My dear reader: I have finally created a site of my own and will no longer be creating posts here under OnSugar. I will continue posting links to my new site, which can be found at http://houseofanais.com for a while, but I hope to see you in the new site!
A little while ago I presented the first room of the original House of Anais - the master bedroom which currently serves more or less as the twins bedroom and combined play area. And now our introduction continues: today it's all about the dining room and living room. They are separate rooms, but as the shelves are open and there is no door, the rooms sort of blend into one, which also makes the house appear larger and airier.
The style of the house is not that strictly defined - there are elements of country style with oak coloured furniture and floral patterns, yet at the same time there is a lot of modern mixed into it: especially with the lighting and those cream leather sofas. This house certainly has been done with the less-is-more-philosophy, which means that it's extremely easy to keep clean and in good order (I didn't need to do any cleaning for the pictures other than move my laptop and coffee mug from the dining table - aka my home office).
On the other hand the reason why there is so little stuff in common areas (kids rooms are filled to the hilt with toys and could be cleaned with a nice donation spree to the thrift shop, at least that's what I think) is because there isn't that much space and I simply haven't opened most of the boxes yet!
The living room is definitely the best room of the house. The shape of the room isn't perfect for it's rather narrow, but this room is all about natural lights and the views! That green, lush countryside all around: looking at it is the most calming thing I can think of (besides the sea of course). That is the everyday luxury country living gives you, and rain or shine it's still amazing.
And the garden gives you so much -more just look at the lovely bunch of flowers that our kids picked from the garden, their flower for the mom from their heart. Aww is all I can say!
Most people dream about adventures, but never go on making them reality. My friend Katja from Skimbaco Lifestyle follows her motto of living life to the fullest every day in her life. Last year she and her family moved to Sweden for two years and they have embraced the Northern life with lots of gusto - having also spared some time to visit this year only Italy, France, Iceland and Finland to name a few places. And tomorrow I will get to embark on the adventure of a lifetime with her in France. I am so excited!
I love French wines, French food, old castles, sightseeing - and of course Paris. I like to explore the "unknown" to me. But it didn't even know that one could experience it all and more all at once - on board of a river barge! We'll have our rendez-vous in Paris (and we haven't actually seen each other for over 20 years, which is when we moved out of out little Western Finnish town) and embark on this journey in Burgundy on board of all-inclusive L'Impressioniste. Oh, I've been watching the videos of GoBarging, reading all about their wine tastings, cheese selections, touring Dijon and exploring the ancient abbey.
I admit that in my 20s that luxurious wine tasting and barging trip probably might not have qualified into my top 10 adventure list, as in my first Parisian trip I was more interested in finding the grave of Jim Hendrix in the pere Lachaise cemetery and flea markets than the perfect coffee shop or castle to visit. But those things have been ticked on my bucket list and new cool things have been added to my endless list...
So here I am, sitting at home looking at the spring rain in English countryside, sipping my red wine accompanied by some delicious savories from Spain as I just returned from Madrid last night. I am so ready to go France and the only thing I wish for now is sunny weathe,r as most of the Europe has been suffering from cold and rainy days this year.
Oh, and I am ticking something else from my bucket list too - I am travelling this time with the Eurostar train, and will be crossing the English Channel underneath the sea. Way wicked, I think. And who knows, maybe Moulin Rouge has some spare tickets left and I get to cross a third item from by bucket list - the most famous cabaret in the world.
L'aventure française - here we come (and yes my Californian and European wine and culinary enthusiast friends, I will tell you all about it when I am back)!
Today, yesterday, a while ago - and probably for some time in the future - in some places it seems that the time has stopped, whereas other parts of the world technology takes over in cyberspeed. Here in Philippines the traditional boats and homes, or rather huts made out of resources around people (that is wood, canes, leaves, stones - pretty much everything goes) are still seen everywhere outside bigger cities.
People might be considered poor compared to the western world, but that does not stop people being happy. I have yet to hear any yelling or see angry faces; no-ones seems to be in a hurry. I have been quite happily adjusting to the lifestyle too, maybe too much as I am not always aware what day of the week it is, not to talk about time since I haven't been carrying a watch to the pool and beach. And it feels good! I wish we could stop the time more often and enjoy life as it comes...
If you have been wondering why I have been so quiet lately, the reason is simple: the ad-hoc Philippines adventure starring just me and all our three little kids progressed to the rather remote island of Palawan - where the resort just barely had bandwidth for occasional poolside banter on FB, but not much more...
