i'm doing it again...

I'm hopeless!! I'm on a wonderful vacation in Switzerland (telling you all about it once I'm back in Finland & bored next week) and what am I doing 1 o'clock in the morning? Making new travel plans of course! It's this time of the year again.... Aaaargh, I have a new lovely apartment waiting for me in Finland, but the road is calling me loud and clear.  I think I'm going to book some flights pretty soon... again. I just hate and love my wanderlust, you know that, right?

Yeah... I'm just a meanie, just came over to teeeeeaaaaseeee you! ;-)

I already know 2013 is going to be phenomenal... So, in 2011 it was Brazil, in 2012 it was the US, and in 2013 I'm pretty sure it will be....

Yeah... I just can't help myself.

xxo

I'm all messed up and I'm ready to GO!!

Woah... I can't believe I've survived the past 7 days, honestly. Or... make it the past month. I'm like a superwoman! Here's the thing:

First I spent hectic two weeks packing all my stuff in Joensuu - and learnt it's surprisingly lot of work after living in one place for 6 years (you wouldn't believe all the junk I found in my storage unit!). Add all the office stuff, my car breaking down, all the necessary appointments and finding a suitable moving company, and you'll get the picture. Just in time I got everything done, and last Sunday I drove my (now fixed) car into my new apartment in Bonehill, South Karelia.

I don't mean to whine, but seriously - while I was driving, I was thinking would it be so terrible if something in my moving would have worked out smoothly - first the car broke down, and once I got it fixed, the weather on Sunday was HORRIBLE. Seriously. I can honestly say that I'm a decent driver, and usually I love driving, especially alone. But last Sunday was the worst roadtrip ever, the weather was absolutely horrible - so fucking windy and snowing... Yeah: usually I love driving, but last Sunday I was simply happy to get in South Karelia in one piece!

Okay... I left Joensuu behind and arrived in Bonehill on Sunday. On Monday I spent all day driving my stuff from my parents' place into my new apartment, and in the evening the moving company brought the rest of my stuff from Joensuu. When I went to sleep around midnight on Monday, I had all my stuff inside my new home - one goal achieved.

The whole Tuesday I spend UNpacking my stuff, organizing everything into closets and so on. Today I drove to Lappeenranta to meet a dear friend, and started packing for my Xmas vacation once I got home. Holy crap it feels like for the last month my life has been just packing and unpacking, I'M SICK OF IT!! I also paid a way too many bills, made a few phonecalls and stressed about what I might have forgotten...

Well, I'm not sure if all this sounds like much when you read it, but let me tell you - I'm on the edge of a nervous breakdown by now! I think I didn't realize how much work this moving thing actually is. Especially because I have done it ALL by myself - all the way from finding an apartment to getting my stuff here. It hasn't been easy, and more than once I've felt like it would have been so much easier just to give up. Buuuut I didn't, I made it through, and I'm pretty damn proud of myself<3

Tomorrow morning I'm off for Helsinki, where I'll spend a few days; meeting some friends etc. On Saturday I'll fly to Switzerland -- CAN'T WAIT! In case you missed it, I'm going to spend Xmas and New Year with my US roadtrip friend Caroline. It will be aaaaawesome. Leave all this stress behind and simply enjoy my life a bit. I know I've more than deserved it. It feels like I've been constantly running out of time the whole month, but tomorrow it will be over. Thank God! No more stress, no more schedules, no more sleepless nights... it will be heavenly.

And then... then it will be 2013. If last year I felt like I didn't want to let the old year go, this year it's the opposite - I can't wait to get rid of 2012. I'll write the official New Year blog later, but I'm already ready to say this year SUCKED and I can't wait to leave it all behind. On the other hand, I have high hopes for 2013, it will all be so NEW: new year, new apartment, new direction for my life... maybe even a little bit whole new me, who knows.

