BITS OF BERLIN

Rather small bits as my trip this time mainly consisted on the way between our Air Bn'B flat and the venues, stops by the closest falafel (four in four days!) stand and sewing for and reharsing another upcoming show at the apartment... Plus not bringing my camera with me either. Because of that and the late shows it was a rather tiring trip, which you notice when you are standing in confetti rain with people cheering and you don't really feel a thing except for that your make laysheavy and your feet feet aching. (And get a heay flu when you return home.)

Having that said, it was of course fun still - I do love Berlin!

I can't believe it's been five years since my last trip to Berlin. Went there a bit more often in the early 00's. Which is ten years ago. Ten years and beyond. (Scary, isn't it! Also, looking at old photos, damn one can age in five years.)

Rehearsal at Heimathafen.

Here's a shot of the number in question live, performed by Mama Ulita.

Backstage.

And onstage.

In between I had a little change to meet up with Frollein von Sofa for lunch in the sunshine!

An awesome lunch that is (here).

Wintergarten, the venue for the following nights, was just incredible. So pretty, with starts in the ceiling and old costumes and posters on the wall.

The backstage however not quite so for the moment. The inner yeard and containers.The glamour of showlife...

More rehersals/ soundchecking, which often is mainly just waiting. We did some chorus girl bathtubbing in those tubs on Saturday.

 This was beautiful. Sheila Wolf on Friday.

And this was totally fab. Tansy on Saturday.

And we came to realize that we actually celebrated seven years of performing on this very weekend!

Live photos by Tuomas Lairila.
Final shot of us taking a bow at the curtain call by IndieBerlin.

LONDON CALLED

I came home from London a couple of weeks ago already, but time goes so fast and I've had my hands full I thought it was just the other day (most things I post nowadays on social media feels like it already was two weeks ago, and it most often is. There are not enough hours per day to get everything I want done it seems). But yes we had a good few days in London with great shows. I didn't ge to move around that much though, we mostly just were around Camden, where our venues were and were we'd thus rented a flat.

London was the place we all wanted to move to int our late teen years in the late nineties. Influenced by all the brit pop bands and films like London Kills Me that was pretty much everybody's dream and mission. Well, other things happened, but visiting London (and Camden in particular) now I can tell that the 1998 little hippie me really would have loved it. Haha oh my.

I decided not to take my camera with me as I knew I really would not have the time for photos and would just be stressing about the fact that I did not get the camera out enough if I'd brought it along so here are some shots I snapped with my phone instead -

Picture of Tink and me by @veradevil

Breakfast in our flat.

Backstage and waiting at Fiddler's Elbow. (Not always so glamorous as you see.)

(Pics is by @ruskarieban)

Showtime!


But I did manage to go to some other part of town as well!
Vivien of Holloway is one of my favourite brands so I wanted to visit the shop in person.


Backstage at Dingwalls. More glamour.


Before we go on stage.


Back stage post-show posing.


And yes the snake was indeed real.

The last lunch in London was also the first park lunch of the year. 

One of many Amy stenctils, this one around the corner of where we stayed.

And then I arrived back home with the red double decker bus I'd promised Dag and that mandatory phone booth jar! (This one with cookies, but I think I remember one with toffees from when I was a little girl.)

IT'S ALMOST MID-MARCH ALREADY

...which means summer will soon be over. Because that's the way it goes you know. Fast.

Oh well hello there! Yes I am still very much alive, although it may seem a little too quiet over here. With all the work, hanging out with Dag, puzzling babysitting around for my work as Eddi is abroad because of his work all the time and when at home out on the farm because the older boys go to school there now and I'm kind of living part-time in my car due to all the going back-and-forth between homes and jobs and gigs and rehearsals plus the pilates training I am studying I have a pile of posts stacked up that will soon be too old to post anyway.

Well that was a long sentence. But it pretty much describes how things are for the moment, in the way it was structured. A highly energetic mess. But, here are some thing's I've been up to the past week as my phone and Instagram saw it:

We have started our own recurring club at Mascot -

The first of Rubies Klubit was last Friday under the theme 'Abstinence'. It was a really good night!

(The last shot is from the curtain call at the end of the night that I took from our golden gogo-boy's Instagram, orginally taken by JBM.)

Go ahead and like our page to find out the dates for the following ones as we set them!

Then I head over to Turku to perform at a Women's Day celebration event. Here's a shot from out small backstage as well as one of dragqueen Miss Divet performing before us and our huge mirror in our hotel room.



Then I came back home and by yesterday spring had arrived for real! I'm tempted to say the classic "finally" but to be honest it's pretty early and apart from that magical Christmas week winter was not that long or cold or white but seemed to pass rather quickly this time. We took a walk outside and it was warm. I feel all my shoes starting to wake up from their winter sleep and making small sounds in the closet already.

Also yes, that is how my son keeps putting his glasses on, constantly.

Later then showed up to the dinner table dressed as a sailor.

4 x RANDOMS

I had big hair.

These cherries defied winter and are still hanging in there.

Dag on one of the wood horses in Tapiola. I rode them too as a kid, but back when there were many of them in different colours. Many were also rather high. Not safe enough for today's standards I think.

And then I wore a little animal print.

