Looking forward to it

Last night, I had a trouble sleeping, because ... well, I'm not even sure why exactly, but I knew one of the sources of the can't-sleep-angst was the upcoming fall and all the choices I have to make and live with. So, I took my beautiful little notebook, just perfect for the lists, really; and wrote some goals down.

The timeframe varied from one day up to a year - even though I was tempted to write a five-year-plan, because I'm a sucker for long-term plans, but I also know it's much harder to actually stick to those promises in such a long timeframe. Because life, you know, happens.

But I thought I would share the lists in all their crypticness (that's what you get for writing lists at 2 am.!), ad maybe they'll inspire you to think about where you're planning on going with your life in the next day/week/twelvemonth or so.

Things I want from my life (gotta love a pompous title, yes?):

Tomorrow (this being TODAY) I want to...
- go aqua jogging with Paula (done!)
- study for the stupid exam for at least 4 hours (I still have about three to go...)
- visit my parents'  house (I decided I didn't want it after all, they're on a trip so they wouldn't have been there anyway) 

In August I want to...
- write at least 10 blog posts (for either TT or PV)
- make some decisions concerning the blogs and get started on that homesite
- finish and pass the communications exams and the language course
- make a timetable for the school year and register to courses (I actually made the timetable today (totally procrastinating on that exam studying))
-actively started on producing things for my Etsy shop, if that's still what I want (this includes some plan-making and number-crunching too) 

During the coming 12 months I want to...
- finish my B.Soc.Sci and get started on my Master's thesis
- apply for the exchange program early next year
- have reached and happily passed the 20,000 views on my blogs (only those of my own count!)
- have finished at least one (no matter how awful) manuscript (I get to choose which one)

Do you think these sound un-/reasonable?

I've been thinking a lot lately about the direction where I want to go, what I want to do and how I want to spend my life. At the same time I really want to succeed on those things I've started or am about to start, so I found this exercise helpful for giving some time perspective as well. None of those things are something I believe to be beyond my skills or abilities at the moment, but of course shi life happens and then I'll just have to reassess.


For the visual entertainment value you get an oldie OOTC picture of a rose. Not sure how it's connected with this theme, but I've been assured that everything is connected. Maybe even a rose and life plans. 




Täällä on tehty suunnitelmia tulavaisuuden varalle; huomiseksi, ensi kuuksi, tulevaksi vuodeksi. Jos edes jotain saan aikaan, voin olla itseeni tyytyväinen. Toisaalta tuntuu hyvältä, että minulla on jo iso lista asioita, jotka oikeasti palavasti haluan päästä totetuttamaan (jos ei tenttiin lukua lasketa - mutta sekin palvelee suurempia päämääriä).

Foodie Friday: Baking Experiences

Okay, so I KNOW it's not Friday and I'm a day late, but I'm starting a new feature concentrating of food and baking and funny stuff I do in the kitchen. And yes, it's called Foodie Friday (I just love a good alliteration) and I'll try my best to actually publish those posts on Fridays. But for this one time, you'll get a Foodie Saturday instead. :D

Anyway, I've been cooking and baking a lot this month, thanks to the No Spend Month challenge I'm participating in. It's just so much easier and cheaper(!) to cook for yourself, and since I made the decision to bake all the goodies (more or less, anyway), my kitchen has seen surprisingly lot of action this month.


For some reason, there has been two things on my brain for weeks; bread buns and mocha cakes. Those are both something that every Finnish mother has baked at some point for their children and their friends, and also, one of the certain recipes to learn at home education on seventh grade.

Still, for some reason I haven't made either since I moved out from my parents' and I thought it was about time to change that. It didn't help that every time I had a craving for something sweet, my brain would start chanting "mocha cakes, mocha cakeeees..." and whenever I felt like eating a little something that same brain would go and shout "bread buuuns, bread buns...". And really, I don't even like coffee/mocha or eat bread at home!

But still, something HAD to be done.

