Unelma kauniista unista

Yksi makuuhuoneen unelmavaruste olisi pylvässänky. Niissä on jotakin kiehtovaa, romanttista ja sadunhohtoista. Niitä vain tuntuu olevan hankala löytää Suomesta. Siksi ihastuinkin ideaan, jonka bongasin Parolan Aseman blogikirjoituksesta.

Ei varmaankaan liian hankala toteuttaa, pitäisi vain kaivaa jonkun romuvarastosta asiaan sopivat putket. Ehkä sitten joskus, kun on makuuhuone, jonne sellainen sänky mahtuu. Niin ja jos mies edes sellaisen koskaan kelpuuttaisi.

Tässä vähän fiilistelykuvia. Kolme eri tyyliä. Ensimmäinen vasemman puoleinen kuva muistuttaa Parolan Aseman blogikirjotuksen tyyliä.

1.Photo by: ooh_food, 2. Photo by MAZZALIARMADI.IT

 Photo by: Ganymedes Costagravas

Unelmatalo myynnissä

Tämä talo Lohjalla hurmasi minut ensisilmäyksellä. Sillä välin, kun säästökuuria kestää ainakin ensi kesään asti, vilkuilen jo valmiiksi Lohjan asuntotarjontaa. Välillä on kiva katsella mitä kaikkea on tarjolla sellaiselle summalle, mille ei ole varaa ottaa lainaa. Kiva on ehkä väärä sana. Olen laihduttaja karkkikaupassa, jossa on vain parhaat namupalat näytillä.

                                                    Kuvat: Studio Lupara

Tässä talossa minut hurmasi erityisesti alakerran hirsirunko, rustiikkinen tyyli ja tunnelma. Eihän se ihan omaan budjettiin mahdu ja vähän liian isokin on. Olisi liikaa siivottavaa. Mutta aina voi unelmoida…

Lisää ihania kuvia Oikotien sivuilla.
Kohteen ilmoittaja: JYA Housing / Suomen JYA Oy

How to Ikea

I have been to Ikea many times. With my daughter. Especially after another mom told me you can drop your child off at the play place for 1 hour. 1 HOUR! For free! It doesn't cost you anything and you can shop in peace for 1 hour. Of course it's just a marketing ploy as it allows bored, stay-at-home moms to buy stuff they really don't need within 1 hour. It takes 1 hour to go through the whole place so moms probably end up chucking really useless things into their shopping cart as they have no time to reconsider. At home you realise you don't want to go back to Ikea with your child so you end up not returning the aforementioned useless things.

Today I went with my daughter and her father, L. L has rarely been to Ikea (too many things and too many people) and when we were walking towards the entrance he was unsure of which shopping cart to take as there were a number of different ones on offer. Tip: you always take the one which fits your child. Inside I was already walking towards the elevator when L asked me, a bit bewildered, where the elevator was. When arriving at the play place I told L to take off our daughter's jacket and shoes while giving him a box to put the things in. I then went to fill out the required questionnaire. Our daughter was already washing her hands (she knows the drill) and had placed her hand on the counter so that the child minder could put a stamp on her hand. I got a stamp with the corresponding number, said bye to our daughter and was ready to do some shopping. I was heading towards the elevator when L asked puzzled "You don't have to stay with her?". Today was a busy day (Saturday) so instead of 1 hour our child was allowed to enjoy the play place for 45 minutes. L was so bewildered by the whole process that when leaving to do some shopping he said he saw our daughter in the ball sea. It was not our daughter. The girl he referred to was wearing completely different clothes and had way more hair.

We came to buy a storage box for our daughter's toys and we managed to find a good (=cheap) one within 5 minutes. So, we made a big mistake by going through the whole place and checking the goods on offer. I was tempted a few times but luckily I only managed to add a measuring jug (99 cents) to the storage box.

We decided we were ready (= 45 minutes had passed) and went to pick up our daughter. Whenever I go there with another mom we end up eating at Ikea as the food is so cheap and the children's' menu only costs 2 Euros and includes ice cream. At the restaurant the queues were long and we decided to just get some hot dogs and ice cream from the stand behind the check out. Big mistake. Isabella was unpleasantly surprised when we told her we wouldn't eat at the restaurant but was quickly consoled when we told her she would get ice cream. Little people can be so easily pleased. She got her ice cream, a hot dog and a cookie I took from a tasting platter. Cookie was good. Hot dog was too. We had the storage box, Isabella had her ice cream and we were ready to go home. Now L knows how to Ikea.

Nice but for people without children.

