The Dream Chaser

Wanting vs. Needing.

2012-02-11T21:02:00.001-08:00

Somehow the end of this week hasn't been as good than I hoped for it. Do you have those days when everything just seems to be difficult and you have obstacle after obstacle. Well, my Thursday and Friday were like that. Both days were little tough at work and I just counted hours that the work day would be over. On Thursday at work I carried bunch of stuff from my car to the house. And BANG. I dropped my iPad to the ground. I usually have it on a soft case, but not that day.. So the glass broke. I was bummed. Luckily I'm still able to use it, but it's not quite the same, the glass is shattered. Somehow it just ruined my mood for the rest of the day. I just moped around our home and didn't do anything. I know accidents happen and it was only a little one. And it's such a material thing. But I was still bummed.

I think one of the biggest reasons for it was that I realized I've turned out to be so much more materialistic since I've moved here. And it makes me sad. There is such a difference between, what I want and what I actually need. I used to grow up in an environment that I just had what I needed, not really what I wanted. But at the same time, I didn't really want anything fancy. I was content. But here. The culture is so different. Someone might get offended when I say this but Americans are much more materialistic. And I think especially the city we live in.. You can maybe triple the materialism. A fancy little town. So it's hard to be surrounded by it every day and not be affected by it. A good little example happened last week at work. The older girl was just turning eight and her b-day was in few days. We saw UPS-guy coming to their house with a package. And I said it to her: "Ohhh, maybe it's a gift for you." And she replied: "Yea, I really hope so, because I have so far only like five gifts." I replied: "Well, that's a lot of gifts" She said:"You know what, In Finland it might be a lot of gifts, but not in America. You have to get at least ten gifts." Yea. I think she didn't realize how well she just described the cultural difference.

Well back to my iPad. The truth is that I didn't need it. I didn't even desire for it. But my hubby got it for me for my bday/Christmas. And I struggled with in the beginning, because I felt it's too fancy for me. We already have all we need and more than that. But when I started using it.. I fell in love with it. I use it for skyping, watching Finnish shows, I do my blogs sometimes with it.. I started to believe that i actually really needed it. So when I dropped it.. I got a reality check. I realized how material thing it is.. One day when we die.. We are not able to take any of those things with us.. It's good to think about it sometimes. It doesn't mean that we can't have nice things. Of course we can have. But I think sometimes is could to think twice, do I really need this?

You know.. TO be honest. I don't know how much it actually comes from Finnish culture.. Because we are pretty materialistic country nowadays too. But I believe that your own upbringing matters more than the country where you come from. It depends how you are raised up. I come from a really big family. And we didn't have much money. And it was okay. We had all we needed. And If I wanted something, I worked for it. I think I had my first job, when I was like eleven. It's kind of crazy to think about. So when I was younger (or even just few years ago) I dreamed about the day, that I could go to grocery store and not look the prices, just get what I wanted. Maybe little fancier cheese or some better meat etc. It's the truth. But to be honest.. At the moment, I could go to grocery store and choose more freely what I want.. But in my mind, I'm still comparing the prices... I can't get over it. Like couple days ago we were buying some breakfast stuff.. And what I looked was the bacon's price ( they are crazy expensive, like six bucks) and my hubby was looking the quality. I was just thinking in my mind.. Here we go again.. It's truth that Sometimes the quality matters more than price. For example With some clothing. When You pay little bit more expensive cloth, it's usually gonna last longer too. But where to draw a line. Do you buy the clothes depending on the quality or do you buy them just because of the brand? Do you buy things that you can show off to other people and boost your self-confidence? I don't think there is no right and wrong answer.

You know, I'm feel like I'm pretty good at finding good deals. But Sometimes I buy things, just because they are on sale. And I don't even have any need for it. Most likely I'm never gonna use it. So I'm not actually saving money. So often times it might be a better to buy nicer product, if you are actually gonna use it. I think nowadays I use more money than I used to and I'm not as wise with it than I used to be. It's a definitely a thing I should work on. I don't think there is nothing bad about thinking wisely about your finances. And just to clarify, I'm not saying that it's bad thing to own lot of things and if you are working hard for your money, great and of course it's your own decision how you use your money. I just think we should be sometimes wiser with our finances.. And not with just our finances. But how we use our time, how we cherish our family and friends, take care of needed things etc.. Where are our priorities in life?

Some wisdom about how to be a good friend.

And one more thing.I believe It's better to give than receive. Again.. This is just my personal opinion.

I wasn't suppose to write anything like this.. Somehow I just ended up doing it anyways.

And I didn't even get to write about my Friday.. But I'll say it wasn't the best 24 hours I've had. I was just nodding my head and saying to myself.. This can't be true. But luckily Friday-evening was already much nicer and today has been a great day. Farmer's Market, skyping with my sister, going to the Movies with my sister-in-law, hanging out at home with myself, a good sunset jog with hubby and delicious dinner made by him and even I got to to do some crafts.. A great day. Luckily there will be always sun after the little rainy season.. Or there will be a new day..

Hmm It's Time to go to sleep. Hope you have a relaxing Sunday.

p.s. One more cultural difference.. Why the heck is so hard to find a candy section from the grocery store??? I don't understand it. In Finland it's always right near by the registers. It's easy to spot. But often times here.. I need to walk out with empty handed, because I couldn't find the candy section. Which is maybe a great thing. This was just a thought I've been pondering ;)

p.p.s. And.. R.I.P. Whitney Houston. She was an amazing singer. I'm blown away by her incredible voice.

Night sky and a shooting star.

2012-02-08T21:06:00.000-08:00

A shooting star. I've been always wondering how it looks like. I had a long day at work today, got off after the little one was already sleeping. I didn't mind to work late, especially because it happens so rarely and I just had plenty of days off. Anyways. I was leaving and walking to my car. I saw a full moon. And then I gazed different direction and I saw the shooting star. It made my day.

Few pictures from this week.

On Monday I baked again the chocolate hazelnut meringue roulade. It was so delicious.

I love Backyard bowl's acai berry-bowls. so yammy. I've been wondering if I'm able to make one at home.. And I tried yesterday after my jog.. Well it turned out to be more like smoothie because I melted the Acai-berry too much. But it was good anyways. Next time I'm gonna nail it down.

This is the little princess I get to take care of during the days.. She's now on the Princess--season. She's just adoring herself on the mirror and loves putting princess-dresses on.. And would love to put on some make up too. so sweet.

This is just a picture from tonight. Me, the little one and their dog.

So yes, I saw a shooting star tonight. And I made a wish.

Have a great day.

The weekend.

2012-02-05T22:14:00.001-08:00

This weekend has been so nice and warm. Like recently pretty much every day. I can't get over this summer like-weather.. Especially because back home it's super cold. Freezing. It has been Below zero fahrenheit pretty much every day this week. The record was somewhere near by -40F (-40C). Prrr. And it's been snowing so much, so they have had plenty of accidents(super slippery roads). You know. There is still something in inside of me that makes me want to be there. I wouldn't mind the coldness. But I'm sure after a day or two.. I would be happy to come back here.

In a week and half I'll get best of both worlds.. Because one of my sisters is coming visit us here.. So I get the little quality piece of Finland in the warm, nice environment. Pretty good deal. And right after her I"ll have one of my other dear friends from Finland coming to visit us with her little princess. I'm so excited to have them here soon.

I had a little funny moment yesterday. I was sunbathing in our back patio, reading some magazine, eating ice-cream and also at the same time watching Finnish news about the Snow Storm and super bad accidents.. In that moment I was kind of happy to be here. After the news I watched a Finnish talkshow. There are few Finnish shows, that I frequently watch from the online-tv. They are nice little additions to my weekend.

Today has been the big Super Bowl-day. I don't care about American football at all.. And my hubby is not too into it either. I guess anyways it would be more about getting together, eating bunch of food and just having a good time. But instead of going over to someones place, we decided to enjoy of the beautiful sunny day.

So this afternoon we went to play in the ocean with the soft boards. It was fun. I'm not able to surf, I'm super beginner. And to be honest, at the moment I don't even have much interest to it. I'm too scared of the ocean/waves. And I hate putting the wetsuit on. But today I decided to try again.. I still screamed when the "big waves" came.. But with my hubby I felt so much more comfortable. He helped me to get over the waves, I felt so loved and cared by him. I had a good time, I loved playing in the ocean with my hubby. It was better than surfing. Just paddling and enjoying the sun and gorgeous views. p.s. The water was freezing, but I have a great winter wetsuit, so it made it better.

After "surfing" we picked up hot chocolates and went down to one of our favorite beaches to watch the sunset. Absolutely gorgeous.

Later on we went over to my brother in law's for dinner and we actually saw the last minute of the the big Super bowl-game ( and it was enough). It was good to spend time with family, as always.

So it's been a great weekend. I feel relaxed and ready to start a new week. Well luckily I get to sleep before the new week actually starts... In Finland it has already started. Lucky me?! Ha. I'm planning to go for a jog tomorrow morning with hubby. I had a little break at jogging, well I barely ran last month, maybe I jogged only like two times. So this month I'll try to be little better. I started with two short runs this week, I'm trying to slowly build up my running endurance. A good thing about running is that you are able to get better pretty fast. But my problem is that I often try to do it too fast. So the first run would be maybe like three miles and the next time is already six miles.. It doesn't work that way.. So Now I try to do it more slowly. We'll see..

And If you were wondering about how our little two week gluten free-trial went.. My hubby sticked with it for the whole two weeks and he liked it. He felt better and he also thought that he ate less bad stuff. But you know.. I think you should do it for a longer period of time so you could actually see/feel the actual difference. I didn't quite do the whole two weeks, but I certainly ate gluten less than normally. I liked it. Because I ate less unhealthy snacks Like white bread, cereals etc.. So anyways. We have decided to try to eat less gluten in our normal daily lives. Not super strict, but at least at home we try to avoid it. I think it's good for us. I better start to read some researches, so I can proof my point ;)

Okay, better go to sleep.

Have a great week.

p.s. We finally had the actual president election day in Finland today... I wasn't the only one who wrote the right number to the little voting ticket.. Excited about our new president. (Like I care about politics ;)

Get Away.

2012-01-31T08:19:00.000-08:00

I ended up having a five day weekend this last week, so we decided to do a little weekend get away with my hubby. Our options were either going camping up the coast to Big Sur-area or drive down the coast to San Diego. On Friday-morning we made the decision to go down the coast.

We left around noon from home, which wasn't the smartest choice, because it meant that we are gonna hit the Friday afternoon Traffic-jam . We even stopped on our way to Malibu for lunch, which wasn't the smartest choice. Well, LA-traffic wasn't as bad but after it.. Oh boy. We weren't the only ones who wanted to drive down that afternoon. It took forever, well six hours altogether but it seemed like forever.

.. but it was all worth it. When we got to the place, where we stayed... I was so blown away. It was so gorgeous. Especially on night time.. All the pretty lights, little fire pits, lagoons.. Oh. Gorgeous.

On Saturday-morning we drove to the Balboa park, where is the House of Finland. We are on our president election's second round, so I got to vote again. It worked out perfectly, because Saturday was their only voting day. And this time they had coffee-social thing afterwords. It was good. I also met there a Finnish family, who was suppose to first move here and then we got in touch through our common friend. But they ended up moving down there.. So finally we were able to get together. So sweet.

It was super warm weekend, around 80F (+30C). So on Saturday we rented standup paddle boards and SUP:ed on the bay. It was so much fun. Especially because there were no big waves.. Not like the ocean here. It was a bay, so no dolphins, but I did see a cute seal playing right next to me.

After SUP we just lounged on the pool for a while.

Later on we drove down to Mission beach to watch sunset and grab some dinner.

The resort had bunch of sweet fire places, some of them right on the beach.

On Sunday noon we were headed back to home. Barely no Traffic. And it took only four hours including couple stops.

It was super relaxing weekend. I enjoyed spending time with my hubby. No plans, no schedule..

Okay. Well, now I'm done with my long weekend. Better get back to work.

Dear Santa Ana Wind..

2012-01-26T21:35:00.001-08:00

..I really like you. I enjoy the super nice winter days and I love the warm evenings.

This week started with rain, but it lasted only for a day. And rest of the week has been super nice and sunny. Should be nice weekend too.

Yesterday afternoon we went down to the beach with the girls, I look after. It was so fun. Felt like a nice summer day. The little one got fooled by the weather.. By the time we got back to our car, she had only diaper left.. The clothes were all gone.. Little one, it's not quite summer yet.

o it's been a good week. I actually had only two day-work week, because I was sick on Monday and the family I work for left out of town this morning for a long weekend. So I had a day off today too. I ran some errands and then I also went to get a facial. It was so good, loved it. My skin feels so soft now. ( I got a gift card for my birthday) I wish I could do it more often. I didn't really have any problems with my skin back in the days, but since I've lived here.. It's no good. I guess the way I eat had changed.. And I don't really take care of my skin.. And I don't drink enough water. So I'm planning to start to take better care of it from now on and drink more water.

Today just flew by. I was planning to do little chores around the house but didn't have the time. I baked S'mores bars, but other than that.. Laziness. My hubby is usually gone on Thursday-nights, but his schedule changed last minute and he came home around 6.30pm. We weren't able to decide what we wanna do for dinner. I didn't feel like eating out, so we end up going to a store and get some dinner stuff. We cooked Thai Red-curry. Oh, was it spicy or what. It was so warm outside, so we decided to eat at our back patio. It was such a last minute thing the whole dinner, but I love how it turned out. I was first thinking in my head, how we are just gonna have a nice romantic dinner just two of us. Awhile we were setting the table, B told that there is a new exchange student at our neighbor's place and he was just by himself tonight. So we were both thinking, we should ask if he want's to come to eat dinner with us. So he came. And there we were.. Eating dinner with some young Swiss-guy, whom we just met.. It turned out to be a good evening. I love opening our home to other people. And I know how it feels to be in a new country without friends or family. It makes me happy, if we are able to make other people happy.