I thought to myself, "If just start with the bread buns, they're almost like proper food... I'm sure I don't have the energy for the mocha cakes afterwards." Yeah, right. The bread dough was still raising when I started looking for the perfect mocha cake recipe.

The bread looks yummy, doesn't it? Let me tell you, fresh bread straight from the oven tasted just as good as I remembered, if not even better. I also made some home made ice tea to go with all these treats. I'm still looking for the perfect recipe, but I also believe in "practice makes perfect" adage! One thing that really helps though, is that I try to remember to freeze some fresh sliced lemons and lemon juice to put into the tea. It makes the whole drink feel so special (and cold!) and takes no time at all.

And the mocha cakes? Well, they were delicious. The operative word being were. I can't believe I ate all that sugar in just a couple of days. I'll have to share with you the story about the frosting, though. I learned (among other things), that boiling sugar sticks to your fingers like nothing else... 

But darn, they were deliciooous. Even if I really don't like coffee. 

Recipes to come, tomorrow maybe!

Leivontahiiri puraisi, ja tempasinpa sitten uuniin paitsi pari pellillistä kaurasämpylöitä, myös aina niin ihania mokkapaloja. Ja enhän siis edes syö leipää (ainakaan kotona), saati sitten juo tai edes tykkää kahvista. Oli kyllä vaan niin hirmu hyviä kaikki taas kerran, en varmasti pääse laihtumaan. Nimenomaan siis oli. 

No Spend Month - Halfway there!

I promised an update on my No Spend Month and here it comes.

So far I have been pretty surprised how well it's been going. There has been good days, bad days, and everything in between. At the same time I've realized that a week or two weeks or even a month is not really that much time. I have started dreaming bigger dreams.

What has made all the difference, is that I finally have some kind of a grasp as to where I am, financially. I know when my bills are due, how much money I can expect each month and how much I'll have to put aside for compulsory expenses only. And even for the rest, I have made some hatchling plans. Let's see how well I'll stick to those.

Besides just money, I have been inspired. I have been inspired to consider how I really want to spend my time at this point of my life, and what I can do about it so that my days are filled with things that I find joyful, inspiring, and empowering. Even though I still have a lot of steps to take, I have planned a some kind of a path for myself, and that has helped tremendously. So, in just a few weeks, days really,  I have been inspired to take grasp of my life. Finally, some could say.

Besides these very thoughtful feelings, I have also made some very practical things inspired by the No Spend Month. Things that are going to save me lots of money in the long run, and just finally making time for these things has been very motivating as well. The biggest things so far has been:

1. Budgeting. Needless to say, writing all my purchases down is a very eye-opening exercise. Even though I know this is far from my "usual month" (spending-wise), it has made me think how much I have been depending on shopping as a recreational habit. And how much money that habit has cost me over the years.

2. Meal-planning. All mothers with families to feed know this already, but planning my meals in advance has made a huge difference in my eating habits. I haven't planned something for each day (as is usual, I guess), but rather I have a list of meals I have all the ingredients ready in my fridge and pantry, so whenever I feel hungry I consult my list and decide what to cook next. And then I eat the left-overs (and not throw them away when they get forgotten and eventually turn bad) because I'm really a rather lazy cook. Now, whenever I feel hungry, I have no excuse for grabbing some ready-made stuff at the grocery store just because I'm hungry and feel like eating just something. Instead, I recognize the impulse for what it is - laziness.

3. Resisting My Sweet Tooth. Very much related to meal-planning, I made myself a promise: if I want something sweet and sugary, I have to make/bake it myself (instead of running to grasp some chocolate bars so I can eat them all in one go). So far I haven't quite succeeded every time, but for the most part my candy/chocolate etc. eating is down by about 70%. Once again, most of the time I'm just too lazy, to first plan what I want to bake, then baking it, and then still washing up all the dishes. On the other hand, it's been marvelous to try out all the wonderful recipes for the stuff I have had in my pantry and freezer for ages. I'll have to make a post about my successful (and not-so-successful) baking attempts at some point, so stay tuned.

