{tämän viikon kuvasaldoa}

love, love, love these napkins i bought from ikea.

dots = of course i love them. :)

oh and maybe i should say that more than just these two came in the package. :)

move over egypt! we have pyramids too. four of them.

but instead of wrinkled, old mummies, ours have beautiful gardens in them.

the pyramids are close to downtown and close to an older neighborhood with huge trees and victorian style houses.

of course i had to take tree pictures. you can roll your eyes all you want. they will keep coming as long as i live. :)

what are you looking at?
:)

yep, we like to visit pet stores too.
this fish was my favorite of all the cute little fishies. duh: dots! :) gotta love that bottom lip too.

enjoying having my dear husband home this week. wish he'd have time off from school more often. Y

{ah!}

Y Y Y Y Y
Y ihana leffa! Y

Y everyone Y

Y should see Y

Y this movie. Y
Y Y Y Y Y

{happy love day!}

?

www.designaglowblog.com
?

www.freedigitalphotos.net

www.telus.net

(our phone company always uses cute animals in their ads)

?

www.jennski.com

www.pc-skinz.com

flickr.com/saskya

flickr.com/sister72

flickr.com/vanessapike-russell
(? = found on a website/blog in which they didn't mention where the image is from)

Y

happy LOVE day everyone!
make sure you spread lots of LOVE around.
Y

love you all!

Y

{so let's start giving - not just once but as a habit}

turn off the music at the bottom to be able to listen to this.

just a reminder that haiti still needs our help as well as many other people in the world. make it a habit to donate even a little bit every month through your chosen humanitarian aid agency. if we all donate even a small amount each month, it'll make a BIG difference.

check with the agency how much of your money actually goes to aid. many organizations use a percentage of the money for administrational costs.

if you want to donate so that 100% of your money goes to people in need, you can do so through my church's philantropies website. our church is often one of the first to help when there's been a disaster.

here's the link:

lds philantropies - humanitarian aid

{if i were a..., i'd be...}

found this fun thing and thought i'd do it.

if i were a ______________, i'd be ______________.

song – bella’s lullaby/edward cullen
type of gum – mint, the taste would last forever, not just for 30 seconds :)
gem – black onyxdrink – hot chocolate with whipping cream
tree – a maple tree in the fall
type of shoe – leather flip-flop
fairy-tale character – princess buttercup

season of the year – fall
book – twilight (duh! :))
candy – salmiakki (salty licorice)
vacation destination – cannon beach, oregon
era in history – the future instead :)
dessert – death by chocolate
flavor – cinnamon
movie – ladyhawke
fruit – banana
color – silver
day of the week – sunday
musical instrument – a guitar
flower – white peony
feel free to copy this. would be fun to hear everyone else's answers.

made some more of these.

näitä piti tehdä lisää taas.

made these for sienna's playschool friends. first and last time i'm putting such effort into it. kids don't care if it's handmade. they just want treats. :) i thought these are cute though.

tein näitä siennan esikoulu ystäville. ensimmäinen ja viimeinen kerta kun ryhdyn moiseen. lapsia ei kiinnosta miten kivasti tehdyt. haluavat vaan namuja. :)

attempted to paint sienna's face into a butterfly but she got too impatient. looks unfinished. i think i'm going to put the facepainting hobby on hold for awhile. sienna's still too young to sit still while i'm learning to paint faster.

today's highlight: making carrot cake with sienna.

today's sucky part: cough, cough.

yritin maalata siennan kasvot mutta tyttö oli vähän kärsimätön ja perhonen jäi tekemättä loppuun asti. taidan pitää pitkän paussin nyt ennenkuin maalaan taas. sienna on liian nuori että jaksaa olla liikkumatta kun äiti opettelee maalaamaan nopeammin tai yleensäkin maalaamaan kasvoja. palataan tähän harrastukseen sitten kun sienna on vähän vanhempi.

tämän päivän kohokohta: tehtiin siennan kanssa porkkanakakkua.

tämän päivän plääh: köh, köh sekä siennalla nuhaa.

{talviset södet kuvat}

www.irmastudio.ge

mun piti pitää blogilakkoa mutta enpä taida jaksaakaan. vaikka monesti tuntuukin itsepuhelulta tämä meno niin oh well. :) ja on mulla muutama vakkarilukija sentään.

jotenkin niin ihanat kuvat että! mikskä noita kädenlämmittäjiä kutsuttiinkaan? opin tekemään tuollaiset kalanruotoletit mutten kyllä muista enää miten se menikään. pitääpä etsiä netistä ohje ja kokeilla siennalle.
jännityksellä odotan että miten siennan esikoulukuvat onnistuvat. eilen otettiin. en tiedä milloin ne saan.

uusi kysely! ----->
i was supposed to be on blogging strike but decided otherwise. i like blogging too much, i guess. :) so even though it feels like a monologue on most days, oh well! :) gotta stop feeling jealous of other bloggers' comments. :)

i love these pictures. i can't remember what those handwarmers are called but aren't they cute?

i once learned how to make those fishbone braids but do you think i'd remember now how to make them? no. need to find the instructions form the internet and try it on sienna.

i can't wait to see sienna's playschool pictures! hope we don't have to wait too long.

a new poll! ------>

later...

fishbone braid instructions

{10 x happy}

charlotta from www.spaceforinspiration.blogspot.com was so kind and gave me a lovely reward and asked me to list 10 things that make me happy.

