Hump Day Post

Hello!

I can't believe how cold it is in Finland right now! I actually had to start wearing a hat and gloves again on my way to work because it is so fricking cold. I know it is June but it feels like October (*brrr!*). I hate summers like this. It's nearly Mid-Summer and it should be warm. I want back to Spain...

No time for vacations to hot beaches and exciting new places though. I'm busy at work and it seems like there is a ton of stuff I would need to do at home too. Plus needing to have time to watch world cup and all the summer TV series (*True Blood starts soon!*). Oh, and I shouldn't forget working out either. I haven't gone to the gym for couple weeks but I have been running.

Today's pics are just random snaps along the week. Enjoy!

Getting motivated to change into more office appropriate clothes in the morning...

...ok, all changed up.

Fricking cold! That's only about 48F degrees.

Thank goodness Arnold's was handing out free Croniz. That chocolaty mix of croissant and doughnut made me forget the cold weather. At least for a little bit.

Regardless of the cold weather, nature still looks beautiful with its many flowers.

 My wickedly awesome running pants that I got from Casall. I'm so excited about them! I'll write more about these later on. I don't have time right now (*sorry*).

Me bundled up in the morning. Brrrr!

Happy Wednesday!

Blue And White Moments

Hello!

If you haven't figured it out yet, I absolutely love to watch sports. Ever since I was little we used to watch all major national and world championship competitions together with my family. It was just something you did.

You cheered for Finland as well as watched to see other countries' athletes to do their best. It didn't matter what sport it was, it was all good.

That is probably why I'm still very keen on sports. I'm super excited about the on going Olympics. I have been glued to the TV for the past week or so. There is something magical about the world's best athletes to get together.

The most wonderful sport to watch is hockey. It has everything you could possibly need for good entertainment. Speed, goals, penalties, action, good looking players and clock that seems to run out way too fast or way too slow (*depending who you cheer for*). I can watch any hockey game as long as there are two teams, two goals and a puck. It is always entertaining (*I'm not kidding*).

All this being said, today is an important day. It is the game day for team Finland to beat team Russia in men's hockey or else. I don't even want to say what the option "or else" is because it is not an option that anyone should even consider. Team Finland's Olympic games would be done. As I said, that is not an option, so let's not think about it. Here's my picture gallery of blue and white moments for the Olympics this year.

Sure! Hockey jersey can be appropriate to wear to work. This is how I pull it off.

Thank God for technology. It helps me to watch the Olympics and get some chores done. Otherwise we would live in a messy apartment for few weeks (*giggle*).

It is hard to find time to exercise yourself when the Olympics are on. I quickly go for a walk with Jinx in between different sport events on TV. Here's a pretty blue and white moment while on a walk few days ago.

Go team Finland! GO!!

Still Running Around

Hello and Happy Saturday!

It has been such a good week weather wise. Sunny and mild. That is why I have gone running after work each day this week.

I'm not sure what it is about beginning of fall and running but I love it. It is not too hot or humid, so you can easily ran further but it's not too cold for your lungs either.

A good 30-40 minute run each day followed by stretching on top of it, and you're good to go to bed. It makes you tired and you'll sleep like a baby, yet next morning you wake up feeling refreshed (*awesome*).


This is pretty much all what I did this past week; work, run, stretch, shower, chill and go to bed. Call me crazy but I enjoyed it. I didn't even ave time to blog as you might have noticed.


Running is great because you can do it anywhere and anytime. I also like running because you don't need much to do it. As long as you have good shoes, you are good to go. Besides shoes I like to have music with me because it motivates me to go faster and/or further (*I use my phone to listen to music*).

Even though I have plenty of running pants/shorts, I'd still like to have a new pair. I saw these awesome zebra print Adidas pants on sale at Sportia and I just might have to get them. New work out gear makes you run faster too (*giggle*).


Here's another reason why I like to run; it gives you great legs (*wink*). And talking about legs... Since the air has been already cooler in the mornings, I have had to start wearing leggings with dresses/skirts. That way I don't get too cold while biking to work. Summer has seriously left us now.


Earlier this week I bought a cute new pair of leggings that go perfect with many of my dresses. My sister recommended them to me because she knows I love purple. Aren't they a doll?

Anyway, that's all for today. I'm going to go chill on the couch and watch the newest episode of Burn notice. There are only few episodes left for the whole series, and I'm already sad. I'm going to miss Michael Weston.

Happy weekend everyone!!

