How To Enjoy The Snow?

The street on a freezing day in Hämeenlinna

Most of you are aware of my excitement towards winter and snow. Can't really blame you as I'm starting to sound like a broken record. haha. Anyway, I have never considered winter as my favourite season because I find something positive in all of the season. However, at the moment I'm trying to enjoy the snowy winter to the fullest, especially because the weather forecast has been promising some rain for this week. If that came to reality, my heart would be saddened. Of course, there needs to be a time for the snow to melt away, but it's not yet. I haven't been able to enjoy the beautiful sparkly snowy days enough yet. So, what have I been doing to enjoy the winter?

1. Photographing 

Taking pictures is always great, especially when the weather is nice and the company great. During that specific day it was so cold outside that my fingers froze, but that was only a minor setback which was forgotten easily.

Picture credits to Matti

Vanajavesi -lake

2. Cross-country Skiing 

Yay! I've been able to enjoy cross-country skiing a bit, but I wish I could ski much more within this winter. I hope we get more snow soon and perfect temperatures to enjoy this lovely sport.

Ready to go cross-country skiing

3. Walking

I'm normally not a big fan of walking, but when the scenery is nice, then it's totally worth it.

4. Standing in the snowfall 

What could be better than to admire the snowfall outside, when it's happening in a shooting way in all its beauty?

5. Ice-skating

I hadn't been ice-skating for approximately 2-3 years, so it was about a time to go again. I've never been such a fan of ice-skating, but it is still something nice to do occasionally.

6. Ice-fishing

This was something totally unexpected - Tiia ice fishing, really?!?!? I'd say it was an experience, more positive than I may have thought. I can understand how some people can do it almost daily, because it may have a calming effect on people. It can create a mental state, where you can think about everything or decide not to think at all. I recommend you to try it out!

Picture credits to Matti

7. Looking through the window

Sometimes I find myself looking out from the window for a time period that feels short, but may actually be from the longer end.

Vanajavesi -lake

How have you been enjoying this season??

Liebster Award

In December I was nominated for Liebster Award by my lovely Estonian pen pal Liisu, check out her My love for letters -blog here. Thank you for the nomination! 

From my point of view these kinds of awards are nice because through them you can have some different content on your blog and write about something that you might not necessarily mention otherwise. There are multiple versions of the Liebster Award, but the main idea of all of them is to answer questions, create new questions and nominate other bloggers, which would hopefully lead to new followers and readers. 

The rules of the Liebster Award are: 

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and link back to his/her blog.
2. Answer the 11 questions which you got from your "nominator".
3. Name and link 11 blogs that will receive the Liebster Award from you. These blogs should have under 200 followers (not that strict, tho).
4. Write down 11 new questions for the bloggers you chose.

So let's start answering the given questions.

1. For how long have you been blogging? 

- I have been blogging since June 2012, so three and a half years already. Where did the time go? 

2. What are your favourite sports? 

- I have always been a fond of swimming, yet on the previous winters I have become more and more into cross-country skiing. 

3. Which country would you like to visit next? Why? 

- This is such a tough question because there are so many countries, which I would like to see. The answer also depends on whether or not I need to know that I could actually go there or not. I must say Switzerland, because I would love to see the natural beauty that it has to offer. On the other hand I have always wanted to see Iceland. I suppose those two are my main destinations within Europe at the moment.

4. What are your 3 favourite books of all time? 

- Honestly, I'm not much of a reader, so it is relatively difficult to point out any favourite books. I have read a nice series called ''Emily of New Moon'' by L. M. Montgomery, but can't really say if it's my favourite book or not. 

5. Are you usually late, early or right on time? 

- I try to be always early, because I absolutely hate being late. Of course, there's the negative side of waiting other people, who are either on time or late, but I have gotten used to it already. The main point is that I'm annoyed of myself if I'm something else than early. 

