Let's talk about... HAIR.

You know what they say. Never tickle a sleeping dragon. Or a troll. Trolls can be even grumpier than dragons. So let's talk about hair a little. This post was heavily inspired by my hairventory (hair + inventory, clever huh). What's hairventory? Well, about once a year I go through the numerous amount of my headbands and hair accessories, throwing out those I don't use or those which are broken but I've never thrown out. I get a bit sentimental over them. I might have the habits of a hoarder. But we'll come back to that later.

HAIR COLOR

My natural hair color is kinda sandy blonde. Nowadays it's more mousy grey or something... I've never lived to see it cause I only see my roots when they grow. And when they grow enough I decide to either dye them myself or pay a visit to a hairdresser. I think I was 12 when I first dyed my hair. It took a long time to get my mom's permission for it. So I dyed my hair kind of copper the first time. I don't even remember which color I had next but I had blonde (with some brown), brown, black until i kinda settled for a dip-dyed hair. My base has always remained black/dark but I've changed the other color from blonde to pink to purple. One time I had a few blue stripes too. But right now I'm in the rhythm of dyeing my hair dark-blonde in summer and dark-pink/purple in winter.

STYLES

Well, I'm working everyday and then I go home cause right now I live in the middle of the forest, how my hair looks is not really that important to me. I didn't used to have any particular hairstyles I preferred, but nowadays I'm usually going with a side-braid or side-fishtail. On my days off I'm usually too lazy to do anything with my hair, combing it will just do. And having it on high pony. For events and such I like to curl it up a little or go with a side-fishtail too. I also had fake-dreadlocks once. My friend braided them to my hair and I read online that you could keep them for 2 months and when I was on my 1,5 month I wanted them off. But woops, wrong kind of locks and you were only supposed to wear them max 3 weeks... Let's just say that my hair was AWFUL and kinda... dreadlocked from the roots and hairdressers would've cut it but my mom and grandma took the locks of separating one hair after another. Lesson learned.

LENGTH

I'm a bit ocd with my hair to be honest. I've had short hair when I was a kid but I think I was starting secondary school (grades 7-9) when I stopped cutting my hair. I've never cut it myself and I only let the hairdressers cut the necessary amount. I love long hair. I'm just that type of person even though short could be easier to take care of. But I have my hair down to my waist and I'm quite proud of it. And it's quite thick too (not as thick as it used to be thank god).

ACCESSORIZING THE HAIR

Alright so now we get to my favorite topic: accessorizing. I mean I'm usually "whatever" with jewelry and such, I use them if I remember and think they look nice but I LOVE accessorizing my hair. Headbands, flowers etc. If I'm going to meet a friend or you know, somewhere else, I NEVER leave without a headband. I feel quite odd without it. 

 

I did inventory of these things and I ended up with the count of 111. _111_ head accessories? I think I might have the habits of a hoarder.  I REGRET NOTHING THOUGH. Lately I've fallen in love with flower crowns, so I'm like a year behind the trends but who cares really.

 

Even when I travel, I usually take one headband and one dress per day - depends of course, but it's my usual drill. I like to match them up and use them as details for the outfit. For example, I've kinda fallen in love with mint green dresses and I usually accessorize them with electric/bright pink accessories or with a rose pink flowercrown. I also have this dark blue dress I love to use and with that I usually wear my blue/darkish flower crown. Or a light blue headband. 

So yes, I love my hair accessories and I have the luxury of having them a lot so I usually have a hard time choosing the one that feels right. 

What's your favorite accessory? Headband? Necklace? Hat? Share it with me!

xoxo,

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,

Time to start a new hobby

Once upon a time I had too much free time and decided to start a new hobby with my best friend Haja. Alright, it was actually something I've been dying to do for a long long time. You see, me and Haja started a beginner's course in ARCHERY. I remember we were probably around seventeen when she had been trying archery with her class and asked me to come with when they told her that she could come try it for free two times (or something like that, it's so long I can't remember). Well, today we started it as a hobby.

