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Hi guys!

The topic of this post doesn't refer to 10 kilos I've lost or 10 000 € pay rise I've received (unfortunately). It refers to a challenge that I'm doing at the moment. I've took a couple of hours with a personal trainer at my gym and as a result for the next five weeks I'm going to gym 4 times a week, doing 500 reps of swings each time with a kettlebell to finally achieve my goal of 10 000 reps. Now, you might ask why... To strengthen my core and to lose few centimeters along the way...hopefully. I'm 1000 reps down now. 9000 to go. Damn. Anybody out there who has done the same challenge?

This is how a swing should look like. In the last picture the woman looks happy, but don't be fooled - it's probably not her 500th swing...

Swings aren't the only thing I've done lately (YET). I was sick but at least I learned how to make origami hearts. I also attempted doing a dinosaur but that just didn't work out. Must be the fever. We also moved! I love it here, we have now much more space. I'll film a video later on ;). I've been also cooking and baking much more since we now have enough space for it. The stuff I bake doesn't fully support my healthy new years resolutions but to keep it all in balance me and Siri did our very first carafe of green juice! I was also supporting Finland in the Olympics ice hockey (we won bronze!).

The pasta pic below...you have to try the recipe! It's with zucchini-garlic-chili-parmesan sauce. Super easy and super tasty! The recipe is here.

"Found from the phone -pics"

In case you wanna try to make your own origami Tyrannosaurus Rex ;).....

Somebody's been crafty again...

Hi guys!

Hope you had a great weekend! Mine was really good, it's been so sunny and warm (c'mon + 10 degrees is just 5 degrees away from (Finnish) summer) lately in Berlin that I've got this energy boost to do stuff! Also "abs2014" -project (with my Finnish friends) and "bitches for fitness" -project (with Siri) have kept me busy and turned me into a regular at my gym, haha. I hope that this motivation sticks. Possibly forever. Oh please do so. If anyone has healthy vegetarian recipes, please share! I'm starting to run out of ideas.

I finally finished my little project that I've been doing for a while...that involves me ripping pictures out of magazines whenever I stumble upon a nice looking one. I wanted to put together a "dream map". It sounds very lame and childish and it kind of is but it's so fun to make and it keeps me focused on whatever I want to achieve. This time my map included healthy lifestyle, getting fit, getting pro at yoga, planning a longer backpacking trip and doing my masters in fashion marketing or similar. Doing my master's will come at some point but for now I'm a bit too comfortable here in Berlin and in my current job to go anywhere ;).

By the way...is there any stationery lovers out there or am I alone with my obsession? I have successfully led "no-spending-on-things-you-don't-need" life since new years UNTIL...until I was casually walking home with Ben from Kochhaus* when I saw something irresistible, an Asian stationery shop! Has it always been there? Was it even real life? Asian stationery shop, Santokki, in the middle of Pappellallee and you know what that means! So cute things you wanna rip them apart!!

*Kochhaus guys, if you live in Germany and have occasional Martha Stewart moments in the kitchen but mostly you're just lazy like me, this is made for you. They have tables around with the recipe and the exact amounts of ingredients you'll need. You pick the dish that looks the most delicious, pick up the ingredients and go home to cook. Great way to impress your friends.

Happy Birthday....to me!

Hi guys!

This happens every year; I'm planning not to celebrate my birthday in any way, I'm not expecting gifts and I don't think it's such a big deal. After all, I'm one day older each day, shouldn't I therefore celebrate it each day :P? However, when the day comes, and the birthday wishes start to push through in the form of cards, emails, facebook messages and also in the form of a human beings, I suddenly start to feel a bit special... or okay, more like a superstar, like a crown princess of Sweden, like Beyoncé, like a president of United States, like a queen B, like a Greek goddess... Alright then. Not quite. But at least I suddenly become very attention seeking, reading carefully every message in Facebook and embracing them individually, checking my emails in the hope of vouchers in the newsletters I'm subscribed to (20 € voucher from Air Berlin, YAY!) and finally feeling like a million bucks when noticing birthday wishes from Google at the home page. Thank you Google, you really didn't have to but very thoughtful of you.

