WHITE WONDERLAND

  Imbolc´s other face, beside the sunny light blue one, is the white world. On a cloudy day, when nature is covered with fresh white snow, the world looks washed out of all color. It´s black and white. That´s a magical sight (note that the pictures are not manipulated).

It´s amazing how even spruces look black and white, although I know they are really green...

At the end of our home street there´s a humongous hill, perfect for sledding!

I can still (barely) squeeze into a kids´ sled for a bit of fun!

This humble young birch looks like a feather.

Our apple tree dressed in winter.

  Once again, all this beauty is right here on my daily path, with no need to go far and beyond to experience it. Embracing the little things in life is beneficial to both me and the planet!

HEART OF IMBOLC

  After discovering the wheel-of-the-yeart over fifteen years ago, I have built a whole new lifestyle for myself based on the eight sabbats. The eight in turn are based on the ancient way of telling time, marking solstices and equinoxes, and the points in between marking the turn of the season (spring, summer, fall, winter).
  Nowadays I incorporate each sabbat into my calendar by celebrating them approximately six weeks in a row. This year it took until now to tune into Imbolc full speed.

  Imbolc, February 1st, is for me the actual beginning of the new year. It is the point in time between winter solstice and spring equinox, thus marking the beginning of spring. A funny thing is that once, after learning about the whee-of-the-year, I was talking with my grandpa and found out that he perceived time this exact same manner by solstices and equinoxes! Needless to say, he´d never googled about paganism... =)
  By now the days have grown lighter, and it is inevitable to feel the change and look forward. Nature has turned white and powdery by snow, and the sky is glowing again with pastel colors on sunny days. As if the year is in it´s baby state.

  This is the heart, the foundation, of my Imbolc spirit. An abundant source of inspiration. And the best part is that it´s all free of charge, right here, surrounding me in my daily life! No need to go far to experience something miraculous. The fairy tale is happening right here and now, and I´m part of it!

NETI YOUR NOSE

  Neti is a sort of a bottle or a pot designed for rinsing your nose, on the inside that is. Now that the pollen season has started, it is an excellent time to pick up this refreshing method of cleaning your body more thoroughly. It clears out the nose internally from small particles we inhale daily, like dust, mold, tiny flakes of skin, pollen and other type of allergens floating in the air.

All you need is a pot and a measuring spoon for salt (which are sold together).

Unraffinated seasalt is recommended, and lukewarm tap water. Mix them up, and off you go!

 I bought my neti pot nearly ten years ago, and am a bit ashamed to admit I have not used it regularly, not even annually... =(  But now I dug it up, and have been using it every single evening for a week. I can tell a difference, it really cleans the nostrils, and makes them feel more open. Ever since my childhood I remember having more or less of a stuffed nose, with one side or the other always somewhat swollen/clogged. Using the neti pot has relieved those symptoms, and it feels good knowing I´m doing something good for my body.
  Here you can watch a demonstration of how it´s done.

TRUE LOVE FOR VALENTINE´S DAY

  I´m a do-it-yourself gal. I apply the approach to love also. A true, deep love comes from within, but it has to be kept alive, as life keeps changing.
  I´m no romantic, but I´ve been fortunate to experience a genuine love that conquers all for the past 19 1/2 years. And it´s still growing stronger. How the heck is that possible?! I never dreamed of a husband, kids, or family life, let alone everlasting love.
  As we approach our 20th anniversary, I´ve done some summing up on how to keep love flourishing through thick and thin.

Check it out on my column Nelland Living!

  Love is precious, cherish and pamper it for the sake of yourself! Happy and love-filled Valentine´s Day weekend!

WINTER CRUISING

  Things wound up so, that last weekend I ended up on a cruise ship alone, without company. I never get to go anywhere alone, so I was exhilarated!

The boat was new, and I´d never been on it before. Taking short cruises is something I like to do pretty much every winter, as a mini holiday outside of the summer cabin season (at the moment the ice is not yet thick enough to walk on, and we´re waiting to get to the cabin).

