ramblings

The rest of my family (excluding my brother...of course) are at the movies... some silly owl movie. (Watch it be the next big hit, and I missed out. Ha. Yeah right.)

So, here I am. I am faced with choices here. Be an overachiever and work on some extra homework, be a bum, and get ready for bed, write something extremely brilliant and become a multimillionaire, or write a new post for this oh-so-lovely blog of mine... I choose the latter!

But don't underestimate me. Not only am I writing this wonderful masterpiece, but I am also jamming out to some major music, and wearing out my vocals. Yehaw!

Don't get me wrong, it's fun stuff. (And yes, mom, I did the dishes before I got on the computer..)

I should really find some new worthy favorite songs... I've been listening to the same five for... about a month. Time to change it up a bit--yeah... I'll get to it... later.

Earlier I had a dance party. It was wonderful! Just me, and those good-looking dishes. At least they don't make fun of my chicken dances, which is completed with my new leopard slippers. (I picked them out. They are wonderful. I will keep them, and love them, and name them "slipper 1" and "slipper 2."

Good stuff. Good stuff.

Now, I should probably go, seeing how the fam. will be home in a jiffy, and it would just be humiliating if they caught me on the computer (not like mom isn't always on the computer when I come to the living room...*cough*)

oops. They're here.

Summer Reading

When we got back, after a few days of recovering from sickness, followed by a few more days of nothingness, I came up with a few goals that I wanted to accomplish before school started.

But, as I say this, most of them were merely "suggestions" of what I might be able to do.

When I realized that I most likely wouldn't get to all of them, I added one more that I was positive I could achieve: To read 16 books.

Last Saturday, I reached this goal. Yipee!!

Which books, you may ask, would I risk my social life to read during summer?

Well, pretty much any book I could get my hands on. :D

*Two Princesses of Bamarre

*Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow

*The Hunger Games

*Charly

*A Great and Terrible Beauty

*Sam

*Adam's Story

*Rebel Angels

*Ariana: The Making of a Queen

*Ariana: A Gift Most Precious

*The Last Song

*Neverwhere

*Zel

*Just the Way You Are

*A Pearl Among Princes

*Sunshine

16!!! But, even after I had read these, there were still books that I have wanted to read, so I continued...

*Mara: Daughter of the Nile

*Catching Fire

Now, I would comment on all of these books, but... that would take a while, and quite frankly I'm feeling rather ADD right now. So, rather than waste my time, as well as yours, (but now that you're reading this dull explanation, you've just wasted more time...)

I'll tell you, instead, that I liked all of them. There were a few books that took forever to read, seeing how the author went on and on, and on.... about nothing really important (important, being defined as "emotionally entertaining, or necessary to the plot of the story according to Matilda") which was super duper frustrating.

And if that didn't keep me from reading, then the several text messages from (well, you know who you are) certainly delayed my finishing these books. (And, I mean that in the most friendly way.) ;)

Now. I still have time to continue, or rather, to try to read the books that I've been meaning to before school starts,

Next Tuesday.

I have so much on my mind right now, and I'm completely bummed that I haven't been keeping up with this blog so that I wouldn't have to go back and write all these things that have happened since the last time I updated... this post may turn out to be a big jumble of thoughts... no scratch that--it will be a big jumble of thoughts. :)

Where to start? Maybe the informative ... stuff.

We are in AMERICA!! Ah! Blessed, blessed America!

Getting here was quite a feat, but I'm so happy that we are here.

We left Finland July 7th, and it took us all day to get to New York, but that could also be because we didn't leave Finland until the afternoon. When we made it to New York, we waited a bit, then Uncle Erik, cousin Nathanael, (and cousins Brenden and Brian) came to pick us up, and drive us to their home in Pennsylvania. What a drive. We were dead, then the drive was 3 hours or so. Finally, at some point after midnight (or was it one...?) we made it to the house, and I went straight to sleep.

Thank heavens for jet lag, right? (no.)

I woke up the following morning at 5:30, and had a look around my cousin's room (mainly her books... you know me. ;) ) I came across Two Princesses of Bamarre. Now, understand, that I have been craving this book for over half a year. The way a starving person craves food. It was a miserable half a year without this book. Anywho... back to the story... I started reading that book, and read and read to my heart's content. When the sun woke up, as well as the rest of the household, I had finished this book. Talk about getting down to business. :)

Later that day we drove to DC, had all these wonderful parties for the wedding, then crashed at the Hilton. (For such a big hotel, you'd think that they'd have more than four elevators.)