Tonight was so warm, so we were able to have a dinner at our back patio.

Time to go to sleep. Hope you all have a great weekend.

Today.

2012-01-23T21:54:00.001-08:00

I came down with cold this previous weekend, so I stayed home and rested today. Well, it wasn't really resting.. This is how my day looked like.

Today was a special day, my hubby's b-day. I made him breakfast this morning and he ate it at the bed (he usually does breakfast for me every morning... So he enjoyed being pampered.) I also baked for him some traditional Finnish Pastries "Karelian Pies". So yammy .

My hubby was reading a surfing magazine.. And He got stoked. One of the surf sports, where you haven't surfed yet, is Helsinki (The capital of Finland). Maybe next time he'll try surfing over there.

Tonight we had over for birthday-dinner my brother-in-law with his wife and also my mother-in-law. I cooked Thai Panang-curry with Yasmin rice. My first time ever cooking a Thai-dish. It was delicious. I was surprised by how easy it is. I think I've mentioned it before, but Thai-food is definitely my favorite kind of food.

After dinner we socialized and played some Sequence, which is always fun. The guy in the middle has some good strategies that we girls weren't able to figure out.. And we lost... Well there is always the next time...

Happy Birthday my love!
I baked for him carrot cake. It's our favorite kind of cake. The cake was great, but the frosting was way too sweet. Well, Hopefully next year I'm able to nail it down.

So this was my sick day. I baked, cleaned and cooked. I feel better now, than I felt this morning. But maybe it wasn't the wisest way to spend the day, but my hubby's birthday is only once a year. I'm so lucky to have such an amazing hubby. And his birthday is definitely good reason to celebrate. He is that kind of guy who would after a weekend away come back home late in the evening and find out that the toilet is plugged.. And he would drive to a store at 10.30pm and get a plunger and unplug the toilet.. Oh yes, he is. True story from last night. Well there are many reasons that I love him. But I really do appreciate his efforts to love me with his actions. He is so selfless. I have so much to learn.

Anyways. Hope you all had a great day today.

Oh I totally forgot to tell, that today has been a rainy day too. I loved the fact, that I was able to stay inside with a good reason.

Now is my time to go to sleep. An early morning tomorrow.

Now and then.

2012-01-13T23:00:00.000-08:00

My hubby is gone this weekend for a surfing trip. So Here I am on Friday-night. All by myself. I don't mind at all. I like being with myself on times. But It felt kind of weird to be by myself at downtown on Friday-night. I went to do some little shopping. Before it I got to have a dinner with hubby's family (well of course they are my family too :), love spending time with them.

And one more thing about today. I'm S O R E. Well actually my calves are sore. Not sure if you read my little post from yesterday, but I did some stairs work-out at the stadium yesterday morning.. And let's just say.. I can feel it today. Especially going down the stairs is Ouch. But I'm already looking forward to next week. I believe that it's gonna get easier every time and hopefully I'll be less sore.

Okay, Now it's finally time to tell little bit more about my trip back to home country.
Here are some of my trip's highlights.

1. Traveling with my hubby.

I'm used to travel by myself, so this time it was so nice to have my hubby with me. Layovers went much faster. I enjoyed his company. Sometimes I stress way too much, but he is patient with me and knows how to make me relaxed. And he makes me laugh. So the traveling went smoother.

2. Longer layover in London

Our flight from here was little delayed so our layover in London was shorter than we expected. But We still got to see the downtown for a little bit. We took the tube from the airport to downtown and walked around a little bit. It was a gorgeous sunny day, so it was nice to walk around. We Saw the famous clock tower, went by the church were Prince William married his Princess.. Saw the changing of the guards ( you know those horses, some yelling etc.. ), walked by the Thames-river.... The time went by so fast. A short, sweet visit.

3. White Christmas with my Family

It was definitely the highlight of my trip. I loved spending time with my siblings and rest of the family. Relaxing, eating good food, playing games, catching up etc. The best. And we had snow, which was great. Most of the country did not have snow for Christmas. So we were lucky.

My two gorgeous younger sisters and me on Christmas Eve.

4. Visiting my grandma

I love my grandma. She is the sweetest. It's hard to leave from her place and come back here. Because I don't know if there is a next time I'll see her. And what if there is a next time, but she doesn't remember me anymore. She's so dear to me. I truly hope we'll get to have many more sweet memories together.

5. Seeing some of my closest friends

I'm beyond blessed with the most amazing friends. The time just flew by, but I had a chance to see some of them. We got to stay at one of my friend's home, it was really sweet of them to invite us to stay at their place. Loved seeing my friends and I loved seeing my friend's little children too. And we even got to see one of our friends little three week old princess, she was so precious and beautiful.

My hubby and our friends sweet little boy.

6. A trip to Stockholm

We took "the party boat" to Sweden and stayed a day in Stockholm with my younger sister and her friend. We got to spend the day with my sister's old roomie and her roomie's fiance, which was nice.

A side note; I love that city. I love the Swedish language.

And we had good times on the boat too.. I love how my husband is so opposite of me. I would never go to sing karaoke.. but you know.. He would.. And he did. And not just once.. but actually three times. He was great. He just brings so much laughter and joy to my life.

My hubby singing karaoke....... Enjoy :D

7. A new year with my sisters and friends.

We got to celebrate the new year with three of my sisters and with some of our friends.

It was so sweet.

Then right after the year changed we were headed to the airport.. and started our trip home. It was a long one. But it went pretty smoothly. I slept through most of the flights. I loved coming back to our home. And I still love being here. I adore this little city, it's beyond beautiful.

Okay, it's time to wrap up. I'm suppose to wake up pretty early tomorrow morning and head down to the big city. I'll get to see my sweet friend, haven't seen her in a long time.. Then I'm going to vote at the Finnish Embassy. We have president elections in Finland.. And I get to be part of it. Well to be honest, I don't care about politics, but you know.. I love it, when I get to see some other Finns. And after it we'll head down the coast to meet my hubby and the rest of the surfer/camping crew and spend the night camping at the beach. This weekend is going to be a good one.

Have a great weekend.

Early bird gets the worm.

2012-01-12T07:33:00.001-08:00

Last week I saw my friend's photo in Instagram (a sweet photo app in my phone). It was an early morning stadium workout photo. And I immediately got inspired by it. So this week me and my hubby joined the little group and did 6am stairs workout with them.

So many stairs, few laps around the track, beautiful sunrise... And now we finally came back home and I'm about to puke. I don't feel good. I guess next time I should eat something little before the workout. So yes, there will be next time... :) I'm glad I did it.

So good to be back.

2012-01-08T21:30:00.000-08:00

I had a great trip back home with my hubby over the Christmas holiday. It was so good to spend time with my family and some of my best friends. As I assumed the trip just flew by. But it was definitely worth of those long flights. Even though.. I think when I'm older I'm not gonna travel as much over the Atlantic. It's quite draining. I don't like flying that much. On our second flight we were seated on the middle row's middle seats, because there was an issue with online check in. And I didn't stand up once to go to bathroom during the nine hour flight. I just didn't want to bother the person next to me, who was sleeping most of the flight and didn't really speak English. On the other hand my hubby didn't care what the person next to him thinks and he did multiple trips to bathroom and just stoop up to stretch. Maybe somewhere in the middle is the ideal person, you wanna sit next to on your flight.

It has been so good to be back home. I love coming this way, because when I'm jet lagged.. I wake up super early and go to sleep pretty early too, usually by nine p.m. So actually it's almost my bedtime now.

On Friday morning we jogged down to the beach and checked the surf for hubby. Two in one.

We've had the most wonderful winter weather here. Sunny and warm. It's been above +65F/+20C every day since we left away for the Christmas. It's been the most wonderful week. Good to be back at work, the little one was so happy to see me and I got so many little hugs and kisses. We've been enjoying the nice weather, going to parks, played at the beach etc. Sweet times.

The week flew by too. On Friday-night we had over my friend and she taught us how to cook chinese food. It was so yammy. Better get some oyster sauce for future cooking.Yesterday was the most relaxing day ever. We went to do a morning hike with hubby, hiked up to a mountain forty minutes and ran down the trail. it was so much fun.. and tiring. After it we picked up delicious acai-bowls from the local place and headed to Farmers market. We bought some vegetables/flowers and just enjoyed the nice atmosphere. Later on that day I went with hubby down to the beach, read some magazine and watched him surfing. A little chillier day, so Uggs and hoodie were much needed at the beach. In the evening we were invited over to our friends place for dinner. Delicious food, great company and a game to play. It was a great day.

Chinese food for dinner.

A morning hike/trail run.

Some pretty flowers from our hike.

At the Farmer's Market.

Hubby went off to surf.

Today has been a good today. We went to a morning service, after it I came home and did some yard work. It was quite fun. I also worked around the house. Ordered some photos, I'm planning finally to work on our wedding album. I finally found the album I've been looking for from back home. So next step is to start putting the album together. It might be a long project. Maybe by our second anniversary I'll be done with it ;) We also went to see the sunset at the beach. It was pretty as usual. The sunsets have been so pretty this week. Like big watercolor paintings. I'm so privileged to live in s such a beautiful city.

Tonight's sunset walk with hubby.

A butternut squash for dinner. We used this recipe.

Part of the last Monday's sunset.

Tonight we decided to cook our butternut squash (myskikurpitsa) from the farmers market. We ended up making a soup with it, where we also put some other vegetables. It was delicious. Our goal is to eat more vegetables this year. I'm definitely eating a bigger variety of vegetables comparing to the time before I moved here. I've learned to eat asparagus. green beans, little broccoli.. Also some mushrooms, even though they aren't vegetable.. But you got the idea. I guess its also easier to eat more vegetables over here, because you are able to get them pretty fresh and they taste better. Hopefully my list will expand during this year..

Our another food challenge is going off gluten. We'll start with two weeks for now. My hubby has been wanting to do it for so long, so I finally gave into it. His side of family doesn't eat as much wheat, most of them have celiacs disease. So he is kind of used to it. I need to ask some tips from them. We are cutting down the bread, pasta, cereals etc. My hubby thinks he is able to focus better without eating as much wheat. Which might be true.. Gluten is not really good for you. We'll see how it goes.

Okay, now it's definitely my time to go to sleep.

Hope you are having a wonderful beginning for this new year.

p.s. I'll be posting about my trip back home next time... :)

Home Sweet Home.

2012-01-02T00:26:00.001-08:00

We started our traveling back to home over thirty hours ago.... And now we are finally almost there. We are on the airbus which usually is pretty quick, but today it was delayed. But it's okay. I've been able to sleep through the flights. I can't wait to get back home, take a shower and go to sleep on my own bed. But yes.... We had a great trip. I'll be writing more about it later and posting some pics.

Happy New Year everyone.

Almost there.

2011-12-20T15:17:00.001-08:00

Tomorrow morning we are heading out to Finland. I have little bit of work day left.. Then I'm heading home. I'll try to go for a quick run and then Better start packing and cleaning. Maybe later tonight Hubby is gonna take me out for birthday-dinner. Then early tomorrow morning we'll head to Finland. Sounds like there is not much snow and it looks pretty warm.. But it doesnt matter.. I'm so excited. Christmas is almost here.

Some photos.

2011-12-17T22:02:00.001-08:00

We've had a beautiful weather over here. A little chillier though, feels more like Christmas. I went one morning for a morning run and it was so chilly. So worth it though. I made it to the beach when sun was rising. So pretty.

This little princess turned two today. This photo is from yesterday. My hubby came to hang out with us. After park we went to the new RIA-store (I love it). Anyways. Hubby got new sunglasses for Christmas.. So the little one wanted a pair too. So we got her the glasses she's wearing at the photo. She's such a cutie.

My little friend had her second birthday party yesterday. Her mom was so thoughtful After we sang for the little one, she wanted everyone to sing for me too and I got to blow a candle. It was the sweetest thing. And she wrote such a beautiful note on the card. They are such a sweet family.

This morning I got to go hiking/trail running with my sweet friend, good times. I'm sore now.. Well anyways. After it I stopped by at my old work place. I scored. I got all these candles for $4.24. I saved over $30. I scored. So we've been burning some candles today. And we cleaned together the whole house. We are getting ready for Christmas.

FOUR MORE NIGHTS UNTIL WE TAKE OFF AND FLY TO WINTER WONDERLAND.
I can't wait.

P.S. and if you wonder how I'm able to post photos again.. Well I didn't get my phone back. But my hubby wanted to switch phones with me. He took my older replacement phone and I got his newer one.. He's the sweetest.

Time flies.

2011-12-11T21:21:00.001-08:00

I've been lacking with my blog updates. My phone got stolen last weekend, so I haven't been taking any photos. It's been a busy week. Time flies. I feel like I haven't had any time to be just at home.. and try to take care of the home.. Or.. Maybe I've had, but didn't use the time wisely.

The Christmas is getting closer. It means that our trip is just behind the corner. So stoked. Can't wait to spend Christmas with my big family. It's gonna be fun. I'll be sure to post some pictures after words. Ah, i get to see my sweet grandma so soon. And I can't wait to see some of my best friends after Christmas. And hopefully I'll have a chance to meet our good friends little princess, who was born on this Monday. And I wanna play in the snow.. I love snow. And chilly weather.

Well this was just a little update. Nothing much. Life is good.

Have a wonderful week.

This picture is from last weekend.
My old co-worker needed to take a couple photo for her school assignment.

It's The most wonderful time of The year.

2011-12-01T20:52:00.001-08:00

We've been enjoying really warm weather this last week. It's been up in high 70 (+25C). Today it cooled down little bit, colder winds came in town. I went for a run this morning and it was quite interesting experience with the super windy weather, a good work out with the resistance of the head wind I would say.. ;)

Our First Christmas preparation happened on Sunday afternoon, it was super warm outside and we decided to set up some lights. Simple, but cute. Our neighbors were inspired by us and yesterday they had some lights up too( true story, I talked with the dad).

