constant.

i am of the faithful sort.

people who shop by visiting random stores or even the ones they frequent without a pattern baffle me a little. don't get me wrong, i like to wander and flaneuring is oftentimes fun, but i just do not make decisions when occupied by vagrant thoughts.

i like routine where it makes sense: my mornings are simple because all my underwear is exactly the same and i do not have to start fussing over outfits when i'm just starting to wake up. having to change my facial care pattern arouses anxiousness. the thought of trying out different perfumes quite honestly scares me.

'sense' here equals, of course, 'sense to me'.

i like novelty, but for me to venture off my beaten path requires research – for example a suggestion somewhere online that there is a spot that hosts things that might interest me and looking into it. beforehand. of course.

i should not, then, feel surprised that i seem to find my wardrobe originating from the same brands since years ago. even if collections and years pass, i return to certain stores and designers regularly. i may stray occasionally and find new favorites, but the lineage my closet hides is quite easily compartmentalized.

and, yeah, it somehow manages to surprise me. this has not been an intentional process. i seem to be more focused on discrepancies than constants to realize that some things stick.

one of them is prada in shoes. i realized when my latest pair arrived that in addition to converse chuck taylors, zara and marc jacobs heels, most of my shoeboxes are adorned by one of the recognizable logos of the italian fashion house whether the main line, linea rossa or miu miu.

it's funny because have not considered myself much of a fan of prada. moreover, i do not like most of their shoes at all. i actually find the majority of them pretentious and overdone. nevertheless, it only takes the one pair, the either properly ott one or the subtle and understated specimen of the collection.

i have been looking for a flat shoe with some oopmh for a couple of years now, and although basic brogues were the sensible thing to get, they have just left me cold. hence, i was thrilled to find my newest acquisition from the linea rossa line.

the perfect combination of 90's clumsy walking shoe, dr martens, the classic brogue, the over-the-top lacquered leather and, i kid you not, girly bows. light as air.

there is so much wrong with them that they are just amazing.

expiration

sharing life with animals comes so natural to many of us. our anthropomorphism fools us into thinking they share our complex emotional conundrums or that they love us with unconditional devotion. nevertheless, we often miss the more obvious similarities.

aging shows in our companios in a similar way to us but in acceleration. the signs are the same: greying fur and feathers, spots, warts, sagging skin, and so forth. cataract, hearing loss, aching joints and diminishing muscles. it's all there. terminal.

photographer isa leshko brings us a series of animals in their dusk. elderly and fragile, it is impossible to ignore them as beings with life experience. even when we're aware that they probably are not nearly as preoccupied with their demise and the collection of experiences they've gathered so far as we might be looking at them.

Rooster, Age Unknown

Marino, Bronze Turkey, Age 5

Handsome One, Thoroughbred Horse, Age 33

Violet, Potbellied Pig, Age 12 

Phyllis, Southdown Sheep, Age 13

all photos above © isa leshko

my dear little critter is showing so many signs of aging that every single time she takes more than half a minute (which is a long time, mind you) before waking up, i prepare myself for the worst.

she cannot see anything because of cataract, her hearing is almost gone and at her last vet's checkup her muscle mass had vaporized. she still has her smell and her appetite – and boy does she like to eat – and she loves going outside for walks and runs. everything's good so far, then.

but her grey snout reminds me that there is a day when a companion will be gone.

Jorma-Irmeli, Italian Greyhound, Age almost 13

ethereal.

my companion of over 12 years is a delicate being who leaves no-one cold. she resembles almost everything else than a dog and arouses feelings of sensitivity and nurturing in almost everyone she meets.

when she encounters a talented photographer the results are otherworldly.

all photos by our office assistant, maarit.

oh, danny boy.

it is not once that i hear friends with children complain about the troubles associate with finding clothes for their kids. the usual pastels divided into girls' and boys' feel unpleasant for parents who would never express their own gender stereotypically. there are options for classic style, but prices are often mindblowingly high, and sometimes dressing kids in miniature adult wear does not feel proper either. online stores provide some help for those parents who have the time and money to browse.

if you've got good credit, tiia vanhatapio bebes is an adorable collection for small babies and marimekko still continues in the spirit of the 70's in offering cute separates that are partly unisex. although the latter are not incredibly expensive, they are way above high street pricing and quite honestly do not stand out quality or stylewise from the crowd – for some of my style-savvy friends, that is.