Friday was the wedding. We went to the DC temple, and it was beautiful! (Though, I wasn't so crazy about how weird my dress looked on me. I was a complete and utter... cupcake. ;) )

Picture-taking lasted a good while, and the scorching heat, and direct sunlight didn't exactly make it any more pleasant.

The reception was fun! I got Mikaela to dance with me, and she LOVED it!!! We did some major cha-chaing...or something like that ;) and then I agreed to slow-dance with the cutie. Except... since she's so short.... I bent my knees so that I was about her height... boy was that a workout for these thighs! ;) It was so cute watching her, that it was completely worth it!!! <3

On Saturday, back in Pennsylvania, at 9:30pm our cousins came up with the idea of playing capture the flag, so they called their friends, and we all went to a park and we played capture the flag. :) It was major fun!

Sunday, we went to church in Pennsylvania, and enjoyed the rest of the day with our cousins.

Monday. We came home! <3>

And we immediately started unpacking everything. Of course, I realized in the car that I was sick, so with my snotty nose, and throbbing throat, I too unpacked. And Tuesday, feeling miserable, I finished setting up my room. It looks wonderful, if I do say so myself.

Now, since we've been back....

Wednesday, I met up with Emilie, Caitie, and Alane, and enjoyed the Concert Under the Elms. Alane played in it, and she rocked it with her mad french horn playing skills. :) Then we went to Cold Stone's.... oh boy!!! <3>

Thursday night the youth came back from youth conference, and I got to see Hannah and Kimmi!!! <3>

Friday and Saturday I spent practically glued to Hannah. haha. :) But it was good. We went to the movies (with Jonathan and Sam too), grocery shopping, to put some gas in the car, and to Hannah's first drive thru (with her driving the car) (we went to Little Caesar's and bought breadsticks... $3 for eight sticks *just to throw that advertisement in*).

Sunday was absolutely wonderful, as we were back to our wonderful little Athens Branch, and saw our friends again!! <3>

haha...whoa, just realized that it's only Monday...

I read a whole book yesterday, read another one today (but today's was short... less than a hundred pages...)

Whooh! That's all for happenings. Now on to some thoughts that I've had.

Before we left Finland, I was surfing amazon looking at books... (yeah, I know... I'm looking for a hobby ;) ) and I came across an author's blog. I checked it out, and loved it! Man, these authors are talented! Even her blog was just enthralling and capturing. So, something to aspire to, I suppose... not anytime soon. :( bummer.

Next, something that my mom said to Mikaela a while ago stuck with me. Usually, when I hear something "profound," I think "wow, that is amazing. I will remember that always," and then I always forget what it was that I thought was so amazing. But, one day, back in Finland, while Mikaela threw a fit about her friend being able to do something that Mikaela wasn't allowed to go to, or something like that... My mom calmed her down and told her, "Life isn't fair. Sometimes others get to do things that we can't, but it's our choice to be happy for them or not." (well, you know, that was the gist of it...)

Ever since then, (even though I've known just how unfair life can be ;) ) I've really tried to be happy for others even if I've maybe felt jealous... and it's hard. For sure.

Oh, well. Just keep at it. :)

So, mull over that a while, then go and eat a bowl of ice cream (it always helps) while I go eat dinner. :)

I Survived A Year in Finland

I survived a year in Finland despite:

living in a 3-bedroomed apartment with a 6-person family

sharing a room with my sisters

living without a car

being without a dishwasher

being without my American buddies

not having twizzlers

not having a clothes dryer

having a broken hair dryer

not being able to go to a library full of books in English

having to put layers and layers on to keep me alive in the -4F temperatures in the winter

living with my crazy family

I survived a year in Finland because:

I had Pihla

Jenni

Serina

Milla

Saku

Annu

Jyväskylä youth,

because of many hilarious conversations with Katie,

skyping with:

Hannah

Emilie

Kimmi

because for christmas I received packages from

Lexie,

Hannah,

and the young women of Athens,

because I had the gospel,

the scriptures,

the urge to try to better myself this year, and was helped by the examples of: the young women leaders of Jyväskylä, the young women of Jyväskylä, my friends at school, my español amigas

because I knew that at the end of the year, I would be able to go home, with new experiences, new friends made, and a better understanding of things that I needed to learn.

