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!

 

Overwhelmingly inspired

I am feeling a wee bit overwhelmed. Everywhere I look, there is a project I'd love to tackle. Every other thought in my head is a new amazing idea for a painting, crochet project, baking or cooking idea. And oh my, the photo opportunities and ideas swirling around! Ooooh, and this sun energizing me...This is baaaaad!

I get like this and I want to quit a regular life for the sole purpose of indulging myself. I know why I am suddenly overwhelmed with everything amazing...my vacation ends tomorrow. :( 

If only. If only...

I have been really productive creatively this week though... and it's all just fuel to the flames. Guess how interested I will be next week in surgical patients and my bachelor's thesis. Uh oh, what a pickle!

I suppose I can take comfort in the fact that I have had a lovely vacation!!

Hubby made pancakes for breakfast yesterday. We devoured them covered in Pure Maine Maple Syrup courtesy of my mom-in-law! Deeelish!

 (totally going to save that bottle, how cute!)

I got to hit up a thrift store with my mom... The first time since her surgery. Life going back to normal? I like it! We also stopped by another store and bought a bunch of seeds for the garden this summer! :) Yaaaaaay!

 

I found two of these gorgeous Finnish Arabia vintage bowls. I looooove them! It's a part of my new year's resolution (wow, am I really sticking to them?!) because to take better photos, I need more props! ;) Muahahahah, let the collecting begin!

I also found this cute little green cherry blossom tin. It goes so well with our Japan themed living room! 

(Lol! pardon the dust!)

I ♥ thrifting!

This week also saw me getting back into the groove with my granny blanket. I'm up to 48 squares! Only 52 more to go till 100! I think I am actually going to make more than 100 squares, but it's nice to  have something to count down to for now. :)

It's really kind of sad how little justice these pictures do the colors! They are so BRIGHT in real life! You're just going to have to take my word for it though!
I have had the strategy of using one of the 50g skeins up at a time by using it in every square and just switching out the two other colors. I like being systematic. I think it's a gemini thing, lol!

So far I have almost totally used up the dark pink and dark purple skeins. The next color that I have started a few squares with, is the beige-y color. Something lighter for a change. 

Before I make anymore squares though, I should probably sew in the ends to the 11 latest squares! So I don't get behind! :)

Another thing I have thoroughly enjoyed this vacation are these amazing coconut cookies. We had to make them twice in the past week because they are that good! Here is a link to the recipe. 

Try them dipped in your morning coffee. Oh-em-gee! And it doesn't hurt if you decide to change it up and drink out of fancy cups. :) You should have seen the look on hubby's face when I broke out these cups, hahah!

I best start getting ready to go on a sunny walk with a good friend... It's a seriously gorgeous day!!! :)

Thanks for reading, hope you have a nice weekend!

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! 

When I think of winter

As I am sure you probably have guessed based on the name of this blog... I love Tori Amos. 

If you know Tori's repertoire, then I am sure it comes to no surprise that every winter, I think of her song "winter". 

Especially the "I get a little warm in my heart when I think of winter" bit. 

(It's a terribly sad song ("when you gonna love you as much as I do" --- weeeeeeep!!!). 

Anywho, it's beautiful here now. -20-30 C depending on the time of day, a shocking -20F! 

I have actually been anticipating this weather, because this is the first full winter with the Canon-baby so I  have been wanting to take some proper frost pictures. Broaden my nature photography scope, ya know!

The weather finally came on Tuesday and go figure, it was a looong school day for me. Which ultimately means that if I get out at 4 p.m., I won't be home until almost 5 and it's surely dark by then. BUMMER!

I considered being naughty and skipping some of the afternoon lesson to get the blue sky with white frost covered trees! However, I decided school had to come first and fortunately, our teacher let us go early so I got home in time to snap these sunset pictures around 4. 

It was painful to take these pictures, my fingers were frozen stiff (or so it felt) and I could have cried putting the camera back in its bag! But these pictures were worth it. I love them all!

At 5:30p.m. I went out again, this time to walk to my friend's house for a nice chat to catch up. I have been so busy lately with school and what-not, I feel so bad to neglect my friends! 

It was darker at 5:30, indeed night was approaching fast. It was an intense dark blue sky and that pink tinge on the horizon. It's beautiful. Pictures don't even do it justice!

I walk through this harbor almost every time I walk towards the downtown area, hence all the pictures from here all the time. It's a pretty place though. 

And if you are wondering, that is näsineula (which I have mentioned before) in the background, the big tower built in the 70s (or so) and Tampere's landmark. 

Summer is a distant snow covered memory.

Perfect street light illuminating the perfect tree. 

This picture marks my walk home at almost 9 p.m. (It was DARK outside!)

I had some regrets of not taking a tripod...

...But with a tripod, I'd still be out there, a frozen popsicle stuck to a camera and tripod...

In this weather, there is no dawdling. I was literally running from picture spot to the next. And constantly worrying about whether or not the camera will freeze. 

The camera and I did just fine though. We're both still kicking. 

I love this picture. However, you see the steam (I hope it's not really smoke, lol) from those horrific towers. That is a city power plant. I think it is. I should probably find out. 

It makes for good sky pictures though! 

White trees. Winter is almost as beautiful as summer sometimes. 

In other happy news, my thesis plan was accepted! The first big step is done! :) (now starts the hard part!) 

Other happy news: the short "portfolio" for the art program I want to get into, released the topics for work. Now I can get started with that, send it in and hope they'll invite me to the entrance exam! I already have some ideas brewing...although I will say, it's not going to be my usual stuff. Lol. 

Thanks for reading! Hope you're staying warm wherever you are! :)

Another winter wonderland post

This morning is SUNNY,  but COLD (-11C = 12F). 

Yesterday was SUNNY, COLD (not quite -11 though) and WINDY. 

Oh no! It was terrible. We had horrible windy days after my last post and all the snow has fallen in chunks off of most of the trees.

However, there was still beauty to behold in our local woods. Walk with me! :)

This is the stump that had all those cute mushrooms and moss growing on it during the fall.

It was such a mild fall that some of nature got tricked into spring time. Look at this silly bush...

Ah, the pretty house. <3 These people don't even know how much I want to uproot it and put it in the countryside and call it my own! Lol!

I took a lot more pictures yesterday, more about that next time. (Flower photo fun!)

Thanks for walking with me! ;)