daniel palillo and his humorous take on design comes to aid. he has released a line of kid clothing for aw11 which pleases the eye of even those urban parents who have found daniel's clothing a little too much for themselves. most of the collection is simple and functional, all of it cleverly playful, and the simple black, white and red selection follows the aesthetic familiar from daniel's signature style.

the line is still looking for retailers, but i can just about see a bunch of little palillo humans running around my neighborhood.

if you've got kids, would you dress them in these?

puppy love.

i love animals, i do.

anyone who loves animals, adores baby animals, right? yes, puppies, kittens, lambs, baby monkeys, the whole lot.

sometimes they're just a little too active for their own good.

here is the xmas greeting my sister's six-month-old pharaoh hound, pirjo, left on my bed this morning:

hello, i used to be a louis vuitton damier graphite iphone case.

the dog's got good taste, i say.

wrapped.

windy helsinki is brutal for everyone in the winter. being the owner of an aging italian greyhound during finnish cold season is therefore rather stressful. the little cutie hates cold enough to find woolen blankets to dive under even in summertime, and needless to say, below zero degrees are something she loathes.

in case you did not know dogs age pretty much similarly to human beings, and now that she's almost 12, her skin sags and hangs loose on her withered old body. hence, providing warmth is increasingly important. moreover, these record-breaking winters are not exactly helpful.

jorma-irmeli defies the cold with a fleece suit from limbo. they make great gear for little skinny ones with longer legs – much needed because most dog clothing fits chihuahuas and other more robust breeds. they also offer the option of ordering made-to-measure items for any pooch in need of clothing.

when it gets really cold, we add another cotton suit underneath and a padded one on top. she also sports a beanie protecting her ears and neck knitted by my sweetie. (actually, it is a woolen sock without the toe part...) on her feet shielding from cold and salt are fleece booties which are surprisingly water resistant.

clothing her is such an effort that i actually feel for mothers with little kids. although i've been told that human babies learn to clothe themselves at some point...

full (winter) gear.

adorable, right?

wrapped cake explosion.

i am not too fond of sweets, but whenever i travel i get cravings for cakes, pastries and puddings. it may be that bakeries around the world differ from our local kind by their extravagance; a window filled with a colorful selection of baked, iced, topped, berried, creamed and whatnot goods is sure to lure in at least to marvel everything.



the pastry du jour in london seemed to be the cupcake. there were little stores and booths everywhere we went: colorful windows filled with trays of little sugary bundles wrapped in paper. imaginative toppings ranging from classic to cute to raunchy offered anything and everything you might want for your party or just for the hell of it.



mikko got himself some pirate and some... ken.



i admired the little reindeer in need to pee in covent garden.

bros and mos.

i never thought i'd actually ever write this, but here goes nothing:

where are the hos? i want hos!

just talking about these stickers that warm the heart of an appletheist more than a customized bible cover ever could appeal to the devout christian. just cannot choose between these three amazing – and hilariously suitable – alternatives:

pics from stick with me, baby! more options (and mos) on the website. click to see a clearer image, blogger likes to smudge things...

and i haven't even gotten to the mos section, yet...

at 8€ a piece i could order a couple, but since they are proper stickers and non-reusable, i'd love to get it right the first time. any suggestions? which one would you go for?

little nibblers.

greetings from the sea cottage. we spent the weekend there cleaning for midsummer.

as i went upstairs to check the space that is mostly used for storage nowadays, i stumbled into the cutest little mess. last winter the mice were not particularly numerous and had created fairly little damage to the house. but they had found my box of wooden beads and there, basking in the sunlight next to large window, was the result of rodent survival efforts.

oh, what a feast it could have been...

dirtee or clean?

although organic produce is something finnish grocery stores cannot boast carrying in vast amounts, we're gradually improving towards a less industrialized agricultural value-matrix. i wrote about the troubles adhering to buying organic in finland before and am not going to repeat myself here. i just wanted to tell you about a little cutesy helper that can solve the problem between skimping and splurging at the grocers.

heidi kenney creates cotton candy cute crafts that celebrate our anthropomorphic tendencies as if disney never existed. regardless of whether you'd consider her work art or not – can art be über dainty? –  her handy little pocket guide to the dirty dozen of veggies helps you decide whether buying organic instead of regular is really worth the extra cost or effort.