TREATS

My PT sessions are back! To illustrate this I have a highly informative picture of my super shaky hand that feels like it’s stuck in grip-mode after a hard workout (and yes you can also check out my nails with their icy winter manicure).

I worked out with my personal trainer for ten weeks last winter, and it was the best money investment I had made in a long time. You really get to push yourself in a new way. Plus get a bunch of new moves to work on. And, it really is something of an investment, not only from the money point of view, but also (cheesy sentence alert:) an investment in yourself because you know, your body is the one thing you have to live with your whole life. So at the end of last year I gave myself a present when the tax return money came and got myself a set of 10 new sessions. A great decision, once again.

I have always worked out, sometimes more, sometimes less, even though it seldom makes it here more than in a mention or two. What I really loved doing was Savate; French (kick) boxing. I’ve always liked martial arts. I used to do Tae Kwon Do when I was in my late teens. But then my knee got fucked up (a friend sat on my leg so it turned the wrong way, kind of, and things broke) and I had to take a break and then other things came up and I never returned. The reasons I then quit savate about seven years ago were that my working hours in the harbour were so hard I seldom managed to work out on a schedule. That, and that my other knee got fucked up (things broke during a jumping practice) and I had to have an operation and take a 6 month break. Afterwards I returned but when I started performing the bruises all over did not really fit in. Now I live too far from the boxing gym for it to be convenient and my nails are too long to fit in the boxing gloves. But one day I will return! (Add to list of things to take up again). Because, there is no such thing as too old.

Speaking of which; being older today than yesterday, as we all are, I remember reading a blog post from some 19-20-21 year old fashion blogger quite many years ago (I must have been about 26 or 27) where the young author was posting some red carpet celebrity pictures. She was being surprised and impressed that this one celeb woman (can’t remember who and don’t care) could be in such good shape at the age of thirty four! Well, this of course was met with some  amusement from many older (or, “older”) readers that stumbled by, and also by me, not because I didn't think thirty-something was that old back then, but mostly because I had always though I would be in a helluvalot of better shape at 34 than I was at, say, 22 or 26. See, even though I was working out regularly at that time I also went out and partied very regularly. I always thought (and was perhaps hoping) that at 30-something I’d be working out more smart and more dedicated, going out less and having less drinks. And so on. And, ta-da, so indeed I am! After childbirth few will have the same measurements back as one had when 21, but I am in better shape now, in a smarter way, than I’ve ever been before. Moving around for a living also helps, and now of course also because of the pilates training. Being healthy feels good, but I consider myself to be the kind of person that will never get super duper I-will-start-an-instagram-account-about-it fit, neither do I have the need to, because, well, chocolate and red wine are also totally awesome things in this world. But when I’m 34, which is this yearI’m going to be ripped! (or then not, you know, because chocolate. But I like saying it just for fun.)

I also gave myself another treat - a set of vouchers for Liangtse Wellness (a Chinese medicine wellness center). (To illustrate that is the tiny little tea pot you are served tea in when you wait, and later a content me in those small gold pyjamas you get to wear during your treatment.)


I got a gift card there from Eddi for Christmas - I had been planning to of there for years but I am the kind of person who is really bad at getting such things done for myself. Now as I was at it I went all pay-now-think-later and got myself that voucher set.  But it was a good pey first think later moment, because nothing beats someone kneading you aching head for half an hour. Well that would then be one whole hour (and perhaps some other things as well. But it definitely makes top ten of certain lists at least!) My relaxation for the ongoing year is guaranteed.


Now if I could only learn to treat myself to do my book keeping on a regular basis and to fall earlier to sleep at night things'd be even better.

FOUR THINGS RIGHT NOW.

Or well, the other night actually, as I fell asleep before I posted.

Came home very tired and happy after a long weekend and treated myself with some organic cold cava and chocolate -

because, as some of you know (if you follow my FB page), I have started studying towards becoming a mat pilates instructor! The first very intensive but also rewarding weekend behind me now.

 Made myself a hot long bubbly bath, which my body I had been longing for the whole weekend after some 16 hours of working it.

Altough, a nice relaxing bath and moments of solitude do not remain relaxing and alone for that long. But it doesn't matter.

WORK AND PLAY

Work. I've been re-rehearsing (and re-blinging, phew!) a couple of my old acts, one is this winter themed one. A number that you'd think be suitable for this time of the year but it's plus something and raining. Well, I'll be a dream of a white Christmas then.

Lots of white and lots of sparkle. There's been a lot of beading and rhinestone applying, but with the headdress I have spared myself and had it made.

Dag was eager to try it out too. And the rest, and mimic what I do.

Because he had been such a patient boy watching cartoons during my practice, I then took him to the indoor fun park to play afterwards. Altough this is from ikea where I picked up some things (and had dinner. Quick and easy!).

Came home to watch me talk about - surprise- burlesque for a few minutes on TV (at Efter Nio).

Then worked on preparations for our upcoming event tomorrow - or today, actually, my days tend to linger way into the next one -Under the Mistle Tease; the Showgirl Edition. It's a Christmas party-club-show we organise for our students, to showcase what we have been doing with them this fall.

Our new and biggest coached troupe The Shangrilettes will perform their debut, for which the sneak peak above is. There are a few tickets left at the door so head over to Wäiski at 20hrs to have some fun!