i've got that wanderlust

Uh, I never even realized that it's almost been a week since my last post.. Anyway, I saw this post of Krysten's and thought I'd give it a go:-) A wee while ago my sister asked me if I wanted to go to Lille&Brussels with her around May. Despite the fact that I really can't afford it (and she even less!), I obviously want to go. So while I try to make up my mind between being a fun person and being the sensible, responsible adult, I thought these travel questions would be fun to answer. I'd also love to hear your responses!

1. Your most treasured passport stamp? I only have stamps from Tallinn. When I first got my passport almost 10 years ago (eee!), I tried to ask for stamps whilst travelling but it's pretty much impossible these days! Or maybe you can get them once you travel out of Europe, which I haven't done?

Marina di Camerota, Italy, 2006

2. Can you recite your passport number from memory if asked? No? Is that even a thing, I mean can anyone?

3. Preferred method of travel: Plane, train, or automobile? I love all of them. Though, travelling in an automobile can get annoying depending on the company (possibly even without depending on the company) and even though I love flying I usually get a migraine while waiting at the airport, so I'll choose train. Especially if there's a sleeping car, I sleep so well on trains!

4. Top three travel items? I honestly don't think I have things that I always have with me, depends on where I'm going and why. But I suppose, passport, food and a book (or 5).

Finland, 2012

5. Hostel or hotel? I'd say I prefer hotels in a way, but rarely go because price-wise I prefer hostels.

6. Are you a repeat visitor, or do you prefer to explore new places? Exploring all the new places! Though there's always places you want to revisit, too.

7. Do you read up on your destination, or do you wing it? I usually do read a lot about the place I'm going to, but only for fun and not to make definite plans. So if I find something I'd absolutely love to see, I'll know it beforehand instead of finding out about it once I'm back home. But because I don't have an hour-to-hour itinerary, I can end up doing whatever.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, 2014

8. Favorite travel website? I don't have one. Well, kind of this one.

9. Where would you recommend a friend to visit, and why? Usually when people ask what Finland's like I just say "it's orite". But I suppose I would actually recommend visiting my lil' homeboy, especially Lapland. After all, it is almost an exotic place for most people, and there is a lot of things you don't see elsewhere. And if one likes snow, there's a lot of it in the winter.

10. You're leaving tomorrow and money is no option; where are you going? Going back to #8, I'd go on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express from Paris to Istanbul. You have no idea how exited I am about this, even when I know it most likely will never happen. It'd be ~£6000 per person for 6 days. And it'd be so worth it. You get to see all of the places, you travel in the most beautiful old-fashioned train, you get all of the food, most people dress in 20's fashion or in their Sunday best anyway, and you get to fulfill all of your Agatha Christie/Hercule Poirot obsessions. I mean, if you wanted to, you could have a murder mystery situation going on on the train. It's just all I've ever wanted in life.

baby pink and baby blue

Here's a few things I've been loving lately, and they all are pink&blue! The lipstick and wee bows are old, but they're also something I've taken to wearing again lately. I got the lipstick as a gift ages ago, and it's so tiny that you just have to love it for its cuteness. The colour, English Rose, is weirdly similar to my natural lip colour and the add of shimmer kind of makes it my go to spring lipstick.

All of the rings are recent purchases from Primark, and as I'm such a lil' rebel I do actually mix them up and wear them together, even though they're gold and silver. Shocking, I know. I also ran out of letter writing paper, and ordered these two and I love them! It really is finest quality. I don't get to write letters as often as I'd like to, but now when I do I have the loveliest paper:-) Lastly, I've been using the wild rose hand cream from The Body Shop, which is really good. I used to be really neurotic about applying hand cream and I still get a bit panicky if I feel like the moisture balance in my hands isn't right and there's no hand cream/lotion/moisturizer/anything. I know it sounds strange, but it's a thing. Really. So, anyway, I do appreciate a good hand cream and this does the job for me. It also smells a little of my childhood. Surely I'm not the only one who used to make their own perfumes? Mixing up different ingredients from nature with water in little bowls and letting them infuse overnight was one of the most fun things I did during summers and even had little shops with my friends. Rose perfume was obviously my favourite and this hand cream reminds me of it. Oh, the memories.

thursday thoughts pt. 27

I like Wilkie Collins's books, and if I remember right this is from "The Woman in White". It may not be that inspirational or whatever you're looking for in a quote, but I really do like it!

the sun is shining, come on, get happy

Cardi - Grandma's old and made by her

Top - 2nd hand/Diy

Shorts - Primark

Scarf - Grandma's old

Shoes - New look

I really like spring. When asked what my favourite season is, I'll say summer, but that's not actually true. I like late spring and early autumn the best because the temperature is warm enough and as the seasons are changing the atmosphere is somehow different. And spring in Britain is kind of better than anywhere else. As soon as one can see the sun, there's people with practically no clothes outside. Having spent many a spring in Finland with its snowy Mays, the lack of snow is still one of the happiest spring realizations for me. Even though I've always liked spring, I never could really enjoy it in Finland. The sunshine reflecting from the snow is always so bright that every time I'd go out I'd get a headache or a migraine. So, that's not happening right about now, and it makes me happy that it's spring. Yay.

It also makes me happy to wear less clothes on a daily basis. My sense of cloth proportion in relation to the weather is quite poorly, which means that some days I still wear a cardi and a jacket and tights but some days I go out in only a dress. Honestly, if I'm too hot in today's outfit, my logic is to wear less the next day despite what the weather forecast is. How stupid is that? I'll probably catch a cold soon, but at least it's spring!

P.S. Have you guys seen the Veronica Mars movie? I've not been so happy about a film in such long time, and have been fangirling/obsessing about it so much! You can be sure that if you love Veronica Mars, I love you.

thursday thoughts pt. 26

This is me, all the time. I've done 1/3 of my essays that are due on Monday. I know I shouldn't be doing anything else but studying. Yet here I am blogging and re-watching my favourite TV-shows. It's a hard life, eh.

checked lace

Top - H&M

Cardi - Grandma's old

Jeans - Vero Moda

Cross necklace - Gift

You guys, I've been outside without a coat on and it is spring. I don't ken if it's the spring in the air or the fact that I'm avoiding a mile-high pile of uni work, but I do feel more motivated to blog than I usually do. It's more than likely that I won't post any more than usually or have more enjoyable content than usually. I'm just saying that at times you feel more like "ugh, I should maybe do something for le blog", like uploading stuff is more of a chore, and now I don't feel like that. You know.

Sort of related to my desire to focus more on blogging (and even more so to taking more photos and learning more about photography), I've been thinking of getting a new camera. My eyes have been on the Canon EOS 60D for a wee while, and I'd love to hear your opinions. What do you think of the 60D? What camera(s) do you use?

On a not-related-at-all note, my hair desperately needs a chop. It can be pulled behind my ears on  both sides, how come it always grows to be so long! And how many times can I say 'more' in one post? Many more than I should.

queen of hearts

Midi rings - Primark

Rings L to R - Topshop, gift, gift/SunKoru, gift

Earrings -  New look

Coat - Urban Outfitters

Dress - Primark

Shoes - New look

Bag - Sister's old/Marimekko

On my 9th birthday I had a fancy dress party, and I was the Queen of Hearts. I loved it and didn't hesitate to shout "Off with their heads!" if everything wasn't to my pleasing. I was actually such a lil' queen, haha. This has nothing to do with anything, but I thought I'd tell you anyway!

How unusual that pretty much everything I'm wearing is relatively new? I bought the heart print dress in the sales and I've been wearing it a lot. (I actually have the dress in three different prints, because how can you choose just one. I'm not even sure I realized it is the same actual dress, as I was concentrated on all the pretty prints..) Last year I never wore a winter coat, so to compensate I bought two this time.. It's definitely been too warm to wear this lately, but I'm glad I finally got around to taking pictures of it before letting it spend months in the closet. I can't even remember the last time I've owned a colourful winter coat, so having this blue one and the green one is an improvement:-) Also, I had to buy yet another pair of wintery shoes. These wee feckers never lasted and despite my attempts to glue them back together, I'm going to have to bin them. Guaranteed Primark quality, ha.. But I do actually like these floral tapestry ones better, so it's all good!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend♥!

liebster award

So, the loveliest Amy nominated me for the Liebster Award! I'm pretty sure you all know what it is, so am not going to go that much into it. But basically it's a wee award given to bloggers with less than 200 followers to help them get on in the vastness of le blogosphere. Here we go:

The Rules
 ♥ You must link back to the person who nominated you.
 ♥You must state 11 facts about yourself.
 ♥ You must answer the questions given to you.
 ♥ You must nominate 11 other bloggers and create 11 questions for them to answer.
 ♥ You cannot nominate the person who nominated you.
 ♥You must tell the nominees that you have nominated them.

11 facts about me
 ♥I am easily one of the most introverted people you'll ever meet. I often go for a week or so without really talking to anyone, and my flatmates will ask me where I've been when I've just been spending time alone, minding my own business.
 ♥I don't like bellybuttons. They're odd. Toes too, but mainly bellybuttons.
 ♥I moan a lot. But only about little things, like the weather or how much uni work I have, if something is actually serious or wrong in my life, I won't complain about it.
 ♥I get very nostalgic, both of my own past and past decades&eras in general.
 ♥My grandparents had a farm, which I loved and sometimes I wish I had chosen to follow in their footsteps.
 ♥I've never had a nightmare.
 ♥I love finding out when people like the same books, films, music and things as I do.
 ♥I have no idea what I want to do "when I grow up", and thus wish time would go slower so my final year at uni wouldn't start (and end) so soon!
 ♥I hate cutting my nails, which is why they're often (too) long. When I was wee my siblings would sometimes both have to hold me down so that my mum would get my fingernails cut. I'm not that bad anymore, but still don't like to do it.
 ♥My opinions/actions/personality traits often contradict radically.
 ♥I started drinking coffee when I was 3, and drank more of it when I was younger than I do now.

Q&A
 ♥Do you usually leave things till the last minute or are you pretty organised? Ugh, I don't know what to say.. Both? I'm organised in the way that I like to do lists etc. and I like living in an organised chaos where I know where everything is, but I do leave things to the last minute (far too often).
 ♥Do you think you have to be a creative person to have a blog? Not necessarily. Of course it helps, so you can have interesting content and create an appealing design for your blog. But I'm sure there's "uncreative" people with successful blogs too, because everyone will like different kinds of things to read about/look at.
 ♥What's the last film you watched and what did you think of it? "Grey Gardens". It's a documentary from 1975 about Big and Little Edie, and their life in their decaying mansion. It's kind of dispiriting, but really interesting at the same time. I thank Emma for making me aware of the document's existence and highly recommend you watch it!
 ♥What do your friends and family think of your blog? Most of them don't know about it! I've a few pals who started blogging after me that I've told about mine, and they seemed to react nicely to it, though.
 ♥Would you rather spend money on beauty products or clothing? Clothing.
 ♥Have you ever been in love? I don't think so. You always think you're in love when you like someone, but nope.
 ♥Why did you decide to start a blog? I loved reading other people's blogs, and in the end thought I'd give it a go myself!
 ♥What do you do when you're not blogging? (Work, college, school, etc.) I go to the University of Leeds and learn about stuff that's happened in the past.
 ♥Have any piercings or tattoos? Just my ears.
 ♥If you could have any super power what would you go for? It's a wee bit boring, but invisibility.
 ♥What is something that can instantly put you in a good mood? Food. Haha. Seriously though, food.

My Q's for You
 ♥If you now had to rename your blog, what would the new name be?
 ♥Is there a movie you're looking forward to being released, which&why?
 ♥The first blog(s) you started to read/follow?
 ♥If you could live in any fictional world (from books/films/&c.) which one would you choose?
 ♥What was your dream job when you were a lil' one?
 ♥If you had to choose between being successful&possibly rich in your lifetime and being recognized for your work/life after your death which would it be?
 ♥Do you have a signature meal or dish that you always make for yourself or serve to guests? Plus what is it/Can I have the recipe?
 ♥What is the strangest thing you've eaten?
 ♥Who would you want to be your celebrity sister/brother?
 ♥Where are you planning on going on holiday next, and if you aren't planning what's the one place you'd like to go right now?
 ♥Where do you draw the line between your private life and things you share on your blog (i.e. what would you never talk about on your blog)?


I Nominate
 ♥Jenna @ Scarlett and Giselle
 ♥Isabella @ Adventures in HEL
 ♥Nieszka @ Sparkle & Chic
 ♥Laura @ Smile at Style
 ♥Nicole @ Rose & Muse
 ♥Helen @ hels yeah
 ♥Ellie @ Elliementary, My Dear
 ♥his girl friday @ powder blue with polka dots (a hodgepodge)
 ♥Jes @ Naturally Jes
 ♥Jordyn @ Pretty Lovely
 ♥Johanna @ For angel's eyes

Jeezo, I had such a hard time coming up with blogs that don't have over 200 followers, apparently I don't read that many of them. (Does that say something awful about me as a person?) But some of the nominees are wee bloggers I've only just discovered (Hi!) and some I've been following/have followed me for a longer while. If you've done this already, don't worry, I won't be hunting you down if you don't do it:-) But I do look forward to reading your answers (and if ye want to you can answer or leave facts about yourself in the comments even if you are one of the popular kids)!

going back in time, pt. 8

Blazer&Shorts - H&M

Shoes - 2nd hand/Skopunkten

Scarf - Mama's old

Bag - Stolen off mama

I wish I could've recreated this outfit properly and gone to Edinburgh! Looking back at all these old outfits and posts has made me miss Scotland so much more than I usually do. Honestly, I think about going back so often. I mean, I'm glad of staying at Leeds and I love it, but I really do miss Edinburgh and love it (more).

Anyway, other than the bag, which is the one I gave to my mum, and the shoes, that I wore out in less than a year, everything else is still in good use! (Well, the bag is in good use too, but not by me. And it's as if we had done a bag swap with mama, as I now have hers, haha!) I think that the top I was wearing has either been sold or lost or thrown out. I'm not sure because I'm not too certain if I know which top I was wearing.. I used to wear this H&M blazer every day, but recently it has been replaced by the one that used to be my grandma's. I still wear this one occasionally, but the cut and the over-sizedness of the grandma blazer is something that I like better these days. And I even tried to recreate my weird grinny Chinese face, haha!

This is the last one of my "Going back in time" -posts. All in all, I don't think my style has changed too much. I prefer certain things that I perhaps didn't like so much a couple of years ago, but I still have most of the things I wore back then. (I kind of wish I could go on our old computer back at my mum's and do this again, but with outfits from ~7+ years ago. If I happen to go to Finland some time soon, I'll try and save them from the crashed ol' computer, who knows what gems I'll find. Honestly, I used to wear such weird&wonderful things. My brother's over-sized jeans, lacey slips, sweater vests...) What about you, could you see yourself in the same outfits that you wore a few years ago? Or dare you even think of those from 7-10 years ago?