it will not solve all the other important aspects of ecological consumption or nutritional questions, but i still think it's pretty usable if avoiding unnecessary pesticides seems like a good idea to you.

the cheat sheet in pocket size, printable form is downloadable here.

my precious.

this xmas santa treated me rather negligently – maybe i've been bad or just reckless with mailing my wishlist, dunno really. nevertheless, my little critter, jorma-irmeli, got plenty of gifts and helped rip open every single present under the tree.

her favorites were obviosly cookies from all fur dogz where we sometimes stop for coffee and biscuits, but the perma-frozen pup simply adores her jumpsuit from limbo so much that i got her two new ones: the stripey one here and a brown'n'white polkadot version for her 11th bday. yup, the pup is a senior citizen already! both are very 70's marimekko and make me giggle every time she passes me by.

did you remember your furry friends during xmas?

save rudeboy.

single acts of random kindness become more beautiful by the minute. fashion design collaboration with ngo's and ethical causes are excellent examples of consumerism harnessed as positive action, but despite their undoubtedly altruistic and generous basis, they sometimes echo emptiness. the creative growth campaign purses and tees by marc jacobs are perfect examples of collaboration feeling hasty, greedy and hollow despite a cause that is definitely worthwhile. the mj store was crammed with stuff feeling like a chinatown souvenir shop: cheap trinkets and the above mentioned purses were piled on top each other almost falling off the racks. the respectable cause lost its dignity in the hands of fashion people.

there are other kinds of fundraisers, deeply personal ones that succeed in originality and the essential beauty expected from a collaboration. antti asplund's project is a perfect example of what can happen when creative people are touched by tragedy: this time a cat that jumped from an open window and landed six floors down on the street. all the funds collected from the t-shirts will go towards paying the medical bills of rudeboy, the cat who believed he could fly.

get yours for a mere 50€ by emailing anttiasplund@gmail.com.



pic from saverudeboy2009.

travel feverish.

there are some special people in this world. sometimes they come in the form of younger sisters. like mine.

she came up with a clever plan of going to new york this fall. despite there being loads of friends in nyc who could show her around, she realized a need for a personal guide, moi. hence, she purchased tickets for her and i, and we're off to the big apple in a couple of weeks. sweet, huh?

part of the preparation is to get familiar with the destination once again. since i already know my way around, a great way to embrace the environment could be tactile, like wrapping brooklyn around meself. soft-maps quilts by haptic lab provide a full immersion into a neighborhood of your choice. they're perfect at this time when i'm a little sick with a slight fever and obviously fearing my trip could be postponed by an unfortunate episode of h1n1.

they also come customized to yer whims in case you feel the need to lay under your childhood hometown or the most romantic place in the world – wherever you may think it is.

which location would you want to wrap yourself into?

photos haptic lab; tweaked by me.

monki say, monki do.

i'm not sure whether building a working business concept requires a story. when successful, it may help in distinguishing brand essentials. oftentimes a perfectly good story is left floating in thin air without rooting it firmly into the product or experience on offer. increasingly brand storylines seem completely detached from the products themselves because it seems marketers have come to believe a nostalgic story is all that is needed to sell an otherwise average product.

but it ain't so.

swedes are great at branding their creations and can even work nostalgia into a brand in ways that seem fresh. walking the streets of downtown stockholm celebrates the success of swedish fashion labels: huge global chains all based in sweden is really something to marvel.

an example of a strange attempt of inserting a rather random appearing story into a line of fashion is monki. the story starts:

Not long ago, an unexpected chemical reaction in an old factory released a batch of plump black Monkis. Waddling on tiny chicken feet from the still-smoul-dering chimney, the little creatures flapped their wee clumsy wings in an attempt to fly into the wide world

and continues with a distinctive visual imagery and graphic expression with these little creatures living partly in forest, part marsh and part imagination.

the brand identity of monki is clearly visually pushed, but the background story of "chernobyl" critters remains unexplained at the stores themselves. with neon bright pop colors, led-lit dressing rooms with enough mirrors to create nausea, and little islands popping from the floor that hold the clothing, the stores themselves are reminiscent of your worst idea of an acid trip. at the same time, they're perky and fun.

what's great about monki, is the fact that they catch the core of young swedish street fashion.

