NETTLE PESTO

 I set out to pick some nettles in the countryside garden!

I've intended to pick nettles to use in cooking forever - as most of you probably know the nettle is a very healthy plant, although it is considered a weed and not a utility plant - but always missed out on doing so at the right time of year.

 

Nettles should be picked when they carry new and fresh leave buds. I used only the top leaves of the plant.

 The rest of the plants I lay to soak in water; nettle-water makes a great natural fertilizer for you garden.

I made pesto of my nettles. After parbloiling the nettles I mixed them with what you'd more or less use for your regular basil pesto too; I made mine with sunflower seeds, a few almonds, garlic and of course olive oil.

 Gave it all a go in the mixer and put in a jar.

And had it with pasta and zucchini later in the evening. The nettle pesto is a rather milde in taste so I threw in some capers and sundried tomato nibs too to top it of. Noms.

(Btw I'm not the only one who was totally mindfucked by this about a decade ago am I? I can't help but recall it whenever I hear the word "nettle". Excellent choice to watch a few episodes if you can't sleep at night, ehrm...
Sorry.)

GREEN GRASS AND CHERRY BLOSSOMS IN THE WIND

Every time the first really warm days hits us it's like a huge weight falling from my heart; the recognition that this is what it can feel like outside! Soft and warm. (I decided it is not allowed to get under +20 before mid September, mmmkay?)

So we went on a sunny stroll with Dag, heading to one of the many big parks here in Tapiola.

We landed among lots and lots of green.
Hard to believe that it a little more than a month ago looked like this. (Spring is always the shortest season here...this year we barely had one .)


Dag is still a bit overwhelmed to be directly on the ground, carefully trying everything out. (And that 'everything' usually ends up in his mouth.) But he always sits the first minutes still just touching the grass.


We had a little picnic with cookies, baby crackers and cantaloupe.

Nom nom.

(Not as blissful and calm as I had imagined this though, I had cantaloupe goo all over my straw mat in an instance.)

Taking it easy.

Then we walked home beneath the cherry trees in bloom.

SUVI VINTAGE POSTER

I made the poster for the 1940's inspired vintage fair 'Suvi-Vintage', coming up at the end of June in Tampere.

Last year I had just had Dag and this year I'll be holding a workshop at that time so no vintage-filled Tampere weekend for me this year either...

CATS AND STAINS

This is a pay-per-view video sponsored by Vileda for a campaign which aim is to ironically depict the consequences of the persistence of stains on the floor in the long run and to joke around the importance of immediately cleaning them up.
I decided to post it as it has funny cats in it!

Of course in my home  I am rather owned by those felines of mine; constantly cleaning from the mess they've made, not a mess produced by me. And nowadays I'm more worried about saving the I-throw-everything-on-the-ground-and-put-everything-and-I-mean-everything-in-my-mouth-baby than the cats -I really do have to clean everything up immediately! (yes my son has tasted cat food...) But at least I get clean floors that way, giving them a go a couple of times per day...

AND OH YES WE HAD OURSELVES SOME WINNERS

Because I have a little less time on my hands than I'd like to I just realized I have yet to post the winners of the Guitar Art Print -giveaway! The following three won the $50 in store credit for the Guitar Art Print-web store or etsy shop: Bettie Boo, Minka and Elli!

THE TRUSTWORTHY REDS

I have a pair of red shoes I bought from H&M without much though  some six-seven years ago for 19,90 which, after a rather painful blister-full debut during a weekend in Budapest surprisingly turned into the comfiest and most wearable shoes in the world™. After which they have, apart from walked around in numerous cities here and there, been chewed upon by both cats and dogs and had their share of sudden rains and unexpected escapades trough muddy fields. And so on.

I bought them to the cobbler's once to try and have them saved and he went "Ah, red shoes", in a familiar voice. "They always seem to be the most precious ones". These were perhaps not my most precious ones per se, but definitely the most trustworthy. And now they are falling apart to the point I believe it's time to give them up. Luckily I happened to come over another pair of reds that could possibly turn into the new most comfiest and most wearable shoes in the world. Not as nice a model as the previous ones and in a less dirt-friendly material (canvas compared to pleather) but a pair I propably should buy an extra set of for future all-the-time use and where-ever walks...

The new ones are plain DinSko shoes (for 24,90).

NAUTICAL

I am the kind of some find silly, others adorable, and the rest  won't notice person who when going to a meeting that happens to take place in a marina I just have to wear a sailor inspired dress, because that's of course what you do going even close to a marina.  If not for else, it makes life a little more fun at least.

(Although here I rather look like Alice who just drank out of one of the bottles and started growing...)

