CHRISTMAS AND ALL THAT

I know it has not really begun yet * although it is just around the corner, and we had the first little hint of snow now, so I did a little cheating and hung up the first Christmas lights at home already! November is so dark anyway, but I did wait with the stars and advent lights so far though. Plus, I have different led-and fairy lights at home all year round so in some ways I sort of have a Christmas all the time (much to the joy of my husband).

*) other than in all the stores, everywhere,  right after Halloween as usual and apparently, as I heard, at Ikea already in October...

Then, because I had some extra banans hanging around (they sometimes tend to do that, become extras that just stay there and turn way too dark all of a sudden) I baked a chocolate-banana cake. Vegan.  It was good. Had it wit the first glögg (mulled wine/glühwein. Altough -yes really- this was the wine free version. More like spiced warm juice  really) of the year to go along. And as I was in the pre-Christmas mood I put some gingerbread spices in the cake too. Muy bueno. We can have a closer look on the how-to some other time.

I have said it before, I really am a Christmas person. The Holidays could last for at least a month and a half for all that I care. Well it usually does, as we seldom manage to get the Christmas tree out before the end of January. Ehrm. But mostly I am a "Christmas person" on the inside - for the past decade I have always been so busy I never manage to do that whole cal-getting-in-the-mood-and-relax-thing, where I have lights and candles and tingling everywhere and bake and make goodies for weeks and make and sew presents to all of my friends and family (one year I actually did, but that was a long time ago). It's more the thought of it I suppose, the same with the thought of autumn where I always wear knits and scarves and go out on walk in colourful crispy cold woods and come back home and drink cocoa. That which I have done perhaps once the last five years. Perhaps.  As with most other things and times and seasons in life, it comes surprisingly fast and is over before you know it. This year will be no different as I have lots of shows to do and classes to teach ahead of me still, and producing no less than two events within two weeks. But then I will try my best to take it easy and bake and prepare and all that and plan, make and shop gifts; I do love to hand out presents!

Speaking of which. This one here is mainly for my readers in Finland; a little hint if you plan to do some, or even some more of your Christmas shopping online, one that I had almost forgotten about myself but that comes in handy this time of year - do so via Ostohyvitys! Sign up and shop. This of course applies to all your purchases all year round as well, as you get various discounts (money refunded to your bank account) at most major online stores, both Finnish and international ones such as Apple Online store & iTunes, asos, cdon, Finnish Design Shop and The Body Shop to name a few, as well as at various smaller speciality stores, when you shop via the site. That, and discounts on many services and on magazine-subscriptions and at several travel companies etc. The system is very smart and it is easy to use - log in and then navigate to the store you want to make a purchase from and receive the discount in euros to your bonus account (and later to your bank account ). Well, as I do very little shopping nowadays I have forgotten to use the service the times I have actually bought something, so this serves as a good reminder for myself as well!

And ahoy! As a reader of my blog you will now get a 10euro gift card to use at any of the S-group stores (S-ryhmä) when you sign up and make your first purchase at any of the stores and services via the site (within 90 days).

Sign up here for more info and in order to receive the gift card: Ostohyvitys / S-ryhmän lahjakortti

Disclaimer: nothing in this post is in any way sponsored or paid for by Ostohyvitys but I am part of their affiliate network and can thus offer you the chance of to receive the gift card.

BLACK CATS EVERYWHERE

My youngest sister gave me a set of Polkka Jam pastel cat prints for my birthday (she has a history of giving me cat-tings) that I now put up in the kitchen. I've always liked Polkka Jam's prints and I had always thought of putting something on that wall so these came in handy.

The theme of the prints also serves as a nod to our other kitchen, the one in the farm house, with the rugs and wood stove and so on.

And to the cats of course. But that does not even need to be mentioned.

FOUR THINGS RIGHT NOW - FROM SUNDAY EVENING TO NIGHT

Came home to the city; we spent the end of last week on the farm. But now that summer will one over the city flat will be our base camp again. (And now I intend to organise things and tidy up so it will be nice again; the past year it has been an awful chaos.)
This is what Tapiola is like; lots of midcentury- and sixties houses embedded in lots of green, following the landscape; building low where the landscape is low and high on the hills. Or, what old Tapiola is like, as they are building lots of new and high for the moment. Our balcony is the one with the colourful hanging lateens ont he top floor.

Most of my weekend however was spent at a fitness education course. I took as support for the dance classes and courses I hold. See  how my work out bag has a neatly sewn (put two fingers up in the air and do a little double bend on them as you say "neatly") IBTC patch on it (we still have a handful left).



On my way home I popped by Anttila in Sello which is closing down and being emptied out. It's rather empty by now but I came over a hundred euros worth of shoes for only twelve; these everyday wedge sandals I still intend on using for the last warm days and a pair of girlie/granny autumn walking shoes. I got Dag a moomin scarf for a few pennies as well.



And then the sun set and we had virigin mary's on the balcony.