Not gonna lie, I've always wanted to try archery and fencing. I've always been into stuff like that cause I find it very intriguing and fun. But hey - it went fairly well! We already got to shoot arrows and I didn't shoot anyone, eh? Neither did Haja. Okay, I'm kidding we're not that bad. It was really fun to learn the right kind of posture and how to work with the bow - no matter how many times you've seen it in movies and TV-series, it's not as easy as it looks. Unless you're some kind of a target practice wizard.

I can't wait for next week to get to shoot some more. Also, it's surprisingly cheap. Yeah, if you buy your own bow and arrows, those probably cost quite a lot but once you've done that - it seemed that one season at the place (free use of the "cave" and all that) was 10€/20€ which isn't really pricy at all. So I think this one is here to stay. Perhaps we'll even get so good that we could actually compete. Once we learn all the right techniques and tips.

I could recommend this to anyone. It's good practice and lots of fun when you're not all serious.

Also, other news! I went to see Disney on Ice with my godson and his mom. It was just magical. I've never been before so I was thrilled to see it. And FROZEN, oh my god. So beautifully done. Even though (well it's not a secret) I just can't stand "Let It Go" in Finnish. The lyrics are somewhat... odd and the singer can't hold the last high note but instead screams. Of course after the song ended and the staircase rolled back, there was a prolonged version of that scream.... eeeesh.  Otherwise I love Frozen. Just... not the dub really. It could've been done so much better like all other Disney movie dubs (to Finnish I mean). Still, it was a pretty show and I had a good time. My godson had missed me and I had missed him too! Too long had passed since I last saw him. I need to find more hours to the day so I could manage to do everything I need to do! I have no idea where all the time goes!

xoxo,

February music picks

February. It's not really a special month for me, but hey Valentine's Day is coming up and I love my friends so I love spending Valentine's with them. But since it's only the beginning of the month, I thought I'd do this small post called "February music picks". I actually thought I'd do that monthly since I listen to a lot of music and some or most of the bands are somewhat unknown (at least in Finland, obviously). 

So here we go.

First up is PETER HOLLENS. I stumbled up on him at youtube by an accident. I think I was listening to other music when I was like "oh cool this dude sings acapella and by himself. that's some serious talent!". I think it was actually Lindsey Stirling that introduced me to his music by collaborating with him on a cover of Skyrim (which was awesome). Now I can't stop listening to him. His voice is so beautiful and soothing and brings so much emotion to the songs. My newest obsession by him is The Last Goodbye from Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies. It is gracefully beautiful and pretty much perfect in every way. 

Then we shall move on to the next pick. I've actually found them many years ago, but I hadn't listened to them for a while and I definitely still love them - maybe even more than before because I haven't heard them in a while: SAFETYSUIT. Seriously, I have so much love for them. The first song I've ever heard from them was 'What If' and that was it. After that they've made such great songs and I remember one of them being super-inspirational and helping me cope while I went through some hard phases in my life 'These Times'. Just take a listen to it and you'll see.

Third pick for this month is New Heights and their singer Travis Atreo. These guys are a very talented group. They have made both covers and originals and there's one cover I love - more than the original. That's 19 You+Me that also features Colton Haynes. I love his voice as well so this song was perfection. Not to mention their original song Top Of The World.

Alright, so those were my three picks for this February. What did you think? I'm always open for new music suggestions so shoot them down in the comment box and I'll be sure to give them a listen!

xoxo,

Home cold home

So, all good things come to an end and sadly it was time for our little trip to end too. It had been amazing five days really! On Saturday we headed to Venice Beach and Santa Monica. The sun was shining and it was around 25 degrees (C) so it was really hot (for us anyway). We started at Venice, where I unfortunately lost my pretty flower crown :( I think the wind caught it somewhere before we hit the beach. 

I took my shoes off and went straight to the ocean. Well, I only got wet to my calves, but some waves were big enough to wet my dress' hem. But as said, it was really hot so it dried out pretty quickly. It was pretty chilly but at the same time it was just so refreshing. There were surfers all around and it looked so much fun! Maybe some day I'll get to test it too! I certainly want to. 

