Shopping in America

A few days back I went to a store called TJMaxx. It's similar to Marshall’s, it sells name brands and designer products at discounted, sale or clearance prices. Here are some photos of the cute stuff I found. I didn’t have much time to shop because I had to pick up my sister from work, but I will definitely be going back and taking my time to shop more. I love that everything was so affordable, good quality and there was a style to match every taste. I’ve really missed stores like this since moving to Finland.

I bought this cute black, white and teal photo album to put photos of our America trip in. At $5 it was a great deal!

I found this adorable Cynthia Rowley soap dispenser for $7. I think it will look so nice in our bathroom. I love the modern design and the white and mirror are guaranteed to match with any bathroom.

I was really excited by this last purchase. It’s a Betsey Johnson wallet that originally was for sale for $58.00 that I got only for $16.99! They also had a purse which I’m thinking I may get towards the end of my trip if I have money left.

-Tina

Shopping and new nails in Conneticut

I went shopping with a friend from High School in Downtown Fairfield in a shop called Cargo Bay and this adorable tree was in the corner. It is literally a large tree branch with tissue paper flowers. Each one appeared to be handmade and from farther away they looked like silk flowers. The flowers were attached with hot glue and wire. This is definitely something that I will try doing myself!

I also went to Marshals which is a store that sells brand name and designer clothes, bags, shoes, home décor and other things at discount prices. I bought this pair of Guess wedges which are normally $70 for just $25! On this visit I only went to the shoe section because I was short on time. I’m definitely going back there again! 

I got a Gel Manicure while I was here. On my first day here when I was slightly jet lagged my sister and my best friend from High School took me to a nail salon for a manicure. I work in a restaurant in Finland and my hands and nails have paid a high price. Despite my job I try to always keep my nails looking nice, this means every 2-5 days I paint my nails. I also feel like the polish keeps my nails slightly stronger and helps keep my nails from cracking or breaking. I’ve had this gel manicure for 9 days and not a crack in sight. The photo below was taken today. The polish looks black but its actually an eggplant purple with slight shimmer. I should probably explain what it is. A Gel Manicure uses gel nail polish which is applied to nails and then cured under an ultraviolet light for about 30seconds-3minutes. The perks of the gel manicure is that there is little dry time, after your nails have under the UV light its 100% dry and won’t smudge at all. Its extremely durable, it won’t chip for 2-4 weeks! AMAZING! Also when you take off the polish it won’t damage your real nails like acrylic nails will. It cost me $35 plus a $5 tip so it was slightly more expensive than a normal manicure. 

 Anne and I have been talking about buying an at home kit. The kits are around $60 and I think that it might be a good investment. I have to check that the UV light box is safe to use with a converter (there are differences in Finland and America) but If it is then you may be seeing a review of an at home Gel Manicure kit soon ;) 

Pretty, don't you think?

- Tina

Tina is back in America!

I’m in America! That’s right, I’m back in my hometown in Connecticut. There is something nice about coming back to this to quaint suburban sea side town. It’s strange how much things have changed in the two years that its been since I’ve been back here. I’ve been here for about a week and already managed to do so many things. I’ve spent some time with my best friend from High School, visited some new places and done a little shopping. 

I went to Hartford for a day and did a little sightseeing and also visited the Mark Twain museum. I LOVE Mark Twain quotes and it was interesting to be traipsing through his house. The tour guide also provided us with lots of interesting and quirky facts about Twain’s life and family.  For instance in his private billiard’s room where he entertained guests and wrote some of his most famous works, he would spend hours practicing and playing billiards by himself. Twain was a self proclaimed lazy person so he trained the family’s kittens to sit in the pockets of the pool table and roll the balls back to him with their paws rather than walk around to collect them. Each room of the house had its own theme, unfortunately we weren’t allowed to the take picture inside the house but here it is from the outside. 

On Sunday I had a family day. We took the Port Jeff ferry to Long Island. We took our car and drove to the North Fork of Long Island. The scenery was pretty nice in some parts, there are lots of quaint little beach towns with shops and restaurants. Below are some pictures of the ferry ride and the towns. 

Here is a photo of my lunch. I had a crab cake sanwhich, so delicious and fresh. I wish I had a photo of the restaurant. It was on a dock by the water. You know the seafood must be fresh when you can hear waves crashing and boats driving by while you eat! 

I thought this side table made of branches was pretty neat idea!

 

It's summer in Finland!

It's finally summer here in Finland! I'm visiting my parents in Porvoo. Yesterday I was in Helsinki, I went to see a great Belgian DJ named Netsky. I was perhaps a bit too tired to dance, but the music was alright and I got to hang out with one of my best friends.

Today I was at the beach with my childhood's best friend. It was a really sunny weather so we didn't have to freeze :) The beach is a bit different because you actually have to go there by rowing boat :) My friend was nice enough to do the rowing.

I have to admit, there's just something special about Finland in the summertime. All the green, the beautiful flowers, the sun that doesn't really set... I  came home last night at 3 in the morning and the sun was coming up. It was absolutely beautiful, a pink sky over the fields...( Yes, my parents kind of do live in the countryside, hah, but hey, Finland is mostly forest and lakes) Too bad I didn't have my camera with me.

