LONG READS, BUT TAKE THE TIME

In today's hectic life and it's social media climate, where you don't always have the time to sit down and read the paper properly but still have the time to scroll, and a lot of what the news feed feeds you is articles ("articles") that seem to just consist of screenshots of how people commented on something on twitter, I have come to appreciate a well written article even more than before, and the chance to get a moment to sit down and read something un-interrupted.

Also, I should learn to make shorter sentences.

Many people are having a holiday this weekend, and here is some recommended reading to accompany your Easter flowers, chocolate eggs and wine (well, that is what I am having at least).

These are two different stories but they share a common theme - the migration of peole, but foremost: putting a name on a number in the statistics, a backstory behind a short mention in an article, or a story to someone with no mention anywhere at all. 

So I give you one story for each day of Easter:

1. The Wetsuit man (dagbladet.no)

This came out a few years ago at the height of the so called refugee wave. I have returned to this text every now and then.  It is a captivating and important read.

2. The Case of Jane Doe Ponytail (The New Yorker)

There is a person and a story behind every "-Doe".

3. The New Slave Trade (Buzzfeed News)
"Inside The Country Where You Can Buy A Black Man For $400".


Pictures 1. by me 2. royalty free stock image

SHOWS FOR SOFT SUNDAYS OR SORE THROATS

I always have this idea of catching a slight cold and staying in bed for a few days just drinking hot black currant tea and watching a ton of series. Because then it would really be justified, to just lie there and take it easy, do nothing. It doesn't work that way though, since I either feel too ill to manage watching anything or then would have so much to do I lie there worrying about the time I'm missing out on... And the past year(s) when I've been ill I've had Dag to care for and entertain at the same time so not so much rest for me.

The past days both Dag and I have been ill, and it's been the kind of flue that has kept us sleeping most of the time. So no tea-and-cookies-series marathon for me, this time either... (Hashtag: firstworldproblems)

Apart from the obvious True Detective -Game of Thrones-The Walking Dead- and-so-on super series, here are some funny ones I could marathon when sick/hangover/insomniac...

Arrested Development.

It's probably the most hilarious show I know. I remember watching it on and off when it aired back in the early 00's but didn't catch onto it until just around the end; you can't get it unless you watch it properly. I've rewatched it on Netflix later, they have all the seasons (plus made a new one).


Episodes.

Stumbled across Episodes by accident and it's damn funny! I Think I was able to watch the whole first season on YouTube. Haven't seen the two following, so I suppose I'll aim for that for the next time I'm ill or can't sleep.

AbFAb

Absolutely Fabulous was one of my absolute favourite shows when I was teenager.  I realised it's been forever since I watched it and wondered if it still would work today. Oh yes, Patsy will always be Patsy!

SHOPPING, CASH BACK AND CHOCOLATE / OSTOHYVITYS.FI

I have a new affiliate which I am going to present here to you. It is for the Finnish market, but we'll do the talking in English anyway, as we are used to over here.

(To illustrate this post we have a totally not-staged photo moment of me -happy and internetting about- and my son in scarily matching at home-outfits.)

The site I am adding to my affiliate list is Ostohyvitys.fi. It's the first cash back site in Finland. What that literally means is that you get part of your cash back when shopping online;  a certain percentage (or, in some cases, a fixed sum) from a purchase you have made via the cash back site. This service is possible as Ostohyvitys kind of works as an affiliate for online stores, being a portal to shop trout,h directing customers forward and giving part of it's affiliate commission to the shopper itself (from some sites a percentage even higher than 10% of a purchase). By logging in and visiting stores trough the site you collect your bonus which will then be paid back to your bank account. (Which happens when you have collected 15euros in returns, or more). A small forever ongoing sale, sort of.

I originally signed up to get a free chocolate bar (chocolate, you know, always works as a bribe for me ;) without thinking too much about it. But then I looked into the system and now I am totally hooked. I try to remember to always check with Ostohyvitys.fi first if there is something I need to get online - it would be stupid not to. There are over 450 stores  and service providers to choose from -so many it's almost surprising- both Finnish stores as well as international ones. Not the most niched ones of course, but still a crazy lot; several hotels and hotel booking sites (for example 5% off a hotel booking at hotels.com), virtual malls and fashion stores like Asos, Ellos, Zalando and Nelly, flight companies and travel agencies, Akateeminen Kirjakauppa, Apple Store, lots of magazines, etc.
Well, you can see more on the site yourself.

Många bäckar små… as we say in Swedish; a buck or two here and there turns into quite a lot in the end. For example, I buy some of my eco makeup via Nelly as they have a 11,5% bonus percentage. So my mascara (Une Green Pride btw, it is very good) which is 20,50 at Nelly is then18,40 for me! So I can't really see any reason for anyone not to sig up, hence the affiliation.

And I did mention chocolate earlier… There is a campaign going on giving you a complimentary Fazer's Blue after you sign up  via me and do your first purchase.
You can join Ostohyvitys.fi HERE!

TIKI TIME!

Yesterday I did a show at Kokomo, the tiki restaurant.
I always love myself a good excuse to dress up and go all tiki! And to have LOTS of tiki drinks. Especially now in November.