Eric - You Are Welcome To Taste My Red Drink (*Blush*)

Hello and Happy Monday!

It is a bit cold to my liking today but as long as the sun is shining I'm okay. And it's really not cold at all, I just like it sizzling hot (*giggle*). Anyway, today I had an easy day at work because July is a popular vacation month in Finland. It seems like every other person is off to enjoy their time off and that means my office doesn't get bombarded with customers. That's okay wit me (*smile*). Here's my today's office look...

And here's yummy summer drink I whipped up after work. About a cup of watermelon chunks and a bunch of fresh strawberries blended up with ice. What a red and berrylicious drink!! You should definitely try this.

Talking about red drinks... I'm about to watch the newest episode of True Blood (*get it, huh? red drinks? blood?*). Because of True Blood I actually like Mondays. It doesn't feel so bad to wake up in the morning when you know that you get to watch (*and drool*) Erik and other vampires in the evening.

Cheers!

Grey Is The New Green Until It's Green Again

Hello and Happy Monday to everyone!

Today I want to share couple pictures from last summer. I meant to post them long time ago but somehow I forgot to do it (*oops*). But I think these are perfect for right now. 

It is still spring time in Finland, and the nature is slowly getting ready for summer. It actually looks really grey outside since the trees don't have any leaves and the grass is still dead. But it won't take long at all before lush green takes over and everything looks bright and pretty. I can't wait for that!

Besides waiting for summer, I have been busy trying to use up my gym pass. My favorite Pilates trainer is moving out of the city, and I want to attend as many of her classes as I can before she's gone. I'm going to miss her! So, next three weeks I'm either at work or at the gym, and you might not hear from me (*wink*).

This week I'm also hanging out with my nephew since he is staying with us. He is in Kuopio to do his one week work practice for his high school. He is working at a local fishing store. It is so much fun to hear him talk about his day at "work". It mainly consist of him drinking coffee and pricing out fishing poles (*giggle*).

That being said, I better get going and have dinner with my nephew and Scott. We are about to eat fresh focaccia bread I just made, and watch new episodes of American Dad. Should be fun!

Cheers everyone! Have a fantastic week!

Workout Overdose

Hello!

And sorry for no posts this week. I have been too busy enjoying spring and its' effects on my energy level. It is amazing to realize that summer is almost here and the days are getting longer and longer. I love Finnish summer because the sun barely sets before it gets up again. It makes you feel like you don't need any sleep. 

So far this week I have been biking a lot (*back and forth to work*), doing kettlebell everyday (*with 6kg and 8kg kettlebells*), enjoying a Pilates class (*my favorite*), gone water jogging (*good for joints*) as well as done a little running with Jinx (*I did intervals*). Not to forget to mention stretching, I have remembered to do that too! 

My muscles are bit sore but it feels really good regardless. I wouldn't want to sit by a computer any minute longer than I have to. My body is craving for movement after a long winter hibernation (*my tonsillectomy forced me rest for a really long time back in February*).

I do understand that I need to rest as well. It is not good for keep pushing your body too much. That is why I have made sure I have relax time on our couch with Scott. We have been watching our favorite TV shows like How I met your mother, Shameless, Revenge and The Following. Too bad most of those shows are either done for the year or about to wrap up. That is why we have also been watching many movies too. I absolutely loved Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained. It rocked! Another good one was Silver Linings Playbook. 

Anyway... if you don't hear from me as often as usual, I'm most likely out and about enjoying fresh spring air. I recommend you do the same (*wink*).

Spring Is In And I'm Glad It Is The Weekend

Hello!

Phew! What a busy week I had. It was mostly fun-busy (*my nephew was visiting us and we went to my brother's bday party*), but there was also not-so-fun-busy times at work. That is why I have been really glad that it is Saturday today and I have been able to just kick back and relax. I even have time to post few pictures for you guys.

Here's a cute picture of me and my darling nephew...

And here's a sign that spring is really in... Welcome March and icicles!

Our dinner tonight was a huge homemade pizza with beef, pepperoni, red bell peppers and mushrooms. Yummy indeed!

Most interesting part of the day was to open this LivBox that I got in the mail. Too bad you don't get to see what was inside of it until tomorrow (*ha ha*).

No, I'm not being mean, I'll promise to tell you more about LivBox tomorrow. Right now I'm off to watch a new TV series called The Following. It is said to be good, and besides, I'd watch anything with Kevin Bacon in it (*giggle*).