Anyway, I just wanted to write something down about this horrible December, just to remind myself I MADE IT THROUGH. Now it's time to sit back, relax & enjoy my Xmas vacation. I'm sure it will be wonderful. I'm so happy to leave Finland for a while, especially since it's absolutely fucking freezing in here right now! Around -22*C at the moment, forecast says around -30*C by Christmas eve...

God bless (and a few Google photos of Switzerland just to get myself into the mood)

itsepäisyyspäivä

Happy Indepence Day, good ol' Finland! The title is one of my favorite Finnish word puns: itseNäisyyspäivä means indepence day, itsePäisyyspäivä means stubborness day - and let's face it, Finns can be pretty stubborn ;-)

I just want to take this chance to tell you that I really like this country, and at times I might be thought as patriotic, even. I've seen quite many countries, and it feels the more I travel, the more I learn to appreciate Finland. I have my chronic wanderlust, I always want to see new places and experience new adventures, but I also enjoy coming back to Finland, each and every time. After all, Finland is where I come from, where my roots are. Sure, Finland has its faults, no doubt about it, but there's still plenty of nice things here, too - and that's something I've learnt to appreciate after travelling as much as I have. In a nutshell, Finland is not any better or worse than any other country, but it's mine. It's a place I will always return, eventually. It's a place... it's a place I call home. Like Rodney Atkins puts it while thinking about his own country:

...These are my people
This is where I come from
We're givin' this life everything we've got and then some
It ain't always pretty
But it's real
That's the way we were made
Wouldn't have it any other way
We fall down and we get up
We walk proud and we talk tough
We got heart and we got nerve
Even if we are a bit disturbed...

Yeah... today is the day for all us Finns to feel proud of our isolated little country. Light up those two candles to your windowsill and listen to some Jean Sibelius, right? (hey, here's a comic relief for this quite deep blog entry: I haven't really listened to Finlandia hymn that many times; now I did, and came to conclusion it's actually pretty scary! xD Just try it... LOL, and the beginning reminds me of Star Wars theme)

Yours Truly

just an announcement..

Just to let you know, I've finally put together that craft blog I've been talking about for the last 3 months. So, if you're interested in stuff like 2nd hand shopping, knitting, crocheting, recycling, home decor, and other random crafts I've done, you may want to check out HOME IS WHERE YOU'RE HAPPY. So far there's only one post, but I've got a feeling I'll be updating it pretty frequently, given this huge crocheting/knitting addiction of mine etc.

I will keep Closed Cases & New Leads as my "official" day-to-day life blog, and Where You're Happy is intended to be more like a virtual photo album - I'll be trying to let the pictures tell the story instead of endlessly explaining myself like I do here. It will also be a place where I allow myself to collect inspirational pictures I find flying around in the Net, and... ohh well, I think it will simply become my virtual Home Sweet Home scrapbook. We'll see.

That's all, now I'm off to enjoy the last week of freedom before going to back to work. Take care & remember to enjoy these beautiful autumn days<3

yours truly-

photo: Google

summer's almost gone

Summer's almost gone
Summer's almost gone
Almost gone
Yeah, it's almost gone
Where will we be
When the summer's gone? 

- The Doors

 Yes, summer is indeed almost gone. Four months of work at the cemetery ended last Friday, this is the first Monday in four months I didn't get up 6:04 AM. It feels weird. I mean... I think it's always like that, for me at least: you look forward to lazy days when you can do whatever you want (or do nothing) but when the time finally arrives, you feel kind of lost.

Well, as often happens to me, I wasn't much online this summer (except for updating GetGlue, which is currently my biggest Internet addiction). I'm sorry for not reading your blogs, following your Twitters and all that - I simply don't have energy for those lovely little things during the summer. I don't mind, actually. I spend so much time online during the dark and cold winter days anyway. So, since it's my summer holiday now (which is pretty awesome - it's September, and right now it's raining cats and dogs outside), it's time for me to catch up with my Internet life - I've missed all my favorite bloggers, writing nonsense updates to Twitter etc. However, I'll start by offering you a summary of my summer.
Here goes (yes, I still love writing lists)...

Summer 2012

Books I read...

