Archives for October 2013
Our Cuckoo’s Nest: Summary
There are quite a few people who have recently started following (welcome, guys!) the blog and here I am posting random little quotes and shopping lists. I thought I’d do a little summary of who we are and what we’ve done so far so you can become better acquainted or, why not, refresh your memory a bit!
{HERE} is the first post I ever wrote on ourcuckoonest.com. I started in March 2012 {LINK}, a few months after our Ladybug was born. The story of her birth is {HERE}.
If you’d like to know what I myself have to say about us, here’s a little introduction called “About us” {HERE}. I once asked my readers to thoroughly interrogate me in a “questions and answers”-post, the category under which it is filed is {HERE}, the actual posts (in three parts) are {HERE}, {HERE} and {HERE}. The posts on home renovations, interior design and new purchases for our home are filed under a category called “nesting” {HERE}, you can read about the befores and afters of how we completely renovated our apartment {HERE} and {HERE}. Why not check out what Christmas looked like for us last year {HERE}?
There’s a cloud of categories in the right-side sidebar, where you can find outfits of the day {LINK}, all the DIY projects I post are filed {HERE}, {HERE} are all posts and photos from my phone and all videos of me and my family are {HERE}, etc. Go and browse the categories, you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for. 🙂
If you like, we’ll start a new questions-and-answers post, maybe I’ll even video blog it! Let me know if you’re interested and it is, of course, always okay to just ask if there’s anything you want to know. 🙂
I’d like to also take this time out to thank everyone who’s been reading this blog and cheering us on ever since I started it. I’ve found so much comfort, gotten so much great advice and started some interesting discussions with the wise people who are the readers of my blog. Thank you for sticking around!
P.S. I know it just sounded a lot like it, but this is not a goodbye-post of any kind. I’m not going anywhere!
Shopping: Ordered from H&M
Even though the lovely people of Estonia have recently been blessed with three freshly opened H&M stores, I’ve still decided to do what I’ve always done: order my stuff from Sweden. I’ve got three perfectly legitimate reasons to do so: 1) I probably won’t live to see the day they bring H&M Home to us 2) A bunch of the stuff I wanted was on sale in Sweden 3) I’ve been told that the local stores are still like madhouses – swarming with tons of crazy shoppers. Definitely not my kind of scene. This time I decided to start preparing for Christmas and renew our wardrobes a little. H wasn’t too enthusiastic about internet shopping when I was at it so I chose for him (honestly, they don’t currently have much that H would want or need) and I, au contraire, was eager to find new pieces to feel excited about dressing up again. Have you noticed the lack of outfit posts lately? So there’s your reason.
1. Four new kitchen towels. Who wants boring and plain old towels when H&M offers a wide variety of ones with cool prints on them? // 2. An apron. What can I say, my inner Martha Stewart couldn’t leave it behind… // 3. A set of bed linen with pretty blue birds on it. // 4. I have an absolute obsession with sofa cushions and plan on replacing my regular ones with Christmas-themed cushion covers when it’s time. This place will look like Santa’s little helpers threw up all over it once I’m done decorating! // 5. Four pearl-embellished Christmas ornaments – all the decorations I have for my Christmas tree are in white and these will look absolutely smashing together with the rest! // 6. Cookie cutters – need I say more? Mustache-shaped gingerbread? Hells to the yes!
1. Can you spell “to die for” ? I’ve tried a similar one on at Zara, but it didn’t look good on me. It is, however, one of this season’s absolute must-have pieces, so I have to give it another go! // 2. I love wrap-around blouses and this striped one will definitely be worn often. // 3. Can’t tell if really fashionable or just extremely cozy – long cardigans like this one look great with military-style pieces and leather jackets (like I wore one {HERE}) // 4. Super-stretchy skinny jeans – if these are anywhere near as comfy as my black skinny jeans by Crocker, I’ll wear them every day other day (because I’ve got my Crockers, too). Not to mention that’s one pair of sexy-ass jeans! // 5. Nude knit with a loose, oversize collar and fringes. If that’s not the perfect knit, I’m not sure what is! // 6. More golden bling – because a girl can never have enough (and they lose color pretty fast even though I cover all my bijouteries with a top coat (yes, nail polish) before I wear them // 7. A chunky golden necklace. Same reason. // 8. What do you know?! More rings! // 9. A cotton maxi skirt with long slits on either sides. I want to start matching outfits NOW!
1. This hoodie from H&M is the softest, cosiest and one of sexiest pieces of clothing a man can wear. // 2. The pair of jeans we got him from H&M when we went to Sweden looks fantastic on him. These grey ones should be the same cut so fingers crossed! // 3. “Hey, you want new undies?” – “Suuuure…”. David Beckham was posing on the product photos so they must be fantastic. Lol.
