Jammin' June: Country Music

I LOVE country music. I thoroughly enjoy everything about it. This is actually something I think not a lot of people know about me :) well, you know now. The thing is, country music isn't a Finnish thing and we rarely hear it on the radio. So I put on my jams on YouTube or Spotify (bless the Internet, right?!) and whenever I'm in the US, I find a country station to listen to. 

Today I want to rave about Lucy Hale and her debut album Road Between, that came out today! 

You might know her from Pretty Little Liars, but in case you weren't aware, she's an amazing singer!

I was so excited when I heard she was working on a country album and now it's finally out... Gotta raise a hat to a girl this young who's doing so well in the entertainment business and seems to have her head and heart in the right place, and her feet on the ground. 

Road Between is a wonderful album with catchy tracks. Lucy's voice is pure and clear (and lovely), and I'm happy to be listening to real country music after a loooooong time. I hate to say it, but I feel like some country singers have lost their touch and are doing music that's not really country anymore.

I'm not lying when I say I love all the tracks on this album, but here are some of my favs:

Road Between

You Sound Good To Me

Red Dress

Nervous Girls

And now, stop reading this, and go get your copy of the album or listen to it online! :) If you love country music, you'll love this album. 

May Favorites

TV & MOVIES

I have all ten seasons of Friends on DVD, and what can I tell ya.. probably one of the best sit coms of all time. My brother was borrowing the DVD box for a loooong time, and I finally got it back. And watched all of the seasons, back to back. I know, right? No life. 

MUSIC

Lucy Hale - Road Between

Emeli Sandé - Read All About It

FOOD

We got to enjoy a pretty amazing weather here in Finland. For about a week, and now it's cold again. But anyways, during this weather wise weird week I had six days off (I know, right?!) and I got to enjoy the company of my friends and had a loooooooot of ice cream. Yummy!

MAKE-UP & BEAUTY

Primo Self Tanning face lotion by Dermosil. I've never used self tanning lotions before, and I don't intend to start, BUT, this one only gives your face a light, beautiful summery glow. We're not talking about a strong tan here, just some color ;) For us white people in the North, this lotion is perfect! The result is natural and the lotion doesn't leave any awkward lines on your skin. 

BOOKS

I read Lauren Oliver's latest novel, Panic. The plot was absolutely thrilling; young people facing their worst fears in a game that came to be because there was nothing else to do in a small town. 

I'm a fan of Oliver's other books, too, and this one wasn't a disappointment either! She has a unique way to depict young peoples' lives. Make sure to check this book out!

I usually prefer to read the book first before I go see the movie, but I admit I hadn't even heard about Divergent until they started promoting the movie. I'm so off the wagon when it comes to YA literature right now... My reading has taken a hit lately, but I'm working on fixing that. So yeah, I went to see the movie and loved it, and bought the book the same day. I'm now reading it and loving it so far. I think I might have to go out and buy the other two books as well :P

These were my monthly favorites from May! What do you guys think? I know there's not much to promote now, but it's been kinda slow. Again. I have received some VERY GOOD NEWS this month, but instead of sharing them in this post, I will be doing a whole separate post about them. Stay tuned ;) 

April Favorites

Am I the only one who's had a slow month? As in nothing happened -kinda month? It's a bit of a challenge to build a monthly favorites- post with what I've got, but I'll do my best :) can't wait for May!

Fashion, Make-up & Beauty

This hand lotion is by far my favorite. The scent is delicate and this leaves your hands very soft! Dermosil is one of my favorite brands and I use a lot of their products; self-tanning face lotion, powder, eye brow pen, lipgloss and lip liner. 

Music

Phillip Phillis - Gone Gone Gone

Clean Bandit feat. Jess Glynne -  Rather Be

Movies & TV

I went to see The Amazing Spider-Man 2 with my brother and I gotta tell you... it was an amazing movie. I'm a total super hero nerd, I love Spider-Man, Iron Man, The Avengers... This movie just blew my mind and totally made me cry at the end. I won't spoil anything, just letting you know I cried. I wish the third movie wouldn't take two more years!

When I was a little kid I watched The Nanny every Friday night on TV, and now that it's on Netflix, I've been refreshing some of my childhood memories. Yup, it's still funny! :D 

Reading

I mentioned earlier that I started reading Lauren Oliver's Panic. Here's a picture of me reading it in the cutest company! My baby fell asleep next to me and I just had to appreciate the moment by snapping this picture. And yes, the book is excellent. 

Social Media

Again, Instagram. I lost 90 followers when IG fixed the bug, but I've regained the lost ones and even more. Thanks for the follow all of you! :) I love Instagram and update it every day, so if it gets quiet on the blog front, make sure to check out my IG if you're interested in knowing what I've been up to! :)

Thanks for reading, folks! :) Hope you will all have a fabulous week! <3

March Favorites

I am very happy to leave March behind, not because it was a bad month (it was a good month!), but because April just feels so much more like spring and I am just getting more and more excited about summer and everything that comes with it!