Miss Mo

Aluksi oli Järvenpää, oli tyttö, joka vannoi jo varhain, että siitä paikasta oli päästävä pois. Hän sinnitteli paikassa vielä lukion jälkeen käymällä matkailualan koulua. Ulkomaille kaipuu kasvoi liian suureksi ja kun koulu tarjosi tilaisuuden lähteä parin kuukauden työharjoittelujaksolle, tyttö tarttui siihen. Ujo tyttö valitsi Espanjan, hän halusi päästä kokeilemaan kielitaitojaan. Hän valitsi paikan, jossa ei ollut muuta vaihtoehtoa. Galicia. Vihreä paratiisi Portugalin yläpuolella. Ei ulkomaalaisia turisteja. Ei brittiläisiä tai ruotsalaisia pubeja rannalla. Mutta rantoja, niitä oli ja ne olivat valkohiekkaisia. Kuten arvata saattaa, kuvaan astui mies ja niin taakse jäi koulu ja Suomi. Pelkkiä hiekkarantoja ei Galicia ollut. Se oli kova henkinen koulu. 

Galiciaa koittelee Atlantti, jota pitkin pääsee suoraa linjaa Irlantiin. Sinne tyttö muutaman kuukauden päästä päätyikin mies vielä mukanaan. Tosin reitti ei ollut suora, kuten kartassa, vaan lentokoneen piti ensin kaartaa Espanjan halki Barcelonaan ja sieltä Dubliniin.

Dublinissa tytöllä vierähti neljä vuotta. Siellä hän tapasi Miss My:n. Tyttö istui tapansa mukaan työpöytänsä ääressä nappikuulokkeet korvilla, kun Miss My tuli puhuttelemaan. Hän sanoi ”moi”. Tyttö katsoi ihmeissään ulkomaalaista tyttöä, joka puhui hänelle suomea. Siitä heidän ystävyytensä alkoi. 

Ne lauantaipäivät olivat parhaita, kun ystävykset heräsivät aikaisin joogaamaan pieneen kylmään mökkiin, jonka jälkeen he palkitsivat itsensä ahtamalla vatsansa täyteen nachoja T.G.I. Friday’sissa. Rituaaliin kuului myös käydä Laura Ashley-myymälässä ihastemassa huonekaluja, hypistelemässä kankaita ja unelmoimassa tulevasta kodista. 

Vuodet vierähtivät ja niin he molemmat päätyivät Suomeen. Niin oli tarkoitettu. Tyttö ehti asua vielä Kalliossa, sitten Töölössä, kunnes tiet veivät Lohjalle. Miksi Lohjalle? Miksi muuten, kuin miehen perässä. Taas. Maailmaa oli juostu jo miehen perässä ja tyttö oli vannonut, ettei enää ikinä. Mutta sellaista elämä on. Voimista suurinta vastaan ei voi taistella. 

Tuntuu, kuin kertoisi jonkun toisen tarinaa. Mutta tuo tyttö olen minä.

Kotini on Lohjalla. Näin on ollut jo reilu vuoden. Nyt ehkä rauhoitun ja pysähdyn. Kahdenkympin kaikokaipuu muuttui vuosien varrella kotimaan kaipuuksi. Täällä on hyvä olla, lähellä perhettä, ystäviä ja kuusimetsiä. Kolmenkympin raja lähestyy ja unelmat ovat nyt erilaisia kuin vuosia sitten. Ehkä ensi kesänä meillä on täällä oma yhteinen talo. Omakotitalo ja omenapuu.

Nyt asumme vielä rivitalokaksiossa eikä se ole omani. Lipaston laatikossa pölyttyy kirjanen, johon olen vuosien varrella keräillyt ideoita, kuvia ja kankaita tulevaa omaa asuntoa varten. Liian pieni kirjahylly pursuaa sisustuskirjoista, joita on levittäytynyt lattialle asti. Vuosien varrella kerätty astiasarja ja Laura Ashley lasit piilottelevat kaappien perällä.

Haluaisin jo muuttaa, mutta ensin on säästettävää. Tylsää. Jos en aikoinani olisi laittanut monen tonnin käsirahaa keskeneräiseen taloon Espanjassa, ehkä minulla nyt olisi jo rahat. Toisaalta luultavammin ne rahat olisi vuosien varrella tuhlattu. Tai ehkä en edes olisi tässä. Joskus tarvitaan jotain isoa tapahtuvan, jotta tajuaa, että on aivan väärässä paikassa, väärässä tilanteessa ja vieläpä väärän henkilön kanssa. Nyt tuntuu siltä, että olen paikkani löytänyt.

Vielä minä niitä rahoja odottelen. Mutta Espanja on monimutkainen maa ja koska en ehkä koskaan saa niitä takaisin, on jälleen säästettävä. Jos pystyin siihen vuosia sitten Irlannissa, pystyn siihen nyt.

