[one fine land]

Yesterday I was thinking about how wonderful it is to have the Internet. I'm so grateful that I can keep in touch with my family so easily. I can chat with them online, hear their news instantly and don't have to wait for snail mail. It is also wonderful to stay in touch with Finland by reading Finnish news, watching Finnish TV and even just enjoying photos of Finland. I follow ourfinland (the first five photos in this blog post are from ourfinland) and livelovehelsinki (the last two photos), for instance, on Instagram. It's amazing how just seeing some photos of Finland can ease that homesickness sometimes. Mind you, if I lived in Finland again, I would miss Canada just as much. Joy of dual home countries.

ps. Almost forgot about Finnish music! So many good ones but recently I discovered Selja Sini. Lovely music!

[not quite dead yet]

My poor blog! I should probably quit blogging all together as this blog doesn't make any sense anymore and my motivation to keep it is non existent. But, for some reason here I am again sharing a bit of this & that.

These dinosaur cupcake toppers were fun to make. Printed some dinosaur photos, added little party hats, glued it on scrapbook paper, inserted toothpicks.

My poor attempt at nature art while our daughter was playing with friends after school. 

My favorite season! Love the colors out there. I so wish fall would last longer! Yesterday was +23C and sunny! Love how little it rains here in Alberta in the fall (most rain comes with summer thunderstorms). I'm sure we'll get snow soon so gotta enjoy these gorgeous fall days.

Haven't cross-stitched for ages so this little project was fun to make. You can find the link to this printable in my Christmas Pinterest file.

Diddo for this one. The pattern is in my Halloween Pinterest file. 

I think Pinterest is one of the reasons why I don't blog anymore. You can find everything there so why blog?

[snippets]

It hardly ever rains here (except in the summer we do get some mighty rain and thunder storms) so when it does - I really love it and can appreciate it. Air is so fresh and often I love the gray mood it creates. Especially when something melancholy is on my mind and I'm listening to Sade's King of Sorrow song. Little bit of melancholy at times is healthy for you. :)

I have been patiently waiting for a full blown spring. I'm pretending spring is well under way and started making smoothies again. :)

Spring dust and mold is not the best for my seasonal allergy lungs. I read somewhere that pineapple can help loosen mucus from lungs so I used pineapples and blueberries for this smoothie. Plus a bit of orange juice. I love it that you can throw whatever fruit or berries you have into the blender and it always ends up tasting good. Fail proof "cooking". :) So healthy too!

Love them trees!

Hope I can keep these alive! My thumb isn't even a bit green.

My raspberry flavored Xylitol pastilles tin comes with a cute quote. Something about eating stuff from a cute tin instead of from a regular packaging, makes the enjoyment so much better. :)

A quick visit to the pond to check out the very many geese and ducks. The sea gulls were fighting and when I closed my eyes, for a second I could pretend I was by the ocean listening to sea gulls.

Always enjoyable to check out the kids' art at our daughter's school.

Still going strong pinning stuff on Pinterest. Blythe dolls are not creepy but super cute. Said the way past 40 year old me. :)

Too early to buy plants for the garden (for us anyways) but I enjoyed browsing at the greenhouse. So many gorgeous plants! How do you choose? I just want them all. Please and thank you. :)

[some prettyness]

[birthday decorations]

Sienna's birthday is coming up soon and I've had so much fun making decorations. This year's theme is kittens, art (the girls will be doing art) and the color lavender.

The first picture is the invitation.

The kitten theme evolved after I saw the kitten with the birthday cake picture and thought it would make a cute birthday invitation.

The vintage kitten art is by Harry Whittier Frees. I fell in love with his delightful photos of animals doing this and that.

Cake and cupcake toppers. Rose garland.

I think three garlands and ton of lavender balloons will do it. I'd love to make more but enough is enough. :)

ps. I'm adding a poll (see the column on the right ----->) to see if anyone is actually interested in the vacation pictures I've been posting. If no one is, then I won't post any more. I know it would be more interesting with personal pictures as well. I just struggle about how much of Sienna or us I want to share with who knows who.

[instant delight!]

I'm sure all the rest of you have used Instagram for a long time already. I have an android phone so I thought I couldn't use Instagram. But lo and behold - I can! Yey!

I'm in love with these super cute tiny squares.  And I love it that I can see my sister's photos instantly too.

I'm working hard to get 252 photos done so that I can purchase PRINTSTAGRAM STICKERS. :)

How on earth did we ever survive in the olden days when we had to take the film to get developed, go pick up the photos, put them in an envelope and send them to someone? Instant is all I can handle nowadays! :)