Prices in Finland compared to America

I went to check out some stores yesterday here where man is living at. I hate that i´ve become so negative about shopping in Finland after i´ve spent my summers in the US. But i can tell you, the prices are ridicilous here, compared to what they are over the big water.
I can give you a few examples, so maybe you will understand better why i will not be talking about Aussie Shampoos or Calvin Klein/Guess clothes in my blog... Atleast you will NOT see me buy ANY in Finland.

I went to Sokos (this big department store here) and saw Aussie hair products up to 19 euros!! 19 EUROS, which in dollars would be almost 25. And yes, only for ONE SMALL bottle of shampoo. I seriously laughed when i walked out of there. I wonder if many people here know, that the aussie shampoo and conditioner, hair mousse, hair spray and heat protection that i always buy from America, actually costs me less ALL TOGETHER, than one bottle here. Yes, the most i´ve ever paid for Aussie shampoo was 3 dollars (a little less than 2 euros...). Ok, i get that you have to bring it here and all that. But come on, that is just overpriced.

And dont even let me get started about Guess. In Finland, (for some reason?) Guess is considered to be a great brand, and great are the prices too. You can seriously (im not joking) pay for a wallet over 100 euros! Earrings can cost you 50 euros and up. And the clothes, and bags, i wont even start.
Well let me tell you, i have bought a REAL Guess back, from a Guess store in St.Augustine malls in Florida for 27 dollars (Yes that would be under 22 euros!) and i bought earrings, from Guess also, for 7 dollars REGULAR PRICE (so about 5 euros if that..). Oh and Calvin Klein. Their clothes are on every sale rack in the US. I always bring my Mom some CK stuff (shirts mostly) from the outlet malls (yes people, REAL, original stuff) and i dont EVER pay more than 40 dollars for bunch.

And even some necessities, like a venus razor, that i use. 17.90 euros in Finland. 5.90 dollars in the US with extra razors. That just makes absolutely NO SENSE.

So even though i love shopping, i will definitely save my shopping for the summer. And only get what i really need from here. Now, after i got that off my chest i can admit that I did find a ring yesterday though.It was on sale, at Gina Tricot. It was still the price of a Guess one (ha ha ha) but i thought it was cute. What do you think?

Ps. i just realized that one of the black rocks on it is missing. So i guess theres no such thing as cheap and good in Finland! ;)

xxoo

The Help - worth watching !

I guess i been watching alot of movies lately since i keep writing about them:)
This i HAD TO come share right away, even though its past midnight already here. We just finished watching "The Help" and i strongly recommend it to everyone! Such a touching, funny, powerful movie that makes you think how horrible people can be to one another, how much times have changed and also, how good people can be.

So please, please people, watch this movie, its worth it. Im too tired and maybe even emotional to write more, so good night!!

xxoo

Presidential elections 2012 Finland

Its the 1st round of presidential elections in Finland. All i was really hoping for was, that the "true Finns" party would not get alot of votes. Because to me, that would mean, that I am from a country, that is not open to new things, not cultural, not excepting but instead scared of anything new and different, racist and sad country. Luckily, true Finns ended up not getting nearly as much votes as they thought they would, and they didnt make it to the second round!! Good job Finnish voters!

// Tosiaan näin vaalipäivänä, vaikka en todellakaan ole politiikasta kiinnostunut, katsoin tulosiltaa innoissani. Muistan kun edellisissä eduskuntavaaleissa perussuomalaiset saivat suuren määrän ääniä, silloin tunsin, ehkä ensimmäistä kertaa, häpeää omasta kansastani. Maastani, joka on minulle kuitenkin koti ja yksi rakkaimmista paikoista. En pystynyt ymmärtämään miten ihmiset voivat äänestää eduskuntaan sellaisia ihmisiä, jotka käyttävät sanaa n**keri 2000-luvulla ja näin pitävät joitain ihmisiä eriarvoisina kuin toisia, ainoastaan ihon värinsä tai kotimaansa perusteella. Mieheni Äiti jopa soitti Yhdysvalloista, sillä siellä oli ollut uutisissa, miten Suomessa eduskuntaan valittiin enemmistö "rasisti puolueesta". Äiti oli huolissaan pojastaan, joka "joutuu" asumaan Suomessa. Ei tietenkään voi sanoa, ettäkö kaikki perussuomalaiset olisivat rasisteja, eivät varmasti ole. Mutta näin se maailmalla nähtiin ja uutisoitiin, ja minua hävetti. Hävetti se alkeellisuus ja se, että meitä pidettiin juntteina, jotka eivät uskalla tai osaa muuttua ajan mukana eivätkä hyväksy mitään erilaista.
Onneksi nyt, presidentin vaaleissa, perussuomalaiset jäivät alle 10 prosenttiin. Ja mikä vielä parempaa, toiselle kierrokselle meni vihreiden Pekka Haavisto. Itse en aio kertoa ketä äänestin, enkä muutenkaan paljastaa poliittista suuntautumistani. Olen silti ylpeä siitä, että Suomessa uskalletaan äänestää seksuaalivähemmistöön kuuluvaa ehdokasta, ehdokasta joka hyväksyy kaikki sellaisena kuin he ovat.
Toivon suuresti, että Suomi menee hiljalleen kehityksessä eteenpäin. Ei niinkään muussa kehityksessä, mutta ihmisten. Siinä että hyväksyttäisiin erilaisia ihmisiä. Toivotettaisiin tervetulleeksi eri kulttuureita, erilaisia ihmisiä, Otettaisi vastaan ne rikkaudet, mitä voimme toisiltamme oppia.Ja yritettäisi yhdessä korjata ne vääryydeet, mitä meistä KAIKISTA löytyy. Elettäisiin kaikki sovussa toistemme kanssa, yhdessä. Sellaiseen Suomeen minä mielelläni kuulun.

