5 for Friday

Hah! What a quick change from just a week ago when I wrote about gloomy and rainy weather in my previous “5 for Friday” post!?! We got first snow in Helsinki and that marked Winter’s arrival! As if I wasn’t already unprepared for the cold weather, 1st snow got me by surprise and even though I had almost twice slipped and risked a bad fall on the ice, I do love the fact that the sky had cleared up, some sun came out and I got to see a proper daylight after a while…

Oh those small things in life that make a world of difference when they’re not “available”… You def. start appreciating them more when you have them, that’s why I adore Summer and long, bright days because I don’t get to have many of those due to living in North Europe.

I must say that I love writing those “favourites” post and a small summary of my week as it serves me almost like a mini diary and a reminder of highlights which have happened. This week was more calmer than previous couple of weeks and I loved having bit more time and space to breathe and catch up with the things I’ve been behind with.

Here’re my highlights / favourites of this week:

1.) MIND & BODY MASSAGE

Back in October I’ve celebrated my birthday and thanks to my wonderful girlfriends, I got a gift card to use at a great Helsinki Day Spa. I have opted for their mind & body massage, a full body, relaxing massage which helped relieve some pain and stiffness I’ve been having in my spine and lover back as well as it made me all calm and “zen”. 😀 I took this massage on Monday and that was a crucial thing to start this week on a -love me- note.

2.) SHOWRROMS/ PR S/S PRESS DAYS

I have been enjoying visits to showrooms/ PR agencies to check out the upcoming trends for S/S 2017. I feel that all of them have payed attention to detail in presenting their brands and clients in the best way possible. I have loved browsing through all the beautiful colors and fabrics for next Spring/ Summer. I know that we are just approaching Christmas and end of this year, so S/S is nowhere in the near sight, so I’m not going to start dreaming about it yet, but I am excited about the upcoming trends and already know what to expect in stores next year.

3.) AMEDEO MODIGLIANI

If the previous week was all about Yayoi Kusama’s exhibition at Helsinki Art Museum, this week is all about my excitement over Amedeo Modigliani‘s paintings being exhibited at Ateneum museum. I’m planning to dedicate an hour this weekend to check out his art work, as it will be the first time I’ll see those in person. Just like Kusama, but much before she was even born, Modigliani was a visionare, raising the bars, thinking outside the box and painting such works which weren’t understood or accepted in his time and just like it was case with many other big artists/ painters, he died poor, early and his work only became appreciated and much valued after his death. Portrait of Maude is my favourite piece, it’s so mysterious, moody and haunting…

4.) LONG AND FUN TALKS 

Long and also fun talks with friends I’ve been having lately have proved to be such a therapeutic treatment! I’m so thankful for all of the sweet people that have entered my life in the past half a year and have brought so much joy and in over-all quality to my social life. I do have also a few, long time friends in Helsinki so when I mix it all up together, I get a group of fine, inspiring and unique personalities which match my yin with their yang. 😀 So thank you my dear friends for making me think, smile, laugh, get inspired and humbled by your company, you know who you are!

5.) SMITTEN KITCHEN

In the sea of 1 million cookbooks, kitchen/ healthy life/ food gurus, my favourite, after all these years still remains Deb from Smitten Kitchen. I just adore her recipes, homemade food very close to my personal preferences when it comes to cooking AND eating. 😀 I love to cook at home and her recipes, I dare to say all of them have been a bullet proof, crowd pleaser ones. I always have the urge to twist all of the recipes a little bit and give them my personal touch but I must say that I can’t get enough of Deb’s roasted cauliflower , indian spiced soup and roasted yams and chickpeas ; they’re perfect Fall comfort foods and very healthy too.

Have a fantastic weekend everybody!