4. Getting Rid of Useless Expenses. I finally got around to quitting my internet connection. Now that sounds pretty drastic, but the truth is, I have been paying this year for internet I didn't need! Since early this year, internet through cable has been included in the rent, so my paying for the other internet has been a total waste of money. Now that that's handled, it's 24 euros saved, every month. Inspired by that,  I also switched my electricity company to one that charges less. That's about 5-10 euros saved every month. These things put together, I'm going to have smaller and fewer bills to pay every month. Sweeeet.

5. Finding Out Where My Money Goes. This has been a huge thing, I tell you. Of course I had a pretty good idea, but seeing it written down has a way of making one consider if eating out that many times a month is that good an idea. That is not to say, that I don't want to eat out at all, but all in all, this whole project has made a lot more conscious about my spending.

Considering these things, and my previous musings, I'm pretty happy about where I am in my 100€ budget. So far I have used 55,75€, so it's a bit more than half of all the money, but still pretty good. I should be able to stay within the limits, but it will be a close thing. But that's okay, too!

Sorry for the super-long post (by my usual standards), but I hope it's been helpful! I'll keep you updated, and let you know about my feelings when the whole things is (finally) over.


Pientä päivitystä budjetti-tietoiseen kuukauteeni. Suurin muutos on tapahtunut päässä, asiat ja ideat ja tunnelmat on myllänneet ympäriinsä, ja uskoisin kokeilulla olevan yllättävän pitkäkantoisia seurauksia. Käytännön puolellakin olen saanut konkreettisia asioita aikaiseksi, ihana vaan tietoisemmalla shoppailulla ja ruoanlaitolla ja ennen kaikkea turhien menojen karsimisella. Jo sen ymmärtäminen, mihin kaikki raha katoaa kuukauden aikana on ollut kiinnostavaa sinänsä. Kokeilu jatkuu, siitä myöhemmin vielä lisää. 

The Fourth of July

Today is the birthday of one of my favorite persons in the world - my little brother, that is.

In fact, my brother is the kind of awesome that just a few nights ago, he came to visit me in the middle of the night as I was just taking a batch of some cheese-cake swirled brownies out of the oven, then he fixed my wireless internet (that I wasn't even sure was broken), fixed my camera (so I could take picture of the brownies) and wanted only a brownie in thanks (claiming that they tasted like heaven, while I'm still trying to figure out what went wrong with them and what I should do better next time).

Yes, he's that awesome. And of course I am biased, he's my baby brother!

Just to show you how amazing he is (and how very important he is to me) I wrote this post to him, using his wonderful photographs to relay the message. They're some of his older pictures, these days he's even better at it. Simply blows my mind.

Small things are big things...

(like strawberries and champagne!)

I love you, Miika. <3

More of his pictures are here, though like I said, he hasn't updated them lately.


Pikkuveljen synttärit tänään. Ihana pikkuveli, osaa kuvata ja korjata nettiasioita ja kamera-asioita ja tulla käymään pyytämättä kun sellaista veljellistä seuraa tarvitaan. Ihan isosiskon oikeudella käytin sen omia kuvia, kun halusin sanoa sille, että se on mulle tosi tärkeä. 

Suuta soukemmalle - No Spend Month

As you all probably know by now, I'm a dirt poor university student. If you've been where I am now, you know that as much as we all love the freedom and inspiration the amazing education university gives to us, it doesn't really bring any food on the table. The situation is made even more dire by the fact that I'm one of those masses of European youth who for one reason or another doesn't have job. So yes, for now I'm living on only the student allowance which is some hundred euros a month (A LOT more than in almost any country in the world, but still, this is Finland we're talking about here).