We have now returned to "civilisation" - also called the island of Cebu, and are enjoying the last leg of our trip in the plush and oh-so-lovely Shangri-La Mactan resort. At the end of the week it's time for the last few days in China, and then the big move back to Europe starts! That said, I'm afraid that the next couple of weeks it's going to more again travel and lifestyle posts than interior - just because I'll be short of time and have plenty of pre-written posts ready - especially on my Chinese adventures...so stay tuned!
I never imagined that the NFL was in China too, but that is the case. They have their own league, and we just witnessed them playing the past weekend, plus of course there are TV channels broadcasting the actual US game plays.
Our kids actually have never seen American football, so we dropped in the event to watch the game, and to try out some activities they had set up, and were rewarded each with our own NFL footballs (but mom, this ball is not round were the first comments from our little ones...) A fun event altogether!
A little cottage by the sea or a lake, that's what Finnish summer is made of. It can be a lovely, albeit a bit primal experience depending if the cottage running water and electricity or not (but be assured, getting wireless Internet and mobile phone coverage is pretty much guaranteed...).
This year hot weather (officially defined as being over the 77F/25c limit) has barely been seen. We were somehwat lucky - there was the biggest thunderstorm and torrential rain I've experienced in the country, but the weather before the storm was pretty amazing - and just perfect for a glass of bubbly (but where were the chocolate-dipped strawberries??).
The mom's heaven was the brunch at a lakeside bakery, afternoon bubbly, BBQ and new interior magazines while cooling the feet in the lake. The kids heaven was hours of water play, picking blueberries, making bark boats and fishing.
Key ingredients include something on the dry side...
Sending off bark and moss boats
A little fishing session
Midnight dreaming
Here are my spring cuties (although the pics were taken in January...). I picked up the soft copy disk of the kids first ever photo session that I bought last year at school's fundraising auction. Maybe this is a standard presentation, but it was definitely first time I ever saw the pictures being presented in such a way that made me feel that even the disk itself was such a treasure. Love it Doll Studios!
And now I am ready to order a couple of cute canvases of all the kids together. This certainly made my day!
For anyone with little kids there probably is the ideal lazy Sunday before the kids, and after the kids era. Before the kids I imagine it might have been after a late brunch with friends a night clubbing, bubble bath at home and watching together some scary or rom-com movie.
Post kids my favourite would definitely be to enjoy slowly a hot, fresh cup of coffee and croissants to start with (not the 5 minute breakfast on the run at 6.50am), then maybe a trip to the beach or hiking in the mountains - and reading the latest magazines in the car while the loving husband is driving (with lunch from Le Boulanger or some other nice bakery packed to go). And yes, per definition, sporting-like activity might not seem like lazy one, but someone who used to do sports from dusk til dawn in their youth, there is nothing more relaxing and rewarding than some brisk activity - with a post-lunch nap under the warm sun...
If the week's been a really busy one (like this week) and Saturday is fully booked from 9 am until 10pm, like it often is, then sometimes we got to suffer the grind and clean, rake leaves (although I love gardening raking leaves is like scrubbing bathtubs - not fun thing to do), cook school lunches, do the laundry, possible even run to greengrocers, bakery, pharmacy and few other places one didn't manage to do during the week....Luckily at least today Madonna and fantastic glass of wine provided some entertainment to the not-so-lazy and relaxing Sunday.
I wonder how everyone else would love to spend their lazy Sundays...?
I dream of a lazy day on a warm beach
I'd like to be strolling in a beautiful flower garden of a grand estate...
I heart the lazy, slow hiking with kids...
What magazine would you want to be cover of? Had that question been asked when I was younger, the answer would definitely have been the Sports Illustrated. I wanted to go to the Olympics, try to break the world record, and win the Olympic Games like every other kid. I trained years and years for that, but ended up with tons of injuries instead....
Right now I'm thinking that I'd love to have one of those picture-perfect houses one sees on the cover of Architectural Digest, Dwell or Elle Decor, but I bet my family would love to see me on the cover of cooking magazine, as that would have to mean that I've become an amazing cook! I've been featured on the cover of miss A.'s own little magazine that she drew, and that made me happy too. Great to know that mom is still the word!
I loved, and still do (time permitting) sports
Representing the national team of Finland
The first dream cover option...