Later on that Sunday afternoon we headed up to get our Christmas tree. It was quite ironic. It was like 80 F (27 C) outside and we are getting a Christmas tree. We don't have whole a lot ornaments, but slowly we are adding them up every year. My favorite ornament is picture of my hubby, when he was little.. ;)

I opened our couple Christmas boxes on Sunday too.. And started to make some decorations. I made this bottle of our used lemonade bottle. A white Spray paint and Epsom-salt. A little piece of white Christmas.

These are made with the same technique.

Tonight I decided to try to bake some Peppermint White Chocolate Meringues. They turned out ok. I dipped some of them in chocolate. To be honest I'm not the biggest fan of meringue, but I wanted to try anyways, because I saw a cute picture of them in one magazine. And last week I did a good meringue-baking, so maybe I'm starting to like it more.

I did also tonight a little wreath for us. Really simple, but you know.. I'm a simple girl. I was inspired by this wreath.

Okay, I think it's time to go to sleep. But before it.. I'm so glad it's finally December. I hope these days are gonna fly by.. and soon we are on the airplane heading out to my sweet homeland. I must admit, I'm beyond excited about it..

Hope you are having a good week.. And even better weekend.

Time to give thanks.

2011-11-24T20:07:00.001-08:00

It's my second Thanksgiving here in States. It's not a tradition in Finland. Even though couple years ago we had a sweet little dinner for Thanksgiving with my friends, but it wasn't really normal American dinner. I can't even remember what we served.. But we did have some turkey, thanks to our American friend Matt. Anyways. Below you are able to see few pictures from our this year's thanksgiving-celebration.

Yesterday I went to the older sister's(the girls I nanny) school to watch their Turkey Trot race. It was a new thing to me. All the different grades had their turns to chase the turkey ( track and field-runners from local college near by, they were dressed as a turkey). And only one third grader was able to catch the turkey's feather. Kids loved it. My hubby used to go to the same school back in the days and he did it too every year.. Fun traditions.

Yes, We are house-sitting this week as I told in my earlier post. And I think we are doing really good with those chickens. Well to be honest I'm more like a cheerleader, when hubby chases them ;)

Today we went over Mom's for thanksgiving-meal. My sister-in-law did most of the cooking, she's super amazing at it. And us others did little things. Hubby was charge of the mashed potatoes, he did great.

It was such a delicious dinner. Yammy.

I was charge of the dessert. And I ended up baking an apple pie. I'm not a baker. But it turned out to be the best apple pie I've ever eaten. Okay, I'm not a pie lover, so I don't usually even eat pies. But anyways. If you ever need a good recipe.. Check this Pioneer Woman's recipe. If I can do it.. You can do it too.

Now we are watching Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving episode with hubby. I'm learning new things about Thanksgiving. Pilgrims etc..

I have a tomorrow off too, which is great. I'm planning to go for a hike tomorrow morning. Today was a gorgeous weather, even though it was suppose to rain.. So I believe tomorrow is going to be even prettier. And then later on we are going over for dinner to my hubby's dad's place. Looking forward to it. Oh tomorrow is Black Friday too, which means big sales in stores. But.. I don't really care about them. I rather go shopping, when it's all nice and quiet :)

And just to conclude.. I have so many reasons to be thankful. I'm so blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving.

P.s. Now I can officially start to decorate for Christmas.. Only one month to go. I can't wait to have a white Christmas in a winter wonderland with my family.

Loving the rainy day.

2011-11-20T19:39:00.000-08:00

I love rainy days. I just realized it recently. I love to wear my yellow rain coat and put my yellow rain boots on. And I also love being at home. So I don't have bad conscience to stay at home on a rainy day and do nothing. When it is a sunny day, I just feel like I need to be outside. The Finnish mindset, I guess.

So today was a perfect rainy day. I got to wear my rain gear and it made me happy. Side note.. If you don't like rainy days, maybe you should get some new fun rain gear.. And you might start liking those rainy days more. It worked for me at least. I went downtown and ran a few errands. And I also got to have a lunch with my sweet friend. Then on my way home I rented a movie and we started watching it with hubby. I ended up not liking the movie, so I started doing other things.

You know.. I'm so stoked. My hubby got me a sweetest little desk to our guest room. It's perfect for crafting. My sewing machine is still in the box, maybe next weekend I'll take it out. So I was inspired by my new desk and did quite a few crafts this weekend.

Few of my projects from this weekend..

One of my projects this weekend was making holiday-coasters. Such an easy and quick thing to do.
I found the tutorial from here.

I also made a little wedding card album. I used some craft-supplies that I had as leftovers from our wedding.
I got the idea from here.

I listened to my first Christmas songs yesterday.. But I'm gonna wait till next weekend to take the Christmas decorations out. Did I tell you in my last post, that I bought some Peppermint barks for Christmas? Well I did buy two boxes of them like a week ago. I should have known better than that. I don't have any left. I can't blame it on my hubby or anyone else.. It was me who ate most of those. I just couldn't resist the temptation. It's just the best Christmas treat. And yes.. Two boxes.

Thanksgiving is going to be next Thursday. We are staying in town. And we are actually gonna house-sit almost the whole week for a family I know through my job. They have a little cute dog too.. And three chickens. Yes, I haven't ever taken care of chickens. But luckily my hubby had many of them when he was younger, so he can be in charge of them ;) And the funny story is that after I promised to housesit for the family. Their neighbor called and asked, if we could take care of their chickens too. I almost started laughing and just said.. Sure, why not. I thought they had few. I went by their place the other day. So the other family has three.. But the neighbors have TWENTY THREE. Isn't that so funny. It was hard not to laugh, when I saw how many they had. So yes.. I'll be chasing after some chickens next week.

Well, I better go. Hubby made some delicious dinner.

Have a blessed week.

A little photo update.

2011-11-14T07:13:00.000-08:00

It's been a little while since I have updated my blog. The weather has been a little colder and I have had a good reason to wear warm clothes and Uggs. Especially the mornings and evenings are chillier.

Our home and the most beautiful maple tree.

I enjoy the holiday-season. It's not quite yet the time to take out Christmas-stuff. My hubby said I should wait till Thanksgiving.. Which is right around the corner. After it I can start to decorate for Christmas. One of my favorite treats here during the holiday-season is all kinds of peppermint-things. Peppermint Ice-cream, PM hot chocolate and Peppermint bark( tumma- ja valkosuklaata kerroksittain, paalla piparminttu-murskaa). They are so delicious. I feel like we don't have peppermint the same way back at home.

I bought the other day peppermint bark for Christmas, because it was such a good deal. Yes, I was planning to save it for Christmas. You know some foods just don't taste the same, if it's not the right time and place to eat it. I was hoping it to happen.. But no. It was so delicious. And after one bite I might have taken another bite.

This Christmas-season's first peppermint hot chocolate.

Because of the time change.. It's almost dark already by the time I get back home from work. So I can't really do runs after works. I've been also so lazy. Only 1-2 jogs a week. It's always worth it. But It's hard get out from the warm bed especially in the mornings. But I did it on one of the mornings this week.. It was chilly. It was first time since the last Spring that I was wearing running pants instead of shorts, I also had long sleeve shirt and even a jacket. After first ten minutes I was all good, but the first minutes.. Felt like I was back in Arctic circle ;) This time I took my phone with me and snapped few photos. I jogged my normal short run, which takes me to the pretty beach and back home.

Usually I don't stop during my jogging. But that morning I was gazing out to the ocean and saw dolphins swimming. I decided to sat down for few minutes and watched the dolphins playing together. It was the sweetest time. So peaceful.

I've been also little bit more crafty lately, which makes me happy. And we even got me a sewing machine this last weekend. At the moment it's still in the box. I have to try to find some kind of desk for it before I'll take it out. And the other night my sister in law reminded me also how to knit.. It's been like ten years since I've done those things. It was fun. Even my hubby wanted to knit. I was so impressed. He did such an amazing job.

Well it's time to wrap up. This was just a little photo update. Hope you guys are enjoying the Fall. Maybe reading some good books, lit some candles and get a cozy blanket. It sounds like a perfect rainy day to me.

Hope you all have a wonderful week.

P.s. I also added two photos from last night. We went over to my hubby's brother's place. Good times.

Just in case someone decided that I look like a preggo in this pic.
No, this is not the announcement. It's just a loose shirt.

A date night.

2011-11-01T21:16:00.001-07:00

We try to have a date night once a week. Recently it's been on Tuesday-nights. It works out well. Sometimes we just make dinner together and watch some movie at home or then we go out and do something. Tonight I really felt like eating Chicken Satay. So we ended up going to our favorite Thai-restaurant. I think Thai-food is my favorite kind of food out here.

Thai-food for Dinner

After dinner we just went for a little walk at the pier.

Something simple. But so good. Loved the little date.

Halloween.

2011-10-31T20:45:00.001-07:00

Super active October.

2011-10-29T21:58:00.000-07:00

I just realized that I've been updating my blog so much this month. Seven times. Maybe I've been updating it more, because I haven't been at FB. Maybe not. I just decided to do one more update about this week. So here we go, Few stories from this week.

Do you remember when I told you few weeks ago about my new sweet friend? I got to celebrate her birthday with her on Monday night at one of my favorite restaurants(Zaytoon). Good times.

We went for a walk at the beach on Thursday. We ended up meeting two new friends. This Dog named Lollipop and her owner, sweet old grandpa. The little one is obsessed with dogs, so she was so happy when Lollipop and also the owner were friendly. She loved playing with the dog. In this photo she's looking for the tennis ball, that the dog was trying to hide.

Funny story. After we got back from the beach. I almost broke one of my toes. My phone accidentally slipped from my hand and hit one of my toes. Ouch. It was bleeding a lot and my nail is gone. Well.. I believe my toe saved my phone. Luckily it wasn't broken.. Because I think broken phone would have been smaller thing to worry. Anyways. Funny story.

This smoothie is from this morning. Banana-blueberrie smoothie.

I've been graving smoothies these last weeks. I do them at home or then I'll go to Blenders.
I think I could drink them on every meal.

Pinterest. Still loving it. So many good ideas.
I think i wanna buy a sewing machine.

Okay. So just few pictures from this week. Adios.

Loving the Fall-weather.

2011-10-29T21:14:00.000-07:00

I can't deny it. We had the most beautiful fall day. After a lazy morning we biked down to the beach with hubby. It takes only 10 minutes to bike there from our place.

We met our friends at the beach. They brought their standup-paddle-boards with them. It's been awhile since my last SUP-time. Last time the ocean was so rough, so I barely stood up. This time we had the perfect condition, water was calm, so clear.. Such a beautiful day. I went out with my friend and it was so much fun. We were able to catch up at the same time awhile we were paddling.

When we were leaving back home.. We realized my back tire was somehow flat. Luckily we didn't live too far away. So we just ended up walking back home with my hubby.

I ran bunch of errands today. I did some returns, went to pick up photos (it's so rare nowadays.. developing photos I mean), took our camera for cleaning, bank and Michael's Craft store. I could spend there hours. Every time I'll go there I'm remembered that I should have a list what I need with me. Because it's overwhelming. I love that store.

My hubby is at some birthday party(only for guys) and I was suppose to have a crafty night tonight.. But somehow I ended up watching few Finnish shows online. I'm positive, that I wouldn't watch those shows, If I would live in Finland. At the moment I'm watching some real life show about Finnish Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. Quite funny. Not the show... but the thing, that I'm watching it. Btw. I can't wait to visit that airport in couple months.

Hmm. Halloween is around the corner. In two days. I believe this has been pretty crazy party weekend in town. We don't really celebrate Halloween. The pumpkin I made last weekend.. Was rotten this morning. It was covered with all kinds of bugs. Too sad.

Well hubby came back home. Time to wrap up.

Hope you are all having a great weekend.

p.s. The weather doesn't look too bad over here..

This is how it looks like back home.. They are having record warm Fall this year, as you can see.. ;)

P.p.s. I think I'm gonna activate my FB-profile again. It's hard to keep contact with some of my friends, that I'd really like to. Well with most of my friends.. Because they live far away from here. I don't have to use it that often.. But I think it will make life little bit easier at least :)

I heart the weekend.

2011-10-22T19:58:00.000-07:00

Today we had a day with no plans. My hubby ended up waking up super early and he headed south with his friend to do some lobster-diving. He got couple of lobsters, so happy for him. Too bad I'm not super stoked about sea-food. He decided to give them out to our neighbor who is a chef.. And it turned out that our neighbor actually invited us over for dinner to eat it. Well my husband went by.. I stayed at home writing this blog. He just sent me a photo of their dinner. It looks.. well something that my husband would enjoy to eat.

Awhile hubby was gone this morning.. I went to run some errands. Farmers market was good. So many people, colorful vegetables, bunch of different fruits, flowers, live music etc..

I also went by my old work place. I saw many of my old co-workers, so fun. And the Christmas-stuff was out. I remember working there last Christmas-season. I enjoyed it, even though it was crazy busy. My visit at the store made me kind of miss the time that I worked there. In a weird way.

After my hubby came home, we ended up having a nice, relaxing day together. Took a nap, cleaned around the house and just relaxed.. I decided to carve our pumpkin today. I got a good idea from Pinterest, instead of normal thin I used star-cookie cutter and hammer. I like it a lot. I also roasted those pumpkins-seeds. First timer. They were good, except they tasted little bit like burned popcorn. Hah. At least I tried.

I also baked today. S'mores bars.

If you are wondering what S'mores are, here is an explanation from Wikipedia. A s'more (sometimes spelled smore) is a traditional nighttime campfire treat popular in the United States and Canada consisting of a roasted marshmallow and a layer of chocolate sandwiched between two pieces of graham cracker.

They were so delicious. So instead of doing the whole camp-fire deal I baked them in oven. Made the dough with butter, eggs, sugar, salt, baking soda, graham crackers plus some other ingredients. And also layers of Hershey's chocolate and Fluff-marshmallow spread. Oh boy. You should try those. Here is the link to the recipe, if you are interested.

