HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Happy Valentine's Day everybody!
I am contiuing with my tradition of something heart shaped.

The roses are not for me though -Eddi is away in South Africa and I apparently have no secret admirers either ;)  but for our students that will receive them after they have performed (for the very first time) at the burlesque debutant ball tonight.

The cholocate however is from me to me.

WHITE ON WHITE WITH SPARKLE; WINTER PHOTOSHOOT

Today I had a ice queen-themed shoot for my winter act with Asko Rantanen. We had been waiting for a suitable day with the right weather and amount of snow for some time already and today everything was just right! It was a productive day and the results will be great. The act itself has not been that special, one of my so called "dinner numbers" (i.e. one that you can easily do anywhere, mainly just an aesthetic act that perhaps has more surface than depth to it. Which is totally alright.), but I started been developing it bit by bit this year and also adding to the costume, making the whole thing evolve into something more one day. And well now I better work on it because I'm getting awesome pics, heh.

I only used part of my costume though; I had a modified sheet for the skirt instead of the actual sateen one (it will thank me later, I am sure).

A big part of shooting is just setting it up and preparing and, when outdoors especially, correcting the clothing and props and and and... This time we shot without an assistant so there was a lot of concentrating going on.


Everything is not serious business though, especially not after a couple of hours in the snow.

As you can see... well, who could resist not doing this anyway?
(Me, actually. I did learn some things as a kid.)



Our last location was just around the corner of our house. Dag joined us and we took the sledge there.
(Note my very gracious winter queen boots and xxx-layers of socks underneath.)

Behind the scenes shots also by Asko.

SOFT GREY & MINT GREEN

  Mint green & soft grey in a re-discovered old sweater. I got it in Milan when I was there performing and also pregnant with Dag.  (That's almost three years ago!! Time flies.)

On yet another quest for all that much coveted space, I decided to clean out my closet and give away anything I haven't used that much and this mint green sweater  -which, even though it is the colour it is has been strangely hard to wear- was about to go, until I noticed it did indeed go rather well with my big grey skirt. So it got to stay.

I like big skirts in winter because if needed you can hide any warm layers underneath.

And here I am in said sweater and big skirt hanging out by my fridge.

WINTER WONDERLAND

I love winter, when it really is winter and not just brown wet mush all around. I love snow and how it can lay so light and soft on the ground and how it can sparkle so beautifully (more than any stage outfits ever can no matter how much the bling), I love the crisp cold air of winter and how and all sounds are more silent, muted by the snow that is all over. I love how it’s a bit like stepping trough the magic closet and into Naria every time you open the door. I do love it when it's winter.

The porch froze.

Except for that it takes forever to get a child dressed and it gets hot when you you’re inside the tram or the bus or a shop and it takes forever to get your car out of the snow when you a re in a hurry. And it takes forever for the snow to melt come spring; it always takes forever before winter is over and you get sick and tired of that damn jacket and those damn winterboots over and over again.

So yes, the coin always has two sides but at least the snow and the first weeks of winter are always amazing. This year, as it seemed to be a rainy Christmas like the last one also was, the snow did indeed make everything more magic when it fell and fell a week ago and turned everything so beautiful just in time for the holidays.


Dag as he fell asleep while we were on a walk in the woods.

CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas! Which you know still goes on for more than a week! (Officially, over here and in my book at least.) Hope you all are having a good one!

This year turned a splendid one over here, with much awaited snow falling just a couple of days before. We've been out in the countryside and altough it's beautiful and cosy it also gets rather hectic, with dinners and family gatherings and lots of to-do's. The middle days in between Christmas and New Year's have always been my favourite as those contain a lot of taking it easy.





And eating chocolate. And having wine. Plus lighting candles everywhere.


This year I made our Chrismtas tree to resemble the one's the Moomins make when they once wake up at winter and experience Christmas. Dag is a huge Moomin fan, and I am a big fan of Tove Jansson.



The tree has random items like sea shells (I got huge ones from a masquerade shop and cut them a bit smaller and glittered them over the course of a few days) and spoons and cups and pearls. Altough I used pom poms instead of pears.

Instead of a star it has a huge rose on top.

Quite suitably they read the chapter about the Moomins on Christmas on the radio earlier during Christmas Eve.  Here's what the original looked like from the books:

I noticed I have now apparently reached that stage of adulthood (that some have been in all of the time, I know, but not me) where one changes the textiles at home according to season. I made this table cloth for the holidays, consisting of different bits of red-and-white fabrics - X-mas points to the maxxx!

On Christmas Eve my whole family and Eddi's parents came over to us -four generations all-in-all.


My youngest guest -my new nephew- was just two weeks old!

Dag was a little eager to start with the Christmas dinner. (He's too young still to know to be eager for the gifts. Well, that will propably change nexgt year already...)

Then Santa Claus came over!
I remembered being scared of him when I was very young but this year, being the first Dag met Santa, he was very brave and only a little shy when he shook Santa's hand and introduced himself.

He had been a good boy and got lots of toys.

Calm Christmas Day morning.

STAIRWAY SNAPSHOT IN A - WELL YES - CHECKED SKIRT

Well, yes, how surprising, I am wearing checks again. It somehow came to be the theme for this fall, (and now winter) it seems. My skirt is one of those 'hello remember me'- pieces that I had forgot excited, it belongs together as part of a vintage suit with the Pendleton jacket that I got earlier this fall. I had thought of it as too tight for me but ta-fuckin-da it wasn't and au contraire sits rather well!
And nothing says Christmas like a red tartan skirt. (Well, quite a few things actually, but clothing wise this is quite high at the top I think). Because it's all about Christmas now the following 18- or so days! (I'm trying to keep it that way at least, along with all the other 1001 thins going on...)

The coat is my old coat that I revamped for last winter. The shawl Eddi brought me from his latest trips to Bolivia.

FLU REMEDY

I've been without a voice the whole week due to having the flu. I think I've never sounded this ridiculous. Or well, I didn't really sound like anything at all.

Honey water for a sore throat is a classic. I heard that the combination of honey and cinnamon makes a good antibacterial-cokctail and and blended those with other flu-classics like heaps of fresh ginger and lemon and, of course, hot water. I've had several liters of this (and so does Dag, in a more diluted version).

It was also pretty nice to let half a glass of this soak over night and then filling the glass up with orange juice from the fridge in the morning.

SPRING APPROACHING, MAYBE; PERHAPS; I HOPE?

I know it's only february but this has been a strange winter so far, and my fingers are crossing that it might even be over soon. The air smells like spring - and not only that, it is starting to look like spring too!


Last year we were still knee-deep in snow in mid April! I like sunny winter days with lots of snow, but as most of my time is not in fact spent hanging out in the countryside in a beautiful winter landscape coming in to chill (or rather, warm up ;) with hot chocolate, I am always eagerly waiting for spring. It can be rather exhausting with a lot of snow when in the city.


Some very sad melting snowmen.
We did a couple of Moomin-characters of snow outside our building it the city, ad Dag keeps on pointing at the spot going "Mooooomin!". He just can't understand why they are no longer there. I also did quite the crappy cat for him and was surprised that he'd gotten it, as he was also searching the small traces of snow for the cat "Naaaau" (as in "meow").


Forgot to take this one in when the snow came, kind of like my bike in the city, but I saved self the trouble now as there'll be use for both soon again. Hehe.


We had a couple of days of sun now and the streets dried up. Which made the feel of spring eve stronger  - I'm really hoping we won't get hit by winter again, even though I know that it usually always comes back one last time. I already managed to get myself into dry streets and spring shoe mode!


And here's a little hello from a pool of what once was snow.