But before we move on, it's time to look back to some of my favorites from last month!

Fashion, Make-up & Beauty

1. The bag I bought... It's just unreal that I own it, and I love it so much. I even did something I swore I would never do; I named her. OMG, right?! Please, don't judge me, I'm a very rational person. Who has a purse named Bessie. 

2. My friends brought me this moisturizer from the Canary Islands and I just love it! It leaves the skin soft and smells really good, too!

3. I have used Maybelline's Dream Matte Mousse for years and I still do! I ran out of it in the beginning of this year and since I had just gotten a BB-cream from Garnier, I used that for a while, but when I got to Germany, I bought myself a new Matte Mousse. It's half the price in Germany! I don't really mind paying more for it in Finland, because that one jar lasts me for a year. Love the stuff!

Food

1. A delicious lunch at Vapiano in Helsinki; tagliatelle pasta with creamy chicken sauce. 

2. Awesome bruschetta at an Italian restaurant called Controvento in Tallinn, Estonia.

3. My new love: roasted sunflower seeds. I emptied the bag into this air tight container and keep it in my purse, so that I'll have these to snack whenever I feel like it! They're so yummy :)

Music

Ellie Goulding - Figure 8

                                          

Christina Perri - I Don't Wanna Break

Movies & TV

1. How I Met Your Mother. SPOILER ALERT! DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN THE LAST EPISODE! I cried throughout the entire last episode, I'm not even kidding. When they said goodbye at the wedding, when Robin and Lily talked at the empty apartment at Halloween, when Barney met his daughter, when Ted married Tracy, when it turned out she was dead all along, and when Ted showed up at Robin's with the french horn. I cried. It was a beautiful ending to this show, and even though I'm not completely happy with the Mother dying, I'm happy the show's ending was realistic. Sometimes life just doesn't go the way we plan.

2. Revolution. This show just keeps on getting better by the episode! I really hope we get a 3rd season. And I'm all about Miles and Rachel! 

3. Pretty Little Liars. AGAIN, SPOILER ALERT! Ezra being A was too obvious, I'm happy he wasn't. Although it was not nice what he did. But the season finale was soooooo thrilling! I admit, I teared up when Ezra got shot, and I nearly screamed when A got away yet again. I don't think I've ever been this addicted to a TV show! Who do you think A is??? Jason is probably my no.1 suspect at the moment. 

Traveling

Went to Estonia for a day with my friend! Read more about our trip here.

Social Media

I import my posts from Blogger to Glipho, and I just love it! Find my profile on glipho here. Join! 

I hope you liked this edition of the Monthly Favorites; I had the hardest time ever to make those collages. I'm just not good with this stuff! :D Haha, but yeah, it does safe space and looks better, so from now on I will be collaging these pictures. 

What are your March Favorites?

February Favorites

A little late with the favorites, but better late than never, right? :) 

Let's get started!

MAKE UP & BEAUTY

Haha, don't mind my reddish eyes. This picture was taken soon after waking up. My absolute favorites for February are my eye lash extensions, which I already talked about on this post, and the Garnier BB-cream that I bought on sale. It smooths the skin and corrects little faults; I don't think it's as efficient as a foundation would be, but I feel it's more gentle and light as it also serves as a moisturizer. 

MOVIES & TV

Besides my regular shows, I also started watching 30 Rock on Netflix. I watched the show when it first aired years ago, but then stopped, who knows why… Anyway, brilliant cast, brilliant writing. Such great entertainment! 

My mom told me Under the Dome the TV-show is nothing like the book, and now I'm just compelled to read the book, even though it's a freaking brick (do you guys use that expression on big, heavy books? We do lol!)

Anyways, I still loved the show and ended up watching the entire first season within a few days. Can't wait for the second season! If you guys have been watching this, too, what do you think??

MUSIC

Lucy Hale - You Sound Good To Me

Taylor Swift -  Our Song

It was all about country music last month! My fav genre :)

TRAVELING

I went to Germany for a few days! Read more about my trip here. <3

SOCIAL MEDIA

I hit 200 followers on Instagram! Yaaaaayyy! Go follow me :) Instagram is becoming my favorite social media site; I love the simplicity of it. Link me your Instagram-site and I will go check them out!

Somewhat shorter favorites-list this time, but oh well, hope you enjoyed it anyway!

I will get back to y'all later! Thanks for reading! 

January Favorites

Hollaa!
Another new thing that I'm going to be doing in my blog, is monthly favorites. Monthly this, monthly that… This is something I've noticed a lot of YouTubers do, and since making videos didn't exactly work out so well for me (I'm not saying I'll never do them again, but I think I'm better at writing) I decided to present my monthly favorites to you in the written form with pictures. From now on I will be posting my favs either in the end of each month or in the beginning of the next. Yay!