• Amy Tan: The Joy Luck Club (1989)
• Ray Bradbury: Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962)
• Jack London: The Road (1907)
• Torey Hayden: The Sunflower Forest (1984)
• Joyce Carol Oates: Rape - A Love Story (2003)
• Kurt Vonnegut: Deadeye Dick (1982)
• Jared Cade: Agatha Christie and the Eleven Missing Days (1999)
• Åsa Moberg: Florence Nightingale - biography (2012)
• Oliver Sacks: The Mind's Eye (2010)
• Barbara Demick: Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea (2009)
• Helen Keller: The Story of my Life (1903)
• Shlomo Venezia: Inside the Gas Chambers - Eight Months in the Sonderkommando of Auschwitz (2007)
• Stephen King: Duma Key (2008)
• Stephen King: Lisey's Story (2006) 
• + currently reading Sophie's Choice by William Styron & Room by Emma Donoghue

TV Shows I was addicted to...

• House, M.D.
• Bones
• The Amazing Race
• Hex
• New Girl
• Little Mosque on the Prairie
• Trauma
• Whose Line Is It Anyway? (USA)
• Bedlam
• Eureka
• 18 to Life
• Whitechapel
• Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps
• Rizzoli & Isles
• The Twilight Zone
• Murder, She Wrote
• + currently 100% addicted to PERSON OF INTEREST!

Music I listened to...

•  AC/DC
• The Cornell Hurd Band
• Emmylou Harris
• Guns 'N Roses
• Hurts
• Judas Priest
• Keith Urban
• Lady Gaga
• Melissa Etheridge
• Melissa Ferrick
• My Chemical Romance
• Nanci Griffith
• Nickelback
• P!nk
• Reckless Kelly
• Rodney Atkins
• Secret Sisters
• Sheryl Crow
• Willie Nelson

Random Stuff I Did...

• WORK, WORK, WORK - I think I've never worked this many hours in a summer. That's how I am - always volunteering for working over time and doing weekend shifts. That's the Uncle Scrooge in me
• Lost 12KG (26 lbs) and now I feel great about my weight! :-)
• At this age of 26 I finally learnt how to crochet. I also learnt to read crochet instructions both in Finnish and English (ohh I'm so proud of myself!) - I'm so addicted to crocheting that I'm actually planning on putting up a Craft Blog where I could collect photos of all the stuff I've done :-)
• For some reason I argued over nothing with my sister more than in years )-: Nothing serious really and at the moment we're best friends again, it's just... ohh well, we're both such nasty bitches when we get annoyed, and we're both a little too good at hurting each others feelings when we want to. Blah.
• Applied for a flat in Luumäki like I planned! I'm so excited about moving back here permanently. Sadly, I haven't found a perfect flat yet, but I'm not in a hurry. They offered me one place, but it was too expensive for my taste, and then there was a flat I loved but in the end I didn't get it... Well, I know I'll find my dream flat occassionally, but sometimes it's difficult to be patience in these things, right?
• In four months, I've managed to put a side over 2,000 euros for that crazy Chevrolet Impala dream of mine. I know I have a looooong road in front of me, but I'll get there. 

Hmph, that's pretty much all I have to say about this summer. I think I spent 40% of the time sleeping, 45% working, and above I've described how I spent the remaining 15%. Nothing exciting, just simple Apple Pie Life, you know.

I'm going to spend this week in Luumäki; simply relaxing and getting used to have much more spare time in my hands. Then I'm driving to Joensuu / North Karelia for a week or two. I obviously have a lot to do there before moving away; boring office stuff etc. Kind of stuff I just want to get done with, get rid of it. Then I'll go back to work on first of October, so by then I'll be back in Luumäki. Gosh, I have so many plans for the winter I feel my head is going to explode (in a positive way, if that's possible)! I have high hopes of starting to update this blog regularly again, so... so we'll see.

Anyway, I hope you all had a nice summer;
see you around,

yours truly-

photos from Google

Let's party like it's 1773!

