Black Friday

It is difficult to sum up the feelings the tragedy in Norway has caused. Utter disbelief, disgust, helplessness, sadness... It's difficult to understand why this has happened. I can't imagine a logical reason behind the mass murder that occurred on the island. But above all, it makes you helplessly sad for the young lives lost. So unnecessary...

Our lil man got this pacifier from his uncle, who moved back to Finland from Oslo six months ago. Norway is so close that a lot of us Finns have personal connections there.

Darn Ikea :)

It's hotter than high noon in Death Valley in Finland right now and I feel like I never left Greece! I miss the A/C we had in the U.S and I especially miss the air-conditioned malls! Don't get me wrong, they have A/C in Finnish malls too, but it's not nearly as effective as back in 'merica. Anyways, we decided to take our air-conditioned car (thank goodness for that) and drive to the famed cheap-o Swedish furniture store Ikea.

One thing about Ikea - you go there with the intention of buying a thing or two and come back with about a 100 things, most of which you'll never need. Well, our intention was to only eat there (haha, I know right), but when we left I had bought new curtains, wall clock and bibs, utensils and toys for the baby...and this:

Ikea Cirkustält


What makes this purchase even more ridiculous is that our little man can barely walk yet :D Oh well, I had fun putting it together, although I'm having a tough time getting it even the slightest bit less wrinkly. But the food was affordable and delicious, as always. Anyways, thanks again Ikea! :)

Green shake?

While I was honeymooning in Greece I read an article about a "power breakfast" in a Finnish women's mag, namely MeNaiset. I noticed a recipe for a power drink, which I decided to try out. My husband was very skeptical about this, but decided to guinea-pig it anyways :)

Here's the translated recipe, with some of my own additions:

Green shake for two

2 apples
1 lime or half-a-lemon (I used 0.5 dl of lemon juice)
1 bundle of lettuce (I used chicory/frisée)
3 dl carbonated mineral water (the recipe suggested lemon flavored, I used apple flavored)
honey (to taste, I added a tablespoon)
1/2 avocado (I added this, since this was our lunch)

Cut the washed apples into slices and place in the blender. Add lemon/lime juice, rinsed lettuce, avocado and 1dl of the mineral water. Mix until even. Add the rest of the mineral water (might want to add a dl extra if it seems too thick) and honey. Mix and enjoy!

I ended up placing the mix into the fridge to cool for a bit, but all in all it turned out fairly well! Even my skeptical husband liked it! :) I thought it was pretty darn yummy for a green shake.

Back in Φινλανδία :)

We had the most amazing honeymoon in Greece! I'm sure everyone thinks that of their own honeymoon, but I think it just means that it was a success :) With our teenyweeny budget we managed to do all sorts of fun stuff, although we had to skip mountain climbing due to the extremely hot weather. We did a lot of roadtripping instead and went to see the gorge we'd plan on climbing. The scenery was breathtaking! I'm an archaeologist by training, so I couldn't resist on visiting some ancient sites as well. Here's some photos:

Enjoying the hotel garden

Some refreshments

Paddle boating on Lake Kourna

Imbros gorge

Yummy baklava :)

Hora Sfakion

Faistos Minoan palace

Sfentoni cave in Zoniana

Elafonisi

Hania Venetian harbor

We took closer to a thousand photos, so I had trouble picking which ones to upload here :)

It was an awesome trip, but I'm glad to be home too, I missed our lil man quite a bit! Also, I appreciate the fact that it's raining a lot more ;) Can't wait for our next trip to Greece though, loved the scenery, the food and the people!

Honeymoon in a few days!

We're off to a honeymoon in a few days and I'm super-excited! My husband and I have never vacationed together in Europe and I'm so looking forward to showing him some amazing sites! We're heading to Greece, which is my favorite country in Europe, after Finland of course :) I did a summer study abroad in Greece several years back and have been there many many times with my family (typical Finnish thing to do I guess). It'll be awesome sharing this wonderful country with my husband :) We're planning on renting a car and doing a bit of roadtrippin', maybe some mountain climbing and definitely some sunbathing. Can't wait!

Happy 4th of July!

We're not really celebrating 4th of July this year, since we are in Finland. But here is a blast from my past: lady cloggers from the traditional Wardsboro 4th of July parade in Vermont :)

and a firetruck, also from Wardsboro, VT

Happy 4th of July!

Sonisphere - testing sunscreens :)

I totally forgot that we are going to Sonisphere and I needed the sunscreen for that. I tried out the Biotherm SPF15 and it is a gift from heaven! Smelled sooooo good, was easy to apply and worked really well!

Sonisphere itself was a fun, but melting experience :) It was way too hot, there wasn't a whole lot of shade and there weren't enough spots to fill your waterbottle. You weren't allowed to bring drinks to the area and had to empty your bottles at the gates, so the lines to get water were huge. I honestly felt like if you pay 85e ($118) for the tickets, you should expect not to spend half the time in line for water. Anyways, I had a great time with my hubby and my friends and the bands were mostly good, meaning Sonata Arctica was awesome and Opeth not so.

Honeymoon to Greece next week!!!

Code name: Procrastination

This pretty much describes what happens to me almost every day :)