northie.

my silence last week was due to a well earned break. here's a short pictorial recap of my time off (warning: insane expressions galore) and some activity recommendations.

it all began with my newly found fondness for lapland. my sweetie, myself and a dozen of our friends traveled to a week in levi. our cottage turned out to be fabulous. the villa laavu created by sanaksenaho architects – who are known in finland mostly for their art chapel in turku – had amazing views down the slopes and enough space to make me feel crammed once back at home.

yours truly doing the hoppity dance in front of the "cottage".

out of 14, only a few took to the slopes. the rest of us kept busy enjoying the many activities lapland had to offer.

the ultimate high for me was tobogganing. some went down the main road, but also took advantage of the most pleasurable run with a little lift by the southern slopes. what else could please a crowd of middle-aged, slightly intoxicated kids who show significant indisposition towards sports than a rope that pulls you up the hill?

going up, coming down and, whoopee, crashing the security net...

we also went tour skating on lake munajärvi (translates to "lake *choose your preferred reference to male genitals*"), the name of which provided senseless giggles all day. yours truly got caught in some cracks in the ice and fell... ahem... a couple of times.

but it was great fun that i totally recommend anyone to try. the place even has it's own sports team called "munajärven pullistus" for which they naturally sell t-shirts. we didn't get any.

cross-country skiing included enjoying a cup of steaming minty hot chocolate at a dark cabin next to an ice covered lake. it seems the only time i can approve the inclusion of mint in my chocolate is when i am out of my element doing sports. inconsistency feeds itself or smthng. strange...

our regression continued and we headed to a lappish village to feed reindeer and ogle farm animals. the wildlife around our cottage did not fail either: especially one wacky and aggressive willow grouse with serious drag potential (hello, pink eyebrows!) kept entertaining us daily.

in the second pic my dog jorma is trying to go hunting... in her camouflage padded winter suit, fleece booties and wool beanie. credible? not.

mainly we just relaxed, enjoyed some glorious food and started the cocktail hour way too early in the mornings wearing fancy wigs...

1. resting in front of the fireplace; 2. me a.k.a. kari peitsamo; 3. playing homage to stella with a carefully rearranged wig.

totally relaxing, totally fun. looking forward to next year already. here's my theme song from the trip: