Midsummer

Happy Monday darlings!

So, here in Finland we´ve been celebrating Midsummer over the weekend (= Friday and Saturday). It´s a time of celebration, but still the Finnish Midsummer isn´t as huge as it is in Sweden. The whole idea of Midsummer is basically: spending time at the Summer houses, eating and drinking (loooots of drinking), party, fun... e.t.c.
Sadly, Midsummer also is a holiday where some people get themselves killed (drowning and car accidents) and other sad stuff.

Friday we spent at the Summer house. I had the cats with me, which went great. Of course, they didn´t quite enjoy the car ride down to the Summer house and they were a bit suspicious to the Summer house´s surroundings at first but then it went okay. I had to run after them at one point and they didn´t care for me that much afterwards (for a while at least) but over all, they enjoyed the 3 days we spent there.

We ate delicious food on Friday, I was so full I could´ve rolled off the table. We also drank lots of goodies: I personally enjoyed an ice cold Raspberry/Mynta cider + one or two glasses of champagne + a zip of grappa at the end of  dinner.

Later that night, around 11p.m., we went to our neighbours, where the lads were enjoying the hot tub outside.

When it was time to go to bed, I was moved into the "sauna house" (=it´s a second Summer house of ours and it has a sauna). I had my laptop with me so I watched a movie (Love and Other Drugs) before I went to sleep. Great movie! Anne Hathaway was in it and I adore her, so therefor I liked it so much! The following morning I watched Life as We Know It. I´ve seen it before but it was so good I gladly watched it again!

Saturday we also spent at the Summer house and in the evening, me and mam took the boat to a friend´s Summer house. It took about 40 minutes. It was really nice, we ate delicious food and drank good - C knows her stuff!
But then, later the same evening, we started to see our dilemma. A real thick fog came in over the bay and we said at first we´d wait it out but oh no, the fog wasn´t going anywhere. And we couldn´t take the boat and drive in the fog either. So, we texted auntie B and asked if she´d like to come and get us but she was trapped on an island at their friends´ Summer house so they waited the fog out as well. But then around 2a.m. she called us and said they were home and she´d come to get us. So at 2.30a.m. she came to get us.

We went back to get the boat on Sunday around noon. I didn´t feel 100% well but it wasn´t too serious, just made me feel uncomfortable.
But mam didn´t want to drive the boat alone + the car was at the Summer house + my cats. Yes the girls had been all alone at the Summer house for... well, a long time! But they were fine when I called for them, incredibly friendly *lol*

So that was my Midsummer.

Now, look at these 2 Delena MVs. Gorgeous! Can´t wait for season 3 of TVD!

Now photos, starting with...

Nana Sigrid´s 90th birthday celebration

2 flower bouquets

Nan to the right

Cutie pie Wilma and her Nana (My auntie B)

More flower bouquets and congrats cards

The birthday lady with more flower bouquets and cards

Our present (it was also from Auntie B & Co) was a garden swing.

Putting it together was a bit hard at the beginning...

...but in the end it was put together - correctly! Here´s the final inspection...

...and so it was time to try-sitting!
Cutie pie Wilma and fabburin P worked as test persons

"Is this really gonna work?" Wilma is wondering

It seems to go fine and be fun!
If it weren´t for the fucking mosquitos!

The birthday lady herself eventually came out to see what really was going on outside

Coffee time

More guests around the table

Last check.
The strawberry cake was delicious by the way!

Midsummer @ Långnäs

Lovely photo of the sunset

Happy Midsummer!

Happy Midsummer!

I´ll be spending all weekend at the Summer house, maybe starting with a dinner at W´s tonight, not sure yet if I´ll go.

Check out this awesome MV with Ms Spears! She´s so cool! 

Footloose anno 2011

Here´s the trailer for the remake of Footloose. The storyline is the same + there are some of the epic scenes from the original movie in this one, which I loooove!

I like who they finally casted as Ren too. After being forced to do so twice (stupid Zac Efron & Chace Crawford!!) I think they chose the right one in Kenny Wormald. 

