MINT GREEN, WINE RED AND KITTIES

When it's dark and grey outside I easily tend to wrap myself in a lot of black but the opposite can be quite soothing for the eye as well, strong colours in the middle of all desaturation around.

Lately I have been living with such a schedule and activities that I don't really get around using any of my "normal" clothes anylonger. It's most often just studiowear. Reminds me of when I was studying my first year of painting and I used to sew lots of clothes to myself that I also never really -well other than at goa parties - got to wear. (With no internet back then like now so nowhere to show them off! hastag: backinthedays. Or something...)  We just painted all day long at school and I'd wear an old bathrobe from the seventies with a long zipper and mushrooms on it (well it was actually a pretty cool bathrobe) to cover  my clothes and then after school I'd work in the harbour in work wear.

But ta-da! I just blend in my studio wear with my regular way for the in between moments!
With a kitty romper under my skirt.
Also, kitty rompers make grey November days a litle bit better.

The kitty romper is from Coquetry Clothing. The shoes are those water proof ones from Melissa.
I have to say though, that the jacket,m as lovely as the colour may be, is made from such a wool blend that makes the texture look totally awful after less than two months of wear. Booh.

Also, as I mentioned the studio, all our spring classes are now 5% off until Christmas with the code JOULU5! Shopping shopping from our webstore!

THE THIRD WEEKEND OF NOVEMBER; THE FIRST SNOW

Autumn is chancing into winter and it's dark in the afternoon here already. Just like it should at this time of year - the time to take out all extra light and light candles! And drink lots and lots of glögg.
(The cats get to demonstrate the cosing-and-candeling-it-up.)

Today the first snow of the year fell.

And so did it on this weekend seven years ago too. I was out with our music-quiz team glöggging about on Satruday evening wearing a big beige checked skirt and my red shiny heels. It started to snow and I had to walk on my toes. And then later that night I met a man who I would come to marry two and a half years later.

POSING FOR AND BLENDING INTO ART

Maria Stereo: Maisema 3 

Clothes and accessories:

IvanaHelsinki – Nudge / YCM – Hoochie Mama Jane – OVVN / Uhana Design

Earlier this fall I modelled for an art project between Tabulaland Art Store, stylist Nina Erkkilä and photographer Marko Saari, for which Erkkilä styled artworks by different artists on display and sale at Tabulaland with Finnish design and vintage.

Sami Viljanto: Tell Us About Your Worries
Jacket: Vuokko, dress and skirt: Poola Katryna Acessories and hat: Hoochie Mama Jane

MUAH for these photos are by me.

It just so happened that I posed with the smallest and the largest pieces of the project.

You can see all the other great photos from the project at Sylvi.fi. I think the interpretation is really interesting.

The Finnish Fashion Loves Tabulaland Art- exhibition is on display at GLO Hotel Art Kitchen until mid-January next year.

ALL SUITED UP

...and then dressed down to nothing but ripped muscles and golden hot pants but that is another story.

(Black-and-whie picture by @bettieblackheart)

Last weekend we got to do our boy-band act again! It is such fun to do because it is very much tongue-in-cheek, but also because it is so much different from what we/ I normally do and look like. And hanging around in a suit boots and tie afterwards at the Finnish Burlesque Gala is rather relaxing as 1) everyone else will be in their most shiniest dressed up to the teeth while I can just sit back on a chair and relax and 2) ah, suits, trousers, pockets; no need for a purse, my hands are free.

However, I  think I worry about and check my make-up more than normally ...
I find it a bit hard to do a "proper" masculine make up that does not make me look tired or just "dusty", especially as it has to be strong enough to work for on-stage too. I can make myself all pin-up and showgirl in no time but to get a good looking guy out of me is harder. (Since I'd still want Mr.Freelancer to be kind of handsome you know.) Especially with the hair, to not look all Leo Johnson (90's. Curly Ponytail. Twin Peaks) or like I have a mullet. But this time with my hipsterish-boy-meets-a-young-Justin-Timberlake-meets-Boy-George-curls it worked out a bit better.

