I've struggled with gym motivation this week. My messed up schedule last week has really affected my mood all week, and I nearly had to force myself to the gym today. Instead of getting up early and getting ready to go to before nine, I just kept hitting the snooze on my phone over and over and over again. I did the same yesterday, and then didn't have time to go before work.

It's funny how your entire mood changes, when you do actually get to the gym. I was so full of energy and in such a positive headspace once I started my workout. I was really curious about adding some weight to my lat pulldown sets as well, and it was so obvious how unbalanced my muscles are. I usually do three sets of 21kg, and now I increased the last set to 28kg. I get the bar all the way down to my chest when I do it with 21kg, but with the 28kg set my left arm just started saying no. I got the bar down to my chin, and that was all my left arm could do. The right side would've happily gone lower, but no point trying to force it and injure myself. I've always known that my left arm is the weaker one, but I didn't think the difference would be that big.

Feeling like Popeye, yarr!

I've started stocking up on Eat Natural bars, so I have something nice to have as a snack. My other half likes to eat crisps and cakes, and as he does a really physical job, he can get away with it. But if I have all that stuff as snacks on a daily basis, I'd start gaining weight again. The dark chocolate & cranberry one is by far my favourite, blueberry & cashew being a very close second. They're just sweet enough to keep me happy, without being too filling. Accompanied by a big cup of coffee, couldn't ask for a better afternoon treat. ;)


I took part in a raffle run by Steffit a while back, and for once luck was on my side! I won three packs of Elovena snack bars, and thankfully they agreed to send them over to England! I mainly know Elovena from their oatmeal, it was always the brand my mum would buy. Just seeing the pack it all came in made me so nostalgic and very homesick, it's so nice to get these small pieces of home every now and then. And my mum also sent me a parcel a few days ago, with woolen socks and tea towels she had made herself. It all just makes me feel so proud of my heritage.

Sometimes you hear Finnish girls being referred as the 'Elovena girl'. Blonde hair, big smile and red cheeks. The typical Finnish look. I actually used to look exactly like that as a kid, before I started colouring my hair. I do miss my incredibly blonde hair sometimes, but I just know it's not my thing. :)

Dark chocolate, oat & lingonberry and oat-cinnamon.

Anyways! I've got thirty snack bars sitting on my dining table now. It'll definitely take me a good while to get through these, hah! Maybe I'll slip a few of these in my handbag tonight before heading out, I've actually been invited to an Ann Summers party tonight! That'll be a fun experience, never been to one before! Also going to try out a new recipe for dinner, more about that tomorrow.

I made a post on my Facebook last night about this, and I wanted to expand on it over this side. Here's what I posted:

"Change is difficult. It's easy to be set in your ways because you know it's safe and comfortable. While you know that making a change or two could improve your life dramatically, you still want to hold on to the old habits. It definitely took me a while to change all these bad habits into something better.

2013 has been one hell of a year for me. 13 kilos lighter (still 7kg to go to my ultimate goal), feeling more confident than ever and in general just so much happier with my life. All it took was a few lifestyle changes. I went from having insane back pain nearly every day to being able to run as exercise just because im such a stubborn mule that once I start something, I don't want to give up.

Thank you everyone who has given me their support over the past year, it's definitely helped! x"

It took me a very long time to get used to my new lifestyle. I still have the occasional takeaway dinner or sweets, as I think that you should have treats in moderation to keep yourself going! As long as my overall diet is filled with healthy foods, I really don't see the issue with having some junk a few times a month. And in general I really feel like all these people going on fad diets fail for that very reason - the diet says that every single "bad" food is off limits and you're only allowed to eat leaves and drink water. In the long run this makes you crave everything you're not "allowed" to eat and you fall off the wagon. 

And you know what - I actually crave the veggie dishes when I go out for dinner! In the beginning I felt insane amounts of guilt when I went out and ordered the greasy burgers, but lately I've started going for the veggie options more and more. I guess it's just my brain finally being programmed to want the things that will be better for the body.


