THE AWAKENING, A MINDSTREAM

Just yesterday, I was given a question similar to "Do you still write your blog, anyway?" Then I went to check my dear Kanelikirja, and the last post was written in April. Huh. 5 months ago or what? I did not miss writing so much, I felt kind of empty - and on the other hand, I was dealing with my "new life" a lot. Tiredness, stress, trying to deal with my endless M.A. thesis - and also some a bit better things. Dogs, shopping and especially travel.

I don't even know if I still have some readers, but well... let's try to bring Cinnamon Book back to the blogosphere. Perhaps, I should do a little make-over, considering the themes and also lay-out, sometimes just write, sometimes just post pictures. Let's see what happens! I think blogging is still a very cool hobby - and I am becoming a fan of, especially, make-up blogs. Jep, here the shallow part of Kaneli is exposed. ;) By the way, blogging is also a great way of therapy, and perhaps I need some therapy again. :P I miss talking, I miss my friends from Slovenia and Jyväskylä, I miss the dog... and I just miss because of missing, hard to explain.

Yesterday was also the first day of autumn, and here in Finland trees have been changing colours already for a month. Almost every day I see wild gees migrating south, in big and small flocks; I have never seen so many migrating birds before, or I just haven't notice them. The autumn reminds me how fast the time goes. I feel comfortable, but all the time I have this little burdon of my thesis, and fear what could happen in the future. And now is autumn again. Time moves too fast by all means.

Alright, let's finnish now this mindstream, before any doubt appears and I won't even press the Publish Post button, thus leaving Cinnamon Book forgotten. I guess Kaneli can still share her stories in the future, and she will try to do her best - now let's just hope there will still be those who listen... and who have listened to Kaneli's stories all this time. Is it four years already...? Must be.

Nice autumn I wish! :)

A LOT AND THEN AGAIN NOT

What's new? Some things in my life have changed all of a sudden, some are still the same... First of all, I have got a job in Helsinki. Thus, I also have my own flat and I don't have to share it with flatmates. Finally. I had good as well as bad experiences with shared flats and people that shared the flat with me; however, I rather live on my own. Oh, it is a very big difference. I am certainly among those that cherish individuality and, sometimes, also loneliness.

So I had to move quite fast into a new city; alright, that was not such a problem as I had known Helsinki quite well for some years, at least the center. The thing is that I had to start with a whole new rhythm. Which makes me to feel a bit old. But... I should still finish my Master's thesis and that is what still makes me a student. :) And also bothers me a lot... I am really slow when it comes to writing a thesis, any kind of a thesis...

Well, I guess I should not complain as it is probably not that easy to get a job in these times I am happy that the days here up North are much longer again. Spring is finally coming to Finland, no matter some remnants of snow are still lurking under shady corners. However - good Vappu, May Day I wish!

COLOURFUL UPDATES

OPI Romeo & Joliet

Nothing special is going on, I am basically working on my thesis, or at least trying to work on it, and so I actually do not come up with some interesting material for the blog. However, some things are new and they even surprise me. I guess it's because I was bored with colourless everyday of Finnish as well as Slovenian winter, or merely bored with colourless everyday in general - and so I had started to paint my nails. For a girl that has owned just a transparent top-coat and possibly some black nailpolish only a month ago, this surely is a big change. I think that now I have something like 15 or 17 nailpolishes - heh, I am not even sure about the exact number. :P

It all started with a small bottle of Lumene's blueberry-purple polish called Drama Queen. I was quite skeptic as I was not very patient when applying colorful polishes in the past, I was clumsy with the brush, I put too thick layers, the polish did not dry nicely etc. But when applying Drama Queen I was more concentrated - and I have realized one just needs some more patient (which I surely need to practice, so dealing with nail polishes is useful in this way) as well as a good polish (my black ones were usually very low-quality). So I have started to enyoj the colours on my nails and I have also started to collect nail polishes. Well, at first I thought I would only stick to those small 4ml bottles of the same family as Drama Queen was, but then, and this is another "interesting" update, I have started to follow some nail-polish blogs and forums. Thus I have discovered some other famous and commercial names like OPI and China Glaze. Finally, I have also found out that one can get OPI as well as CG polishes in JKL as well. Eeek. Luckily, some very nice shades were also on 70%-off sale. :D

Now I am thinking to get a small cosmetic case as I suppose my nail polish collection would probably keep growing. At the moment I am protecting myself to start ordering stuff via Ebay as internet shopping is dangerous in the sense of wide selection of products. However, I have already realized, kind of, that there are numerous shades of one colour and that one could just keep collecting forever; according to my current polishes, I prefer purples and reds, rather darker than brighter. But I do own one bright turquoise and shinny apple-green, too.