Yesterday I was volunteering at Marttilan Kylän Markkinat ("Marttila Fair") with my sister, and we had a blast!

My hometown Luumäki is celebrating it's 370th birthday (which is pretty cool if you keep in mind that  Finland only gained it's independence 95 years ago), and therefore the year is full of all sorts of happenings. This weekend there was this historical fair at Taavetti Fortress, and it was surprisingly cool. I've never really been much into local history, but now I suddenly find it interesting. Must have something to do with this whole "finding my roots" thing of mine... Anyway, like I said, I had a lot of fun yesterday - take a look:

Miia & me as 18th century servants - I actually loved the clothes! ;-)

Reminded me of those Civil War nuts in the USA! ;-)

not-so-typical of me but I like this photo! :-)

...and of course Miia got me into troubles in the end and we ended up spending some time in stocks - hurray for public humilation! xD

"This is your fault!" - "I'm no longer your sister!" LMAO

Yeah.... it was all fun, and if they ask me to join next year, I'll go, for sure! :-) :-) It was great to be a lower class servant - we were supposed to gossip out aloud, swear, and be rude because we "didn't know better" - something natural to me and Miia! ;-)

yours truly-

PS: Yay, it's almost August! I always find July the hardest month at work, and I'm more than happy it's soon over...

PPS: one more photo - this little fella has been a regular visitor at our backyard for a few weeks now. Awww, super-cute! ^^

PPPS: since someone already asked me what's up with 1773 if Luumäki was founded 370 years ago (=1642). The answer is that 1773 is when the Fortress was built :-) simple, Watson.

a weekend off with the BFF

Last weekend was awesome! After working for 2 busy months, I was desperately in need of some time off. So, I booked a room from a hotel I've always wanted to stay in, and invited my best friend Silje to join me for a real Girls' Spa Weekend ❤ Actually, we had quite a lot to celebrate:

• my Anti-Graduation party
• Silje's recent engagement, and most of all
• our friendship!

 You might wonder what I mean by anti-graduation. Well, simply this: I've been studying in university for 5 years, and next fall I'm going to resign, because I just... hate all of it (I'm not going to repeat all I've written about the subject earlier, no worries). So, I'm quitting, but not graduating. BUT in my opinion, after surviving 5 years in university, I deserved a party, whether I graduated or not -- Losers need parties too! So yeah, I wanted to give myself a closure to this whole university thing, and what would have been a better way than celebrating my decision with my best friend - she's the one with whom I started my academic studies in the first place, back in A.D. 2006.

Our hotel was the castle hotel Grand Hôtel Cascade (in Finnish: Valtionhotelli) in Imatra. I've been kind of obsessed about the place for ages, and this was the very first time I actually stayed there for a night. It was brilliant! The hotel was built in 1903, and its history is more than just a little interesting -- including everything from tragic suicides to Russian aristocrates, and from miserable artists to forbidden love. It even served as a military hospital during the first World War. Well, yes, I do find all the unpleasant deaths interesting. With all the amazing ghost stories I've heard ever since I was a kid, of course we had our own little ghost hunt, but sadly (or maybe "luckily"!) we didn't encounter anything supernatural, not even the famous Grey Lady (although we're pretty sure she tried to call our hotel room in the morning - our hotel room phone kept on ringing and when I answered, someone just said "heeellooo" on the other end and nothing more... hmph).

Anyway, even without ghosts, our weekend was a success - enjoying the spa, having a few drinks in the garden, and most of all - just enjoying each others company, gossiping and making new plans. Once again, I was reminded why Silje truly is my best friend - it's just so easy, nice, funny, and relaxing to hang out with her <3  lovely, lovely, lovely. Here's some photos...

artsy photo of our hotel

you can see our balcony - it's on the 2nd floor, right next to the tower!

Vuoksi Rapid; right next to our hotel (a popular suicide place in early 1900s..)

enjoying the evening by the rapid

good times... good times.