After we had had our fun in the sun at Venice, we continued to Santa Monica and we walked there. It was about 3km one way and walking in the sun without a hat wasn't probably the best idea. I didn't get a sunstroke and I remembered to put sunblock on my arms and chest, but I forgot to put it on my face so hello a little bit burnt forehead! But hey - at least I got some tan? Wohoo. Also I think I made my first and only celebrity sight at Venice - I'm pretty sure I saw Maisie Williams sitting in a cafe at Venice Beach! I didn't bother to check but either it was her or she has a long lost identical twin.

Santa Monica Pier was great. We actually went to the Ferris Wheel to see the absolutely beautiful landscapes. And we ate some pizza there. After that we walked back to Venice and went to see the Venice Canals. Oh lordy they were quite pretty. I'd love to live in those houses beside them. They had such a cute little boats - one house had this duck boat and another had a self-made gingerbread house boat. That was pretty awesome!

On our last day we drove to see the Hollywood Sign. We drove through Hollywood Hills to see the iconic sight and took photos of course. After that we drove to the Grove and I bought myself a very nice wallet/purse from Michael Kors (it was so friggin cheap compared to Europe!). The salesman (I think his name was Rodrigo or something) was just so super nice and super sunny, god it was like the best service I had ever got! Also Sprinkles Cupcakes, noms! They were so good. I've wanted to try them ever since I heard about them. Besides, I've always wanted to try these "REAL" American cupcakes since I'm a cupcakerer myself and I'm always looking for new inspiration.

While we were shopping at the Grove we got a text telling us that our flight to London was going to be delayed by two hours. We didn't have any plans after Grove/Farmer's Market so we just made up a plan to drive to see Malibu. We didn't really stay there, we just drove around and then headed to the airport.

The trip was great, the flights back home... Not so much. I've got to be honest with you and tell a little secret. We had bought the flight with our own cards but we went to the check-in desk together (I prefer the machines but there wasn't any for Norwegian) and thought that of course we'd be sitting together. But NO! It had never occurred to me that the person who did our check-in didn't even ask if we wanted to sit together.

I, as a person who has a terrible social anxiety when it comes to sitting next to strangers, was pretty much on the verge of panic attack but we thought that it'd cost to change places. Another thing is that on a plane or train or bus I always sit on a window seat. So pretty much the worst thing ever happened to me on the plane to London - I got seated in the middle row, in the middle seat AND I had strangers on both of my sides. Later at night when I went to the toilet, I saw rows that had only ONE person in them so I was seriously pissed off. It's nothing personal but I'm just so uncomfortable sitting next to a person I don't know so it was literally the flight from Hell.

It would've been worse if I didn't get any sleep. So I kind of got a bit drunk before the flight by drinking a small bottle of sparkling wine and a glass of long island ice tea (THANK GOD FOR THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF ALCOHOL IN THOSE IN AMERICA) and it helped me relax a bit. Now usually I don't rely on alcohol but this time I kinda knew that listening to music or anything wouldn't help so the couple of drinks took the edge of. I don't usually drink wines so sparkly wine did it's thing for me, haha. It was seriously funny because usually I require at least like 6-7 drinks to get even a bit tipsy. We ate at a restaurant because due to the delay we got $13 meal voucher from Norwegian. The food was really good (I ate a chicken sandwich) and our waitress was really awesome. I actually left her a message on the receipt because I work at customer service myself and I know good service really deserves a praise. And she certainly did (of course on top of the tip).

So I slept like a wee baby the whole 10 hours flight back and only woke up to go to the toilet. I'm currently working on this little problem of mine though so it was also kinda... good that I got put there but I was certainly so pissed off. But I won't bother writing to the airline about this cause I know they're going to appeal to the fact that we should've known cause we bought the tickets separately (like seriously, HOW are we even supposed to know that?!).

But main thing, I'm still alive. The flight from London to Helsinki was a bit better because haha, I got seated in the front row (THE LEG SPACE, GDI!) and on top of that the person who was supposed to occupy the window seat had accidentally taken my aisle seat. I asked him about it and he said that if I didn't mind, I could take the window seat! I was just like "NO, I DON'T MIND AT ALL!" and sat my tushie down. Haha, he was a real British gentleman, he was really nice when we talked a little. Funny enough I've always found it very easy to start a conversation with British people? I don't know what it is but I'm not as anxious with them. Maybe it's because I've lived in Ireland and visited London and met a lot of British people in my life? Go figure.

