My big friend

I finally had someone come and watch my riding lesson and take photos of Saku and I. I'm over the moon :)

♥

Water is fun. :)

He's so gorgeous!

© All rights reserved to these photos

You don’t know what you do to me

Paramore – Stop This Song (Lovesick Melody)

I've gone too far to come back from here,
but you don't have a clue
You don't know what you do to me
I've come too far to get over you,
and you don't have a clue
You don't know what you do to me

Can't someone stop this song,
so I won't sing along
Someone stop this song,
so I won't sing

Your lovesick melody
is gonna get the best of me tonight
But you won't get to me if I don't sing

It creeps in like a spider
Can't be killed, although I try and try to
Well, don't you see I'm falling?
Don't wanna love you, but I do

Anyways...Let's dance!

I was in Helsinki last night with my brother and his wife. We went to see Bon Jovi at the Olympic stadium and it was freaking awesome! My brother and I saw them there two years ago, but we had tickets for the floor (or whatever you call it) and I could barely even see the screens back then (yes, my confession: I'm short). Now we had seats up in the side and we saw the whole thing. 

The stadium was sold out so there was a few others too...

Click for the full size!

It was pouring rain by the end of the show, hence all the plastic on people. Thankfully we had a roof over our heads, so we didn't get wet. 

I want to share some of my favorite songs by Bon Jovi (mostly oldies, of course) with you and I hope you'll dance with me. :)

Quick update

I got a call today and I was asked to come for a job (/apprenticeship) interview on Wednesday! The place is a photography store where they make all sorts of photo products from books to prints and I think they also have a studio service, and they sell camera equipment. I'm so stoked about this!

I've been sending applications to so many places and most of them don't even have the courtesy to send back a 'no thanks' reply. Oh well, now I have my chance to get a nice job for the summer and I'm praying and hoping and preparing myself so I'd get it. Fingers crossed and wish me luck! :)

Plus I'm taking a weekend course on product photography this weekend. Should be interesting. I'm also taking a course on people (studio) photography (lighting stuff etc) next month. 

P.S. 50 followers! Thanks people for showing interest. I really truly appreciate it :)

♥

I took some pretty great shots today. I haven't asked the rider's permission, so I won't publish them at this time. But I'm happy and loving my 50mm :) 

♥

The feeling of success finally!

My cellphone doesn't do too bad when there's enough light.

The weather has been wonderful for a couple of days now. Cold (~ -25C), but sunny and bright blue skies. I was at the stable today and I had decided to 'take the bull by its horns' and ride Pretti bare-back again.

Last time I did this we ended up feeding each other's fears, and she kept getting startled by little green men in the bushes because I was so tense and scared of those sudden movements. Then I had this riding belt on her that is basically just a leather belt with stirrups. I've used it mostly for mounting and as a makeshift help tool if she starts trotting and/or makes these unexpected sudden movements. I don't like riding with the belt because it makes you sit closer to the center of the horse's back than where you'd normally sit, and then with the stirrups, you'll end up sitting in a so called 'chair-seat', which is very uncomfortable position. My back gets very tense and due to that everything else does too.

Since I ended up with a broken arm when a pony got startled under me before Christmas, it's been hard to encourage myself mentally to handle these unexpected situations better (to go on and stay calm and as relaxed as possible). I hadn't ridden Pretti by myself and/or bare-back since that incident mentioned above, but this week I've been thinking a lot about this problem and I decided not to make a mountain out of a molehill and just get on with it.

I decided not to put the riding belt on her, so I could sit in the correct place and position, although I was certain that if she got startled and trotted more than a few steps, I'd be down on the ground in a heartbeat. The first time I ever rode bare-back was about a year ago and I haven't trotted much. Last time I trotted at all (on purpose and bare-back) was last summer.

So I brushed Pretti all clean and shiny, and put some padding and a reflector 'blanket' on (so we'd be visible enough on the driveway) and headed out. First I walked her for about 10 minutes and then I mounted her using a tall stool. Everything went well and I made a few 'two-step' trot transitions and other stuff. We went for about 45 minutes.

At the end she did get startled by something and started to trot. To my huge amazement I stayed on! Surely I did cling against her neck like a scared little chimp, but I stayed on!! I was startled, tense and nervous, but SO happy that I didn't fall off. I didn't wanna push my luck so I just made a few circles with her and then got down. We walked for about 15 minutes and then got back in.

