Strangely positive and cheery

Like I mentioned just a few days ago in my Friday Inspiration post, I've always gotten pretty bummed as we start approaching winter. I love fall and always have loved it, but I used to always say that I love everything about fall, except the fact that winter comes after.

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Coming from a country as north as Finland, to me winters are freezing cold and insanely dark. None of that -2 degrees celsius, it's-a-tad-nippy-oh-well-I'll-wear-a-pretty-scarf kind of a cold. Oh no, I mean the There's-no-crying-in-baseball-winter-because-your-tears-will-literally-freeze kind of a cold. The kind where there's a bit of sunlight around lunch time, but it'll be gone before you know it.

Source: Uploaded by user via Beth on Pinterest

[Disclaimer: I'm from the south of Finland. So to a lot of others I'm just a whiny little city-kid who has no clue what cold is. So, there's always someone who has it worse/better depending on how you look at it]

Winters here in Montreal are quite similar to the ones in Helsinki. There might even be more snow here but to balance that off there's a bit more daylight. I always joke I moved south, which is absolutely true but people just tend to look at me like I'm nuts (which, consequently, is most likely true as well).

Source: Uploaded by user via Kristen on Pinterest

All this is to say that this year I'm not feeling the usual creeping feeling of... well... bumminess. Generally it's the kind of a vague feeling where you are not looking forward to what's coming up. Doesn't mean there's anything bad happening, but just one of those slightly blue feelings. Do you know what I'm talking about?

This year I'm feeling oddly expectant. Like winter is not half bad after all. It might just be my warm and cozy christmas mood that started extra early this year, but I am almost waiting for snow. It's very strange. I'm not quite sure what happened. Lt me give you an example how serious this is getting; I went to spend some time with my sister-in-law and my nephew on Friday and caught myself talking about buying skates. Me! Seriously?

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I've been thinking about this unusually positive mood and trying to figure out where it's coming from.

Some time ago, after talking to some people I now find extremely negative and bitter, I made a firm decision that I will not, under any circumstances become like them. I had caught myself making comments that could've been made by them and realized I am thinking like they are. I had to stop and rethink what kind of an outlook I want to have. And I decided being happy sounds like a pretty good idea.

So, that's what I did. Now, don't get me wrong, it's not like I just decided I'll be happy and nothing sucky ever happened again. This is an ongoing process and at times it's frustrating when life throws those curveballs at you. But I find that for the first time, with this approaching winter, I'm not feeling trepidation or vaguely down that winter is coming. I'm *hesitantly* excited. I sort of like this feeling.

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This post doesn't really have much rhyme or reason, merely some observations. I guess this feeling is equivalent to those who after months of hard work at the gym all of a sudden notice some of the changes they have been hoping for. I'm not at my goal, but all this work is at least starting to pay off. If you're a generally positive person, this all might sound odd to you, but to me this is a change. It's quite interesting.

My gut reaction is to apologize all this gushy happiness talk that doesn't sound much like the old me, but in the spirit of this post, I will not.

So, how are you feeling about the approaching winter?

On schedules, cultural differences and the summer

When I moved to Canada and started to get to know more people, one thing I always wondered about was the hectic schedules. There was always something going on. I mean always. Have to meet this person and another is coming to town, then there's a birthday party and a dinner date, not to mention weddings and then the associated showers.

Good luck planning to hang out over a weekend in the summer, you should book a month in advance. I was wondering about it and laughing a bit. Not in a mean kind of a way, just a bit puzzled. I can definitely confirm that Canadians are more social creatures than us Finns are. (well, I've only lived in Montreal, so maybe it's just the Montrealers. However, from the few Americans I know, they tend to be that way too, so maybe it's North Americans in general)

After living here for 6 years, I am slowly starting to realize that my calendar is getting more and more full as the summer approaches. Right now it looks like I have one free weekend a month for until September. And this is when there are some plans that don't have a set date yet, but will still happen in the next few months. I understand that as we get older, there will be more people in our lives and therefore more events to attend, a few more weddings and then a lot more birthday parties for the kids.