1. reverse psychology

getting sienna dressed and washed up has gotten so much easier lately.

said in a fun voice, while smiling: "sienna, you are NOT allowed to get dressed... oh no! don't put that shirt on... atleast don't put your socks on... no, no, no! you shouldn't brush your teeth..."
next thing you know, sienna is dressed and washed up.

love it! :)

2. smiley faces
in any shape, size or form. love them!




(cocoaloco)

i want, i need, i gotta have this smiley face pancake pan from jcpenney.
3. circles
i love circles!!! i do. they make me so, so happy.

(aida dirse from rare device)

environmental art by andy goldsworthy

ps. i love his art!!!!

a bamboo mirror from www.puji.com

(cattycomehome/flickr.com)

crop circles

fokus design/fabric

www.marimekko.fi

fokus mugs

metal decoration (www.homecontrast.co.uk)

art by jenn ski
www.jennski.com

jules_lewis/flickr.com

kivet design/fabric

www.marimekko.fi

kristinamarie/etsy.com

www.marthastewart.com

rph10uk/flickr.com

4. snowflakes!

real ones, paper ones, jewellery ones, rubber stamped ones...

5. twilight
anything and everything to do with twilight. like this valentine's day card & stickers i'm giving to someone.

6. learning

"a mind is like an umbrella. it's useless if it's not open."
i'm always trying to learn something new. like how to make meatloaf muffins:
Recipe and introduction from The Deen Bros. Take it Easy; Ballantine Books 2009.
Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

1 cup plain unseasoned bread crumbs

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

3 tablespoons milk

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons ketchup

3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease the cups of a 12-cup muffin pan.
In a large bowl, combine the beef, bread crumbs, eggs, milk, garlic, onion, salt, thyme, and pepper. Divide the meat mixture among the 12 muffin cups, pressing the meat firmly into the pan.
Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the meat is almost cooked through—the "loaves" will be firm when pressed lightly in the center, but not set.
While the meat loaves are baking, whisk together the ketchup, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce. After baking for 20 to 25 minutes, remove the pan from the oven. Brush the tops of the loaves with the glaze, using it all up, and return the pan to the oven. Bake for 10 minutes more, or until the glaze has thickened and the meat is completely cooked through, 30 to 35 minutes total. Run an offset spatula or butter knife around the edges of the muffin cups and pop out the meat loaves. Serve hot.
(i found this via www.socialcouture-tabletalk.com)

metric conversions on the right side of my blog!

suomalaiset mittaversiot on tuossa blogini oikealla puolella sivulla.

7. marimekko's unikko pattern

designed by Maija & Kristina Isola in 1964.

"Unikko syntyi vuonna 1964 sen jälkeen kun Armi Ratia oli julkisuudessa sanonut, että Marimekossa ei suunnitella kukkakankaita. Maija Isola ei hyväksynyt sääntöjä eikä rajoituksia, vaan suunnitteli vastalauseeksi kokonaisen sarjan uhkeita kukkakuoseja. Nyt Unikko on luultavasti suositumpi kuin koskaan, ja saatavana on lukematon määrä erilaisia Unikko-kuvioisia tuotteita. Myös värivalikoima hyvin laaja."
www.marimekko.fi
my all-time favorite!
the more unikko, the better!
i love it when i see unikko products in foreign magazines.
with love from finland.

i want, i need, i gotta have! :)

unikko wallpaper!!
i want, i need, i gotta have!

8. trees!
you all know it. i loooooove trees.
someone made this tree art by planting multiple trees and making them grow like this. neat-o!

yep, i love them so much that i have to go get the camera and snap pictures of them. even late at night.

9. sienna's art
any children's art to be honest. children know how to do it.
this one is us (sienna, daddy, robin and me) peeking through the window. priceless!

10. valentine's day
love is in the air and i love it!

if love doesn't make you happy, then what does?!

so many other things that make me happy. "just" this today. :)
if a picture is worth 1000 words then i just wrote 61,000 words!
don't you all think that i should get atleast 61 comments for this posting? :)

(all images via google image search unless otherwise mentioned)