It is funny how different clothing and style affects one behaviour. Well, of course, when in drag - and especially for this number, and on occasions like these- when one has a distinct exaggerated character the way one presents onself is often part of the role. But I remember from when working in the harbour how my body language and behaviour differed from other occasions.  It was not a thing that happened by choice, but something that came naturally without thinking, due to the environment and the gear, and how I was used to act in it. Once my ex-boyfriend, who was a seaman, came over to our headquarters from his ship to hang out with us during the break. Afterwards he said he was so surprised to see me there in my workwear eating lunch with feet on the table, moving around differently and with a different posture than usual (we lived together at the time and he was used to seeing me slouch around at home, athough, in a different way). That change in how I acted never happened on purpose and was most likely something that had developed over time there - I did work in the harbour for more than a decade and we all worked long shifts, and thus spent a lot of our time there. Still, I also though working there brought out a lot of very feminine sides of me; in many situations you could really see stereotypical differences between me and "the rest of the guys" as in which way we chose to see things or solve issues. Interesting form a social point of view. Also heavier shoes (and pants with some extra room in the crotch) just makes you walk in a different way.

Well back to the boy band parody.

Here's a little action from on stage where we are doing very manly push ups. Aha-aha.
(Picture by Tuomas Lairila.)

VELVET

One of my favorite gowns is this long velvet one that I, for that obvious reason, don't get around wearing all that often. The previous time was two years ago when Eddi had his PhD disputation party. Last we celebrated a late autumn wedding with a beautiful setting at the Theatre Museum and I finally got a chance to wear it again!

The dress is from the seventies, but the cut allows it to be styled in a 1940's fashion as well, for example. I got it a few years back from my grandmother's cousin when she needed to empty her closet and got rid of a lot of amazing clothes. Sadly I have never managed to get any good pictures of the dress in action, this time these with my iphone will have to do.

FAVA BEEN PROTEIN GRANOLA

Alright, don't let the protein -headline scare you away! We are not talking body builder or trendy carb-loathing granola here, but a yummy one with a perhaps somewhat surprising content; fava beans.

This granola is made of organic products that have all grown on our farm. Truly homemade! The recipe was developed by one of the local guys over here who has made lots of breads from our grains and seeds as well. 

Fava beans (bondböna, härkäpapu) have been cultivated in Finland as early as in the 1000th century, and is now making a comeback. It is a good domestic alternative to chick peas or soya beans, as it is rich in proteins.

You will need:
200grams (about 2 dl) fava beans
5 dl oats
approx.1 dl honey

For a vegan version switch the honey to maple syrup! Adjusts the sweetness to your own taste.

Mash the fava beans in a mixer or food processor so that they are crushed into smaller pieces. Let them soak in water for about two hours. The skin of the beans that rises to the surface can be removed. Change the water then cook for about 20 min.

Let the water dry off a bit in a drainer, and put them out on a baking paper on a tray together with the oats. Pour over honey and blend well. Put in the oven preheated to 200C and roast.

You need to take the granola out and give it a mix a few times, so it is roasted evenly. The granola is ready when it has reached a nice dark golden colour and seems "crunchy".

Store in an air tight jar.

You can choose to add flax, pumpkin or sunflower seeds or dried berries as well.

I like my granola with berries on top of porridge (here with lingonberries and hazelnut milk. Plus some mulberries and almond butter and other stuff. Pretentious as hell, I know.), but most of all mixed with kefir!

FATHERS

Today it's father's day over here!

Here is me with my dad when I am about three (a mini Dag, I know! Or, the other way around I guess; he's a mini-me.), with my sisters, father and grandfather in the later eighties, a picture of my already passed maternal grandfather, and last but not least Eddi with an hour old Dag.

We should not only think of Father's day as a day about socks, ties and shaving machines but see it as an appreciation of fathers and fatherhood (whatever that then may mean to you), both of fathers and father figures. (The same goes for Mother's day too, of course, but let's take that in May.) And also for those who are in that role to appreciate it themselves, as not everyone can, or are allowed to become parents, or get to be one for their children even though they would want to. 

SANDRO, SUN AND CIRKUS ART

A few Sundays ago everyone had managed to have the day off together and get together for  a big family brunch. We celebrated a couple of birthdays once we were at it.

Dag had been very excited the whole week over going to  brunch. (As you can see this was obviously before his haircut.)

I got a belated birthdaypresent. A cherry dress!

I had been dreaming of Sandro's brunch for some time already, because it's definitely the best brunch in town. Northern African and Lebanese food, champagne, mini smoothie shots and lots of cake, plus awesome service. On Saturdays the brunch is vegan and vegetarian and on Sundays the warm options also have meat and fish (while the cold dishes, apart from the tsatsiki, all were vegan).

Happy food death. The pickles, seriously.

And even happier mint-tea & cake death.