The dress is from Bettie Page clothing, a set I bought just before Dag was born, although then  I of course couldn't use but the top (here). And after the delivery I had to add a safety pin to be able to close this in the waist, and didn't really look that good in it even. But now this one is  already on the bigger side for me. Haha! A great dress none the less, and I absolutetly totally and very much love the pattern. And clashing it with another pattern I love, leopard.

 (I love the fact that I am all back to normal by now but I kind of miss that big belly of mine. Have to do one more round then I guess :)

If somebody wonders the shoes ar a couple of years old or so, bought in Tallinn, and the leopard bow belt is from Carlings, many many years ago. Btw something like 2006 is so long ago already, if you think about it. Not to mention, well, 2003 for example. I didn't even read my email every day back then. Nor have internet of my own in my crib.Whoah.

UPDATES AND INSPIRATION

As comments come and go, sometimes more, sometimes less, I've made these small positive reaction buttons for you after each posts. As most of you probably have noticed by now. (In fact I've had them for over a year but as my template is so old school they would not show and I had to ask my old pal google for help, which usually solves most problems, the technical ones at least). 

Then, I don't know how many of you ever browse or  notice the tags, but those of you who do might have seen some strange words among those lately, which would be tags in Finnish. If you wonder why, the reason is that I am part of a new inspiration network for Finnish bloggers, which was launched today.

Indiedays Inspiration is a site hosted by Finland's most popular blog portal Indiedays, gathering posts in a feed from 300 of the most interesting blogs over here. You can find and follow new blogs trough the inspiration site.

I totally suck at following anything, I never log in to Bloglovin' anymore for example, but I've tried out the inspiration site before it launched and it actually works quite easily, you can just pick articles from the flow, gathered under headlines such as fashion, food, lifestyle etc (hence the tags in Finnish I mentioned) without following anyone in particular.  Most of the blogs are in Finnish, some in Swedish, a few in english (like mine, well, obviously).

What else? I am having weekly giveaways over at my Facebook site  (which yes, you have to like to be able to join) at the end of each week. You can find the competitions straight trough this link: http://bit.ly/PonDjs
There will still be contest over here at the blog as usual every now and then too!

Last, my affiliate for this month is Aha! Shopping which offers you a 5% off, equal to their silver membership duiscount, with the coupon code: freelancers! Add freelancers to the coupon code bar and press validate before checkout and you're good to go.

x 4

Keeping up with the interwebs with a little baby by ones side is not the same as before. Naturally. I actually have a lot of things I'd want to take pictures of and blog about but some days it is strictly impossible to get anything done around the house, not to mention the computer.  But that's where soial media like Facebook and Instragram come in handy, so that you can spend the little extra time you have caressing and nibbling on that smartphone of yours!

I actually never really got the fuzz about Instagram before - "it has these nice retro filters" (uuuummm, so does lots of other apps?) until I decided it was time to stop being so 2010 and join. And then of course I got the whole thing of it (addiction); the easiness of it's sharing. As, that is pretty much the whole essence of social media; that everyone else not only can and want to but need to know what you are up to all of the time, right?


So, here's some of the things I've been up to the past weeks:

4 x Dag:

4 x floral:

4 x food:

(I think my feed is quite a lot about food. And smoothies.)

4 x me:

(a.k.a. Päivän lärvi. Does not translate well)

4 x mom:

4 x views:

4 x random:





You can find me on Instagram as turrrbocherry.

CIRCUS IN BLACK AND WHITE

Circus photographs from the late 19th and early 20th century. 

Via Retronaut.

RIGHT THERE AND RIGHT THEN

I am sure many of you already are acquainted with 9-eyes. And if you're not, you should definitely be! It's a collection of screenshots from google street view, gathered and updated by Canadian artist Jon Rafman, containing scenes and moments captured while the Google car driving by.



I've always found Google Maps totally genius for finding your way, really.  Or for wanting to know what it will or should look like when arriving to the right place. Or just for being curious.
Some Sunday mornings I browse places. Last time Eddi And I checked out Alaska.



First I was not sure how Jon Rafman actually works - does he spend his days traveling around the world trough google maps? Are they all real? Has he scouted them all himself?

One can read a bit more on the project in his article here.

9-eyes has a lot of wtf, road side prostitutes and arrests, but also such pictures that could be works of art. And it is strange that those moments happened right there, right then.

ON AVANT GARDE

I should probably start a new label here called "the internet" or something (or wait, let's make it Teh) - I can get stuck on a certain page I bump in to or am told about and then I sit there for hours or follow link after link for the rest of the night.. Tonight, instead of wrapping gifts and making Christmas sweets I've been watching videos over at THE AVANT/GARDE DIARIES.

When I was in design school we had the rather diffuse but also interesting courses of the philosophy of art and on the sociology of art; i.e what defines and artist, what puts a certain piece of art into a certain genre, what is considered avant garde, and so on? THE AVANT/GARDE DIARIES idea is maybe something in that direction, showcasing creative individuals view on avant garde or what perhaps could be considered that. This trough very different short movies about creative personalities, such as authors, fashion designers, musicians, artists and more. Some less, some more know to the public, like the Cobrasnake here above. Interesting; so my gift wrapping will have to wait a little while still!
I you are interested in the articles/videos and persons featured, find them at www.theavantgardediaries.com.