Blizzards, cake, and pups

WOW!

We had a friggin' blizzard yesterday!! It snowed ALL DAY and ALL NIGHT... a total of 25-30 cm by this morning apparently. RIDICULOUS! 

 (early evening)

 

I guess Mother Nature didn't get the memo about it being April! She's making up for the lost time last fall and our not white Christmas, I guess. 

(Night... and yes, the bunting is still up! Lol! Oh, and this is the sixth floor for those who didn't know.)

 

Let me tell ya, walking the dogs in dunes last night was no picnic for any of us... Manta had to be carried out to her favorite pee spot and after doing her business she came back over to me practically asking to be picked up. Being about 20cm tall is not fun in that weather, poor thing! ...And this morning...! Oh word! I walk to the hospital I'm doing my clinical training at (going surprisingly swell so far btw!) and some parts of my journey I had to trudge through knee-deep snow!! Thankfully, the trek back was a lot easier and the glorious spring sun is shining down, trying its hardest to melt the 30cm away. Lol! 

Going back in time... Here are a couple pictures of a walk I took on Saturday. 

Here is a view of the cute colorful summer cottages. It's a little cottage community (aka garden allotment?) in town, where they have these tiny cottages and gardens to cultivate (wikipedia info here). I want one! SO CUTE! 

And spring pussy-willow.

I baked this delicious coffee cake on Sunday. My good friend was coming over for coffee and was bringing her Frenchie, Elvi, for a play date. 

This is a bundt version of my late godmother, Cookie's, famous lemon bread.

I tweaked it though and used orange instead of lemon, it's just what I had on hand at the moment!

This is a contender for Easter brunch (the real deal lemon bread) so I think I might jot the recipe down here to share, too. 

I think Cookie would have been tickled. :)

(And no, her name wasn't really Cookie, it was Louise, but she was big into cooking and baking so you get the idea of her nickname I'm sure..)

Here the "kids" are, having a grand old time being wild. 

And Elvi is forever my photography challenge. I love when she comes over and I manage to get a picture of her that isn't blurry, under/over-exposed etc. You teach me so much about my camera, Elvi!! Thanks!

 

Sun energy

Oh me oh my! This sunshine! It's so ENERGIZING!

I have had another productive day, I couldn't help myself! I woke up with no alarms, just by the magnificent sun shining in disregarding our curtains... Sometimes you just know it's going to be a good day! 

I really really love this time of the year. Honestly, it's not surprising I got married in March! The sunshine is warm and the temperatures are mild, it's clear and white and crisp, and the anticipation of spring is like a drug. It won't be too long before the snow melts away and the trees bud and flowers come back! 

Ah spring ♥

Feeling like this, I did my part cleaning this morning (vacuuming) and quickly finished the little baby hat I started last night. My husband's friend just became a dad to a sweet little thing named Sofia, so I made her a little hat perfect for spring. I have no idea whatsoever if it will fit, I have no real experience of baby heads, but it was cute if nothing else! 

And let me tell you, never look up baby and crochet together. If there is anything to ignite a baby fever, it's all the cute stuff you can make for them! 

I also started a new little project for the fourth nephew last night. He's the little guy I crocheted a turtle outfit for. :) I won't reveal what it is because I don't want to ruin the surprise for his parents, but I think the whole family is going to like it! It was tough coming up with something for him that reflected both his parents and his aunt and uncle here in Finland. Also, a baby living in sunny Florida born in the warm spring doesn't really need many blankets, hats or other wooly things. I had to think outside the box! Can't wait to see the finished product! :)

Sneak peek!

I just had to get some painting in today as well... I couldn't bear to let the amazing light flowing through the windows go to waste. So I set up my little atelier again and enjoyed painting summer. Summer is the equivalent to strawberries and yellow sunshine. The strawberries won out over a picture I took last summer of the lake. I want to start landscapes soon, but today I just wanted some instant gratification and to indulge in summer thoughts! 

I will be spending tomorrow with my mama, which means I just might spend some time with granny squares. I like letting her pick out the color combos. It makes it more fun! I think she likes it, too. :)

Thanks for reading! Hope you can enjoy this spring sunshine, too! 

P.S. 

Had to share their good buddy moment they had while I was painting :) ♥

Finished Puro hat and scarf

As promised, here is the latest finished project, my crochet hat and scarf!

I finished it last Saturday night and was so pleased with how it turned out. The hat is a kind of small net on the top so the wind blows right through, making this a bad hat choice for -20C. However, it works nicely in these more mild temperatures and with my coat hood pulled up, it is nice and warm. I love that for once (!), I have a matching hat and scarf. Seriously, I don't think I have EVER had a matching set! :)

Like I have written before, the scarf was made by crocheting a foundation chain the desired width, then working hdc's across and turning, making sure to always crochet in the back loops. This is how I got the rippled effect. I crocheted until I was almost out of yarn because my goal was to make this an infinity scarf AND use up all of this particular yarn. Once that happened, I sc the two ends together making a loop. Very simple. I actually like the scarf more than the hat!