This weekend was no exception, but it was a good, efficient one. My friend, the bride-to-be, came over and we spent about 10 hours making things for her wedding. I love doing that, so it didn't seem like a chore at all. Then we went shopping for bridesmaids dresses. We found the dresses, made an initial order and even got the measurements taken. We attended a barbecue to meet people who we don't get to see that often. And to top it off, today's father's day in North-America (not so in Finland and quite a few other places... We have ours on November), so we'll go out for dinner with my father-in-law.

This has becoming a more regular occurrence recently (not those exact events, but several things going on over the same weekend). I'm not complaining about this, all of these have been a lot of fun and I feel so accomplished after a weekend like this, so please don't think I'm trying to sound dramatic. I'm just stopping to compare my summers to those I had when I still lived in Finland. I think the way people spend their free time is one of the big differences between my old and new home countries.

Have you lived in two or more countries or visited for a longer time? Have you experienced this?

Photos in this post are random snippets from the weekend so far.

Getting ready

I think it's time to take a few moments to really think about what needs to get done in the next couple of weeks. I have about a million things to do and I tend to get a tad overwhelmed in situations like these. I know there's so much to do and that alone makes it hard for me to get started. Good news is that I know what to do about it...

So, I'm taking a bit of a break from it all and try to get my thoughts together.

The craft show is in less than two weeks. I have some products ready, but I need to make many more. I also need to figure out my table set up. These things could be broken out into a ton of smaller tasks, which I know I need to do to be efficient. Right now though, I'm just thinking about larger concepts.

I think I need a to-do list to keep track of everything. Mine are always categorized by large task and then broken into smaller ones, it helps me too see things clearer in larger concepts.

Do you keep to-do lists? If so, do you have a system? Do you have any tips for me?

Photos are of the newest notebooks I've made, these are going to be on sale at the Puces Pop craft show.

Lock it up

I've walked past this window several times. I noticed there are locks attached to the front of it, but never looked at them in too much detail.

How adorable are these? There's probably around 15 of them on this one window. It just makes me think what other cute things I might have missed. It definitely helps to notice these things when carrying the camera around. Double benefits while trying to learn how to take better photos.

Are there any unexpected treasures around your neighbourhood?

The Glebe

In the series "things I never knew until I bumped into them", there's a part of town in Ottawa called the Glebe. I ended up there last Sunday and thoroughly enjoyed it. It doesn't seem like very large area, but it was very picturesque.

We had brunch at Von's Bistro. A cute little restaurant with funky decor. If you're in the neighbourhood, I recommend walking around for a bit. There were some very cute shops, restaurants and quaint little buildings.

Have you been to the Glebe?

Shoe love

Here they are, lined up and ready to go. I'm still not feeling 100% well, but getting better. I'm trying to at least get something off my massive to do list. So, this is it.

These are the ones I had upstairs. See, I did not include any flats. 

Ok, I didn't just take out my shoes and line them up. There's a purpose for this. I've been wanting to do some reorganizing in the entryway for a while, so we finally got a move on. This is step 1, so there's more to come. I'm really, really happy with the outcome already. I'll share more details later.

I'm going to go make some brunch and take it easy. Because that's what you're supposed to do on Sundays.

New photos

Remember when I was talking about buying a new lens for my camera a few weeks ago? I did quite a bit more research and finally decided to go for it. I finally received the lens on Friday and been trying it out a bit. I've been busy this weekend, so I've only had time for a few shots, but so far it seems good.

This is an unedited photo of George (and my hand). I really needed on for product photos for the shops ( here and here), but would love to get better at portraits as well. So far, it seems that this is performing well on both accounts. I'll definitely do some more testing. Hopefully I'll learn a few things along the way too!

In your opinion, what's the one thing everyone should know about taking good photos?

Eat or be eaten

It was a lazy day in the vast savannah, until, unexpectedly the ferocious hunter, George hears the tell-tale sound of his sworn enemy... The Vacuum has returned!

