Blooming

These are two of my rhododendrons right now.
I've never seen the lilac one so filled with blooms.
Ever.
And it's nearly as old as I am.
I have a thing for these blooming bushes.
I love the fact that they are evergreen, give a little to the garden even when it is covered in snow.
I have four of them now.
Planning on a few more....


I know the pink ones look alike but in fact they are a bit different.
Love them all.
Equally.
Need more.

We have this cool place in town, very close to us.
And this is the time to visit it.
It's quite unique I hear, as it is a public park.

Click on the photo to see an almost 360 degrees of it.
Yes those are all rhododendrons.
And they might look small to you, but I was standing on a platform 2 meters off the ground...

In the 70's the Helsinki University started planting rhododendrons in this pine woods. They had come up with new varieties of the bloom and wanted to test how well they would do in our northern climate.

Pretty well I'd say...

Wish my bushes were this tall!

It's such a beautiful place to spend an hour at.
And it gave blessed shade and relief from the heat.


Azaleas anyone?

Rhododendrons on one side and azaleas on the other.
Talk about sensory overload.
The kind of excess I like.

Kids, peacocks and bears...oh my!

Nothing like a hot day on a cruise ship to bring out the inner model :o)
Strike a pose...vogue...
Boy are we going to be in trouble a few years up the road!

We had a lovely day In Stockholm. It was hot, about 27C/80F. And yes, that is sweltering for us northern folks. It's the waterbottlegluedtoyourhand kinda weather. The don'tmakemewalkinthesunIpreferthislovelyshadyspothere weather.

I mean c'mon... even the poor bear dude looked like he was ready to shave off that fur...
Can you possibly look more pathetically hot?

The kiddos loved the zoo. That's (back to front) Saara, Elina, Niina, Sara and Gustav who looks like all these girls are getting to him, LOL.

The place was swarming with tame peacocks. Breath taking creatures. Especially when they are up a tree and shriek out just when you are passing underneath... geeezzzz... I think I jumped a good half a meter up. Nearly peed my pants too as I was heading for the bathroom... how come a bird this beautiful has the most horrid sound ever?

This one thought Monica might not want to eat all of her ice cream. He had to leave disappointed as there was no chance of that. It was hot, we needed all our icecream for ourselves, thank you very much.

All in all a fab day out with the girls and good friends.
Although, and this is just between you and me... two nights in a small cabin with my mom and the girls is enough to make me crave a vacation alone. Preferably someplace sound proof...
Oy!

See you on Tuesday

The girls and I are off to Stockholm today.
It's supposed to be HOT.
Better go pack the sunscreen...

Why I love summer on the 60th latitude

Taken through my kitchen window, towards the western sky at 11.48pm last night.
ISO 100, F/3,5, shutter speed 1,6 sec.
Gives a pretty accurate idea.

I love the midnight sun.
Today-
sunrise 3.54am
sunset 10.48pm

At sunset, I can still sit on the patio reading.

I'm off to hang laundry out to dry.
See ya!

mmmmm.....

...nothing like new sexy sandals...
*grin*

OK, recap.

Monday I drove up to Turku to take the girls to my dad's. We first stopped at my cousin to just hang out. The day was hot, we were feeling lazy. Ice cream and pizza kind of a day.
This is Jenni, my 16 year old god daughter, isn't she cute?

She's got amazing eyes.

I made a quick exit after dropping the girls off and enjoyed a lovely 1 hour 50 minute drive back singing by myself along with the radio.

Yesterday I first went by the post office to pick up this:

Nothing like a pile of fresh lovely Bazzill to make a girl's day!
Aaaahhhh...

I then headed out for downtown. I was there at 10.45am and met up with Mika at 5pm. During that time I sat down for 40 minutes for coffee.
I can feel that walking in my legs today.
Youch.
I checked out some few fun stores I've been meaning to do for ages. Found some frames and those fab sandals and a cute top. Or two...

We ate Indian and then saw The Da Vinci Code.
Can I just say I love Jean Reno.
I've loved him ever since I saw Luc Besson's Le Grand Bleu.
He's got that charisma thing going on for him.
And Paul Bettany can look so freaky [shudder].
All in all I liked the film, although I kept wondering why they had dropped off the bit about Sophie's brother being alive..hmmm...

Today I'm adding another layer of color wax onto Saara's tabletop. Watering the flowerbeds (it is summer hot here).
It is my bro's 28th birthday today, so we are heading over there tonight. I'm giving him a few bills. But not in ordinary fashion... had to play.

Happy sailing.

Here on a saturday..wow.

Unusual for me to blog on the weekend.

But I thought about something while unpacking groceries yesterday. I live very close to a smaller grocery store and the supermarket. I don't do big runs too often, I like to get one or two days of supplies at a time. Works for me...I'm not much of a planner lol.

Fruit (bananas, nectarines, apples, pears and apricots), bread x2, margarine, cheese, frozen dough, salad, thyme, cherry tomatos (red and yellow), oatmeal cookies, pesto, skimmed milk, orange juice, salami, ravioli, small cinnamon rolls for the girls, chicken, strong english cider (alchohol content 4,5%) and a few filled licorices.
The dough, cheese and tomatos were for an openface savory pie I made last night as my bro and her girlfriend came over. Oh, the cider too ;o)
Today we are barbecuing the chicken.

What is on your menu or shopping list for the weekend?

They match!

Don't they look adorable in turqoise?