Looking at these two pictures I really can tell the difference both mentally and physically. Feeling proud of myself affects my overall mood so much, I'm so much happier in my own skin and it transfers to everything I do. I laugh more, I enjoy socialising and the most important thing is, I actually have the confidence to say that I'm good at things now. It's quite a Finnish thing to be very modest and in a way beat yourself down, it's kinda seen as a bad trait to thingk you're good at something (I mean how dare you be so selfish and cocky?!).

And speaking of Finnish things, look what I found today!! I've always loved rye crispbread, it's one of the things I've missed about Finland. We were just randomly walking around at Tesco today and when we got to the cracker section the word "Finn" just caught my eye. I nearly yelled "Hapankorppuja!!" (Crispbread!) in the middle of a packed Tesco but I managed to hold it in. :D Crispbread and salami is a perfect combination, you can probably guess what I had for lunch today. The best thing is, it's actually made in Finland and shipped over instead of it being a German product (I've noticed that all the normal rye bread around here is from Germany - not a bad thing of course!).

I've got a Finnish friend who lives up in Scotland, I just had to report my findings to her and she was more than happy with this information haha!


To end this post I really want to add a comment I got from a friend yesterday. I really felt like I help others change for the better and I just couldn't stop going "Awwwww!!" for a good ten minutes last night!

Hello again from the slightly less sunny Finland! The weather has just changed completely, it's gone from sunny +25 to rainy, cloudy and miserable +15. It was so chilly today I didn't even fancy going swimming after sauna, the wind has really mixed up the water.

Anyways, here's two pictures from my walk the other day. I've started being very paranoid about walking around in the sticks, I just keep thinking that what if an angry mummy bear with her cubs appears from the woods just to say hi to me.



This farm must be about two hundred years old (if not older). Back in the day you had to be self sufficient with food and that has resulted in my mum being a very keen gardener as the way of life has passed on from generation to generation. I do absolutely love it, my mum grows all kinds of veg and berries / fruit every year. It's one of the main things that makes me want to come back here.

Eventually I will want to build my own veggie patch in our garden. It's so simple in the end, all you need is a few bags of dirt, a nice box or two and seeds. I actually saw a very cool way of doing it earlier today, you just get these bags of dirt, cut one side of it open, pierce some holes into the other side (so the excess water runs out from the bags instead of drowning the plants) and plant whatever you want. Very little effort for something very rewarding.

I do really think that healthy living has been made easy for everyone. You can just buy some big garden pots and grow your own food, with none of the nasty preservatives and pesticides you get in everything they sell in supermarkets nowadays. The growing itself must have such a positive effect on you as well, you get to grow something, make sure it's watered on a regular basis and in the end you get to harvest your own produce and eat it.






And as you can see in this picture, the weather really was miserable today when I went for a walk. Really windy and cold, I felt like I was going to fall over when the wind really started blowing. I've also noticed that walking on the dirt road is very difficult! The sand obviously does give way a bit when you walk on it, making your muscles work a bit harder to stay in motion. This really wore me out quickly, I think I was out for half an hour and I really didn't want to do anything else afterwards. My plans for one hour walks all week really has gone out of the window, I just really don't have the energy to walk when the road isn't solid. They say that walking on a softer surface is a lot better for your knees and joints, but screw that if I'm so knackered after 30 minutes.





These pics are from my aunt's summer cottage, she lives in Helsinki but comes down to Sulkava every summer to enjoy the peace and quiet. Luka was so disappointed that I didn't go for a swim, she was crying for a good 15 minutes outside the sauna. That dog just loves water...


And as I haven't posted any food pics this week, here's a little something! An oven pan full of homemade pizza. :D Obviously not all for me, my mum absolutely loves my pizza and even knew to stock up on all the ingredients before I came over! That's enough pizza for four people, will happily share the recipe if people are interested. :) I have modified the original recipe so it's a bit healthier than your regular white flour based pizza.