He has som mayor shoes to fill after Kevin Bacon, but I think he´ll do awesome! I loved him in Center Stage: Turn it up.

This morning I went to KKC to write the final exam in the ECDL-certificate. It didn´t go that perfect but I passed! Yay!

✖ Monday ✖

Hiya ladies!


I´m watching TV at the moment, Lotta på Liseberg. It´s an allsong programme from Liseberg (amusement park) - as the title also gives away - in Gothenburg. It´s awesome! One of the artists there tonight are Alexander Rybak and Sanna Nielsen (lover her!). I´d love to go there this Summer.

You wanna know something... I´m seriously considering to buy a digital SLR camera. I´ve been thinking about buying a digital camera (my current one is from Dec´06) so why not go straight to a SLR. Below are 

Canon EOS 1100D
499.90 €

Nikon D3100
649.90 €

Canon EOS 550D
649.90 €

Please, if you have a digital SLR camera - or know someone that have one - feel free to come with tips and advice.

I have to make you listen to this clip of a gorge song! Click here to listen.

It´s written by Jörgen Elofsson, a legend when it comes to song writing, especially ballads. My weakness as you know.

Now to something totally different.

You all know my, hmm, obsession with a certain #4 movie? Well, it´s more like with the leading man... A certain Alex-man. Anyways.

Look at this video! It´s gorgeous!

Make sure to watch it in 720p > your BFF!

Talk to you later!

Roadtriiip!

Haha close enough!

I´m going to Vaasa for the day. I´ll go to the appartment and start cleaning stuff, mostly kitchen items (I reckon they need it!) and then I´ll do some shopping and finally I´ll treat myself with a movie visit.

I won´t overdue with the shopping, as I´m probably going to Tampere soon, but I bet I will come home with something. Here´s some of the items I like. From various clothes shops.

Irish Folklore: The Cat

You all know how I´m quite interested in folklore, especially when it comes from my darling Ireland? 

Well... I´ve been following this blog for a while now, which is all about Irish folklore. The most recent post is about the cat and it´s role in Irish folklore. I´ll post it for you to read :)

Oh, if you wanna take a look at the blog itself, click HERE.

The Cat. 

Cat in Irish is Cat.

A traditional Irish greeting on entering the house was “God save all here, except the cat” and this was because of its association with evil.

Strangely it was considered lucky if a stray cat was to enter the house.

A cat sat with its back to the fire is a sure sign of bad weather.

A crowing hen, a whistling girl, and a black cat are considered very unlucky. Beware of them in a house.

It was once believed that the bite of a cat was poisonous.

It's a sign of bad luck to meet a magpie, a cat, or a lame woman on a trip. If you meet a rooster at your door and it crows, your trip should be postponed.

In mythology, the cat was believed to have great influence on the weather.

Witches who rode on storms took the form of cats. The dog, an attendant of the storm king Odin, was a symbol of wind. Cats came to symbolise down-pouring rain, and dogs to symbolise strong gusts of wind. This may be where the phrase "it's raining cats and dogs".

Sailors used cats to predict the voyages they were about to embark upon.

Loudly mewing cats meant that it would be a difficult voyage. A playful cat meant that it would be a voyage with good and gusty winds.

Some people believe that cats are able to see the human aura, the energy that surrounds the human body.

It was believed that cats could see spirits or ghosts.

A black cat crossing one's path by moonlight means death in an epidemic.

Some believed that black cats carried demons.

If a funeral procession encountered a black cat, they believed another member of the family would soon die.

Druids thought black cats were human beings. These were people who had committed indiscretions in a previous life.

Some believe black cats are witches in disguise. Others believe black cats are witches familiars.

It is believed also that if a black cat is killed and a bean placed in the heart, and the animal afterwards buried, the beans that grow from that seed will confer extraordinary power; for if a man places one in his mouth, he will become invisible, and can go anywhere he likes without being seen.

