Summer decorating (part one)

Hi,
Summer goes by so quickly I do hope we get an indian summer though!
Anyway I finally got round to paint my livingroom white. A job I had been putting off for a few years. But now I am very pleased with it and it invites me to find new things to put on the wall.
Here a picture of my small hall which opens up to the living room.

My sitting corner with pictures of the brilliant balletdancer Sylvie Guillem on the wall. The table belonged once to my mother. I painted it black for a dramatic effect. The bamboo chair was also painted by me and my mom made a cushion for it.
Sorry for the dark picture, but this is the view from my bedroom. I love the smell of lavendel!
This is the dining area. I received the table from a dad's friend, the chairs I got from my dad. At the back a painting my parents gave me when they got divorced.
Some plants at the window and I love the Laura Ashley lamp. If you look carefully my curtains are actually blankets from IKEA.
I painted the kitchenwalls applegreen/ limegreen. In real life the colour looks better. It goes so well with the white kitchen. Basilicum and strawberries still going strong. The mintleaves are very small this year.
I will put some pictures of my bathroom, toilet and the study in a future blog. Oh and a view from my balcony!

Suomi - Finland

Terve,
As they say in Finland. Just back from one of my two native countries. I took the first picture when working on my tan at one of the beaches around Helsinki. I couldn't agree more. Sorry for all you Greece - fans, but for me it is way too hot in the summer, too touristic and too crowded.
The Finnish flag makes me emotional it means so much to me. Nature, trees, lakes, berries, blue skies and the sea.
Here I am enjoying the view on one of the thousand little islands around Helsinki. The sky is thick with smoke from Russian bushfires, you could even smell it, scary! Islandhopping on a little motorboat is just the max!
Nature is everywhere present and this horse reminded me of the fun I had as a teenager horsebackriding...
This little sparrow caught my attention with her little 'tjelp' how cute is that???!!!
Funny shadow of "Mannerheim" against Kiasma, the museum of modern art , the spell of the night!
Helsinki has a very distinctive architecture. I loooove to walk the streets up and down and marvel at the visioners who gave the city its look!
This picture is the summum of all Finland is to me in the summer; silence, nature, solitude, sun, fresh air, and lovely wooden houses.
As I lived my childhood years in Finland I do not see the place with the eyes of a tourist, to me it is ... home! Heippa!

sing singer!

I bought my very own sewing machine in the sales, a SINGER!
Now I am not depending on my mother's machine. I'll be able to sit in front of my singer when ever I feel like it ! The introduction was shortenign a long coat I have from Laura Ashley, veeeeeeery beautiful but a bit unpractical as it was ancle length.
So I put scissors in it and I let my new singer sing and voilà I have a nice practical jacket and two pieces of funky material to work with. Yes, I can!

summer update!

Granny squares, I'm hooked! I would like to crochet ANYwhere and ANYplace! Does someone know if you are allowed to crochet on the plane? Or is the hook considered a dangerous item? On Tuesday I'm leaving for 2 weeks to Finland, YES!!! Crocheting up high in the sky seems the max :-) oh the picture is of G squares for my pillow which is stained for ever by my darling nephew of 2and a half years!
My scarf with joyous colours is going strong. I do want to wrap it twice around my neck though, so still some knitting to do!
Hurray, my second attempt at growing an avocado plant seems to go well, will I have a green mini plant once back from Finland? Don't you just loooooove Alys Fowler with her avocado Alys? See youtube!She has definitely inspired me in more ways than gardening, I would love to have her wardrobe!!!
On the balcony (also a second try ) growing my own herbs seems promising. There is definitely something green arising from the dark soil in the left container(?) at the front are my sunflowers and at the back strawberries, which were delicious in my soyghurt! Oh did you notice the cutest watering can ever?! I looooooooooove summer YES I do!
ciao bellas!

a hot little red gem

I went to my local florist to get some soil and saw this little darling (not so little!) on a shelf all by herself!
The hot red pepper just cried out to me "rescue me, I want to come and live at your place"
I almost peed my pants with excitement and took the treasure home.
A grin from ear to ear I gave her a master place in my living room. Only to realize I do not have a pot big enough to put her in... Oh well, this means a second trip to the florist :D
I cannot eat hot food (tummy doesn't agree with me), but I have guests coming over, my brother and his wife they looooooooove the stuff. I cannot wait to see their faces when picking the red peppers and preparing a hot gazpacho maybe?! I'll keep you updated!

ps: I hope I can keep her alive until then... I still have to find my green fingers...

cheerio

Dear diary!

HELLO !

I'm back at last! Haven't forgotten about my blog nor other projects, somehow time just has passed with other stuff.
When I stopped to think about WHY I started a blog in the first place, it occurred to me I wanted to replace my diary.
My first ever diary was at the age of 9. My mother gave it to me as we left Finland for wider spaces and she wanted me to record our journey. What a brilliant idea !
Somewhat in awe I started on this huge yet exciting task writing our little or bigger adventures down.
My mother, me and my little brother left Finland forgood on 14th december 1977.
We headed to La Palma first, sun, sea and lovely food. After a week holidaying we flew to Barcelona and stayed in a lovely hacienda with tiny salamanders and later in a hotel down town.

