STOCKHOLM

A teenage hippie-troll in Stockholm some eleven ten years ago. Ehrm, me, in other words. But 'm quite cute though. And I remember really loving that strange furry old jacket!

Well anyway. I used to pop by in Stockholm at least a couple of times per year before; K and I went over there for some shopping and (never too successful actually) bar hopping, staying at her father's place downtown. Now I actually haven't been there properly for a couple of years! I'm doing a short trip there soon and as I've gone bazookas on the internet I have absolutely no need to shop anything but I was thinking if you locals would give me a hint on some stores worth visiting anyway? And for men too! And what's you absolute favorite place for a fika? Advice appreciated :)

LUCKY GIRLS

(Photo from here.)

There were so many participants of the Tara Starlet give-away but as you know, only one lucky girl to win. Miss Fortune has drawn that lucky new owner of the sailor slacks; this time it's The Sun and the Sparrow! Congratulations!

(Btw even though the Choo collection is not out yet it's already known that the next designer to work with H&M will be Sonia Rykiel. There will be a lingerie collection launched in both H&M stores as well as Rykiel's boutiques (!) in December 2009, and knitwear for women and children(girls) in the spring of 2010. I never end up buying any of the stuff anyway but I think the designer collaborations were a pretty genius idea for H&M to come up with. And if you're sad for not winning the pants maybe this will make some of you girls feel better :)

SOFT SUNDAY, ONCE AGAIN

This Sunday was not spent in The Big Harbour as supposed but instead in bed since I have a stomach flu. That sucks. But I'm waiting to get well again next week since I intend to have lots of fun then!

THE 5 SECOND HAIRDO

Sometimes when I don't have the need to or feel like fixing my hair I create the fastest hairdo in the world by grabbing half of it- the hair that is- and pushing it upwards with a comb into something of a bouffant kind of style, a miniature beehive. Super Kawaii Mama has a tutorial on how to achieve the look without backcombing, by tucking some hair under itself in order to achieve some height; you can also avoid back combing by putting a hair rat/sponge roll in, but that's all to hi-fi for this. I go casual : grab, twist and push. Take half of your hair and twist it about halfway around itself and press a comb in tightly from underneath, upwards. You can actually get the hair pretty big!

It's a good 'do if my hair is still damp from washing it, or a bit fly and dull. It works just like that and truly does not take longer than 5 seconds, but if you want some more flair curl the ends of your hair. Or add a ribbon. Then you have to add a couple of minutes but you still get away pretty easy.

SOME PEOPLE NEVER HAVE TO CLEAN UP BY THEMSELVES BUT I'M NOT ONE OF THOSE

If you ever wondered this is what I look like when I do my cleaning (and like this when I make the magic in the kitchen happen). And I listen to opera while I do it, of course.


Well.
Let's not break any illusions here shall we, I actually AM vacuuming in those pics because sometimes you need to do so. Vacuum that is. Weather I actually always do it all dressed up or not is a totally different question, but sometimes it's just inevitable to do it right there right then so at least it has happened once.

(My dress is from Stop Stearing, the seamed stockings are what Katie Did. Very recommendable stockings.
The mini beret is Molla Mills, shoes OIS.)

SUBTLE AUTUMN COLOURS & SUNDAY BIKE RIDES

The warm afternoon sun could almost make one think it is still summer, but there are still some things giving autumn away: the shade of the light, a colder breeze and colours starting to pop up here and there, less green, more yellow.










And of course, the fallen leaves. More and more of them.
A great weather to bike in however!

WELL YOU'RE A BUNCH OF LUCKY GALS!

I have such great news for you all:
One of my all time favorite labels, Tara Starlet, is doing a give-away right here, right now!


One lucky reader will win a pair of what I find as one of their most desireable products, the Sailor Slacks! I've dreamed about these sailor styled pants with a super high waist, wide legs and contrast coloured buttons a long time myself already. ♥ Oh ♥

I will as usual let Miss Fortuna decide by randomly choosing a winner on Monday September 28th! That means you have ten days time to try your luck - all you have to do to enter is to leave a comment on this post. Feel free to spread the word. OH yeah and if you don't have a blog account remember to leave me your email!

Tara has also started a blog for an inside view of a fashion studio! You can read it at tarastarlet.blogspot.com.

