Autumnal Sleeping Beauty

Yes, fellaz, I've been a sleeping beauty this week, esp. on Tuesday and Thursday. For some reason, I slept most of my days on those two days on my sick leave. Now I'm thankfully healthy again and ready to go back to work tomorrow. I kinda miss work actually (though not so much that I'd want to do it every single day 'coz it's really hectic sometimes and I need me time to re-energize myself).

I've also taken some autumn pictures today while I was on the way to a Finnish course today. I met so many foreigners today at the course. There were 10 of us altogether. Two of them I know pretty well already 'coz we've already been friends, but I have never met the rest. Interesting bunch of people! We laughed a lot too he he he...

Anyway, here are some pics that I took. This morning when I rode my bike to the course place, it was VERY foggy as you can see from some of the pics below. Autumn is already in motion and my fave are the red leaves. :-D :-D :-D

This photo was taken from the bridge...so unclear, eh? That was how thick the fog was.


I got closer to take "clearer" pics...


Still closer...


Below are two pics of the same area after the fog was gone - I took the pics on the way back home from the course.



This is one house that I like. I passed it by on my way to the course he he...


The un-foggy version of the house.


Here are some more autumn views along the way...




Told ya I love those red leaves HA HA HA HA HA...


I don't know if I have time to blog-hop much today, but if not, I'll try to blog-hop tomorrow or sometime next week, OK? Take care, people...

The Trip to Pori

Okay, finally here's the story you've all been waiting for, but I'm afraid I'm gonna disappoint you as I can't take as many pics as I wanted to. Let me start from the beginning then.

We woke up at 6 am on Sunday morning to get ready. We were ready at around 7 am already, but Arttu's elder brother picked us up at around 8 am. I guess Arttu wanted us to be totally ready way before he got here. That was why he decided to set the alarm at 6 am he he he...

It was breathtaking when we went out. Everything was WHITE. Snow had fallen during the night and it was around 1'C when we left home. Too bad I didn't take a pic 'coz we were in a hurry and I didn't want to be in the way. After all, we had a LONG drive still. The bad thing was that I sat at the back and the back windows were tinted, so I couldn't possibly take pics from there. Oh well...Plus it was raining most of the time, so it just wasn't the perfect timing to take pics. I slept most of the time hi hi hi...Arttu's brother was astonished at my sleeping ability HUA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...

Ahem...the first stop we made was in Rovaniemi, right in front of Santa Claus Village. I had my sentimental moments there as there was snow there, as well, and I remember the first time I went to that Santa Claus Village with my hubby back in 2004. Maybe later on I'll show you the pics of that trip. Back then it was March, so there was still plenty of snow. Snow reminds me of everything good now, because I first visited Finland in March and I also moved here this year in March he he he he he...Ahhhh...memories!!! Anyway, here's a pic of Rovaniemi. See the X? Our "new" car is the same as my hubby's brother's car, but the colour is dark grey. The building across the street is Santa Claus Village.



Along the way to Pori, we stopped by at a few places (ABC resto) to pee and to have something to eat. Here's what a regular ABC restaurant looks like from the outside...plus I got to take a pic of the toilet, as well HI HI HI HI HI...

In all those places, there seems to be ABC resto serving lots of buns, sandwiches, cakes, drinks, and they also serve heavy meals like steaks, soup, etc. There's also always Hesburger (a bit like McDonald) in this type of building plus a small supermarket.




I LOVE those things they put on top of the shelves he he he he he he...





I LOVE those HUGE paintings all over the walls!!!!




All ABC chain restos have the same colour scheme, including the same tile colour scheme in the toilets he he he he...I think it's a GREAT colour scheme, esp. when the weather outside's so dark and grey.

You know what I LOVE about the toilets? THE SPRAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;-D YIIIIIIIIIHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!



Anyway, upon arriving in Pori at about 8 am, we dropped by at a kebab place to buy some dinner. Here's the resto:



What I found strange about the resto was that there was NO toilet at all!!! ARRRGGHHHH!!!!! I bought some pita kebab, whereas Arttu and his brother bought some pizza, then we stopped by at his brother's apt. to eat before going to his eldest brother's house. The house was actually pretty near his second brother's apt. building he he he he he...Here's a pic of the outside and inside of his eldest brother's house:



Sorry the pic is a bit blurry he he he...



Here's my sister-in-law with her youngest son. Since she looks so young, everybody thinks that she's her son's elder sister HA HA HA HA HA HA...By the way, the red couch is a lazy couch, so she can lean back and extend a part of it...well, you know what I mean, right? HE HE HE...