Cousin Feke can't enjoy that quite yet though, although he would very much want to.

After brunch we went over to Kuusisaari, where I had managed to lure everyone over for an art exhibition at Villa Gyllenberg.

Helsinki as seen from the "side".

It has really been such a beautiful autumn so far!

The view from the villa's garden is rather impressive. Tapiola, where we (or, nowadays just me and Dag...) live when in town, is just across on the other side.

Villa Gyllenberg is an art deco villa that after the Gyllenberg couple's death serves as an art museum featuring their vast art collection. I have actually never been there before, and it was worth a visit!

I wanted to go there because of their exhibition of art portraying street art and the circus. Here's a postcard of one of the paintings. The actual house and it's own collection turned out to be more interesting though, and we were lucky enough to have an friend of my sister's husband working there who showed us around talking about the history of the house and also interesting details on some of the pieces of art there.

There were many works of Schjerfbeck.

But among renaissance art and dynasty vases it got a bit nervous to walk around with a three year old.
So outside he got to run his well behaviour off a bit and found this giant leaf pile.

Which I also eventually climbed into. Autumn joys!

And then we saw this little fella who had just fetched lunch!

FEET x 2

Last weekeknd when everyone else was posting photos of their Halloween outfits I was spending my mine in a not-so-ghoulish way at pilates training, doin (and passing!) my advanced matwork assessments. But because of the time of year here’s a shot some posing skeleton feet next to mine in pilates stance.

I still have work to do before my I will finish what is needed to get the actual Advanced Mat Certificate,  (I already have a Basic and Intermediate certificate). It has been a lot of work during the year that was and in January, a year since I started, I should have the full certificate ready. But when it comes to pilates one is never really "ready", there is always more to learn, things to develop and work on,  new things to discover within yourself.  A pilates exercise is so multi levelled that you can keep on finding new challenges to it over and over again as you learn to work more deep within your body towards the ideal. Saying so may for those that don’t practice pilates (or some other kind of excercise where one actually “deepens into oneself”) that may sound rather abstract or even annoying, but at some point(s) of practicing one really will experience this as an “Ah! This is what it can/should feel like!”.

Pilates is very interesting and rewarding and it will take time to master  - I still know there is so much more development in my own training that I can do! A certification requires frequent updates (attending workshops etc) and I am looking to deepen my pilates education as well, working also with apparatus, as soon as I have the time (and funding) for it. There are different approaches to pilates and the classical one is definitely the one I prefer (thus I have studied it), and I would recommend anyone to try classical pilates at least for a while to notice the benefits (and then it will be hard to let go).

It is strange how things go in life, looking back. A year and a half ago I would not have known that I would be doing this right now. As I probably have said before, becoming a pilates teacher had been on my mind for years, a constant point on the five-years-or-more-list. It's status changed into a now-or-never after having had the miscarriages last year. I suppose it's something of a lemons and lemonade thing, or, rather; if life hands you lemons fuck that and get some ice cream instead. Give me limes and let's make mojitos!

On another note, funny remembering a thing I read many years ago, in my mid twenties. I think I’ve mentioned it here before, but it was a young blogger, 19-20-ish or so, posting about and commenting on red carpet pics of some celebrity that “it is amazing that she looks that good at 34!”, (there were probably a few omg's!! thrown in there after that as well)  which of course sparked a bunch of amused comments from "older" readers. I too laughed at that, because, although I know that for someone barely twenty 34 years can seem rather old, (maybe it even seemed a bit older ten -eight years ago than it does today when 40 is nothing. It's sort of not even the "new thirty" anymore. Well, in my post-30 world at least ;) I at a 20-something age still always saw my future self as more fit when past thirty - when I would not be going out partying every night of the week anymore and hopefully would get more sleep as well. I was in good shape back then too, frequenting the gym as well as doing savate, but I pictured myself as someone doing a bunch of yoga and healthier stuff and just being over all super fit at.  And that was perhaps one of the things that past me got rather accurate. Because now I am there, 34. Because of time being at least a bit unmerciful to each and every one of us, in one way or another, and as pregnancy and childbirth (read: breastfeeding) do leave their marks, my body may not look that much “better” now that it did then at twenty-something. But I iknow t is stronger in a more balanced way now than before! Seriously folks, pilates.

The sleep part though. That I could work on. When I have the time. And you know what would be truly awesome? An eight day per week. Plus some extra hours for the day. Those could be added nighttime. Mmmyes.