Everything s blooming n nice, but...

SPRING (in Swedish means RUN)
 
Guys, the weather here lately has been amazing. Sunshine and 20 degrees C has become part of the daily routine. Trees and flowers woke up. This for me, looks more like Summer than Spring. But (and yes, there is always a but, isn't there?) London didn't get enough rain for the last two years, meaning London is in drought. Watering of lawns and gardens is restricted, for example... That makes you appreciate the rainy days too, which we didn't see much of lately... Read about London in drought.















BRIGHTON

We made a one-day-trip to Brighton, in the perfect springish weather. Being brought up on the coastside of Finland I do somehow feel connected to the sea... I used to spend most of the days inside the water summertimes as a kid, swimming like a fish. I miss all of that, and hope to get a chance to enjoy swimming this summer too. I could live on the beach! Which just made Brighton my number one place to chill this summer.

HILLSONG CHURCH OF LONDON

 http://www.hillsong.co.uk/

I visited Hillsong church of London a couple of times, and wish to keep going. It's located inside the Dominion theatre at Tottenham court rd. If you got some spare time (sundays) visiting London, go check it out. It's central and easy to find! 

Oh and as some of you already know, I'll be visiting Finland this weekend. Lift off tomorrow morning! Looking forward to it, and can't wait to be among you adorable people.

XxXx

 

STILL ALIVE AND BREATHING

Hiya lovers n haters, you thought you got rid of me?
Na-aa let me tell you one thing, it doesn't happen that easily.

 I didn't write for sometime now, and I don't know but...somehow I found myself becoming busy. It's just like time moves faster here. I started working on some book projects, which I hope to finish asap. The first one will be an imagebook about my illustrations and paintings.

To the Finnish and Swedish readers, hang in there! The snow WILL melt and the spring WILL come, it did every year sofar. Hang in there! Cos when it comes you'll see it was worth waiting for... Spring arrived to London now. Man... it's beautiful n lovely. Might I say SPLENDID. Sunshine, warm, flowers n trees waking up. We started to spend most of the days outdoors now.

Hmmm... so what have I been up to? I had my beloved sisters over for a weekend. They came with some news that I defenetly didn't expect!!! Thank God it was a positive surprise. :)

 We did some sightseeing, went to TATE modern museum, my favourite surprise was Jenny Holzer, I didn't know they have her work there. Our last supper was at Jamie Oliver's restaurant Fifteen. The food was delicious, I'm tellin' ya! When you visit London, go there if you have time.

Oh, Thank you C for bringing my glasses, now I can see again. PS. That was some propper ni-iice hot chocolate. Probably the world's biggest!

Now I'm off to work! Sorry but I didn't really have time to work with the text n images this time... I'm running late! I'll be back with other breaking news soonest.

XOXO

you know I love you

PRODUCTIVITY LEVEL ZERO

The sun has a weird way of cheering up one's mind and spirit... I'm sure I'm not the only one it works on. Jesus... I've just been a disaster this whole week. If I could measure my energy level, I'd prove it to be below 0... I can't figure out why, cos I'm not even feeling the flue anymore..? As a vegetarian I do eat my veggies... fruits... vitamins... so, why am I so tired?! Thank God for the sun, atleast something to easen up my heavy mind!

I didn't paint at all this week... The only creative things was doing some painting with the kids. Ah yeah, we made a snowman and a snow horse too. Yey, productivity at the max! I am very inspired, I just can't seem to find the energy for it. I just checked some stuff on online, keeping eyes open for nice deals. Like this one;





These are my favourites at this moment, LETRASET Promarkers... I also found them for a nice price at Cass Art, think they were under 5£ (pack of 4). 

I can't wait for the sun to bring some warmer days, for going outside to the park and waste the day away drawing.



Ahaa! We are out of coffeefilters, so I cut down on the coffeeside, can that just be it? Maybe partly. Well, anyhow, now I will go to sleep... Zzzzzzzzzzzz. Yes, at 20:25.

Nitenite... Resting for a better tomorrow.

Chelsea Vs Man U

"Finland, Finland, Finland, the country where I want to be..." ...?

Congratulations, Sauli Niinistö, 12th president of Finland, elected on 5.2 2012.

It's been some days since I wrote now. I managed to catch a flue and have been abit low on energy the last days.

Weekend: The Loop Bar, Dirty Martini, n then some place I can't even remember the name of...? anyways, the last place wasn't too great. The Loop was nice though, it was packed already after 7 in the evening... probably people coming in for an after-work-drink? Leaned back n not so poshy place, and right in the center, between Oxford Circus and Bond street.