The weather was not at it´s prettiest, but I didn´t care, I got to stay inside in the warm the whole time!

A time for relaxation. I partied up until very late, slept long, had an abundant breakfast, took a nap, watched tv, shopped, and ate again. Plus enjoyed live music by various artists throughout the cruise. How cool!

  Then I returned home refreshed, ready to do laundry and cooking again... =)
  I value it highly to take a break from the usual in regular basis, to prevent life from becoming boring. That´s a feature I wish to maintain until and throughout my old days too. Life should never feel boring. If it does, it´s time to conjure up something new and exciting!

SINGLE WEEKEND

  Last weekend I got to enjoy the company of just me, myself, and I. The rest of my family went to visit granny, and I was able to stay home alone! What a luxury for a stay-at-home-mom, who´s never alone, always putting others´ needs before hers.

  Time flew by, and I was more busy than ever, still not finishing everything I was hoping to get done. But most of all I wanted to do things I usually don´t get to, in peace at least.
  I started the days with an extra long session of jumping on my mini-trampoline. I did an hour both mornings, when I usually do half an hour.

Then I enjoyed a tranquil brunch, the whole house all still and silent.

A brunch of delicious fruits with rice cakes and green tea.

   Then It was time to go shopping! Especially bras and jeans, because those are the most horrific ones to try on with kids along! I did find a nice bra, but jeans always fail me. So no jeans this time either. But a whole lot of other things, including beauty care products from Avéne (no financial interest here, I just love their products), makeup, and some fabric for my upcoming projects.

On Sunday, when I´d finished with all the shopping, I wanted to do something cultural. I found this little exhibition of hand-crafted dolls I found interesting.

The dolls were about a foot tall and looked so sympathetic! Here´s their version of Hugo Simberg´s Wounded Angel.

Fish market in the 1800´s.

This couple reminded me much of myself and my daughter. =)

This display is of the independence ball thrown by the president annually.

The best part about the party was the food!

    By now I was getting a little hungry myself, and hit a raw-food cafe. The very first I ever try, and the only one I knew was open on Sundays. What a disappointment! They had nuts and seeds in all of their cakes and desserts and their salads were quite ordinary so I didn´t want them either. What I was left with was smoothies, but it turned out they used hemp powder, chia seeds, and almonds in every one of them too. Well, I chose a cherry-chocolate smoothie without the almonds, but I can´t say much about it without complaining, so I´ll just say I could have done a much better job. That´s pretty much the way I feel about almost everything I´ve ever had eating out, so I don´t do that a lot. Good old traditional pizza is the only thing better in a restaurant than at home. I rarely bother with anything else these days, and pizza is so unhealthy that I do that very rarely over all.

In the evenings I watched movies over a tray of healthy munchies. First I saw "Thanks for Sharing", which I found was okay, and it´s cool that they make movies about sensitive issues, tabus even. But for someone like me, who watches only a handful of movies whole in a year, I would have preferred something more entertaining. So on Saturday evening I watched "Noah". An impressive but rather dark tale. But golly was it a great change to our daily Spongebob Squarepants!

  It is liberating to be alone every now and then. Being able to do what I want, when I want, without taking into consideration anyone else. Sounds selfish, and maybe I am, but darn did it feel good!!!

HAPPY HAPPY NEW YEAR!

  I have thoroughly enjoyed this Yule. Ever since Christmas we have staid home a lot with friends and family, eaten well, played lots outside, and today it is New Year´s eve. That means more friends, goodies, even some sparkling wine, and fireworks!

There is some magic about winter solstice, because (it seems) every year after we´re pass it, the sun slowly starts to reappear again. The days are still very short of course, but the clouds recede from the sky little by little, giving room to the sun.

So bottoms up, it´s time to celebrate the new beginning year! May it bring peace, happiness, and love to us all!

  Happy, happy new year 2015!