I'm telling you, I'm pretty damn proud of myself. After all, you can't really prevent the horse from getting startled and reacting to it, but you can learn to deal with it. I have fallen off of Pretti many times due to these situations (even with a saddle), so I guess it's only natural to develop a little fear of it, especially after falling off of that pony and breaking my arm. But I'm learning how to handle the situations both mentally and physically and right now I feel like I have taken a step forward after taking many many many steps backwards during these last couple of months. I'm happy :)

I got my Diana prints back!!

I got a call from the lab yesterday saying that my prints were brought back. As you can imagine, I was super excited and called my mom to pick them up today (I'm really sick with a cold at the moment). Well, she just brought them to me and I'm not that excited anymore...

My very first 35mm Diana film aaaand it sucks. BIG time. 

Apparently I keep "compensating" with the viewfinder, when it's actually doing the exact opposite of good. I keep aiming a little higher than what I see through the viewfinder, although I've told myself a million times to stop it. And now, with the 35mm Back, it's even worse....I was out in the town shooting buildings and stuff with Ms. D and due to this problem of mine I barely have anything at all in my shots, except for the gray sky. Plus I think the color film is pretty much going to waste when shooting these colorless winter scenes. 

Oh well...live and learn, right? Now I know to kick myself the next time I stop trusting the viewfinder. 

But while my photos suck, this definitely doesn't! An amazing Britney-cover by Sam Tsui & Kurt Schneider. This is obviously one of those songs that have all the ingredients to be amazing, but the original version just sucks (another good example is Rihanna's Umbrella). The true magic comes out when someone else does a better version of it and reveals it to the world.
Enjoy, subscribe and share! :)

Black & White phase

I know I will never feel like I'm leaving. I can breathe, 'cos you are my air.

Caleb Hydra - With This Love

I love this song so much. I'm a little disappointed that Santa didn't bring me one of those for Christmas ;)

I bought some new eye shadows today. Make Up Store's orange and yellow and I think I'm in love!

Here's a quick photo I took...I look like Sid from Ice Age, but anyways...

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Back in the saddle again!

So I got back in the saddle today! Two months and I felt surprisingly at home up there.

I also managed to come down from the saddle unwillingly again. I'm starting to feel it's somehow mandatory for me to fall off whenever I get up on a horse...Well, two months without riding and my balance is all over the place and Pretti got spooked by some noise and tadah. Doesn't take much. But I'm fine. My tail-bone disagrees but I'm fine. :) 


Here's a little flashback photo from last winter. 

Christmas is coming!

I have all my gifts bought, but not wrapped yet. I hate wrapping gifts....they never end up all that pretty. Unless the gift is a book or a square box of some sort.

I'm starting the project of getting my life back to normal. Ever since I broke my arm 8 weeks ago it's been going a little bit down hill, so to speak. I've been drinking and partying almost every weekend, which is not normal for me and it has made me realize how much I actually enjoy sitting at home with my laptop on weekends. Staying home is much less expensive and much healthier.

My mood has been more down than up these past weeks and I've been feeling anxious a lot, and I think one of the reasons for that is the lack of exercise (due to the broken arm + cold weather + no warm jacket to fit on top of the cast and riding and water aerobics are completely out of the question with a cast).

So yeah. Back to normal, thank you! I want my life back.
Tomorrow I'll be taking one step towards that goal; I'm going to the stables again. And on 26th (that's also my birthday, yey!) I'll be going to take care of Pretti by myself again. Gosh, I've missed that little pony of mine! ♥ (To clarify, she's not mine, nor a pony, I'm just petnaming here) A little flashbacks from the summer and last winter in the images in this post. 

And next month I'm going to call my riding teacher and book a lesson again. Things are going to get better now. I'm going to make sure of it.  

Or am I a fool who sits alone talking to the moon...?

BRUNO MARS - TALKING TO THE MOON

So I drove to the furthest supermarket last night and bought myself new expensive shoes. I'm quite in love with them. I also have new glasses, new gloves and I got my hair dyed and cut this morning. 

It's been a long and boring Friday evening and I'm in a bad-ish mood. I'm totally feeling this Bruno Mars -song right now. I received his album today in the mail and I'm loving it. 

Dead-end

I feel like I'm in total dead-end in my life. I don't know what I want, I don't have motivation for anything, especially school, I have no idea what I should do with my life. Well I know what I should do: finish school, get a degree and get a job. *Sigh*....so much easier said than done. Especially when considering that the field of work I'm supposed to be graduating is anything but interesting to me. 

