KING OF HELSINKI

A couple of weeks ago we filmed a tongue-in cheek music video for Knucklebone Oscar. (A legendary Helsinki band that has been around for well over a decade. We've done some old school live band & burlesque collaboration with another one of Oscar's bands; White Knuckles Trio.)

I took some behind-the-scenes photos during the day.

he Windows '95 Man (he has this retrotastic DJ-character thing) helping to prepare some 300 balloons.

Walking among some 300 balloons. They started moving, wandering, by themselves at some point. Freaky (and also totally explainable).

Shot on good ol' VHS with a 1989 camera!

It was a rather long but hilariously silly day.

You can see the result here - this will most likely open up more for those born in the 70's and 80's that attended school discos in their pre-teens. And have video footage on VHS of that...

(The disco-sign on the door was suitably there when we arrived already, as a remnance from the last party of the year.)

RHUBARB CHUTNEY

Rhubarb season is coming to an end over here, but as it has been colder than usually (have I said this already here? How many times now? I feel betrayed by my summer!) you can still collect and make use of the stems, especially for jams and such, as it does not matter if they have turned a little more blah and bitter in their taste when cooked with sugar and such.

Although rhubarb actually is a vegetable, it is pretty much solely used for sweet dishes over here.
But it makes a great chutney for salty treats as well! It's a perfect addition to the bbq dinner. It's really good.

It should be really good with meat; I've had mine with tofu and grilled halloumi for example, but also as an addition to nachos and salsa.

You will need:
500g rhubarb
1 (yellow) onion
2 big cloves of garlic
1 chili fruit
about 0,75 dl honey
2 tbs red wine vinegar
a pinch of salt
1-2 tsp fresh ginger
a little turmeric

(A little embarrassing that we have our own honey but it's not pictured here... there is an old saying here that the shoemaker's kids have no shoes. And we've run out of it actually, so I had to buy some.)


Clean and peel the rhubarb, chop that with the onion, garlic and chili into pieces. Put in a pot together with the honey and vinegar and salt and let it boil together for about 20 minutes into a thick chutney.

Add the ginger and turmeric and pour into a hot cleaned jar.

I want to fill more jars so I double the recipe. I can also recommend to chop some rhubarb and put in your freezer, take it out and make this in winter to spice your dinner up on cold days! Because most likely your summer batch will be finished before the leaves fall off.

My new life in Brussels...

The Grand place, Belgian moules(which I ate on my own with a glass of wine in a moment of bravery and independence) and some little side streets. One thing I love about Brussels is how narrow side streets can lead to vast intricately designed squares. 

I am now officially living in Brussels. Today I signed a 1 yr lease on a new flat which I will be moving into on Saturday- I AM SO EXCITED!!!

As you can see I am feeling quite enthusiastic about my new place. It's located near the Sablon area of Brussels in a quiet little backstreet with a cobbled road and trailing vines going up the side of the building. Somehow I have managed to find an affordable studio apartment with a central location that lives up to my romantic notion of living in Brussels- pretty miraculous! 

Quick summary of my new abode...It's an attic studio with whitewashed floorboards and wooden ceiling beams. It is rounded like a princess tower which gives more weight to my romantic fantasies of living in Europe. No doubt I will post hundreds of photos on here and on instagram (beckyloisburns) in the coming weeks but here are a few from the online advertisement as a little teaser..

My new job is also pretty amazing. I'm kept really busy designing prints for various different areas of menswear: formal, casual shirts and swimwear. The office itself is also a great space. The building itself is nothing particularly special but the interior has been styled in such a creative way that I just had to share it with you...

Apologies for this being so short but I have heaps to do before moving and I also need to check the catwalks and get working on some Pre-S/S 16 trend boards.

                                   

MIDSUMMER SAUNA

The sauna is among the most Finnish things there are. The word sauna itself is a Finnish word. You have the midsummer sauna, Christmas sauna, bridal sauna, the Saturday evenig sauna and the regular everyday sauna as well... Most Finnish summer cottages and cabins will have a separate sauna, and many old apartment buildings has a mutual one, while new apartments tend to have their own small saunas next to the bathroom. I've never been that much of a sauna goer at home really, the sauna at my parents' house was mainly used for drying clothes in . We have a weekly sauna hour in our building that we sometimes manage to make it to. I mostly just go to the sauna when at the gym.