The Druidical or royal cat, the chief monarch of all the cats in Ireland, was endowed with human speech and faculties, and possessed great and singular privileges. "A slender black cat, wearing a chain of silver," is how it was described.

The fear of cats, especially black cats started in Europe during the Middle Ages, especially in England. It was the cat’s independence, wilfulness, stealth and eyes that shone in the dark that seemed to put people on edge. With the explosion of rats at this time came the increase in the cat population and these cats were often fed by poor, lonely old women who were then accused of witchcraft as were the cats (witches familiars).

Some people believed that the cat had supernatural powers and if you looked into their eyes you would be hypnotised.

To kill a cat brings seventeen years of bad luck.

In England and mainland Europe there was a superstition that if a cat was built into a house wall it would protect the house from rats and evil influences. This was a practice that supposedly took place in Dublin.

An ever better protection was the body of a cat and a rat in the wall. The Natural History Museum in London has a collection of some of these unfortunate cats found in walls.

The Cat represents guardianship, detachment and sensuality. The Goddess Brigid had a cat as a companion. Because the cat was associated with the Goddess and the feminine, the cat was sometimes perceived as "unholy". The cat's ability to see and work in the spirit-world makes the cat an ideal ally for a magician. The Church's fear of such powers resulted in the torture and death of thousands of cats in Britain and France. It was in the tenth century when Pope Gregory IX announced a link between the cat and the devil and persecution of the cat became widespread. It has been suggested that this persecution actually contributed to the devastation of the Black Death (bubonic plague) in the twelfth century because of the huge increase in rats. Pope Innocent VIII in the thirteenth century ordered that every cat in Christendom be slaughtered because of their supposed supernatural powers. All because of their association with the Pagan Pantheon.

There once were two cats from Kilkenny
each thought there was one cat too many.
So they fought and they fit
and they scratched and they bit
and instead of two cats, there ain't any!
This poem is about an incident in Kilkenny that occurred in an army barracks in 1798 but there is some dispute concerning it and other stories have been suggested.

The next post will be about the black cat.

Banana Microphone

Hey babes!

Today (or, according to the time, yesterday) I went to the course center. I wrote the exam (Windows 7) and it went awesome! I got 31 out of 32 points, wihuuu!

I´ve started learning for the last module now, Access, and I don´t understand a fucking thing of it. 

Seriously, I found Excel to be tricky but this... OH MY GOD! 

I have no idea how to get the hang of it so I can write the exam on Tuesday or Wednesday!

*iiiieh*

I´ve planned to make a roadtrip to my fave Finnish city Tampere within the next weeks. Susa (and maybe Mila) will join me. A visit to my shoe shop is of course needed. I´ve been looking at their website for a while now on/off. They have so many beautiful shoes there!

Some cute shoes (tell me your favourites!):

   

  

By the way.... Look at this baby night suit. It´s sooo cute!

I told ya, it´s freakin´ adorable!

Finally... My dearest best friend Tasha informed me about her new crush on a certain vampire (nooo, not Edward Cullen, yuuk!)... Who am I talking about?

DAMON SALVATORE of course!

From The Vampire Diaries - for you who didn´t know that!

Shame on you!

Ladies... ^^ Look at him! Drop dead gorgeous, right!
And yes... I have a weakness for brunettes with blue eyes! *lol*


Team DAMON 4 THE WIN!

Talk to you later!
GOOD NIGHT!

Click on the photo to get to my Spotify playlist =)

Lady Gaga 4 President!

I´d gladly put the whole speech up but the only version I found on YouTube had Italian dubbing on it so it was no fun listening to it.

*Change of heart*

Hellou ladies!

I´ve changed the blog design, how do you like it!  :)

I figured, since it´s Summer and all, it needed a Summer´ish lift.

Today I went to the course center. I was there from 10 a.m. until about 1.45 p.m. On Wednesday I´m going back to write the exam and continue with the last module.

I haven´t told you about my dilemma. Or really, it´s not so much of a dilemma anymore, since I´ve decided what to do already but... I´ll tell you anyways.