To fight against the constant struggle and resentment against my financial status, I have decided to spend a No Spend Month in July. I stumbled upon the idea on Pinterest, and after thinking about it for about a second, I decided that this is something I would love to try as well. I'm not trying to cut my spending down to zero as such, but I am trying to limit myself to only the necessary things and only one or two inexpensive treats in July. I'm going to put aside money separately for things like rent, utilities, basic public transport and medications, since those are things that are really hard to save any money in only a month, but maybe I'll try to get something done with my internet and electricity bills too, that would probably help me a lot in the long term.

So, my goal is to manage to cover all other my expenses (groceries, other transport, hobbies and such) with only a hundred euros in July.

That's not very much, but I definitely think it's doable considering how much food and such I have in my cupboards ready to be eaten and I have to admit, I kind of cheated. I went grocery shopping today and bought just about everything I could think of that I've run out lately. Still, because I had planned my grocery shopping list in advance, and I didn't buy much processed food, the total sum was much lower than I expected. I really should stop going to the store hungry and cranky.

Anyway, I'll keep you updated how this thing goes!

Päätin kyllästyä ainaiseen köyhyyteni ja yrittää kerrankin elää varojeni mukaan (ja vähän alikin) heinäkuun ajan. Asetin itselleni satasen budjetin pakollisten menojen jälkeen (ei jää opintotuesta kovin paljon enempää edes käteen kaiken kaikkiaan) ja nyt sitten katsellaan miten pitkälle moinen riittää. Huijasin sen verran, että kävin kaupassa täydentämässä varastoja, mutta siltikin kiitos suunnitelmallisuuden, loppusumma oli paljon odotettua pienempi. Pitääpä lopettaa kaupassa käyminen nälkäisenä. 

lemon-cake cheese-cups

(A post started a long, long time ago; here's the finished and updated version! Nice to see you after all this time, btw. ;) )

These are the kind of pastry that really won't ever win the Miss Pretty Cupcake competition, rather they're the cupcake-next-door that you try because you're waiting for the cupcake of your dreams to appear. And then one day you realized you're seriously committed to this one cupcake and can't really see why you ever wanted to try anything else, ever. Yeah, they're sneaky that way.

In fact, when I took my first try-out batch to a meeting we had a fight over who's allowed the last one. If I remember right, the girl with the crappiest day won, since the pick-me-up-properties of this cupcake are pretty marvelous.

Now that I'm over gushing the awesomeness-that-is-this-cupcake-recipe, we can finally move on to the actual recipe part (and possibly pictures too, right?)!

I originally find the recipe from Pinterest, followed to a blog and from there to another and yeah. We all know how these things go. The recipe I ended up using is pretty close to this lemon tassies recipe by the always lovely, always industrious Martha Stewart (well, it's on her website anyway). I like the way it's simple enough even for me to understand. :D

Anyway, here's what I did. (The recipe makes about 20.)

Crust:
75g butter or margarine
2,5 dl flour
0,5 dl sugar
1 egg
a pinch of vanilla (or vanilla sugar)
a pinch of salt
a bit (about 1/4 of a lemon) grated lemon zest

-> Mix everything into a batter and cover muffin pan hole-thingies with crust (see picture) to make cups. Bake at 175°C for about 10 min.

Filling:
200g cream cheese (natural/original flavor)
3/4 - 1 dl sugar
1 egg
the rest of the grated lemon zest
1 tbsp lemon juice
a pinch of vanilla

-> Mix all together and fill the cups with the cheese-mix. Bake 15-20 minutes until the color is lovely golden. Let them cool and gobble up!

Btw, I wouldn't recommend putting your stick of butter to wait on top of your gas oven (it really gets hot!). I don't think there's any reason to ask me how I know.

These are lovely for a spring afternoon with a friend and a pot of tea. And Easter is coming too! Maybe I should try these for my Easter treat instead (or rather, in addition to) my never-ending diet of chocolate in all forms...