THE DRAWER SWITCH

Our bedroom, especially the far back corner of it, had turned into something that seemed beyond ever being able to look good and organised again. We had had something of a big nursing table-drawer for when Dag was a baby in the room, that stored his clothes and such, and that stuff and boxes and clothes kept piling up upon. It was black like the windows but never really looked good in the room even without all the extra toppings. One day I was out in the tiny forest behind our building playing with Dag and looking up towards the windows I thought "look at that one window with all the crap in it!". Then I looked again and noticed it was ours. Oh, damn.
The nursing table left by time and got a drawer for all the extra stuff. I liked it but I am however not sure what I was measuring when I got it as it turned out it was a couple of centimetres too high, hitting just under the window but above the window sill. Things like that annoy me more that it probably should. Also, it broke my rule of trying to keep all the shades of wood in a room in the same hue; this one was lighter than my dressing table and String shelf. But all in all it looked fresh and kept my extras away. So Ta-Da! along with getting the rest of the flat in order the two years of not-really-wanting-to-invite-people-over was about to be over!

Well,  my youngest sister and hubby moved to a new house and when we went to visit she was annoyed that the vintage drawer they had got from an auction site did not fit the room they had intended it for, a room with a mint-green and white diamond checked wallpaper. She offered it to us but I had just got that new one for myself. Turns out she had been looking at that same piece online as well... Their vintage drawer was a bit lower and longer than my piece, while the lighter one I had would suit their room better. So, we ended up switching furniture and they both sit rather perfectly where they are now! Everyone is happy!

The drawer is in the same shade of wood as the rest of wooden items the room, and actually has a little more space, so it turned out a good deal.


The checked chest stores my summer/winter dresses off-season. As one basically only needs to put things in and out of it about twice a year even I manage to do so and keep it neat. And although I am the kind of person who should never store anything in boxes (as once I put something into a box, it most likely stays there. Or, then once taken out, won't find it's way back in) I keep the rest of the extras -hair pieces, hats and rollers etc. -in boxes. And so far I have actually managed to use them properly.  In fact, lately I have even been remembering tools and utensils and such that we have stored in the basement, that formerly used to be just a place where things would go to die. Now who says you can't teach an old dog to sit?

Old cats you don't have to teach anything. They will lie wherever they want anyway.

TIDIED UP AT LAST (PLUS THAT HIDEOUS MONKEY I ONCE GOT)

Our flat in the city has looked like a dump for the past year. It's been messed up by unpacked gig-bags of mine, filled with my paperwork and crumbled over with Dag's toys. As we've mainly been concentrating on fixing up and renovating the farm house, and all free time is spent there,  our apartment has been rather sad and forgotten.

But now I  finally got around cleaning it up -to the extent my sister doubtfully asked Eddi why was it so neat there, what's going on? when she came over- and it feels great. I haven't gotten everything I want organised yet, but I'm getting there. And as my nausea from the lost pregnancy is now over I apparently got an energy boos; I even washed all walls and every door in the house. And we might even get around finishing Dag's room now that I'm on fire!


I got some new plants and moved around the placements of the old ones. I always thought that plants are a great, quick and affordable way to freshen up and make a mini-renewal of the interior.

The Helsinki poster we have framed on the wall is one of my favourites by one of my favourites, Erik Bruun.

 If you know your Helsinki you'll love the simplicity of how landmarks and parts of town are portrayed.

Here's my anti-Bojesen monkey btw (and this is a total btw-mention).
It's horrible and not really supposed to be there, but I once hanged it ironically and then it has stayed. You know,  the classic wood design monkey-toy-thing by Bojesen that costs a lot and has no actual function, that people have on, or hanging from shelves (preferably a string one like this). Well, my sister and I have a thing of sending sad stories or links and such to one another. Sometimes it leads to things, like when I once saw a super sad listing for an old teddybear no one wanted and she ended up buying because she just had to. Another time a friend of mine linked me a weird ebay listing for a "hideous monkey" on my wall joking it was Plytis' evil cousin. My sister then sneakily got me the hideous monkey for my birthday the same year. Yes I did scream out in horror a little when I opened the package, before laughing like crazy.


Hideous, ain't it? I have no idea why it looks like this or why anyone would make it so, and sell it, but well, I know why someone bought it.

I can't leave you with the image of the scary monkey so here is a cuter picture of Dag, happily unaware of said monkey, playing in his play kitchen.

SMALL RED ADDITIONS

Dag's room. The one we've been working on only for about 14 months or so. And with working I mean not setting my foot in there apart from hanging up curtains there once in March, doing some occasional messy sewing and storing all my show-suitcases in. So he's still sleeping in our bedroom and playing all over the living room. In fact the whole flat has looked like shit not been too nice looking the last year. I'm too busy with everything and all the free time we spend at the farm. But as autumn always is my kind of new year I have actually done something about it; I've been organising my paper work and such to get it out of that room end elsewhere and started moving some of Dags things into the old study! Step by step, toddler steps.


