No Spain - no gain: Benalmádena

Hi guys!

I went to Spain again :D! During these darkest months its just so nice to get somewhere sunny and warm! I met Juulia, my little sister, in Benalmádena, a city nearby Málaga in the south of Spain. Juulia was studying for her final exams so I spent a lot of time on my own.

Benalmádena is quite a small place without any special features really :D. But on the other hand it has everything you can ever wish for - a beach, mountains (and a cable car to the mountains), nice hiking routes, gym and smooth roads for penny boarding ;). It has good public transportation to the nearby cities like Málaga, Fuengirola and Marbella. For me this was a real low budget holiday so we cooked nice meals at our house and used the busses and train whenever we could.

The holiday was pretty much perfect! 

Marbella

Marbella

Marbella

Marbella

Marbella

Marbella 

Marbella

Marbella

Marbella

Marbella

Marbella 

Marbella

Marbella

Benalmádena

Benalmádena

Marbella

Benalmádena

Benalmádena

Benalmádena

Benalmádena

Benalmádena

Benalmádena

Benalmádena

Marbella

Marbella

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Holidays in Maspalomas

Hi guys!

I've been sick for a week so I haven't been able to post for a while. Anyways, I wanted to share the pictures from our holidays in Maspalomas. We went there with the whole family (Mum, dad, my older sister Jenni with her husband Mika and their daughter Isla, my little sis, Juulia, Ben and I). We rented a house from Airbnb nearby the dunes and the beach where we all could fit.

The reason we chose Maspalomas were the criteria we had:

• It had to have golf courses
• It had to be rather near (Isla couldn't fly long flights)
• It had to be warm 

Luckily enough, during this time of the year the island wasn't so packed with tourists. We basically skipped the christmas altogether and instead of changing any gifts we just enjoyed each others company in sunny Gran Canaria :).

Maspalomas is known for its dunes.

We had a couple of nice beach days but most of the time it was quite windy!

We cooked a nice meal for mum and dad... Risotto, salmon, baked potatoes and a cheese platter for dessert.

A crazy bus ride to a little town in the mountains called San Bartolomé. The views were amazing!

A little cake break at San Bartolomé.

We went to a small theme park that wasn't really much for the adults, but for little Isla it was a true paradise ;).

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Bye, 2014!

Hi guys!

I hope you had a lovely holidays! I spent mine with the whole family in Spain... Pics will follow later ;). I had a look at the photos of 2014 and built some collages to get a better view of what I did.

In January and February I did my vision board, visited Stockholm (where I lost my wallet), had dinners with friends, went to see an opera, went to an organic market often, did lots of sports, Including the 10k challenge - 10.000 kettlebell swings in five weeks! went to Berlin fashion week and moved to a new, lovely apartment with Ben.

In March I visited my cousin in Paris where we got to experience our childhood dream of visiting Disneyland ;). We had a housewarming party, I tried aerial yoga, I cooked and baked a lot in our new, big kitchen and planted the first flowers on the balcony. We did raw chocolate with a couple of friends. 

April was the best month because my older sister and I took our little sister as a surprise to New York! The trip was amazing. The city has completely different energy and phase than any other place I've experienced before. The Lion King musical and rollerblading around the Central Park were the highlights of the trip. If I wasn't 100 % sure before, I was now: I want to move to New York.

In May and June the weather was awesome. I spent time cooking with my friend, Fanny, bought a vegetable spiralizer, went to see World Press Photo exhibition, hiked 20 km and spent lots of time outside in parks, street food markets etc. I also had visitors from Finland :).

In July and August I had awesome long holidays in Finland. I got to spend time with my family, Ben and friends who also had a holiday at the same time. The highlight was our boat trip to a small island where we spent the day swimming, sunbathing, eating and discovering the island. I also visited the legendary Sauna festival with punch of friends. In August the evening started to get darker, but the weather was still warm so we spent lots of time at the balcony. We had a "shrimp" party with some friends.

Because the previous trip to Finland was too good, I had to book another one for autumn. In September and October I baked a lot, went horse riding and spent lots of time outside with my dog, I also started grafting my "vision book" (easier to transport in a book form :D). We also moved again with Ben.

November and December were full of pre-christmas parties, christmas markets and crafting. The highlight was the trip to Spain with the whole family where we shared a villa together.

All in all it was a great year! I even manganed to travel a bit even though I'm trying to save my money for something big ;). I made lots of new friends, tried new things, read more books, and almost stayed vegetarian :D. My biggest goal this year is to eat vegetarian or vegan food and to stay healthy (almost managed that as well last year ;). I have also very exciting plans for this year, but I'll write about them later.

I wish you a happy, exciting and adventurous 2015 everybody!

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Last Minute Christmas Gift DIY

Hi guys!

So here's a last minute christmas gift DIY idea for your panicking souls. I did these origami "diamond" ornaments for my grandparents. You can find the instructions here.

I've packed my suitcase and I'm ready to head to Spain with my family tomorrow to (un)celebrate Christmas :). Have a lovely Christmas guys!

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The best Christmas Market in Berlin: Holy Heimat

Hi guys!

Hope you had a lovely weekend! I spent my weekend shopping, eating well and visiting a couple Christmas markets. I also saw the new Paddington movie with Milka - a perfect Sunday movie :D. 

These pics, however, are from last weekend when Essi and I visited Holy Heimat Christmas market at Neue Heimat (near Warschauer strasse). The market was the best I've visited so far in Berlin (and I have visited many). It was quite typical "Berlin-style" market. The venue was an old building full of graffiti but the fairy lights made it look all cosy and christmassy ;). They had lots of street food stalls, so unlike at a normal Christmas market here, you could choose anything from whiskey ribs to Korean bibimbab. Not to forget the nice assortment of different cakes and desserts. The ice skating ring and design market were a nice extra! Obviously a DJ was playing some hipstery tunes by the bar.

We also made a note that the people there were pretty. This was after a few glasses of Glühwein though so I'm not sure how reliable this statement is.

And then to the pics.

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Christmas crafting: Advent calendar & straw diamonds

Hi guys!

Lately I've been busy with mainly three things: Christmas parties, crafting and being sick. We also celebrated Finland's Independence day with a couple of friends by watching President's party while sipping some sparkling wine and stuffing ourselves with sweets.

Last year I made a "christmas town" advent calendar for my niece with Ben. This year we did something different. Every day Isla will get a card with a picture I d

rew and the name in Finnish and in German ;).

Last year's advent calendar

This years' advent calendar

I've also done some other crafting.. like these diamond ornaments made out of straws. The instruction for the first one is here and for the second one here (unfortunately only in Finnish but the pics explain it pretty well!).

Finally a little sneak peek into our christmas party ;)

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