Löysin Pinterestin kautta ihanan sitruuna-juustokakkusien ohjeen, nämä veivät paitsi minut myös kaikki muut mennessään! Todellakin sopivat oikeastaan jokaiseen makuun (ehkei sitrus-allergisille kuitenkaan...). Joka tapauksessa ohje oli suhteellisen helppo, ja lopputulos vähintäänkin odotusten mukainen. Ulkonäöllisesti ei ehkä kaikkein kaunein ja näyttävin leivos, mutta maku kyllä korvaa senkin edestä. Näitä kannattaa maistella vaikkapa hedelmäisen teen kanssa, tietenkin hyvän ystävän kanssa, ja haaveilla auringosta ja kesästä... Kyllä se sieltä jossain vaiheessa taas ilmestyy! 

Obsessed: Anthropologie

I hope I'm not the only one obsessed with Anthropologie's latest catalogue.

(At least according to the blogosphere, I don't think so.)

I don't think there's anything I wouldn't take from there if someone really wanted to gift me with them. In fact, when I was in New York for a couple of months in 2008, I made sure that all my Anthropologie stuff were packed with me (I had to leave a LOT of stuff behind. *sigh*).

Anthropologien (hehheh) uusi kuvasto!!! (Ei mulla muuta.)

Ateneum

Earlier this week it was Free-Entry-for-Students day at Ateneum, the Finnish National Gallery, so of course I had to go! I've been wanting to see the Magic of Lapland Exhibition since the day it came out, and now I finally had a chance to just that.

Besides just the exhibitions (and free entry!) there were also workshops, for example the one where you could make badges out of the prints and papers from the museum. I made two (see below), and it was SO hard to pick which pictures to use! The possibilities are endless... And now I kind of want a badge maker too.

 

If you happen to pass by Ateneum and you have any free time at all, I really recommend you to check the Lapland exhibition and if you really have very little time and/or money, just the museum shop.

(I looooove museum shops; they're almost as good as museums when it comes to visual entertainment. <3 )


Aiemmin viikolla hyödynsin Taidetta Meille -päivän opiskelija-tarjouksen ja poikkesin Ateneumiin katsastamaan Lapin Taika -näyttelyn. Näyttely oli vaikuttava ja ihana, ehdottomasti näkemisen arvoinen. Päivän aikana sai myös osallistua rintamerkki-työpajaan (nyt haluan merkkikoneen kanssa!) ja Ateneum-salissa soi inarinsaamelainen räppi... Olipa hauskaa, kannattaa mennä katsomaan näyttely, nyt kun vielä siihen on mahdollisuus!

MNY - My Nails, Yay!

Last Saturday my friend Iisa and I went around the city center trying to find something nice for her father (as it was Fathers' Day on Sunday). Naturally we had to go and see if we could find anything nice for ourselves too, but since we're both poor university students the money is always an issue... Which is why I was pretty happy to see Maybelline's new make-up brand MNY, which promises everything under 5 euros! The colors are pretty solid but there's a lot to choose from. 

I decided on these two nail polishes, a pale pink French Manicure type of varnish, and a "drying effect" top coat (since my last one seems to have mysteriously disappeared). I probably should have cleaned my old nail polish away better, since now you can see weird dark teal remains here and there, I'm really sorry about that! I put two coats of the pink one and one thicker coat of the top coat and I really like the result. If I had wanted to be extra careful I could have put an extra layer of both, but I really was too lazy for that. I think the end result looks pretty anyway. 

Pink: MNY My Varnish 251

Top Coat: MNY My Varnish Drying Effect Top Coat 906A

Because it's a brand that promises things cheap, I really wanted to try something and see how the quality would hold up compared to others. And I was really very happily surprised! Even though I washed the dishes and cleaned up things the following day, the nails still stayed pretty. Now after about  five days or so you start to see wear and tear around the edges, but that's what you can expect with my poor nails anyway. The polish was pretty easy to put on too, which is always a huge plus. All in all, the price-quality ratio is a very good one with these polishes, I think. Now I really would like to try the other stuff too!