1. A tiny little floral bomber jacket. How adorable? // 2. My daughter looks absolutely adorable in bobble hats and since she’s had her first one for over a year now, it’s about time I got her a new one. // 3. Tights, because kids need tights. Not much more to it. // 4. Toddlers look adorable in jeans and since actual jeans aren’t as comfy to run around and play in, jeggings are perfect. // 5. Matching mittens to go with her new hat. // 6. Jeans. With pink little suspenders. What else is there to say?
You scream, I scream…
Ladybug woke up in the middle of the night (she slept in our bed) as if she had been struck by lightning, crawled out of bed and went straight out of the bedroom and into the kitchen. She called for us and kept demanding something by chanting “thaankkk you, thaankkk you, thaaankkk you!”. H went after her and found our little girl trying to open the freezer door and asking for ice cream.
H just gave her a glass of water, brought her silly bum back to bed and that was that.
Why is the juice always gone?
Long story short: we were making apple juice today. I may or may not tell you more about it some other day, but I really need to post this before I forget. It’s hilarious!
I go inside to heat a batch of freshly pressed juice and when I return, I see that the large bowl of juice that was almost full minutes ago is almost empty. I’m a little confused and start to think that I may have remembered wrong and the following dialogue occurs:
– H, where did the apple juice go? Wasn’t there more?
– I don’t know!!!
– Oh, okay… wait, why is the terrace all wet?
– I may have spilled a tiny bit of juice. I promise, it was just a tiny drop!
– You mean the tiny drop that filled that bowl just minutes ago?
– I’m sorry…
I couldn’t really be upset (well, at least until he spilled another bowlful of juice, I was a tiny bit mad then) because he looked absolutely mortified. He doesn’t let his inner child show all too
often but when he does, the kid is adorable. 😀
Summer snapshots, part three
Sometimes when it’s 4 a.m. and you just don’t feel like sleeping you can “mildly” annoy your parents until daddy just takes you out of the house for a walk so at least some members of the family can get a decent night’s sleep. 
Our humble little Midsummer’s bonfire 
Our mommy-group organized an awesome lakeside get-together and there was no way we would miss it!
As usual, we had no fun at all. None!
Sandboxes became more and more popular with our little girl and now she’s all about baking sand cakes whenever she has the opportunity. As you’ve witnessed, the real deal isn’t a problem either.
The elegant little dress and hat from – surprise-surprise – Polarn o. Pyret.
Me just casually looking ridiculous posing for outfit photos with everyone else on the ferry to Djurgarden staring at me.
Taking matters into own hands: this pool isn’t gonna fill itself! 
We hung out at quite a few car meets with the Lowlifers.
Anyone else here put burnt matches back in the box? I do and it pisses H off. So he left me a lovely little note in the kitchen as a reminder. 
H’s mom’s friend L makes the most delicious Tiramisu. I keep telling you how all of these people cook all these delicious meals and for some reason they keep asking me to cook for them. What is this sorcery? 
I kept taking pictures of our beach and wasn’t satisfied with a single one I took. They didn’t do our beautiful seaside any justice, I thought. What the… ? I want to be there now! It looks amazing! Can I have my summer back now, please?
A love story: Our third anniversary
I was eager to post this while I was planning our anniversary celebration, but couldn’t because it was going to be a surprise. The 16th of October is the day when we “found” each other for the first time. The first few months of our relationship was a blur. A blur of butterflies, complete neglect of anything outside our love bubble and getting to know each other. We didn’t decide to “be together” or “go steady” straight away – I took time to really be sure and sort some stuff out before I allowed myself to fall head over heels and commit. And once we got to a point where we wanted to celebrate that special day, we had forgotten when it was. Well, truth be told, H had forgotten. He was a hundred per cent sure that it had been in November. I tried to argue, but gave up – I supposed he was right if he was so sure. So we celebrated every month after that, not knowing we celebrated a month too late. Then, one day, I remembered that I had done a blog post right before I went to meet him back then. I checked the date and I was right: it was on the 16h of October. So after I was done with all my “told you so’s”, we laughed about it and sort of forgot. After all, we celebrate each other much more often than once a year so it really wasn’t much of an issue. We decided we’d just celebrate once we got married.
When I say “we celebrate each other” I mostly mean that H does. He spontaneously brings me flowers, buys me pretty lingerie, gives me wonderfully considerate gifts and not a single day goes by when he doesn’t tell me how much he loves me. I, of course, try to be as good to him (buy little gifts, surprise him, cook his favorite meals etc.) but I always feel I never do as much as he does. He’s just that wonderful to me.
