin notebooks are empty… I think so. I have to get back to my Finnish diary too – I didn’t write in it at all when I was in England, so it’s missing a lot of entries. I’ve also gotten better about wearing all my lipsticks. For the past three days I’ve kind of been on point with my lipstick game. Today I wore Wet n’ Wild “Fuschia with Blue Pearl“, which cost $1.50, which is pretty sweet for what it is. I neglected to take a picture of it on, but I assure you it looked nice, I think. On Friday I wore my Dior lipstick in “Beige Indecise“, which mum bought for me in Chicago on my birthday two years ago when we went to the Dior counter. It’s a perfect nude colour. I really like it a lot, and the formula is really nice. On Thursday, I wore my Mac lipstick in “Viva Glam I,” which is a matte red. I like “Russian Red” a little bit better, but I’ve come to like Viva Glam I more than when I first bought it. Anyway. I’ll probably do a make up post at some point in the future, just to change it up.
At the bike race with Margaret. I don’t know why I’m squinting. Eye smile? Smize?
I forgot last post to show off this photo from the bike race. I think mixing patterns is fun. The coat has a kind of London tourism theme to it, which I bought at Primark, whereas the scarf is a rip off ‘silk’ scarf pattern from H&M. I think maybe more fashion posts are due too, once I sort my clothes out. Anyways, I’ve got to get going! So here’s a cute cartoon called “Bee and Puppycat”
I really like how Puppycat talks. It’s really cute. Emily
I just realised actually after posting yesterday that I have another post with pretty much exactly the same name. Oops. Anyways.
I’m really into this song right now:
It’s from Adventure Time, which is a children’s TV show I like probably way too much. I also use way too many gifs on this blog from that show. Gifs like these:
I drove 260km today on the highway both ways which I feel is pretty impressive, seeing as I didn’t want to ever go on the highway two weeks ago. I’m a decent driver, I think.. I hope. I try to be considerate of all road users, but those behind me get impatient and sometimes honk…
Oh, you wanted me to go over the speed limit and hit a pedestrian. Soz no – my face when you do this
The other day I went to Sephora to pick up yet more hair ties that mum and I really like, but they keep stretching out (like way too fast…) and getting lost. Also Brutus loves playing with them. I unfortunately don’t have an illustrative video of it, so you’ll have to take my word on that one.
The hair ties in question
I realised that I’ve saved over 1000 Sephora points, which is probably super shameful, though I have been saving them over 5 years, and it works out to a slightly more reasonable $200/year, some of which is from my mum (and some of which is gifts!), who doesn’t have her own Sephora card. I decided to take the plunge and spend 500 of those points on a cute Occitane en Provence set, which included five little products which I hope will be good for the plane. I got a free face cream from Occitane with a magazine in August (British magazines always include presents and it always disappoints me that they never do here) which I quite liked. The set comes with a shea butter hand cream, almond delicious hands (sounds a bit like they threw darts at a board to name this, but apparently it’s supposed to be reminiscent of macarons), almond shower oil, verbena body lotion, and almond supple skin oil. I hope they will be useful in keeping my skin from desiccating on the plane.
When I’m old and still have decent skin
The set.
The best part is that the set came with a cute little pouch that looks like a postcard. I like the pouch because it’s the perfect size for my phone. I try to always keep my phone in a pouch so it doesn’t get scratched or damaged.
I’m also really into music videos that include noise from the scene being acted out right now, especially this one that my friend sent me for “Odd Look” by Kavinsky:
Here’s hoping for a productive two days before leaving for England. I’ve reviewed my 25 before 25 in brief, and I’ve put the ones that I’ve actually made progress on in colour, so you can skip all the waffling about goals and junk.
Drawing every day – Well, not quite, but I’m trying to draw as much as possible.
Muumipappa ja meri– Haven’t started reading it yet
Finnish diary – Not every day, but I’m writing every so often
Scrapbook – Yes! It’s coming along
Lifting bodyweight – It’s hard to maintain a consistent schedule since I don’t know where I’m going to live and I don’t want to commit to a year of gym time/money if I’m not going to be there to lift. I’m lifting as much as possible.
Jiu jitsu/grappling – I’m getting a bit better. I’m working on it as much as I can. I’m probably still like, sub white belt level anyways.