And once at it, since wearing said dress all day long before marina moment too, I of course went along and dressed my child up accordingly too. Team outfits! Because what is cuter than a little kid in a sailor outfit? (Well that would be a kitten in a sailor outfit then. Or just a plain kitten; I'm not much for animals dressed up in clothes.)

The dress and belt are vintage. 

THE OTHER SIDE

When you blog you sort of make a product, or create an image of yourself and your life, choosing to show some things and leave others out.  Personal things of course, but also when it comes to details. Being selective does not mean that you make things up (well some do perhaps), but all things are not always like they seem. Or, sure they are, but there's always another side to it. Posting a picture of a nice stilleben in the kitchen with some dirty dishes magically cropped away from the photo is not necessarily faking it, it's just choosing to show a prettier side of the mundane. Or say a more fun, or interesting, or witty side, depending on the take of it. Perhaps you choose to show the dishes too sometimes, but then you manage to take a photo from just the right angle of the best cups and make that pile of dishes look fab. Either way they are still there to be washed in real life. Few people strut around in floral dresses eating cake in the sunshine all day, but the image of that is perhaps nicer than the one of someone getting down on their knees for the n:th time to pick up bread crumbs and goo off the floor (or filling the dishwasher with that pile). However, the knowledge of that that happens too, in addition to the strutting, can be a good add to the whole package. At least I think it's good to remember.

Sunday for example - I did get breakfast in bed but as Eddi had to go out and work in the field for most of the day (it's that time of the year) I was the one to clean up after it, and the breakfast of the others too (that how it usually is, isn't it, the kitchen a mess after a nice surprise, it's almost mandatory?).
And moments before the little one was sleeping peacefully like in the pictures he had done this for example:

With all rolls.
Later he tripped over on his little kick-mobile and burst both lip and nose. (Sniff!)



Also the porch behind my legs and cats looks like this for the moment...

And some of my newly planted plants are dead by now.

SUNDAY / (MY FIRST) MOTHER'S DAY

LONG TIME NO SEE

 

Even though most of my dresses hang right in front of me to see every day I still forget some of them are there, or, rather; that they actually are wearable. I thought I was tired of this dress and thus haven't worn it for  many many years -  but what the hell it's actually pretty damn nice (I was in love with the thought of it for almost a year before buying) and it is a rather every day-day dress; made of light but still sturdy cotton.


It has a slip in the same color to wear underneath butI think it's more fun to wear it with something contrasting, or matching instead.  Sot this here is kind of a two-in-one not only when it comes to layering dresses but also to remembering; the turquoise green vintage dress underneath had been hiding in the closet for a long time too  - I got it and wore it during my late pregnancy. (But it's not a maternity dress really. It's a very comfy one so it will get to come out some more and play too) . First I thought of leaving it unbuttoned in the front not to show  but when buttoned it adds this strange extra detail to the neck lining which I actually like.


I was wearing these heels when Elvis walked me down the aisle in Vegas almost two years ago. I don't think I've worn them after my trip so they too do deserve to come out and enjoy the sun a little bit now!

GREENS

At this point of the year I always get the urge to plant around - also before I had a garden - put seeds here and there and fix up the lucky plants that have made it trough the winter with me. For a while forget that my nails are more red than my thumbs are green. Not that I am totally impossible with plants (I guess I have learned something along the way) but mainly I don't really know what I'm doing, not that much more than what a google search can give me after briefly remembering something inspiring read in a magazine, sort of.

I've mad a few day trips to the countryside managing the greens there.

 And some things are growing and doing rather well in my mini greenhouse I have in the kitchen. Wooh!

Pelargoniums, replanted. They will go on the porch once I get it cleaned up (hahaha "I". Eddi will so be the one to do it, the rough part at least) from renovatoion stuff, and to the balcony in the city. I'm thinking of painting some of the clay pots with milk paint, as I am curious to try it.

 Meanwhile Dag was chilling in his leder hoser trompe l'oeil outfit. It deserved a photo before he outgrows it.

 I almost got some stuff done outside too (here's the part where I just go on and do something dum-dee-dum

But most of the time I was running after this one here, digging dirt and rocks and what nots out of his mouth.

COATLESS

Today was the first day warm enough to go out without a coat. Wooh! And then when you check the calendar you see it's not far until those days will -hopefully- be in majority. Summer! Which makes me happy. (And then immediately mad afterwards thinking that the warm period over here only lasts a mere three months of the year. Damn it I say, damn it*!) Still waiting for a little more sun and warmth and bare legs in summer skirts. After the whole cold season I was just so sick and tired of pulling on tights one more time I dug out a pair of pants from the closet instead.


*) But yes yes, no earth quakes, no deadly bugs, no hurricanes. A lot of dark and cold is the price for that.