More seriously my day has been great, actually the whole weekend has been. Yesterday I went to Bikram yoga (people in Berlin, I recommend you to try the 10 day trial :) ) after which I found a huge "organic super market" and went overboard with shopping groceries. I also popped into a couple of other stores. I ended up again at the organic market at Kollwitzplatz and bought my new absolute favourite bread; it's full of all kinds of seeds and not only is it organic but also vegan and gluten free. Bless. The day was sunny but freezing cold so I grabbed a Turkish Götzleme (google it.) as a takeaway and headed home. The rest of the evening I was finishing the book "Rivers of London" by Ben Aaronovitch (recommended for fantasy lovers) and finally went for a movies with Siri to see "12 years a slave". The movie was heavy stuff, but luckily Bratt Pitt appeared in the last 15 minutes of the movie and saved the day. Both plot-wise and visuality-wise.

Today started with a breakfast in bed, served by Ben. Champagne, chocolate and pancakes! I also received a gift card to Cowshed organic spa at Soho house Berlin. Cannot wait to get pampered! After the long breakfast I headed to my "normal" yoga and also had lunch there at their cafe. The rest of the day I've been just chilling, mostly reading and humming "happy birthday" -song... I'm not even kidding. When I was at the peak of my "queen B" -stage I made Ben to sing it to me (actually I was singing along) in every language he can. Bless him.

Thanks to everyone who sent me their birthday wishes :)!

My little sister sent me the best birthday gift ever: a music video!

New year's resolutions

Hi guys!

I, like probably many of you, did a punch of new year's resolutions for this year. Some of them formed after the NYE though... I have of course also some professional goals, but here are my goals for the free time ;).

I also had a look at the goals I set for myself in September to achieve by the end of the year...time to see how I did...

I'm healthy:

* I eat the best food

* I buy only organic food - Mostly, but not only..

* I eat mainly vegetarian food - YES

* Back to my porridge and smoothie routines - Porridge yes, smoothies no

* I use the superfoods I have - No I didn't...

* I do yoga and other sports regularly:

* yoga once a week - Yes

* Other sports twice a week (running outside & gym) - Since December..

* I’m a member of a gym - Yes

* I meditate once a week - Ooops, must have forgotten this one

* I go to bed before 12 - I definitely got better in this

* Once a week wake up early in the morning to meditate, do yoga or sports - More than once a week!

I live in harmony with Ben :)

* I speak German with him daily - MUAHAHAHHAHA

* We follow our cleaning plan like a bible - Not really, me better than Ben :D

* We spare some time in the evenings for golf, movies, eating out, cooking etc. - Yes, but could still do more

I read the best books

* I read every evening - Not quite, but gotten better

* I use computer only until 22:30 ;) - Oh well, what time is it now... but yeah, gotten better.

I enjoy life, relax every now and then and do the things I love

* I travel and see new places - Yes, but could have done it more...

* I pamper myself, with some nice food, magazines and stuff - Yes, made "home spa" more than once ;D

* I walk around the city and parks, find new places in Berlin - Mmm, did this maybe once or twice..

* I eat slow, lazy brunches and read in comfy cafes - Hahah, wow how difficult to achieve :D...mission accomplished..

* I write my blog and I'm good at it :) - Ah, had too long breaks, but maybe I have developed a tiny bit

* I take a lot of nice photos & videos with my new camera - To the point of annoying my friends and Ben ;)

Oh, pretty much fifty-fifty...a lot to improve still. I could keep these goals as well and revise them again in the summer :D. What were your New Year's resolutions? Would be nice to hear them!

Berlin fashion week: FIER vitrine AW14/15

Hi guys!

Berlin fashion week is on and some of my colleagues and me decided to join a fashion event "Fier" in Kreuzberg. It was an exhibition party where new fashion designers were presenting their collections. The atmosphere was party-like with the DJ and a bar, people mingling while looking or at least trying to look like belonging there :D. My and many other's favourite was label Laurus by Olga Lavrinenko. She had very cool zipper details in her designs! We were happy to notice that the clothes were actually made in Finland! After chatting with the friendly designer, Olga, and her so-called "assistant" we found out that they were Russians living in Finland. You can check out Laurus here.