We got him some basic wood furniture from ikea and pimped them up with some red. I still had some red spray paint left from when painting the heels on my boots red last winter, and coated the legs on the stool (that will work as a night stand) and the knobs on the chest with it. Quick and very painless!


The cat lamp has also finally found a real home. (And soon someone will even live in there!)

THE PLAY KITCHEN

I got Dag a play kitchen!

I fixed it up in town during summer while the rest were on the farm. I bought hooks and a (shower-) shelf with suction fastening to hang stuff on and make the module more like a kitchen.

Dag loves playing with it. Or in it, whichever way you prefer.

Food tasting.

I have to try it too.

Dag got the vintage tin cups and -plates from his friend Pieter in The Netherlands.
The pots and pans and soft veggies and fruits are from Ikea.

The lettuce also doubles as a football on occasion. (The feet of the chairs made great goals.)

I  guess it will be dinner time soon!

FOUR THINGS RIGHT NOW - FROM SUNDAY EVENING TO NIGHT

Came home to the city; we spent the end of last week on the farm. But now that summer will one over the city flat will be our base camp again. (And now I intend to organise things and tidy up so it will be nice again; the past year it has been an awful chaos.)
This is what Tapiola is like; lots of midcentury- and sixties houses embedded in lots of green, following the landscape; building low where the landscape is low and high on the hills. Or, what old Tapiola is like, as they are building lots of new and high for the moment. Our balcony is the one with the colourful hanging lateens ont he top floor.

Most of my weekend however was spent at a fitness education course. I took as support for the dance classes and courses I hold. See  how my work out bag has a neatly sewn (put two fingers up in the air and do a little double bend on them as you say "neatly") IBTC patch on it (we still have a handful left).



On my way home I popped by Anttila in Sello which is closing down and being emptied out. It's rather empty by now but I came over a hundred euros worth of shoes for only twelve; these everyday wedge sandals I still intend on using for the last warm days and a pair of girlie/granny autumn walking shoes. I got Dag a moomin scarf for a few pennies as well.



And then the sun set and we had virigin mary's on the balcony.

4 x IN THE KITCHEN

BEDROOM CORNER AND THE STATE OF UNORGANISED SPACE THAT KIND OF GROWS ON YOU

I'm so used to everything being rather (read: very) messy around home for the moment (due to me having been more than busy lately) I'm kind of getting used to it, thinking 'alright this is what it looks like now'. And almost starting to think looks nice with lots of stuff non-strategically placed here and there.
Ah, what a great excuse.

NIGHT WINDOW WITH CAT

The sky in the city never really gets as black as it does out in countryside. And our view is lit up by a lot of things, but it doesn't really bother me. But when I'm out in the countryside I sometimes gaze up into the black and become amazed on how many stars there are out there that the eye can see.

A NEW VIEW / THE ROSEY CURTAINS

Here we have the Marimekko Ruusupuu (the Rose Tree) fabric. It has, among many,  been a favourite of mine for a long time. (picture source)

So I got curtains of the fabric in the apartment I had before moving to where we are now. 

Then as I moved the curtains got chopped off to hang in the study.

And now they are hanging in the kitchen! 

As the result of an unexpected little catastrophe actually; I washed the yellow gingham kitchen curtains and they shrunk with some 20 cm... Argh! Because I (finally) am in cleaning-and-organising mode now I thus can't stand things being "not ready" and as I would have packed the rose curtains aside anyway for a kiddo-set of curtains for Dag I made a quick save and hung these up.

Funny how a little fabric can change the whole feel of a room! I really liked it with the yellow curtains, but I am starting to think that this is not that bad after all.

Btw another little funny thing,  Marimekko fabrics / patterns are probably one of few in which it is considered totally alright and normal (and rather fancy too as   'it is after all Marimekko' ) for someone to show up to a, say, wedding in a dress of the same fabric as your tablecloth. Hipsters and old ladies alike.

PS. there is a Finnish survey about blog readership popping up here (once per ip address) on the blog. In Finnish. Thus not useable for many of you, so choose the "ei kiitos"option then to close it.

THE BLACKBOARD DOOR

We have a couple of doors painted with black board paint at home in the city apartment; the door in the older boys' room and then the closet door in the now-study (read: mess room) but-Dag's-room-to-be any day now. It's a quite fun way for kids to draw, because it feels a little like being allowed to do something forbidden while still being totally allowed and encouraged...




So far no artistic try-outs on any white walls or on the floor (and fingers crossed that won't happen either). Perhaps because the door is black and then that's the kind of surface you draw on, the others different coloured ones not as they differ so much. Well, let's see what happens in a year or two when the need for "artistic expression" and experimenting grown stronger.

Blackboard pant is not magnetic but I was wondering if it could work to paint a couple of layers with magnetic paint first and then top it with one coat of blackulrikaboard paint, to be able to put up funny magnets and notes and such (and therefor spare my mint green friend in the kitchen from too many dinosaurs and other magnetic crap)? Hmmm.

Over here at least Tikkurila have both kinds of paint. The paint dries pretty fast so the doors were ready in one day.