Well hello there! Finally recovered from all the traveling on Friday so I have some energy left to write. :) I pretty much spent the entire Friday traveling, I got up at 5.30 in the morning and arrived to where my parents live around 9.30 in the evening. An hour by train, 2,5 hours by plane, 5 hours by bus and 30 minutes by car. It's always very exhausting coming over to see my family and friends.

Right! Plenty of pictures incoming. :) I actually only took one picture during traveling, I just had no energy for anything really. My back was being awful for most of the way and I was just plain shattered so I pretty much snoozed most of the travel. Anyways, this picture is from Lahti I think. I found it quite funny how there's this huge motorway right next to this huge bit of countryside.


My parents have two pets nowadays, a cat called Enni and a German Sheperd Luka. We used to have another cat and a Caucasian mountain dog, but they've both been put down recently due to age / illness. Luka went absolutely mad when she saw me Friday night, just running between my legs and making all kinds of spastic noises.



There's one amazing thing about being in the sticks. Nobody cares when you wear ridiculous shoes like Crocs. They are incredibly comfy but would never agree to wear them in town, they're strictly countryside shoes. :D I actually bought these shoes for work a few years ago when I needed some comfy shoes to wear all day when walking around, best work shoes I've ever worn.


This picture of the red outside buildings brings up so many memories. It's a little pathway that leads from the front garden to our cow barn. The rocks under the building was always a cool spot to play at, I used to climb on the rocks pretending that the rock slabs on the ground were lava or something. There's a lot of holes and nails on the wall to hold on to, it was like rock climbing to me. :D

I've also been spotted by mosquitos and horse flies. Didn't take them long unfortunately. I was bitten by a tiny horse fly and the bite swell up to be the size of a 10p coin. And it itches like mad.


I've decided to take it easy this week and just relax when I can. There's not really that much to do around here anyways so I've gone back to a hobby that I've neglected for quite a while now - reading. Currently I'm reading Robert Fabbri's False God of Rome, a third book from his Vespasian series. I've always been very into the history or Rome so this is a book series that I've fallen in love with.

And in case I finish this book before going back to England, I've also got Lord of the Rings on my Kindle as a backup. Definitely won't finish that anytime soon.


Sauna is a very essential part of the Finnish culture. Many households actually have two separate saunas, one at their home and a separate one by a lake somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Ours is about a ten minute walk away from home though.




It's a very peaceful place, the lake is very quiet most of the time so you can just forget about the world for a little while. The water is incredibly warm and going for a swim after sitting in the hot sauna for a while is so refreshing. I've always been very into swimming, I was like married with our lake when I was a kid. 



And Luka is absolutely mad about water as well, she chases the air bubbles and splashes of water you get when you move your hand or foot in the water. Swimming can get quite dangerous with her if she's not told off, though. Her protective insincts just kick in and she swims after you, trying to get you to go to shore. This unfortunately means that she will claw you to absolute ribbons if you're not careful with her. 


The typical temperature of sauna is between 80-100 degrees. That's the comfortable range for me to sit in, some "hardcore" sauna fans can put up with the 120 degree heat. I just end up getting dizzy in that heat.




Oh and this picture was taken last night at 1am. I promise. The sun just doesn't really set during the summer, you could just go out in the middle of the night and still be able to see perfectly fine.





There's this big flour mill about 15 minute drive away from where I am. As far as I'm aware it's mostly (or completely) powered by water power, which is incredibly cool. They do also sell some handmade stuff, like jams and marmelades, sweets, honey.. I did end up getting some souvenirs for my other half and his family, but that shall remain a secret for now. ;)




I'm probably going to post every few days all week, just pile up a ton of pictures and post them like this, I'm just too lazy to write long essays about every picture I take. :D