"who you gonna call..." GHOSTBUSTERS! :DD (in the middle of our hunt)

...it was pretty creepy

seriously - I had to try and sit in every cool chair in the hotel! xD

Ghostbusters, part II

And in the end... you know how people have their own photos framed in the livingroom or something, like "this was taken when I graduated from there-and-there..."? Well, I got this brilliant idea to make my anti-graduation celebrations perfect, and asked Silje to take my anti-graduation photos. Next I'm seriously going to get one of these photos framed, and then I'm going to tell everyone "This was taken when I did NOT graduate from university!" Maybe it's just my weird sense of humour, but it sounds AWESOME to me! ;-)

Yeah, my short vacation in Imatra was great, and hanging out with Silje was so nice<3 Hopefully we'll meet soon again (ohh, maybe another spa weekend during the winter or something?)

Take care & enjoy the summer,
yours truly-

ps. so, from now on the university is officially a CLOSED CASE! Yippee!!

happy Midsummer, everyone!!

Hauskaa Juhannusta, happy Midsummer! Have fun, don't burn yourself in bonfires, and don't forget to do Midsummer spells! ;-)

Haha, Midsummer is definitely my favorite pagan holiday in Finnish calendar! I love bonfires, midnight sun, all the spells, and the idea of ghosts wandering the earth upon the solar solstice. Also, keep your eyes open for will-o'-wisps tonight -- those mark hidden treasures (most likely buried troll or goblin gold) and Midsummer midnight is the only chance for a mortal to dig the treasures up (just be careful, goblins are nasty bastards, so get ready to run fast!). I'll spend this Mittumaari with my sister & her family, and I think we'll have fun - bonfires, BBQ and so on, and even the weather seems great. Lovely.

xxo

yours truly-

project: dream catcher

Abby knows I love dream catchers, and she brought me this awesome DIY dream catcher from DesuCon ^^ I know the result isn't the prettiest thing ever (I'm not actually that good with this kind of things, but I still enjoy doing them every once in a while), but I still like it. After all, this was the first time I ever tried to put a dream catcher together by myself, and from now on I at least know the basics.

pretty cool, eh?

yours truly-

PS: I was such a bad blogger in May, now I'm trying to be more active with this thing, whohoo! =^.^= Also, I created a new tag for these little projects of mine - I have a feeling there's more to come, I have some ideas I want to try out sooner/later :-)

Love ~ you can't find it; it has to find you

My best friend Silje and her boyfriend just announced their engagement, and I'm so happy for them!

...so, I want to take this chance to officially congratulate them and wish them all the best ❤

I'm simply ridiculously happy for them, they're such a cute couple! :-)

Jari & Silje

♡♡♡♡

We're all a little weird. 

And life is a little weird. 

And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours,

we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness

- and call it love - true love. 

~Robert Fulghum

 ♡♡♡♡

this land is your land

These are my people
This is where I come from
We're givin' this life everything we've got and then some
It ain't always pretty
But it's real
It's the way we were made
Wouldn't have it any other way
These are my people
We fall down and we get up
We walk proud and we talk tough
We got heart and we got nerve
Even if we are a bit disturbed

 - Rodney Atkins

.

.

I have made up my mind, and this time for good. Here it will sound like an ex tempore decision, but I promise you, I've been considering the pros and cons of my decision for months, and now I'm finally sure enough to let you know.

I'm moving back where I belong. I'm moving back to good ol' Luumäki, South Karelia. To the little country town I was born in, and where I grew up. Back to the town where everyone knows me, my parents and my grandparents. Where I know everyone and every corner. 

When I moved away after high school, I swore I would NEVER be back. I hated this place from the bottom of my heart, and all I wanted was to live in a city, the bigger the better. I wanted to live somewhere no one knew me, where I could be Anyone and do whatever I wanted without anyone knowing or caring. I wanted to be lost, I wanted to be faceless and I wanted to be anonymous. I wanted to disappear, I wanted to travel the world and never settle down. I wanted to forget my roots, and I wanted to be forgotten... and it was all fun for some time. I was free, 100 %. I didn't care about anyone and didn't let anyone care about me. It was all exactly like I had dreamed my life to be during those teen angsty last years I lived in Luumäki.