Jay Smith (and 2 other Finnish artists) are coming to a concert event on Friday at Fagerö. I´ve been thinking about going, but I don´t wanna go on my own. If it had been at another location, fine, then I could´ve gone on my own. But no, not to Fagerö. 

Why? Because of various reasons.

I couldn´t find anyone to come with me either. One had the night shift at work and "she couldn´t change it". Of course you could´ve changed it, if you´d wanted to attend the concert enough! One hasn´t been able to decide if she´ll go or not (but I could gladly buy a ticket if I wanted to go)! The last one I asked wasn´t interested. I do have one more in mind, but I reckon she´s just gonna say blank no, without thinking.

So... I´ve decided to go to the cinema instead. 

Even if I looked forward to hearing the live version of Like A Prayer... Ah well. I will get the chance some other time. And my Summer is already filled with concerts and festivals so I´m satisfied.

This fabolous lad turns 25 today!

HAPPY 25th BIRTHDAY

Y MÅNSELI! Y

I´ll be next! 

*next year*

*‘Cause I heat-seek spend out heat like*

Happy Sunday darlings!

Hope your weekend´s been awesome! Mine´s been very relaxing, spent it at the Summer house. I´ve also been swimming for the first time this Summer. The water was, surprisingly, warm. It´s usually very cold, as we have the Summer house on the mainland as far out as you can be.

Last night it was really peaceful and quiet on the sea, so I decided to go out in the canoe. I took the iPod with me as well. Real nice!

Now I have to tell you something disgusting that happened last Friday. I was called down to the supermarket as extra help. I took the bike, since it was so ridicolously hot. Anyways, when I drove up the first hill, I ran over a...viper! YUK! It was alive and I first noticed it when I was half over it already. DISGUSTING!

I.HATE.SNAKES!

In my eyes, this is the Summer hit of Summer 2011!

Plus, the MV is so stunning!

Before/After

BEFORE

AFTER

This 1 turned out a bit blurry, sorry bout that

Comments please!

Hey sweetcheeks!

Sorry for the break, been busy!

HUH! It´s been disgustingly hot today! Nearly +30 * C degrees outside, juh!I've been out painting Nana´s garage today. It was thankfully shade where I was, but that meant of course that I were attacked by mosquitoes. I had sprayed mosquito spray from Estonia (powerful stuff) on me so the lil monsters kept their distance.
Tomorrow it will be to continue. Although I am not that happy about having to paint with my [by then] new-dressed hair (have an appoitment at the hairdresser´s tomorrow) but I´ll just be obeying orders.
I'll also go to the course center to write an ECDL test tomorrow, 10 o'clock. The module is Internet and I may not have studied sooo much, but honestly, I did recognize things I already knew.But the supervisor explained that this module usually taken first. It was no harder stuff you read on, there were things that are pretty obvious. But ... apparently there are those people who never heard of the Internet! * Hihi * After the examination, it is basically just to move on to my hairdresser. We'll see what she thinks about my color / hairstyle-wishes.
And when I get home, it is as I said just to switch on to "paint clothes" and go out. I really hope that it won´t be +30 * C tomorrow. I´ll die!
Tonight, we also turn to Korsnäs and courted - in retrospect - the recent GCSE graduate there. There were a deadly good chocolate cake! *yummy*

Now I'll sleep - if I may, it's crazy hot here in the attic! The window is wide open, well-porch door!

Sunshine

Hi peeps! 

Right now I´m sitting outside, as it´s sunny and real warm. Sure, it´s a bit windy but it doesn´t bother me. I´ll put on some music now and continue with my letters. 

Yup, didn´t finish them yesterday! 

;-)

Take care ;*

Let´s get some pen & paper!

As the title says (you might also get a hint from the photo above ^) I will write some letters now. It´s about time, as I´m laying faaar behind with replying! *oops*

So, enough with the blogging, time to start writing letters!

My Apologizes to Tasha, Daniela and Liyen.

Snip! Snip!