Here at the website you can try out different looks with different "muses", though I wouldn't have minded getting more information about the items on the website. 

Kävin viikonloppuna isäinpäiväostoksilla kaverin kanssa, ja päädyimme myös ostamaan pienet lahjat itsellemmekin. Huomasin jo aiemmin Maybellineltä ilmestyneen uuden meikkisarjan MNY, joka lupaa kaikki tuotteet alle 5 eurolla, lisäksi värejä ja valikoimaa oli enemmän kuin tarpeeksi. Pitihän sitä kokeilla, miten laadukasta kamaa saa näin kohtuullisella hinnalla! Vaaleanpunaista on kaksi kerrosta ja kuivattavaa päällyslakkaa yksi. Enemmänkin voisi olla, mutta kaiken kaikkiaan olen kovin tyytyväinen. Lakka oli helppo levittää ja on pysynyt kynsissä yllättävän siistinä viikonlopun tiskaus- ja siivoussessioista huolimatta. Nyt tekee mieli kokeilla muitakin sarjan tuotteita! 

One Brown and Two Pretties / Yksi ruskea ja kaksi kaunista

On Thursday night I was in a hurry, running to our student association's sit-down- dinner when I realized that I had forgotten my purse at home. I did have my huge canvas bag where I had stashed pretty much anything anyone might want for preparing herself for a party (as I had to help with the decorations  for the party and I didn't have time to go home in between). BUT I had forgotten to grab anything that one might put some extra change and lipstick in, well, you know what I mean. So, of course I had to go and see if I could find anything at any of the stores nearby. At Aleksi13 (which also happened to be the first place I went to look) I found this adorable brown leather clutch (which is slightly smaller than I usually would like, but oh so cute!), and I just couldn't resist it. And it was 50% off, so it was at a very reasonable price, which is always a huge plus. Worked like a charm at the party too!

Then earlier this weekend I went to visit my parents, who had just came home from their trip to Barcelona. My mother is a GREAT fan of everything Desigual, so it was no wonder that she pretty much emptied all the stores available to her in the city. I was VERY lucky, as she got me not one, but TWO bags in awfully pretty colors! The larger one is more of a handbag/messenger bag type of thing (with both longer and shorter straps) and the smaller is for parties and such, says mother. (The bigger one is this year's collection and the smaller is from last season, I think.) I love it how well my mother knows both my needs and love for all kinds of bags. :D Don't you just love all the details on the bags Desigual is so well known for?

What do you say, what else a girl might need on a bag front? I think I'm pretty well covered for this season.


Torstaina juostessani ainejärjestön sitseille tajusin, että olin unohtanut pikkulaukun kotiin. Voi kauheus! Mihin sitä nyt voi laittaa huulikiillon ja muun tarpeellisen härpäkkeen kun ei ihan perus-kangaskassiakaan viitsi illallispöytään tuoda? Onnkeis apu löytyi ihan yliopiston nurkilta, Aleksi13:sta, josta löytyi ihastuttava (vaikkakin) pieni nahka-laukkunen. Laukkuun mahtui juuri sopivasti kaikki mitä pitikin, ja hintakin oli puolitettu! Mainio löytö mielestäni siis. 
Vanhemmat oli syysreissulla Barcelonassa ja äiti oli tuliaisia ostaessaan varmaan tyhjentänyt paikallisen Desigualin puodin. Itselleni saaliista päätyi kaksi aivan upean mahtavaa laukkua, isompi käsilaukku ja pienempi juhla-olkalaukku. Värit, mallit ja kokokin osui molemmissa aivan nappiin. Näille löytyy varmasti paljon käyttöä!

Ps. I'm really very sorry for the photo-licious post, but I just loved all the details on the bags and couldn't resist! I hope you don't hate me now... / Pakko vielä pahoitella kuvapaljoutta, en vaan kyennyt vastustamaan kaikkia ihania yksityskohtia laukuissa...