Time to bake some cinnamon buns

So yesterday it was that time of the months again. Time to bake buns I mean. As appropriate for a lady sunday morning, I headed over to grandma and grandpa's around noon and all we had on our schedule was to bake some cinnamon buns. Once again, Paappa had made us all some de-licious meet free bolognese sauce (that stuff, omg! heaven on earth) and it was so warm we even managed to enjoy our lunch moment at the terrace. Summer is finally coming back! And the bees too. 

Baking is definitely something to relax me. That is the time when you do not need to think about anything other than how many grams of flour you need to pour in to the mixture or wether your eggs are room-temperature-enough to be added. Also, on the other hand it's a great time to catch up and have a nice therapy moment sharing our stories with grandma. Sometimes it even gets s little too deep and we end up crying our eyes out. So these buns are 100% homemade with loads of love and other emotions. 

I feel like this spring has gone by so fast that I haven't even seen them in a really long time, which is not a good thing as they live like 5km away from our house. So hopefully during the summer we would have the time to spend some quality time together before I move back to Vaasa for at least the fall semester.

Running and cleaning

Today at the gym we had an awesome WOD. Even though otherwise my day was not a very good one(apart from the cake we had at work..), but right as I got to the gym I totally forgot all those worries. One of the best features of working out for sure. 

Squat clean and snatch were my favorite movements already from the first few onramp classes. Even though technically very difficult ones, somehow I just like the intensity and how you need to use your whole body to get that barbell up and not just your hands as you would assume, or at least how I assumed it.. To get to those impressive heavy weights I definitely still need many, many reps and loads of practice but one WOD by one, I am getting there.

So about todays workout(and I totally realize this blog is nowadays super boring and only consists of me rambling about sports, but what can you do thats what I am into right now. Maybe in a few months the topics are totally different. That's just life I guess.), as I read the description on Facebook I was already hyped but still a bit worried how I would make it.

Partner WOD: 25 min AMRAP

a)400m run

b)8 squat clean @25kg

6 rounds

I was b), so my part was to start with doing 8 squat cleans as my partner would run 400m. Then we switched and I ran 400m and so on. This continued for 25 min. When running for the second time I was already feeling pretty tired, but somehow I found the energy to just keep on going. In the start of the fourth round I was totally feeling it again, with heaps of energy or at least determination. I managed to push it to the end and even do a slight final spurt! 

I think there is no need for me to emphasize this any more but I am just totally hooked on CrossFit, loving every bit of it. Even the max reps we did on Tuesday(and my extremely weak and embarrassing PR result, lol..).

Tomorrow we are having a day off from work as it is some kind of a religious holiday(didn't pay too much attention at school during this topic, soo..) and I am so happy to just sleep in, play some golf if its not raining, go orienteering in the evening and maybe film some vids :-)

My week 19 in workouts

For this week I was pretty active, and I can feel that. I have had a lot more energy and I feel more upbeat for sure. My new hobby also excites me so every training session ahead I am really looking forward to, and that is only a positive thing! Sometimes it is really hard to motivate yourself but when you find the right sport and environment to train in, it should not be a challenge for a bit. Also, I started to use HeiaHeia again for tracking down my workouts. There you can really see the overview quite nice I think. For runs I really like the Nike+ iPod app. You can see your distance, time and average paste easy if you just remember to take your iPod with you and actually start the program(I would not trust the calory calculator at all though..)

Monday: 1h30min CrossFit
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: 1h30min CrossFit + 2x40min biking
Thursday: 1h30min CrossFit
Friday: rest
Saturday: 2h golf training, 30min/5km run
Sunday: 40min/7,5km run

Everybody wants to rule the world

So what else than working and sleeping has happened within the past month or so..

Visited Helsinki twice and did some cheeky yet awesome shoppings. 

Well, spring almost made it to Finland too but then it started snowing.

Kicked off my golf season for this year and bought a new bag, this time a stand bag.

Already been to two orienteering sessions, but now my new hobby will be distracting me as I will miss all Monday orienteering's.

I have been doing some cooking too and discovered my new absolute favorite dish. It includes bulgur, marinated tofu and assorted veggies, so yummy!!

Good old Saturday shopping spree

It was such a nice sunny day today so I decided to kick off my biking season for this year. I biked to a nearby shopping mall even though I really don't need anything right now, other than a new spring jacket maybe. Well, I didn't get a new coat but what I got is a thick layer of dust on my face and a few little things from H&M.

Change of lifestyle

Those who know me personally should be aware of this but I have been a vegetarian(ovo-lacto vegetarian to be exact) since high school so for quite a few years now. On Sunday evening I got super sick and I kept throwing up all night, being very unwell and weak throughout all Monday. That got me thinking, that maybe I should change my diet and start eating meat again. I started off my new life as a meat eater with this delicious looking chicken breast, kip as they like to call it in the Netherlands.  Tomorrow I will be returning back to work, so lets see if my energy levels will be more upbeat.

(Please excuse my pretty no-makeup face and gorgeous night gown)

Home Sweet Home

I had the most awesome week in Lapland, but still it's so good to be back home. Yesterday we enjoyed the last few hours at Levi as well as possible. Our train left from Rovaniemi at 9 pm so we had some spare time in the morning. After cleaning up our cabin, me and dad went to the slopes as it was such a nice day, and I actually changed from snowboarding to skiing.