xxoo

Nightmares

I had a horrible night last night. Its even hard to explain what it was. I kept waking up every few hours or less. I had nightmares but i cant remember what they were. I just know i felt uncomfortable when i woke up, my heart was beating fast. I had a million thoughts running thru my head:. The kind of "what if"-thoughts that i HATE: "what if i couldnt pay my rent and bills next month", "what if something really important comes in the mail while im gone", "what if something really bad happens" - weird thoughts that just came out of nowhere, and at midnight made me feel really strange and i just couldnt close my eyes.
Then when i finally forced myself to get up, drink some water and realize that everything is ok and its just restlessness, i felt ok..for a second.

At 4.30am this ridiculous noise got my attention. I guess in this building that man lives in, people start going to work at 4.30 and the last ones leave around 8.30. Yes, that is the time i was listening to them stomp in the hallway, talking and laughing extra loud, banging their doors, pulling the elevator door (if you do that, it makes this really loud bang sound) and ofcourse doggie, just couldnt stop barking, so i had to tell her to be quiet every other minute.
I dont normally ever complain about the neighbors making sounds, because i once had a neighbor,when i lived in Helsinki, who complained about everything (she turned out being mentally ill, so you can only guess what level she took her complaining, but anyway..) because when you live in an apartment building, you can not expect everyone being quiet and normal life causes noise, thats a fact. But the noise here this morning,geesh, do you really need to be that loud when you´re going to work people?? When i leave early in the morning, i go as quietly as i can in the hallway because i expect for people to be sleep. I definitely dont laugh out loud, talk really loud or bang my door.

Do you have any pet peeves when it comes to something your neighbors do?

What kind of nightmares or scary/annoying thoughts keep you up at night? and how do you deal with them? I would love to hear!

Now im going to watch Frasier on tv and lay down. Except that theres awesome basketball on tv tonight (well online for us since we´re not in the US) : Lakers - Heat game comes on at 3am Finland time, i know man is going to watch it. And i know he will not watch it quietly. So it might be one of those nights again for me..

xxoo

This blog, that blog, who can tell the difference?

Im fairly new with blogging and even reading blogs. I just began, few weeks ago, to go thru some Finnish blogs and what they´re all about. I noticed this funny thing: there is a bunch of blogs where the bloggers are talking about the exact same products, exact same web sites or internet stores, the same make up and clothing lines. Then, when it comes to posts about their homes, well, they pretty much all look alike. I guess in Finland, in the bloggers world, its super cool to say you want or have a Kartell lamp or chair. Which i mean, look nice, but how is it, that its every bloggers fantasy to own one, or joy to already have one? Why do so many blog and bloggers like to dress alike, make their apartments look alike and so on. Where is the personality part of the blogs? I mean, dont get me wrong, i totally understand that some mass production stuff is not made for just one person, and I myself love me some Gina Tricot,Zara and H&M clothes, yes i do! But would i start sharing all the stories how i bought a new t-shirt today and jeans yesterday, no. And especially because my dear blogger buddy just posted the SAME THING. PERSONALITY PEOPLE, that is all you have that you can call yours. I do not believe for one second, that everyone lives the same kind of life, wears the same make up and clothes, no i dont.

// Kävin tuossa ihan muutava viikko sitten ensimmäistä kertaa lukemaan muutamia, suosittuja, Suomalaisia blogeja. Silmiini osui se, miten samankaltaisia blogit ovat. Mainostetaan tai kerrotaan samoista tuotteista, samana päivävä. Samoista nettikaupoista ja sivuista. Ja mikä erikoisinta, jopa kotien esittelyissä asunnot näyttivät toistavan samaa kaavaa; valkoista, mustaa, kartellin lamppu tai tuoli ja ehkä muutama väriläiskä. Avaraa, yksinkertaista. Muodista puhumattakaan. Missä on persoonallisuus? Onko oikeasti totta että kaikilla näillä blogisteilla on täysin sama maku? Enpä usko. Älkää käsittäkö väärin, itsehän rakastan niin H&M:n, Zaran kuin Gina Tricon vaatteita. Ja jos meillä olisi pysyvä koti, olisi siellä varmasti myös mustaa ja valkoista tietyissä määrin. Omassa vuokrayksiössäni tällä hetkellä on mustaa ja valkoista, mutta myös pinkkiä ja muita värejä. Ja tottakai tässä maailmassa on ihmisiä, joilla on samankaltainen, jos ei aivan samanlainen maku! Mutta että ne kaikki sattuisivat olemaan Suomalaisia bloggaajia? En usko. Älkää hyvät ihmiset hukatko PERSOONALLISUUTTANNE!  Se on ainoa asia mikä on ihan oikeasti ikioma.


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