Thank you everyone for being supportive during this year, especially when I wasn't so willing to see the positives in this year. :)

Last Week In Jyväskylä

The fact that we are actually going home soon has only just begun to sink in with our family. For a while it was out in the distance "yeah, we're going home...sometime..." Now that we've actually had to get rid of things, and have a major clean-out of the apartment, it doesn't seem so much of an idea anymore.

Last night, for a ward activity, we had a 'farewell party' for us and another family who are moving. It was at a family's farm. :)

Here I am making crepes. The mini frying pan was heavy, so I'm struggling to keep it over the fire, but not too close that the poor thing burns. ;)

When I saw the cows, I asked Mom if I could get a cow for my 17th birthday. I walked over to pet it, and it tried to eat my hand off. Mom said no. ...(but later, I was able to tempt the cow into letting me pet it, with a bit of good-looking grass.) This dog is just adorable--so is the kid, but ah! Love love love this big, fury, happy dog!!

:( So sad that to leave the amazing people in Jyväskylä. But, soon we'll be home, and that'll be wonderful. :)

Happy Tuesday!!

P.S. Big shout out to Emilie in France!! (Thanks for including me on your blog post!) Love you em!! <3

One Year Anniversary

As of today, we have officially been in Finland for a year. :)

Things are winding down: I took care of what I needed from school, school ended, summer started (hallelujah!), and we went to Youth Conference (Mom, Jonathan, and me), and now we're chilling.

Youth Conference was amazing! I'm so happy that I was able to go with my amigos here in Finland. :)

Some memorable moments: the disco the first night, painting my rock, the dance practice, the formal dance, sleeping on the floor...

Rocks! :) We were allowed to paint them however we wanted to, but were strongly "encouraged" to paint them as lions.... I thought it'd be cute, but my lion, didn't exactly turn out to be a lion after all... And there Pihla and I are showing our little creatures off. Focus on the rocks, not our faces... we weren't ready for the picture. ;)

Ah! It feels strange to think that we're leaving Finland, but I'm excited to go home! If only I could take my new buddies with me. :P

So, for the next two weeks, I will take in as much Jyväskylä to last me until we come back!

Mallorca

Spain! I've been putting off writing about it... I just didn't want it to end. :(

We left Thursday April 29 (it was snowing here in Jyväskylä), took a plane to Berlin, and from there to Mallorca. ...we had a few problems in Berlin, so we didn't arrive in Mallorca until later than planned.

Friday, Jonathan and I walked the streets of Palma for a few hours, took the train instead of the metro, so we got lost, but finally made it to the university to meet up with Dad, and Maria, who we stayed with. We went to a buffet the college students were in charge of, and then we went to pick up Joey, Maria's 11-year-old son, and we walked along the harbor. Then we drove back to their house to pick up Gabriel Sr, and Jr. and we drove to a castle. When we went back to their house, we ate dinner, and the four of us kids played Clue (which I won) and we went to bed.

Saturday, we had a wonderful breakfast, made sandwiches and headed for the mountains. We first stopped on one mountain, about halfway from the house to where we were going, so that we could see the mountains we were going to visit, but it was so foggy, that we couldn't see them. :) So we kept driving, winding back and forth along the road in the mountains, and we made it to the lighthouse. The view was incredible! The ocean came up, and met these cliffs and mountains, and the water was so blue, it was gorgeous! We got back in the cars, and started driving back through the mountains, stopping at various places to get out, explore, and take pictures. Then, we drove down the mountains, to find a place to eat our lunches. We settled for the beach. :) There were houses right next to it, the Mediterranean Sea, and cafes, and you could see boats floating around. (I wouldn't mind living there.) Ah! What a sight! When we were done eating, we drove to see the caves, and the lovely stalactites and stalagmites. :)

We went back to their house, and we kids played Hotels, then ate, then went back to the game until 11 pm, when our parents said we had to go to sleep... so we had to end the game (which I also won...).

Sunday morning, we woke up pretty early, ate breakfast, said our goodbyes, and headed to the airport with the Ensaïmada we were instructed to take to Mom, and my sisters. We made it to Jyväskylä in time to watch the second half of X Factor. :)

It was such a great trip, and I'm so glad that I was able to go to spain, and that, for my first time to spain, I was able to go with my brother and dad, to visit Maria and her family! :) Now, I'm looking forward to my next trip to spain... :)

(ay-yah-FYAH-lah-yer-kuhl)

The airports in Finland opened yesterday for a few hours.