Today I took Nana to the hairdresser´s and at the same time I booked an appoitment for myself.

Thursday 9 June at 11.30a.m. 

I´ve made my choice. I´m getting the haircut (maybe a wee bit longer) and the colours.

 

Banoffee Pie

Here´s the recipe for the Banoffee pie I made.

1 tin condensed milk
300 gr hobnobs
60 grams butter
3 bananas
3.5 decilitre whipping-cream

1 tablespoon powdered sugar
300 grams dark chocolate

Juice from 1 lemon

Caramel sauce:

Place the unopened can of condensed milk in a pot
Cover it with the water
Simmer the jar for at least 2 hours on low heat
Make sure it is covered with water all the time
Let the can cool before opening

Pastry:

Turn on the oven, 175°C

Mix the hobnobs

Melt the butter and mix with the crumbled cookies

Pour cake batter into a pie dish (about 28cm in diameter)Spread the cake batter evenly in cake tinBake in oven 175°C for 10-12 minutes until pie shell is golden

Set aside and let cool

Whip cream and mix in powdered sugar when the cream begins to thicken
Pour caramel sauce over pie shell, saving some
Melt the chocolate, preferably in a water bath
Slice the bananas
Dip bananas in lemon juice, so they will not brown
Divide the bananas evenly
Pour on the chocolate, save some for garnish
Pour the caramel sauce
Spread the cream evenly over pie
Decorate with melted chocolate

Set in the fridge. Pie are best to eat when it is icy.

ENJOY!

Just a lil heads up. When I first read the recipe, I was confused about what hobnobs were. I figured out that they were cookies but not what kind of cookies they were. Well, I found them eventually and to help you from being as confused as I were... Here´s a picture of hobnobs.

*my heart will be aching with scars from the stormy end*

Hi peeps!

Today has been - so far and I´m guessing it won´t change - a lazy day. I´ve done basically nothing!
Nice in a way, since I´ve been getting up at 6a.m. or 7a.m. for a while now - due to work. Me and bro went to Nana´s for a chat and coffee. After that, I went down to the supermarket (it´s closed today due to Ascension day, red day in calendar)

But that has ended now *sob*
Yesterday was my last day at the kindergarten. As a thanks for letting me come and work there, I made Banoffee pie for my co-workers and I had mam bring ice cream for the kids.

The pie was well appreciated! ;-) Seriously, it was so delicious and since it was the first time I´d made it - ever - I´m very pleased with the result. It wasn´t that hard to make either. The only thing that actually took time, was the condensed milk, which I first had to boil in water for atleast 2 hours. 2 hours and 20 minutes was the time I boiled it, but I could´ve had it in longer, since the sauce was very thick when I opened the jar (after letting it cool).

Tomorrow I´ve been thinking about going to the appartment in Vaasa and clean. The place itself doesn´t need much cleaning but the stuff I´ve brought there might need some fixing up. They have been wrapped in newspapers since November after all...

Tonight I might watch a movie or two. One of them will probably be I Am Number Four ;-) I know, I know! I´m obsessed with that movie! But it´s sooo good! You wouldn´t believe how many times I´ve watched a particular scene, ooh, I´ve been raping the repeat button on that one! ;-)
Maybe I´ll watch Beastly or/and Red Riding Hood.

I´m actually downloading a 30-days trial of Sony Vegas atm and I might try that out tonight as well. I´ve watched several MVs on YouTube that have been made in SV and they are sooo good!
Here are 2 examples. The second MV is sooo good! And not only because of the leading lad!
*wink wink*



Now, a question?
Have any of you read the Mortal Instruments-series, by Cassandra Clarke? I´ve heard a lot of that series lately and I´m getting real intruged to read them.
Would love to hear your thoughts on it...

Wanna hear an AWESOME song?


This song is so gorgeous! I love it! One of the best tracks on Sunrise Avenue´s latest album, Out of Style. Can´t wait to see the lads LIVE again, it´s been waaay too long!


Talk to you later!