Wishing, hoping, dreaming...

If you haven't checked you calendar the wedding is running towards us at a very rapid pace. So many things are still not taken care of and some things I am sure we have completely forgotten. My main concern is the things that I have ordered from USA. I don't know if the package will make it, put I'm so hoping for it. Luckily it does not have anything super important and nothing that we couldn't have the wedding without but the contents would add that final touch to it... Well there is still time, so I am not giving up on it.



On top of this we still have to work like crazy people, host guests every night, and while that in a normal situation it would be a nice change to the daily rythm, at this moment I am struggling. Less than two weeks to go to the finnish ceremony and then we are off to Tanzania (at least we have managed to get our tickets..) the problem is we have no idea what kind of a situation awaits us there....

Give me strength...

Riikka Hokkanen became Riikka Seppälä

Last night two families and a bunch of friends gathered and joined together. Riikka, one of my closest friends, after years of waiting and planning, finally got the man of her dreams! And no less than the wedding of her dreams. The ceremony was held in the oldest building of Tampere, Messukylä Old Church, and it was so touching and beautiful that I had tears in my eyes the whole time.. (could be because soon it will be us standing there, but anyways it was beautiful).



Riikka and Lari vowed to be there for each other during good times and bad. Even though the ceremony is pretty much the same at all of the weddings, somehow the vows sound just as beautiful as if it was the first time for us to hear them.

The bride was beautiful and the groom handsome. Riikka even got her bouquet of red roses that she was dreaming about already in 2004 when were stayed together in Thibodaux, LA, USA.

Luckily between all the traditions she had a moment to spare and pose with me.

And with Tonny as well..


The wedding waltz went very well, especially since we all know that Lari is not a big fan of dancing. He swung Riikka around the floor like a professional dancer.

Tonny got excited as well and I gave him a quick lesson of waltz and thus we were able to join the wedding party on the dance floor.

Tonny managed to record a decent clip of their first dance (with his new phone :P) So here, once again, is the happy couple.

It was a beautiful night with a lot of love in the air. I know in my heart that their marriage is one the ones that defy current statistics and lasts "until death does them apart".

The bachelorette party of the YEAR 27.06.2009!!!

I've always known that I don't have too many friends, but the ones I do have more than make up for it. This was again proved on Saturday... After laying in the sun for an hour or so I hit the shower... only to be interrupted by Katja (big sis') and Jaana (maid of honor) storming into our apartment. Clearly something was going on, they were screaming and shouting.. It was my day and what a way to start it off... :D

1. task of the day...

To start me off easy Katja and Jaana took me to the Tampere Spa for a nice and relaxing hand and foot treatment. They even served pink bubbly while we were there. And I thought that my day would be easy.. :P

2. task of the day...

Because I didn't even have a chance to eat breakfast, with these two storming in, we made a quick stop at my MOM's to get some nourishment, and a nice surprise, Minna (my other sister) showed up and joined the festivities.

I got another clue... Song lyric's went like this "...eteenpäin kun kuljen vastaani tulee joukko keijujen sekä menninkäisten.." For those of you that haven't known me my whole life this song is from an episode of Rölli (kid's program here in Finland) that I was on. The show is on Pikku Kakkonen -> clue was that we were going to the Pikku Kakkonen Park. (I was even able to guess this clue, must've been all the food that was put into my mouth :) )

3. task of the day...

"If your love for Tonny was a statue, what would it look like?"

They gave me clay. And I suck at all the artsy stuff.. But I also couldn't NOT do something...

So using my brain I made a big ball, yes even I can do that, and then drew a small Finland and a small Africa on it (let's not tell anyone that my Finland and Africa were almost the same size..:O ). I even put some small sticks on it to point out Tampere and Dar es Salaam. Then gave a speech - My love is so strong that it was able to reach all the way from Finland to Tanzania. They accepted and I was rewarded with a set of wings. Pretty, huh? Maybe I should re-think my look for the wedding..

4. task of the day...

The next clue sent all of us to Varala Sports Academy. They had organized "cliffhanging" to scare me off.. And while I loved every second of it, in a way it backfired because the crew (now Jaana, Minna and Katja) was way more scared than I was.

Just lean back and walk down. This was still ok..

and then I had to go face first... Not so ok anymore. I had to lean all the way forward to reach the state of balance, which felt really weird, but a super experience in the end.

Then there was a bonus.. Climb up a "ladder", if it can be called that, since it was shaking and swinging from side to side. It went up to around 7 m and then you are supposed to jump and grab a trapeze that is hanging 1,5 meters away. So, I got ready and thought, well once in a lifetime right? And succeeded. Amazing rush that you get!!! You might make it and you might not. Being a grown up you don't get that feeling of being afraid so much anymore - the adrenaline rush once you have completed the task feels just incredible.

