Summertime Madness 2014

Greetings blog world!

Being sick is so boring.

I've been home now for three days because I have flu and fever and it's doing my head in. I'm not the best person to be home on a sick leave as I get so bored and I KNOW it's important to give  your body the rest it needs .. but starting to feel anxious and I just want to go back to normal. As I'm still avoiding my school assignments I decided to update this little thing here online.


SUMMER how about that? 

Last time I was wrote here it was about memories and I was on my way of making more of them. Usually after my travels I have immediately arrived here to post about it. Unfortunately I have been low on energy so I won't do a full recap but I'm just going to post top 10 moments from this 2014 Summer. 

All around Summer was really good, I worked till midsummer and said goodbyes to my job as I resigned and decided to return my old company (long boring story there). I'm still a manager so that hasn't changed but I'm also a student. 

Art Fair at work in process.

Summer was nice and warm here in Northern hemisphere and only about a week ago Autumn arrived. I mean it literally arrived in one day as it was warm on Sunday but chilly and rainy on Monday. That's how the Land of Four Seasons work, one day you might be half naked on your balcony enjoying a class of wine and next day you are desperately looking for your scarfs and mittens.

But let's look back what was my summer like. I wish I had some dramatic music like MTV or VH1 when they do these countdowns.

TOP 10 moments 

1. Montepulciano

 I have been to many places and seen many beautiful mornings. For example waking up from Savannah and feeling the morning mist in the heart of Africa was a mind blowing experience but so was waking up from the heart of Tuscany as well.

Our last stop before heading towards Rome was few nights in Tuscany and was everything one can dream of. We stayed in a lovely agriturismo where we had our own house and it was upon a hill looking down on Tuscany. There were the olive trees, peach trees and beautiful vineyard, we had a small puppy running wild in our yard and neighbors cat came to greet us when ever she felt like it.

Salla who has had an awful year started got a bit emotional as she said that this was one of her dreams coming true - and it really was for me too. We cooked pasta, were barefoot outside and enjoyed wine and watched the sunset. 

2. School



I got accepted to school in the end of June and getting that big envelope felt overwhelmingly good. I was not sure at all how well I did in the application process as I was 20 points down because I didn't have enough work experience. But I felt good and I felt that was ready for this step and I think it showed in the interview. I got in and next week I go back to university for a second degree in humanities.

3. Vaasa

I only spend few days in Vaasa this summer - way too few but that's all I got. My sister, her children, my brother and me went to my dads to grill and it was so much fun. I don't see my family that often and it was so nice to spend some time with them and I got to tell my dad that I really love him which is something I don't say to him as often as I should.

I got a ride to Vaasa from Katri and her boyfriend so I also had a chance to show them around my hometown and that was great too. Not too many of my Helsinki friends have visited my home so it was fun to show around the beautiful city by the sea.

4. Annecy

Me and Salla made our way to Annecy after Dijon and we weren't really sure what to expect. Annecy called as "little Venice" and I second that. It was maybe even better than Venice as it was really clean and it wasn't crowded by tourists and I can honestly say that I loved everything about Annecy. It was surrounded with water and small bridges like Venice and when you walked to the pier you could see swans and clear blue water of the Lac d'Annecy.  Me and Salla took a boat trip and it only lasted for an hour and I got sunburned but as I stood there and looked down on the clear water and surrounding mountains I let go all of my anger and stress I had been carrying with me through out the year. I felt 10kg lighter when we came back from the cruize.

5. Stockholm




Past three years I've been visiting Stockholm once in the Summer to spend time with my aunt and uncle. I go there for the company, to practice my Swedish, to enjoy the beautiful city and just to relax. I was there for five days and Salla came as well for a weekend. Practicing my Swedish, spending time with my family and reading good romantic story was the best way to end my summer holiday with. Living in Stockholm would be great and hopefully at some point of my life I dare to do the jump across the pond.

6. Road to Venice

Me and Salla went to pick up Katri from Milan airport and it was so nice to see Katri after two weeks being just Salla and me. We had rented a car and started towards Venice first driving to Verona. The car windows were wide open, music playing loud on the stereo and we were singing our hearts out while driving through Italy. Having your best friends, once in a lifetime experience and feeling good overall is something to tell your grand kids about.

7. CHEEK concert

I guess Cheek's concert isn't part of the summer persé BUT in my opinion August is still one of the Summer months and it wasn't too cold outside so I will count Cheeks concert into summer memories. Hanna my longtime friend and companion asked me if I'd like to go Cheeks concert with her and YES I DID! For those who don't know who Cheek is let me tell you.

Cheek is a Finnish rap artist, every girls dream man and all men hate him but secretly want to be him. He is very successful, good looking and is well known bad boy with deadly charisma. An year ago Cheek decided to have a concert at the Olympic stadium which is something that hasn't been done before by a Finnish solo artist. No one thought he'd pull it of which he did, twice. He sold out two stadium concerts which is unheard of in Finland. Why? Finns are not one attending mass events or most definitely we don't sing and dance in a concert: we sit our hands crossed and we give out no feeling. But this concert was something else, the concert was well planned and well executed. Songs, sounds, videos .. everything was perfect, including 40 000 Finns having a sing-a-long for two hours was great.

8. August party

I haven't been out and about that much since May. I felt that there has been so much drinking, too many parties that I needed a break from all that. But few weekends ago me, Katri and Salla decided to have an old school wine and dine night which ended up with us drinking shots of Sambuca and dancing on tables at Kalle. Lasse joined us in a bar and around 3.30am he and Katri had strange dance battle in the dance floor and Salla joined them. Then this fearsome threesome decided it would be a great idea to sing Bon Jovi's ALWAYS as loud as possible when last call came and lights were turned on. Oh, my friends and family - best company ever.

9. Quality time with Iiro

I don't see Iiro as often as I would like, I barely see him at all but we did sit down for a long chat the after I got home from Europe. We just talked, walked and wondered around Helsinki. After hours of talking we had lunch and then talked some more. Having a good guy friend is awesome, Iiro is by far one of my favorite people and I'm always happy too see him even if it's only once in a blue moon.

10. Trip to Tampere



Me, Katri and Lasse made a weekend trip to Tampere in the end of July and it was a lot of fun. We stayed at a hotel, ate well and did something I enjoy massively - played board games! On Saturday me and Katri went to meet up our friend couple Tiia and Mike. After many hours at their home they came to the hotel as well we had some wine, chips and played games while chatting. It was so lovely to meet my favorite people and spend some quality time together. Also I met Tuukka Rask (worlds best goalie) and that was kinda of a big deal. 

******



Anyway and overall I've been having good time. During my Vaasa visit I got to meet my older brother and his family, I got to spend time with Sarita and my old classmates. I've been traveling through Europe, drove around Italy and was caught by a big storm in Stockholm.

Next Summer will be all different as we are not making our way to Europe as I was invited to California to attend my old roommates wedding. Lauren is getting married in Laguna Beach in June so I'm attending her wedding together with Hanna - also Laurens old roommate. What about Salla? Well when Salla heard that I was going to go to California she said that no way in Hell am I traveling to her dream destination without her, so she'll come to the wedding with me :)

















But that's about it. School, friends, wine and work is what my life is about at the moment. I'm happy, enjoying my work and very excited to start school again next week.

Have a good week everyone and stay healthy.

xx

Jenni.