Outlandish

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

You know how all blogs these days seem to be full of healthy breakfasts with smoothies that include cow piss and coffee made of squirrel poo and suggestions how your life is not full without a doze of something that tastes just as disgusting as it looks. While I'm very happy that people take care of their bodies' needs, I'm also extremely happy that I don't need to eat that crap. I stay healthy and, if not fit, at least relatively skinny with a normal breakfast that my very Finnish family has always enjoyed. On a normal morning at home before work I need to have my cup of coffee and I usually make a quick bread with cheese and cucumber. Nothing special but enough for me. Sometimes if I wake up a bit earlier I make porridge topped with sugar and cinnamon. That's usually for slow weekend mornings, though. But at home I get to enjoy a proper breakkie that I don't even have to cook myself. Sometimes it's scrambled eggs and bacon British

It's May!! Summer is sooo close! May 1st, also known as May Day is a festive day all over the world. But nowhere do people appreciate this day as Finns do! And as always we celebrate the eve of the big day and it's traditional to go for a picnic on the actual 1st May. This great event is called Vappu and I really recommend you visit Helsinki or Turku during this festival of Spring! (Unless you're a really uptight person who cannot bare seeing people consuming too much alcohol in a public place and being very loud.)  Vappu, like most our festivities probably originate from Sweden and it was firstly seen as a celebration for Spring. Then the industrialization came along and today the day is seen more as a working class's holiday around the world. In Finland the day has been taken over by university students. They roam the cities in their colourful overalls and at 6pm on the Eve of May 1st they are allowed to put on the white caps that we receive when we gradu

Having finally managed to move to an apartment that I can truly call a home and that has all the things I have always wanted my apartment to have (except the bay window) I also want to keep it clean and in good condition. I’ve never been the kind of person who has to have things in order and who can’t stand a centimeter layer of dust on their table tops. I have been quite content living in a dorm room with a floor-covering carpet and a steady layer of dust on it, so ample that my daily route between the bed, desk and door was quite visible after few months. Only when my parents were coming over for a visit I borrowed a hand vacuum cleaner to get the most visible layer of dust off the floor. I have also always been very content with the huge stacks of used or tried-on clothes covering a chair or a bed. But now I have experienced a change. I like my flat clean, I like it with things in their right place and I like it without bread crumbles all over the table top and floor. A

Even though moving sucks big time (especially moving from one country to another!) it comes often with lovely surprises and discoveries. You unpack and discover things you didn't remember you had! I've lived in Tallinn now for two months and all this time I've had one box in the living room on the kitchen threshold untouched. I knew that it consisted of the most expensive dishes I own and they are quite graphic and deserve a good place in the apartment. But I haven't been able to find a place for them. But then the weekend came when my parents were visiting and I had to get rid of the box. When I started going through the things there I remembered why I wanted to start collecting them. They are lovely pieces of kitchen-ware with subtle mint-green edges. They definitely deserve to be used!  I drink tea a lot! I love tea, there are so many flavours and drinking tea is its own little moment of relaxation. Tea is also a genuinely calming substance, w

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

Sometimes life throws you against the wall and causes bruises that take years to heal. Some people succumb under the pressure, I decided I've had enough, I'll run away. They say that you can't run away from your troubles, you'll always bump into them on the way but I did exactly that and it was the best decision I ever made . When moving to Slovakia I didn't have any expectations, I didn't know where I was going. And during the one and a half years I have realized what makes me happy:  I've always enjoyed being in a big group, I love having a lot of people around me. Important people that is. I don't know where this comes from because my family hasn't been exactly keen on having huge gatherings more than what has been an absolute necessity. Here in Slovakia I've met such amazing people who have become veery important to me as friends but also as a sort of family. We are all so different, we all have a "role" in the group

Loneliness. Doesn't have quite the same ring to it in English as it does in Finnish. In Finland loneliness has been in headlines for a while now because it's becoming a huge social problem: 400 000 lonely people in a country of 5 million. Scientifically explained loneliness is an involuntary experience and emotion. For a lot of people in the world this might sound incomprehensible, but even in a metropolis you can be completely alone. I would know.   As a Finn I enjoy being on my own every now and then. Nothing beats a lazy Sunday alone at home or in a café with a book. During busy weeks or months I see those lonely days as a bit of luxury. But a human being, especially me, has a limit with the voluntary loneliness. For some that limit is just a need to ask an opinion or telling someone what happened to them today. The simplest thing, but it can be devastating if you don't have anyone to ask or to tell. Others, like me, have the limit much lower: just the need to s