Taava and her baby girl Inna.
Taava is my hairdresser.
Or would be if she weren't on maternity leave :oP

We visited them yesterday. I nearly squealed in delight as I saw they were colorcoded, LOL.
Inna wasn't too cooperative but I did manage to get some cute shots. These were all taken with the 50mm 1.8 lens ( I sooooo want the 85mm 1.8 lens...sigh..a girl can dream right?)
This chick is so cool. Love her spirit.
She's the hairdresser for the younger generation Tunturi's...
That would be my bro and his girlfriend, myself and the girls.

Or would be if she weren't on maternity leave..heheheeee...

Saara got to borrow the Anne of Greengables books from her.She found a comfy spot under the dining table and settled in for a good read.

Gotta love a kid who reads.

Looks like it'll be a lovely weekend. Warm even...lol. I'm taking the girls up to my dad's on monday, I don't think I'll make it back here until tuesday. Have a good weekend!

Big day

First:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DYLAN!!!

My nephew turns 12 today, we are eating donuts in your honor D!
*grin*

Second:

She got highlights.
Daddy gave his permission...he might have opened Pandora's box with that...LOL...
Johanna did a great job.
Saara is so very pleased!

CRISIS!!!! PAGING AUNTIE TAWNY!!!

Niina fell over with her bike yesterday.
Well, twice actually.
And something catastrophic happened.

No, no...she's ok.. just a little scrape on her knee.

One of her glittery swishing thingymajigs (yes I do believe that is the correct term) SNAPPED OFF!

I'll try superglue... but I'll give it a good three minutes.
This is all about street credibility.
She's the only 5 year old around, in fact she's the only girl of any age around here with cool attachments like this on her bike.
She's so proud when the other girls oohh and aahhh over her pink bike.
They don't sell cool bits like these in Finland.

I remember picking these up at Target for something like $3.
Tawny dearest, would you consider stopping by say Target after work and picking up new ones?
And while you are there, buy a nice big envelope too and on your way home stop by the [gasp] post office would you?
I know it's a lot to ask... post office and all... ;o)

But like I said,
it's a CRISIS!!!!!

PS. Niina says it won't hurt if it has a My Little Pony theme...

Hi baby..

... last night I found this baby thrush sitting happily on my bike.

Earlier I had spotted the nest high up a birch tree.

It might be a park day

Not sure yet.
The weather is perfect, but Niina's got a little tummy ache.
We'll see how she feels in an hour.

Saara got her report card on saturday.
An excellent one.
For all her hard work over the year she got a new iPod Nano.
Yes, we spoiled her.
We're allowed to do that on occasion.
(I did get for a very good sale price when Apple launched a store in town, wink)

On sunday I got to see my god daughter Lotta after a long while.
She's 22, studying biology and she just applied to veterinary school here in Helsinki.
I'm hoping she gets in, it would make her local.
Love this photo I took of her... it's so typical to peek over your glasses..lol...

Looks like it's snowing outside with fluff from the aspen trees in the air...
Cross your fingers.. I'd like to get to the park today.

-----EDITED-----

We did make it to the park!
Yay us! LOL!
The girls had a blast.
Here's a pic of our first official park lunch.

Chicken soup on the menu today.
Certain city play parks offer a free hot lunch for kids in June and July, usually a soup or a risotto.

And this taken through my kitchen window....

...the lilacs in full bloom.
Can you smell them?
Aaaahhhh...

Only one more early morning..only one more early...

..morning...only one more early morning...
My new mantra.

Until mid august when schools start and it's at the school 8.15 every damn morning..
I'm such a nightowl..
Tomorrow's awards and report cards ceremony..sure enough...8.15...on a saturday morning! Ugh. Make that a double ugh.

I recently made a layout about the fact that Niina incredibly enough chose an oufit for herself that actually matched. And looked cute too.

That being said...this is one of the outfits she put on the other day that gave me a really bad 80's flashback...

...shiver....

On to the playhouse. One of my dad's great ideas was to buy one that was not kid sized. Even adults can stand up in there, yay.
The girls had been quite content playing in it even with unpainted walls and mismatched furniture. But I wanted it to look fun and inviting.
Last year I finally painted the walls and floor. This year it was time to concentrate on the furnishings. Some stuff had been painted last summer already. I love how it looks now. And the girls brag about having the best playhouse ever, lol..

Welcome to What Street 9.

On the porch we have a real old cash register (my dad used to work for NCR= national cash register way back when... this was one the perks). Depending on the day it's a shop or a restaurant.

Step inside.

The table used to be bright red and in my room when I was about 5. I just added the wheels to it yesterday. That super cute fabric is from IKEA.

My grampa made this shelf for me when I was a little girl.

The new shelf. New baskets too :o)

Now this cooler is special. Would you belive it is over 50 years old? In 1952 Helsinki hosted the summer Olympic Games. That was the event that brought Coca Cola to Finland. This little baby is a collectors item. But it was collecting dust in the garage, so I thought it was in better use here.

Not quite sure of what's on the menu today...

Summer is here!

Yes it is.
It's June 1st.
I don't care that the temp is only +16C (61F).
It's summer, I say.

I've been powertooling this morning.
Drrrrriiillllllling. Banging nails. Painting. Sewing.
It's all got to with the girls' playhouse.
New fun things going in there.
I'll show you tomorrow.
I just need that paint to dry...

Saara has a birthday party to go to at the local amusement park. Lets hope it doesn't start raining... because that would just suck.

Turn of the month also means a new design team gallery at AMLT.
Go check it out.
We had fun themes to work with
-using stickers
Cindy used a cool technique on her Sandy Toes lo.

-stitching on your page
Falyn's Something's Gotta Give had me giggling!

-the manufacturer assignment was KI Memories
Monica's Drum lo really is magical.

This is my favorite page of mine this month.
Can you see I like green?