Cataloguing books – I need to find an app/scanner to make it easier.
Make an item of clothing – I have plans and schemes and stuff but I haven’t started.
Travel to an unvisited country – Not yet, no plans.
Safari write up – Oooooopps. I’m just lazy. <_<
Publish 2-3 papers – They’re not submitted yet
Make macarons – When I’m back from England.
Blog series – I started my tea reviews though that ties in with 23.. Soon, soon.
Plank improvement – I have to start the plank challenge.
Pottery class – When I get a job.
Wear all my lipsticks – Doing it, but not documenting it, to Sharan’s chagrin.
Wear all my nail varnishes – Doing it, but I pick at them and then they look bad. WHATEVER.
Get meaningful employment – I’ll take anything to be honest, though I’m working on applications and hoping I come across as charming in 4 pages or less.
Getting out of the house more – Now that I can drive, I’ve been going to the café and working on my thesis and stuff.
Weekly blogs – Well you can see how that is going…
Short stories – I am working on a few, but don’t feel like showing any yet.
Outlining the novel – Putting all my papers together and hopefully will be able to do NaNoWriMo in November.
Tea reviews- I have already written one and I have two more in draft form, just waiting for my photos to be put together and more details to be added from my notes.
Handmade pasta- When I get my sweet job and move into my sweet apartment I hope to make this as a housewarming dish to serve to my lovely guests. Should probably look up vegan pasta too.
Defending my thesis – Hopefully in mid to late May.
Maybe I’ll write more tomorrow, or in a month, or whatever. That’s the joy of reading my blog.
So it’s nice to be ambitious but I maybe bit off a bit too much with the 12 before 24 stuff. But I’m going to set more goals and not meet them all because that’s what life is about, isn’t it? Right? Right? Maybe.
Without further waffling, here is my hopefully somewhat realistic list of 25 goals, not in order of importance at all because that would take way too much time:
1. Draw something every day using a variety of drawingprompts: I want to get better at drawing and I like doing it. I also hope to post said drawings on this very blog.
Drawings that hopefully are as charming as this
2. Read Muumipappa ja meri (Moominpapa and the Sea) in Finnish: I bought the book with Kimmo in Vaasa with the full intention of reading it by the end of the year. I also have the English version now so reading it might be easier. I hope. Maybe.
3. Following that Finnish goal, write one or two sentences in a little Finnish “diary” every day or so: I did this when I was taking Finnish. I will write mostly entries about my day, but I might write longer things when I have time, perhaps about feelings or some other boring stuff like that.
4. Keep a scrapbook from January 2014 to January 2015: I’ve already started it in a very cute flower notebook. I have tried to keep scrapbooks before, but always forgotten to keep those scraps of ephemera to put in it.
a cute scrapbook!
5. Get all of my lifts to at least bodyweight, if not higher: I want to be stronger. This is probably going to be harder for some lifts than others (e.g. bench)
Better get to it
6. Improve my jiu jitsu and grappling: I just want to get better, because I think it’s fun, but being kind of ok at stuff is also fun.
7. Catalogue my books: I have too many books and cataloguing them will probably help me slim down my collection and prevent myself from buying a duplicate.
i like bookses
8. Make myself an item of clothing: I want to make something, either knitted or sewn. Mum can help <_<
a new potato-sack dress perhaps (this one got kind of crappy from all the TZ dust, wind and hand washing)
9. Visit a country I haven’t been to before: Any country, anywhere, that I haven’t visited.
Fair enough
10. Finish writing up my safari in Tanzania: Sorting through over a thousand pictures is tough, but what’s the point in taking so many and not sharing them?
I am lazy like a crocodile in mud tho (now I have officially put two whole photos from my safari online)
11. Publish two to three papers: I have two that I have roughed out, so it’s a realistic goal. I hope.
Academia
12. Make macarons at least twice: I was given a macaron cookbook for Christmas and I really should use it.
I love you macaron
13. Start the blog series I’ve wanted to start for a while: What is the plural of series anyways? Serieses? That’s definitely wrong. I think it’s already a plural… anyways, I want to do two: Cool People I Know and one which I actually just forgot right now because I possibly have early-onset Alzheimer’s.
Better take a seat for these sweet posts
14. Improve my plank, because it’s pretty pathetic: Imight take a cue from the “30 day plank challenge” that someone or other posted on Facebook.
