W is for WORLD

We have come a long way since people thought the Earth was flat. 

Now you can be anywhere in the world, and your family and friends are only a phone call away. You can even contact them via internet and see them while you're talking. 50 years ago, who would have thought? You don't even have to go that far back.

The world is getting smaller as we speak. More doors open to us. More opportunities.

I recently talked to someone who said she'll never ever travel again. She had made the decision voluntarily, not because she was forced to by anything. I'll be honest, I can't remember the reasons she told me, because I was too shocked that she would make a decision like that in the first place. That anyone would. Why wouldn't people want to see what this world has to offer? Why wouldn't they be open to widen their horizons? 

I understand that some aren't able to do much because of limited resources. The financial situation isn't great anywhere now. And trust me, I know what it's like to stretch every penny. I can't even afford my rent right now. And I'm not kidding. But I also know that when there's a will, there's a way. 

When you have a passion for something, it's hard to understand the point of view of those, who do not share your passion. I cannot understand people who don't want to get out there, but I respect their decisions. It's their life. 

My life would be empty without a getaway every once in a while. 

This fall couldn't come soon enough.

Christina Perri Live in Helsinki!

Ah! An amazing night! One of my favorite singers. Lovelovelovestrong!

I have videos of her singing Jar of Hearts, Arms and A Thousand Years, but I won't add them here. I tried emailing the videos to my friend and it completely jammed my laptop... so no videos, sorry. But the show was great! I can tell you that :)

I'd seen on Facebook how the band takes pictures of every show from the stage, and I knew they were going to take the picture in Helsinki as well, with all our hands raised up in the air. I was right. They took the picture. And I'm not in it!!! Well, my feet are, if you know where to look. 

Ok, so the guy on stage has his right hand by my feet. I'm standing up there. Great spot, but bad for the photo :(

We had a great time! <3

V is for VOICE

Having your own voice is extremely important. Especially when it comes to writing. This is something that I still need to practice, but I'm getting there. 

Here's an interesting article I found on the subject. This is for all the bloggers out there! :)

How Can You Find Your Own Blogging Voice?

This is it for tonight! 

xxo

just like any other midsummer

This weekend was filled with friends, love, safeguarding our hearts and way more. 

I even ended up on the news this weekend. It was a quick shot, and I didn't even realize I was there, until my friends started asking why I hadn't waved to the camera. I then went online to watch the news again and I found myself. I was even lame enough to capture the image for you to see :)

My brother's the one standing in the middle wearing a grey suit. He's looking at our mother (in red and black), and I'm next to her on a white shirt. yay!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend :)  

I'm so talented, I make myself laugh

I drew the airplane on my finger to visualize what it would look like as a tattoo. I think it looks more like a ship anchor. Maybe a tattoo artist would do a better job. 

No, I'm not getting a tattoo. Not anytime soon, anyway. 

I'm so restless, I just keep laughing at myself right now :) 

Feel free to laugh along. 

Love,

me

something... probably nothing

Haven't been blogging that much this month... I have my reasons.

1. More work

2. No topics

I haven't made any progress on the alphabet posts either. V is a very tricky letter, please help me. And while you're at it, give me ideas for an X, too.

In the lack of better things to write about, here are some things that have crossed my mind lately:

-I hate mosquitos
-WRITE
-Blog
-I'll have four wonderful days off this week. In a row.
-Christina Perri's concert is next week!
-I should finish the last book of the Hunger Games trilogy.
-I should cook more. I have pesto and garlic that won't last forever.


And here's some music for you to enjoy.

First watch this AMAZING video:

Then this parody:

Have a nice week everyone :)

Back to the Boat Rocks

Heidi and I grew up next door to each other and after all these years, after moving away from home, after moving to different cities, we're still friends. Today we decided to go check out some places, where we spent most of our childhood. 

We decided that if we ever have kids, they're going to have to play outside like we did, instead of spending all their time at the computer. 

What's a picnic without treats? :)

You can see why they're called boat rocks :)

down

I once told you there's only one song that has ever hit me as the kind of song that describes my life. 

Don't think too badly of me. It's not the easiest thing to share this, but I'm doing it because sometimes I still feel like that. There's a difference between the person I was back then and the person I am now, though.

Now I know the feeling doesn't last forever. 

U is for USA

You've probably had enough about me babbling on and on about going back to America, but I don't seem to find the need to care :) It hit me the other day, that I'm really going. And that it's not just for a week or two, but for 3 months! I seriously can't wait. 

My mom and I sort of have this competition going on about the States. Each of us has now traveled to 15 states, and in the fall I'm hoping to get 3-5 more. Mom's coming to visit me in OR, so she'll get some more too. But Delta Airlines just canceled my return flight and booked me on another one, and the new flight is going to take me to Minnesota, a state my mom can't take over quite yet ;) I know, we're idiots. But we love it. 

15 down, 35 to go...

The 100th!!!

I wanted to add 100 exclamation points to the title, but oh well. 

So, here we are! My first big mile stone! The 100th post. 

Shoulda baked a cake...

Shoulda prepared a speech. 