Have a great Saturday night!

Mellow Monday

Hey There and Happy Monday!

My day has been really mellow. First I slept in since I watched The Oscars last night. Well... sort of, I fell asleep in the middle of them (*oops*). Anyway, I really liked the dress Amy Adams was wearing. It was cute! I'm also happy that Argo won best picture. It is actually a good movie.

During the day I met up with my sister since I haven't seen her for ages. We gossiped so much that my throat hurts and my voice is bit hoarse now. I guess I'm still recovering.

And lastly I just took Jinx out for a walk. It has been nice and warm day. The temperature was at +1C/33F! Yey for spring!

Next I'm going to eat leftovers from last night and watch the newest episode of Shameless. It is such a well made series. I love it!

Have a great evening everyone!

MovieMadness / The Smurfs

Smurfing day to everyone!

I'm so smurfed about the surprise I got in the mail yesterday. My friend Reetta sent me a DVD of the new Smurfs movie along with couple Smurf badges. How smurf is that?! Reetta knows that I looooove the Smurfs because I used to watch them when I was little. So, when I opened the envelope that Reetta had sent me, I was over the moon. I really needed this surprise because I have been bit blue lately from being sick. And not the Smurf kind of a good blue...

The Smurfs is a Belgian comic and television franchise centered on a group of small blue fictional creatures called Smurfs, created and first introduced as a series of comic strips by the Belgian cartoonist Peyo in 1958. In total, there are 101 'Smurfs', whose names are based on adjectives that emphasize their characteristics, e.g. 'Jokey Smurf', who likes to play practical jokes on his fellow smurfs, 'Clumsy Smurf', who has a habit of creating havoc unintentionally, and 'Smurfette' - the only female member of the Smurfs.

You could think that since I love the Smurfs so much, I would have seen this movie in the theaters when it first came out but I didn't. I thought that the movie would suck, and that the movie makers would ruin it like so many other comics/books that are made into a movie.

I didn't want to spoil the fond childhood memories of the Smurfs with a crappy remake. I was also worried that they could not capture the essence and the evilness of Gargamel - my very favorite character.

I was really afraid that the movie would be terrible but I'm glad to say I was wrong. I was pleasantly surprised because it actually had a good story line and was much funnier than I expected (*yay*). 

I don't want to tell too much about the plot because I want you to watch it but I can tell that somehow few of the Smurfs end up in New York with Gargamel right behind chasing them. 

Sound familiar? Yep, I like that the movie makers didn't go mess with the essentials of the original story. Gargamel always chases the Smurfs in the original story too. Also the ending is always happy for the Smurfs and Gargamel is left moaning in the gutter. Just like in this movie as well. Two thumbs up for actually following the original story!

I'm also so glad that Gargamel is played by Hank Azaria. He is the real life voice wizard! He nails down Gargamel's laugh from the TV series, as well as moves and looks like real Gargamel. Other voice overs aren't bad either. Katy Perry as Smurfette, Jonathan Winters as Papa Smurf, Anton Yelchin as Clumsy and Alan Cumming for Gutsy just to give few examples.

It is not hard for people to guess that I like the Smurfs. I even have a Smurfette t-shirt. And what comes to Scott... well, he probably doesn't looove the Smurfs but he likes them enough to have a t-shirt too. I wonder if we will ever grow up (*giggle*).

 

But talking about Smurfette... Her hair in the movie is amazing. It is like she went to the salon and got a perfect blow out. Next time when I get my hair done, I might ask for "Smurfette". But I'm not ready to go blonde quite yet (*smile*). But I could learn from Smurfette about clothes because she always looks good even though she only has one dress. Maybe I shouldn't buy that many clothes either (*interesting though*). In the movie Smurfette has a revelation when she figures out that girls in New York change clothes. She actually exclaims "I can have more than one dress?" in the movie. It is so funny!

Anyway, Jinx likes the Smurfs so much too that his ears went straight up when he heard that we were about to watch the movie. Then he turned blue himself...

The movie is 103 minutes long, so it is not too long or short. Our copy has the original English audio track as well as Finnish and Swedish. I will have to watch this movie again with my nephew Emil. I think he will like it too. He can't speak English yet, so we will watch it in Finnish. I want to hear how the jokes are translated anyway.

I'm also keen to see the 3D version of the movie. It might be actually good. A lot of times movie makers count on the 3D too much and forget to think about the plot and then the movie ends up sucking. But since this movie has a good plot plus it looks and feels great in 2D, it might be even better in 3D. You never know.