All in all it was a great trip even though my spirit was a bit ruined by the flight mix up and everything. But I got home alive and well, maybe a few mental scars but they'll heal. Now I've got my first touch of America and I. WANT. MORE. So what's next? New York? Florida (actually Haja promised to go with me one day and we'll do a amusement park run - Disney, Universal, Harry Potter etc.)? Chicago? Seattle? Texas? Las Vegas? Who knows, I'm open minded and ready to go! These boots were made for walkin' (even though resting is also good)!

Last but not least, before I left for my trip, I made a Facebook page for PPD! Go like it ->> HERE

xoxo,

Sunshine is a state of mind

Good morning from Los Angeles! It's currently 8am and I've been getting up around 7am every morning even if I don't have to. Damn jetlag. Or something. Well anyway. I've had wonderful time in Los Angeles! On our first day we took off to Universal Studios Hollywood. That was truly a great trip and I sorta kinda returned with about 5 shopping bags. Woops. I think my 2nd bag came in handy, although Marshall's next door had really cute and really light bags for traveling too. 

At first we headed to Studio Tour because it would've been crowded later in the day. It was rather cool or so to say though I must say that if I had any money to spare, I would've taken the VIP tour cause then you would've gotten to walk on Wisteria Lane etc. VIP tour costs around $300 so it's kinda pricy. But it also includes so much more than just walking in the set on Studio Tour. There's like... everything. 

After that we went to the Simpsons ride, Jurassic Park River Adventure (GDI I didn't know it was a wet ride and I hate wet rides... luckily I'm quite small so the bar covered me quite well even though the hem of my dress got soaked), Minion Mayhem, Shrek 4D and we also saw the Waterworld show and Animal Actors (omg can you come and train my dog too please?). It was so awesome and Waterworld was rather inspiring if I may say. Lots of ideas, if not for my book, then for something else.

Also I FINALLY GOT SOME TACO BELL AND IT WAS AWESOME. Can we please bring this to Finland? I mean wow it was so good. I had promised my friend that when I'd travel to America, I'd try Taco Bell. Still need to try local hot dogs (pink's or something else, idk yet). But yes. So good.

After we got to the hotel, we took a little break and then went to Hollywood Boulevard to do some shopping. Found myself lots of stuff from Victoria's Secret and some other shops as well.

 

On our second day, we took a hop on/hop off bus ride to Beverly Hills and Downtown LA. We hopped off at Rodeo Drive to go stroll down the famous street as well. I found a cute little candy shop called SUGARFINA and oh my god they even had this box of Finnish liquorice. Psst, they deliver internationally ;) Another great candy shop is IT'S SUGAR that we found at Universal, but there's more of them too. I was literally like a kid in a candy shop in these two.

After we had walked down Rodeo, we took the bus ride back to Hollywood and saw some awesome places. Then we hopped on the Purple Line and sat 2,5 hours in that bus and saw many sights in Downtown LA. Apparently there was also something happening since we got stuck on Broadway and the police had shut down one street from traffic. Three squad cars went through though. I'm not sure what it was but apparently there had been a middle school stabbing further away (though it was literally further away, not sure why they had closed that street?) :(

Today we're actually heading to Venice and Santa Monica. Sadly we'll be going home tomorrow, but it has been truly awesome here! I could certainly move here. I mean come on Californian sun vs. Finnish snow? Not a hard choice!

See you all later!

xoxo,

Good morning Los Angeles!

Good morning from LA! We arrived yesterday evening, our flight was a little bit late but not too much. I was surprised that our airline had also sockets so I could use my computer freely, YAY!!!

I was so friggin nervous at customs, not that I showed it or anything, I just hadn't been through that before so it was something new! Got my bags and got to a shuttle bus to get our rental car, then drove 1hr and 30mins to our hostel.

It was already 8.30 pm when we got here so we just went strolling down Hollywood boulevard and got some food (subway, shame on me but it was the closest soo...). Found Disney's star too and of course I had to take a pic.