All he can do is to resume position to defend the fort and his little buddy and wait for the imminent attack.

(in other words it's been a pretty lazy day)

Lovely Sunday

This week I've turned a year older (and wiser, right?), had some great meals and generally had some fun times. Oh! And it looks like spring. I am tentatively hopeful about this. Perhaps we've seen the last of the winter for now. I hope. I try not to get my hopes up too much, but it's looking really good. See:

I just have to go outside... Actually that's just an excuse. I am thinking about all the clothes I need and I saw a few nice things when I was waiting for my hair appointment. I really just want to go see if they are as nice on me as they were on the hanger (usually the answer to that is no). I also got a gift card from my in-laws for my birthday. I might have to go spend that...

On a side note... I am doing a lot of crafts and DIY type things. I know there's been a surge of clothes/fashion/accessories type posts recently, but there are a lot of other things going on too. Now, I've worked on some custom orders, which I really will keep between the customer and myself, but there's a few other things too. I've been testing the waters with some awesome paper tape and I've been testing out a lot of wedding related items. I promise there will be more on that soon.

Oh! Also a sneak peek of wedding invites from Portugal! One of my lovely customers sent me some photos, along with a permission to share the images of the invites with you.

How has your week been?

Lovely Sunday

This has been an amazing week. The biggest news is that I finally reached 200 Etsy sales this morning! I'm doing a little happy dance right now!

I have also come up with new items for my product line. It was definitely one of those "why didn't I think of this before" moments! So, I spent about two days making new things and experimenting with the new items. I am so happy with how they turned out! I've been making small favour bags our of old book pages. I'm using the maps from an old encyclopedia as well as pages from children's books. I think these would be absolutely amazing for wedding favours, bridal and baby showers or even a birthday party.

I've also been in contact with some absolutely wonderful customers, making special orders for them. It's definitely getting close to the wedding season... I just love doing custom orders, they are a blast!

It's been a good week outside of the business as well! I've spent time with friends, went bowling (again!) and had a nice dinner both on Friday and Saturday nights. On Friday I went to a South American restaurant where I had a great dinner with guacamole (guacamole makes everything so much better) and Saturday I went for Chinese food with my in-laws.

I'm already excited for next week! I have a lot of things to make for a few weddings and I have some really cool new ideas I want to try out! I'll keep you posted on what I'm making next!

So, how has your week been?

Lovely Sunday

(They all are lovely, not joking) It's time for the weekly recap. Positivity and all that...

The whole week got off to a good start with an interesting meeting on Monday. I took 4 buses to get there and back, but it was worth it. I saw some new parts of the city and some interesting shops I'll need to go back to.

I made some new items for the shop and listed new materials. And, I made some more good sales, which always puts me in such a good mood. I've worked with a few more brides and made them some envelope seals and embellishments for their invites. I love making custom orders, not to mention my regular sales.

I did go walk around downtown on Friday, where I was able to replenish my makeup stores and got some really neat stuff on top of the ones I bought. (My purchases above)

These are the items from the free gift you get with your purchase, I wrote about it here. Besides these I also got a blush (the makeup item, not the somewhat embarrassing redness of the face) and a lipgloss from Amy. I told you she's awesome. Seriously, go see her!

Chris and I also went to Chinatown for dinner, which is always great! There's so much food you get another meal in leftovers. I really, really enjoy Chinese food. We also dropped by a Chinese bakery, which means we've had stuffed pastries for lunch on Saturday and today.

I also started planning a trip to Toronto soon, talked at length about blogging, send a lot of mail and fixed the curtains. Let's not forget my culinary genius with cilantro pesto and my first DIY tutorial. I did a lot of cleaning and organizing on Saturday, which means I'm almost done going through all of my crafts supplies. I have a few photos and another easy DIY lined up for next week.

How's that for a great week?!