6. What kind of weather you like the most? 

- If we are talking about the current season, I really enjoy cold winter days when the sun is rising or setting and the sight is beautiful with sparkly snow. 

7. If you could travel in time, would you go to future or past and why? 

- Such a tricky question again, though I believe I would go to a happy moment in the past to relive it. I don't think it would be nice to know what is going to happen in the future. Life is for living! 

8. Write 3 interesting places to visit in your hometown. 

- I live in Hämeenlinna (Finland) and I would recommend you to visit 1) Häme castle (for its historical value), 2) Aulanko (for the natural beauty) and 3) Ahvenisto (more natural beauty), though I'm not sure if those are the most interesting places to see in Hämeenlinna.

9. What is your favourite holiday to celebrate? 

- CHRISTMAS (not for any religious our material reasons, tho)

10. What are you talented in? 

- I'd say that I'm good at organizing and planning things, though as a Finn I find it very difficult to compliment myself. haha. 

11. What are your plans for 2016? 

- I haven't made any list of things to do for this year, but I expect it to be an interesting year with new experiences. My expectations for 2016 include finding a thesis topic, graduating with a BBA-degree, working somewhere for the summer, spending lovely time at our summer cottages and traveling abroad. I'd still wish for unexpected moments to occur! 

And now it's my time to nominate you: Nay, Honey! I don't know who would be interested in taking part to this award, so I nominate anyone who is interested! Please let me know if you answer my questions!

My questions for you: 

1. What's your most valued memory from 2015? 
2. What do you miss the most from your childhood?
3. What's your current favourite song? Add a link.
4. Do you like spicy food? Why? Why not? 
5. What makes you bored?
6. Do you consider yourself as an old-fashioned person?
7. What's the best chocolate you have ever tasted? 
8. What do you consider as the three most beautiful things in the nature?
9. Your all time favourite spot in your country?
10. Do you like circus? 
11. Do you read your horoscope regularly? 

HAVE FUN! 

Blog's Future and Postcards (video)

It's time for a video again. Hope you like listening to it. :)

P.S. The video was filmed on Monday (Jan 11th), but I had such a problematic time uploading it and I'm so annoyed of the worsening quality during the uploading process. So, I had to upload it to Youtube and yeah, I hope it works now.

Where Did December Go?

Snow makes me happy!

Happy New Year to all of my dear readers! I wish you can memorize 2015 with happy thoughts and believe in the new year being as amazing if not better. However, if your previous year wasn't what you had hoped for, remember that 2016 is a new year - a year full of new experiences, new friends and amazing moments to be remembered forever. 

Vanaja Church while singing Christmas carols

I celebrated the change of the year very calmly at home with my mom. It was a different New Year's Eve because it was the first time (that I can remember) that we stayed at home. Every other time we have celebrated at my granny's in Hamina, but this time we couldn't go due to my work shift. That didn't matter too much because we were able to start the cross-country skiing season by skiing 10 km. Afterwards, we watched some fireworks and took a sauna ''to wash the previous year away'' as my grandpa used to say. 

New Year's wasn't the only difference in my December, which meant the month passing by extremely fast. The beginning of the month was spent focusing on my studies, visiting family friend's places and starting with the Christmas season work. After the autumn semester ended (Yay.), I had some more time to focus on meeting friends, to pay more attention to socializing and prepare for Christmas. Unfortunately, I couldn't evaluate so much time for correspondence, however, now I'm happy to say that I have only three letters waiting for to be replied; from Ilona (Latvia), Almante (Lithuania) and Christine (Austria). I'm sorry for the terrible delays, but I'm also happy of being able to catch up a bit with the letters. 

Christmas was celebrated with the dearest people in my life. It followed a similar pattern as previous years, therefore, I'll show my Christmas through pictures. Thank you for all the pretty postcards - I'm fond of postcards and Christmas, so they are more than welcome. 

The grave yard of Ahvenisto - lighting up a candle for the passed away relatives.

 HAPPY 2016!!