This morning I woke up to +11 degrees (C) and to the landscape in the first pic. Quite nice, eh ;)? Can't say I miss Finnish winter and snow and rain so much. 

Today we're heading to Universal Studios to avoid the freakishly big masses on weekends, tomorrow we're probably gonna go to Venice and Santa Monica and on Saturday it's a hop on hop off bus ride + shopping in Beverly Hills and here at Hollywood. 

I'm having such a blast already!

xoxo,

It won't be long

Holey moley, only one night and then I'm heading to the airport to board a plane to Los Angeles. Well, technically first I'll be boarding a plane to Gatwick and then to Los Angeles but it's almost the same thing, right?

So I had done a few lists what to take with me and of course my mom, being the worrying kind, had also made her own list of what I should take with me. Since I have 11hr flight from London to LA, I'm pretty much taking my whole technology shabang with me... so laptop, iPad and iPhone, even iPod (i just found it yesterday, it's Classic 160GB and after like... 3 years of not using it, it still works. Damn.)

The only thing that made my packing a lot harder, was my lovely dove sitting in my bag. And then cuddling next to me and wanting to be pet and snuggled and everything. She was making puppy eyes at me. And like, when I thought she'd stay put and started to put things in my bag, there she was again, sat in front of me, giving me her paw to hold and licking my face. She knows I'm going on a vacay. And for a while she was mad ad me too. Like *judging you* mad. She even made a face!

 

So right now, I'm hoping that I've got everything in my bag. I shall arrange my cabin bag later on, just before I leave since I still have my phone charging and obviously I'm using my computer.

As of the long flight - I have prepared myself with 9 iBooks, 3 movies (all the Hobbits. I haven't watched anything Hobbit related in a week and I have serious withdrawal symptoms) and of course, I have a dictionary downloaded in my iPad, music in Spotify + iPod and I have my unfinished book saved on my laptop so I can write it if I get bored. Since both Hobbit 1 + 2 are 6hrs 30mins altogether and last time I checked the third Hobbit was 2hrs 40min and took 40% of my battery so I don't think I'll be able to watch two movies on the way there. And of course I've been trying to keep myself awake and adjust to the time difference so I'd be able to get few hours of sleep on the plane too. Somehow I still think I'll be awake most of it... I have two carry-on chargers for my phone and iPad but there's none to Mac's so I won't be able to charge it so when the battery's gone, it's gone. However, I do have an adapter for Britain with me too I can recharge my computer there. However, it's pretty much useless during the trip TO LA cause I won't be using my computer on the flight to London anyway.

So tonight I'm hopping onto a train to Helsinki since I'm staying the night at my friend's place and we're heading for the airport early in the morning. I'll also be staying at his place when I come back since our return flight is in Finland at midnight.

But now, I shall head back to packing my stuff. I'll probably make another post when I get there, with pics and everything! Can't wait! Meanwhile, watch one of my fave stand up comedian's irish impression down below:

xoxo,

Rewind: 2014

So it's that time of the year. When people post their memories from 2014. I also happen to know that people usually also remember the negative parts easier. Or well, at least I do. My year has been rather normal. I've gone to work, I've had fun, I've traveled, I've spent time with my friends and family.

Most of all I remember the worst thing that happened in 2014. I had to let my horse go. She was already 24 years old and she started to have trouble with her legs so it's understandable. So I made the decision to let her go. The day was a blur, because we took her to the clinic in the morning and then left. Suddenly my beautiful horse was gone. The only thing that remained was this aching pain in my heart.

Not even two weeks later I left to Paris with my best friend. Somehow I got a little bit better. Disney made everything better. It has always been my saving grace, really.

The most affecting movie of the year was certainly The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies. Even though I loved the movies, because my favorite actors were cast in great roles, it left me with lots of feelings (relationship status: crying over fictional characters) and pretty much broke my heart. So yeah, I'd definitely say it was the movie that had my feelings going up and down. I still cannot quite watch the movies or listen to the soundtracks without major feels. But well, someday.

What else? I got two more Disney tats this year. My chest was finished in 2013 so I don't count that in as one. But I got Mickey head outline and Olaf.

I got a few photography gigs as well. Wedding, two confirmations, engagement.