Here are some pics of their kitchen.





Apparently they love candles...or at least my sister-in-law does 'coz when we got there, there were candles lit in the living room he he he...I LOVE the red one in the below pic! ;-D




This is their garage. Don't wonder about those many tools. Arttu's eldest brother's a car mechanic. The drums are his youngest son's and the motorbike's his eldest son's he he he...




OK, here are some pics I took when we left Pori at 7 am. It was SO dark and SO VERY foggy. I'd never seen fog that thick before. I was SO glad that my hubby wasn't alone driving in foggy weather in a city he barely knew. Most of the time we drove along the freeway, so all we could see was either fields or trees. One funny thing I realized was that people here don't have to pay to use freeways. Plus I see more fields here than in Bandung or Jakarta, but of course they're both big cities, so there aren't many fields anymore.

Sorry the below pic is blurry, but you get the gist of it (the yellow lights from the street lamps actually looked pretty romantic in foggy weather). I couldn't take it using my flash from the car. It would be crazy to open the car window as well as it was cold. Plus since the car was moving, I couldn't use any other features as it'd be blurry, as well.








And here's a video clip I took on the freeway from Pori to Vaasa...We were driving in thick fog for about 150 km, can you believe it? It felt like we were in a horror movie. Sometimes we couldn't see more than a few metres ahead or sideways, and since most of the time we were passing by fields or trees and the road was pretty straight, it felt as though we were going nowhere!!! We kept on driving along the road but the scene stayed the same: foggy!!! Quite an experience!!! GOOD THING there were no moose crossing the roads. I could see SO many moose crossing road signs tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk...



Here are some more pics from the roads...







These are pics of a coffee shop somewhere (I forgot already hi hi hi...) There's a gas station right in front of it.






Yeah, don't ask me what the helicopter's doing there. It's on the side space of the coffee house he he he...




We stopped by at a mall in Vaasa (if I remember correctly). Here are some pics of the mall.




The inside of the mall...see the right resto: Ravintola (Restaurant) Batman!!! Quite a name for a kebab resto hi hi hi...I wanted to try the Chinese resto on the left, but Arttu didn't feel like eating there, so we ended up going back on the road as he said we'd find something to eat in Kemi. Kemi is the place where we first met. He was living there back in 2004, so going to Kemi also brought up some nostalgic moments for me.



Here are some pics of downtown Kemi. It was foggy as well over there.









We ended up having dinner at Hesburger he he he...Here we are inside Hesburger...





When we came out of Hesburger, I saw some bushes with these funny looking "fruit". Anybody knows what these are? I found them cute, but Arttu said they were ugly HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...



Last stop: a big supermarket at Rovaniemi. We were running out of milk, so we stopped there to buy some. As usual, Arttu couldn't help buying some salmiac ha ha ha ha...



We were SO happy to be home again. Home sweet home. I gave Arttu a back massage before we went to bed he he he...And we did have a nice long sleep afterward. ;-D

Oh, almost forgot one thing...on the road back home, I dozed off a bit a few times and you know why I woke up? Because I could sense my drool coming out of the lips...so my body went alert and I was suddenly awake. Arttu shook his head when he found out why I woke up those few times HI HI HI HI...but he couldn't tease me 'coz he also drools every now and then when he sleeps LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL!!!

Today I've finally regained my strength and I had enough strength to exercise, as well. Naturally after exercising, I felt more fit he he he...My back was sore after sitting in the car for 24 hours. Next time we're going to Pori again, I'm gonna insist on going by train or plane HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA...

A Shortie

Hi, everybody!

I'm back, kicking and alive, but still feeling a tad tired. I'll only write my story later tomorrow, I think. Good thing that the course's off this week due to school holiday. I have plenty of stories to tell. However, bad thing is that I didn't manage to capture many good pics 'coz we were on the road all the time and the weather was bad (it was hard to take pics from inside the car, too). It was raining all through Sunday (almost non-stop even though we passed by different cities) and then it was SO foggy partly through Monday. Plus we didn't stop long enough for me to take as many pics as I wanted.

We left home at around 8 am on Sunday and arrived in Pori at around 9 pm (we stopped by to eat at some restaurants on the way as well as for pee breaks). Then we slept at around midnight and woke up at 6 am and then we left Pori THAT early. The fog was unbelievable at that time. We made a few stops again along the way and we only arrived home at around 8 pm.