I'm about to finish this text. Hubby is still over at neighbors. I'm planning to grab some good book and read. Last night we watched together a movie called A Better life. It was really good. It was a story about an illegal Mexican Immigrant, who came to CA to pursue American dream. The movie was eye-opening to me. I think I'll see differently now the people who are waiting to get picked next to my hubby's work to do labor-work. There are tons of Hispanic-men each morning. And each of them have their own story.

As I told in my earlier blog-text, we went down to Mexico last weekend. It was a good trip. My favorite thing was to go visit girls orphanage, well it wasn't really an orphanage. It was more like a home. Parents and fifteen girls plus few helpers. I loved it. I wished I could speak some Spanish. I'm planning to learn it next. Maybe I should get the Rosetta Stone-course. Too bad they don't have one for Finnish language. My hubby wants to learn it.. And I'm not really good teacher. Last night before we went to sleep I tried to teach him some. Most likely he doesn't remember them anymore. But it's okay. Slowly.

My hubby and I in Mexico last weekend.

I hope you all having a relaxing weekend.

Viva la weekend.

2011-10-13T15:50:00.000-07:00

I came down with a cold. And it's 90F outside. Not a good combination.

At work..

I was at work today and as I told earlier, it's up in the mountains where I work at. So it's at least 10F warmer up there usually. And the family doesn't have AC, so I was boiling. Luckily it worked out well and I got off early today. It's been a long work week. I started it on Sunday with two overnights with the girls. 50 hours shift. The little girl got a cold just the night before, so it was even more fun. My hubby was able to hang out with us girls quite a lot, so it made it more fun. It was also really helpful to have him there.

On Sunday we went to Pumpkin Patch with the girls. It was fun.

So the little girl had a cold.. It means that I have it now too. I don't usually get sick at all. So now I feel like a "needy" little girl. Luckily my hubby has been taking extra good care of me.

We are gonna drive down to Mexico tonight for the weekend. Should be fun.

Picture from last night. There were so many people hanging out at the beach during the sunset-time. Felt like summer.

Have a great weekend.

Raindrops.

2011-10-12T21:19:00.000-07:00

I was just driving home little awhile ago on the freeway. I thought about life. I was overwhelmed with peace and happiness. Those moments have been too rare lately.

Well I think often times I don't pay attention to the little things that makes me happy. Somehow I have a mindset that my life is pretty miserable, that I just have to make sacrifices after sacrifices because I live so far away from "home". But it's not true. I think the problem has been that I've been focusing too much to myself.

When I start to think about my life. I'm beyond blessed. So Eeva... Better stop complaining. You are one lucky girl.

I came across this quote yesterday. I think it's describes perfectly my life at the moment.

Everybody wants happiness

nobody wants pain

but you can't have a rainbow

without a little rain.

I feel like it's been a rainy season in my life. But I know the rain will stop and the rainbow will come out. And rainbows are beautiful.

I've been listening this song quite often during last months. I don't think you are able to listen it right at the spot, but it gives you a link so you can listen it in Youtube.

And while it still might be raining.. I need to remember this quote.

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass,
it's about learning how to dance in the rain."

A rainy day

2011-10-05T11:52:00.001-07:00

Some thoughts.

2011-10-04T22:15:00.000-07:00

October. Only two more months until December. It makes me happy.

The Fall. I enjoy crispy weather in the mornings. I like having warm clothes on and wearing beanie. It makes me happy. Can't wait to go to Finland and dress up all cozy and bunch of different layers on. Hah. I guess.. You want what you can't have. If I would be living in Finland now.. I would be dreaming about warm, sunny California ;)

It's suppose to rain tomorrow. I'm so excited. It hasn't rain in weeks. I have new bright yellow rain boots.. And I can't wait to put them on tomorrow morning.

We were camping last weekend next to a beautiful beach. Boys went surfing and I spent time at the beach. So warm. I Got sunburned. Didn't think sun is so strong still. Couldn't sleep on that tent, so much noises, so uncomfortable pad. Came back home after first night. I always thought I could sleep anywhere, not this time. But I did enjoye being in nature. Ocean fascinates me. Even though It makes me scared. The waves are so strong. The current. I Don't know how it works. But.. I like watching the ocean. I like swimming in the ocean when it's warm and turquoise blue like in Vanuatu or Australia.

A big decision. I deleted my Facebook-profile. You know. I've done it quite a few times. But I believe.. This time I'm not going back. I have a love-hate relationship with FB. Facebook has played a big role in the beginning of our relationship. I don't know if I would be here without it. I love how I can easily see what my family is up to, it makes me feel I'm little bit closer to them. I love how I can keep contact with my friends from back home and from some other places too. You can easily see what everyone is up to and see the newest pictures.

I hate it, because I have spent there way too many hours during these over four years I've been there. It's addictive. You always wanna check out if there is something new.. If someone send you a message or comment. Or if someone liked your new photo. So silly. I don't like it because it shares too much information with other people. Your friend's friends know now what's going on with you. Well it does tell you that they have all the rights to your pictures, information when you sign up. But still. You don't really think about it. At least I didn't. I think overall. Too much information. Well I did have the really strict privacy settings.. but I felt like I knew way too much about other people lives.. You know you go to your friends profile.. And then you click on a new link and the things goes on.

It's maybe only me. But I have spent way too many hours over there. And I feel often times it makes me anxious. I love being updated. You can find out so many things from Facebook. In a good and bad way. People read your wall and make own assumptions. A good example is this.. Few weeks ago my friend wrote to my wall that she's so happy and stoked. People started sending me inbox messages and asking if I'm preggo. Just because of that one comment. Well, My friend was excited about our trip to Finland. And I'm not pregnant. And if I would have been.. I don't think it would have been the way I would want to announce it.

Can you imagine.. But there has been actually a time before FB. Well before that Myspace was pretty popping. It's kind of crazy how those social medias have taken over our lives. And it's so normal. Hmm.

I'm still able to be in touch with my closest friends/family. It might take more effort, but.. It's worth it. Lately I've been really enjoying texting with some of my closest friends from back home. I have a free texting/calling app in my phone. I feel like I'm little bit closer to them. I find my ways.

I hope I can now but the "extra-time" somewhere else. I know there is always a new thing. I'm in love with Pinterest-website, so fun. But it's different than FB. It inspires me to be more creative. I love being creative, doing crafts. Just recently I started doing it more. There was a season that I just couldn't do it. I didn't have any inspiration. I just felt like blob. But recently I've been feeling like.. I'm more alive.

Well. These were just few thoughts I had on my head. And don't get me wrong. Facebook can be a really good thing, if you know how to use it right. And don't spend too many hours over there. And your only social life is not just in FB. Just take care of your privacy-settings and be careful what you share there with 500 of your closest friends.. ;)

I'm not quite sure, If I'm gonna have people reading this blog.. Because I don't have the link in Facebook anymore. But it's okay. Maybe there is still someone.. I know at least some of my family members.. And my friend Jutta ;) It would be nice, if you could leave a comment after you have finished reading this..

Have a blessed week.

Little something.

2011-09-28T20:52:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was a perfect summer day. We went to the beach for a little bit. The ocean was surprisingly warm. Last night was warm too. We ended up trying out a cute little pizzeria near by our home. It was so warm outside, so we were able to eat the dinner at the patio.

Today was more like one of those fall-days. Except at my work. I work on the mountains, so it's usually much nicer weather up there. So I put a dress on to my little girl before we headed down to run some errands. Brreezy weather. Luckily I had my sweater in the car for her ;)

I enjoy Fall-time so much. I especially love cozy evenings at home. Some candles, a good book, some music on the background and maybe some snacks. No agenda. Just relaxing.

Better to go continue doing it.

Lazy weekend.

2011-09-25T17:50:00.000-07:00

Yes.. The Fall is here. The marine layer has been spending way too much time over our town lately. Hopefully this coming week is going to be super pretty. I do enjoy the trees at fall time. In our street there are only two trees that have colorful reddish yellowish leafs. And they are at right front of our home. I'm so happy about it. So pretty.

My hubby has been out of town this weekend and I have had the laziest weekend in a long time. It felt good after a super long workweek. But at the same time, I feel like I should have been doing something else than just being lazy. Well I did few things..

My highlights of this weekend..

On Friday-night I started watching the newest season of Grey's Anatomy. Ah, I love that show. It's pretty much the only thing from TV that I watch. Well we don't have cable, so I watch it online.

A good morning jog on Saturday-morning. I just love running.

Skyping with my sisters. I also skyped with my friend Jonna.

Communicating with my friend Tiia via Whatsup Iphone-app.

Having a dinner on Saturday-night with a new friend, whom I just met randomly last week.

Making raspberry white chocolate ice-cream from scratch.

I did do some shopping yesterday too, but I'm not really into shopping.. So it wasn't my highlights. I've been doing little organizing and cleaning, which I'm suppose to finish right after this blog writing.. We'll see how it goes.

I can't wait to have my hubby back tonight. I miss him a lot. And also.. I don't really like being at home by myself. I feel more secure when he's here. Just his presence makes me feel more safe.

And I wrap up this with a funny story. I started doing the raspberry ice-cream last night. I haven't ever made ice-cream from scratch only with the mixture-thing. Anyways. I started mixing the yolks with sugar and then I added the warm milk.. But I wasn't really sure what all those english words were.. So instead of slowly adding the milk to the mixture, I pretty much did all in one.. And when was time to heat up the custard... It looked little odd. Well I wasn't sure how it was suppose to look like. So I still put it to the fridge to cool down. I tasted it. And couldn't figure out what was the flavor. Then I read some other instructions online.. And I realized that instead of custard I ended up making sweetened scrambled eggs. It was the funniest thing. Well I didn't give up. I tried again today. And it's so good. Can't wait for my hubby to taste it.

I hope you all have a great week.

Hakuna Matata.

2011-09-15T21:51:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have those days when you just wish the time would fly by but it doesn't, it just goes by even slower... It was my kind of day today. At work I had a little moody girl to hang out with.. And then suddenly I realized.. I was moody too.. Wait.. Maybe I was the one, who was moody first and she became moody because of me.. Not quite sure. But I decided that personally I'm gonna be on a much better mood tomorrow.. Maybe the time will actually fly by. I also realized when I stop watching the time.. It goes by faster. My little Ahaa-moments of the day.

Today we were listening Pandora's (note to European people: An online-radio, kind of like Usa's Spotify) Disney-channel with my little friend. And randomly it started to play Hakuna matata from the Lion King-movie. I was singing it, but I was too stressed to think about the lyrics of the song. When I finally got home.. I tried to think where to start my long to do-list. My hubby was gone overnight for his work, so I was just by myself. After some cleaning I decided to run some errands and also go to Michael's (a big craft store, little touch of heaven..) to get some stuff for my little projects. I drove down our street and was about to head to the freeway. Then I saw the most beautiful sunset. I couldn't miss it. So I changed my plan and turned around. I went to get my favorite hot chocolate from Coffee Beans and drove to my favorite beach.. And had the best time. The sun was just setting, waves were crashing the shore, so peaceful.. I started hymning.. Hakuna Matata, It means no worries for the rest of your days.. And I felt like after I stopped worrying and thinking about too much things and to do-lists.. Life seemed so much more easier and enjoyable.

A little shot from tonight. The Butterfly beach

Sometimes we need to take breaks and just enjoy of the moment.. The to-do lists can wait. I personally think about too much things. And I know in a way it's a good attribute. But on the other side, it can make life pretty miserable. Worrying doesn't really help or make things better. And my hubby has the careless Hakuna Matata-attitude pretty much 24-7.. So it's an interesting combination. I guess we balance each others. I help him to sometimes think about some things more.. and he helps me to relax more often. So in a way I guess it's a perfect combination.

Awhile I was walking at the beach tonight I was reminded how blessed I am.

Sometimes I forget it. Well to be honest.. I often forget it.

It's good to be reminded of it.

Hakuna Matata!

P.s. We've been dreaming about having a white Christmas this year. It was almost impossible dream, because I have had already so much time off from my work. So I didn't wanna ask anymore. But finally I decided I'm not gonna loose anything If I ask.. So I asked about it this Monday. And the Answer was: Sure.. I got so stoked and just few hours later we bought tickets to Finland for Christmas. We found a good deal, we even get to have a day in London on our way to Finland. So perfect.

Fall.. Please wait a little bit longer.

2011-09-07T08:16:00.000-07:00

I was so positive that Fall is here already, when we had few chillier days last week. But this week started with beautiful warm, sunny days. So summer will go on here for a little bit longer. Many people say, that the September is the best month, prettiest weather too. So far, so good.

August just flew by. We went to Florida to visit my hubby's relatives and we had the best time. I love spending time with his relatives, I always feel so welcomed and loved. As weather wise, summer time is not the best time to visit FL. Hot, Humid and Stormy. But if I would have just been thinking about weather, home would have been the best place to vacation. I actually did enjoy those thunderstorms. Thunders, Lightnings and rain pouring down.

My really good friend from back home and her husband stayed with us at Uncle's place for couple of days. It was so much fun. Then we headed together to our friend's wedding. I was so so happy to be part of her big day. It was good to hang out with the girls night before the wedding. And see her walking down the isle and marrying her best friend. It was so precious.

After we came back from East Coast, my other really good friend came to stay with us for two weeks. It was so much fun. I really enjoyed it. I spoke so much Finnish.. so it effected of my abilities to speak English. I was mumbling so much.. But it was worth it. Awhile she was here, I needed to work, which was kind of bummer. But at the same time we were able to pick her up to hang out with us.. We went together to the pool, zoo, beach etc.. So not too bad. We also had a chance to make a little road trip up the highway 1 to San Francisco. The views were breathtaking on our way up. We hang out in San Fran with one of Bailey's friends and it was fun. He showed us places, what we wouldn't have usually seen. But we also got to see the must see tourist-things. Too bad, it was foggy the whole time.. We were barely able to see the Golden Gate Bridge.

