Saturday, August 31, 2013

2nd Movie Giveaway Reminder


This is a reminder: i am Mrs K's Movie giveaway is still going on! Click the image to get a chance to win a movie of your choice!




Image Map

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Do you have realistic dreams. Or goals?


Thursday, August 29, 2013

It's my Bday!


It's my birthday. Yay! You can read my last year's Bday post HERE

Today the 2nd Movie Giveaway/Bday Giveaway starts. If you want to win a movie, click the image below!



Image Map

Monday, August 26, 2013

2nd Movie Giveaway / Bday Giveaway


To celebrate my birthday, I decided to arrange a giveaway. Yay! The giveaway starts August 29th, which happens to be my bday.

The winner gets to choose a movie of her/his choice. But that movie has to be mentioned somewhere on my blog. 

Good luck!

P.S If you don't know how the Rafflecopter works, read THIS


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Here you can find posts where a movie has been mentioned: 

Movies that make me want to change the world
First Movie Giveaway
Silver Linings Playbook
Precious
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? - How to survive when a vegetarian is coming for a visit?
Loverly Things!
Inspirational People Part 1
My favorite TV homes (and movie homes too!)

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Incas, Aztecs and Mayas


I am probably the last person to give any fashion advice.  Nevertheless...


I like surf brands like Roxy, Billabong and Rip Curl. These bags below are all Roxy bags. When I saw them, I just wanted to buy a ticket to South America to see Indians.


All bags are from Zalando




I was so inspired by these bags, that I thought it would be awesome to "pimp white sneakers" with similar patterns. What do you think? Would that be a good idea?


Thursday, August 22, 2013

Dreams that came true


I love Cara's lists and I decided to make one myself.


A list of my dream come trues


- Get married
- Wear a mermaid wedding dress
- Take singing lessons
- Get a scuba diving certification
- Buy my own home and renovate
- Become a teacher (well... still in process)
- See Wicked musical (I saw it in London and in Finland)
- Go to an NHL hockey game (twice!)
- Visit NYC (4 times!)
- Visit Berlin
- Write a song 
- Help at least 1 person to find God's love
- Buy a great camera
- Get a dog




Movies that...






Source

The Stoning of Soraya M.

Unfortunately this is based on a true story. The movie made me very angry and broke my heart.


Source


North Country

This one is a bit more positive than The Stoning of Soraya M.  The main character actually makes a difference and fights against injustice.

Les Miserables

One of the most touching movie scenes ever (in my opinion) is in Les Miserables. A bishop offers a former convict, Jean Valjean, a place to sleep and eat. Jean Valjean ends up stealing silver from the church. He gets caught and is brought back to answer for his crime. The bishop tells that the silver was a gift. He also adds that Valjean left in such a hurry that he forgot the rest: silver candlesticks. Jean Valjean gets a new chance. A new beginning. 

The musical is filled with heartbreaking tragedies but there is also hope.



Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Songs I've sung at weddings


(Have you noticed the poll? I would appreciate it if you'd spend a moment answering to it.)


Wondering which song(s) you would like to hear at your wedding? Here are couple suggestions. These are the songs I've sung at weddings.



Probably the first song I've sung at a wedding was Petra's Love. Beautiful lyrics.





At my flatmate's wedding I sang L.O.V.E by Nat King Cole and Can't Take My Eyes Off You by Frankie Valli.


At my other flatmate's wedding, I sang Anna Puu's Linnuton puu (A birdless tree in English) and Aretha Franklin's I Say A Little Prayer.





There's one song I've sung in two languages. Sarah Dawn Finer's Kärleksvisan/For a Friend. Here it's in Swedish:





Then there's the 'Shrek song' It Is You (I Have Loved) by Dana Glover, which I sang at my friend's wedding (she's like a sister to me since we lived together in Thailand in a boarding school). She married my husband's cousin. What a small world!

Last, but not least. I sang at my own wedding. It was hard because it was such an emotional night. And the song I had chosen had very touching lyrics. I sang this song: 






Other great songs for weddings:

Now we're man and wife - Michelle Featherstone
Endless Love - Diana Ross & Lionel Ritchie
Songbird - Eva Cassidy
Your Song - Elton John
(They Long To Be) Close To You - Carpenters
Come Away With Me - Norah Jones
Kiss From A Rose - Seal

Monday, August 19, 2013

Sunday, August 18, 2013

I am...


I've realized that you, my dear reader, might not know me. That's why I decided to write a post about who yours truly is. 




My name is Minttu. I'm married. I believe that Jesus Christ died for me.

I have a great and loving family. I'm the youngest child and my siblings are 12 and 14 years older than me. 

I grew up in Thailand, because my parents were (and still are) passionate about our Heavenly Father and wanted to share his love to Thai people. I am an ATCK (adult third culture kid) and an MK (missionary kid).

My passport says I'm Finnish, but I don't feel like a 100% Finn.

