The summer cottage

This wardrobe at our family's summer cottage has just the perfect color! I love it! Too bad my mom happens to share my taste so she has a "reservation" for it since it originally used to belong to her god parents. Well it's gorgeous anyhow!

Great Italian coffee in Helsinki

My favourite place to have a cup of espresso or cappucino has to be this: Cafe Gran Delicato on Kalevankatu in Kamppi. Unfortunately it's not really on my hood but I try to pay it a visit every time I'm nearby and have a craving for great cuppa. Definitely an authentic atmosphere: the staff speaks Finnish with an accent and you pay when you leave which is really not the common practice around here. And of course most importantly, the coffee is superb as well as the baguettes and paninis you can have if feeling a bit hungry. A def. recommendation from me! Just keep one thing in mind: if you happen to be one of those who prefer their coffee "the Finnish way", lightly roasted and tasting like the rainwater, you better order tea or latte here.

I just wanted  to share some random  stuff you might come across while visiting drift stores and antique shops. I did end up buying something as well but more about that later.

Second-hand finds

So, I went to the Valtteri Flea Market the other day and this is what I found:

Isn't it just the most adorable little bag ever? Good condition, genuine leather, a Finnish manufacturer... and best of all, the price was 4 euros! A real find there!

As I really like the design of the purse, I googled a little bit more about the brand, Three Bags, and I found out there was a couple of bags by the brand on internet auctions. And that's where I then found this baby:

I've been looking for a bag that would accomodate my other baby, Asus Zenbook laptop I bought a couple of months ago and now I found it! How didn't I come to think of traditional suitcases before? And the colour is just to die for.

Another colourful second hand gem I purchased with the first bag:

Isn't it cute? Can't wind it up though as it makes such a noise I can't sleep, haha. :D

Belgium/The Netherlands

Actually, before showing you the second-hand shopping goodess, I'll share some totally random pics from my trip to Belgium and The Netherlands a couple of weeks ago. Good times meeting up with dear friends!

And yeah, these are just some random pictures with crappy quality of cameraphone as I couldn't find my camera when I was packing.

Oh look, it's me! And Thiago being kind with his photobombing victory mark. :D The name sign was an awesome present, thanks Senna! We all got matching ones with our names on them. :) Apparently it's the Belgian car licence plate design.

 And btw, the dress I'm wearing is the one that was featured earlier in the blog! I love love love it! It's  just the perfect travelling piece because of the versitilily, fast-to-dry fabric and the loose fit.  Totally recommend you guys get a similiar piece for travelling use!

 

 

Oh well hello there, the wall of interenet memes... (Brussels)

This is a ratio I'm talking about! The picture is an information add for what's coming thanks to a renovation on a Dutch railway station (Breda, I guess). Translation: Places for 16 trains, 20 busses, 4200 bikes (!) and 720 cars. Helsinki city officials, learn something from this!

 

A very cool catherdal-like hallway on the airport of Copenhague. You wouldn't really guess it's an airport, would you?

"Welcome back to Finland". The weather was so bad hey almost didn't let our plane to fly from Stockholm to Helsinki...

I had an awesome trip seeing all my friends! Thanks for Thiago, Wolney and Daniel for hosting me in Brussels and for Britt and Danielle for hosting me in The Netherlands! Hope to see you guys soon!

The Flea Market Valtteri, Vallilan makasiinit

Living in Vallila, there's probably one flea market I've heard the most about, Valtteri (http://www.kirpputori.com/valtteri) . So of course I had to pay it a visit the other day. Even with all the rumours I didn't really know what to expect. This is what I came across with:

It was huge and packed! (And just for info, this is only one half of the indoor space in use plus there's also an outdoor space for more tables and furniture when the weather is better)

The selection here is rather impressive, it covers basically anything and everything. Most notable "genre" of stuff on sale was still young women's clothing so for that kind of pieces, this is a good place. No chance for fitting anything properly on though! But of course you can buy so many different things here as it's based on rented salestables so the items vary based on whatever people want to sell: I saw everything from fake "chanel" purses and used mobile phones to antiques and children's utilities. There's also a fixed antiquariat and cafe in case one gets a bit thirsty going through this massive hall of re-usable goods.