THE LONG EXPECTED DAY

  What a great first day of Christmas we had!

It actually begun yesterday by getting a nice spruce out of the forest. It´s a great tradition we have had since childhood, and continue now with our own kids. The natural trees are far from perfect, which only adds to the excitement! This is the one we chose.

Year by year I have cut down on decorations, and enjoy the tree itself more and more.

It snowed all day long.

And we took all the fun out of it!

My son doing a front flip into a pile of soft snow!

We also had time to play games inside together.

Heating up our old traditional log house sauna, which was built after the WW2. Sauna is an essential part of our Christmas tradition. When I was a kid I would go roll in the snow, but no more baby! =)

In the evening we had a Yule feast, and Santa came to bring gifts to us all, and we watched a bit of Hobbit 2 (a good reminder before hitting the movies to see the final part).

  By midnight we were all ready to hit the bunk. What a great day, and the party continues tomorrow!

P.S. The parkour outfit I made for my boy was a hit! He wanted to wear it immediately, and even wanted to sleep in it! That makes me so happy!

PRE-CHRISTMAS PARTY

  My husband and I rarely go out to parties in town. But the other weekend we did manage to do that, just the two of us! We staid in a hotel in midtown Helsinki, and fully enjoyed grown-up time together. We did a tiny bit of shopping, ate and drank well, laid on the beds being lazy and watching tv with no interruptions, had some wine, and finally went in to the bar downstairs to do some jamming. I met a few of my husband´s colleagues, whom I´d never seen before, and it was so cool getting to know them a bit. You know, to get faces to the already familiar names I´d heard so many stories about over the years.

Our hotel room was right next to the presidential suite, so the view could not get any better than that. (Remember this tunic I made last spring?)

It´s just a shame that at this time of year it gets dark at 4pm, so we could not enjoy this full view for very long. But who cares really, we weren´t there for the view initially!  =)

Learning to take selfies, which I´ve always found narcissistic really. But since everybody is doing it nowadays, it´s probably ok...

Here´s my party look for the evening. I wore a pair of black suede pants with the top (which I also wore a year ago to a girls´ night out).

  The rest of the evening was spent in the restaurant, pub, and bar mingling, dancing, and laughing. We staid up until 4.30am! I can´t even remember the last time I staid awake for that long, let alone in a bar! Good times!

  A night out with my husband, staying overnight in a hotel (with him =), and spending a lazy next morning is what I call luxury. When you have small kids, it is easy to just go by their demands, serving them, and forgetting about yourself. It is crucial to a good relationship to get some time alone with your significant other, preferably away from home. Because you´re not just mommies and daddies, you are also "girlfriends" and "boyfriends" who do have that spark there. And that spark needs to be lit up every now and then to strengthen your love and appreciation to each other. At least that´s how it works with us. The roots of a good family lay in the good relationship between mommy and daddy. It should not be valued less important than the kids´ needs. We should all be equal, kids and grown-ups. That´s what I teach to my kids too.

POLE DANCING

  My friends and I had a little get together recently. Our gatherings take place only once a year with this group because we all live in different parts of the country. So when we do meet it´s all about girly fun! This time we tried out pole dancing.

Only one of us had tried pole dancing before, and that was only once, so we were all new to the sport.

We did easy beginner´s moves of course, but still it felt awesome to let my whole weight hang on only one of my arms while swirling down around the pole. You know, doing something completely new with my body, something I´m not familiar with. Cool!

By the end of the class we all got a slight hang of it and were able to rely on our strength and body more. That was awesome, and I felt like a hyped up little kid learning her physical limits!

Some of the positions were really tough to do. Like this one I couldn´t master at all!

  My muscles were sore for days and days after this one hour session. It hit the muscles I never use in my everyday life. Clearly pole dancing would benefit my physique balancing out the usage of muscles. But it also made my skin wear out and bruised my legs. But it was so much fun!!! If given the chance, I´d definitely do it again!