Veggie lover vs Meat feast

Me and my husband have never been able to share a pizza. He chooses things like "Meat feast", "Meat lover" or "Mighty Meaty" off the menu. I've been always more "veggie lover" type but I think it has come as a surprise to him that I've gone totally vegetarian recently. I just stopped wanting to eat meat and I've been so happy with my decision. As a result I've lost 17 lbs, my skin looks amazing and I haven't had any migraines. I've been vegetarian since February 2012 and I'm planning to keep it up! My daughter enjoys vegetarian food too but if she asks for fish or chicken I'll make it for her. But I won't bring any read meat into the house. Also as a positive side effect I've become such a creative cook! I'm preparing foods that are totally new to me like bulgur wheat and kale and I'm totally enjoying all the fabulous new ingredients. Melissa and I are also experimenting with the Quorn products. I'm mainly buying them because of her, but I must admit that their mince is pretty tasty. I've just made some bolognese sauce with it and it was quite nice with spaghetti. So far my bestest veggie recipe has been a vegetarian lasagne that I made the other day with fresh pasta, spinach, butternut squash, tomato sauce and bechamel sauce. It was lush! I've also made some lovely curries after a visit to an Indian restaurant.
I'm getting some awesome advice from the show called "River Cottage Veg", that show is very inspirational. I've just ordered their cookbook as well, I will hopefully get it tomorrow.
Being a vegetarian might not have a huge impact on making the world a better place, but it does make me feel good about myself in many different ways. I like that being a veggie is just a bit more challenging, I like to push myself to be a better person! I won't judge people by what they are eating and I hope they will respect my decision too.

P.S. Being a vegetarian is sexy! :) http://features.peta.org/sexiest-vegetarian-2012/Finalists.aspx

Blogging again!

So I decided it's time to start writing to my blog again! Lots has happened since I last wrote, but the most important change is that Melissa has finished her chemo! Hurray for that! We had a massive end of the treatment fundraiser party and raised over £1400  for Leukaemia and Lymphoma research.

Balloon release at the fundraiser "Melissa's Miracle Mile". We raised over 1400 pounds!

After Melissa's immunity started to recover, we have been allowed to travel again, and our first trip was to the States to go see my Husbands family. It was during the Halloween so Melissa went trick and treating as a Minnie Mouse. :) Arodable!

 I was also able to go to New York with my best friend Minna, that was absolutely fabulous!

We also had a fantastic Christmas and the absolute highlight was when Melissa got to meet the Queen of England and also Duchess of Cambridge, "Princess" Catherine.
http://www.iltasanomat.fi/kuninkaalliset/suomalaistytto-tapasi-herttuatar-catherinen/art-1288437762273.html



In January Melissa and I were off to Finland for a month, we had such a lovely time skiing, skating, sledding, snowboarding and all the other winter activities starting with the letter "s"! :) Melissa's favourite thing was going to the Naantali Spa and swimming in the outside pool when it was snowing. We also made some pretty cool memories visiting the Moomin family in the Moomin World in Naantali.
Melissa's Nanna took her on a trip to Stockholm, the Capital of Sweden, that was pretty neat! The cruise boat was so big that Melissa didn't even realise she was on a boat. Visiting Helsinki, the capital of Finland was awesome too, Helsinki is the Design capital of the world this year and there is just a huge amount of cool stuff to see and do! The highlight of our Helsinki trip was sledding (or bum sliding) down the stairs of the Helsinki Cathedral.

Back in home, England, we have been just happy doing our everyday things like any other family. Melissa really enjoys going to the pre school and she will start primary school in the fall. She got into the school we super duper wanted, it's called Denver Primary School. She will start in September, how exciting! But before that us girls are going to have a very busy Summer travelling the world, first on our list....... Disney World Florida!! It's Melissa's Make a Wish Trip and we are going very soon! Melissa can't wait to go on her "Princess Holiday". It will be F A N T A S T I C!! :D

Birthday Celebrations

Everybody has a lifeplan. Mine was never very complicated; I wanted to travel a lot and have fun and make lots of friends while doing it. Then find a wonderful guy, get married and settle down somewhere nice. I had some timelines too, one was to have my first child at the age of 25. I was doing so well with my plan and then Melissa decided to be born two months prematurely, just few days before my 25th Birthday! So she was born 22nd of July and I celebrate my birthday on the 25th of July. Not that anything else mattered after seeing my perfect daughter for the first time.. You can plan all you like, but after having children everything will change and very little that mattered before even makes sense anymore!

