Good things come in pink boxes

Today was a day when I woke up and cried. It was time for my room mate to go back to Germany. Her flight left from Portland at 7 am, and suddenly I was alone. With my host(mom) out of town, I have the house all to myself, and it's weird.
Now only my stuff is taking space by the sink in the bathroom. They're neatly organized on my side. The other side is empty. Maybe I should spread my things more.

Yesterday we had a little going-away party for S. We went out to dinner and after that a few of us gathered at our house for a sugar-filled after party.

We ordered a Party Platter from Voodoo Doughnuts. This is so funny... I still have left overs. 

We watched a movie called Idiocracy, I'd never heard about it before, but it was hilarious!
After our guests left, S gave me a present.

I'd been admiring this painting at the Made in Oregon -store, and told S that I would buy it if I had the money at the end of my trip. And now she got it for me. I love it!!!! Thank you, S <33

Something's definitely missing now that she's not here anymore. But today wasn't a goodbye, it was just a see-you-later.
Way later, though :/
Fortunately, there are cheap flights from Finland to Germany.

Labor Day

Today's my last day of rest and tomorrow I'll start working! :) I'm still tired; woke up this morning at 6 and around 9am I started feeling tired again. I took a half-hour nap and after 10am me and my room mate headed out to check out the route to work. I was surprised at how easy it is to get there! Google Maps lied to me, dammit... 

Mt. Hood is so beautiful!! I love the fact that I get to see it every day :))

I'd never been to Red Robin before, I liked it a lot! Yummy :P

Hope you're all having a great day! :) 

I can't think of a title!

I can't believe it's July already. I'm living in May. Fall seems so far away, and yet it's right around the corner. Summer's almost over (this up north it starts to get cooler in a month). But I'm happy cos I have something to really look forward as you know :)

My summer job ends in a month, too. Then I have almost all of August to prepare for being away for the following three months. The amount of cleaning up that's waiting for me... I wish I had enough money to hire someone to do it all for me. I hate cleaning, in case it's not obvious. 

I have my first day off tomorrow since last tuesday or monday.. I'm so happy. I hope I get to gather up some friends and we could do something together. I'm under the impression it's gonna rain tomorrow, so maybe a movie? Yesterday I went to see The Amazing Spiderman, and it was uhmazing!!! Seriously, go see it. It's so much better than the previous Spiderman -movies. Can't wait for the sequel!

I'm gonna wrap this up now, but first I have to share this picture with you. 

The-best-chicken-salad-ever! This is what I had for lunch today and yesterday!  My job is aaaawesoome! 

Haha, that was so random. Have a great night y'all :)

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

R is for ROSES

Today I've been making decorations for my brother's graduation cake. He's graduating on Saturday and I've promised to take care of the cakes. It's good to make the marzipan roses ready at least a week before you're planning on using them, so they'll have enough time to dry. Even the weather affects on the drying process. Today it's been rainy and humid, so I'm thinking they won't dry much yet...

Blue marzipan roses with powdery glitter on the petals

Now they're just waiting to be placed on the cake :) I'll take pictures and make sure to post them for you to see! 

xoxo

P is for PEANUT BUTTER

When I was still at school, studying to become a baker, we had an English-day. We were only allowed to speak English and our teacher handed out recipes in English. Mostly American style. Brownies, cupcakes etc. Me and my partner picked up the recipe of Peanut butter Brownies. 

This is how they turned out. Yummy!!

I haven't actually met that many Finnish people who like peanut butter. But, as it turned out, my teacher did. I had the mixing bowl in my hand, and I was about to take it with the other dishes, but then I asked my teacher if she wanted to scrape some peanut butter batter with me before I washed it. She grabbed a spoon and joined me. Then she told me she had once tasted some peanut butter chocolate thing, "it was in an orange wrapper, Reese's something", she said. "REESE'S PEANUT BUTTER CUPS!" I laughed. Then I told her they sell them here in Finland, too. I made her day. Yay! We had so much fun. Yes, you can have fun with your teachers, they're surprisingly cool people. 

I had my very first peanut butter & jelly sandwich four years ago, and a couple of weeks ago I had my first in four years. I like them, but I've just never gotten around to buying peanut butter and jelly. Or bread, for that matter. Now I have a Peter Pan -jar of peanut butter in my kitchen. When I didn't feel like having a sandwich, I dipped a piece of chocolate in it. Ah! 

Ok, I realize I have babbled on about peanut butter wayyyyy too long, and it's kinda lame. Or not. Peanut butter's gooooood. I should bake something out of it...

American Weekend

Four years ago I was an Au Pair in America and I met another Finnish Au Pair, living not too far away from me. We've stayed in touch ever since, but this weekend was the first time we met in Finland. We hadn't seen each other in four years, so when she came, we could not shut up.

Mostly we talked about America and traveling in general. Those are things that we both share a passion for. Also, Au Pairs -former and present- do have a certain connection amongst each other. We always find things to talk about and can offer support in a way others can't. And, we're pretty much the only people in the world who know what an LCC is. 

So, this weekend was all about catching up and having a good time. And we did :) When she arrived, Maarit brought me American Pancake Mix and Maple Syrup. After talking non-stop until midnight we went to bed and got off early on Saturday to go shopping in Helsinki. We carried out the America-theme throughout the day, and the first stop was the airport. No, we did not catch the first flight to the States, although we would have wanted to. We went to get Starbucks. The first Starbucks in Finland opened last Tuesday! STOKED!

The first time our names were spelled correctly :P

The cheesecake was to die for... *drooling*

After Starbucks it was shopping time! We headed downtown and got some nice stuff; Maarit for her upcoming trip to Africa and me for... you know, being stuck in Finland until September.

Chico's - All American Bistro. Lunc time ;)

M

I

Needless to say we had a great time :) It's always great to meet up with friends you haven't seen in a while, and talk about stuff that others don't really get... I've shared my Au Pair-experiences with friends and family, and they've been great about it (and I will share it with you one day), but unless you're an Au Pair yourself, it can be hard to relate. Sorry. Any other nannies there behind the screen? :)

Before Maarit went back home, we had an American breakfast. 

Almost like IHOP, I swear ;)

xxo