Olisi ehkä pitänyt jättää ostamatta herkut ja nämä ihanat kynttilät… mutta nyt on viikonloppu ja mitä olisi elämä ilman ajoittaista herkuttelua. Bongasin nämä kynttilät shoppailureissulla, pakkohan ne oli ostaa. Ja tähän kiteytyy myös blogimme ajatus: the sweet things in life. 

                    
Aamu alkoi joululta tuoksuvalla teellä ja Glorian Kodilla.Tästä se bloggailu lähtee!

Tervetuloa mukaan nauttimaan!

Miss My

Hello, this is My. My being a 34-year-old mother living in Helsinki. How I ended up in Helsinki is a long story. I guess it would make sense to start from the beginning.

I'm Chinese but I was born in Vietnam. If you know anything about the history of Vietnam you know about the war which ended in 1975. Vietnam was recovering from the war but burdened by communism. When I was a baby my parents decided they wanted a better future for their children so like many others they tried to flee Vietnam. Their first attempt was unsuccessful and as a punishment my mum and dad spent some time in jail. My older brother, sister and I were in jail with my mum. So, that means I was a jailbird before age 1. Their second attempt to flee Vietnam was successful. We were some of many Vietnamese boat refugees. We ended up in a UN refugee camp. My mum told me that while in the camp I almost died of diarrhoea. It's not the best way to die, is it? But as you might have guessed, I made it.

We then ended up in a refugee camp in the Netherlands. My younger sister was born there. After a while we were provided housing in a very small village in the northern part of the Netherlands. The part where they speak Frisian. Like my life wasn't complicated enough I had to learn Frisian and Dutch while my parents were speaking a Chinese dialect at home. My parents decided we didn't speak enough languages so my siblings and I had Cantonese lessons on Sundays.

Slowly but surely we got settled. Back then refugees weren't the outcasts they are now so we got a lot of help and support from the locals. My dad got a job and I went to school, learned Frisian and Dutch and made friends. Life was very good back then. I have many happy memories from that time. Such as my father coming home from work by bike. We could always hear it when he came home because his bike's breaks sounded like a big fart.

There were also unhappy memories. I remember my father being sick a lot back then. The doctor visited our house a lot. I guess the doctor became a family friend as I remember a play date with his daughter. I think the culprit of my father's poor health was his welding job at a shipyard. So, when my parents had the chance to purchase a Chinese restaurant they took it. The Chinese restaurant was in a slightly bigger village so the change in scenery wasn't that big for me. I was 9 at the time and assumed that my life would be pretty much the same as before. It wasn't. My parents spent a lot of time working at the restaurant and that was quite hard on my younger sister and I. At that time I started craving a normal family life like my Dutch friends had. Normal being: a house, a father who works, a mother at home with the kids and possibly a dog. I really wanted a dog. It all resulted in an identity crisis.

Fast forward to September 2001. The time I started law school. I was very proud of getting into law school. However, I knew my law study was doomed when we got an internet connection. Someone introduced me to a chat program and that was it. I was very excited to have the chance to talk to people from different countries from the comfort of my desk chair. Imagine! I found out I liked talking to Finnish people more than my law study. So, after struggling in law school for 3 years I decided to put my study on hold (I don't think it will ever be 'off hold') to work as an au-pair for a year. My destination? Finland.

In Finland I met a guy (why does that always happen?) and we started dating. After my au-pair stint I had difficulties finding a job in Finland so the guy and I ended up in Ireland. As you do. In Ireland I worked at a company where at some point I befriended a Finnish girl. She was the only Finnish person working at that company (with at the time hundreds of employees) so naturally we instantly bonded and I had her at "moi". We spent many a lunch hour making jokes (and fun of others) in Finnish.

After three and a half years in Ireland my guy and I moved to Finland. We now live in Helsinki with our 4-year-old daughter. For a long time I was struggling with my identity and didn't feel like I belonged anywhere. Now, for the first time in my life I feel like I'm at home. The main reason why I feel at home in Finland is because my sense of humour is very Finnish. Some Finns have even told me I am more Finnish than they are.

I have many interests and like to write about whatever pops up in my head. I could write about food, fashion, celebrities, interior, books, art, restaurants, Ryan Gosling, parenting and what life as a foreigner in Finland is like. You name it, I'll write it. Your input and comments are very much appreciated. Also very much appreciated is the friendship of my blog-buddy, a.k.a. my blog-partner-in-crime: Miss Mo. Together we have shared many a sweet moment and together we will write about the sweet things in life. I hope reading our stories will make you feel like you are sharing our friendship and make you feel, in today's individual society, a little less alone. I also hope that reading our stories will make you remember the sweet things in YOUR life!