A Wind of Change

Today when I left work I felt like crying. 

I didn't want to leave. 

Can you believe that?!

I worked there for one year and two months. I liked it. My coworkers were awesome. I was happy I had a job that paid the bills, a job that was easy and occasionally challenging enough, and it was the kind of job I didn't have to take home with me. 

But... it's time for a change :) I'm starting my new job tomorrow and looking forward to it. In the fall I'm off to the US. My boss asked me what I'm doing after that, and I told her I would give her a call. 

So maybe it wasn't a goodbye today after all. 

Speak UP! Share!

Ok. I want some interaction. Stalking is great, I love being stalked (only on blogger, peeps), but now let's see who has the guts to talk. 

Here are various phrases and questions. Pick one (or more) and answer/react to it by leaving a comment. 

(Seriously, I won't bite, you know...)

1. I have two more shifts at my current job. I'm kinda sad :(

2. The best book I've ever read is...

3. Once I was watching a documentary about lions, and one of the cubs was partially paralyzed. The poor thing was just dragging his back feet trying to keep up with the others, and you could see he was miserable, because there was only so much the others could do for him. I became mad at the shooting crew for not helping it. The last image was of the ground, the dragging marks the little lion had left on the dirt. Then the marks stopped. He couldn't follow the others anymore, and some other animal must have killed him. It made me cry, I hate seeing animals in misery. 

4. I think Lily and Robin are kinda annoying in the show How I Met Your Mother.

5. I have a love-hate relationship to NYC.

6. Which Starbucks beverage is your favorite?

7. The greatest thing that's ever happened to me is...

8. If Hunger Games was real, would you volunteer for someone?

9. I'm very interested in self-publishing. Any ideas/recommendations/thoughts?

10. I love peanut butter&jelly sandwiches... yet I haven't had one in almost four years. What's wrong with me?

There ya go... Go nuts.

xxo

PiNK!

For those of you who do not know, my favorite color is pink. 

I seriously want this bike. It comes in other colors too, but this is just too cute. 

My drapes are pink and so are the frames of those pictures... which I've taken myself btw!

I've got pink sneakers.

Pink duck tpe.

Pink comforter.

Pink cover for my phone.

Pink bags.

Not a lot of pink clothes, surprisingly. 

Pink shower curtain.

Pink bathroom mat.

Pink tooth brush. 

And I have this <3 Actually two of these, but the other one is colorless.

Have a great weekend everybody!

H is for HAIR

I wish I had pictures to demonstrate how often I change my hair color... The thing is, all the pics are on my old laptop, which is dead and the chord is broken, so I have to buy a new chord to get all the pictures and music and all the other stuff from there and put them on this new laptop. I have something here, though... Difficult.. and so not what I want to talk about right now. 

So. Hair. My hair. It's probably the best part of me. I kinda like my eye color too (green with brown spots), but my hair has always been something to be proud of. I inherited my mom's thick hair, and about five years ago it started to get curly. It used to be wavy, but then it got curly. Weird. I hate it and I love it. It's easy, but sometimes it just looks messy. Most of the time I don't care, though. 

I started coloring my hair when I was 12. Copper-brown, blonde, red, brown, dark brown, almost black, back to red, back to blonde, back to dark, then red, blonde, blonde, blonde, brown, blonde, red, dark... you catch my drift. 

Once I was coloring my hair again, this time from blonde to a little darker blonde. It was a Tuesday, and I needed my hair perfect by Friday. 

My hair turned out green. Got an appointment at hairdresser's for Thursday. Dodged a bullet there. 

Yes, I take my hair seriously. 

Currently I'm happy as a brunette. Don't know how long that'll last, we'll see ;) 

What I would really love to do, is to dye my hair pink. 

I'm not even kidding. 

G is for GIRLS' NIGHTS

Sometimes I get the feeling, that I just need to... reset.

So I gather up my girlfriends, we set a date and do that. 

If the three of you pictured here with me are reading this (yes, this is a test of whether you read my blog), we need to set a date!

I consider myself as one of the lucky ones with a lot of friends to hang out with. I do different things with all of them. Watch movies. Eat ice cream and watch movies. Talk about guys. Talk about life. Dream about future. Reminiscing. Drink wine. Drink something else. Pour our hearts out. Cry. Laugh. 

And no matter what, we always tend to have a good time.

That's what girlfriends are for, right?

Love, 

me.

P.S. What do you think of my new banner?

TAG!

I promised my friend I would do this tag-thing AGES AGO, and now, finally I did it. Sorry it took me so long!

1. If you had to choose a world without fashion or a world without music, which would you choose ?  

I love fashion, but I love music more. Way more. 

2. Have you accomplished any of your life goals? 

Yes. Some. Went through high school, got a profession... found the courage to go after my dreams :)

3. What's the meaning of LOVE to you?

Love is everything. I have personally experienced situations in which I've needed help despite my wanting to handle things on my own. It's love that makes us do things for others, and I love those who have helped me through some rough and rougher times. What is life without love? 

And now,  before I get too mushy, I'm moving on... 

4. If you could go anywhere in the world right now, where would it be?

USA aside, I would love to visit Australia and New Zealand, Bali, Italy, Kenya, South Africa... and I know Hawaii is a part of the US, I've been wanting to go there forever! 

5. Who's the biggest inspiration in your life right now?

My mother. She's a hard working woman (sometimes she works too hard..), extremely organized, a fine example in multitasking, she's given me numerous opportunities to see the world and she's just amazing. I don't tell her that enough, so I hope she reads my blog regularly. 

6. What's your favorite thing about blogging? 

Examining my stats and seeing that there are people who are interested in what I have to say. Thank you!

Writing.

Reading other blogs.

7. What's your favorite thing out of anything you own? 

Oh wow... Well, I'm going to name more than one, because you can't stop me :) 

- My FBI-mug, that I got last summer. And get this, it's the real thing, not one of those tourist mugs they sell at the souvenir shops ;) 

- My MacBook Pro.

- My iPhone.

- My books.

- My DVD-box of Friends.

- My fan. Oh, you have no idea what a big help it is in this small apartment in the top floor, in the heat of the summer, with no AC. Helps me sleep!! <3

8. Do you believe in fate?

No.

 

9. What's your favorite song? 

'Stand By Me' by Ben E. King

10. Jeans or dresses?

Hmm... I'm a girly girl, but I have to go with jeans. No matter how great a dress, I always feel insecure. 

11. What's your favorite food?  

Pasta!

almost but not quite

I've never really liked spring... it's nice when it gets lighter and warmer, but it's pretty darn ugly outside. The remaining snow piles are brown with dirt and the grass is this weird brownish color with a hint of green. The trees are leafless and... you know, spring is just a lame pre show for what's coming. 

But today was a good day. It was the first warm day (only about +15°C/+59°F), I went for a walk with a few of my friends (left the coat home, yay!), we bought ice cream and had a good time. Summer is coming. A bit slowly, but I'll wait. 

Happy Spring Everyone! May it be less ugly than mine. 

P.S. Don't forget to vote on your favorite B&J's flavor! 

F is for Friends

I don't think I've talked about my friends a lot. I may have mentioned I have awesome friends, but nothing specific. 

Well, you're not getting anything specific now, either, because there's my friends' privacy to be considered and I haven't asked a permission to mention anyone by name. Sorry. (I am working on some interview posts that include some of my friends!)

What I can tell you, is that I'm lucky to have such great friends. There's someone who used to live next door when I was little, and we grew up together. There's someone I met when I was six and she was seven, and we love all the same things, except for music. Our taste in music could not be more different. There are friends who are like big sisters to me, and friends who are like little sisters. Growing up with a brother made me want to have sisters. Guess I have more than enough now :) 

Some live abroad, and I don't see them often. Once a year, if even that, but still we're friends, and able to pick up from where we left the last time. Being able to do that with anyone is great. 

My friends and family are pretty much the only thing keeping me here. Still, I can live with the fact of not seeing them for 90 days this coming fall ;) Just booked the flights, baby! 

xxo

Beware, Oregon

AH!

I'm so excited I could just dance around and sing. I did dance a little, but unfortunately due to my recent cough and loss of my voice, I still can't sing that well (not that I'm a good singer anyway, probably just did the neighbor a favor by keeping my mouth shut). 

Well, I'm not getting my acceptance until next week, but when there's nothing standing in the way of it, I might as well tell you all now, that I'm going to the USA again in the fall! Yay! But not just on a vacation, this time I will be doing an internship (don't know where yet, but I'll let you know!) and the best part: the lenght of my stay is -wait for it- 3 months!!! That's a quarter of a year. Yay again!

So from the beginning of September I can be reached from Portland, Oregon. 

So. I'm set for this year. I'm going to be super busy in the summer, and this up north summer always goes by fast. Then it'll be fall and I won't let anything bring me down. Not even the 22- hour flight. Or jet lag. Or anything. 

<3

extremely bored and incredibly gorgeous

My shirt says 'OMG' and I love it. 

You?

E is for ENDINGS

I ended school in November.

I'm ending my current job at the end of this month.

I'm ending my new job in August (it's a summer job, I'm not ending it because I'm lazy, I'm ending it because... well, you know, it'll be the end of summer by then).

I'm going to end my subscription of Trendi -magazine (I feel like crying at this one...)

I'm ending my journalism course soon.

Endings are a beginning of something new. I'm not gonna lie, sometimes endings suck big time. 

But most of the time they're good. 

For me, at least. 

And now I'm ending this post. 

"nothing"

I've never been into diaries that much. Once, maybe for about a year I kept one but it was always a challenge to write down what I did everyday. I'm not good at sharing. Not even with blank pages (which is why I love writing fiction, guys.)

I write here a lot.

So tell me... what makes you feel better when you're having one of those days when you just want to scream at everyone, break everything you get your hands on and curse everyone who gets in your way?

And when there's no particular reason for this?

When everything, every single bad thing in your life just gets to you?

Damn snowball-effect.

D is for DREAMS

I think the description of this blog is from the movie Inception, but I'm not completely sure (I know, I'm a jerk for using the sentence and not even knowing for sure where it's from). Let me know, if you know. Of course I can google it sometime...

Sometimes I miss out on a lot by day dreaming. I can sit in a class and suddenly realize twenty minutes has gone by and I've been somewhere else. Mostly I'm going over the details of a novel I'm planning on starting soon. I've been doing so for the past two years! It's about time I do what I dream about.

Write a book.

I think this is beautiful. Corny, yes, but beautiful. 

I've done another post about dreams as well, and you can find it here. I'd rather have you read it again than repeat it all now. My dreams haven't really changed since then.

What do you dream about? 

C is for CARRIE BRADSHAW

This is a woman who can make a naturally curly hair cloud look good. That alone makes her my idol. Yes, Carrie's a fictional character, but her fashion sense never lets you down. SJP's a fashion icon in real life as well and even though I could never afford the clothes and accessories she wears, I'm hoping someday I'll find my own style and pull it through even half as well. 

My favorite Carrie-moment.

Just me and my MacBook<3

Remember this scene from the SATC movie? 

This happened to me last summer in Boston. I was walking on the streets of Cambridge and wearing my new summer maxi dress that I'd gotten from Walmart (told you I couldn't afford Carrie's clothes), and this random woman who walked pass me said, "Great dress!"

"Thank you!" I beamed. 

Guess I rocked the dress. 

That's me. Rocking the dress. And a lemonade from the best pancake place in the world<3

B is for BLOGGING

Surprise, surprise.

Blogging is probably one of the most greatest and funniest hobbies I've ever had. I started in December 2010 and after a slowish start I'm picking up, and I'm really into this. 

What I'm actually glad about is that I started when this whole thing wasn't so "in". At least it wasn't here... Seems like blogging has become more and more popular in the recent past. I'm always on the look for new, interesting blogs, so if you're blogging, don't forget to link me the address! 

I'm doing this for myself. I truly enjoy this. I'm glad to have followers who care enough to read about what I have to say. I welcome all comments and suggestions to improve my blog, but... since you guys are a pretty quiet bunch of readers, seems like I'll be making the decisions on topics for now :) 

b the w, I love typing this post with my green nails. 

the color of the day is green

I bought nail polish today.

I barely have nails and I bought nail polish.

Green nail polish.

I feel like I could poison someone with these nails.

I'm feeling very energized today. Tried to get my brother to go see Titanic 3D with me, even though he's already seen it. No surprise he said no. 

It's a beautiful day, and I want to do something.

I cleaned up today (not completely finished yet, though) and finally hung up a poster of the USA I've had for a long time. 

Sorry for the poor quality. Don't you just love the pink duck tape? <3

Have a beautiful day!

A is for AWESOME

The Alphabet-posts start here. 

This is me from A to Z (and maybe even Å, Ä and Ö).

Awesome.

I know, right? I must have an ego the size of Alaska to be saying I'm awesome. But everyone's awesome in their own way. If you don't believe me, it makes you a little less awesome. 

Go Barney! 

Have an awesome night/morning/afternoon/day/evening, depending on where you are :) 

- I 

If I could kick myself, I would.

I was shocked to find out I've only published 54 posts here since I started. At first there were 71, but then I deleted all the insignificant drafts... I've got to get this thing moving! 

Here are the results of my first query! Compare that to the number of my readers, something doesn't quite add up ;) haha. Don't take it too seriously. But, as previously promised, I will be posting a new question every month, so don't forget to check it out and give your answer! 

I've got absolutely nothing else for you at the moment... Sorry for being so lame. 

Stay awesome!

C'est Moi

I've promised to do a post about myself and myself alone... Here it is, whether you want to read it or not (and it's Tuesday, btw... so I kept my word :))

So, hi. I'm Iira. 

 I'm the shy girl sitting quietly while the others are having a conversation. I pitch in every now and then, just to make sure they know I'm still there. They say I'm quiet, I agree. But maybe it's more like 'the better you know me the louder I get'. 

I like to goof around with friends and just have fun. Reality's always there, so why waste a good time worrying about it?
I used to worry about things a lot more than I do nowadays... I try to live in the moment, sure I make plans and all, but if something doesn't work out, I don't make a scene.

I'm a bookworm.
I know almost all the episodes of Friends by heart. Ok, all of them.
I hate shopping.
I'm rarely sick.
I'm allergic to a lot of things...
I make a killer cheesecake.
I change the color of my hair 2-3 times a year.
I suffer from Atopic Dermatitis.
I only know the bad words in Italian.
My favorite m&m's are the peanut butter ones.
I have naturally curly hair, and all I can do it make it straight. Seriously, I suck at doing my hair. It's so lame because of that :(
I love Starbucks.
I wear glasses, for reading mostly.

You know I live to travel and write.
<3

I have the best family and friends in the world.
<3

I have the stupidest, but the most cutest cat, too.
<3

I love music -who doesn't?- but I rarely hear songs that are "about me". You know, when you hear a song and you immediately realize the lyrics depict you, and everything in your life. That's happened to me once. I won't share the song now. Maybe another time.

***

I always thought I'd want to settle down very early, get married, have kids. As it turns out, I'm 22 years old, 23 in a couple of months, and I have absolutely no intentions of settling down in the near future. I realized I have to get a life of my own before I can be in charge of a life of someone else.

***

Very deep down I'm the girl from up north, who secretly likes the cold a little bit. I keep my balcony door open sometimes even during the worst winter, because I like to sleep that way.


Who wants to know about the negative stuff?
Not me.

Hope this is good enough. Let me know.

-iira

Trials, Tribulations & Funny Things

This weekend has been a mix of everything. 

Two of my friends moved to Turku, a city in Southern Finland a while ago and they had their housewarming party, so on Friday I along with a couple of other friends took off toward Turku.

For those of you who do not know, Turku has a certain not-so-nice reputation. I don't know why, but it does, and we made jokes about it all the time. No offense to those who live there, they were just jokes :)

The weather changed for the worse as we approached the city...

It was wonderful seeing my friends again!! I love them so much :) One of them was my next door neighbor and I'd really missed her a lot. As the first night just kept stretching, we got more tired and restless and made even more jokes that were hilarious at the time, but too lame to be explained here. 

A surprise we made for the early birds. What can I say... we're just awesome when we're sleep deprived. 

It wasn't all a bed of roses, though. They have two cats and it turned out I'm seriously allergic to them. I didn't expect it, since I have a cat of my own and I can be around him just fine. But these cats gave me a bad reaction... I ended up in the ER and got an adrenalin shot and a cortisone drop for an hour. Couldn't really breathe. Sounds more serious than it was, but anyways. We blamed Turku for it. 

I still can't take very deep breaths, but I'll be as good as new in a few days. Now that I have a good reason to just chill for tonight, I went and got myself the ultimate treat: Ben & Jerry's. 

Have a great Sunday!