Katja also made it, after few minutes of pushing her, and Minna too made it, after standing on top of the pole for about 10 minutes (she believed if she would grab the trapeze her hands would break). Jaana went all the way up, but had enough... Have to say, that we were not able to put as much pressure on her as we did to each other.. maybe if we had pushed a little bit more .. :P

5. task of the day...

Got a clue: années d'école... So off to my old school. When I was on second grade I chose to study french starting from my thrid year. I had already been at French language kindergarten so it seemed like a logical decision at that point. Unfortunately once I really started to study it, I pretty much lost interest to it. I've always loved languages - but not studying them... I'm more for immersion ;).

Anyways back to the task of the day: once we reached the old school (on a side note, it was crazy how similar it was - just felt alot smaller) I had to translate a French song into Finnish and then perform it. Used all my energy for this, but succeeded (so maybe I did learn something at school) and was rewarded with a tiara. Ahh...

6. task of the day...

Well we can not do the whole day of reminiscing without including some gymnastics. Luckily I did not have to wear my leotard (that I had been forced to pack in the morning) but my knowledge of the sport was tested. Anyways, I was actually supposed to spend the Saturday judging, so the first task was to write down all the connection values for floor exercise. This goes back to last January when I was sharing a room with Katja at the international judging course and we had a small dispute on what is the better learning method - she was learning things like AA+D, while I was learning things like layout - layout - flick-flack- double piked. So, this was being put to test... I managed to get almost all of them (I have to mention that I remembered much more than Katja) and got an additional part of my fairy queen outfit.

7. task of the day...

Last clue-card said.. Have you seen Angel lately?? Crazy-girl I was in high school, I completely and utterly LOVED Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and had a great friend to share that love with... It grew into obsession - which lead us naming some people at the school with these characters... hmm.. Anyways I shocked Katja badly by figuring this clue out - the last stop was my high-school!!

They actually gave me an exam. Questions about love: biology, history, swedish, literature... crazy and kind of hard. With some help I was able to finish it and was granted the licence to marry. And of course the final touch... a huge ring. Now I was ready. To celebrate I demonstrated my skipping skills.

Time to party...

After all the trials it was time to relax, we went back to my mom's place and had a nice dinner. Blandina and Patricia joined us for this and also for my bridal-sauna. Jaana had organized some traditions.

1) When I entered the sauna they had decorated it with candles and rose petals. I sat down and one of the thorns hurt my b-hind. I look around and Jaana is explaining - "marriage is not always just dancing on the rose petals (old Finnish saying), sometimes it stings like the thorn."

2) Katja and Jaana also brought a piece of bread and some salt in, "so you will never go hungry in your marriage".

3) Jaana washed my back with salt - this refers to an old Finnish saying "old salt making you thirsty" - which means that you are longing for your ex-boyfriends, washing it with salt made me loose that appetite :P

4) She also washed my hair and the rest of my body with an egg - to give us a fertile marriage

There are no pictures of this, sorry, but some privacy is needed ;)

After the sauna it was time to get ready for a party! So I put on my party dress and we headed for the town.

First stop - KARAOKE, my childhood shows aside I have not performed in public for years!!! And they made me sing.. INFRONT OF PEOPLE. Luckily I had some back up singers and it actually wasn't pure torture.

During my performance we had to desert our super table - luckily Katja can think fast and she recruited some boys to reserve it for us. They actually agreed and were rewarded with a drink. After my moment of stardom we had to change the location - the host was being a real MORON and didn't let us sing anymore. So off towards new challenges.

The plan was that I would have sung Aikuinen nainen (story about a real grown up woman who is ready to share her life with her man). But the host, again being very nice, declined since the song had been sung so much that night. Luckily on our way to a club we found an amazing singer on the street and he dedicated that song to us. Our "table reserving" boys happened to be walking by and asked me to dance...

He was so worried that my fiancé would come by and beat him up... :D (Later we found out that he was just 23 years old, which more than explained that comment). After that we decided to go boogie and went to LOVE HOTEL. The music wasn't very nice but the company made up for it. After a while I started to miss my baby too much and decided it was time to hunt him down (he was also having his bachelor party) - lame, I know.. But nobody can explain the thinking of a woman in looove...

My day was amazing! As I said in the beginning that I don't have so many Friends, but the ones I have more than make up for it. I wish that someday I will be able to return the favor. Jaana, Katja thank you so much for all your hard work and preparations - I would not have happened without you! Minna, Blandina and Patricia - thank you for being there to share the moments with me.