All in all, I probably won't change Cinnamon Book into a fashion/make-up/polish blog as I don't feel too competent for something like that, and I guess I have not turned that commercial. Or well... let's first see how nice I will learn to apply polishes; at the moment I cannot even take good pictures of swatches. I dare to say I have got better with eyeshadows, but that would be another story. ;)

NEW YEAR, NEW TRIP

First of all, I should wish all dear friends and fellow bloggers HAPPY 2010! Lots of luck, love and such nice things. And for the bloggers only - lots of interesting posts! I might not be writing that regularly, but, believe me, I have become a constant and devoted reader of your writings.

A moose resting in Skansen - especially for Alcessa ;)

Again I spent Christmas here in Jyväskylä and it was really nice as we had so much snow. It is just perfect white winter, regardless -20 degrees Celsius; and it just keeps snowing. However, for the rest of the Christmas/New Year's holidays I got another chance to visit Sweden - the capital Stockholm, to be precise. My Slovenian friends had got some very cheap tickets from Klagenfurt, I had booked a ship from Turku harbor, and off we went.

Regardless the fact Sweden is just across the sea and Finland's neighbor, the actual trip from Jyväskylä to Stockholm takes much more than a flight from, for instance, Klagenfurt. 4 hours on a train to Turku, a whole night on the ship to Stockholm's harbor Tegelvikshamnen. I had a cabin on the ferry so at least I could sleep. I went to Stockholm once already, but that was with a group of exchange students. We had shitty cabins below the car deck and near the engine room; okay and good when one plans to drink all night and then sleep drunkenly for a few short hours. However, if the passenger wants to sleep as I do, and enjoy other things but drinking, then I would recommend a better cabin. Mine, for instance, had a window and so I was even able to see the shores of Åland during the night. Well, the reader must note that these big ferries sailing between Finland and Sweden are kind of big floating fun/drinking places, yet there are still some people that use the ship as a means of transport.

Runestone

And then Stockholm... this time, I stayed in the city much longer than during my first visit. Also, now I was in a cosy place with a bunch of friends. And yes, it was very cold, it was snowy and icy, we were sometimes walking too much and we were tired and our mood might had been bad sometimes, but still. It was time for visiting museums, for remnants of the Vikings, for runes carved in stones, for white squirrel with red eyes (a painting in Nationalmuseum). It was also time to see some modern art in Moderna Museet, like for example Dali, Warhol, Pollock and others. And it was also time to walk on the frozen Vallentuna lake in the sun while the snow was glittering all around.

Vallentuna lake

Finally, it was also time to do some shopping, but those details would destroy all the upper fairy tale. Anyway, I liked the city, regardless the winter cold and lots of tourists swarming in Gamla stan. Now when I am back to my everyday with the new Koirien Kalevala calendar for the year 2010 (the year in which I have to finish my MA thesis)... now I have realized that we had really some good time in Sweden and that also Stockholm can produce some special magic I am usually looking for when traveling to the cities abroad. Jep, it was nice.

P.S.: But Helsinki still has better metal bars! ;)

GREETINGS FROM JYVÄSKYLÄ

Sometimes I don't know why I've chosen this land. The weather in early winter is most of all gray, and so very heavy. No wonder that bears hibernate - I could also sleep for hours and hours. Yes, perhaps even days. It was snowing last week, now the snow has melted again, it's damp, it's also icy and so very very sleepy... Not to mention the fact that the darkness comes around 3pm, and this is not getting better until January; it'll only get worse now when December appears. And even when there is day light, kind of, it's gray... as someone would put a thick cloth over the only source of light left.

Sometimes I think that the life here is heavy, considering the climate. Why somebody moves to this climate, and then even decides to spend another winter here, I wonder. But still... I feel like staying.