JANUARY 

Make-up & Beauty

I am absolutely in love with Covergirl's Lashblast Fusion Mascara. I hadn't used it in a long while, because unfortunately Covergirl isn't sold in Finland, but my December trip to Florida fixed this problem and I stocked up on this! It stays on very well and leaves my lashes looking full and longer.

This primer by Dermosil leaves the skin so soft and silky feeling, and it doesn't create that stuffy feeling, like you have too much stuff on your face. Love it!!!

My toiletry bag from Victoria's Secret has proven to be extremely handy and useful! Not to mention it's so pretty :P

Other things from Victoria's Secret have quickly become my go-to products; especially the Mango Temptation. I love VS's fragrance mists, because they don't have that strong perfume smell, they smell fresh and I use them every chance I get. 

Movies & TV

Chick flicks that never get old…

I watched Frasier when I was a kid, because I was a weird kid who liked witty comedies, but last year I started watching the show again on Netflix and finished it last month. Hands down, one of the best TV shows e-v-e-r!

Music

Books

I read this book last month and now I can't wait for the movie version! I really hope they won't mess it up. This book is about a terminally ill teenager Hazel, and her first love, Augustus. The story is tragic and beautiful and I think the author depicts everything in a real and honest way. Make sure to get your own copy and read this! :)

Food

I've been more into cooking from scratch lately. For those of you who don't know, I'm a cook by trade, and I'm maybe the worst ever. Cooking at home has never been a passion of mine… cooking in general has never been a passion of mine, so for me to actually buy fresh ingredients, prepare them and make myself a nice home-cooked meal is kind of a big thing. Also, I sort of fell in love with tea. I don't really drink hot beverages, but when the weather's really cold, I do enjoy a few cups of tea and just relax on the couch under a blanket. Heaven<3

Social Media

I am becoming more and more addicted to Instagram. And seriously, who doesn't want to wake up and see that when you log in?! Made my morning. Awesomeness, right there. 

So what do you guys think of the Monthly Favorites as a continuing thing for my blog? Yay or Nay? Let me know! :) And link me your monthly favorites if you're doing them, I would love to read/watch them!

xxo

iira

Out with the old, in with the new!

Hiiiiiiiiii!

Peeps, it's January 1st, 2014. For an hour and a half more at least, here in Finland. I feel sort of disoriented and confused at the moment; I returned from my vacation yesterday, and am jet lagged + I caught a flu on our way back. It's surreal to think that two days ago I was in Miami, and now I'm here. Two days ago I was in warm and humid Florida, and now I'm in cold and dark Finland. Well, at least there's zero snow here, which was a pleasant welcoming gift :)

I will do a separate post about my vacation in the near future, once I get my head straight and pics uploaded. Now, since every other blogger in the world is doing so, I want to talk about 2013. I won't make an extensive post about every single detail of the past year, but will share some highlights with you! With that being said, let's get started!

2013:

*My dear friend from Germany visited me in Finland
*I visited her in Germany

*After promoting my blog on Instagram, I was invited to join Glipho and blog there, too. This was a major turning point and gave me a whole new perspective! Thank you, Glipho Team!

*I worked through the entire summer, which wasn't exactly ideal, but for a good cause ;)

*Despite working a lot, I got to spend a lot of time with friends

*I became more and more passionate about writing and working on my novel

*I made some new friends

*Some of my best friends moved abroad; again, not a highlight, but they're happy and that's what matters!

*I traveled to Florida. Here's a little sneak peek:

I managed to snap this awesome photo while in downtown Tampa. The lighting was just perfect!

Now I'm starting a new year. I never make any resolutions. I just hope things will look up and something exciting will happen. I'm fortunate to have experienced a lot in my life, but it has left me thirsting for more. So, I hope 2014 will bring something amazing to me, and to all of you. Make it your year<3

Here's an inspirational song I wanted to share before signing off. I will get back to you guys later! :)

My Novel Soundtrack

Everyone has their own way of building and writing a novel, and for me, music plays an important part in every stage of the process. There are certain songs in which I've attached certain scenes and every time I hear them, they make me think of that scene. Each time there is something new and something to improve. When I write, I prefer to do so in silence. 

It's not just music that I find inspiring. Movies, books, walking around, pretty much anything can get the creative juices flowing. Something seemingly very simple can make you think of something, and before you know it, you have a basic plot all lined up. It's amazing how the mind works. 

But, for this post, my main point is music. Here are three songs that all have something to do with the novel, that I'm working on:

Evergrey: Different Worlds

Snow Patrol: Just Say Yes

Miley Cyrus: Stay

These songs don't really have anything in common, except that they all have a meaning to me. So yeah, that's my Novel Soundtrack for you guys:) I'm sure there will be more songs later. 

Enjoy the remains of this weekend! I'm off to work now.