This morning, I heard they were opened again, then I learned that they were closed this afternoon.

This is all thanks to the volcano Eyjafjallajokull (a lovely name, if I do say so myself). We're now waiting to see what happens with the volcano Katla (much easier to pronounce). Hopefully, the airports will be open the 29th, so that we can still go to Spain, but if not, that they will be open in the summer so we can go home. I'm positive they will be, but I've heard some others say otherwise... and, of course, that keeps me calm. :/ oh dear.

Ah, completely stressed. :/

Happy Wednesday!

Centerpieces

Exciting news!!! My dearest cousin Jen is getting married!! <3 Everyone is ecstatic, probably Jen the most. And she has asked me to be apart of her bridal party, and to help out. So, my first task was to find a centerpiece. Me, as overeager as I was, got right to it, after receiving the "mission" this morning, and this is what I've found.
Okay, we'll start with this one. I think it's a simple centerpiece, but maybe too tall?But, by putting something around it would make it look smaller, and more "apart" of the table. And, my mother thought that if the lower part were hollow, that it could be filled with glass rocks, or petals, or something else just as lovely. :)
This is the first picture I found, and I thought it was gorgeous, but with only this, the table would look bare. So, sprinkle some lovely petals. Downside to this: it only has pink, but the colors could easily be exchanged for others.
Depending on what kind of tables are going to be at the reception, this setup has the brown, matching the tuxes, the pink, and the cream. (Also, the long wooden block doesn't have to be there...? or! a round wooden block. How lovely, just the thought of it. ;) )
This one has a bit more of a pop! to it color-wise... and the tree bark around the glass, I think it has some sort of purpose to it... but I would exchange it for a brown ribbon to be more "elegant."
Ignoring the other two, the pink and white roses are stunning in the glass vase and stones. :) Love it!
This is just a pretty picture I found!

This, I am not particularly a fan of, considering the flowers, but I wanted to show you how they used the mirror for a base, and the candles stationed at the corners, then the glass marble/stone/rock thingies spread out to cover a greater portion of the table... (but, not too far. We don't want little kids nibbling on those good-looking rocks.)

Point to Finland

When I last posted, the score stood at: America-176 , Finland-0

I am, of course happy--thrilled, in fact-- to report that since then, I have experienced the outside ice skating rink down the street. Point to Finland.

Over the past--has it been four months I've gone without posting?--well, in that time, we've celebrated several holidays, namely: New Year's, Valentine's Day, Kimmi's Birthday, Matilda's Birthday, April Fool's Day, General Conference Weekend, and Easter. :)

New Year's was spent at a Youth Conference, and that was an experience.

Valentine's Day, or "ystävänpäivä" (friend's day) was on a Sunday. Lovely!

Kimmi's Birthday-- happy birthday dearest kimmi!! You 16-year-old you!!

Matilda's Birthday:

This pic. is my favorite from my birthday!! The card is from my mummi (finnish grandmother), and I absolutely love it!! <3

April Fool's Day--...well, nothing really happened, except-haha! I did get merinda!!

-Merinda was staring at me with really wide eyes, and I told her, "Merinda, if you keep staring like that, the blood vessels in your eyes will explode, and your eyes will turn red." Then I proceeded to walk out of the kitchen. Merinda was terrified, and followed me. "REALLY?! But what about the people who do staring contests?!!!!?" hahaha.. oh, dear. That was good.

General Conference was wonderful! Just inspiring, and incredible! Loved it!

Easter--well, the second day of General Conference was on Easter, so we didn't have anything until 3. In the morning, we had an easter egg scavenger hunt. The kids (or, Jonathan, and Jusa) found the candy in the attic, in our suitcases.

One of the "easter foods" in finland is Mämmi. :) AH! How I love mämmi! It's hilarious since you ask other people, even Finns, and they'll tell you that they don't like it.

:) This picture was taken after I had been playing floorball, so I was all sweaty, and I decided to eat some mämmi, and my mom informed me that we didn't have any pictures of anyone eating the stuff, so I was the lucky guinea pig. :)

That pretty much brings you up to date on ...some things. :D

Next week is test week, and that will be a blast. ;)