Afterwards we headed to Markthalle Neun. On Thursday's they have this "Street food Thursday" with food from all over the world. Everything looked delicious. It was crowded but definitely worth it anyways!

Have a great weekend!

What do Berliners wear at Opera?

Hi Guys!

I hope you had a lovely weekend! My weekend's average was good, since yesterday was excellent and today a bit of a fail (including me going to yoga class that didn't start until 1,5 hours...). On Saturday we ate breakfast home. The day was sunny so we headed to an organic market at Kollwitzplatz. I wasn't sure if there was much going on since it is winter, but surprisingly there was still a lot of stuff to buy. I'm planning to go there again next Saturday to do my veggie shopping. After this I headed to gym, full of energy to fulfill my new year's resolution ;). In the evening Ben and me went to see opera: Mozart's "die Zauberföte" (The Magic Flute, Taikahuilu) at Staatsoper im Schiller Theater in Berlin.

My biggest concern on Saturday was: What do Berliners wear at opera? I asked Ben and the answer was "Fancy clothes". That's right, that's what I had seen in the movies too - fancy pancy women in long evening gowns holding a glass of wine on the other hand and those tiny opera binoculars on the other, preferably vintage (both the binoculars and the wine...). I only found a LBD (little black dress) which I normally just wear at work because the fabric is not that fancy. I accessorized it with Moschino belt, necklace and pair of black pumps. That would have to do.

At the opera I soon realized I wasn't under dressed. I should know better by now. One of the first ones I spotted after people had taken their jackets to the cloakroom was an older lady with round classes and bright purple quilted overall with some golden detailing. The fabric was something you'd use outside. So basically it was the same kind of skiing overall that Russian ladies use, maybe just not as warm. There was also people who had done it half way; a suit with sneakers or a blazer with leggings. Some people kind of had an idea what they should wear, for example this one woman who had chosen to wear an orange strapless beach maxi dress and underneath a sweater. There was also people who were wearing completely casual outfit and of course some were actually wearing fancy clothes (I saw this one lady...).

Anyways, the opera was great even though I didn't understand always what they were singing about (it was in German, you see). The plot is easy enough to understand anyways so I recommend it to all non-Germans as well :).

Laterss!

My Opera outfit: Dress: Vila, Necklace: H&M, Belt: Moschino, Pumps: Michael Kors

Stockholm and the mystery of a wallet

Hi guys!

So my Christmas gift for Ben was a cruise from Turku to Stockholm. We arrived in Stockholm at 6:30 in the morning so we had the whole day to spend in the city. The previous night that we spent at the cruise ship wasn't the best one 'cause neither of us could get any sleep. We were however very excited to discover Stockholm.

We started the day with a yummy breakfast at a restaurant called Nybrogatan 38 (the scones were great!) with Heini who kindly made us an action plan for the day. The day was a bit rainy and chilly so among our walking tour we needed to stop often to cafés to warm up. This didn't bother me since I got an excellent excuse to consume lots of hot chocolate.

In the evening we met Heini and Emnet at the trainstation. Unfortunately just when we had to catch our bus back to the ship I realised I had forgotten my wallet in the toilet at the trainstation! PANIC! Running back to the toilet, checking it and all the people there, then the lost and found office, at the same time trying to close my credit cards and bank cards... Oh my. It took me a while to calm down after this episode. Back in the ship I realised it's not SUCH a big deal, I mean, I could have lost myself in the toilet too.

HOWEVER...Today I got great news. My wallet had been sent to my parents place! The cash was gone but all the cards were in. No sender, no note. The address line said "Marjanna Hannele Alako (mispelled), Teuva (my hometown in Finnish) Östermark (my hometown in Swedish)". Without prober address it still found its way to my parents place! "Thanks" Mr/Ms Thief!

Stockholm visitors, If you are new in the city and want to get some tips for what to see in one day, here is our route :).

And now the video and the pics ;)