So since I knew that he wouldn’t remember (what’s there to remember if we’ve sort of decided we don’t celebrate?), I had the perfect opportunity to surprise his socks off. I got gifts for both him (a super-soft knitted tube scarf, he’s been going on and on about all his scarves having vanished into thin air) and myself (well, the gift I got for him to have something to give me was really meant for him, if you know what I mean), wrapped and hid them well. I bought a variety of delicious snacks, two bottles of sparkling wine and dragged it all home without him noticing a thing. I had such a hard time keeping everything a secret but I managed! He was completely clueless. He went to put the little lady to bed and by the time he came back downstairs, I had lit a bunch of candles, served all the food, crushed ice to keep the bubbly cold etc. He was surprised, felt a little guilty for forgetting (I was so happy he was completely clueless), but also really-really excited. It was wonderful to see that he truly felt the love and how much I appreciate him.
Toast Skagen
It wasn’t that much of an effort (just a lot of evil masterplanning and hiding stuff), but we had a lovely time together and woke up in the morning even happier than before. 🙂
What’s for lunch? Lemon pasta
You know those occasions when you’re sort of hungry but can’t stand the idea of eating something heavy and really prefer a refreshing soup, a juicy salad or anything else fresh and light? This dish definitely falls under that category – it’s vibrant, healthy and all about keeping it simple.
You’ll need:
♥ Whole grain pasta (I used pennes, but spaghetti works even better)
♥ 2 lemons
♥ 1-2 chili pods
♥ 5 cloves of garlic
♥ Cherry tomatoes
♥ Fresh basil
♥ Freshly grated parmesan
♥ A generous amount (1-1,5 dl) of olive oil
♥ Salt, pepper and a teaspoon of honey for seasoning
If you like, you can pan-fry two chicken fillets like I did for some extra nutritional value. The pasta doesn’t need it, though!
Cook the pasta al dente according to the instructions on the packaging. Take a medium-sized saucepan and heat the olive oil on medium-high heat. Once it’s hot, add your chopped garlic and chili (remove the seeds), fry off and then add the zest of your two lemons. Allow the olive oil to infuse with all the beautiful flavors (keep an eye on the heat, you don’t want the garlic to be burnt and develop a bitter taste), then add halved cherry tomatoes, toss around in the oil and allow to cook through. Then add a handful of basil (chopped) and then add the cooked pasta into the saucepan. Squeeze in a spoonful of lemon juice (you can add more depending on the sweetness of the lemons; the dish should taste beautifully lemony, but you don’t want it to be sour), season with honey, salt & pepper. Serve with a generous amount of grated parmesan, some basil and if you prefer your food hot, just slice up a chili pod and use as a garnish. I did, it was beautiful! 
Can you smell it through your computer screen? Freshly chopped garlic, chili and beautifully fragrant lemon zest. Heavenly!
If cooking this pasta dish took you longer than 20 minutes, you were working too hard!
Bon appétit, sweet cheeks!
Video post: Ladybug baking a cake
What can I say? If her enthusiasm in the kitchen persists and grows as she does, she’ll probably develop my passion for cooking. And we’ll cook our way through life together. Have I already told you how much I adore motherhood?
Enough said: here’s my culinary prodigy of a daughter!
Signed: Maniacally Proud Mother
Summer snapshots, part 2
Our little girl grew up a little while we were in Sweden. In stead of throwing a tantrum when she got upset or felt her parents were being unfair to her, she ran to the other room, threw herself onto a bed and just wept in silence. Those are heartbreaking, but also proud moments. She is growing up and handling her emotions very well. I go to her, sit down by her side, explain to her once again why I said what I said and then I ask for a hug. She always gives me a hug and we go on like nothing happened. She truly is a very understanding and wise little person.
Awesome Estonian barbecue weather. Chefs really do need to be creative 😀 
Mom gave me this book and I started reading it ages ago. I loved the first 25 pages I read and since then I just haven’t had the opportunity to read. I’m really anxious to get to it and not being able to annoys me. 
Friendship! Amazing mums have amazing daughters so both me and the Ladybug get to spend our time in the company of beautiful people. I get auntie J and the little one gets baby Simona! 
Gee, Ladybug, condescending much? 
This is taken on our roadtrip to Finland – we stopped at a gas station and the Ladybug decided to hang out with these lovely ladies. Those two are a wonderful example of awesome parenting – sisters who are good friends, cherish each other, let each other into their lives and treat their parents with utmost love and respect. I hope I’ll be able to raise my little girl and her future sibling(s) in the same way. And who doesn’t love matching outfits, anyway? 
Our kiddo and auntie A danced together (yes, in the middle of nowhere with no music on) like two crazies. If A doesn’t mind, I’ll edit the video I shot and upload it here. It really was hysterically funny! 
When we arrived at our destination (my step-grandparents’ house in Sastamala, Finland) the little lady was given a pair of bunny ears. Give a girl some bunny ears and what you’ll get is sincere happiness. And tons of laughs because a toddler hopping around like a bunny in bunny ears is hysterical. 
I’ve been sitting here trying to come up with a description to this photo and there’s nothing. Nothing that could put words that even come close to what I feel when I see that picture. Not sure if I feel like laughing or crying, it’s just immense. I love you so much, little person. So-so-so much.