 Then Saturday came along, with snow! Believe me girls and boys, I do love snow with all my heart, but I never seen people handeling it like this... They started canceling flights already before it started snowing. Now I'm talking about 10 cm of snow... Taxi's out of order, buses n trains delayed... People staying indoors. "When in Rome, do as the Romans" - we stayed indoors for the whole Saturday. For Sunday I was praying for no more snow, cos they might have cancelled the football match too.

No more snow, so the game was still on! Man U vs Chelsea 5.2 2012. was there... :)

Rooney in the center, scoring 2 goals during this game.

Chelsea football club was packed (about 50 000 ppl?), mostly Chelsea fans ofcourse... But Man U fans made sure they were heard anyway.
This match was a great experience, I was lucky to have the chance to go, and do hope for more opportunities!

Final score 3 - 3.


I was deadtired n out of energy, having a fever n sore throat. I got back to Kent after the game sometime passed 11, to find that the taxis in Kent still didn't start working. At that time I was missing "Finland, Finland, Finland..."






But then I got a ride, sucked it up n got over it. Life is interesting, n people are funny creatures.

How are you?

X

HAIRCUT OY!

I finally got my hair cut at The View!

Yes for smoothies for breakfast, as a fresh start of the day! Yum...
This one is with orange juice, greek yoghurt, berries, banana and some honey.

Here's another drink I discovered, Marley's mellow mood! All natural relaxation. "Reduces stress & relieves tension" Lightly carbonated herbal drink. Might cause drowsiness. hmmm... I didn't taste it yet though!



Guess what people, I've got 4 days off. How great isn't that?! I promise you I will enjoy it! The thing I mostly look forward too is Chelsea Vs Man United on Sunday. Rooney, please play, I'm coming to see you, ok?

Quote of today as a reminder; "Be careful who you open up to, some do care, but most are just curious."

Now's a good time to get started on some new pages in the artistbook. Have a good one, lovers n haters!

PARADISE

Var din egen väg

Självporträtt

 

Song of this week

BUSY DAYS SEEM SHORT

I went to the center this morning 'cos of the National Insurance interview booked at 11.20. I managed to get myself awake n out intime (on a Monday morning, not bad for being me) to have some spare hours to look around. A local dude recommended this shop, CASS ART LONDON, when I was asking for some supplies. I can't complain, it had everything I want and more - on 10th anniversary SALE. Nice!

I took a walk through China Town, where they still had the decorations from the Chinese New Year (23th January).

Finally... I headed towards northeast part of London, which for me was a new area. It's funny how u can take just a few tubestops, n walk out in a totally different surrounding. Like those what-ever-they-called-'em in Star Trek! Kinda funny. 

Anyways, this area is strongly Islamic. You can find the east London Mosque, Muslim center, London Islamic bank, n so on... Walking threw this area I reached destination Job Center, were me and a bunch of other foreigners were queueing to get our passports and papers checked. Then... queueing again to get the passports back. All n all I was waiting inline for about 2,5 hours... Well, now it's atleast done! Yey!

Aaah and guess what was waiting for me when I got back to Kent?! The letter from the bank with a bank-account number and a checkbook! Finally!!! So, on the bureaucratic part, this day was a success and a big stress relief. I will go to sleep hyvällä mielellä today. Who's commercial in the Finnish TV had that slogan ? "blablablablaa.... Wake up happy!"...? To end this day I took the boys to the playground, had some nice dinner n finally time to relax. Today felt like...1 hour. A very busy 1 hour....

X

CREATIVITY, NOT DESTRUCTION

 

The garden of Adam // 29/01/2012

There goes yet another week -- all n all no complains! This sunday is for relaxing, painting, drawing... Peace and quiet; I'm loving it. Time to empty every thought from my mind n just lean back. No pressure, no expectations, no meetings, away from the crowded streets and the heavy traffic.

"...for a safer London..."

I was out in Shepherd's Bush the other day (it's the same area as were u can find one of the westfield shopping centers). We managed to find a nice karaokebar, heh.. with extremely talented singers, and as always also some.....not so talented. You know, the ones you feel embaressed for... I hate that feeling.

As I wrote earlier, I have that kind of  "it will all work out somehow"-mentality... I tend not to worry. Sometimes though, it's a good reminder to keep yourself aware of your environment. For those two days this week, in S. Bush, two policemen warned me about getting robbed, in different occations. "Dont answer your phone in this area unless it's an emergancy", "please keep a good hold of your handbag". Though I didn't see anything bad, other than a few drunk people (which I'm more than used to in Kokkola too) I suppose it's a rough area. I don't mind though. I really do look forward to finding my way to Brixton too, something about rough unglamorous places fascinates me...

 

Going-to-bed-song of yesterday.

You people crossed 1000 blogviews, in one month... Cheers for reading, sweeties!

X

THE EAGLE HAS LANDED

Another day, another drawing.

 The weekend is one more time gone, and a new week kicked off. I had the pleasure of meeting new nice people again. We made the second round around Westfield shopping center, had some dinner, went to get ready for going out and finally hit the streets and ended up in Club bond ; a glamorous and poshy place in the center of London. Coctails for 15 £... entrance 20 £.... We were lucky to be on the guestlist. London nights can be great laughs and a loads of fun, but it can also be extremely expensive.

I'm sad to say I missed the London Art Fair which was planned for sunday, simply because I didnt have the power to go after that night out... 

It's easy to meet new people here when you are new, I think... Like today for example, I was in the playground with the kids, n met a sweet girl who lives just two blocks from me; we started talking n got along - now we are heading to Bromley together some of the next matching free days. I didn't go there yet, so I'm glad to get company to go with!

Somehow I'm starting to get used to the idea of living here. Life can be good, we better enjoy it while it lasts, right? The eagle has landed.

X

BRITONS

Words to remember when visiting the UK

• Thank you
• Excuse me
• Please
• Sorry
• Cheers
• Pardon

...do remember to put atleast one of them into every sentence, and you will be alright. If you manage to combine them all in one, you might even make a good impression.

Brits are extremely polite in their speech, which I do find kinda nice. I'm doing my best to keep up! Except for when I'm exhausted and the true Finnish way of not speaking to anyone shines threw. Like the other day... I was walking along the sideway minding my own business far away in the world of my own thoughts. I didn't even notice one woman giving me way, and she did give me a reminder of that a thank you would have been good. M-hm! L&L - Look and Learn. I go along with the motto; Treat people the way they treat you.

 

Now off for new inspiration from London's saturday cityrush. The nicest thing is you never know what the day might bring you! Laters, near n dear ones!

X

BITE ME. PLS.

Bite me. Illustrated.

My dear sister warned me about opening a bank account in the UK. I usually don't care enough and go with the "it'll work out somehow"-attitude. Well today I went to 4 different banks n still don't have an account. Some of them wanted to wait for me to have a national insurance... I'm just saying..... COME ON? What has that got to do with the bank. F-ing Nada. Talk about overprotected. What do they think I'll do? Jesus.

So, now I'm waiting one week for them to check threw my papers and information, to see if they might be in a good mood of giving me an account?

Cross your fingers, n wish me luck.

RAUTAROUVA AND HEVOSVOIMAA

Rautarouva!

 I happened to see the movie Iron Lady in the cinema in Westfield (thanks, it was really a nice place, but the movie? Not worth the 105 min of our precious time alive). I just checked it out on IMDb and saw the Finnish translation -> RAUTAROUVA!  Hahaa, Finland, without irony, I'm loving it. It's all in the details!

Westfield is one of the biggest shoppingcenters in Europe (second biggest?), I was too tired to enjoy at the time being, but will be heading there soonest, again.



Today we made a fieldtrip to Sevenoaks to see a dear friend of the family, which also happens to be... a horse!; a beautiful and calm one.
All n all, it's been a great week and I can't believe it's already friday again tomorrow!

Btw, we were back to +12 degrees again today, there goes the winterjacket!

X

DAYS FLY BY

Since I arrived two weeks ago (2? Gosh... days fly by) the temperature has been about 8 to 11 degrees, but now it's sinking - Oh no! Minus degrees today, I guess I will be needing my winterjacket after all. We went to the park today, me and the boys, and discovered RIMFROST! They were amazed indeed, since I suppose it's not that often you get that in London (?).

The marvellous weekend passed n a new week's here. I still feel inspired; I actually did since I arrived here. Inspired to create. There's something about the enviroment and the people around me. Though the decision to move here was one of the hardest so far, I still didn't have even one moment of regreting it.

I do appreciate the food I get here too, God... Look n learn, look n learn. Life's good, brothers n sisters!

X

LA FAMILIA

"Guard", J and my sister. 

The guard seems to be distracted by....something?

Cool Britannia; Sir Jackson and Mr. Britannia. 

Thursday came along. Though I got into the holidaymood after wednesday's toursitround, I woke up for work in the morning, had a short day n got the chance to head back to the center to spend some last hours with La familia.  Boy-iltavilli did a good job spending his last energy checking out things n places like Cool Britannia at Piccadilly circus, with America's got talent's Jackson imitator, I'll add a video of him later on.

Boy Iltavilli and me in the tube

 This boy never stops to amaze me with his good heart n great spirit. We figured out that they DO have good food in London, n it is eatable.  After some walking around here n there we decided to go back to La familia's hotell, since the boys were getting tired. Boy-iltavilli was nice enough to invite me to join him and the others on the tube. http://charlottasophia.blogspot.com/2011/12/five-dos-and-donts.html Fifth DO-rule, Let others good actions give you energy.

I'll add our music videos later on too. Brilliant, I'm telling you. Unfortunatly we had to say our goodbyes later on, since they left earlier today. I told them to start expecting my Finland-visit when they r brave enough to swim in the sea at Moffa's cottage this incoming summer... <3

Snusmumriken saknar mumintrollet minst lika mycket som mumintrollet saknar snusmumriken, men när första vårdagen är här kommer han tillbaka, för Snusmumriken kommer alltid tillbaka.

X

BEEN THERE

Wednesday for sure was a blast! Spent the whole day walking around with Sis' avec the greatest family, til all of our feet were aching enough to call it a day. I'm blessed to have these people in my life.

I took a morningwalk along the Mall street, passing places like Buckingham palace, moving towards Natural History Museum where I finally found these guys on the photos. We spent some time checkin out Dinosaurs, skeletons n all the rest, checked out some birdiebirdies n had a snack. Later on we took a walk threw Hyde Park. By chance we also passed the Finnish Embassy, where I should show up for the Finish President election tomorrow, saturday.

After this we did some shopping in cute boutiques in Notting Hill which made us hungry enough to enjoy some mexican tex-mex food! I'm happy to say I did find the art supplies I was looking for at a shop in Notting hill, called The Art! Cheers n a great thank you for that. Started on filling my first page in the train back later on. Yay!

WEDNESDAY - TOURIST DAY

I just got of the phone with my sister who currently is in London with her family, including K, I and J. I am truly lucky to get visitors of best kind already! Had a short talk with them, got a "Go' natt, Lotta!" from I, and set a date for tomorrow morning. Meeting point; Natural History Museum to check out...wait for it....waaaaait for it..... DINOSAURS! I'm wondering how 3-year old I. can sleep tonight. He sounded happy on the phone though, good to hear! Notting Hill could be nice for tomorrow too... All thanks to my hosts who gave me the day of to be a true turist. I should get a vyölaukku for occasions like this. There are actually ppl wearing that around here, believe it or not.

New fresh start, all pages blank waiting to get filled.
Can't wait to get started.

Another thing on the checklist tomorrow would be to find some good art supplies... Got some tips where to search for it, and I'm truly hoping I can find what I need tomorrow. Some fineliners, brushes and a A4 blank-paged book atleast. I do need to get started on some sketches n graphics.

Anyways................These days have just been rolling ahead. I'm kinda getting used to the ways of life around here, since I even learned to look to the right side of the street when crossing. Something to write home about, huh?


All n all, I'm inspired... And I am glad to see there r people reading this blog, you crossed 500 views today. Cheers for that!

x

RUSSIAN...? SERIOUSLY!?!

So... this weekend's almost over. After all running around being social as a dog, and a turist as a newbie, I'm exhausted and will spend this day in bed. Basically what I did was walking here n there,for hours, trying to get some feeling about how to move around.
Places checked of the Touristlist yesterday; Trafalgar square, Piccadilly circus, London Bridge, China Town.
I'm a brilliant turist, am I not? ha. Though I must say, walking threw Piccadilly circus on a saturday afternoon was the biggest mistake I made sofar. Jesus Christ the amont of people.....................just imagine having a panic attack in a place like that. Gosh. No f-ing way out... The only reason why I walked threw it was 'cos I wanted to get to Abercrombie & Fitch which is one street up, but I could have done it some other day. Well, that is now registered n will be remembered; piccadilly saturdays - bad idea.

On my way to the trainstation... creepy in some weird nice way. There are loads of squirrels in there! And pikkulintuja a.k.a. birdiebirdies.

Blair witch? ..............no..!!! why did I think of that now?  next time I'll be scared!

I should get the boring stuff done too.... Meaning, fixing a bank account (which they made abit complecated for non-Brits), and apply for a National Insurance...

One thing that do annoy me half way to maximum, is people asking if I'm Russian. No offence to Russian women, but.... Seriously?!? I got that comment a couple of times now. I just dont see it. Another thing is, some think my accent is funny, but my natural answer is, really? u think mine is funny, huh? you should here your accent with my ears. British accent is kinda cute, though. And, considering english is my third language I would say I'm doing ok, wouldn't worry about it.

Moviesuggestions for a day in the bad is appreciated. What's your favorite movie?