...but something has changed in my mind in the last few years. Suddenly I've started to see the bright sides of Luumäki and learnt to appreciate Apple Pie Life. I've lived elsewhere and travelled a lot, and I've learnt Luumäki isn't any worse (or better) than any other place on Earth. It's all up to you. You can live anywhere, and be happy or miserable, it's all about your own attidute. Maybe for the first time in my life, I've learnt to love this little country town. Living elsewhere has opened my eyes, and I think now I finally see what all the Summer People (that's how we call people who have summer cottages here and only come around for summer months) see in Luumäki. I'm glad I left once, and now I'm glad to move back. It wouldn't be the same if I never left. I think I've got some perspective to these things.

About the practical side... living in Luumäki doesn't mean I'd need to give up travelling - if something, it will make it easier. It only takes 2 hours by train to Helsinki (where all the cheap flights take off) as from Joensuu it's a 4-hours train ride. Here I'll live surrounded by relatives and old friends who will always be there to help me whether it's taking care of my plants if I'm away or if my car breaks down. Living in the countryside is much cheaper than in a city - I'll save money for travelling! In Luumäki I can get a two bedroom flat with a decent bathroom and sauna for the rent I'd pay for a closet-sized one room flat in any city - so I can finally afford my OWN home instead of living with flatmates like I've been forced to do in the city. Luumäki has all the basic services, and it only take 20 minutes to the next bigger city (Lappeenranta) by car. I'll get to be close to my sister and nephew, and everyone else in my family. It will be easier to find a job here than it is in Joensuu - I already have my cemetery job here for 5 months a year! I think I will pay a visit to local newspaper's office - I worked there for one summer almost a decade ago - and let them know I'm back and ready write some articles if needed. It will be so much easier to take care of the family business (the properties) while living where the properties actually are than doing it all by phone from 200KM away, too.

So... moving back to Luumäki will by no means make my life poorer, it will make it richer. I won't be missing anything I've had in the city, but I'll gain more. Maybe I'm getting old, but all this sounds awesome to me (we actually discussed about the matter with Miia, and realized a lot of people who grew up here and moved elsewhere, have moved back in their late twenties / early thirties; me and my sister are prime examples!). I'm excited about moving back! It will make my life so much simpler, I will have everything and everyone I might miss around me. I will no longer be the one who always misses everyone's birthday parties year after year! 

And the idea of not living with flatmates anymore... I'm so excited about renting my OWN place! Decorating it exactly like I want it, not making any compromises. Having friends over, and never wondering if flatmates will be there to ruin all the plans. Knowing no one will be home to annoy you when you turn the key in the lock after a tough day. It will be great. I think I will be moving back next fall or at least by January (it will take some time to organize everything, and I'm not in a hurry) but I can already start gathering stuff for my own place. For the summer I'm living at my parents' flat, and they have a roomy storage - I'll take advantage of it and start looking for furniture & other stuff for my home sweet home!

I need to apply for a flat, and I better do it soon, even if I'd be moving in November - I'm looking for a dream flat and home, not just any room to live in. But I have the time and freedom to turn down offers I don't like - that's one of the pros of moving to Luumäki, too. I can crash in my parents' place as long as I find my own place, I can afford to be picky now! I couldn't do it anywhere else since I'd need to stay in a hotel as long as found a flat. But here... like I said, it's all very simple.

I've stopped blaiming Luumäki for my former miseries, but I also understand moving back here won't solve anything. You will have awesome, bad, boring, annoying and plain terrible days no matter where you live! It's not like I'd be marrying Luumäki - I'm just moving back now, and if I one day feel it's time to leave, I'll leave again. I'm not buying a house - I'll be free to leave if I start to feel like I did when I graduated from high school. Right now moving back here feels right, and I've learnt to trust myself and my intuition. 

So... I'm coming back home, and I feel great about it.

yours truly-

(C) photos: Google