What made us feel SO tired is the fact that other than the long trip back and forth, on Friday evening we went to bars with my hubby's brother and girlfriend and we only came back home at around 4 am. Then on Saturday we woke up at around 10 am and left to my in-laws. There we didn't manage to catch any nap and we came back home at 7 pm already, only to pack and sleep.

One thing I'd love to tell you is that Friday night was the FIRST TIME I danced on the dance floor with my hubby...well, I had a slow-dance with him once, but not fast dance...this time I also did fast dances with him plus slow-dances and I could see how happy he was. I'm telling you that I've NEVER done it before in my life and I've always been a shy person he he he...but seeing his eyes lit up when he looked at me as we danced...it was truly a moment to cherish! I'll tell you more tomorrow. Today I'll just visit my blogger friends' blogs and upload pics and videos so that tomorrow I can copy and paste the codes.

I'm gonna relax the rest of the day...my body's still in grave need of rest. After having sat down in the car for 24 hours...it feels SO good to be able to stretch he he he...

Anyway, the trip went find (gladly) despite the weather, but when I checked my mailbox this morning, there were 40 emails already. Oh dear!!! I was SO swamped he he he...so I'm gonna take it easy today. Sleepyhead me is still a bit light-headed here he he...Hope you're all well and you've had WONDERFUL weekends, everybody!!! CU later!

P.S. To those of you who haven't noticed, I've put up a chat box on my sidebar, so if you wanna say anything to me, you can write there, as well he he he...

Sumu

Yes, you read it right: SUMU /sumu/, not sumo hi hi hi hi...Sumu means fog in Finnish. This morning is VERY foggy, but I woke up with a wonderful sense of contentment and energy. It's weird 'coz I'm not really a morning person. I get more "hyper" during the night, not in the morning hi hi hi...Well, I'm NOT hyper, actually, but I get more energized during the night. My close friends used to get scared when I called them at around midnight 'coz I got pretty wacky and crazy then. I'd tease them a lot and they'd beg me to stop. *evil grin*

Anyway, I won't post anything much 'coz I have to study for my course this evening and yesterday I didn't have time to do that, so today I'm doubling the time. I just want to share this lovely song with you. Max introduced me to this song and I just LOVE listening to it over and over and over and over again he he he...Hope you enjoy it, too, even though it's in French hi hi hi...It's from the musical Le Roi Soleil.

Here's "Mon Essentiel" by Emanuel Moire.




Breathing in the air of contentment,
I find myself giddy with excitement
To make the most of today
And share some smiles with the world.

I LOVE THIS LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The trick is in what one emphasizes.
We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy.
The amount of work is the same.
Carlos Castaneda

http://www.wildinspirations.com.au/ppc2/

3BT: Weekend Wrap

1a. Enjoying my fave songs from this band, Mr. Big. Here's one KEWL video, To Be With You. I LOVE Eric Martin's voice!!! MMMMMMMMMMMM...



1b. Watching a perfectly cloudless, starry sky and a crescent from our apt. window. SUCH a lovely, lovely night!

2. Watching thick fog in the early morning. It was breathtaking!!!

3. Having a chance to pick lingonberries on such a SUNNY day!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYY!!!

4. My mother-in-law's thoughtfulness. She asked me if I got tired after berry picking and then she offered us food. Again!

5. My mother-in-law's delicious chicken curry. VERY spicy!!! YUM!!!

6. My mother-in-law gave us a KILO of reindeer/moose meat. It's marinaded already, so I don't have to slice up the meat or process it. Plus we can't really afford buying that much reindeer meat, so I TRULY appreciate it!!! HALLELUJAH for wonderful mother-in-laws!!! God bless her!

7. Saw two MOST BEAUTIFUL deer in the forest right after we finished picking up the berries. I'd seen other deer before, but those two made me feel like I was in a Fairy Tale land. As if I were Snow White who went to the forest to pick berries and play with the deer. I LOVE this lifeeeeeeeee!!! ^____________________________^

8. Receiving SMS from my future sister-in-law he he he he...

9. Having a chance to chat with two of my closest friends today via YM. YEEEESSSSSSSSSS!!!

10. Hubby drove me to the supermarket today to buy food plus ICE-CREAM!!! I'm going to eat it later tonight. And being grateful that there's a regular un-pricey supermarket which is open every Sundays in this little village. YIIIPPPPPPPPPPIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE!!! ;-D

WHOOPS!!! Almost forgot this one...

11. Hubby downloaded a movie I had wanted to download, so I could watch it already on Friday. That day was his gaming day at his cousin's house, but he spent a minute to send me a very sweet SMS. I LOVE that guy!!! ;-D