[ah!]

Forget about French being the most romantic language in the world. To me it's always been Italian. It squeezes my heart more than any other language.

[GENTRI!]

Have you heard of GENTRI yet? I was able to hear them perform live and now I'm telling everyone about them. :)

You're welcome. ;)

GENTRI

Recently Gentri joined with Madilyn Paige to raise awareness of O.U.R. (Operation Underground Railway). If you want to see real life Heroes, check them out. If there ever was a cause to get involved in - this is it! Help save children from sex slavery. It makes me sick to think that there is even a demand for child sex slaves. Shame on anyone who hurts children! One day your judgment day will come.

O.U.R.

[Mongolian wedding song]

After our recent trip to Banff, we stayed in Calgary to experience Illuminasia. Loved this Mongolian wedding song performance so much.

[one fine land]

Yesterday I was thinking about how wonderful it is to have the Internet. I'm so grateful that I can keep in touch with my family so easily. I can chat with them online, hear their news instantly and don't have to wait for snail mail. It is also wonderful to stay in touch with Finland by reading Finnish news, watching Finnish TV and even just enjoying photos of Finland. I follow ourfinland (the first five photos in this blog post are from ourfinland) and livelovehelsinki (the last two photos), for instance, on Instagram. It's amazing how just seeing some photos of Finland can ease that homesickness sometimes. Mind you, if I lived in Finland again, I would miss Canada just as much. Joy of dual home countries.

ps. Almost forgot about Finnish music! So many good ones but recently I discovered Selja Sini. Lovely music!

[beyond awesome! love it!]

[Glorious!]

I absolutely, totally, completely LOVE this song!

So good to have David Archuleta back and singing for ME again. :)

In case you're wondering, this is not a religious song. Just a beautiful song with an amazing message to each and every one of us.

[Elfie's been busy]

Elfie has been having fun in our house again. 

One day he left special metallic markers and a cute drawing for Sienna.

Here he is taking Sienna's dolls to see the Christmas tree.

Playing marshmallow tic-tac-toe with one of Sienna's dolls.

Elfie sure can't wrap a gift very nicely, but he does know what we like. He gave us "Christmas Cello" album by Steven Sharp Nelson. We have been listening to it over and over again in the van. Love it!! Beautiful music!! 

You can purchase the cd by clicking here.

On this day, Elfie was reading and highlighting scriptures. He put a new bookmark to mark one of his favorite scriptures of the Savior.

He's no Grumpy Cat, but Mr. Happy is one lovely pet too!

(Looooove Grumpy Cat, by the way. Wish she was mine! She'd cheer me up every single day with that grumpy frown.)

Having a nap in Sienna's slippers.

Digging into M&M's.

Peek-a-boo!

Hanging from the dining room lamp (which eventually will be exchanged to a nice modern one).

Sometimes he just likes to sit in funny places.

Fun!

[Haley Gibby]

Why has it taken me so long to discover Haley Gibby’s music? Love! ♥

[a bit of this & a bit of that]

An evening in downtown with friends: The Finnish a cappella group Rajaton's concert.

Sielu huokaisi kuunnellessa taas suomeksi musiikkia. Jussi on edelleen ihan jees. J

Some more pictures of our new home. This one shows our white laminate flooring. Wide planks. So easy to keep clean.

  

Africa’s new morning spot is on the love-seat in the dining area. He can recharge his solar energy in the morning sun.

Close-up of the kitchen counter top. Laminate called “brushed aluminum”. More my style than the various granite counter tops out there.

Floor to ceiling wardrobes in the master bedroom. Four sections. Covers the wall opposite from the bed. We do have a walk-in-closet too but a chunk of it will be taken out eventually to make room for a larger bathroom.

Curtains for the family room.

A place for my rings by my kitchen desk.

Mmm! Naan pizza. I have shared the recipe previously. Me lovey!

And here are the March 2013 Project Life journaling cards. 

I just finished this book. A World War II story from a young German woman’s perspective. Adds insight to what life was like for the ordinary Germans during the war. These WWII books are hard to read but I find it’s important to remind ourselves of what happened so that history will never repeat itself. It's unfathomable to think that some people can be so evil. 

The book is well written and even though the subject matter was the horrible war, there was much beauty in the book. Reading the book made me think about what is most important in life. What would I do in such a situation? Would I have the strength to hold on to my values and morals?

Four out of five stars.

««««¶

Happy Monday everyone! J

[♥♥♥♥♥]

♥♥♥♥♥

Niin kaunista kuin vaan voi olla! Olen kuunnellut tätä monta kertaa jo.

So beautiful! I can’t stop listening to this. I hope Sienna will play cello like this one day…

♥♥♥♥♥

The Piano Guys are THE BEST!!

Click here for more:

The Piano Guys Official YouTube Channel

[awesome stuff!]

Hilarious! Love it! :D

Loooove David "Angel" Archuleta's latest album! Great song choices. More mature album than his previous ones. Definitely his best!

[this & that]

Our miniature Dahlia is blooming.

I just finished this book. I'll give it three out of five stars. 

«««¶¶

The story was interesting but it felt unfinished. I kept waiting for more and then the book ended. The title doesn't seem to fit the book either. But other than those negative things, it was worth the ten bucks or so.

Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians!

Canada is such a great country to live in. I feel very blessed for all the freedoms and privileges we enjoy here. Should never take them for granted.

I'm loving the season 9 of So You Think You Can Dance. I just hope they keep it PG rated = suitable for the whole family to watch. The Canadian version of the show was so sleazy.
This guy, Cyrus, is wickedly good at what he does! Wow!

[free printable]

[summer reading]

I read this book awhile back. I’m reading it again so that it’s fresh in my mind for the second book.

Good read. Interesting story. 

I bet they are already working on a movie.

Four out of five stars.


Today I'm listening:

[dance, baby, dance!]

dance,

baby,

dance!


[photo via google image search]

[joshua ledet]

Out of this world!!! ♥

[happy friday everyone!]

I don’t know about you but I’m really enjoying American idol this time. The top 7 are all great in my books. Even Skylar and Joshua. I didn’t like them first but they’ve grown on me. Phillip Phillips is my favorite though.

Gotta love good music!

Happy Friday everyone!

{project life page #1}

My very first Project Life page! I had fun. :)

Now I just need to figure out how to take pictures of these so that there won't be any glare. I've tried everything I can think of. Any suggestions? My camera is a compact digital one so I won't be able to purchase special lenses for it.



Happy Friday everyone! :)

I might have shared this already but...