Oh, we also went to try drive-in movie for the first time here in town, it was much fun. We thought it's gonna be packed, but for the longest time we were the only car there. It was fun.

Well my friend went back home last weekend. I was sad. I was so used to have a friend to hang out with all the time. Well I do have my hubby, but it's different to have a girl as your friend. And also someone who has known you for long time and knows where you come from and sees your struggles etc.. It was so encouraging to have her here.

Hmm.. Well Now is Wednesday-evening. Today has been a super warm day. Especially at work. I work on the mountains and it gets usually around 10F warmer up there. The house was just boiling. Besides the heat I had a good day. When I got to work this morning, my little friend came to sit on my lap and just started to stare at me and had the biggest smile on her face. The cutest thing. After work today I drove straight to the pool and took a quick dip at the pool.. So refreshing.

Well.. I think t's time to go to sleep. I think because it's been such a hot day.. I really wanted some lemonade. My hubby just came home a little while ago after a long day of work. I just mentioned him that I wish we would have some lemonade. Few minutes later I had some lemonade.. He made it from the scratch. And it was better than the store ones. So good. p.s. It didn't even come to my mind, that I could easily do it.

Anyways. I hope you all have a great week.

A sweet summer day

2011-08-02T22:37:00.000-07:00

Today has been the perfect summer day. So nice and warm. I had a long day at work, but it didn't bother me. This is the first week of the summer, that I'm taking care of both girls. If you didn't know, I work as a nanny. I think it's the perfect job for me at the moment. I take care of a little 1,5 year old girl full-time. I love my job. The family I work for is super nice & so welcoming. The little girl has an older sister, who is 7 years old. Most of the time she's at school or now during the summer at different summer camps.. So I don't really look after her. Hmm Summer camps.. It's a little weird thing to me. I'm used to go to like one camp during the summer when I was a kid, not like every week to different day-camps.. I'm sure it's not the same case with all families over here.. But I think summer camps are much more common over here.

Well Anyways.. Time just flew by at work today. It's fun to have the older sister with us. The girls love playing together. The little sister adores the older one. After lunch we headed to the pool and we had the best time. We had the big pool all to ourselves and the girls loved playing in the water.. I didn't mind it either. I also decided, that we are coming back there few more times this week ;) Yesterday we went to the beach.. But it wasn't really relaxing, so many people, too much sand ( the little one loves eating sand and she's covered with sand every time.. ) etc.. So today was just so perfect.

After work I was planning to go to do a little shopping.. But I'm glad it didn't happen. We decided to go trail running instead. We headed to Cold Springs trail, which is pretty steep. So we hiked/ran up the hill and admired the views for a little bit. You can see the whole city/ocean/other mountains from there, so pretty. And then we ran the trail down. I love the little adrenaline rush you'll get awhile running down the steep trail. You have two options.. Running or falling.. Stopping is not the option, because you are going down too fast. Love it. And overall it's really pretty trail, amazingly beautiful nature, birds singing, you can hear the creek etc.. Only negative thing is snakes. I heard there are quite a few rattle snakes. So on times when I hear some noises I get scared.. Usually it's just a little lizard or squirrel. Today we saw a tiny little snake, but hubby said it wasn't dangerous one.. But you never know..

Anyway, our hike/run was a good little work out. I always feel better after I've exercised. It does also have a mental effect to me.. Most of the time I'm just too lazy to do anything. But when I do... Loving the feeling afterwords. Last Monday I went for a run in the morning and it was the sweetest run in a long time. I decided to do just a small run, but somehow I just got so excited about it and time flew by. I ran to the beach from our home and took my shoes off and ran barefoot at the beach for a long time and loved it. I loved hearing and seeing the ocean, seeing the little dogs on their morning runs, happy morning people passing by... I think it was the best way to start my day. The rest of the day I was just feeling really energized. And the next day pretty sore. Hah. It happens.

Anyways.. Tonight after our run we decided to make a pizza. And this is the funniest thing. Just few posts ago, I was telling how it's so funny, that Americans use pre-made Pizza dough and it's "the home made pizza". Well... I actually used Trader Joe's wheat pizza dough today. And it was pretty good. I can see why people use it. It's faster and not as messy.. So yea, I did do some home made tuna-pineapple pizza tonight and it was delicious. And I believe I'll use the pre-made pizza dough in future too. Haha.

So yea, life is good. It's been a while since I posted my last text. I think about posting a new text almost every week. But somehow it's such a challenge to actually write it. I used to write a blog in Finnish and it was so easy. So I guess it's the language barrier. But maybe there is a day in the future.. That I'll get over it. Anyways.. I wrote in my last blog about my trip back home. It was really good. I loved hanging out with my family. I was able to see all of them. My older brother got married. He had such a beautiful wedding. I'm so happy i was able to be witnessing it. It was also really good to see some of my friends etc.. Time flew by. But at the same time.. I was happy to come back home. Mixed Feelings. My friend just wrote this other day as her Fb-status and I agree with it. Two home countries, two histories, two identities, two groups of people that are important to you. When you're in one, you miss the other one. It's a constant longing, a bittersweet restlessness in your heart that never quite settles.

Daddy's girls. P.s. Yes.. I have 8 sisters.. And our only brother got married..

I feel like this summer has been quite full of ups and downs. I've had many great days... And also really hard days. I feel like I'm not able to make it through those hard days. I've been struggling with things, I thought I'm done with already. But I guess it's part of living life. So it's been interesting. I've been super anti-social. I feel like I'm not able to communicate in English, so I'm just quiet and rather stay at home. It's frustrating. There are days I'm just loosing it. I'm just crying to my husband, what the heck I'm doing here. Why this needs to be so hard. But then there are days, that I'm just overflowing happiness and I couldn't think a better place to be. I know I'm here for a reason. I married the most wonderful person. Sometimes I might forget it. It doesn't mean that I wouldn't love him. Hmm.. it might me be disease called home sickness or then I just have an Eeyore-day.

Well, Well, Well. My husband has had a super busy summer with his summer surf camps. And this week is the last week of those. I'm so proud of him. He has done such an amazing job. He is so natural with those surfer kids. He's able to connect with them, have fun.. and ride some waves. I know, it's his dream job at the moment.. And he is super stoked, that he's able to do it. To start something new.. To take a step to the unknown. Sometimes it's a needed step. To take a step off from your comfort zone and head to new adventures, not knowing what the future is gonna bring. I think If you don't ever take the step.. You'll just stay where you are. It might be okay for you. But I know it hasn't been enough for me. When you step out from your comfort zones.. It's definitely an exciting adventure with ups and downs. Not boring. So worth it.

So yes, it's the last week of the summer camps.. And we get to have a vacation next week together. We are going to Florida for my really good friend's wedding. She's a Finnish girl marrying a guy from FL.. I'm stoked that we are able to go witness their wedding. We are also able to visit my husband's relatives at the same trip. I think they are one of the nicest people I've met. So excited about seeing them again. I believe the weather is gonna be hot and humid.. But maybe I'll survive. I get to come back to sweet SB after the time in FL. I really do believe this is a sweet paradise, where I live. So Blessed. I'm also super stoked about the thought, that after we come back from FL, my really good friend from Finland is visiting us. It's gonna be such a sweet time of fellowship, so looking forward to it.

So yes, Life is good.

Hope you are all having a great week.

June Gloom.

2011-06-09T21:41:00.000-07:00

As I'm starting to write this, I'm finishing my dinner at the same time. I got so carried away by cleaning and doing laundry so my dinner was delayed. It has been one of those evenings when my husband has been away. I saw him briefly after work. I went to help him to do some administrative stuff at his work (which I enjoy doing a lot). It was our time together today. I actually enjoy the evenings when I'm at home just by myself. Sometimes I rent a movie and just eat some goodies.. Or then I try to be effective and do stuff like cleaning.. It happens rarely. But it happened today. And I really enjoyed of it. And I knew it also made my husband happy. Coming to clean home after super long tiring day.. One of the ways I can show my love. Actually usually we clean together. Well he does dishes and I do some other things.. It's how we roll ;) But not saying he wouldn't do any other kind of cleaning. He is nowadays pretty careful about organizing and throwing things away.. There might been a time when I couldn't find my stuff anymore.. In my eyes things are organized and in his eyes.. it looks messy. Hah.

Our clean bedroom.

So for tonight's dinner I ate leftover mashed potatoes and meat balls. So yammy. We made them other night. It has been a while that we have made a dinner at home.. We realized that our food is just going bad in our fridge. Not that we would have been eating out.. But I guess we just haven't been eating. And also recently we have had many fancy dinners for different occasions with our family and friends. So anyways. I tried to make a little bit more effort this week. Last Sunday I made pasta with lemon chicken. I found the recipe from internet and it turn out pretty good. Then I made some smoked salmon salad the other day.. And then we made the meal together.. I feel like I've been much active in kitchen this week. Yay.

The lemon chicken with pasta.

I'm so happy it's almost weekend. This week has felt like it lasts forever. I guess I'm just excited about going to visit my homeland, so it feels like time goes slower. I've been happy, when I've been thinking about my trip. I have to-do list for the trip.. and it has quite a few different things. But most important thing in the list is to find my passport.. Somehow it's always in some mysterious place when I really need it. I'm not really good at taking care of my stuff. At least once in a week I'm wondering where my rings are.. I've always found them... And I even bought a ring holder, but somehow it's so much easier to put the rings to some other place. Don't get me wrong. I'm so thankful for my husband, who gave me the most beautiful rings. But at the same time.. I'm not really into expensive, fancy things.. I'm a really simple girl. But I do love my rings.

Well.. I should wrap up now.. Maybe I'll write a new post later this weekend. But now my hubby got home . He already folded some of our laundry as I was writing this. So now time to go to sleep. Early morning tomorrow.. Then much anticipated weekend with no plans. Sounds too good.

"The picture-perfect" Platts aka awkward photo... Hah.

p.s. I just realized my subtitle was June gloom... And I didn't even write anything about it. Well It's officially here now.

Content.

2011-05-29T21:57:00.000-07:00

Yes.. I do feel content. I realized it couple weeks ago. I'm starting to feel like this is my home every day more and more. And it makes me so happy. And I know I've said this so many times.. But I'm so blessed. I get to live in the most beautiful city, I'm married to my best friend, I have wonderful in-laws, I have got many new friends, I enjoy my new job.. Life is good.

In my last blog I wrote about the Finnish ice-hockey craziness. And Yes, they ended up winning the world championships and beat Sweden 6-1 in the finales. And Finland went crazy. It was all over the news, people were partying so hard.. I guess ice-hockey is like American football over here or soccer in Southern America. And as I said, I'm not really into hockey and I don't even wanna watch the game.. Well to be honest.. Somehow I got excited and I listened the game online.. And I was so excited, when Finland made all those goals. I was shouting "MAAAALIIIIII" (a goal) so many times. Bailey wasn't at home. But he has got also some Finnish pride.. He said.. "Yes, We won the game." He's great. My little sister lives in Sweden at the moment and her roommate is Swedish.. My little sister is not into hockey.. So it was easier for her roommate who was really thankful that her roommate was the most humblest Finnish person.. But just for the record.. My sister goes to school over there and they have in the beginning of the class announcement time.. And she politely asked If the announcer could announce who won the ice hockey championship... So she got her moment ;)

As I told in my last blog-writing.. Wedding season is here. Last weekend we had my brother-in-law's wedding and it was such a beautiful wedding. My husband had an honor to marry them and he did such a great job. I'm so proud of him. Anyways. It was a fun wedding celebration and it was so good to see some relatives and friends. We also went to a wedding this Friday. One of Bailey's co-workers got married. What a beautiful and special ceremony they had and a fun party. People had so much fun at the dance floor.. And when I was watching them to dance, I was wondering.. Am I missing something because I'm not there.. I don't like dancing. Well actually I can't say I don't like.. But it's just something I don't do.. I guess it has something to do how I was raised up... I remember when I was like in fourth grade and we had one of those dance parties at school (limudisco ;) ). I didn't ever dance.. Well It's a lie. We did have some really creative Spice Girls-dance performances with our friends... u know It was a big hit back then. But I didn't dance with boys. And then my friends came to me and said that this one boy wants to dance with me.. You know what I did??? I ran away to the girls bathroom and started bawling.. "You can't force me to dance with him... ".. So I didn't ever dance with him. Or with any other guy.. Until I married my husband. It was actually the first dance ever, when I danced with him at our wedding. And I'm actually glad I didn't dance with anyone else. He is the best dance partner. He is so much fun... I just love him.

This video describes well why Finnish people and dancing don't go together.

So back to the weddings.. It's amazing how two people can be so well match made in Heaven. It's amazing to see how two people become one.. There is something so special about weddings. I'm always tearing up. We have a wedding also next weekend, so excited about for the sweet couple who is getting married. Then I get to go to Finland in couple weeks and go to celebrate my brother's wedding.. I think it's the wedding I'm most stoked about this summer. I get to see all my sisters and other family members and have fun with them. And of course celebrate my brother and my new sister-in-law :) I just can't wait. Last time when all of my family members were in a same place was in Fall 2008 when my younger sister Hanna got married. So it's exciting to have a new re-union. Even though we'll be missing my brother-in-law from UK and Bailey.. I'm just so excited to go visit Finland, see my family and friends and also meet my friends new babies, that I haven't seen yet. And it's gonna be so beautiful.. I love Finnish summer.

So many of us.. My little sister Hanna's wedding in Fall 2008. It's time for re-union.