Eventually progressing to crazy flips
15. Do a pottery class: I’ve always been rather keen on this. I did some when I was little, and I’ve always wanted to do it again.
I could make anyyyythiiiiiing
16. Wear all of my lipsticks at least once: By god I have a problem, and that problem is owning too many lipsticks because I like all the pretty colours
like this one
17. Wear all of my nail varnishes at least once: I guess it’s a repeat but I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel. Also I haven’t bought any new varnishes for a while. I have to find them in the basement.
manicure activate!
18. Find some sort of meaningful employment: I have to wait to do my PhD until the next round of applications anyways, but I’m not going to let that get me down. I like working, so I’m going to find work.
That’s the kind of talent that’s a transferable skill amirite employers?
19. Try to get out of the house more: Since I’ve moved back in with mum and dad I seem to be spending way too much time indoors at home. I feel like I might work better at cafés because people are watching.
Going outside
or maybe…
20. Try to blog at least once a week: I know I’ve been neglecting the blog.. it seems that I’ve only really posted once a month, but once a week I think is eminently do-able.
everyone’s reaction to my compelling and interesting blog posts
21. Work on my short stories: I really like writing short stories, so I am going to try to write one every month and post it here.
getting stuck on a point
22. Work on my novel outline and start writing, maybe for NaNoWriMo: I want to get that novel done. I’ve had the idea for years and years, and I outlined it in part during my driver’s ed. I might be ready in time for this year’s NaNoWriMo, since last year went so well (300/50,000 words). I won’t be working on a thesis, so I think it’s more attainable.
outliiiinnne
23. Review the teas I drink: I really like tea. A lot. And I own a lot of different teas. I want to review them on my blog, so that maybe if someone wants to try it, they can.
24. Make handmade pasta: I really have always wanted to make handmade pasta. I think it isn’t particularly difficult. I want to make some sort of stuffed pasta, because I love it (especially pumpkin ravioli!).
Pastaaa
25. Successfully defend my Master’s thesis in the Spring: I want to be done before the summer starts, so I don’t have to have my defence hanging over me.
I’m on fire and ready
Anyways, this list took me over a month to write when I sat down to do it, two months after my birthday, but I feel like this year I want to focus on attainable goals, rather than loftier ones. I will write again soon, I promise.
So I went to Finland and it was pretty swell. I saw Kimmo, my best friend forever and ever and ever, who is like the same person but with different hair. Subtle Frances Ha ref….
I took Finnair, the friendlist of airlines, where they give you probably the grossest looking sandwich ever that actually isn’t really that bad in the end.
Seriously.. gross. I think it was chicken??
I ended up arriving in Vaasa, the best city in Finland, at around 1:00am, since I had probably one of the last flights out of Helsinki there at 23:59. I drank two beers while I was waiting for my flight and loving the free wifi at the airport – Finland, land of ubiquitous free wifi. Those two beers cost about 17.00 euro ($23.40). They were pretty good though. I had some nuts (1 euro/$1.35) as well, because I couldn’t face eating anything substantial. I had arrived in Helsinki airport at around 20:45 (early! All of my Finnair flights were early…) and everything pretty much was already closed – even the pubs and the bars. The only thing left open was the café – where I met the first of my loves of my life in FInland, Matti, the barman.
He looked at me awkwardly without making full eye contact and seemed to be conflicted as to whether to say “moi” or “hello” or anything really. He chose “moi”, and I awkwardly said “moi” back (there’s a theme here). Then I asked for a beer and his face looked like he’d made the biggest mistake of at least his hour, if not his day.
Awwwwkkkwwaard
It’s always weird for me to ride trains or planes through the night, because when I look outside the window all I see is complete darkness – it’s impossible in a sense to see which way you’re going or even if you’re going at all.
I got to Vaasa and Kimmo had come get me in a taxi. We then proceeded to eat, drink, and stay up almost all night. The next day we woke up at a reasonable(ish) time and went out for sushi, then walked around Vaasa.
First sushi in months and months and months
After seeing all the sights, we determined that it was beer o’clock, and sat on a patio on the main square with some beer. Below: the sights:
We also accidentally drowned a beer in Kimmo’s beer. I feel pretty guilty about it.