YES PLEASE.

In general I am not very fond of listing things that I want to have and shout that list out on the internet. But of course it is no news that I do like a lot of pretty things, and just because I don't list them all the time doesn't mean there aren't things I dream about every now and then. But because it's my birthday soon I thought I'd give it a go, in case some kitchenware manufacturer or apple sellers would be reading this and be in a generous mood...

Since world peace and a 1967 Ford Mustang most likely are out of the question (and apart from constantly craving dresses and weekend trips to European cities) these are some things I dream about for the moment:

A mint green Smeg! Even though getting one such would require a bigger kitchen and therefore also a bigger flat (plus a cream coloured oven and cream coloured dish washer from the same line to match my future cream coloured cupboards), which I unlikely will receive for such an insignificant birthday as my 28th(and probably no other B-day either :) I still keep on wishing. Because one day I will have all that! (picture)



The Minna Parikka ginger bag in powder blue...and pretty much any Minna Parikka shoe too, but I guess I should add that I absolutely have no need for new shoes for the moment, but oh what the hell, I wouldn't mind!


A lomographic camera so I can take artsy-fartsy photos!(cat pic from here)


A new mac: mac book pro. Doesn't have to be in 24K gold though, but hey, why not?

I also wished for a bow trench, waterproof shoes and a nice umbrella but I took care of those things myself already.

(Ps. Smeg suppliers and mac-men, did you get the hint? Thanks in advance, appreciate it.)

LAYING LOW

My cats are taking it easy while I'm busy working and organizing things, like different jobs and gigs and my life and stuff, but I do have something great coming up for all of you soon! Exciting...

MAGIC, WELL KIND OF

Remember this post and it's one-of-a-kind bag?


Well abracadabra, now it's mine!


(Dress - Tara Starlet, Bag - Viivi Vein)

CABINET PORTAIT

A couple of Sundays ago we had our photo taken by Atelieri O.Haapala at a small street fair. There is only one chance left for you to get one yourself, at the Halloween Horror Cabaret, since the project is coming to and end! All the photos they've taken will be exhibitioned at the Finnish Museum of Photography in the beginning of next year.

The Horror Cabaret party is at Wäiski and our burlesque troupe will perform one scary number there. But more on that later.

RESULTS OF HAVING THE FLU pt.3

This year I have prepared myself for autumn very well; while ill at home I hanged out a lot in The Evil Internet, one result of many being that and ordered myself a pretty umbrella. Vain, but useful.

Standing under it is like standing under a tree, or looking at flower meadow. It almost makes me wish for rain.

BY THE OCEAN, BY THE SEA

Every third weekend I work 12 hours a day in the harbour, in order to have the week after that free. Not a bad deal, really. Those Sundays are spent in the largest harbour in Finland mostly just looking out at the sea and the islands, with our summerhouse just around the corner, since the day tends to be real easy after the first busy hours. The Baltic Sea is not exactly a big one, but you still cannot see beyond the horizon. And if I would be as small as a ladybird it would be huge as an ocean.

I think Hawley is worth a listen, at least on Sundays when one tends to go soft. Some years ago a journalist reviewed Hawley's album saying this is what all music nowadays would sound like if the Beatles would never have been.

ANSWERS AND ANSWERS vol.2

Little Brooklyn's King Kong at HBF09 (Photo Rik Stavale). One of the most creative burlesque performances I've seen. You can youtube google it. It has nothing to do with the text below but so what, it's always nicer with some pictures ain't it?

Well, anyway; thank you for all the nice coments on my previous post. As I now read my text afterwards I see it may sound a little defensive, which it wasn't ment to be, since no one should have to defend their style; it was rather just thoughs - and some minor ranting perhaps- in general. And neither am I offended of what people may say on the internet when it comes to issues like that, even though I might raise an eyebrow or two and wonder what the hell is wrong with people... But thanks anyway! You are all so nice.

And then it's time for the answers to the rest of the questions:
Where you've taken your tattos and are all of them your own design?
- I've taken most of them at Legacy Tattoo and those are made by Sailor Andy.. I've designed all of them myself, some are my exact drawing line by line while others are slightly modified to suit the skin better. My meraid is hand made (with a bamboo stick) in Thailand.That's also the one that looks the least like my drawing...

