day 105 of 365 | the life of Joanna Marie

i drove to the cafe today to pick up some cardboards. i find it really funny that i had to go there for the cardboards 😸

anyway, i started laying those cardboards in the backyard yesterday. daddy had to push me a little bit to do it because, you know, i'm lazy. hehehe. i'm a procrastinator. a little push made me do some things in the garden and once i start doing things, i really get into it. 

the saturday trip to Suomenlinna went well. it was super nice to spend some relaxing time with daddy. Fasu also had a long walk and went we got to the car, she just slept.

before we drove back to Lahti, we looked for some place to eat. we don't know any restaurants in Helsinki so we just searched online for the nearest food place. we found Luigi's pizzeria. it's a small diner along one of the not so crowded streets in the big city. the pizza was so good! we were really happy with our food. Luigi (we just assumed that was his name) really knows how to make good pizza 👍

oh, and Finland won the ice hockey world championship! congratulations!

day 104 of 365 | the life of Joanna Marie

i'm still way behind in editing my videos but i'm so happy that i finally get to our first day in Holland!!! 😁 yahoo!!! haahahaha!!

i was planning to finish editing it yesterday, but i watched "the infiltrator" with daddy, instead. a very interesting movie. way more interesting than my videos. hehehe

i was planning to go to Suomenlinna today. actually, i wanted to stay there for the weekend because i have 3 days off from work. which is very rare. but daddy wants to come, too. so, it will just be a day trip then. maybe Fasu will come along. a family day trip to Suomenlinna minus Amanda Panda.

day 102 of 365 | the life of Joanna Marie

i'm loving the rainy days because i don't have to water the plants

😂😂😂

day 101 of 365 | the life of Joanna Marie

there was a flood of customers at breakfast time at the cafe this morning. at first, it was manageable. but when customers kept coming, i started to go crazy. i was alone there. thankfully, Somi dropped by.  when she saw that i needed help, she took over the counter so i can add more stuffs for the breakfast table. gosh! i'm so thankful to her!

 Amanda and i took a nap when i got home. when i woke up, i drove to Renkomäki to take Piki out for a walk. surprisingly, he didn't struggle when i put a leash on him. we were walking around Pappa's house for a while. he was following bees. when he found one trunk near the bird's feeding house, he jumped on it and sat there for a long time. he was watching the squirrels while they were eating nuts. i was really amazed at how calm he was. he just struggled when i took him back inside the house. he obviously wanted to spend more time outside 😁

day 99 of 365 | the life of Joanna Marie

watching this video makes me want to eat britakakku right now 

😁😁😁

day 98 of 365 | the life of Joanna Marie

i transferred the sunflower and sweet beans seedlings outside already. i hope they will survive 😀

i also take the tomato seedling outside during the day and take it back inside in the evening. but yesterday, i totally forgot to take it inside the house when i slept earlier. i just remembered when i was at work. i was so worried about the tomato seedling! i checked it right away when i came home and it looked okay. it wasn't so cold last night, so i think it's okay.

day 97 of 365 | the life of Joanna Marie

today, i planted the rosemary, mint and some salad that i bought from the nursery in the raised bed. i hope they will survive the night outside.

i bought the mint seedling because i want daddy to make mojitos for me. after that dinner at the Mexican restaurant, i've been craving for mojitos. so, if the mint seedling will grow big and strong, i can have as much mojitos as i want 😁

day 96 of 365 | the life of Joanna Marie

today, i will finally get my new passport! the processing was fast, actually. i was told that it will take longer. but, hey, it's available for claiming now.

Fasu is staying with me today because it's my day-off. the girl has been so tired lately. she's been waking up early and coming home late from work. well, she will have a relaxing day with me 😁 that is, if she won't be stressed with my driving 😃 i will drive around the city with her today. 

it's her birthday tomorrow. she's turning 9 years old. i don't have a gift for her yet...i will look for one later after i get my passport.

days 93 and 95 of 365 | the life of Joanna Marie

😁

days 91 & 92 | the life of Joanna Marie

i woke up daddy at half past 11. he watched the eurovision until the end and he slept at 3 am. i watched the show with him, too. but i always fall asleep while watching a movie or even eurovision. 

i have been drinking ciders and long drinks lately...i used to drink even beer before. but for some years, i've stopped drinking any alcoholic drinks. since our trip to Holland, when i drank soju with my sister, i kind of like it. 😁 it's not that i miss it but it's nice to have a bottle or two...hehehe

it's nice to have a drink with daddy while watching a movie or just sitting on the sofa. 

we have been working outside today. i've been cleaning the backyard and he's been cutting woods. after lunch, i drove to the shop to buy sacks of soil for my start-up garden. i lifted 5 40L sacks of soil and 2 sacks of woodchip mulch. so the soil is waiting for my seeds to grow...