The pattern for the hat is here, at lion brand yarn. I have decided to, at least for now, skip the pom pom.

It is Friday again, so I feel compelled to talk about my granny squares. I have only crocheted a few more squares this week here and there, I think a total of 6. Not really worth pictures, especially since the weather outside is gray and snowy. Really snowy. Coming in sideways snowy!

I do have a picture of my bear from last Friday though. We laid each on our respective couches in the early afternoon. I was on pinterest/trying to work on school stuff and he was off in dreamland. :)

Well,  I suppose it's time to really tackle this to-do list. This weekend:

I'm grooming Manta, giving everyone a pedicure, finishing a school essay, applying for summer jobs (I'm so late in the game here!), crocheting squares and a baby hat perhaps, making appointments, and my favorite part: oil pastels, oil pastels, oil pastels. I even wrote it three times on my to do list. :)

Time to get busy!

Thanks for reading, hope you have a productive yet relaxing weekend! (That is what I am hoping for anyway!) :)

dogs and a hat (not together though!)

My oh my, it's cold! 

It never gets old saying that either! (I'm a poet and I know it, yes yes...) It was warmer (only -5C) for a few days earlier this week, but then it dropped back down to the -20C area... the not so fun part of winter. However, I can't really complain because I have loved these high pressure, SUNNY days (and it's supposed to get warmer (about -5C again) by tomorrow)!

Yesterday we spent time with a friend and her corgi at the dog park. I was frozen, so I only took some half-hearted snapshots of the dogs on sport mode. Just didn't feel like concentrating on anything else but staying warm. 

Koda had a blast! He got to chase sticks and run around off leash like a mad man! :) I love that his drool and beard got a bit frosty! Lol!

It's easy to keep warm by snuggling with this big bear on the couch! We certainly love to snuggle and stay warm with the granny stripe blanket! :)

(He's curled up next to me quite like this right now)

I spent Wednesday evening crocheting a hat. I used this pattern from lion brand yarn, I also pinned it a while back. I like how it turned out, but definitely would make changes knowing how it works up now. It's always hard to crochet with different yarn then the pattern calls for, ya never really know what you're gonna get! I still like it! 

The scarf I'm working up is just a simple hdc in back loops to make the ribbed effect. I am going to use up the other 2 skeins of yarn left to complete it, a total of 100g more. I might need to buy more yarn (what a pity, lol) to finish it, as I plan to make it long and then sew the ends together to make the infinity type scarf. 

The hat used up just over 50g and I could have gotten away with making it a bit shorter. I still need to figure out how to make a nice pom pom. I spent some time researching and trying DIY ways but only got frustrated! I'm thinking about purchasing a little pom pom maker! Lol!

Today I should be tackling my to-do list. It has more than a few things I reaaaaally don't want to do (apply for summer jobs, work on two essays, handle some thesis business...) but I am going to try to get them done or started so I can justify spending the rest of my day finishing the scarf (because winter is so long, I have gotten so sick of my every day hat and scarf!) and perhaps fitting in some oil pastel time or granny squaring. ;)

Thanks for reading, hope you have a nice weekend!

Koda and his Kong. (picture crazy Saturday!)

What can I say? He's beautiful! It's hard not to take pictures of him all the time! :)

He looks so happy in this picture that it makes me smile every single time I see it. :) 

This picture makes me LOL. ;)

Hubby loves this picture. He said he thinks Koda Bear looks so happy in it. I think it's hilarious that he is compressing the Kong (super hard rubber) vertically (as opposed to horizontally, it's softer). He has some crazy strong jaws!

Maniacal grin! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Saturday to-do

This week has been busy. In fact, I don't even remember what happened this past week (except for my previous post!) -- it's all flown by and was mainly just surviving the routines. I LOATHE weeks like that. Unfortunately, life can't always be amazing, intense, and filled with passion for everything all the time. I wish it could though! It would certainly make school, housework and all that jazz a lot more interesting! :)

I have been immensely looking forward to the weekend and had made myself a long list (inspired by my sister, perpetual list-maker) of things I wanted to get done. I wrote it in 5 minutes and filled an A4 sized paper! Shoot, it's a busy weekend then!

So far I've done 3.5 things from the list, only 7.5 more to go... Lol!

(Manta making faces, lol)

Cleaning the fish tank was first on the list (after boring school stuff) so I tackled that late this morning. It looks WAY better now after its intensive cleaning. Honestly, it took a good chunk of time and effort to do. I'm glad I had the hubby to help, because it sucks doing. Shared misery is always better. 

I'm sure the fish are happy, too!

Manta got a good brushing today. That was another thing on the list. I have thought, more than once, that I will never ever have another long haired dog like her again. Unless it gets shaved! I spent almost as much time brushing her as I did cleaning the fish tank (about 2h!!!) and I only got the main bits of her, not her hard to reach spots! We had to take a break though, she and I were getting tired of the hair flying around! Lol!