Ooops
It was all OK in the end
We made a very good decision to get some cheese snacks (in both ball and stickish form).
We did a marathon of Ruotsin miljonääriäidit (Swedish millionaire mums), the first series. It is probably the best show on television. My favourite is Maria or the weird lady who goes on dates with old guys and then complains that they’re old.
we’ve made a huge mistake
or not
I suppose the most entertaining thing about unhealthy eating in Finland is what’s on the beer/cider cans. And it only entertains me. Because I’m childish:
It’s like the bilingual thing in Canada with English and French, but I think that some of the words are a bit closer than in English/French, so it sounds funnier like a repetition – Pantti-pant. Or elevator: Hissi-hiss.
me
I also saunaed, which was amazing. I love throwing the water on the rocks and just sort of soaking in the heat. Also the apartment has a really nice sauna:
Ooooo
We went to bed yet again at a reasonable(ish) time. In the morning we had breakfast and I was introduced to both Kippari (no pic) and Reissumies, my new mistress.
❤ Reissumies
Breakfast
Breakfast part 2
The best combination is Reissumies (the rye discs) + Kippari (the cheese) + salami + cucumber + butter or spreadable mushroom flavoured… stuff? I can’t remember what it’s called but it’s delicious, I love this sort of breakfast. I need to find a cheese like Kippari here or I’m going to be sad. I love Kippari (my husband).
I found a photo of the Kippari packet from the Valio website
We went to the bookshop and I bought Muumipappa ja meri (Moominpapa and the sea) to read. We wandered a bit more (and had a pint at Public Station, an amazing bar full of old, sad drunks who’d obviously started hours before us, plus a man with no arms playing on the slot machine –I wondered how he held his beer, but Kimmo noticed he only got bottles so he could hold it with his stump(s)) before returning home to wait for Kari’s return.
We decided that it was the night to go to Vanha Mestari for karaoke and longero (‘long drinks’ i.e. gin/vodka/etc + some other liquor + juice). I wanted to sing Mitä Kuuluu, Marja Leena, but ended up with a weird tango song, so I sung My Way awkwardly, since I can’t sing, and it’s a really slow song. Kari came and saved me at the end, probably for the best, so the drunks would remember me better.
Pre-karaoke with longero
Singing My Way like a tool
Karaoke spirit
After Kari sung a song (quite amazingly, might I add – I forgot what a good singer he is), we all went home and then stayed up a bit later. In the afternoon, Kimmo and I went to Helsinki. We stayed in the Scandic hotel Marksi, which is in the nice oldish bit of Helsinki. We left our stuff and went for a wander. I hummed and hawed in Stockmann’s, the big department store about presents for my mum and Nan, but in the end I decided on some things. We saw the sights, then ate some nice Italian food. Awkwardly, some old guys were leaving and said some weird comment about me and therefore not wanting to leave, thinking I wouldn’t totally understand and that Kimmo totally wouldn’t point it out to me (He did, and one guy totally turned and strained to look at me even though we were maybe 50-70cm apart…). After dinner (pizza!), we dropped off things at the hotel, and wandered around, regretting our not buying booze at the store we went to after riding the subway, where I bought about 5kg of salmiakki and one huge tube of FInnish mustard. We went quite far out to one bar that was “not a far walk” according to Kimmo, then we had a bit more on the way back, finishing with some at the hotel bar, then going to bed for about 3 hours before waking up to go to the airport – Kimmo back to Vaasa and I to England. I wished I could have stayed an extra day, but I was under the impression I was needed back in England on Sunday, when I really could have… sort of.
A sweet art installation (not really)
The square by the harbour
Dima and Papa – locks bridge?!
Helsinki Central Station
Kimmo on the subway
Trying to subtlely take a photo of the orange subway car but then just getting a sweet pic of this man’s bald head
We went to this station and came back
At the airport we each ate breakfast – croissant for me, sandwich for Kimmo. Then we chilled for a bit and I had to go to International departures, so we separated- but kept in touch on the free wifi because Finland is rad. I bought a magazine and a newspaper to study at home, and some sweets for my mum. Then I got on the plane and flew home.
I had this for eating during take off
Anyways, I swear I’ll catch up eventually with my life, since it’s gotten a bit slower now and I’m not jetsetting around the world anymore (yet).