i sowed the seeds 3 days ago. i can see some sprouts already. but it will take some weeks before they'll be ready to be planted on their beds in the outside world. i'm excited 😅

days 84, 85, 86 & 87 of 365 | the life of Joanna Marie

we drove to Vääksy after brunch to visit the Talukka tower. unfortunately, it's currently closed for renovation. we were able to walk around the forest, though...then we decided to have coffee at a café near the canal. we had ice cream, too 😀 it's such a nice day for ice cream! i also chose a table where a life-sized teddy bear was sitting. childlike but it's nice 😁

day 81 of 365 | the life of Joanna Marie

sitting here in the kitchen, watching Ogie Diaz' interview with Ruffa. i really like her. she's smart and funny and beautiful!

my weatherman promised that today's going to rain. i'm actually waiting for the rain. it's gloomy outside and it looks like it's going to rain but i don't know when.

i'm supposed to plant some violets in our small planter outside but i feel lazy today, i just want to sit on the sofa and drink coffee....

day 80 of 365 | the life of Joanna Marie

i bought some violets a week ago from one of the gardens here in the city. we planted them in Mummo's grave last sunday. we were there with Pappa and daddy's sister and her family. it was a sunny and cold day because it was windy. i hope Mummo is happy with the violets. it's a tradition that we plant violets in her garden on Mother's day. 

today after work, i went to the garden again to check what other flowers they have. i'm thinking about planting strawberries this year. but i didn't take any yet because we still have freezing nights. so i was just window shopping in the garden. it felt really nice being there.

day 78 of 365 | the life of Joanna Marie

on the warmest day of May ( May 6 ), we went to have dinner at a Mexican restaurant in the city. it's just to celebrate my 8th year here in Finland. 

the temperature outside was 17 degrees. there were a lot of people drinking and eating at the resto's terrace. we chose to eat inside because i don't want to smell the smoke of cigarettes while eating.

we didn't have a reservation and the restaurant was quite full. we waited for about 5 minutes and we were ushered to our table. 

i ordered a plate of grilled chicken and salad and daddy had a huge serving of hamburger and fries. my salad was divine! there were a lot of flavors playing in my mouth while chewing my food. the freshness of the salad, tanginess of the strawberries and pomegranate seeds, the sweetness of the watermelon and blueberries, the delicious taste of the passionfruit mayonnaise 😄 oh, my tummy was so happy!

we don't eat out often. so when we dine out, it's really special to me 💗

day 73 of 365 | the life of Joanna Marie

a cold day in May. i feel like i'm going to be sick. i took my medicine as soon as i got home. stayed in bed for a while. then daddy asked me to be his manang driver to the shop, tokmanni and gas station. it's difficult to focus but i want to practice driving more in the city. oh, how i miss driving in the hiway 😄

day 72 of 365 | the life of Joanna Marie

😊😊😊

days 69 and 70 of 365 | the life of Joanna Marie

as i was signing my passport application today at the police station, i realized that today is my eighth year here in Finland. 

when i arrived here in 2014, it was cold and rainy. today, it's still cold but at least, it was sunny 😀

gosh! 8 years have gone by so fast...

day 65 of 365 | the life of Joanna Marie

daddy had a brilliant idea yesterday, that my phone needed updating. i was trying to search for an app and i couldn't find it. i know that my phone is an old model. daddy thought it just needed updating. so, he asked me to change my phone's language to Finnish so he'll understand everything that it says there for updating. a few seconds after he pressed "update" my phone went black. i tried to turn it on but it didn't respond. i charged it, but nothing happened. 

today, i took my phone to work. daddy said i should take my phone to one repair shop near the mall. i planned to go there after work. anyway, it's very near the cafe, so it's no effort.

at work, i told the story to Fefi, my co-worker. she's young and i know she's more knowledgeable about gadgets. she tried to do something with my phone but nothing worked. while i was eating my lunch, she came to my table laughing and said, "your phone is old". yeah, i know that! 😁 

when another co-worker came for the evening shift, i updated her with stuffs, and told her that my phone is dead and they can't reach me for the time being. she mentioned that i can call my network provider and ask them about it. so i did. but they couldn't help me because my phone is "old". they suggested that i go to this one place where they fix phones. it's near our home, so after daddy's work, we went there. but it was the same thing. they said they could change the lcd and battery but it will take time and money. so it's better to get a new phone.

ugh! well, my phone was working nicely until the updating. so much so for daddy's brilliant idea 😒

the positive side of the story is, i was more focused today. i didn't really miss not having a phone. it's actually nice not to scroll on instagram and other apps. i think, i'm liking this...hmmmm...😉😏