In the foyer I was mystified by an exceptionally elegant older lady, very classy, very stylish, very chique, she made such an impression on me.
Everytime I saw her I would secretly observe her, the way she lit her cigarette holded between her skinny long fingers. How she closed her lips around her cigarette like it was something fragile. Then she blew the smoke very elegantly between her lips away without disturbing anyone else with her smoke. She fascinated me. The way she moved, the way she talked, the way she walked...
What struck me most was the look of loneliness she had over her. Everything about her shouted money and style, yet her eyes were lonely. Her smile was lonely. Solitude was what she breathed. I had mixed feelings. I would have liked to talk to her, I tried to make contact once like children do and I received a tired smile. But neither of us spoke each others language and that was that. I often wonder what has happened to her?

Back to my diary. After Barcelona we went by bus to Andorra where we stayed in a hotel and afterwards we lived in a chalet for 3 months or something.
Good memories of lazy days me wondering on the mountains, being followed by goats (favorite animals btw) playing games with my mom and brother, reading, going in the sauna, snow, ...
I wrote lots of stuff down. I even wrote my first "novel" :-)
Then we left for our final destination and ... I lost my little bag with my diary (and novel) in it ... I forgot it somewhere on a train? in a cab? ...
The devastation is still imprinted on my soul. I had grown to love it!
So over the years I 've written dozens of diaries. But as I have moved more than a dozen times in my live I haven't been able to keep them.
Around the millenium I started to make my "visionboard" collage on the front pages and last year it looked like this, see top picture. On new years day I cut out pictures and words out of magazines about things I would like to achieve that coming year. I make a collage and everytime I open my diary I am remembered of my goals and intentions.
It is funny how some of the items do materialize and some don't or later.
And now my intention is to make out of my blog a very public "diary " with thoughts and beliefs, adventures and pictures, trials and successes...
What kind of relation do you have with blogging or writing a diary?
kristina xo

Herbs and sunflowers

hi,

Mu mum bought me these starter kits (organic!) to grow my own herbs and sunflowers on my balcony!Bless her :-)
So I took them out and planted and watered the seeds ... I'm curious when I'll see something growing?! I also wonder if there is enough sun for the sunflowers? I've got sunlight only in the early morning hours at this side of my apartment.
Alys Fowler is my great inspiration at trying my hands at growing my own herbs. I love her books, they are so easy to read. I'm a novice on this department yet she makes it all very easy to understand. My earlier encounters with gardening books has been one of discouragement, once they start to talk the talk they have lost me.
So cool Alys makes it all very amusing and fun.
And now I wait with excitement :D

hi :-)
Here a picture of the coasters I crocheted. As a novice to crocheting I am very pleased with the results. I tried out a couple of techniques but I must say the crocheting language is still a bit of a mystery to me. So I learnt to finish my coaster once starting it as I was making my own desings in my head and lost count otherwise haha.
I need to find someone who can explain me the terms and how to interprete the abbreviations. At work there is a colleague who just recently was bitten by the crocheting bug yet she encountered the same problems. Now we are discussing maybe to start some kind of a knitting club?
Have a nice weekend, Kristina

WHAT do you eat?

hi folks,

I'm often asked "what do you eat?" and then I have to explain myself.

About 20 years ago I was diagnosed with lactose intolerance. Lactose is milkprotein derived from cow's milk ... it's a sweetener.
I remember as a youngster now and then having to vomit after drinking hot chocolate or feeling really lousy after eating cream, butter, ... suffering from headaches, fatigue and bloating... with the years the symptoms became more severe : the fatigueness seemed never to leave me and I had always diarrhea.
My social life suffered, my self-esteem suffered, my schoolresults suffered... but no one knew what was wrong with me.

Then my GP put me on different diets. Two diets immediately helped, eliminating wheat products and milkproducts. I wish it was that easy.
Have you ever read the small print on your food packages?
You should, half of it is not understandable if you haven't studied nutrition. And almost every product contains milk protein in some form; milk powder, milk sugar... and so I discovered lactose is almost in everything that goes in our mouth, check it out, crisps, ham, margarine, müesli, spaghettisauce, sports drinks ... even medications.

Since then I have been battling with food, a love-hate relationschip.
I have eliminated everything sometime in my life.
There was my vegetarian time, my vegan time, my wheatfree time, my soy-free time, and always my lactose-free time. Last year I realized I cannot digest eggs anymore. People got/get tired with me, what is it this time you are not eating? And then they ask me WHAT DO YOU EAT?

So the second picture at the top is a meal I prepared for myself inspired by lovely Elena Brower, an anusara yogateacher from US.
Most of the time I try to prepare meals with vegetables, legumes, potatoes, spelt, quinoa, rice, soy... This picture has sauerkraut, avocado, cucumber, beansprouts, pumpkin seeds... And after eating it I felt nourished and healthy.

One kitchen item has brought me a lot of delight and that is my MAGIMIX juicer. In a whink I juice green drinks from celery, cucumber, broccoli stems... (see my first entry 'a sunny day') or selfmade applejuice (see top picture)... absolutely delicious. I recommend a juicer to everyone ... especially if you feel like you have eaten too little vegetables lately, a green drink quickly fixes that.

I will tell you more about my foodadventures ( raw food) in coming blogs.

Bon appetit,
Kristina

New beginnings!

Hi,
Japanese lifestyle has always intrigued me. The way they speak, eat, live, dress, talk, walk... It is all very different to what I know.




Sometime ago I bought cd's to teach myself Japanese, and I do recognize Japanese when I hear it. Sometimes I even understand a word :-) So you can imagine how delighted I was when I found this little shop "HASHI" in my neighbourhood selling Japanese products but also they organised workshops.
The first workshop I followed, was about Japanese teaceremony. In the picture you see me and my sensei (=teacher) who approves of the green tea I prepared, which I had learnt to make only minutes before.
In December I followed a workshop about Japanese giftwrapping. (See picture, me standing).
Japanese never give unwrapped gifts, scarves are used instead of paper !
As I am interested in painting I also attended the SUMI-E workshop; that is Japanese inkpainting. First it felt very awkward as you hold the brush in a strange angle. On the picture you see me painting my first strokes just to get the feel of the ink and the brush.
Lastly I participated an IKEBANA class. I loved it! The Japanese have this brilliant approach of flowerarranging. I loved the end result. With a few flowers I had this amazing creation.
I have never visited Japan (= on my to do list, must-have-seen places) but I do feel like I have had a little taste of the culture already. So a big hurray for workshops and people who organize them.


Arigato,
Kristina

Alys Fowler is my hero!

Alys Fowler is my hero! She is the first person whose gardeningbooks make sense to me. I've got 'The Thrifty Gardener' and 'The Edible Garden' and I'm waiting for amazon to send me 'Garden Anywhere'.
When I read, browse and admire her books I also understand what she is all about.
I'm known for having murdered many a plant.
In my own defense the last couple of years the few plants I have, are thriving :D
The books I read in the past could have been written in Chinese as I just didn't see the big picture and it all seemed so complicated with all those weird names, products etc.
Now, I read her books out of pure pleasure and she inspires me.
I've decided I will move somewhere with a garden! But first I'll try some easier things she suggests.
Wonderful to see her in action on youtube as I missed her series on tv. She has a particular dress sense which underlines her character I think. She looks absolutely lovely. Easy to listen to as she has a very distinctive sound when talking. I love her dog :D
I'm curious about her husband, the books have his drawings, which I like very much.

Enough of my admiration of her!

Anyway I was inspired to try this (see picture) : to grow my own avocado-plant. For instructions see youtube 'avocado Alys'.
Except I'm not progressing very well, it has been like this for more than one week :-(
The only thing I notice is, the skin is getting a little bit slimey...
But I'm not discouraged or giving up, I'll try again after my next avocado :-)

Interested to try guacamole with silken tofu? I recommend it!
My guacamole looks like this:
one (or more) avocado('s)
1/3 or 1/2 silken tofu
garlic
salt and pepper
limejuice to taste
a few drops of good olive oil (extra vierge) = optional!
variations : add some drops of tabasco or a little bit of piment
let me know if you like it?

bye from 'avocado Kristina'

a mobile pouch

Hi,

Yesterday I got surprise visitors from Finland. A long lost friend I got in touch with through face book came by, we hadn't seen each other in 22 years! It is strange how with some people it seems like one only met yesterday, how easy it is to pick up a conversation.
A very happy meeting :-)

Last week I started to knit and crochet inspired by a blog I'm following, see link. I find Fay's blog delightful and inspiring and thought I used to do all those things, draw/make my own cards, making my own bags, jewelry, why have I stopped doing them ? ...
As a youngster I learnt to knit and crochet but didn't have much patience and the result showed it.
So last week I got some wool and needles, I lent some books from the library and started knitting and crocheting. Easy things first and I came up with this mobile pouch!
A friend of mine admired it today and I got an idea for her birthday present ;-) which is in August.
I crocheted two pieces one taller than the other, my mobile as my measurement, and then I crocheted the two pieces together.
My knitting project is a shawl for my cute nephew.
And my new crochet project is making a small table napkin for a friend's wedding early July.
Now I'm off to end my day with some yoga... I've got these wonderful DVD's by Elena Brower an anusara yoga teacher and one of these dvd's has an AM and PM yoga program. I find both very helpful after doing the PM series I'm ready for a good nights sleep.
Namaste!

a sunny day

Hi,

My blog will be about food and crafts and everything I'm interested in at the moment: reading, drawing, painting, yoga, ...
It is early days and I still have to find my way as a blogger.
Why "going green"? A few years ago I changed my lifestyle drastically as I became quite aware of the environment. I'm still in the process and try to become more ecofriendly.
I use only products from organic origine or at least I try to as much as possible.
My food is 75% organic. I've started to eat differently and one of my favorites is shiro miso soup with seaweed.
Many a day I start with a self made green drink.
So this blog is an account of my adventure of ecofabulous living :-)
I love nature and country style living but I've lived all my life in cities and therefor I try to bring the country in the city, does that make any sense? More to come ...