What are the names of your cats? They are gorgeous! I love cats and pics about those two makes my day.
- Pekka and Lulu! Pekka is the fat one and Lulu is the tiny one. They're brother and sister. I'll make your day somaday soon again and put some more cat pics then:)

Do you have any brothers or sisters? Do they look like you?
- I have two younger sisters, 25 and 22 years old. We all look pretty different. The older of them works in the harbour with me and a some people there think we look the same and mix us up. (Like a stevedor guy she once dated. It was cold and we wore wearing caps outside. He drove up to me and said "I haven't heard from you laely but I guess that's ok since you haven't heard from me either" I looked up and told him he should propably talk directly to her. He kept his calm and said that yeah, he will, drove away. And then he avoided me for some weeks afterwards :D)

Are you that blond by nature and what hair products do you use?
- No, not this blond. RIght now I'm not sure what my real colour would be. It was quite chocolate brown when I was small, then went lighter into a, now that I think about it, rather nice toffee-like colour. I had a spiral perm for years which dried my hair out and turned real light in summer, so I started bleaching it due to that, as it grew out darker in fall and looked bleached anyway :) I use silver schampoo and conditioner every now and then, otherwise a lot of salon products for chemically treated hair. I have a lot of hair and it's all dry so a bottle of conditioner or leav-in blam doesn't last long.

I don't have a question but a request, would you like to post some pictures of your wardrobe?
- I was actually asked to do so by a fashionsite, to participate in their article series about wardrobes last year but didn't have the time. I might do so later this autumn perhaps!

The same request to post a picture with your boyfriend, but I would totally understand if you don't want it.
- Well something might show up here at some point...

More pics: 2 in 1! Brilliant.

A SLAVE TO THE DETAILS

Sometimes I stumble across things written about me on the internet. Most of them are really nice but some tend to think that it's a little bit too much with all the dresses, tattoos and hair done and so on. Lately some small birds told me about this thread on the internet where someone was listing vintage inspired style blogs she liked and I was among those mentioned. As most often most of the comments were positive even though many tended to "worry" about the effort being put into the looks of the girls in the blogs mentioned. Some on the other hand found the effort to be just too much or overdone.

I started thinking about the whole effort thing and find it a bit funny because first of all, dressing up and getting dolled up for me is one part routine that I don't even think about and the other part just fun, kind of like a hobby. And doesn't really all girls, and boys alike, who are keen on looking nice make the same effort but in different ways? Is there really such a huge difference if I pin curl my hair the night before than if I'd go to get a spray tan?

But on the other hand, I am the kid of girl who will schedule my day according to how my hair needs to be washed, dried and rolled if I have to, who will spend days on the internet to find the umbrella that's just right and pay a small fortune to have it home delivered (OK, that's already a bit over the top I admit but that's another story) and dress up in the whole shabadang with girdles, stockings and the prettiest dress for a Sunday walk, just for the joy of it. That's who I am and I like being that way! I like making efforts. Plus let's face it, no matter how glorious ones life is, it's not like one is invited to parties every day. But that doesn't still mean you couldn't dress up on a regular monday. I'm not saying life is one big celebration, because it's not, and that we should all hold hands now and sing Kumbaya in pretty dresses - I just think it's makes any hard or easy day a bit better if you look nice. Well, in some ways at least.

Anyway, last weekend I did go to a party however and then it's nice to roll that hair even a little bit more than normally and get glammed up. This time in my dress that Olivia Rouge made and in a mini beret from Molla Mills that I got from Paula to cheer me up last spring when I was sad.

And my vintage checked jacket. I can't believe I was thinking of selling this jacket away! It matches my shoes for heaven's sake! (And I'm not the only slave to the details out there, many others do notice it too :)

RESULTS OF HAVING THE FLU part2

As already mentioned I spent a lot of time on The Evil Internet last week while sick at home, which resulted in yet another parcel arriving here for me. (There is still more to come. That flu turned out rather expensive. But at least I'll be well equipped for autumn...). This is what the postman brought me this time...

Ta-taa! A blue trench with a big bow in the back! (And quite justified actually since I haven't bought a coat in years.)

It has the perfect collar for my vintage B-pin that I got from Hoochie Mama Jane. (B is for my family name.)
Me likes.