Outlandish

When life kicks you in the stomach repeatedly for months on end it’s good to keep in mind the wise words of the great thinker, Taylor Swift: Shake it off! Different people have different ways of ”shaking off” all the shit that life has seen fit to pile on your shoulders and mine is spending time with friends. How fortunate then that one of my best friends arriving for a long weekend visit coincided with so far the worst week of this Autumn! I received a crushing ”Thank you but no thank you”-message from a job that I was sure was mine (yeah, no sign of Finnish humility here) on the same day that my friend cruised to Tallinn and thank goodness for that! I needed her cheering company more than ever. After a quick visit to my local supermarket we decided to make a little curve on our way to my place. The curve had a  conveniently  situated  sushi restaurant on it. There is nothing in life that sparkling wine, sushi and good company couldn’t fix! Ev...

Another November is behind us, the most devastatingly lame month of the year is over! And that means that Christmas is literally on our doorsteps. A little comfort is brought into the crushing darkness all-day everyday by Christmas lights twinkling in people’s windows and at the markets. The Central European Christmas markets are world-famous but what about doing things differently this time and visiting a proper Northern atmosphere with genuine Christmas treats like glögi (aka mulled wine, a better option for the hot wines served in the South) and traditional Christmas tarts shaped like stars with plum jam. Finland has recently brushed up its game when it comes to Christmas markets and there are all kinds of performances and handicrafts on sale. But they are still missing an enormous beat: Christmas markets are all about good food and drink! So, while Finland contemplates whether serving alcoholic glögi in their Christmas markets will ruin the country completely or not you might ...

It’s here! December and the 24 days when you are allowed to start with a chocolaty breakfast! I could list dozens of positive points that spring to my mind about this last month of the year but this is also probably the most stressful month for those families where Christmas celebrations include giving presents. It’s not always easy to come up with something to buy your parents or siblings who are also already adults and who are not in need of anything particularly. Buying useless gifts especially at a time like this when our over-consumption of all resources is threatening our own lives gives me shivers. I want the recipient to feel content when they open the packet rather than indifferent; "Oh, another candle, this time purple..." I don’t believe in this wasteful consumption where people just go and buy whatever for their family and friends and after Christmas all those items end up in Ebay or back to the store. I have personal experience of this, and not partic...

When starting to plan my flat's makeover in regards to a Christmas look, I straight away knew that the best place to start from, when looking for ideas and inspiration, is my parents' place! They have 30 years' worth of Christmas knick-knacks, baubles, glittery stars, candle holders, Santa figurines from all decades starting from the 80's. Since my money situation hasn't improved much since I announced the Project Bedroom open I decided to start small and find some decoration items from home rather than buying my own.  So, when I went home for a week I ransacked their closets and drawers looking for something, anything , that would catch my eye. I have an eye for outfits but with interior design I am still trying to find myself and my taste, so I count on my instinct: if I see something that makes me go "oh, how about that one?!", it's a good place to start. With Christmas decoration, though, it's easier: I believe that nothing succe...

Lately Estonia has been covered under a thick layer of depressing gray clouds day and night. Darkness arrives earlier every night and it is already really cold for October, it even snowed yesterday morning! Since there are only couple days a week when I am required to be in the office I have started taking a lot of home office to be able to sleep longer. And I also want to avoid going out into the coldness as far as I can. This means that my weekends have sort of stretched to three days long and all of those three days I just lie on the couch either staring at my laptop or TV... I can't remember when I have felt so useless and as if there is absolutely no point to my life anymore. Even if somebody asks me for a drink or whatever I take one look out of the window, see the depressing clouds and people walking with thick hoods drawn over their faces and I return to the sofa... But I am not yet completely defeated! There are still some things that brighten my days in addition...

Some people hate Christmas. Others see it as an execution of some sort. I don't understand either sort. For me Christmas is not a religious celebration but an opportunity to gather with the most important people during the darkest time of the year and enjoy wonderful food. Even though there are all the things that need to be taken care of before Christmas Eve (shopping for food with a million others, finding presents, etc.) it doesn't cause me stress... Unless my brother leaves buying his girlfriend a present to the last day and forces me to go and find something when he needs to work until late. But in any case you know that the entire city is going to be in the same supermarket and there's nothing you can do about it except take a deep breath and dive in there. Turku Cathedral In Finland there was no snow this Christmas, which suited me perfectly. We also had two hairballs to take care of. What's more the TV channels had finally understood that during...

Home sweet home. And what a way to start off the Christmas season! On Friday I went to see a concert from a Finnish Idol-contestant from 10 years ago, Antti Tuisku. A record audience sang along to every song and danced like crazy. We had a blast! And on Saturday we had Little Christmas party with my girls, which was kicked off early in the afternoon with riding Icelandic horses. We had dressed warmly but the weather surprised us in the most positive way. Full-on sunshine and almost 10 degrees warm. It has been an ongoing joke in Facebook how in July it was colder in Finland than it is now in December.    We got to the stables in Mynämäki (Jaakkolan Islanninhevostalli) a little bit late but it was fine. When we got into the stables everybody sighed with adoration: Icelandic horses are incredibly cute! They are smaller than regular horses but bigger than ponies with very fluffy fur and big eyes. They are very calm and live in herds so, unlike with bigger horses, ...

Yesterday after work I was sitting in my favourite café here in Bratislava, Urban House, having a glass of wine and looking out of the window at people coming from and going to the Christmas market. And it hit me like a ton of bricks: what the hell am I doing? Why am I moving away from a place where I have been nothing but happy 100% of the time? Why am I changing a job in a huge, international company to a job in a small, unknown company?  I had to really pick my brain and list some pros and cons again in my mind and eventually it all comes down to one thing. Family. That's why I'm moving away from here, closer to home. It's my brother's and my best friend's birthdays at the end of January and if I lived in Slovakia I wouldn't be able to attend either. At this moment, when panic is rising in me, the fact that I wouldn't have to fly to get home made it certain to me that this is something I have to do right now. If I didn't go to Tallinn a...

How perfect it is that I still had time to go check out the Budapest Christmas Market before moving away from Slovakia. And to check it out with the company that I had... I am just so fortunate when it comes to friends. When traveling, the company you have is a very important factor in how successful the trip will in the end be. The worst trip I ever had was unfortunately a long weekend in Paris - as gorgeous as the city always is - because schedules do not belong to a holiday. In my opinion the best thing in Paris, or any destination, would be to get a bottle of wine, some brie cheese and relax. This trip to Budapest was exactly that; complete relaxation, no schedules, no plans (except going to the Christmas market) and in the end we did see a lot of Budapest, mostly places I haven't even seen yet, like the Basilica. I had been quite sick for two days and was really afraid that I wouldn't be well enough to go. But working from home turned out a very good idea and o...