Love and roots

Oh, hello, my old blog! 

All of your followers have probably disappeared, sorry about that. But I have things to tell you, so I'm back!

Kävelin kivisiä katuja,

ajelin kehäteitä.

Hiihtelin elämäni latuja,

ajattelin meitä,

kuinka nuorina tahdoimme

päästä maailman syliin.

Minkä sille me mahdoimme:

jäätiin maalikyliin.

--

Näissä elämän vesikeleissä

hahmottuvat haasteemme suuret.

Tärkeintä loppupeleissä

on rakkaus ja juuret.

I may have done the most radical thing I've ever done. I moved to Finland in August.

Making the decision to move took a lot longer than my decision to move to Scotland. That was something I didn't even have to think about. But moving to Finland was a tough decision to make.

I had fears that I would just "move back" and get stuck. I was worried that Finland would be cold and dark and I that would just get depressed and scared of life. — But actually: Scotland is cold and dark and I had been living there for 7 years. That's almost a decade. Practically (if you use a little bit of imagination and don't think about it too hard or precisely), a 3rd of my life. So I was about to get stuck there and wanted to try something else. I could have moved to somewhere completely different: Germany, Sweden, Japan...?

But no, Finland was worth a try. I had never lived here as an adult before. I have a 5-year old sister and a 3-year old goddaughter. It was about a time to get to know them. Being a bit closer to be able to meet them a bit more often wouldn't be so bad, right?

So I tried it.

I moved to Finland with my new kitten. And so far it's been awesome. I've probably never been this happy. And maybe it's time to share some of this happiness with you! Goodbye depression blog, hello happiness blog! That's kind of what the blog was about in the first place though, but maybe it's good to inform you about the fact that I've just had the best autumn of my life.

Finland has been so sunny. I've met dozens of fantastic people. I feel really extroverted in Finland compared to typical Finns you find in the streets. Well duh, who speaks to strangers in the street? (Apparently me.)  I thought I might be lonely if I lived alone, but it's been quite the opposite. Now, I actually have to leave the house to socialise and apparently I do that. Sometimes I also have guests over. And I have a cat, so there is no boring times at home ever. Not that I even know how to get bored.

I've started a new hobby and somehow got a temporary job where I'm allowed to drink water and go to the toilet. And all of my best friends live really close to me so I actually get to see them more than a couple of times a year. Instead of random messages I now get phone calls of whether I can meet them for coffee straight away. It's so crazy after so many years of communicating primarily online.

I love my friends, I love my life, I love my cat, and my roots are here. This city I moved to has been completely new to me, but maybe I'll grow some of my roots here. Some of them I left behind in Scotland. Roots all over the place. 

My Little Pony Outfit

OOTD everyone!

Do you know what that means? It's okay, I didn't know either, but apparently it's a really cool thing now. Bloggers and vloggers everywhere are posting "outfit of the day"-pictures and videos. I thought it time for me to join those cool people.

I have a feeling that no one would care what I wear everyday, which most days is either pyjamas or a pink leopard onesie. And after this post you'll understand why it's better that I don't try to be a fashion blogger. But because I started this new hobby I, recently went shopping for some yoga outfits. Now when I don't have the scary, sleazy teacher anymore, I thought it would be nice to have some better yoga outfits.

My yoga outfit.

And this is what I bought! 

I don't actually wear the socks in the class, but my toes are very private and I don't think it's suitable to show them to the whole world. Only people I'm married to are allowed to see them. And so far, no one is.

I could have shown you each piece of clothing individually, but I have a feeling that no one actually cares. Please let me know, if you happen to do.

But basically I bought a fake sports bra, which gives absolutely no support, but looks pretty and sporty. I wear it on top of my real sports bra, which is a lot less pretty. Is that how it's supposed to be worn, or does someone actually wear it as a bra?

Then I have a grey sports vest which is so low cut that you can see the fake sports bra. And because sometimes you get cold when you practise yoga in Scotland, I also have that baggy long sleeved thing. It's sides are made out of seethrough net, so that it looks cool.