It's a wedding season, but also time to have babies.. It was so funny.. I heard five days in a row from all the different people from different countries.. "I just wanna tell you, that we are getting a baby.." So cool. I think babies are so big miracles and it's just something so special. So congratulations for all the new moms and dads-to-be. We'll be in the same train too.. Some day.. Not quite yet though :)

And I totally forgot to tell that Bailey did really well with his half-marathon. I was bummed I couldn't run, when I saw all the people running.. But I'll have a new chance. It's a hard thing to get back running after a break.. And it's just something you gotta do. I actually started running pretty quick after the surgery. Which wasn't maybe the wisest decision, because I needed to take a break of it later for some weird complications. Now I'm all good.. I'm just too lazy to go to run.. Yesterday morning we went running together.. But we made it only down the street.. We just didn't feel like running.. So we decided instead we are gonna bike to the store.. Well actually we ended up driving there... So no work out yesterday. Which is okay. Maybe tomorrow.. Maybe not ;)

Well Anyways.. It's time to go to enjoy of the beautiful day.. Hope you all have a great coming week. Lots of sunshine, laughter and ice-cream! :)

Den glider in...

2011-05-15T10:07:00.000-07:00

Today is a big day for Finnish people. And the reason for it is the Ice hockey World Cup Championships, Finland is in finales. And they are playing against Sweden, Our "beloved" neighbor country. It's the dream finale. Finnish people are gonna be so stoked, if Finland wins.. but if we loose.. It's gonna be the worst possible team to loose for. To be honest, I don't really care about hockey. And I think Sweden is gonna win. But maybe it's only because... Somehow I have a mindset that if I don't expect too much, I'm not gonna be so disappointed, if it doesn't happen. And if it actually happens, I'll be so happy. So I think it's a win-win-deal. But I know it's not. I don't think it's good to have that kind of mindset. Maybe it is some kind of a defensive mechanism. And I think it has something to do with my past. So I guess I use it to "protect" myself, but actually I'll be missing out many things. First of all, it's more negative attitude than positive.. And second of all.. If I don't have bigger expectations, I'm not gonna see bigger things to happen.

Good example of this was the last time when I travelled to Finland in February. My flight was so many hours late at LAX. First it was delayed like two hours, then hour more, then three hours more etc.. And I was so bummed. Only thing I wanted to do was go to Finland, for sure I didn't wanna spend my night at the LAX. Every once in a while I chatted with some other younger people. And I was telling that the flight is not gonna leave in many hours. Then the one guy from Israel got almost mad at me. "Why are you having such a negative attitude. It doesn't help. You have to expect the best things to happen and speak it out." So I kind of realized that well even though I would be right and the plane wouldn't leave in next 5 hours.. There is no need to say those negative things, because it's gonna bring other people down. So maybe I should just try to enjoy of my time here at the airport. Finally we were able take off after midnight and I was so stoked.. But I think it was cool. that I was able to learn something from it.

Well.. It's a learning process. And my husband has been helping me too. He has told me so many times, that I should expect good and bigger things to happen. He tells me, that I deserve only the best. And for sure, I think he is the best thing. I'm just so blown away. How can there be a guy, who loves me so much the way I am.. And makes me feel so valuable, beautiful and precious. Every day he reminds me, how he loves me and how beautiful I am. He is my best friend. I have so much fun with him. I can share with him the best moments, but also the hardest times. And the list goes on. I'm such a lucky girl. I did get the best husband. And you know, I was just thinking the other day that it's kind of silly thing to say.. But after we passed our first year mark as a married couple.. It's been so much better and easier. Every day it's just getting better and I'm falling love with him more and more. For sure we are gonna have obstacles, but those are just gonna make us a stronger team. You know.. The one day before our first anniversary.. Just something happened and my husband had a really hard time. And it was hard for me too. Then I just went out by myself and had a little quiet time. I was actually just driving around and praying. I just realized how It's not just his trial but we are in this together. I'm gonna stand by his side and be his best supporter. It was a new level, where we weren't before it.. And it made me love him even more. And in future we are gonna have more hard times and for sure much harder than I could imagine. But we are in this together. He supports me, I support him.. We are a powerful team. I believe, we can get through anything.

This blog post turned out to be something else I planned. Well Actually I didn't have a plan. I've been just meaning to write a new post. I had a super long work week this week and I've been tired. I started a new job last week and this week I already worked over 40 hours. I'm taking care of a little princess, awhile her parents are working. At the moment, it's an ideal job for me. They are the nicest family and the little princess is so adorable. I get to enjoy of the beautiful weather too.. Go to parks, zoo, beach etc.. with her. So I'm really happy with it. But also this week I did my last shifts for the store I used to work. So I worked over 50 hours this week, which I'm not used to. But I survived. And I even went for a long run on Friday-afternoon after work. I was so tired, but after I got back home.. I felt great. Bails had a really busy week too, he's been doing long days too. He has been doing a lifeguard training this week, so he's been there all the evenings and also full day yesterday and today too. So we haven't really seen. We did go last night to eat out at Jill's place, which is a good local restaurant. And we eat some good steaks and mashed potatoes. I've just always liked it. But last night I realized I have had enough steaks for a while. I didn't think the day is ever gonna come. A new discovery.

I went also yesterday to my hubby's old roommate's fiancee's bridal shower. In Finland we don't really do bridal showers. So it's a new thing. Maybe one day it comes more common, like baby showers. They are getting bigger in Finland. Anyways, I didn't know who is coming to the shower and when I got there.. They were all older ladies, many moms etc.. It was so sweet. I really liked it. And I also thought, maybe one day our kids will be like that. That they'll grow up in a same city and get to have kind of same friends through childhood, school-years etc.. Well of course they would make new friends too. But you know.. When I was younger, I moved so many times. We changed cities multiple times. And when I got older, it was more like I moved to different countries. It's been a blessing. I've been getting to know so many people from different places.. But at the same time.. I don't really have any childhood-friends. When I was at the first grades of elementary-school, I had a best friend named Silja. And we just had the best time together. Then we moved far far away from that city and I haven't really seen her ever since. Luckily through Facebook, we were able to reconnect.. And now she's mom of two beautiful children and still living in the same little city. So always when we moved to a new city, it was time to make new friends.. But you know.. I did always have my siblings. We had the best time when we were younger. So I'm not sure.. When I start to think about a little bit more.. I actually don't think I would be able to live in the same city rest of my life or even good part of my life. But we'll see, what the life brings with it.

Anyways the bridal shower was the beginning of the wedding festivities. Next week we are gonna celebrate my brother-in-law's wedding and we are so so excited for them. So the next weekend is gonna be full of all kind of fun things and seeing friends and relatives from out of town. And then in the next two following weekends we have Bailey's coworkers weddings and then I'll get to travel to Finland and go celebrate my brother's wedding. So cool :) So four weddings in a month. So exciting. And then we have couple more weddings later this coming summer.

I think it's time to wrap up this random post so Long story short is... I hope you all have a great week.

p.s. Oh yes, I totally forgot the Finnish ice-hockey game is starting soon.. Well too bad, I can't watch it from tv. Actually. I don't think I would watch it even if I would be in Finland.. But I could follow the match from Facebook.. There is already quite a few friends of mine declaring in their statuses how Sweden is gonna go down today.. So I'm sure they are also gonna update when Finland gets goals.. or when they are going down.. So may the best team win.

Little glimpses of happiness.

2011-05-03T16:45:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I forget to be thankful for the life's little blessings. And I am just focused to the things that are not that good. There are so many reasons to be thankful. Like for example today I realized, that a year ago we lived in our old apartment and when it was a hot day outside, it was even hotter day inside. So I came home today and it was boiling outside. But our home wasn't. It made me so happy. I'm so thankful for our home.

So I was inspired by the little happy moment and I picked up few things from last weekend, that made me happy.

I went one evening over to my mother-in-law and she showed me some old photos of Bailey. He has been the cutest little blonde with his red round glasses ;)

Watermelon! When I was younger, I didn't like it. But nowadays it's the most delicious thing. I'm so glad, that the watermelon season started. Can't resist it.

On Sunday one of my friends had a young married ladies craft-luncheon. I enjoyed spending time with those great ladies and also making some little projects. It's been a while since I've been doing something creative.

Last weekend I got a new bike. It' was my belated birthday-present. I think it's actually my first own bike, I'm used to share bikes with my sisters. It's a turquoise beach cruiser, so fun to bike with it.

I hope you all are having a good week. And you remember to be thankful for those life's little blessings.

What a weekend..

2011-04-24T07:58:00.000-07:00

I was planning to update my blog after the last weekend but I forgot. So this blog post is actually about last weekend. It turned out to be a really good weekend. We bought a new dining table set from my work, which made me so happy. Now we can relax more, when we are eating, because we don't have to sit on stools. And we ended up selling the old one at Craig's list. It was super easy. We posted the ad at 10pm on Friday night and it was sold and picked up by 9am on Saturday morning. It was a good start for the day. And we also cleaned out the house together by 9am. It was such an amazing weather last weekend. On Saturday after we went to Farmer's market in the morning, I really wanted to go to see the Scandinavian festival at Thousand Oaks. And Bailey wasn't maybe too stoked to go, especially because it was such a pretty weather over here. But of course he came with me with no complaining. He knew if I had stayed at home I would be complaining rest of the weekend, why we didn't go... But you know.. Even I had a hard time leaving Santa Barbara.. I'm just so blown away, that I get to live in the most beautiful city.

Back home from Farmer's Market

Well anyways, we drove an hour to the festival. There were hundreds of people. Viking theme was a really big thing. And there were all kind of activities for kids and booths you could buy stuff. I met few new Finnish people, which is always nice. We went to the food-court and ate some meatballs and Swedish crepes. They were no good.. You can even get better meatballs from Ikea. And I was excited to go to visit a Finnish booth, kind of like "Finland-club"(Suomi-seura). Bailey started a little small talk in Finnish with them. But they didn't understand at all. He spoke better English than them. I think some of them were just interested about Finland and other people's grandparent were Finnish. Well, I think it was just funny little encounter. And we did see some Finnish old style dancing (tanhu), it was pretty popping.. ;) Anyways. I didn't really have big expectations for the thing, which was good. But I do think it's gonna be a great thing to go one day, when we have own kids.. So they can learn more about my roots etc.

And after we got back, we just wanted to go jump to the pool and our friends Aaron and Jordan came with us. It was quite a quick little dip at the pool. Because it was getting late and our other friends were also coming over for dinner. I ended up preparing the dinner with Jordan and I really enjoyed of it. I didn't even realize, how much I've been missing to cook with other girl friends. We actually had a little "cooking club" with one of my little sisters and our friend back in Finland before I moved here. It was a great fellowship time and we made some good food. So anyways. We made some lasagna and Aaron made a great cabrese-salad. And Bails was preparing outside to be ready. It was such a warm evening, so we were able to eat outside in our back patio. And later on we played some Mexican domino-train. It was a great evening. I was just smiling when I felt asleep.

And Sunday was busy and good day too. I had a meeting at work from 7-10am and then a little bit later we went to see my little sister's musical at her school. She did such an amazing job. And then on Sunday-night we had over Bailey's older brother and his fiancee for dinner. They are getting married next month, we are so excited for them.

Last weekend just really made me happy. So this was a really simple post.. of a good weekend. This weekend turned out to be a different weekend, but it's been also good. I remember last Easter my sister and her husband were here for our wedding. And I get to spent easter with them. And then week later we got married. Good times!!!!

So yes. Now is an Easter day. It's time to celebrate it.

Happy Easter everyone!

I will.

2011-04-10T10:43:00.000-07:00

A year ago from today I promised to be Bailey's loving and faithful wife in plenty and in want.. in sickness and in health.. in joy and in sorrow as long as long as we both shall live. I remember the day so well. It was a special day. Both of our families and some of our closest friends came together to celebrate our marriage. And in that day we started our journey together as a one.

It's been quite a journey. I didn't know what to expect on my wedding day. Some how I've had the idyllic idea in my head, that the first year of marriage is gonna be the easiest year. But it didn't quite turn out that way. It's been a hard year. Me transitioning living here but also getting married and trying to be a wife. I wasn't really the ideal wife-material. I've been always just on the go and haven't spend a whole lot time at home. I spent most of my time with my friends. I didn't ever really settle down. And then I moved here. I got married and we had our first home and I was suppose to settle down. I was trying to learn to be a wife. I wasn't able to work or didn't have a driver's license. So I was kind of forced to spend most of the time at home. My friends and family were thousand of miles away. I didn't have anyone to share my heart with. I didn't have anyone to tell how I was struggling. Well, it's not quite the truth. I did have a Bailey. But you know.. It's not the same, you need to have someone else too.

There have been times when I've been struggling a lot. And I've been feeling like I'm unable to love my husband, because I don't have any strength in me to do anything, barely breath. I wasn't able to show him with my actions, that I really care and love him, even though I wanted. I was just so burn out. But he still cared and loved for me. He served me. He made me smile. And I definitely didn't deserve it. I think those are the times, when our love is tested, when the other one doesn't really deserve it.. But we choose to love and also sometimes forgiveness is needed. There is a frase in Finnish.. Please, love me the most, when I really deserve it the least (Rakastathan minua eniten, silloin kun ansaitsen sita vahiten). Unconditional love.

Here I am a year later. Enjoying of my life. I love our little home. I'm blessed with great in-laws. And I've got some friends. I love my husband. I enjoy being a wife. I'm still learning. I'm still not the ideal wife, who always cooks, cleans and does laundry on time. But it's okay. I'm on a life-long learning process to be a wife. It's still hard and I tend to be homesick on times. But it's okay too. I get to live and share my life with my best friend, every day. And it's worth it. This past year has been the best year of my life. I'm blessed with such a loving and caring husband. He is my dream man. I'm so in love with him. And I'm gonna stand by him rest of my life.

Bailey and me yesterday at the Hendry's beach.

I can tell that I'm so much more in love with my husband, than I was a year ago.. And I can't wait to see what this coming year is bringing to our lives. New adventures, experiences...

I just wanna thank you for our families and friends being part of our journey. Praying for us, Supporting us and just loving us. Hopefully this year is bringing many delightful moments together.

p.s. Yesterday I tried on my wedding dress. How fun... :D

Life's little blissful moments.

