Winds of change are blowing my way

Summer is almost gone (but never forgotten!), I'm eating ice cream and writing this blog post on my balcony. Life is pretty great at this moment. I have so much to tell you!

Where should I begin? The major news? Yes! Guys, I got into school! I've started to study Hospitality Management in Tampere University of Applied Sciences just two days ago! I'm really happy that I got in and my class is awesome. I've had lots of fun with them already and even though tonight I'm taking a day off of group activities, I'll catch up when I get back from NYC.

Summer went... well while working. So nothing new I guess.

And let's take a small throwback to last weekend. I spent the last weekend in Helsinki attending my dear friend Kipa's surprise baby shower! I baked a cake for her and kept her busy while the others went to her apartment and decorated it. At the same time we were looking out for possible shots for a baby bump photoshoot we were planning on doing. The party was successful and in the evening we left to Vallila to take some photos of the mom-to-be (and the dad-to-be). I stayed the night and on Sunday we continued with Kipa by heading off to Alppiruusupuisto (Rhododendron Park) to take some more pictures that turned out to be just gorgeous, even though the blooming season had been long gone.

So... New York City is waiting for me in only two days! Honestly I'm so excited and terrified at the same time. This will be the first trip I'm doing completely solo. I already have so much planned!

Let's just say that I have hop-on hop-off bus tour, new york city pass (with admission to 6 attractions), helicopter ride over manhattan, a course at magnolia bakery and the cherry on top: wicked on broadway. I've been planning a lot like what to do and what to see on each day, since the NYC pass has attractions that obviously will have queues (even though some give you the opportunity to skip them). So the plans kind of... live through the trip.

I'm also waiting for Monday's welcome party at my hostel and meeting all the new people. I'm hoping that everything will go well and I don't lose stuff (or forget to pack something essential with me).

Alright, so next time I'll write I'll probably be in New York already. So until then!

Ahoy ahoy!

top & dress: modcloth shoes: sievi purse: michael kors

I spent the last weekend baking and visiting Helsinki. My godson celebrated his seventh birthday on Saturday and on Friday I baked a cake for his party. I've baked a cake since he was three or four I think. Last year it was Teddybear's Day Out, year before that it was Mickey Mouse and before that it was Cars. This year he requested a princess cake on the inside, him and the family dog as decorations. And I delivered. Now I'm not nearly as professional as some home bakers but I enjoy it and I think I'm getting better each time, especially since I usually tend to make cheesecakes and cupcakes. Cakes... well not so much. Sugarcrafting is also super fun and I enjoy it a lot, but I'm really hoping to take a course one day.

 

Even though it wasn't 100% what I wanted (like how the green cover wasn't smooth and non-wrinkled), I liked how the characters turned out to be. I was a bit nervous since I had never crafted humans before. In the end it turned out better than I expected really. And the only thing that mattered was the sparkling eyes and wide happy smile on my godson's face when he saw the cake. He was really adorable going all "look at my awesome cake" to the guests. Yeah I might've been a bit proud too, but it's still not perfect. Perfect doesn't even exist.

On Sunday I woke up in the morning and started driving towards Helsinki. I was meeting with Kipa there (you know, the blonde girl from London post ;)!)and attending Viini, ruoka & hyvä elämä (wine, food and good life) fair there. I was particularly interested in the cake decorating championship competition. The cakes were superb, and one of the two of my favorites won the whole competition. Such talent!

After walking around the fair we headed out to the city centre, visited Lush (which is like my ultimate downfall because of the pretty soaps and smells <3), Forum and Fazer before heading to Vapiano to eat. Vapiano has been kind of our tradition for such a long time. Good food, excellent company and oh god the desserts too! We both were so full before leaving towards her apartment where we spent a little while before I headed to my car and drove home.

Such a lovely weekend, I can't say anything else.

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,

My very first bachelorette party!

Hello my lovelies!

Oh how the time has been flying! I've been slacking with posting lately. The plain reason for that is: LIFE. Yes. Work. Entrance Exams. Bachelorette Party. And all that. I'm still working on that Ireland post, mostly because it's a long one. And very heavy on pictures. But it's coming, I promise!

But yes, let me tell you all about it!

On friday i baked a penis cake for this party. Yes, you read right, a penis cake. You can call me weird or twisted but I've kind of always wanted to do a "fun" cake. Not that any other cakes aren't fun to do but I just laughed so much while decorating it. So anyway, the theme of our party was "50's housewife" so we dressed our bride to be as 50's housewife and the rest of us were 50's men.  In the morning I left the cake at one of the guest's house near the cafe/bar we went at the end of the day and then we headed at our bride's apartment. We surprised her at 10am and started to make a brunch and set up everything - like her make-up, hair and dress and everything.

After that we headed out for Nekalan Löytöliiteri for her to buy something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. And when that was done we headed BOWLING. While we drove to the place, we figured out in the car (me + 3 others) that it'd be fun to create some backstory for our "characters". I was Henri Cousteau, the forgotten brother of Jacques Cousteau, ladie's man by day and train station worker by night. 

our lovely bride to be <3

After having lots of fun at the bowling alley, we headed for Moro Sky Bar at the new Sokos Hotel Torni. The view was spectacular! I had never been there before so it was a new experience for me. The bar was kind of stuffed though so we went downstairs where we had an introduction round and drinks. Then me and few others took the bride to be to complete a survey at the train station. She had to ask questions like "how to remove a red wine stain" and "how do you prepare a 3 egg cake". 

Then we headed to Kahvilla, a small local cafe/restaurant/bar and ate. I had never been there but I'll certainly go again. The food was so good! In the cafe we had a little trivia and then we brought out THE CAKE. My god everyone was just laughing and they took the bride to the bathroom and after that I placed the cake in front of her so when she came back, she saw the cake. It was just hilarious!

And well, after that we just continued to hang out and have fun until people left home one by one.

I can just say that my first bachelorette party was a real success and I enjoyed it a lot. I wish I can also arrange a bachelorette party for one or some of my friends in the future but... until then.

xoxo,