These were all bought from Primark's Sports department. I went to Primark mostly because I'm afraid of real sports stores because I don't actually know anything about sports. They all seem to be branded and expensive. Even the Primark Sports section was too much for me when it was time to decide what I should wear for my bottom half. I moved to a safer department and bought My Little Pony pyjama bottoms. I think they go very nicely with the rest of the outfit.

What do you think of my yoga oufit? What would you wear for a yoga class?

It's snow time!

Dear blog,

I think the winter has arrived. It snowed last week!

View from our home street!

I am quite amused by the fact that we had our first snow before my family in Finland did! It's all gone now but the winter atmosphere is still here. I've been burning so many candles (that my girlfriend is worried that soon I will have no money left)! But I feel that the candles are making me feel less stressed out about this whole Christmas thing. Especially Christmas shopping, because surely I can just give candles to everyone. Candles are lovely.

A little Laura-elf hiding behind the tree.

We also erected our Christmas tree! It's new, cute and we bought it at 2am in our local supermarket. It's plastic and lacks that sensational pine tree scent, but I've solved the problem by buying pine tree scented candles. It's like having a real tree.

And since, I've now told you about the snow we had, it's a good time to tell you that Katja from Little Snow-blog gave me 11 questions challenge. I've done this challenge once before and told 11 facts about me, and answered Jonna's questions in this post, but now I'm going to answer Katja's 11 questions.

Jonna's Challenge

This blog post will be very different from my other posts. I will take part in a blog challenge where I have to answer some questions and also come up with some questions. I've seen these challenges in other people's blogs, but I've never been challenged before. This time my friend Jonna challenged me though! I will tell you more about her and how we met in a separate friend post that I will write at some point in the future. Thank you for the challenge, Jonna!

The Challenge

• tell 11 things about themselves
• answer the 11 questions asked
• ask 11 new questions
• challenge some bloggers

Sometimes we end up singing karaoke together.

Am I out of control?

As a part of my attempt to do new things I've decided to visit two places that I haven't been to before. I can't believe I haven't been to those places! 

I lived 18 years of my life in Finland and have never been to Estonia. I mentioned this to one of my best friends and she decided that she would take me out to Tallinn for a day. Finally, I will get to see what Helsinki was founded to compete against!

Tallinn.

Another capital that I have passed by several times is Copenhagen. I've been to Denmark but only spent time in the mainland. So now I have a day visit to Copenhagen planned as well. We're going to go and take a photo of that little Little Mermaid statue and eat sandwiches. How exciting!

But thinking about these short-visits made me realise that I don't have any suitable luggage for a one-day around-town and a nights stay. I needed something small enough to carry around with me but big enough to fit my pyjamas and a toothbrush in. So basically I decided that I need a very big handbag.

I went out and bought this:

My new travel bag!

It's big and has leopard print on it. A few years younger version of myself would be shocked. I did not like leopard print. Or pink. Last week I bought something that had pink leopard print on it. Teenager-me would not approve.

But then I thought that because I, for some unknown reason, like the bag now, I should just get it and enjoy this feeling. This bag and I have some great adventures ahead of us. It doesn't even matter if no one else likes this bag, because I do and it's my bag now.

I am not sure why I had to convince myself that it's okay to like this bag - it's just a bag after all - but maybe I care too much about what others might think, even more than "betraying" my old self.

I have recently bought so many things with leopard print on them... Besides this bag, I also have tissue boxes, shoes, a dress, pyjamas, a bra, multiple pants, things and I nearly bought tweezers today as well. But it's okay.  I've stopped avoiding pink like plague as well.

I kind of like this dress:

It's Ruby & Grace Scuba Party dress.

I also like neon colours! But it's probably not a new thing.  I gave my old neon yellow shoes to my friend who really wanted them, last week.  I might want neon pink ones now. Maybe one day.