If only this cool little thing could fit in 3 kiddie cars seats and a driver it would already be mine. Fiat has teamed up with Gucci for these limited edition cars (just 500 each colour) Fiat 500 Gucci, and aren't they just the latest must have accessories! The old, little economy car has become a fashion accessory at par with the revived Mini and cool super-small Swiss green car Smart.
Black or white, hard top or soft top - and a whole line of accessories to go with them. Of course you pay a premium of $15 000 or so, but you get a whole lot of Gucci for that money....
Normally I am up for a challenge, unless it has something to do with eating or touching some sort of creepy crawlers (or heights, but I am getting over that fear little by little). So I decided to try to participate in OnSugar's Love. Write. Win. Blogging Challenge. The title of today's post is "Introduce Yourself to the World", so here we go. Likes are comments are well appreciated, and if you are also participating please leave in the comments a link to your posts as I'd love to read them too!
My life can we best described with the words "unpredictable" and "always on the move". I have moved over 30 times in my life, which includes living in Finland, France, England, Switzerland and for the second time now in the US - this time in California, whereas the first one was in Georgia.
The family now consist of the husband, Miss Anaïs (almost 7) and twins who will be 3 around June. This blog was named after Anaïs, as her birth was the trigger to get the first renovation project, a multi-coloured country cottage in the heart of English countryside. Since I have no "home project" at the moment, I decided to start this blog where I collect house and design inspiration, showcase my slowly improving crafting, cooking and baking skills with the kids and share our new travel destinations and other experiences, that makes the life fun.
Some people say that I am the Finnish version of the tiger mom, but I just try to teach my kids to love learning, enjoy sports, travel and nature, think more globally and green, and by far it has worked very well. I am happy that all my kids now speak 4 languages - Finnish, Spanish, English and Chinese, although I have just become aware that I have given my kids a secret language that the parents do not understand (therefore my next lifelog learning project is Chinese). Some people ask why Chinese, and I just say why not, you never where we will end up next...
A fabulous moment - I am smiling because I already know that I am going over the top, making my personal best. Can you guess where I got my undergrad degree? (Hints are that it's a SEC school and the school newspaper was called The Red and Black...)
I so love Christmas - all those twinkling lights and shiny decorations (thinking of lights I might want to add Diwali next year in our list of celebrations as it's all about lights too!). Snow too, although we don't have any here. To celebrate the countdown to Christmas I decided to do the daily Christmas pictures from our house. And since it is also a season of giving, I am thinking of a couple of giveaways too...
The elf is not on the shelf here (this was a brand new concept for me) as the Finnish elves rather kindly did not use to make any marks when they were peeking through the windows and checking if the kids were nice or naughty. Sometimes the parents might make some footsteps in the snow, but we don't even have that luxury unless I manage to find a little cabin somewhere asap!
So day 1 - I present the grand(est) tree in our house and Christmassy-red candles in new holders
Finally - red candles. Lighting advent candles every Sunday before Christmas used to featured in Finnish kids programs on TV...
I grew up associating red with Christmas, so our downstairs red furniture is just perfect for the season. These little candlesticks were an Ikea find for about $2 each recently. This cute ornament was a present from a good friend in England - somehow I think it looks a bit like me...
I am sitting on this window ledge enjoying the morning sun and the views of snow-capped mountains. Feels so relaxing! Despite a 5am start, hours of driving and hiking in Yosemite yesterday it has been a pleasure travelling with three little kids (something I cannot say when it comes to air travel and having to stay still for hours and hours).
But now more about the window seat - this is such a great invention, but rarely seen in size larger than a bench. I think one could even have a couple of kids sleeping here if needed. So made for reading a book, browsing the morning news with a little tray of steaming coffee and croissants nicely fitting in here too. Now I am wondering how I could incorporate a window seat like this to my future dream home...
I didn't pick the hotel because of the window ledge or the views, but because of the kitchen and heated pools - kids always want to swim and I don't want to freeze in the cold water. Ski resorts like this Mammoth Lakes are great, as rooms are large and there are usually well equipped kitchens (or kitchenettes) - this one almost leaves the one we have at home green in envy. Kitchen is an important feature with travelling with little ones - an "emergency food kit" always comes with us, and it is filled with items such as long-life milk, instant oatmeal, noodles and snacks as it's not so easy to find restaurant food that little ones actually eat!
I recently was asked to test the Lifefactory's ecological water bottle made out of glass and covered by a cute silicone sleeve (many people might know this brand better for their glass bottles for feeding babies). I was really excited since so many celebrities such as Jessica Alba and Reese Witherspoon have been spotted using this bottle out and about in LA. Obviously it was heavier than a plastic bottle, but not much more than a metal one. What was great about it is that fact that glass keeps the water tasting good all day long - unlike plastic bottles. So by far I have been very happy with the bottle, but the big test is going to be this weekend when the family hits Yosemite and weather might soar to 100F (38c).
I'm going to hook up the bottle with a metal clip to the backpack, and as the bottle has a screw cap it should be easy to grab on the go. My other secret weapons for the hike (which frankly with 2-year old twins might end up being rather short and be breathtaking mainly because I might need to carry one child) are my new cute little trekking shoes (what a bargain from Land's End for $10) and a handful of delicious Clif bars (with flavours such as chocolate and peanut butter the kiddies also like them and they won't take that much space in the backpack amongst the diapers, wipes etc).
So I hope our weekend will be a lot of fun and that everyone else has some cool plans for this holiday weekend. Happy Friday everyone!
Who ever said that the only thing that matters is the end result certainly was not talking about the art of giving presents. I think that the packaging and the joy of opening probably counts as much as the gift and here's my latest delight that I wanted to share - the Shanghai Tang bangle.
I thought the wrapping paper itself was so beautiful that one could have a art like this framed on the wall - the colours are just so delightful and so made for a happy room in the summertime. Then the box itself - that fabulous lime green tone, which seems to appear here and there in summer accessories this year (and also in Ikea store walls along with black, orange and purple).
And then, finally, comes the gift itself. I love orange in accessories and handbags (especially Hermes when I can afford it). Oh the joy of colours and beautifully wrapped presents!
Step 1 - the delightful wrapping
Step 2 - a cute box that's a keeper in itself
Step 3 - the actual present - no matter what it is, it will be a joy to receive it nicely wrapped up
I sometimes wonder if there are lot of other people like me, who like to buy cute things "typical to the area I am visiting". Meaning provençale tableclothes from France, little houses from Amsterdam, a hand-made rug and ethnic pillows from Turkish bazaars... And they keep piling up and end up in a box when the apartment is full of things.
It appears that I have left a good amount of stuff in my parents house and finally tried to sort it all and decide what to do. My great solution: throw and give away some, buy pretty plastic crate and list and organise the rest for some magical future moment when I will be reunited with all things I have not needed for years (in some cases nearly 20 years - but who knows if my kids might want all this junk in the future...)
I actually would have loved to bring some stuff back with me, but there just was no space in the hand luggage, and I no longer do those hard and heavy suitcases, so check-in luggages was no option either. I really like these yellow fish-patterned hand-painted espresso cups that I (quite poorly I should add) haggled for in the grand bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey, on one weekend trip.
The other things that I still find cute are my ceramic bells and eggs ( in blue and yellow) from Prague, Czech Republic. But I don't think they would fit in our more contemporary house, so they will stay in store waiting for the "beach house or lakeside cottage". This leaves me wondering if lot of other people too have their parents storing these "eternal treasures" they cannot part with...
Hand-painted espresso cups from Turkish bazaar
Ceramic bells and eggs from Prague, Czech Republic
For obvious reasons (half-Spanish family) we tend to like a lot Spanish wines. In general Ribera del Duero is a great area for wines, and since my mom had managed to get some Celeste - a one-off 2007 production from Torres, it was on our tasting list. A beautiful bottle and nice-testing crianza - just perfect to celebrate the birth our little heavenly girl of the twin team - miss Celeste.
Celebration of our little heavenly girl - miss C.
"In the nights of the harvest these are the stars watching and contemplating the birth of Celeste" - love this text on the bottle
When I was little the only way to collect blueberries when one unexpectedly came across them and really wanted to take them home was to use hay straws to store them like little pearls. Then one would enjoy them traditionally with some milk. Delicious memories...
This is exactly what my little kiddies learned to do with their grandma as they took a stroll in the forest and spotted the already ripened blueberries (if you ever visit Finland it is good to know that there is a so-called "every man's right" to walk in the forest, to collect berries, mushrooms and so on - even if it's privately owned land). Here are the cute little blueberry straws Anaïs, Hugo and Celeste made.
Blueberries in hay straws
Blueberries and milk
You can take a geek on a holiday, but you cannot take their Macs away - even when enjoying a delicious coffee break percolated with real torrefacto coffee and served with oven-fresh local pastries...
To our surprise the local little beach store had on stock 4 different sizes of this coffee maker and what a cheap price it was (under 1/3 of the cost of our US model). A quick test run also proved that the design and taste (the latter might have been affected by the quality of the coffee) of the local model was superior... This certainly made our day that day!
I remember when I was little and my family would head for a holiday to Greece or some other warm location and my mom would start packing several days ahead of the trip and we would carry these large suitcases to our hot destination filled with way too many items we never needed. It was painful packing up on the way back as we always ended up buying a lot of clothing as it was so cheap and different than at home.
When our family included just miss Anaïs I would just take my Louis Vuitton handbag, or rather a shoulder knapsack on the road if our trip was less than a week. I would fit there clothing, nappies, toys, cosmetics, reading for me and some snacks. Go figure how they all fit in but they did very well.
When this family of five headed for out 7-week European tour, I decided that all we needed were 2 soft sports bags type check-in plus a few carry-ons for all the laptops ands gadgets. In went stuff for hot, cold and rainy weather plus some presents for people in different countries. And I have already realised that we could have much less, but at least there is some variety now.
So here goes my essentials for my beach survival kit. As I forgot my hat (miss C. kindly took it back to where it normally sits without be noticing it...) my t-shirt will double up as a hat depending how hot it is. And still my kit has 3 optional items depending if the trip to the beach includes just relaxing, or also lots of exercising in the form of walking hours on the beach (my new exercise plan as I am not really supposed to run).
The very essential kit includes (in a sort-of order of importance):
- bikinis ( we have encountered on the remote beaches those who prefer to leave their swimwear home, but that isn't really me)
- water (the more the better, but normally on European beaches one can always buy more)
- sunglasses
- flip-flops or other kind of beach shoes (as sand gets burning hot!)
- sun lotion, especially for the face (getting older has made me religiously apply this on my face as i don't want to look like an old dry prune when few years from now)
- towel
And the not so essential ones:
- camera, as I am always snapping - digital photos are so easy and great and don't cost anything (husband would argue this point as there is the cost of back-up drives and what-not to my 10K pictures)
- nice magazine(s)
- Kindle loaded with juicy summer reading (yes, you know what kind of books I mean - chick-flicks and stuff)
- iPod, if the sound of the waves is not enough
As an afterthought this obviously is a kit to take when kids are with their grandparents, as otherwise there would be the mandatory hats, snacks, toys and times 4 everything else described already!
I love my birthday presents - at least those that have finally arrived ( a bit late, but who cares). It took me a long time to get convinced on digital books - I first started reading them on my iPod (yes, imagine that tiny screen!) and now I have moved onto a Kindle.
I chose these fabulous orange leather coves, which are so Hermes in style and colour. And to make our summer travel bags lighter I downloaded on my day one nearly a hundred eBooks on it - a couple I paid for and the rest are free classics. Stories for kids, fables, some Sherlock Holmes, even some Shakespeare just in case I feel like a reading challenge!
What amazed me most is how real (i.e. paper looking) the reading experience is, and of course the Kindle doesn't loose the bookmarks like I normally do. And there is no glare in the sunshine. I think I am definitely hooked on my Kindle!
To start with I think that World Market has great prices. Then they have the World Market programme, which gets you $10 vouchers, free coffee and other discounts. And to my pleasant surprise they even give you $10 for your birthday - with no minimum purchase gimmicks.
So thank you for these lovely presents I found on the sale - a great cookie cutter set suitable for all seasons and heart-shaped pancake/egg molds. Knick-knack items that I might not have normally bought, but once they entered this house, they are likely to be used quite so often...
After a long search we finally managed to find a nice stove-top coffee maker for that stonger, European-type coffee. And of course we also had to test it immediately. What other proper way there is to enjoy the coffee than a nice little coffee cup instead of a giant mug. Some happy people in this household now!
I can proudly state that the children have been watering well (sometimes too well!) our tiny garden and the salad and peas are growing well.
I am thinking that in a few days we have our first very own salad on the table. We have even planted some more items, but those are yet to surface, and I have spotted some eager birds around here, so we'll see if anything will spring up...
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