Tired from all the outdoor entertainment the journey went by pretty fast and as soon as we got to the train it didn't take long for all of us to fall asleep. Thats a good thing, as this morning we had to wake up at 5:30 am. And as the night between Saturday and Sunday was the time to change from winter time to summer time, 5:30 am was actually 4:30 am to us. Confusing, I know and I kept waking up thinking if we are yet in Tampere or not. The train continued it way to Helsinki, so we could have overslept and found ourselves from Helsinki instead. 

As we got home at around 7 am, I didn't feel like sleeping at all so I figured to do a massive spring cleaning in my room. How convenient and very like me to be cleaning at 7 am after just 6 hours of sleep. Anyways, now my room looks so much better as I finally took those ugly boxes and part of my winter clothes to storage. The rest of the day will be spent lounging in fresh sheets, mentally preparing to return work tomorrow and also visiting grandma and grandpa.

Sunday Inspiration

Before continuing with my LA report, wanted to share these pics for a little Sunday inspiration. Living with my parents, working full time in a not-my-dream-job and days just passing by without me even noticing it has made think of what I actually want from life. I want to be happy, laugh a lot, spend fun weekends with my friends, bake/create pretty things and enjoy the world as it is. All this I am not quite executing at the moment. This is not how I want my life to be spent, constantly tired and not inspired to do anything. 

Besids this kind of miserable rambling, I want to wish a very happy Sunday to everyone!

Saturday / Olympics / Running

So far my saturday has been pretty good. It was so nice to wake up without an alarm but instead our little dog licking my face. I have to admit that I am really not a morning-person, so even 7:15 am wake ups are super annoying to me. But still, now after five mornings I have finally kind of starting to get the fact that if you just get up to the first alarm ring your day starts way better than pressing that snooze button over and over again. After a nutritious breakfast and a cup of coffee, you feel like a total different person than an hour ago thinking "why did I not go to sleep earlier last night"..

Benefits of working late hours

Anyways, I started my morning by watching the olympics. I made myself an awesome breakfast and went trough all the olympics news and gossips. Then it was time for the mens slopestyle finals. I had huge hopes for our Finnish contestants Peetu Piiroinen and Roope Tonteri but even though they did not rank as hoped, it was such a great first ever slope style olympic final! The judges' scoring was also pretty interesting to say the least. The winner Sage Kotsenburg really earned all of those 93,5 points he scored. After the competition there was a lot of speculations about the judging, but to me slopestyle is more than just the big jumps, as half of the run includes rails. With the unexpected and really different grabs I think Kotsenburg stood out from the others, as everyone else kind of just focused on the jumps, doubles and triples, and not being able to land them proper.. There was a lot of risk taking, which for sure led to an exciting competition.

Enni Rukajärvi carrying the flag

Next up was the  ladies' Skiathlon in which we even had four skiers in. Of course, the norwegians are a total overpowering bunch when it comes to skiing but I think its important to keep in mind that its not impossible to beat them. The start was really good for us and we had I think all our skiers inside the leading group. When changing to from classic to free, you could really start seeing differences. Everyone started to get really tired from all the HUGE hills on the course. At the best they cruised down the hills at a 70km/h speed. Gosh. Our own Aino-Kaisa Saarinen fought until the very last meters and ended up being fifth over all. From 61 contestants that is just amazing! Of course we were even expecting medals, but the norwegians and Kalla of course are just beasts and when you think they are done and too tired, they still have that one extra storage of energy!

Watching olympics is a great motivations for my own exercising I think. When watching all those athletes competing and really giving all, it makes you feel super lazy just laying on the sofa, haha. So I went running. I really wanted to go skiing but its been raining so there isn't that much snow left and the track doesn't look that tempting.. I love running, but especial now after quite a few weeks taking a break, it feels like you would be starting from scratch all over again. But when I keep in mind that it gets easier and more enjoyable after just a couple of times makes me kind of just suck it up and keep on running. Also the feeling after a good run is just amazing.

My little sister got a Microcar and now she will be my chauffeur haha

I just had to come and write about my morning so far, but as usual I kind of departed from my plan.. Now I will enjoy a little sauna session, maybe do a facial. At 16:00 starts the men's skiing I believe, so will check that out and for the evening I have some exciting baking plans made. Let's see how they turn out!

Brainfreeze

This getting back to reality and normal day routines is taking over me. Never thought working regular hours and communicating with several different/new people would be so exhausting! Feels like my brain is working on slow motion right now.. 

Today was my second day at work and oh gosh, I am feeling so tired already. Today's 6am wake up could be the reason, though. Thank god I have a nice job and I enjoy doing what I do :-) The next few following months will be pretty exciting work-wice too as I will be taking part in one project besides my day-to-day tasks. And of course, the days will get easier once I get used to working eight hours (and driving two) a day.

Since I came home, and actually already in Holland I kind of started drinking coffee. And especially filter coffee I mean, the real thing. For twentyone-and-a-half years I was convinced that basic black filtered coffee is the worst thing you can have(well, not literally but you know..) and cappuccino/frapuccino/cafe latte was my choice. Then one day there was a coffee for 50 cents offer and I went for it. Today I drank two cups.

That was my coffee story, You are very welcome and now my brain is totally empty, haha :-D