But being in a wooden sauna on an island or by the lake, being able to jump right into the water straight from the heat, is a different thing. This midsummer when out in the archipelago we heated the sauna, which I haven't actually bathed in for a few years, in spite of sleeping in the sauna chamber every time we are over at the island.

The sauna window view.

When we were small gathering pine cones was one of our "duties". It works as a spark together with the wood when you heat the sauna (or any other fire; we mainly collected these for heating the house.)

I like a more mild sauna that is max 80C hot, preferably just a bit over 70. But  it is often heated above that, up to 100 degrees celsius.

(There used to be sauna championships where the contestants tried to out-sit each other in the heat, with very high temperatures. Some years ago one finalist died, while the other got really sick and was in a coma for a long time. That's insane.)

The sauna is something pretty much every one here has grown up with.  Babies under 6 monhts are not recommended to bathe in the sauna though. Kids usually sit on the floor, as the heat is lower there. Women actually used to give birth in the sauna back in the days (it was the cleanest space).

My first plunge for the year! The water was only +12C. That's cold, but it has been colder than usual so far this year.(The sea usually gets around 18-19 in summer, but it can be over 20C as well. It depends not only on the weather but on location as well. Some days during good summers the sea has hit temperatures around 27-28C. Lakes tend to be warmer. In Southern Carelia at my grandmothers cabin the water is often  around +25C.)

Where the harbour opposite of us is, there used to be an island, just in front of the mainland. They blew it away.

Midsummer flowers in newly washed hair.

DAWN

This was quite heavy stuff.

4 x SUMMER RAIN

Midsummer rain in the archipelago.

FLORAL AND FLOWING

The past year I have started craving long and flowing dresses in everyday, something which I had trouble wearing before. I still find they can be a bit difficult to combine with the right shoes and jacket though (to avoid having me look like I am living 1999 all over again, when goa trance was the shit and we hanged out at Hare Krishna). But I am getting into the lower hemlines nonetheless!

I got this dress from vintage shop Hoochie Mama Jane some time back, late in spring.

RED AND POINTY

 My favourite manicure is by far the pointy french one in different shades of red.
I'm not sure if there is a more official name for it but 'pointy french' is the one I go with.

It is actually very easy to make - just two strokes of varnish drawn from each side of the nail and up to the top. Even manageable to do with the weaker hand.

Or you can draw the lines more round, to get heart shaped tips (there's a lot more going on with my nails here in this pic but ignore that).

If you want to fancy it up, make small dots in a metallic shade along the line.


Use a thick varnish with good coverage that is not too runn. Make the small dots with a toothpick, hairpin or needle for application.

The deluxe version would be small rhinestones, but I leave it to the salon for that.

Relocation, Relocation, Relocation!!!

So..... oddly, and somewhat ironically, after broadcasting my new outlook on life about being "single and free and able to move around and blah blah blah" it seems that someone out there is calling my bluff.... on Friday I will, once again, be relocating- this time to Belgium.

I will still be working for C&A but will be transferring to their offices in Brussels. A the transfer involves moving to a different country(again!) I am getting a whole new relocation package  which includes another 3 months free rent. Finally I will be able to pay off the multiple overdrafts I procured while pursuing a design career in London- FYI to all employers in the fashion industry £15k is not a realistic salary to live in London! 

My path so far: London- Dusseldorf- Brussels.

Anyway, moving on from that slight jab at the fashion/retail industry, I am SO excited to move to Brussels. I've made a really great group of friends here in Dusseldorf who I will be sad to leave but moving countries doesn't break friendship bonds and I am in no doubt that we will stay in contact. A few of them are actually driving me to Brussels on Friday to help me move- such babes!

In preparation for the move I thought I would do some Brussels related research as all I know of Belgium is chocolate, waffles and Bruges. I was amazed to find that Brussels is home to so much amazing art nouveau architecture. Art nouveau has always been my favourite art/design movement with it's fairytale curvilinear architecture and it's loose lines/shapes. It actually surprised me to find that many of the doorways and buildings I have pinned on pinterest(yes I have a favourite architecture pinterest board) are actually located in Brussels. Geek that I am, I am already planning and Art nouveau architecture hunt around the city. At no point did I claim to be a chic fashionista type- I am an awkward geek through and through.

Brussels architecture!

