A day at the beach!

Oh sweet sunshine shining on me like this!

I hopped on my bike and drove to Munkkiniemi beach today! 

Had a salmon salad and some tea with milk&honey in the thermos, took a dip in the sea and had lunch! Aaahh, heavenly!

I like this beach a lot, it's small and cozy. Yesterday a bike trip to Mustikkamaa-beach took place, and that's also one of my favourites! I've decided now that we're in the city, we must explore ourselves a little more than usual. Our sweet Helsinki is such a fantastic summer city, there are lots of places worth visiting with a minor extra effort! Must be active, yes!

On my way back home I made a stop at the famous Tamminiementien Kahvila. It's as romantic and beautiful, bohemian and sleepy as always! A distinct Chekhovian atmosphere! 

The owner, the Russian lady with the big personality is still the same, and honestly, I think she's the spirit of the whole café! 

What would it be without her?! 

Also the damn cakes are still the same...managed to avoid having one, was sipping a delicious ice tea of the house instead, yummy!

Love this place! 

It's also perfect for August evenings with sunset, but those days are still ahead!

The café!

The weekend!

As the temperature kept on rising, the little band of ours took off again!

We headed to Jyväskylä where a full house, or a tent actually, was waiting for us! It was good, it was all very good, and we enjoyed loads!

I also met with a dear old friend, whom I hadn't seen since we both were 15 or something!

Oh, how time flies! 

But luckily it has no effect on us, right?! At least he was handsome as ever, such a warm encounter, took me instantly back to the days in the past! We definitely have to make this a habit!

Later in the evening we relaxed by eating and singing karaoke, haha! Beautiful!

Love my girls, soon we'll continue again, yay!

Hmmmm...!

Sweet summer rain!

Even the rain is atmospheric in the summer! 

This was Wednesday at the cottage, brave were the ones who went fishing nevertheless!

I love falling asleep to the sound of rain. Makes me feel like a child again! So sweet!

Breakfast in the backyard!

Once I got back to the city, I had a breakfast date in the backyard of our building with our neighbour and sweet, dear friend! It's a little piece of heaven in the middle of Töölö, as many backyards in Helsinki are. Beautiful roses are blooming at the moment, there were at least ten big peonies a week ago, and rhubarb too! Have to organize a BBQ soon, it's perfect for that as well!

We chatted, had tea, coffee, and surprise surprise: some sparkling too! Mmmmh! Good times, pretty, pretty summer!

My friend got us fresh strawberries straight from the marketplace!

There's a story about this beautiful relief in the brick wall of our yard: decades ago lots of artists and musicians were renting apartments in our building, and one artist in particular couldn't afford to pay the rent, so this relief was given in exchange. It's so beautiful, very delicate, I love watching it!

Summer work!

Last weekend we took a little road trip for the first summer festival gig! It was so much fun, full house, hot summer evening, and a sizzling atmosphere!

Doing concerts during summer is fabulous, everybody from the performers to the audience are relaxed and easy, just letting it flow, beautiful!

We'll get back in business this coming weekend, can't wait!! 

We spent a few days in town, now back at the summer cottage sleeping late and eating good! I made some pancakes, yummy with strawberries, oh!

Hugs, everyone!!

The finds!

I promised to introduce you to my finds from the trip, so here they are! Loads of black leather and gold, I love it! 

I'd been after the perfect small cross-body bag in black leather, and Zadig & Voltaire had it all along!! The snake-skin part was a bonus, it's cooool!!

The sunglasses, oh, my weakness! They're Emilio Pucci's with golden highlights!

Plus a patent leather wallet by Alexander McQueen...with studs! This was something I wasn't after but fell in love with, so what could I do?! 

The sales were crazy, really good stuff with excellent reductions. You NEVER find this combination, or anything even close to it here in Finland, never, nope, so I went full speed ahead!! Yikes!!

Home sweet home!

Good Morning from Töölö!

I came back Tuesday night and am so happy to be back home!

It's the best part of travelling!

Blessed are our clean air, excellent water, straight from the tap, the space and small amount of people! Phew!

Of course when you're running around all day the full tubes and the pollution starts to get to you, but I consider ourselves extremely lucky living here where there's space, and the air is clean. It never really bothered me before, and I used to travel back and forth all the time! Maybe it's me, I'm getting old!!

But sweet it truly is, London itself, everything it has to offer, and that's a lot!!

I still met my other dear friends, stayed with them and their cutest little girls for the two last days, so lovely!

But the best part was to come home to my love, my darling husband, who was here waiting for me, and who'd bought the most beautiful orchid!! We opend my bags together in the middle of the night and went through the souvenirs! It was romantic!

Now it's time to think about music, work, and summer gigs! We're about to leave for the first gig of this summer, a little road trip at the same time, wohoo! A holiday feels even better when there's some work in the middle of it!

Last pics from London follows:

The last day I went back to sweet Hampstead and this time treated myself with the famous crepe! With Belgian white chocolate!! Oh man, that was something alright! Luckily we live far away from this stand!

On my way to the airport...

...and back home!! Rye bread, salmon, dill and tuna, ah!

The orchid!

Husband's birthday, love, love, love him!!