One of the downsides of Finland in the summertime is the mosquitos. They are everywhere in huge swarms! Even yesterday when I was waiting for the bus I got bitten at least three times. Oh well, I'll just have to deal witht the mosquitos.

Some random summer pictures

Smoked salmon with wasabi-sourcream-dill dressing=heaven

Turku & Naantali trip

Anne & Tina almost matching ;)

I spent 5 days in my hometown Turku and also Naantali. It was lovely to see my friends, but the whole trip's purpose was to find an apartment for me and my boyfriend. And we did! We've both been living with our parents after the exchange period in Toronto. It has felt weird after living so many years by ourselves...  

We actually found the apartment by accident; We were on our way to our 3rd or 4th apartment viewing when we walked by an ad about a perfect apartment. The problem was that no pets would be allowed in the apartment, but we decided to ask about it anyways. And good that we did! Now we have the perfect apartment for us in the centre of Turku :) And the most important thing is that as we both have quite a lot of clothes and shoes there is an actual walk in closet as well as a lot of space for all our stuff. It's funny how much space a "music freak" and an occasional do-it-youself/painter/craftsperson need. Next weekend will be the moving day, and we still have a lot of things to do... I didn't think that returning home would be this hectic!

Here's some pictures that I took during the 5 day trip;

At the riverboat Donna

The best board game ever :)

Afrikan tähti and a really strong Irish Coffee at Bar4

Naantali

Katinhäntä= Cat's tail

Celebrating the fact that we got the apartment

Wanted to try something else than the regular beer. This was good,especially when it was a warm summer night on the patio

A lovely day for travelling

I started my day with this delicious strawberry-mint-ginger-soymilk smoothie and a jog. I'm still feeling a bit jet lagged, it's a weird feeling... I woke up already at 8 o'clock, I guess my body hasn't yet gotten used to Finnish time and the amount of sunlight. It's amazing how bright it is here even during the night! The whole day I've been feeling so energetic. Maybe it's because I know that in a few hours I'll see my Turku  friends, finally :) It's been almost 5 months that I last saw them.

Yesterday I went to a flee-market and here's some stuff I found:

hippie-dress :)

At the moment I'm sitting on the train from Helsinki to Turku. I'm too excited so the time is going by very, VERY slow! It's a lovely weather tonight so I will be going to some nice restaurant and afterwards to the river boats.

Back home with a Jetlag

Today at 2 AM I arrived to Finland. And boy, the travel experience was by far worst I've ever had! First we had to fly from Toronto to Bruxelles. This took about 6,5 hours. This part of the trip was alright as there were many movies to watch during the flight. I'm not a big Twilight fan, but I still ended up watching the latest part! After this flisg came the worst part of the whole trip;We had stay at the Bruxelles airport for 12 hours. Brussels Airlines for some reason stopped flying to Helsinki so we  had to fly to Frankfurt to catch the Helsinki plane. We had originally planned to fly from Bruxelles straight to Helsinki, but our travel agency had to change it. I still can't believe they coulnd't find a better option than a 12 hour wait... All in all the whole trip from Toronto to Helsinki took about 35 hours(without sleep) so now I'm suffering from a pretty bad Jetlag.

I must admit, it's pretty nice to be back home. Toronto was great, but I think 4 months was just the right duration for my exchange experience. It's funny how I really started missing certain clothes,shoes etc. while I was there. I have always loved painting, arts and crafts, but I wasn't able to do anything without my stuff! At the moment I don't have an apartment so I have to stay at my parents' house. The problem is that my parents are renovating their "regular" house, meaning the house I grew up in, so my parents, my 2 cats and I are living in a pretty small apartment at the moment. However, it feels like home because some of the furniture are the same "old" ones.

The greatest part of staying at my parents' is that I don't have to pay rent and the fridge is always full of yummy food :) This will do fine before I find a new place in Turku :) As soon as I move into the apartment, I can start doing clothes and other projects, hooray!

Something I had waiting for me :)

Day 4 in Miami Beach

Yesterday was Cinco de mayo, a Mexican holiday. There was so much people in town and it ended up being quite crazy! First we had dinner and after a few drinks. The "few drinks" ended up being HUGE, 1,2 litres per drink. I took a strawberry daiqiri and the second round was free so beer was my second choice. I couldn't finish either one! When we were waiting for the bus to go to the hotel, things started going wrong; apparently the bus was 1,5hours late, and there were a lot of very aggresive people at the bus stop. It was nice that I got to sit down because my heels were killing me. I didn't know at that point that I was actually sitting next to some older man who had been acting crazy and pointing people with a knife... The cops came to the bus stop and started searching the guy's stuff in order to find a weapon. Thank God he hadn't gone crazy while I was sitting next to him! In the end we took a taxi because people were staring to get angry at each other and because of all the fuss.

Today It was the hottest day today so far, and I actually got a bit of a sunburn. We decided to go shopping in the evening, but in the end I didn't feel like shopping. We just walked a while in town, bought some food and came to the hotel.

People celebrating

Searching for a weapon

Healthy breakfast

Mr. Pink

Ourfit of the day

Trying darker make-up than usually