Btw at the antiquariat section I found something curious:

 Note it's the second one of the series, I just wonder how many of these there are in total....

 

  Anyhow, I really liked the place and made some pretty awesome finds too but more about them on my next post. I think I'll definately visit Valtteri again but I'll wait for a while before so the selection changes a bit.

And of course after tiring second hand shopping, I had to treat myself with some Laskiaispulla and hot chocolate at Kulmakahvio at Karhupuisto, which I can highly recommend, the staff was super friendly!


UPDATE: The flea market has been closed.

For more environmentally cleaning

One product which has bothered me lately is dish washing liquid. I've been wondering why all the liquids, even the ones meant for sensitive skin, have the labelling to be "irritating". I'm not sure either if my dishes ever get so dirty I would actually need to have any kind of superstrong detergant to get them clean on a daily basis. So finally when I ran out of my last washing liquid, I went on and got this Ekologinen Ole Hyvä washing liquid:

The ingreditients list is gratifyingly short:
INCI: Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Alcohol, Sea Salt, Citrus Limonum Oil, Citrus Aurantium Dulcis Oil.

So far it has worked well enough for my daily use and the citrus smell is really nice! And probably the best thing is that when I eventually run out of it, I can always go to fill up the same bottle in a retailer shop! So nice eco-saving in the materials too. :) To accompany my new purchase there's also the cute dishcloth made of hemp&cotton by a local producer Kierti.

And talking about retail shops: I got these from a relatively new eco shop called Eko Vintti, located in Mannerheimintie 98 next to Yliopiston Apteekki. The store is quite small yet they have rather good diversity in produce and really good service! I got a really warm welcome and spend a while chatting with the owner and she gave me some good tips for some eco beauty products. More about those in my next post though. :)

A new dress

I was supposed not to buy any new clothes anymore but earlier this week I realised I might need just another party dress as most of the ones I have I either can't fit into or aren't really suitable for all occations (family parties etc.). And that's the excuse I convinced myself to buy this dress today:


ANGEL S/L MINI DRESS

I think it's sooooo cute! Perfect combination of classic classyness and cutesy girliness. :D Can't wait for the spring to come now.


Ok, I have to admit it's not the only dress I bought, this one found its way to my wardrode a couple of weeks ago too... (Picture from hm.com/fi)

Pub Magneetti, Mäkelänkatu 20

I've been living in Vallila, an ex-working class neighbourhood of Helsinki, which despite of turning more into a middle class neighborhood, still has some rough ends to it, for 6 months now. I really love the neighbourhood, it has most of the services you need on a daily basis and also nice variety of fleamarkets and corner bars with decent prices. However, I still hadn't found the bar I was expecting this place would have: a nice, cosy, not too posh place for young people. Well folks, last night I found it: Pub Magneetti. It's a small place located on the main street, Mäkelänkatu, and still it's rather hard to find if you don't know what to look for. No neon signs, just the name on the window and an entrance which raises the question "am I really aloud to go in?" (At least on Finnish standards as we prefer everything to be if not super tidy, at least not as dingy as this small entrance) Anyhow, once you get in, you don't regret: the bar is superb. The decor is, well, eclectic to say the least and the whole place was lit up with just candle light and a rather kitsch, yet interesting fixture of Christmas lights. The walls are packed with a strange mixture of memorabilia, mainly donated by customers, I heard. And the music was really good too, just perfect for a chill place like this.
Last night, a regular wednesday evening, all tables were full of lively, young crowd and no wonder as the regular tap beer is only 2,8e/0,4l. Very reasonable for a bar in Helsinki. Not that much of beer variety though, but still some choice in case you totally detest the Karjala beer on tap.
So, if you want to have a cosy beer with friends or a place to start a long night out, this bar is a total thumbs up. At least in my case, I'm sure last night won't be my last night there. :D So muchos gracias for my lovely friends for inviting me there last night!