Also the art. Oh the art! Rene Magritte, one of my favourite surrealist painters next to Salvador Dali, was Belgian and there is a museum of his work in Brussels. I, of course, cannot wait to go.

Magritte museum and a few of his paintings.

Seeing as I have reveled my, not so inner, geek side I can also share how excited I am to be moving to such a historical city. Brussels was founded in 969 so I am expecting it to be rich in exciting historical finds! As the capital of the EU  and home to NATO headquarters, I am hoping to meet a variety of international friends. 

So there's my most recent piece of news.....it appears I am accidentally working my way across Europe.

                                                                                 x

Bucket list and blog makeover

Once again I have not written a blog post in a really long time, since I moved to Germany actually which was almost 3 months ago. As a result my daily views have plummeted, which I completely understand- why would anyone want to look at a blog with no new content. Truth be told I haven't really felt like blogging since I arrived here. I wanted to live my life for a while without feeling any responsibility to posting regularly(not that I've ever been very good at that)and sometimes, especially recently, I question if there is even any point in me blogging at all. Although I get a lot of page views, I don't seem to have very many followers which can be quite disheartening. There are so many blogs out there nowadays that it is increasingly hard to stand out from the rest and create some form of blog identity. This is something I'm going to be working on over the coming months.

Anyway I have put these disheartening thoughts to one side.I miss blogging and enjoy writing- it's my guilty pleasure so regardless of who follows/doesn't follow me I'm going to get back into posting. I never get to write in my day job, it's mainly spent drawing and manipulating images on adobe photoshop, so blogging is my outlet. With this new/recycled(as I've definitely said this before)outlook I'm hoping that one day I will get into the habit of regularly posting- it's on my bucket list.

Speaking of which, I thought I would share some of my newly edited bucket list on here. I made one when I was 18 but it lay dormant in one of my many journals until it recently resurfaced in a spring/summer clean. Here's a teaser...

Recently I've been feeling fairly discouraged about being 24 and completely single. So many/almost all of my close friends are in long term relationships and one by one I am seeing girls I went to school with getting engaged/married/having children while I drift around dwelling on my marital status. I have decided it's time to change my outlook.

Society, Films(Disney in particular) and the media guides us to believe we need someone else to complete us. "You're nobody 'til somebody loves you", although just a song lyric this is an accepted idea despite being both ridiculous and detrimental when trying to live a happy, fulfilling life. I am not half a person. I am not incomplete. I do not need another person to make my life worth living. One day I will meet someone who has personality traits and attributes that compliment my own, someone who I can share my WHOLE and COMPLETE life with. Until then I am unattached; tied down to nothing and free to live the kind of selfish, guilt free life that can only be lived as a single 20 something year old. 

This is why I have written my bucket list- it will give me some direction and remind me that single life doesn't have to be a curse, it can be a blessing. I'm going to use the next however many years to see the world, soak up every possible experience and become a more knowledgeable and well rounded person. As part of this (No. 100) I have also decided to read 52 new books in a year- starting from 15.06.15.I'm currently getting stuck into George Orwell's '1984' but would love suggestions on what else to add to my list of 52! 

x

P.S. New outlook=new log design. Let me know your thoughts on the makeover!

AND SO IT WAS SUMMER

Summer had suitable started while I was away so I arrived home to apple blossoms and happy cowns out again after the winter.  Goodbye May and Hello June!

(It also turned out to be the first June in over 50 years when the temperature two weeks in had still not reached over +20 (and even sadly stayed way under), so it has been more jackets and less sumer sandals still..)

Brought my stuff over to the farm and had a couple of days off together with my little soon-to-be-three-years-old-fella.

I made him (oven baked) pancake the first day. That is his absolute favourite. And that little kid can eat pancake I tell you. Several plates!

Picked rhubarb with my eager little helper.


Made, among other things, rhubarb punch. When you make it by soaking and not by cooking you end upwith a beautiful strong pink liquid. I just let unpeeled bits of rhubarbs soak for three days with lemon and a little sugar, then strain and heat up the juice with some more sugar and bring it to a boil (so that the recently added sugar dissolves) and then bottle it.

Summer is so easy! You jsut go out and pick up things from the ground to eat. I made a salad of ground eldre, chives and dandelion leaves from the garden.

And here are some more pictures of the now already faded apple blossom just because.

And an apple tree cat to end this one: