Budgeting!

budget
Today I realized that there's only a bit over a month to go and it's summertime. Holiday. Travelling. Sun. Working. (And writing EE but let's not talk about that one now). And I noticed, that I should start calculating my budget for my trips.
Last year, when I was travelling in Norway and in England with my best friend I used 315 euros in total - the sum should be really close to my realistic expend even there's always some little mistakes as it's really hard to keep on track everything you've been buying when you travel. Especially if you travel with someone that you basically share everything with. We tried to buy e.g. foods pretty equally and so on, if another one of us bought shorts for both of us another one bought the next meal. But yeah, anyway it's the sum that I used (excluding the flights and train tickets in Finland).
I always live and travel with quite small budget and if we divide that 300 euros for three weeks, it's about 100 euros per week. (And I did a lot of shopping!) With that same formula we could think I will need 400 euros in England and in Germany this year. And that actually is the money I will have. At the moment I have savings of 200€, I can save 100€ during April and May and my monthly allowance is 125€ (that I'll get when we're in England). So sum of those is 425 euros.
(At the moment 1£ = 1,4€)
And how will I spend that money? We're staying in England for 4 whole days + Saturday morning. We're planning to visit a day in London - that's the one day travel card. We don't really know yet what exactly we're going to do there, so it might be that we don't need travel cards but just cheaper return tickets.Other travelling includes money, that will be enough to make a trip by bus to some another town nearby. Food part then includes one meal in a pub (15£) some snack, or coffee in a cafeteria (10£) and then those foods we're buying from supermarket, drinks etc. (15£). I know we're mostly going to eat home so the food costs won't be that high. Shopping includes everything not-necessary-to-buy-stuff, clothing and so on. I hope that I won't spent more than 150 euros in England.
Germany then was the trickier part to budget. I have visited there ones and I know it's a cheaper country than Finland. The currency is the same. But I don't really know what I will be buying, what are we going to do and how much we will be eating out, buying our food and so on. As the case in both places visited is that we're visiting relatives. That's one reason why it's so hard to know how much money I will actually spend on food.
So yeah, I have to admit that I don't have a budget plan to Germany, but what I will be able to spend is maximum of 250 euros. Or that's the limit that I set, let's see how everything's gonna go. Anyway, at some point after the trip I will count the total costs and tell you how was it, what I spent and to what. Of course I will spend as little as possible and I think the total 400 euros is lot of money for me. But let's see!

And now I have to add a small off-topic. Pound, it's strong at the moment. A couple of years ago it was only 1,2€ and now it's 1,4€ - shopping in England won't be so cheap anymore! :(

How do you plan your trips, in terms of money? Or do you have budget at all? 

K18 - finally being an adult

Written 14.4.2015
Okay, I admit it. The title is a bit misleading, but I wanted to talk to you guys about my feelings related to becoming an adult. I turned eighteen in the beginning of April. And I don't feel like it. I don't feel more responsible, grown up or smarter. I am not an adult. But in the eyes of law I am, and it kinda is awesome in a way.
I am now allowed to drive a car, as I got my driver's license. And I've been driving around a lot during this first week, it's just awesome. I visited the bank and got my passwords and stuff so I'll be able to do online shopping and I have my bank accounts all by myself. Previously my parents took care of them. These two are the main things that I am happy about being legally adult. Another thing related to shopping online is booking flights. And travelling. As I can book flights all by myself, I won't miss those excellent offers (I have missed some really cheap flights and it's annoying) and I can travel wherever I want whenever I want. And alone if I wish so. This whole world of travelling is the most fascinating part, really.
Then I could also mention alcohol. I am not a huge consumer of it, but sometimes it's nice to open a bottle of sparkling wine with your friends. Now I'm allowed to do it. And if not alcohol itself, then bars and clubs and stuff - they're all forbidden from underage people. My birthday was phenomenal and as quite a few of gigs, festivals and other music related things are for people eighteen and over it's cool that I don't have to mind things like that anymore.
But besides these things mentioned above, my life hasn't changed anyhow.  I'm still the same old me - stupid, childish and irresponsible in some cases. But I'm 18 and it gives some more freedom. Let's see do I start feeling more like a grown up during this first year of adulthood!

So here you go, shortly a few thoughts of mine about growing up. Does any of you have your 18th birthday this year? And those a bit older - how did you feel in your first year of adulthood? The stage is yours, let me hear what's in your mind related to the topic!

one busy busy weekend

OOTD
Celldweller - Blackstar
Or actually it wasn't that busy. On Friday we, my boyfriend and I came to our home, ate and tried to do some school stuff. I drove my sister to the stables and tried for the very first time how to refuel our car. When my sister got back from the stables we drove to my boyfriend's house - last time I visited him I can't even remember...
On Saturday we went to the city to do some shopping with him and his sister, the weather was quite nice and I found what I was looking for. I've been missing a new eyeliner from the beginning of the year and last week my old one totally dried out so I was forced to buy a new one. I also found Hurts' second album Exile and I had to buy it as it was only five euros!
Jacket - Premoda trendy, Shoes - borrowed from sister
Cardigan - Primark, Top - Primark
Jeans - Tokmanni, Bracelet - from Berlin
Sunglasses - Newlook  
Sunday I spent totally with school stuff - at the moment I have so many things to do that I don't even know. I should write this and that, try to do homework from every subject and get some sleep and keep up with other life as well. And if that's not enough, I'm having a some kind of flu. I don't know how can I handle this all, but my only goal is to get promoted to IB2 and to do carefully those works that are affecting to my final grades. Hopefully I'll manage and actually I now have the motivation that has been hiding the past few months...

But anyway. Above you can see my outfit from Saturday (even though I managed to look awful pretty much in every shot), all the pics © Mattis. Nothing else this time. How was your weekend?

3/15

from phone
Hello folk!

One month gone again and it's already April. This beginning of the year has gone so so fast, spring is here and soon it's summer again. And it's time for the third "from my phone"-post. So here's my march!
I practiced the theory part of drivers license, laughed at the theory book of how to drive and had a few driving lessons.
I had riding lessons and competition as well. This month was all over a good month with horse stuff. The weathers started getting warmer and snow started melting away. 
More driving lessons and practicing what to do when it's extremely slippery. It was fun though! And my face when I passed the theory exam.
I got my hair dyed, for the first time since July. And I love it now. Another thing I'm loving is the new Nightwish album Endless forms most beautiful. Pure gold.
I baked some muffins and enjoyed the sunshine.

So that was my March. Just ordinary everyday life, but actually it has been enjoyable lately. Nothing too bad have happened and good mood is continuing!

I just wanted to tell you...

chitchat
...that I got my driver's license!
A few little things to practice, but overall quite okay performance. And it wasn't actually that bad. The guy evaluating my driving test was nice and as we chatted for a while about how to use a car before actual driving, my nervousness got lesser. 
And now I couldn't be more happier. We already drove around with my best friend, ate subway and sang really beautifully. Awesome!  Nothing else this time, I just wanted to share my excitement with you. 

Happy 18th Birthday to meeee!

chitchat
So. As you can see already from the heading. It's my birthday! Or it was - yesterday, 5th of April 2015 I turned eighteen. I started my day quite early in the morning (as I don't sleep no longer than eight even in weekends) by making a delicious breakfast with my mother.
Around ten o'clock my best friend came to us and stayed until four. We had mixed lunch/dinner - salmon and potato wedges with some salad. We ate a lot of cake and drank some sparkling wine. My mother had bought it for me and I think it was the fanciest stuff I've ever drank in my life. It has gold in it! But to be honest it wasn't as tasty as some other sparkling wines I've tried. Still it wasn't bad.
Around four we left our home, picked my friend with us and headed to Oulu. We stopped for a break at my godmothers place. It was awesome to see her and her family as it had been too long time again since we last met. After a couple of hours of chatting, laughing and eating more cakes and biscuits we continued our trip.
We reached our destination, Nightclub Tähti in Oulu, after ten o'clock. I got in with my passport, that is going to be outdated this summer. It's the old kind of passport that's legal for ten long years. You can imagine me showing a picture of seven-years-old-me to the bouncer...
Then some waiting and the main point of the whole journey. Apulanta ♥ We both, me and Anna, like Apulanta's music a lot and even though club is not the best environment to get everything out of the music, the feeling was great. Place was quite nice, there weren't anyone truly disgusting trying to pick up us (even though the pic-up line of one fifty-something-drunk-man was "hey you two are beautiful, I have daughters around same age with you ;););)". I'm really truly sorry, but that doesn't make me want to get to know you...)
Apulanta itself had a great show and played some of my favourite songs even I was left missing Aggressio to be played. But at least I have a valid reason to go to listen them again! So, overall. First day as an adult well spent. Not a bad way to celebrate my birthday at all and I had such a great time!

My hobbies

Written 7.1.2015
I've been always doing something for my whole life and now I decided to share my dearest hobbies with you!
I've been a horse girls since I was something like seven. Ten years. Ten awesome years. I've spent hours and hours in the stables, met epic people and get to know those great creatures better and better. At the moment, I take riding lessons once a week, help with riding of one pony, go training once a month and attempt to small competitions. This hobby is so much more than just a hobby and the only negative side is the costs, so so expensive... The future with horses is quite unclear now, but one way or another they will be always part of my life.
I'm a huge consumer of music, especially a bit heavier music. I listen it all the time from radio, CD's (just love them!), youtube, spotify... I've also been playing something since I was two. That's the age when I got my first kantele and that's the instrument I spent seven, eight years with. Then I was forced to change to piano, and nowadays I'm quite happy that I can play that as well. Then singing. From 1st to 6th grade I was singing in a school's choir and nowadays I sing just by myself for fun - excluding couple of piano lessons, when we've been singing with my sister, our friend and our teacher. Music is an enormous part of my life and I bet I couldn't live without it - or at least living would be much more boring!
This one has also been somehow my hobby through  my whole life. I've done everything from knitting to making Christmas cards and painting. I count here everything from drawing (by hand and with a computer) to sewing my clothes. I like to try out new things and sometimes I have many different project at once, sometimes there might be a pause lasting couple of months when I do totally nothing.
I have loved reading since I learned to read at the age of five (if I'm not totally wrong). Nowadays I'm too lazy or don't have time to read as much as I'd like to, but still I've gone through quite many different books. Writing is then other story - I like writing essays as well as I enjoy writing my blog. Also poetry and stories are familiar. And probably I should mention, that I do these both in Finnish and English - nowadays especially reading English has become so easy for me.
I enjoy spending time in the kitchen. Especially baking is something that I like a lot. When I bake, I follow recipes somehow but as I have some clue how everything works, I usually change some things or swap some ingredient to another if I don't have the original one. With cooking I'm pretty much the person, who doesn't really need any instructions - I just do my own mixtures of everything, simple, easy and always tasty.

It's April Fool's day!

OOTD
...but I'm not gonna fool you guys.
It's Wednesday, first day of April and the second last day of the fourth test week. This week I've proven myself that parking a car can be a real disaster and that I totally suck at math. Tomorrow's subject is chemistry - at least that's something I feel like I can manage with!
On Monday I had my driving lessons (they're soon over, weird) and after that I wen't to a hairdresser. I ended up dyeing my whole hair and it's lot nicer than it was previously. It's awesome to have just one colour and no roots to be seen, I like this a lot!
The haircut then is a different story. This time the hairdresser just took the driest ends away. If the colour is nice, the cut hasn't truly been pretty for a long time now. But I just have cope with it, if I wan't to fulfill my hair ideas. But that's about hair for this time.
Today the weather was really awesome, and the contrast to the cold, grey and wet beginning of the week it was a great pleasure to wear sunglasses and some other shoes than my winter boots!
Shirt - Lindex, Sweatpants - Newlook
Sunglasses - Newlook, Shoes - borrowed from sister
The next weekend has already quite a few plans, but let's see how everything goes. I'm gonna be eighteen anyway, and it's gonna be awesome. See you soon!

Do you have plans for the Eastern holiday? 

P.s. All the pics taken by my sis! Sorry about spamming so many of them, but I just love the spring-like-feeling they have!