We can't plan life. All we can do is be available for it.
-Lauryn Hill

We've been very busy celebrating for the last week or so. First my best friend Minna, who also is Melissa's godmother came to visit. She is such a wonderful person and really managed to lift our spirits with her awsomeness! A true real life fairy godmother, we are so lucky to have her in our lives. Then we had a very awesome My Neighbor Totoro themed party for Melissa's 3rd Birthday. The whole day was really lovely and she loved the cakes I made. My Neigbor Totoro is her absolutely favourite movie ever, it's a Japanese anime movie about two little girls who meet a forest spirit called Totoro. It's very absurd but totally cute!! :) Thanks so much for everyone who helped us to celebrate and made her special day even more memorable. She still thinks it's her Birthday, my brother Markus is visiting us  at the moment, and she got even more presents today from her Nanna and Pappa (my parents). Melissa calls Markus "Eno", thats uncle in Finnish. She is very fond of him and we are really enjoying spending some quality time with him.
Melissa's treatment is soon coming to an end, we have two more months to go!! Then we can go and travel the world together, first stop Finland! I miss home like grazy, good thing I got a massive bag of Salmiakki as a birthday present!

Totoro Cake

Sootsprite cupcakes

We got her a bike for her birthday

Melli and godmother Minna

Braids & plaits

Melissa's hair is getting so long now and I'm able to braid it again! She looks sooo pretty with her hair braided and I'm very surprised how still she will stay for me to do her hair.

 

Favourite hangout

Hanging out in Cambridge always makes me happy! It's a very bubbly and friendly city and I love how you are all the time surrounded with different accents and languages. It's such a lovely and pretty city and every time I go, I notice or experience something different.
One great thing about Cambridge is all its superb restaurants! My husband treated us to a lovely meal at Jamie Oliver's restaurant "Jamie's Italian" and the food, service and decor were just wonderful! I also loved how child friendly they were. We will definately go again!

After a recent hospital stay we all have been feeling a bit blue, so it was refreshing to have a change of scenery and enjoy the buzz of our favourite hangout!

Snack time!

Broads

I spent a wonderful evening with my lovely friend Daniela at the Norfolk Broads yesterday. We went on a cruise on a Southern Comfort paddle boat. It was a really fun trip, I've never been on the broads before. We had some wine and a real good giggle!

Norfolk Broads

Me and Dani

“Any man can be a father, but it takes a special person to be a dad”

Melissa has been blessed with the best Dad ever! It is so lovely to see how special bond Melissa has with Adam. We've been celebrating Father's day today by eating well and spending lovely family time together. Melissa helped me to bake a cake this morning and then she went and woke Daddy up to open his presents. Melissa had made him some lovely paintings and we also got him some Junior Mints, they are his favourite chocolate! Melissa also wanted to get him a pamper day at the McQueen and Co for Men in Cambridge. :D

Pégate

Pégate is Spanish and it means "get closer". There is a track at Zumba at the moment that I absolutely love! I started doing Zumba just before Christmas and I'm totally hooked. There's is no better mood booster than doing some serious booty shakin' to some great tunes! My Zumba instructor even did a Zumbathon fundraiser for Melissa and we made over £1000 for the Cancer Research UK!

I hope you enjoy this song!

Together is the best place to be

Happy 4th wedding anniversary to us! "Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be"

It's my Name Day

Today it's my Name Day in Finland. I've always loved my name, thank you mom and dad for making an excellent choice! It has just enough unique spelling but it's still easy enough to pronounce for all my non Finnish friends.


"Finland is one of many countries in Europe which celebrates Name Days (called Nimipäivä in Finnish). A country having a tradition for celebrating Name Days normally dedicates a name or names (male and female) to every calendar day of the year. A person then celebrates a Name Day on the day in the calendar where his or her Christian Name Appears. " From finnguide.fi

My namesake