i still remember the time when a trip to sweden would instantly inform the tourist what was fashionable and what wasn't. the homogeneity of stockholm residents is probably still unsurpassed, but because of street style blogs and the explosion of variety in affordable fashion, swedes no longer stand out as much. when it comes to us visiting the capital of blonde fashion ambition, we're nowadays usually well aware of what is in and what is out...

h&m has long gone from offering the height of trends although they still succeed in pushing out imitations of high fashion at remarkable speed. monki seems to pick up what the trend setters wear and create an entire collection around the södermalm indie kids who lead the fashion pack.

it is the dedication of the brand that i admire. they offer their interpretation of what is the "ultimate now" and they sell it cheap. very cheap, actually. it seems that swedes realized a greater trend coming our way at the launch of cheap monday and later, three years ago, at monki. everything at the store seemed to be less than 400 kronor (about 45€) and the prices were honestly marked at even hundreds and tens. none of your 99-insinuations here.

and what is in fashion, then? everything inside the store was about recreating the early 90's semi-auntie look: big flowery dresses, high waists, denim shirts and loose'n'boxy jackets. they did not offer a choice. it was either that or nada. the trend was already visible last summer, but the attitude was stronger and less compromising.



and since they had a basic grey sweater with a lacy twist (from their collaboration line with ida sjöstedt) i just had to get me one. you can never have enough of grey sweaters, right maire?

let me introduce you...

... to someone very special. in a moment, that is.


i recently ran into marten weetsema's photography (above and below). he specializes in taking pictures of dogs and the results are some of the most exquisite portraits of our unswerving companions in life i've ever seen. i am deeply touched by his shots because i grew up with dogs and feel an incommensurable love for them.


although my parents have preferred retrievers and spaniels, my sister and i are devoted fans of greyhounds -- as is weetsema who shoots his greyhound, daan (above), regularly. the sleek beauty of the runner is incomparable and i relate to their quiet calm which is very unlike most dogs who tend to be fussy and too in-your-face with their affection. greyhounds are the most feline-like canines you can imagine, independent, reserved and poised.

and here she is: my baby.



her name is yoda, but she goes by jorma(-irmeli). she's 10 years old and the chirpiest little critter to have around. she's kept me warm sleeping tightly next to me under the duvet and comforted me when i've been down throughout the years and, miraculously, stimulates love and adoration in whoever she meets. she even turned my sweetie, who wasn't all that used to pets, into a committed and cherishing fan.

we've also lived through some tough times, such as cancer requiring several surgeries, a broken leg and several hilarious moments relating to her less than 10lbs (4kg) frame and the struggles her minute size creates. she has cataract which has slowly made her completely blind, but her bravery (or courageous trust in my guidance) on the streets is enviable.

she says hello!

chu choo!

ground-zero is the label of london based chu brothers specializing in subversive graphics and street-savvy design. this spring they came up with a whimsical collection of high-end unisex pajama-wear as outer-wear and titled it lazy, naughty 'n' sleepy.

the collection's core is the ultrasoft rayon/spandex material printed with dreamy soft graphics, such as care bears and pajama stripes, and drowsily draping, oversized forms.

since spring lures out my playful fashion sensibilities, i'm drawn to more colorful items than during the dark winter months. i got my cableknit printed tee/dress from wunder and love it combined with my silver painted denim messenger bag from marc by mj's men's line, antti asplund cross pendant and white(ish) converse. delishly comfy.

brightening up #1.

it's spring and time for brightening up. where else to start than your feet, right? i am a true converse girl at heart (and feet) and usually get my chucks in high top, but this spring it's all bright and solid low white for me.

i got these at the converse sample sale my friend, who imports converse, holds biannually. i'm ready to get miss golightly on you, spring!

all the while i thought i had it good...

there is nothing like stupendously young talented people to make you feel aged, worn, unsuccessful and past your prime, and since i'm sure y'all could use some "cheering up" for the weekend, here's laura marling, a 19-year-old singer-songwriter who is fresh, cute, smart and annoyingly talented.



dunno about you, but i'm ready to sulk over a bottle of wine listening to her soft voice. blah blah.

le'ggo of my lego!

this morning's feel good post for all you nyc lovers out there: illustrator christoph niemann's blog entry in ny times made me smile.

sharing.

our simian friends never cease to bring a smile on my face.