I am a student. One day (fingers crossed it'll be soon) I'll be a guidance counselor and an English teacher. I have a part-time job.

I am a dog person. I'm the one on the floor baby talking to a hairy sweetheart. I have a Labrador retriever, Tilli. She's the cutest thing ever. 

My shelves are filled with books, DVDs, CDs and unfinished DIY projects. 

I am a dreamer, a singer, a writer, a lazy couch potato, a traveller, an idealist, a listener. I am shy, sometimes. I'm brave and outgoing, sometimes.

I love blogging. 

My life has been an adventure. And the best is yet to come.  




Mini me and my big sis.  I love this pic. 

Thank you dear readers, for reading my blog. It means the world to me. 



Saturday, August 17, 2013

I'm feeling nerdy


I decided that I want to add a third party comment system on my blog. After reading reviews and bloggers' personal experiences, I decided that Disqus would be the One for me. Mostly because it was suppose to be easy to install.

Well, I eventually succeeded but in my opinion it wasn't easy.

My extremely smart labrador retriever


I followed the instructions, but still somehow it didn't appear on my blog. So I redid everything like 100 times and !BANG! there it was. I just don't understand nerdy things. 

But I did it! Without J's help. Hurray! 


Thursday, August 15, 2013

Lufthansa experience


This summer we travelled to Berlin, Germany with my hubby. We had a great time and I literally fell in love with the cityUnfortunately our flight home was a completely different story. 

(If you don't want to read the whole story, you can find the main points in a turquoise box) 

It wasn't a long flight, but we were served a complimentary snack and beverages. I thought it was great, because most airlines are trying to save every possible penny, and the first thing they do is quit serving free food and beverages.



So I was extremely grateful for the cottage cheese sandwich and a can of cola. I took the first bite. "Oh boy, this tastes weird." I took another bite. "This tastes awful!" I checked the sandwich and it took me by surprise what was inside it. The cottage cheese was covered with green spots, which turned out to be mould. "Yack!" 

The flight attendant was very apologetic and offered me another sandwich with ham inside. Well, I'm a vegetarian. 

When I got home I decided to write to Lufthansa, for two reasons:

1. I thought it was extremely bad service and the poor flight attendant had to serve bad quality food to customers. She had to take the blame for something that was absolutely not her fault.
2. They could accidentally serve those sandwiches to some other customers

Lufthansa answered me. Here's a part of their reply:














Ok, they are sorry. And they set high standard. This just didn't happen in my case. I guess I'm greedy but I was expecting for something more than just words, after the amazing service of Finnair and Cathay Pacific.


Superb Service

Last Christmas our Finnair flight was late about 2 hours and we missed our next flight. We had bought two separate tickets because it was cheaper. Finnair didn't have to do what they did (because our flights were in separate tickets): They gave us a free hotel accommodation, dinner and a flight home in the morning.

When I flew Cathay Pacific from Hong Kong to Singapore, for some reason there was no Lacto-Ovo vegetarian meal for me, though I had ordered it. They still somehow managed to serve me an Indian vegetarian meal, which was delicious. They also made sure I had a divine dessert, because they felt really bad about the whole thing.

That's what I call great service. More than words.

Do you have positive airline experiences? Or maybe some negative ones?  



Monday, August 12, 2013

Ask yourself: how do other people see you?


Previous posts (I recommend reading them first):

Who are you? Part 1





Ok. Now you know who is the ideal you and why. This time I ask you to think about how other people see you and think about you. Once again you need a notebook or a piece of paper and a pen. 

What does...


...think about you? Make a list of adjectives. Try to find at least 20. 

After this have a conversation with your list. Ask questions like why, is it true, do you like that, has it affected you negatively or positively, is there something you should do about it... etc. 

Now, do the same thing with:







And other people that come to your mind.


Tuesday, August 6, 2013

What is your love language?


This post is especially for you if you're married.


By Mats Lindh



You might have read Gary Chapman's book about love languages. I was reading one of my favorite Christian blog, The Word Of a Nerd, and I found out that you can actually test your and your spouse's love language(s) on THIS webpage. It's such a fun test and very useful!


Sunday, August 4, 2013

Ask yourself: why


This is the second 'Ask yourself' post. Last time I asked you what kind of person you would like be. I hope you wrote down your thoughts, and if you didn't, I recommend you'll do it before moving on to this new post.

Now you have a picture of an ideal you in your head. 


Chase Elliot Clark





Think about all those things that came to your mind. Now ponder each feature, quality, detail and idea. Ask yourself:







Why do I want to be like that? But don't stop there. Go further once you answer your question. Question your answer. Ask why is it so.

Here's an example:

What kind of person would you be? - I'd like to be good at meeting new people.

Why?  - Because I often feel uncomfortable when I have to speak with people I don't know.

Why?  - Because I feel I'm not good at small talk and it's hard to be myself in those situations.

Why? - Because I feel they are analyzing me and it's uncomfortable.

Why? - Because...