Summer is here!

SUMMER IS HERE. I've had the weekend off and I've done some amazing stuff. Yesterday my godson's mother came to visit with their new dog while my godson and his father are on a fishing trip. The day was so lovely all around - we bbq'd, watched the dogs play and went to our local market.

Today I packed up my camera and drove to Tampere to have a little photoshoot with Haja. She needed me to shoot a couple of dresses she had made with her own hands (and they were gorgeous!). I picked them up and we drove to Tulitikkutehdas, which is an abandoned factory full of very nice graffitis and rustic feel - perfect for the dresses. Her little sister Giko was with us too, wearing the other dress Haja made.

After we finished shooting them in the match factory, we headed to Arboretum to take some pics - this time me in front of the camera. They turned out very pretty and I finally got the chance to wear the flower crown I've been dying to take out for a photoshoot. And well, we finished that photoshoot off by having Giko take photos of me and Haja, goofing out (yeah, it's not even possible to have decent non-goofing pictures of us - or well, it is, but it's so rare you might have a better chance of seeing an unicorn).

And today had the most perfect ending with us going to see my new apartment - which was now empty as the previous tenant had moved away. I took some before photos and some video material I'm going to release later on. We have good plans going on, I already know how my new kitchen will look like (and I love it!) and I'm just so excited to move to my new apartment in the fall.

But for now, I say goodnight and LET THIS SUMMER BE AWESOME!

with love,

Home sweet home

(photo from here)

This is the day I've been waiting for a long time. Getting my own apartment, renovating it to my liking and planning everything. Yes, I've been living at home until now and trust me, I've been trying to find an apartment and I meant to move as roomies with my bf but plans changed. But now, I'm finally getting my own apartment. 

It's a very nice three room apartment (becoming two-room apartment after we'll expand the freakishly small kitchen near the city center so everything is quite nearby. The area is the best and there are also good walks which I can take with my dog.

Of course, the best part is planning and then getting to decorate it. I've left the actual renovating mostly to my mother, since she's better with that. But I have very clear visions of what I want - colourwise too. I've already decided that my kitchen will be painted somewhat in the shade of cafe latte, my living room will be light lime green, my bedroom will be light rosy pink. I haven't decided the color to the small hallway though. It might stay white, or i might do light lavender or the same as my living room (since it kind of continues to the living room anyway, so that would be the obvious choice - on the contrary I have never been that obvious).

(photo from here)

I'm a bit of a quirky person - well let's just say I'm an adult who will never grow up, I'm my own Peter Pan. So I've chosen to have Disney Quote wall decals in every room. Except the hallway cause that's too small. And the bathroom maybe, we'll have to see that. I will get the above wall decal to my bedroom. And for my living room it will be plainly "Hakuna Matata". My kitchen will have a quote from Alice "I believe in at least six impossible things before breakfast" - fitting huh? And as for my bathroom, if it fits.... "Mirror mirror on the wall...".

Yeah well, my apartment won't be turning into a Disney shrine though. I love it in a small amount in my decorations. I can't wait to get all my photos up in the wall and the paintings - one particular Tinkerbell painting from Disneyland Paris and the lovely drawings of some characters by my best friend. 

As for my kitchen - oh dear that will the the most important room to me, even though fate has put some hardships ahead of me. See, I had decided that I wanted Gorenje's retro fridge/freezer in milk coffee. Problem? Yeah, turns out it's nowhere to be found anymore so I might have to go with champagne. My kitchen will probably have sort of country romanticism since I love all the lovely wooden boxes that say candles and teas and also the metal jars.

I will begin to renovate my place next month, although it might not be done until late August. Most of the places that produce cabinets for kitchens and all are usually closed in July and it takes some time... But I will definitely post photos of improvement after everything gets started.

On other things. Hockey. I love hockey. I'm a diehard fan of IIHF but the unbelievably incompetent referees piss me off so bad. Sadly Finland didn't make to the final games. Gladly USA won bronze and Canada won gold, I'm so happy about this since I'm very patriotic in this game so Swedish team and Russian team are the two teams I love to watch lose the games. Nothing against the countries or actual people. I bet they are as much pleased to see Finland lose too :D But yes, don't even get me started with the idiotic, blind, are-you-goddamn-serious referees (who always seem to be either Swedish or Russian, seriously?!). Also I think that knowing that FIN-RUS and FIN-SWE are practically nemesis' in the brink, no Russians or Swedish should be put to judge our games as well as no Finnish referees to Russia's or Swedish games. NHL referees would be just a+ for World Championship games.  But well, those are over and my stress levels are back to normal. Kinda.

It's a beautiful day outside and it finally feels like summer!

with love,

Weddings - I love weddings!

 

Yesterday we celebrated the long awaited wedding of M&J. For once I was invited to a wedding as a guest - honestly it has been almost 20 years since I was in a wedding in the role of a guest and not a photographer. It's funny how in the middle of everything you start to think like a photographer and remember that "Oh right, I'm here as a guest". Though yes, I took the official wedding photos of the couple and a few at the church and at the party. I just can't seem to put my camera down, eh ;)?

Anyway, my morning started with a hairdresser at 9AM. The night before I had dyed my hair, even though the world seemed to be against it by losing our electricity (and of course, since I live in the middle of the forest, our water pumps don't work without electricity either - luckily I just got the dye washed when the water ran out and the electricity came back on two hours later). Anyway, hairdresser. I wanted something with a braid but also something with curls and I had my flower crown with me.

(dress: modcloth.com, lacy in love in mint, cupcake earrings & necklace: elvari, shoes (though not visible): minna parikka)

I had bought this perfect mint green lace dress from modcloth.com and I have pretty much fallen in love with it. Modcloth is always my go-to place for my dresses, so if you ever wonder, my dress is 70% surely from there. Also it seems that according to some articles, flower crowns are last season so I'm a year late but I don't even care cause flower crowns are pretty. I really liked how my hair turned out and how well the curls lasted for the night.

First I headed to the hotel to take a few photos of the bride getting ready. Unfortunately I had mixed up the hotel so I waited in the wrong lobby for some time but they weren't far from each other so it was a quick fix. After I got a few photos, we headed for the church. And need I say - the bride looked absolutely stunning. So did the groom.

There was quite a nice surprise at the church when finnish singer Eino Grön sang "Kel' Onni On". After they were happily married, we headed for the wedding party held in Haiharan Kartano. What a beautiful place. The night was full of good food, well-planned programme and we also had fun little photobooth there (as you can see, I was mainly in the role of the photographer in photobooth but I just can't stay serious for too long). We headed home a bit before midnight so we actually stayed for such a long time.

I wish all the best for the newlyweds and the little baby they'll have later in the autumn <3.

with love,