Sunday morning

Good morning lovelies.

It is an early Sunday morning and I'm sitting in the lounge, watching the water in the Thames flow by, stomach full of breakfast. I feel relaxed, content and peaceful. It is one of those beautifully perfect mornings.

Pretty pink Foxglove

Violet lupin

"Beauty is the greatest seduser of a man"

-Paolo Coelho

Midsummer in Helsinki

This year I spent Midsummer fest in Helsinki. It has been a special weekend in many sense; nightless nights, summer sun, good food, drinks and most importantly the pleasure of good company. The icing on the cake was my friend's Midsummer wedding, which I will write a post a bit latter. 

The traditional Finnish Midsummer is usually spent in summer cottage, mökki. The place can be a basic summer cottage without a running water or electricity or a modern holiday home with three bedrooms and the latest gadgets. Regardless which option you choose, there is also two additional requirements most Finns have for their summer mökki. These are sauna and some type of water element for swimming (read skinny dipping). 

Since I wasn't able to escape the city this Midsummer, which is the ideal option to most of the Finns around this time of the year, I was lucky to stay in Scandic Paasi hotel in Helsinki. 

Scandic Paasi Superior Plus room (c)

Scandic Paasi hotel Superior Plus room (c)

Scandic Paasi hotel Face Stockholm bath vitalisizing soap and moisturizer (c)

Scandic Hotel Paasi Superior Plus room (c)

As you can see yourself, the room was fantastic. We stayed here for two nights and we were upgraded to a 6th floor superior plus room straight away (nice). Our room was spacious and bright with an interesting yet clam decor, polished with a mixture of blue, turquoise, black and white colours. 

Hotel itself located in a great place, very close to the city centre in Hakaniemi. Breakfast was phenomenal; there was a lot to choose from and everything was nicely placed and freshly made. The staff was super friendly and they were offering fun extras such as city bikes, roller blades, Nordic walking sticks and umbrellas for anyone wanting to experience the Finnish way of going out and about - I thought that was brilliant :D

Relaxing with your family at home has to be one of the best things in the whole world. My mum asked me yesterday if I was planning to make any new year's resolutions for 2013. I said that I probably won't make any this year, but now I feel I should definitely make one.

Chinese candle holder in the bathroom
(c)

A collection of candles in the bathroom
(c)

This morning has been so lovely so far. I took my time in bed and didn't hurry my mind to travel from sleep to conciousness. I let my eyes stay closed as long as they wished and let them to decided when they were ready to wake up. I basically, gave my body a chance to have a good weekend lie in too.

After feeling like having had enough sleep, I slowly opened my eyes and was even more delighted to see the sun shining through the curtain into my bedroom. Ah, this is just perfectness, I thought to myself. I have probably mentioned my love affair with weekends and sunny mornings many times before, and I'm sorry if I seem to be repeating it over and over again, but I just get so much enjoyment from sunny (weekend) mornings. I suppose appreciating them so much is my way of living my life here and now. Not longing for something from the past or waiting for something else to happen in the future either.

I also went for a run straight after I had got up from bed. I just pulled tracksuit bottoms up, layered a top and a hoodie on and slipped my running shoes on and powered off. It was quite cold outside which made me really speed up my pace at the beginning, but after 15 minutes I was so hot I had to lose the hoodie and slow down a little. Then I just kept on jogging for the rest of my route. The route I usually do goes around a big pond. It normally takes me 25minutes to run around, but then I usually do an extra lap walking. It is a great way to cool down and stay outdoors a little bit longer. So all together my morning run+walk is often an hour's long me-time enjoyment. I also hardly ever have any music on (even thought that might help me to run longer sometimes) as I prefer letting my mind go empty. Then at some point during my walking lap, I usually realise that thoughts have entered my mind again. That's alright. I don't mind them popping in and out. If the thoughts relate to something that has worried me during that week, I usually think about them for a while and if I, for some reason, I don't seem to be able to draw a conclusion or find a solution, I usually have a few deep breaths and stop thinking about them for the time being. I rather concentrate on being outside, breathing the fresh air and watching the ducks and swans swimming by. Yup, those simple little things. 