2011-04-05T21:41:00.000-07:00

I got home little before 7 p.m after a long day of work. I checked the mail box like every day. I love getting letters and cards. Usually the mail box is just full of advertisements. And today was the day when I found a package. It made me so happy. It was from my good friend Lisa from Germany. We met almost five years ago in Australia and spent together around six months. We've had so much fun together. We've been crying and laughing.. Dreaming etc.. You just name it.. She became like a sister to me. I'm not sure if you have those people in your life, that honestly tell you when you act like dump.. with love. Well I think she was one the first persons to do it for me and I really appreciated it. I've learned so much from her. And she is one of those friends, that it doesn't matter how long it goes since the last time you see.. It's still the same. I just love it. Same goes with my other sister Maria from Norway, whom I also got to know in Australia/Vanuatu.

Maria, I and Lisa having some fun in down under 2006

Well anyways. Lisa sent me a cute little note and Vanuatu-chocolate. It made me so happy. And why the chocolate is so special. Well If you didn't know yet.. I kind of like chocolate. And also.. We spent six weeks together in Vanuatu and I had the time of my life. Something I haven't ever experienced. So many memories. I loved the island-people. And it's definitely the most beautiful place, where I've ever been.

Bailey came home from work little later. So before it I had a chance to prepare a dinner for us. I just made super simple smoked salmon-salad. I love smoked salmon. My dad makes the best salads with it.. And I try to do the same way, but it just tastes different. Same goes with the meatballs he makes.. He just knows how to do it. And I guess.. They taste so good because it's the whole deal.. Being at home, dad cooks, eating all together, atmosphere.. I think all those things effect to the flavor. Like for example when I was younger I was always so excited to go to visit grandma. And I knew that every time we'll go there we get to eat treats too. There was always the same bag of chocolate waffle cookies (Fasupalat) waiting for us. And it was just the thing and loved it. When I was little older, I wanted to have the same experience again. So I bought those cookies from store. I was so disappointed. It just didn't taste the same. So I think.. That it's not just the flavor.. It's the whole deal what makes it so good.

So anyways. I made the salad for dinner. It turned out okay. The most simplest salad you could make. Just some lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, feta-cheese, olive oil and salmon. One thing that made me super happy about the flavor was the new feta-cheese. We've always bought our Feta from Trader's Joes. And i just don't like it. It tastes and looks so much different than the one I'm use to eat back in Finland. But now last we got big bag of Feta-cheese from Costco.. And it was so much better. It looked different but almost tasted as good as the one from home.. Life's little blissful moments. Other blissful moment was our dessert tonight. Brownies, ice-cream and strawberries. Most likely it can't get any better. I don't usually like cake-mixes, but I definitely love Ghirardelli's Brownie-mix. It is just so delicious. And it's so easy to make. Only problem is that we have so much left overs. Though not for a long time.. By the tomorrow night they might be gone...

Well.. Time to go to sleep.

A beautiful day

2011-04-04T18:57:00.000-07:00

Today we've had such an amazing weather. Sun has been shining and birds have been singing. I just got back from work. I luckily had a shorter shift so I had a chance to enjoy of the sunny weather this morning. We did a long run this morning. We left before 8am, so it wasn't too hot. But sun kept on rising and it was burning hot after a little while. I enjoyed of the beautiful weather, but I think for running I prefer little bit colder weather. Cloudy day is a perfect one. But there is definitely more people outside on a sunny mornings like today. We ran part of our run on the board walk near by the ocean. So there was lots of families, running moms, college-students, homeless people, tourists and the list goes on.. So you'll pass by quite a variety of people. And most likely every time Bailey sees some one he knows. This morning he saw someone from his old high school, quite random.

Awhile I was running I was wondering if this is a good use for time.. Running two hours. I came to a conclusion that for sure it is. I get to do it together with my husband. I can enjoy of the beautiful weather and gorgeous views. I get to exercise and it's always good for the mind and body. I was also able to get a little tan.. What else.. And also I was so looking forward to the delicious breakfast after a good run. So it kept me going last few miles. I don't wanna start to walk, because then it takes so much longer to get home. This morning we ended up running the longest run so far, 11,5 miles/<18km.. And it felt pretty easy. Yes, my legs do get tired and I was super hungry by the end of it.. But I made it. So it was definitely a good use for the time.. Though I'm super tired after the long run, so it takes like hour to recover.. So basically I'm just sitting on the couch enabled to do anything. Except to eat good breakfast a'a Bailey.

So my legs were tired at work. I also got some pretty gnarly blisters, so they were hurting too when I was walking. But I did get new running shoes a little while ago, so I think I'm gonna break them in on a next shorter run. So hopefully it's the end of the story for the blisters. My shoes are also worn.. So It was time to get new shoes.. And I just got them last fall. Isn't crazy? But I've been running quite a lot since the last fall. So back to work. I'm working at a retail-store. Which is something different that I'm used to do. Well I'm still working with people and kind of helping them.. Well helping them to use money. So.. I'm not so sure about it. But I do enjoy engaging with the customers. I get to chat with them. Every time I'm working people will ask; where is my accent from; what brought me here; how do I pronounce my name etc.. I don't mind it. Often times I'm the first Finnish person that they've met. Or then they have a story that they've been in Finland or they knew someone from there a long time ago. It's fun.

And I also meet lot of tourists, which is always fun. I usually have a pretty good idea where they are from. We have lots of European customers, which is fun. And also people from all over the country. I really do enjoy engaging with them. So I like my job, because I get to see all different kind of people.. For example the same lady who comes in few times a week and goes through all of our sampling(coffee, hand lotion etc..) things and doesn't really buy anything. "Yes, you can put some hand lotion on.." Or how about the older German guy, who likes to joke and buys German products. Or then the older guy, who always buys the same chocolate.. He told me once, that he's been addicted to money, alcohol and women.. Now he is free of those, but instead of those things, he got addicted to Terry's-chocolate. Well I'm assuming it's a better thing to be addicted of?

Well anyways. Work day went by pretty fast, which I was super happy about. And then I was suppose to bike back home.. Oh boy, I was tired. My legs felt like they were weighting thousand pounds. But I made it. It took little longer than usual. I took my time. I biked through our Eastside-neighborhood. Which is kind of interesting experience. The people are just hanging on their porches, some people are tuning their cars and then kids playing on the streets. I think most of the Mexican people are more family-oriented. Which is cool. When I go to our closest little store. I have no clue, what they are talking about. I just smile. I wish I could know how to speak Spanish. I think I should start to learn it. It's definitely an useful thing to know over here.

Well, I better stop now. My husband just got home. He has planned to make turkey-burgers tonight. He is so sweet. He has cut the recipe out from the magazine. He made the preparations before he went to work. We have plenty of cooked quinoa. He needed two cups cooked quinoa.. He made two cups uncooked quinoa. Which is okay, we have plenty of left-overs ;) I noticed that he also cut ahead of time sweet potato fries. He is the sweetest. He's been lately excited to try new recipes. Me too. Kind of. We have taken a goal to try at least one new recipe in a week.

Talking about recipes my sweet little sister Hanna started a new blog. It's about baking and I guess also about cooking. I'm excited about it. She does some seriously delicious things. So if you know how to read Finnish, check it out ;) IF you don't know, you can still check out the pics and guess what kind of things she has baked. Here is the link.http://kokinkokkailut.blogspot.com/?spref=fb

Long story short is that I need to go now. I hope you all are enjoying of the beautiful weather.. Or not so beautiful... And using the time wisely you have. Adios.

P.s. Bailey was just wondering in the kitchen.. "Pound of lettuce???" and then I asked.. Well how many people you are cooking for. "Ohhh..... The recipe is for six people. " So we'll have even more left overs :D

Good times!

2011-04-03T09:59:00.000-07:00

It's a Sunday morning and I just woke up a little while ago. I opened the computer and started reading what's new.. I was so blown away. My dear friend Tiia gave a birth to her baby boy last night. I am so stoked for them. They are gonna be amazing parents. I think I actually mentioned her in one of my previous blogs. So here I am.. So excited for them. But at the same time a little sad. I live thousands of miles away... And I'm not able to see them.. I'm not gonna be able to see how he's gonna grow up.. It's the same thing with my nephew who lives in England, I see him maybe once in a year.. And the list goes on.. I'm not able to be part of their lives the way I wanna be. I think it's sad. But I can't start to dwell on it. It doesn't help. So I just try to keep my head up. Maybe I'm able to be the cool auntie from America whom they see hopefully at least once in a year and who sends them cool little cards and gifts.. Haha.

Tiia and I just a year ago in Santa Barbara

There are many things I could dwell on but I have figured out that it doesn't really help. Still occasionally I'm doing it. But hey.. Life is also full of many great and exciting things. Like last weekend we were able to play in the snow for the whole weekend. Our good friends, invited us to vacation with them in the Mammoth Mountains. So we went and we had so much fun. We were able to relax, have a good time playing in the snow, and just spending quality time with each other and our friends. We went to snow shoeing in stormy weather. Up until then, this was my first time snow shoeing in my life. After snow shoeing for a few hours we enjoyed a hot jacuzzi outside with a bunch of interesting people, like a little jacuzzi community. I don't really understand Americans and jacuzzis. I remember when in the beginning, Bailey sometimes suggested "Hey we could ask friends over and do jacuzzi or something.." I was like "no way". It's weird. Being in a little jacuzzi with a bunch of people. In my mind I could not imagine being able to relax. But at the same time. Who am I to say anything.. I'm from a country where the sauna was invented. It's part of the normal daily life to go to sauna with the family/friends. If we have girls night, most likely it includes sauna too. And yes, we are naked. Except if it is a co-ed sauna or something. Bailey was just telling that at his 24 hour-gym he has been going to sauna a few times. And the other people who go there have been still wearing all of their work out clothes, shoes etc. What's up with that? :O

Fun times!

Well anyways. Back to the Mammoth-weekend. We also went snowboarding. It was fun. It's been years since I went last time snowboarding. And before it I tried it only once. So basically it was my third time. I think I have had a love/hate relationship with it. I remember when I tried it the first time. I didn't understand what to do and I was bawling. I was glad at the time that I was wearing those glasses.. so people couldn't see the tears of frustration. And I thought I hated it. Then the next day I had a chance to start again.. and I started to figure out a few little things.. And the last day was great until I had a little trouble with the lift.. My binding got caught and I caused a little scene. I was so embarrassed.. Haha. Now I can laugh. But at that time.. I was shocked. So since that time I've had a little something against the lifts.

Taking a little break... It happened often!

Well anyways.. Most likely I did not like snowboarding after those first few times. At least I didn't have any desire to do it. Yet, Bailey has been asking quite a few times If we could go.. But I've always have had cold feet. And now, last weekend I tried the third time. And I enjoyed it. We were snowboarding with our friends. I was just blown away how encouraging and patient they were. Bailey too. I was super slow and I fell many times. But it was okay. I'm still learning. And at least it was fresh powdery snow, so it didn't hurt when I fell. Over all, I had fun. I think maybe after a couple times I'll be actually really enjoying it. So maybe next winter... We'll see.

I don't think I've ever seen so much snow in my life. I loved it. Especially it was so pretty on those gorgeous mountains. I love mountains. We don't really have them in Finland. Well few.. But our highest mountain in Finland is 4,318 feet. And Mammoth Mountain is 11,053 feet. The elevation was so much higher. I was able to feel it. I think I was little dizzy and just felt weird. And it was harder to breath. So elevation sickness was also a new experience as well.

So we had a great, relaxing weekend. Bailey and I felt so encouraged and refreshed after the weekend. Oh I forgot to tell that it was our second official road-trip together. It was six hours away. And it was a fun ride. Going through those little country-towns.. And ghost towns. And seeing beautiful mountains etc. And Bailey is the best company.

How about our running.. We have like a month to our race day. I need to be honest.. I was feeling super sore after the snowboarding for few days. I was barely able to turn my head. So I had a little break from running. And I think we've done only one shorter run this week so far. I think it's also because I overdid it a bit last week. I ran last week lot of miles. I ran two long runs, nine and ten miles. And then shorter ones. The nine miles felt easy, I did it with Bailey. But then few days later I did ten miles, and it was super hard. So I decided I'm only gonna do one long run and then shorter runs during the week. But after the 9 mile run, I really felt good.. Maybe I can actually do the half marathon. And even though I couldn't... I've already done longer and more runs than I've ever done in my life. So I feel like I've already won..

Alright. I guess it's time to wrap it up. This week has been a good week. I feel like I haven't really done a whole lot. And I've been so lazy. But it's okay. It's been a really warm week. Most of the warm days I worked. But on Friday we had a chance to go to the pool and just relax. It was so good. In especially those times I really enjoy living here.

Well I hope you all have a great week!

A rainy day

2011-03-20T14:49:00.000-07:00

Rain has been pouring down since the early morning. What do I feel like doing.. Nothing really. Actually I've been feeling lazy the whole week. Part of the reason is that I was sick. But how about today.. When It has been just raining and raining. So far.. I slept in.. My husband made some breakfast, I Skyped with my little sister who lives in Sweden, I Watched some Finnish talk-show online, skyped with my older sisters and briefly saw my nephew too. My older sister is visiting our oldest sister in England for a few weeks, so I was able to talk with all of them. Now.. Well, We just ate some really simple lunch.

And I still have many hours to go. I was hoping to go run later today, but it looks like the rain is not going to stop.. So it might stop me. But at the same time.. I'm sure, people are still running even though it's raining.. Especially in the countries where rain is a more common thing.. Like England. I'm not sure how my sister has survived all these years over there. btw I just had a quick chat with my hubby about running in the rain and he loves it. So most likely we are going to do it later today. Though I wouldn't mind if the sky wants to clear by the time I'll go out from our home.