I was drowned into Ice Hockey World Championship games in May. Even though we didn't win, we were just great. I still remember how the judges were seriously uncool and playing the game for Russia and so forth.

I became a restaurant manager in March. I won VIP ticket's to Daughtry's gig in Helsinki and I almost passed out when the radio host said that I won them. I got to meet and greet them. Oh the day!

I've had lot of shitty days this year but I'm lucky to have such great friends that always make me smile. And even though I might feel that this year has been just full of stress and crap, I know it's not all that. It just feels like it. Especially now since I just watched all the Hobbits and the feels.

I don't usually make new year's resolutions but this year I'm going to make one because my lovely bff Haja already agreed to help me on this quest. I'm going to finish writing my very first book. I've had it in the works for years and I've only written one chapter because of my writer's block. Honestly, I'm amazed I've succeeded to write that one chapter. But I decided that I finally need to do something that I know I can do if I just try.


So goodbye 2014, I certainly hope that 2015 will be great.


Last but not least: my latest creation, lemon-liqorice cheesecake.

with love,

Christmas preparations + big news!

 

It's been a while. I'm not gone and I never will be. Honestly, I've been drowned in work of different kinds and planning my next trip and doing Christmas preparations. I swear that Christmas and I do not get along. Usually. Especially when it comes to gifts. I tend to spot million gifs for one person but then nothing to another. It's actually really hard because this year I knew what my friends + family wanted but with my friends I didn't know if they already had it. Now that is one reason why I usually craft something myself. This year I barely had time to do anything so crafting was in minimum.

Earlier this month I went to see The Hobbit: Battle Of The Five Armies. Boy oh boy. I went from "HAHAHAHHAHA" to "NOOOOOOOOOOO! WHY DO YO UDO THIS TO ME?!?!?!". Back and forth. I've never had such feelings for a movie before. I knew way before who's gonna live and who's gonna die but I never knew when. So when it started I was still surprised. The first one was the worst. The character wasn't my favorite, but he was close to that so yeah. After that I just knew the other deaths would be following so surprisingly I wasn't even to emotional. I thought I'd cry like a baby. I almost did. Just so you all know: I blame Thranduil, that stylish, selfish, greedy bastard. His fault. Yep.

On Friday I went to a local big shopping mall called Ideapark. It's very convenient cause it has all kinds of stores and you don't have to freeze your ass in the cold weather outside. I found almost everything there though. I only have a couple of things to buy and that I will do tomorrow.

On Saturday I drove 2hrs to see a very dear friend of mine. I have like five friends living in Helsinki area, but I always fail to visit all of them. It would be very convenient to do all at once but none of them know each other so... yeah. Private time is good. We went to eat in Vapiano, probably our favorite restaurant in the city, then did a little bit of xmas shopping and finally I went to see her new place and took another 2hr drive home. 

And today. Today I have been baking a lot. First I baked a mulled wine - gingerbread cheesecake and toffee chunk caramel cupcakes with peppermint cream cheese frosting. Pics (& probs recipes) to come later. I have a very busy schedule tomorrow and on Tuesday so my next free time will be my luxurious 4 day Christmas holidays.

Then to bigger news. My other dear friend asked me if I'd go somewhere with him. We talked about London, then Santorini (but apparently it sucks in the winter) but finally we found very decent priced flights and hostel so now we're going to *drum roll please*

Wanna guess? It's not in Asia, I can tell you that much.

LOS ANGELES

God you don't even have a clue how long I've been dreaming of setting my feet onto American soil so this is like a dream come true for me. So after panicking if my passport is still valid, or if they require it to be valid 6 months after leaving or if our bag would go straight to LAX and all that we booked the trip. We'll be staying in a hostel in Hollywood, near Walk of Fame, Kodak and Chinese Theater. We might actually rent a car too. We'll be staying 3 whole days and then we have like half a day on our arrival date and on our departure date so it's not very long yeah but it's more than I could've ever dreamed of. And you know, you gotta leave something to the next time too ;)

We'll be going as soon as the end of next month so it was really a quick decision :D I'm so excited right now and my christmas just got a million times better!

But now I must away, for the dreamland is waiting for me.

xoxo,