She looked so pretty when we were "done" so I finally did my little Manta photo shoot that I have been meaning to do! I hope you like the pictures! :)

 

She is the worst of the kids to take pictures of, she never looks into the camera as nicely as the others do. But I am a smart mama and I realized I can bribe her with a little toy! Teehee, she definitely paid more attention to the camera when I had it on top of my head! (Anything to get the shot!)

She was thrilled when she got the toy in between takes, violently shaking it as usual. The toys in the house sure do take a beating...

The cold weather here just continues... I thought it felt really cold last night, despite the hoodie, jamma pants, wool socks etc. When we went to bed I had the blankets up to my nose, I thought it was all in my head because I know it's cold outside... Well, we woke up and opened the curtains to this:

 

It gets better, here is the living room window....

NICE!

Ridiculous!

At least it was a beautiful day. 

And I sure was tempted to burn my list of to-dos and be selfish and engage in this business. 

This bag has been torturing me all week. Sitting perfectly on the couch, waiting for me. I haven't had the time or energy this week to crochet even one square! :( 

I guess I know what I am putting on my to-do list for next weekend! Lol!

Thanks for reading, I know it was a picture laden post! I even left out all the pictures of Koda that I took! 

Teehee, now you know what to expect in my next post! 

Koda Bearz

He's loud, obnoxious and has a lot to say about "out", "hungry" and PLAAAAAY!!!

But I love him. And he loves me (not not the mama!)!  

I'm still trying to figure out what he is mixed with. His mama was St. Bernard/Rottweiler (she looked like a St Bernard!) but we don't know who is Daddy is! The mama's owner guessed based on the time his mama was AWOL that she couldn't have gotten far to get into such puppy trouble, and their closest neighbor with a dog was a Bull mastiff. They blamed him. 

But I don't see the mastiff at all! And he is about the size of his mama, weighing in at 42kg (92 lbs), about 70cm (27in) at the withers.

Any suggestions? He acts very rottweilerish, he drools like a St Bernard, and he is SUPER smart!

Howling/growling/complaining/talking, but I think it looks like laughing! :)

:)

Now I just need to do a little photo shoot with Manta one of these days!

Thanks for reading!

Weekends, gotta love 'em!

Monday report:

I had a WONDERFUL weekend! 

I made time to work on my bachelor's thesis (stress levels came down about it temporarily), which left me plenty of time for my favorite things.

Eating. A lot. 

OK, so it's a bit indulgent, but I had been working really hard on that thesis and thought I deserved something GOOD! We were trying to make homemade big macs (recipe here) and ran into some trouble. Like the ingredients being different here. Like the buns being too round to stack (mine toppled rather quickly...). Like the beef patties being too meaty and round (adding to the toppling effect). 

But boy, they were MM-MM delicious! 

Do you like the bottle in the background? It's one of hubby's homemade dark ales! They are strong (like holy cow strong!) and pretty ok for a dark beer. Unfortunately, this so happened to be a bottle that slightly leaked thanks to Ikea's superb quality (wink wink), so it wasn't as carbonated as some of the others. Fortunately, hubby is smart and he's been bending the "bales" (I think that's what they're called, the metal bits...) and making the seal tighter for the next batch. (Light ale, ready in about 2-3 weeks!) 

Onward!

I crocheted more squares, up to 23 I think now and all the ends are sewn in!

This is what happened when I tried to take a picture of my beautiful yarn:

"I wanna be in the picture!! Let me talk to you!! Awoowowwowo ahhhh WOOF!!!" :)

(I swear that's what he sounds like!)

When he went away, I finally got it! 

I was crocheting (in my pajamas) with the falling snow outside my window... I really have enjoyed this winter!

And looooots of time was spent getting to know my camera (and lightroom) better. (Sticking to my new year's resolutions!)

I even broke out the tripod! (Yay for not being lazy!)

(Pardon the dying plant the cat has eaten...And why does everything look so much better in black and white?!)

Inspiration strikes when I'm home alone, so no one else to practice on but myself. It's hard to get yourself in the frame without being able to see! And then not make a totally stupid face either! There were a loooot of out-takes. Lol!

One reason I've been diehard practicing, is that I read somewhere (probably through a pin on pinterest...) that if you are shooting in manual but just going by metering, you are still not really shooting in manual. I was so guilty. 

So now I am trying to break free from the metering and I'm trying to use it more as a guide and analyze more what to adjust: iso, f-stop, shutter speed and use the tripod if I'm getting blurry pictures!!

These peppers deserved a picture and although I was too late for proper natural lighting, I still think these pictures turned out rather alright. I tried something new and hung a dish towel behind them for a more interesting background.

However, I could have used the tripod...and a speedlite. And a macro lens. Or just a lens with more range. Proper daylight would have been pretty sweet, too.

But all things considered, I'm still pleased as punch! :)

I had to give these granny smith apples a go as well! They were on sale at the store so I bought a bunch  for apple desserts (probably a nice pie) and for this reason, too. I love still life photos! 

 

I suppose I should end it here.

I have some more pictures, but I'm saving them for another post. They are of the doggy kind. :)

Thanks for reading!