Lovely Sunday

Another great week has gone by. It was the first one in a while where I missed a daily post, but I felt it was for a good reason. I never actually thought I would write daily, nor did I ever make that decision consciously. It just seems like I have a lot to say (or write, but you get the point).

The most time consuming activity this week was revamping the materials store. Once the idea came to me, I packaged practically everything and re-shot most of the photos. I'm still very excited about how the shop looks like now (click HERE to see it if you're curious). I also kept busy making new things, which is always so much fun!

This week I also celebrated my 2 years on Etsy! The time has gone by so fast. I still remember how nervous I was at first! I started my first Etsy sale to celebrate the occasion. Additionally, I made some sales which still makes me happy every time.

Today's picture is a pseudo-artistic nature photo, a.k.a "that's a cool snowflake, as a blogger I should take a photo of it and then post it and it'll be awesome and stuff"

In other news... (man, this feels like I'm reporting my weekly activities. Which, I guess, I sort of am) I was contacted by some awesome people bringing some rather interesting suggestions and proposals. Twice! In one week! Those contacts made me excited and looking forward to next week.

I also reconnected with someone I haven't spoken to in a while and kept in contact with those I do talk to more often. I bumped into people I like and made plans to meet up soon. I've also kept up with eating healthier and exercising more. I don't believe in diets, but I realized this week I've lost a few pounds in the last month. I can feel how my clothes fit differently.

Speaking of clothes, I went shopping this week too. I haven't done that in a long while (unless you count the snow pants, which, I've decided, you don't. Snow pants aren't really clothes). I've been proud of my self-constraint in this regard. However, I made some really great finds!

How has your week been?

Another wonderful week

Bored of the positiveness yet? Well, I'm not! As those who know me personally can attest, I'm not necessarily the most positive person in the world (I like to say realistic, but that differs depending who you ask), but I am also a firm believer that positive thinking yields positive results. So, once again, I want to keep that attitude going and think about all the great things that happened this week!

I started the week at the "cabin" we rented. (still in quotation marks, should be a mansion) It was a lot of fun spending that time with friends, regardless of my feelings about cross country skiing. I started working on the pocket sized notebooks and absolutely love them! I took one to immediate use myself.

I had dinner and a few pints at McKibbin's Irish Pub on Friday with former co-workers, who I now consider friends. It was a fun evening of catching up. New plans were made to make sure we meet up more often. Saturday night we attended a birthday party and ended up at the Burgundy Lion, an English Pub. (See a pattern here? If I could choose, I'd only go to pubs) It was another wonderful night.

Besides all this, I've worked on my Etsy shops, found some wonderful ideas and inspiring photos online. I also got some custom orders from my wonderful clients and once again felt extremely lucky to be able to work on something I truly love, crafting! All the wonderful inspiration I found will show up here in my blog in one way or another. More on those later!

To top the week off, we're soon heading out to my in-laws to enjoy, what I know will be, an incredible amount of food in celebration for Chinese new year. I also get to drop by Ikea (that craft space organizing project is still going on) and check out my favourite thrift stores close to my in-laws place. Keeping my fingers crossed for some awesome finds.

All in all, another successful week. And (as overtly positive this sounds to me), I'm looking forward to next week!

So, how has your week been?

Lovely Sunday

Stop and smell the coffee (I can't say flowers as I'm notoriously bad at keeping plants alive). I tend to stress too much, so it's time to think about nice things. Today is a good day.

I got to enjoy my coffee while looking through my latest finds. Beautiful books about various topics. Halley's comet. Beautiful flowers. Funny animals. I sat down and browsed through the books and thought about what to make out of them. This time though, I didn't just think about it, I also started making.

I got to see friends who are moving to Europe. I also found some wonderfully inspirational photos of work spaces and beautiful homes. I Pinned quite a few for future inspiration and was happy to see others liked them too.

Photo via Pinterest

I have a number of orders to finish packing and a few custom orders to finalize. I have awesome customers.

The light outside is beautiful even if it's cold outside. I'm glad I bought that vintage jacket all those years ago. Keeps me warm.

All in all a pretty good day.