A stone hear on a wooden plank on a beach.
(c)

Whilst walking back, I got quite cold so I had a warm bath once I got back home. Other much appreciated life loving me-time moments are naturally baths and showers. Very girly and not very surprising, I know. I quite blatantly even call them my 'spa' moments as I never tend to rush out as quickly as possible. Hells no. Also, as I normally don't have that much time to pamper myself during the week, I'll often try to make an effort and do a hair mask, face mask, proper moisturising, scrub or exfoliation session over the weekend. I know they say the more effort you put in to your skin care routines the more you get out of them. It is true, your skin does look better and healthier the more you look after it, but I don't want to make looking after myself a calendar appointment type of weekly chore either. I think it is, in fact, quite silly to get stressed over not having had a full pedi- and manicure sorted out every single week. I occasionally hear and read  about people who actually get angry or upset if something comes in the way of their weekly treatments and it never fails to make me laugh out loud and wonder if they are serious about it. I mean, if they are then please, get a grip, that is not normal :D

(c) 

I’m having the whole house to myself for the first time! Matt drove home to his parents’ and Ken is on a business trip to Malaysia. I’m so going to have a bubble bath and a glass of sparkly tonight! Oh yes.. I’m going to have one of these super saucy girly night-in. I’m going to soak, relax, scrub, exfoliate, pamper, polish, groom and moisturize. So much looking forward to all this. Sometimes it is such a bonus to be a girl :)

Huomenta muruset

Toinen lauantaiaamu uudessa kodissa. Koska ulkona on Englannin ja varsinkin Lontoon standardeihin nähden kirpeä pakkasaamu, aamuaurinko värjää Thamesin vastapuolella olevat rakennukset kauniisti vaalean punaiseksi vaalean sinistä ja vaalean keltaista usvaista taustaa vasten. Ilma on koko ajan kirkastumassa aamu-usva painuessa kauemmaksi horisonttiin ja auringon noustessa korkeammalle. Pojat nukkuvat vielä sikeästi, joten yritän olla varovainen etten vahingossa herättäisi ketään  vaan että jokainen saisi nukkua rauhassa niin pitkään kuin haluaisi. Meillä on aina opetettu kotona, että unesta pitää pitää kiinni ja toisille täytyy antaa aamuisin (varsinkin viikonloppuaamuisin) rauha levätä raskaan työviikon jälkeen.  Kuten varmasti olette huomanneet, itse lukeudun aamuvireisiin ihmisiin ja usein viikonloppuisinkin herään seitsemän ja kahdeksan välillä, vaikka nythän saisi periaatteessa nukkua kuinka kauan tahansa. That’s me. Toisaalta se että aamuisin koko talo on hiljainen muiden vielä nukkuessa tuo oman tunnelmansa aamuun. Tällaisina hetkinen on ihana vain mind my own business ja istua kahvikupin ja aamupalan kanssa olohuoneen sohvalla ja ihmetellä maailmaa kaikessa hiljaisuudessa. Ei ole kiire minnekään eikä tiedä vielä mistään mitään, kaikki on mahdollista ja päivä on vielä täysin edessä. Aamut ovat minulle luonnon meditaatiota ja terapiaa. Let’s face it terapian tarpeessa tässä ollaan varmasti jokainen ;)

Meidän olohuoneen ikkunasta avautuu kiva näkymä Thames joelle, joten voin kuvitella että tässä sohvalla tulee istuskeltua hyvinkin usein ja ihastellessa joella tapahtuvaa liikennettä. Omat suosikit ovat kilpasoutajat ja vesibussit , jotka risteilevät säännöllisin väliajoin ohitse. Vaikka kaistale, joka tästä olohuoneen ikkunasta avautuu ei ole järjen suuri, leveydeltään se on ehkäpä noin 50m, näkymä on kuitenkin täysin esteetön. Toisena plussana on vielä se että näkymä tulee yläperspektiivistä, sillä flattimme sijaitsee talon ylimmässä kerroksessa. Maan tasalla näkymä olisi hyvinkin erilainen –ei välttämättä yhtään huonompi, mutta erilainen. Se, että asumme Thames joen penkalla on aivan mahtavaa. Tai no ei sen vesielementin tarvitsisi välttämättä olla juuri Thames joki, mutta koska se nyt sattuu olemaan se niin fair enough :) Leedissä asuttaessa vettä ei valitettavasti päässyt ihastelemaan missään, sillä kaupunki on täysin sisämaassa ja land-locked. Joskus juttelin jonkun kanssa siitä kuinka kuntosalilla (ja monissa muissa paikoissa) ihminen usein hakeutuu samoihin paikkoihin tekemään samoja asioita esim. crosstrainaaman tietyssä laitteessa, välttämään tiettyä kuntopyörää, hakemaan vettä tietystä vesipisteestä ja kun joku näistä ei olekaan käytössä niin sitten iskee kriisi. Itse havahduin tämän keskustelun jälkeen siihen, että kuntosalilla tykkäsin juosta erityisesti niillä juoksumatoilla, joista avautui suora näkymä alakerran uimahalliin ja veden liikehdintään. Veikkaisinpa että tuollainen alitajuinen vesielementin kaipuu juontaa ainakin minun tapauksessani juurensa lapsuudesta saakka, sillä olemme aina asuneet lähellä merta tai järveä ja uiminen ja veden äärellä läträäminen on aina ollut ykkössuosikkipuuhiani.  Hence, summa summarun, having the Thames River there is making me really happy.