Oh well, let's move to a happier subject. I'm going to get this cast off my wrist tomorrow! Hopefully that is...I'm scared that they'll tell me that it's still not completely fixed or something horrible like that...fingers crossed. And I have an appointment to the hair dresser's on Friday. I'm super stoked about that. I'm finally getting rid of this dreadful root growth and getting a decent haircut! Yey...I'm going to be pretty again :) Kinda-sorta.......

I miss my blond under-hair-thingies...they were dyed black last time I had my hair dyed and I don't know if my hairdresser would think dying them blond again is such a great idea. I also miss my long hair and I wish my hair would grow faster. Too often I find myself looking at old SPs where I have long and perfect hair. I am getting proper bangs again too, like in this photo. I wish it was Friday already!

I know, I'm so vein...but hey! Try not to be after you've gone through six weeks without being able to do your own hair the way you'd like to! Making a simple ponytail has been completely impossible till these last two weeks and even now it's quite painful with the cast on my wrist.

So yeah. I can't wait to have my arm back and my car back (six weeks without driving.....horrible! I've started to remember why I hate using buses so  much...) and have pretty hair again....*sigh*

And, finally, here's a Christmas song for you:

J-P LEPPÄLUOTO - TONTTU
(ELF)

More treasures and more Cain's Offering

Cain's Offering - Into The Blue
The falsetto isn't really Timo Kotipelto's thing at all, but otherwise this song is truly beautiful.

I made a new Me, Myself & I -page and took this photo in the side. 

The camera isn't real (I wish it was, though!).
Neither is the car, in case you were wondering ;)

Cain's Offering - Stolen Waters
I'm so in love with this song too. The whole album is just pure perfection.

New shoes & Irina cover song

I got new shoes today!

 

And I "recorded" a cover version of Irina's song Jälki.
Apologies for the lousy quality. 

Irina - Jälki (cover) | Upload Music

Exploding Pianos (a cool band name?)

I've been wanting to incorporate my piano in a photo for a long time, but I never figured out a way that would satisfy me. Then I found this feather lying on my floor (it came from a pillow) and I took the guitar shot with it. You can find that one from Acoustic music junkie -post. And so after that I took this photo and there it is.
Well...I'm still not fully satisfied..I would like to make a self-portrait with my piano, but I haven't had that ground-breaking idea for that yet.

Surely, something like this would create the dramatic effect. ;)
But I don't have an extra grand piano lying around just waiting to be blown to pieces, so...

Mine is just an electric Roland. Wouldn't look as good while being blown up.   

And if you're like me and wondering whether that is just some kind of pure magic done with Photoshop or the real deal, see the next video. I'm telling you........no, wait, no I'm not, because I'm speechless.
I do not know what to say.
Except for 1. poor little piano and 2. I wanna do that too!!

 

See the final video in my other post over here.  

Bon Jovi here we come again!

So I got a call from my brother tonight asking if we'd go see Bon Jovi
as they are coming to Helsinki next summer.
We went just the two of us in 2008 and it was a great experience.
Now his wife will come too and I'm stoked. :)

Here's my favorite Bon Jovi song.
I performed my own version of it in my brother's wedding
(a lousy pre-wedding audio recording can be found in the left sidebar of this blog).

Unfortunately they don't perform in that kind of outfits anymore...(no, I'm serious about the 'unfortunately'!)

I also love:

Blame It On The Love Of Rock & Roll

(it's a bummer they don't ever perform this live)

Woman In Love

Little Bit Of Soul

And many many more. I think Keep The Faith is their best album.

 P.S. I came home around 6 pm tonight. It had just started to snow a little bit then.
I looked out of the window when my brother called around 8 pm and this is what I saw.
Well this is the view from my balcony and I looked out from my kitchen window but whatever. :)
Beautiful.

Hugs

Ássi had a major knee-surgery today. 

I hear she's fine at the moment

and that the surgery went well, 

but the next 6 weeks are going to be very critical.
I'm gonna go see her later today

and give her all possible positive energy.♥

P.S. Yey, I figured out how to place the images among the text! I feel so stupid smart ;)

Craig Stevens riding clinic

Last night I was listening to Craig Stevens' theory lesson and tonight I went to watch his riding clinic. Very interesting stuff, but I can't help but to feel a bit confused with all the new information. My brain processes the new information too slowly for his pace. :D

I took a few photos and this is my absolute favorite. The light was so beautiful at times when the sun shined through the windows. This is the only photo I think I really captured the feel of it. It's near impossible to get good photos inside a riding hall with my camera and my skills. But I'm happy with this one. :)

My tail bone is in agony after sitting several hours on a hard surface. And I was totally frozen when I got back home. I was so cold, a hot shower felt cold.