 

There you go, that was my awesome surprise. Now I'm going to go smurf some lunch for me. La La Lallallaa La La La Lallaa La La Lallallaa La La La Lallaa La La Lallallaa La La La Lallaa La La Lallallaa La La La Lallaa La La Lallallaa La La La Lallaa La La Lallallaa La La La Lallaa La La Lallallaa La La La Lallaa La La Lallallaa La La La Lallaa...

Read Me / Fifty Shades Of Grey

Hello, hello and happy Friday!!

I just finished the first book of Fifty Shades of Grey (written by E L James). It was an interesting book and it kept me intrigued the whole time.

For a short summary of  Fifty Shades of Grey, I can tell that it is a story about clumsy young woman called Anastasia Steele. She is about to graduate from Washington State University. Just weeks before graduation Anastasia meets Christian Grey, a handsome young Seattle business tycoon, when she interviews him for the university newspaper. The inexperienced Steele is instantly drawn to complicated Mr. Grey who has particular sexual tastes. Anastasia knows that she shouldn’t be with him but she can’t help herself either.

This book is hyped as mommy porn because many desperate housewives have been seen to read this book. So, was this book full of sex? Yes, but I think some of it was too much. Many pages just kept repeating themselves; Ana and Mr. Grey going at it at various locations. Some of the sex scenes were hot, I'm not denying that but some of it was just not taking the story anywhere. If didn't know, many of book's sexual scenes center around BDSM which is a preference around activities that are erotic but may not be sexual. Consensual use of restraint, intense sensory stimulation, and fantasy power role play, light bondage, hot wax, blindfolds etc.  

Between the heavy sex parts were interesting little pieces of storyline that revealed Mr. Grey's dark childhood. They start to explain a little bit why he is the way he is, and that is the part why I want to read more. There are two other books continuing the the Grey series. I will definitely get the second book to read more of his past. Besides... Mr. Grey is written to be fairly delicious (*giggle*). Who wouldn't want to read a little more of him.

Good news to all the Finns! If you can't or don't want to read the book in English, you can now get Fifty Shades of Grey also in Finnish. The book is called Fifty Shades - Sidottu. I haven't read or seen the Finnish version, so I can't say if the translation is good or not. I prefer to read in English if that is the original language.

Anyway, right now it sucks because I don't have the second book yet, so I have nothing to read. Also most of my favorite tv shows (True Blood, Burn Notice) just wrapped up for the season. I don't know what to do with myself and all the free time. It is like I should go and get a life (*what?!?*) or something.

But.. talking about tv shows. I can't wait for the movie version of Fifty Shades of Grey because there has been a lot of talk that Alexander Skarsgård will be cast as Mr. Grey. I really hope that's true because I luuuv him as Eric in True Blood.

Have a great and steamy Friday!

This And That For Wednesday

Hi there!

Guess whose going to go see Ted this Thursday? Me of course. Yey! I have wanted to see it as soon as I saw the trailer. Also the reviews that I have read about Ted are all really good. I'm really excited! Besides I'll get to spend some time with my nephew and couple of friends because they are coming too. It'll be fun!! I hope we get to laugh our asses off. I'll let you know later on what I thought about the movie. Here's the trailer if you haven't seen it yet.

That's about it today... not much going on. I'm frozen because it is really cold in Finland. It is only around 50F / 10C. Brrrr! I'm so not ready for winter. Hmm... what else is new? Well, I signed up for a kettlebell class for this fall. I will be attending an hour long class once a week starting next month. That will be good for me. My muscles need to get stronger. I know I have promised to make a post about kettlebell for awhile now but for some reason I haven't gotten finished with it. I'll do it sometime soon. Anyway, I will also continue my Pilates classes this fall. I love how Pilates makes my muscles long and lean. That's my sports update for you guys. What are your sports plans for this fall?

Last but not least, here's my yesterday's outfit. I tried "the sheer shirt" look that seems to be popular. I liked it but I was way too cold all the time and had to wear a cardigan to survive at work. I HATE air conditioning and cold fall days (*mad face*). There are so many cute outfits I'd love to wear but I'm always so frozen that I have to wear sweaters, cardigans and other thick&warm clothes.

That's my thoughts for today. Tonight I won't do much, just sit on my butt and watch the new episode of White Collar. Matt Bomer as Neal Caffrey is so yummy (*giggle*)...