Maybe later on today I'm gonna make some pizza. The American way to have a homemade pizza is to buy the dough from store, use the rolling pin and then put the toppings on.. I don't quite understand it. Okay, it's pretty cheap, I heard it's only like $1.30 at Trader Joe's. But at the same time it would take only a few minutes to make the dough from scratch. Some water, yeast, flour, salt, and oil. Well, I guess it sounds a little complicated. And then what goes on with the toppings.. My all time favorite toppings are tuna-pineapple.. It's so good. Somehow people here are feeling a little weird about it. But I was reading the other day in the new "Real Simple"-magazine and I saw an advertisement about tuna-pizza. It made me so happy. Maybe I'm not actually so weird. The tuna needs to be canned oil-tuna. The oil gives little flavor. Though every time I'll make it over here, I'm little disappointed.. Because I think it's much more flavorful(=salty) back in Finland.

Well.. Little backwards, but you got the idea.

And my other problem here is that I don't like gas ovens. I feel like every time I try to cook pizza, our gas oven burns the outside or then the pizza is too raw on the inside. There has been quite a few times when I've baked something and got my things out from the oven... They turned out to be burned. And I've been so sad. Then life seems suddenly so hard and I'm just crying: "Why I can't have just a normal oven, Why I can't have a normal life, I'm used to." Then it turns out to be one of those days.. Everything just feels so complicated and just too many obstacles.. I had one of those days few days ago. I basically just cried the whole day. (If you haven't realized yet.. I cry quite often.. My husband says I'm just little fragile). It felt so unfair, that I had to give up my country, family, friends, work and the list goes on..

When I moved here over a year ago, I knew it's not gonna be an easy transition. But I don't think I expected to be this hard. To be honest the past year has been hardest year of my life. It has included so many sunny, beautiful days that have just felt like rainy days. And I've been struggling so much. But at the same time.. It's been the best year of my life. I married the most loving and caring man. I couldn't imagine better companion. Midst of all the hard days, weeks.. He's been so encouraging and loving. He has wiped my tears so many times and been holding me, telling me everything is gonna be alright. He's been the one who has prayed for me, when I haven't had any strength left.. But also. He's been making me so happy. Life is not boring with him for sure. We've had so many good times and memories. I'm beyond blessed.

Well It's kind of funny how this went from pizza to the most amazing husband.. But you know.. Life is interesting.

I think If I would have a big puzzle, this would be a good day to make it. Or if there would be more than 2 of us, we could play some mexican domino-train.. Or maybe today is a good day to just start to read a good book and drink some hot chocolate. And just be lazy. Anyways today is a Sunday.. So it means it's a time to rest. So I hope you all have had a chance to rest this Sunday and start the new week with new strength and energy.

p.s. maybe next week I need to go look for a good pair of rain boots so I could go play or even just walk outside when it's raining.

p.p.s. UPDATE.. I had actually a great rainy day. And I went running too.. And it was fun. I'll do it again. Now it's time to go to sleep.. And tomorrow morning to start a new, great week. Check the video above...

Flashback from our road trip

2011-03-12T21:06:00.000-08:00

Bailey made a little video of our road trip, which took place in end of December. We both had a week off from work, so we drove down the coast to La Jolla for few days. Good times.

p.s. Editor really liked the seals..

p.p.s. Thank you Bailey for making the video. I love you.

Running for love.

2011-03-12T12:48:00.000-08:00

In two months.. I'm supposed to have ran my first half marathon. I signed up my husband and I to run a half marathon in May. It was my birthday present to my husband. I often have problems to think about a good gift, even though I love giving gifts. But when there is a special occasion.. I feel like I suddenly have no idea. So I tried to think hard what I should give my hubby for his 30th birthday. Then I got the greatest idea. It was like suddenly lights turned on.. I'll sign us up to run the Solvang wine-country half-marathon in May.

Why the heck did I decide to do it? I haven't ever been a runner. Well actually when I was in the first years of elementary school I ran quite a lot because I was doing track and field-sports. I liked it. Then my interest for it stopped when we moved to a bigger city. I've always liked doing sports and PE-classes. They were my favorite classes. But running wasn't really my thing. When I was in junior high we were suppose to run one mile every fall and spring.. And it felt like mission impossible.. I barely made it. Occasionally I went jogging by myself but usually it was like five minutes and then I started walking. One time I went running with my friend. We jogged maybe like few minutes and I already felt exhausted. So I had to make an excuse.. I told my friend "my throat is hurting, I guess I'm getting little sick". Well the reason was actually my out-of-shapeness. Then I had a short season when I started jogging with my friend Reijo. Suddenly I realized how easy it is to get better at running. First time we ran maybe 1-2 miles, next week a little bit longer. But I guess it stopped when my friend moved to the other side of the city. So I was running every now and then.

Few summers ago I realized how good running is for me. I was just able to go out by myself and think about a lot of different things while running. It was good for my physical health but also mentally. I remember so many runs when I just cried.. and ran. And ever since that summer I've been doing it. When people are having a hard time.. Some people like to go to talk with other people. For me, the best thing is just to be by myself. Like for example if I had some kind of argument with my husband (WHAT? Married people don't ever argue, especially us...), I usually need my own time for a little bit. So one time I went for a run. Well, before the argument we were suppose to go run together. But for some reason I was just in a bad mood and decided to run by myself. After few minutes of running I heard someone running behind me. It was Bailey. I got even more mad at him. "Why are you choosing my running route, I wanna run by myself." So finally he left.. And he ended up running like 100 meters front of me.. It was ridiculous. But I'm glad I ended up running by myself. Because I had time to think and realize how selfishly I've been acting. I passed also a beach wedding ceremony while I was jogging. And I was strongly reminded how I promised to love and respect my husband always for the rest of my life at my own wedding day just six months earlier.. And promised to dye to myself, not being selfish. Thinking about the other persons needs above my own needs. It was such a needed reminder.

So running is also some kind of therapy for me too. Sometimes I cry, most of the times I think/pray and sometimes I even laugh. My best running buddy for laughing is my little sister Paivi. I have had the funniest runs with her. We've had some good chats but most of the time it's been just pure hysteria. We've been so silly and especially Paivi has had troubles to run because she couldn't hold herself together. We sure have done some martial arts during our runs too. I'm not sure how productive our runs have been but for sure we've been able to work our abs at least little bit by laughing. Ah, how I miss my little running buddy.

Everyday life with Paivi.

Bailey and I started running together more frequently last fall. Now I'm living in the place, where I can't have my same old weather excuses ( too rainy, snowy, slippery..). I can easily run all year round and I have really started to enjoy it. Well, most of the times. Except for in the beginning. I was just complaining most of the runs that I didn't wanna do this.. Even though I kind of liked it and I always felt great afterwords. But nowadays I like it a lot.

We have our own morning routines. We'll wake up. I'm definitely a morning person and my hubby.. Not so much. Usually I wake up earlier and Bailey wants to sleep a little bit longer. Sometimes I start singing to him a good morning-song.. It always works out. Most likely he doesn't wanna listen to me singing, so he wakes up. But anyways, it works out. So we'll just put our running gear on and go running. Most of the time we'll chat and it's just a good way to start the day. But then there are times, when we are just quiet.. Like the other day. I said like three sentences during our forty minute-run. But you know great thing about being good friends is that you don't always have to talk, sometimes you can just be together and don't say a word. I love it.

We tend to run near by the ocean at least some part of the run. I just love looking at the waves, sometimes we'll see dolphins etc. And Bails usually checks how the surf is or how clear the water is for spear fishing. So three in one. We have our own routes for three and four mile runs. If we do a longer run, we'll run to the pier/harbor from our home. In the beginning we always did trail-running, which was fun, but now.. It seems like it's so far away.. It's just faster and easier to open the door and start running and come back home rather than driving to a trail, go running, drive back.

After we get home from our runs.. Bailey always makes really good smoothies for us with milk, greek yogurt, banana and frozen strawberries.. So I'll get my proteins. And earlier he also made eggs etc. But nowadays I enjoy best the oatmeal he makes. So by the time I'll get out of the shower, breakfast is ready. Ah, I love our little tradition and I love my hubby.

Most of the times we'll go jogging together but maybe once a week I'll go by myself, because he goes to work early. Like on Thursday. I didn't feel like going running, but I knew how good its gonna feel after. So I went. Just after the first few minutes I began to loose focus. The reason I was distracted... (You would never guess).. A little bird swooped down and collided with my knee. Well I guess the birdie didn't see me and I'm not sure where it went after.. I was so confused and just started laughing. So it distracted my run a little.

I was suppose to run only four miles, because I had a little break from running while I was visiting home. But I really felt like going longer. It wasn't the greatest idea. I decided to run to the pier and back. When I got closer to the beach, there was some shifting sand on the asphalt.. And I tripped. Ouch. It did hurt and my knee started to bleed. And I walked for a little bit. But then I decided I wanna keep on running and reach my goal. Well it was little slower run than usual, but after I finished my run it felt so good. Don't you just love the feeling after a good run?

Sometimes I feel like this after a run. Feb 2011, Finland. -18C/ 0Fahrenheit

So this turned out to be a long story about running. We all have our own interests. My husband likes to be active. And one way I can show love to Bailey is being active with him like running. So it is the reason why I'm running with him the half-marathon in May. And the other reason is that I simply just like running nowadays.

Have a great weekend!!

Winter Wonderland.

2011-03-02T18:29:00.000-08:00

I had a chance to visit my homeland last month for a week and a half. I was so happy to see my family and friends. The time just flew by and I enjoyed every second of it.

I spent most of my visit in Helsinki (the capital of Finland), where I've lived most of my life. I used to share an apartment with two of my sisters. It worked out so well. After I moved here and my younger sister Paivi moved to Sweden, my older sister moved to a smaller place. So I didn't actually have a "home" anymore in Helsinki, which was a little sad. However, my wonderful sister allowed me to stay with her at her new place which was on the other side of the street from our old home, so it was not that sad.

To be honest my first year in Cali was pretty hard on me. Just adjusting to living in a different country/culture, all the new people, loneliness etc.. There have been times when I've been really homesick. So I was really excited to just go "home" and hang out with my old friends and have a good time. Yet, The time went by too fast. I would have liked more time to spend with my family and friends. But the time I had.. I think it was well-used. It was really good to catch up and also have fun, eat some seriously delicious food together, share life.. I think I might be the luckiest person on earth, because I'm blessed with the most amazing people in my life. It's a huge blessing.

I was also able to throw a baby shower for my dear friend Tiia. She and her husband are going to get their little baby boy in April. They are gonna be the best parents for their little son. Something little about our friendship. We actually met first time on an online-chat like seven years ago.. We became friends in the "real world" briefly after. We have been great friends ever since. Our personalities are so different, but somehow we've been such a great match as friends for all these years. She was my maid of honor at my wedding. I truly cherish her and I's relationship.

I also had a chance to visit my parents and two of my youngest siblings for a few days. They live near by the border of Russia, in eastern Finland. I had a good time with my family as always. One of the highlights of the visit was when our dad took us for a little trip. We drove to a winter-resort place where we hiked up to a hill which was overseeing a lake. There were such beautiful views as well as quiet and peaceful surroundings.. I could have stayed there for a long time. Finland is such a beautiful country.

Something about Finnish people.. We like to talk about weather.. It's so funny. Finnish people don't do small talk... except, weather is always a good reason to have a little chat ;) I just realized yesterday that I'm doing it all the time. Anyways.. So weather in Finland was really chilly. When I landed to Finland, the temperature was -25C/-13F. Most of the time it was around -20C/-4F.. When i went to visit my parents near by the border of Russia, it was -30C/-22F.. So little freezing. But I loved it.

I really enjoyed my trip back to my homeland. It was a great trip.. Yet I realized something as I arrived back into California. As the immigration officer at the border said to me: Welcome home.. I really feel like this is my home now. Finland will always be my homeland and carries a special place in my heart. And most likely I'll keep on thinking the rest of my life, that it is the best country in the world. But you know.. It's just the truth. But I do love living here in California.. Especially because I get to live in the most beautiful little city with my dream man. I do love the WEATHER, nature, people... I'm happy to be here. This is my home.

P.s. Mita mielta ootkaan Reme ootkaan tasta uudesta blogistani? ;)

The beginning.

2011-02-04T10:10:00.000-08:00

It's time for something new in my life. I've been writing a blog in Finnish to my family members and friends last few years. So I believe it's time to step out from my comfort zone and do it in English. When I was younger, I certainly hated studying English. I didn't see any reason for it. I did have a brother-in-law from England, but it wasn't reason enough to study English.

Well life changed. One day I got a crazy idea and decided to move to Australia for a season. When I got there I realized I don't really speak English. Wow, it was actually hard, I couldn't communicate. Slowly I started to be more bold, open my mouth and also learn more English. After the half year in Australia I got to a point, that I didn't care anymore what other people thought of my ability to speak English.

Well who would have known that a year later I end up traveling to other side of the world and meet my future husband, who speaks only English. Well here I am now, writing this thing in English. I think writing English is much more complicated than speaking. I don't like typos. But you know the best way to learn things are by doing them.. So this is my first English-written blog.

I was trying to figure out a name for the blog. The Dream Chaser. I don't know if it makes any sense. I think it as I'm chasing the dreams that I have. Few years ago I was reading a book, which had a similar name. So somehow it got stuck on my head. Well the book didn't really change my life, but my life was actually changed during the time I was reading the book. I was in a point in my life where I didn't know anymore what my dreams are. I lost my vision. I was going through a tough time in my own life. I didn't really know anymore where I was headed. Well a door opened and I came to California for few months the first time in my life. During that time, I started to get some dreams back what I've had earlier in my life. And i did also get some new ones. My vision started to strengthen and since it I decided that I wanna chase my dreams.. And get new dreams after I've accomplished my other dreams.

Yes, so here I am. As almost every little or older girl dreams about marrying a real prince one day.. So did I.. And I did marry my dream prince and he treats me like I'm his princess. He just made me breakfast this morning, but not only breakfast.. but he prepared my lunch too before I left to work. He is the best. I love spending time with him. He makes me laugh. I'm one happy girl.

I'm not sure how this blog is gonna look like. We'll see. Maybe it's gonna be about normal daily life.. maybe about cultural differences, maybe about married life.. maybe about food.. maybe pretty much about everything.

So welcome to follow this blog.