I am happy writing and knowing there's someone somewhere reading. Thank you for that!

Looking forward to sharing the upcoming hundreds of posts with you!

<3

I'm so happy I'm not the only one who's insane :)

We had a great night <3

-I

ten seconds my a**

Have you guys ever seen that commercial (infomercial?) about Magic Bullet? If not, here it is:

Seriously. The-best-commercial-EVER. In a really sarcastic way. I get a huge kick out of that. 

Anyways, I own a Turbo Mix, which is exactly like Magic Bullet. It's the exact same product with a different name.

So today I used it to make a milk shake, and... it just didn't work out. I think it's me, I just didn't do it right. There was either too much ice cream or too much milk. Or something. Anyways, from now on I'll just get a milk shake from McDonald's. 

Think I could have gone wrong with Magic Bullet? Just asking. 

-me

T is for TRAVELING

Sweden (1)

Russia (3)

Estonia (10)

Latvia (1)

Lithuania (1)

Greece (3)

Cyprus (1)

Turkey (3)

Germany (1 + several layovers)

Holland (1 + several layovers)

Denmark (layover)

Canary Islands (layover)

Ireland (1)

England (3)

France (1)

Egypt (1)

The Gambia (1)

USA (5)

These are all the countries I've visited with the number of times I've visited them. Don't be so shocked about Estonia, it costs like 20 bucks to go there from here. 10 is just a rough number, the truth is, I don't know the actual figure. 

I'm totally psyched about the idea of having an airplane tattooed on me. Not this big, and not on my arm, but still. Call me crazy, I don't care! And Sanna, yes, I got this pic from your blog! :)

I'm not writing this to brag. I'm writing it to let you know, that this is where all my extra money goes. It's the way it's always been in my family. My mom always says she may not leave a great fortune behind her, but at least she's given us experiences and memories worth more than the money spent on them. That alone makes her the greatest mom ever :)

Traveling is something I will never give up. It's why I won't buy my own apartment until I'm married and ready to settle down. It's why my car isn't the latest model. It's why I'm not getting a pet (well, that and allergies). 

If you asked me for my favorite place to hang out, I would say an airport <3

Looking forward to taking off on September 1st 2012! Then it will be USA (6). 

-i

I miss you.

I've been thinking about friendship and the meaning of it a lot lately. I guess I've been feeling a bit lost. I have a lot of great friends, but sadly I don't see some of them nearly as much as I would like to. 

The thing is, when there's a group of people who get along perfectly, who don't keep secrets from each other, who are so alike it's almost scary, you wish you could stay together forever. If that's the case with you, consider yourself lucky. Sadly, life tends to pull people apart, and staying together is going to take a lot of effort. 

What is friendship? Really? 

To me, it's when friends don't judge each other by their mistakes. When they listen to your problems and do their best to help. If they can't help, listening is enough. It's when they see each other, they can pick up from where they left off the last time. When there's no awkwardness. When they have fights, realizing it started because they care for each other. It's when one look is enough to tell them all they need to know. When their secrets become your secrets. It's group-chatting online. Laughing and crying at the same time. Hiding each other's phones so no one can do anything stupid. Making a complete fool out of yourself knowing that there's nothing that can make them not love you. 

It's the need to see each other after a long time, and the wanting to make that happen. 

Have you seen the movie Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants? I watched the sequel today for about a hundredth time. I've also read the books. Love them. Lena, Tibby, Carmen and Bridget may be fictional characters, but I like to think that their friendship lasted beyond the books. But then again... Desperate Housewives depicted the friendship of Gabby, Susan, Bree and Lynette, and even after everything they went through, they drifted apart. It was their last poker game on the last episode. I know it might seem crazy to compare real-life friendships to made up -ones shown on TV, but when you really think about it, it's not that crazy at all. 

When you have that group, you want to keep it. One day you wake up to find you're not as tight as you used to be, and that scares you. What scares you even more, is that you're not as upset about it as you always imagined you'd be. You've all moved on, and it has almost happened unnoticed. 

Almost. 

I want a lot more poker games. 

Pandemonium Goes Global!

A huge thanks to all my readers!!! Also to the ones in countries not represented here; it seems blogger doesn't register countries with fewer than 4 page views. Those include Nigeria, Malaysia and Sweden to name a few. Thank you for reading!!!

-Iira

S is for SUMMER

It's here. It's been here for a while now. And I love it. Well, parts of it :) I don't love the heat, which is actually a good thing, because here in Finland we rarely get hot weather (the last couple of summers are an exception). I'm hoping this summer will be mild. 70 and sunny would make me happy. 

Today I had a day off. Bliss. In the evening I went to the movies with a few friends. 

The movie was weird to say the very least... I'm not completely sure if it was worth to pay for. 

Time to bring out the summer dresses!

Strawberry milkshake <3

I love it when it's light outside at 11pm

Have a happy summer of 2012 :) 

-I

P.S Pictures of the graduation cakes coming up soon! I was stupid enough to forget my own camera at home, so now I have to wait until I get my hands on my mother's cam.