Category Archives: Life

cycling

I don’t know if you remember that I bought a new bike in the spring. I’m slowly getting gears in order to be able to do longer cycling exercises and to be able to cycle in different weather conditions. The Ortlieb back panniers have been great and very useful. Yesterday I bought these padded undies (amazing pink padding!) by Craft (on sale) which hopefully will help me to do longer rides. I also found Yoko wind stopper jacket on sale and just had to buy that -remembering the rather chilly rides in the winter and early spring. I still don’t have cycling shoes, I guess that’s the next thing I need.



My financial situation is a bit fucked up at the moment so yesterday I reserved a table at a local flea market where I will sell clothes, magazines and some cookware in August. I will let you know when my stall is up! I’m also planning to sell some clothes and shoes at huuto.net – will post a link when the stuff is available. There will be some Minna Parikka shoes, Lustwear clothes etc. Good stuff!

It’s a pretty hot day in Kuopio and I guess I’m heading off to the beach for a swim now…

Johanna

in Hailuoto

Justiina, Iitu, Zulani and Pimu in Pöllä beach – Pimu swimming for the first time! Photos Pekka Mäkinen.
Justiina’s swimwear by Australian Seafolly, mine Stella McCartney for Adidas:






An 8 kg salmon fresh from the sea. It was so yammy!


My dad and Justiina on the Hailuoto ferry:


Back home. Ohh, it’s hot but the blueberries are ripe! Photos by Pekka Mäkinen.



Happy summer holiday to everyone!

Johanna

my daughter’s birthday

My 9 year old daughter and our Yorkshire terrier puppy Pimu, photo Pekka Mäkinen:


Probably the best strawberry cake I’ve ever made:



Justiina and Iitu made cupcakes (with fresh, hand picked blueberries), on the side a chocolate cake I also baked…:


As usual, the day was really hot but nice! And in the evening we had an unplanned summer party at our neighbours. Dancing, singing and drinking all night long. But is there anything better than the Finnish light summer nights? You’ve got to enjoy them!!!

Johanna

meeting in Vienna

Before the midsummer I was in a meeting in Vienna for a couple of days. We sat two intensive long days in this room discussing artists and works for the upcoming UP TO NATURE project. I was very inspired by the meeting but I think this has been the first time ever that I literally didn’t have a chance to do anything apart from going straight into the meeting from airport, going to the hotel at night, taking the tube into the meeting the next day, taxi back to the hotel and bus to the airport early  next morning! So no time to have a walk anywhere, to see anything or to shop. I guess that might be a good thing…

A view from my hotel window:


Our meeting room with a balcony:




A view from the balcony, apparently a big tourist attraction in Vienna (related to classical music) – hundreads of tourists visiting it all day long…

Anyway, thanks Thomas, Olivia, Gregg, Helen, Hannah, Jon (and who did I forget…?) for a great meeting! See you soon,

Johanna

beginning of a new project

with FrenchMottershead!

Rebecca landed yesterday and today we started working at 10am.

We talked an walked.



We walked and talked about our work, the audience, our ideas, about walking and about maps. We went to the Kuopio tourist information and got some maps. We walked more and talked more about autobiography, participation, social engagement and tasks. We realized that we both wanted to be architects.

We had Hanna Partanen’s rice pies in the market square. I had the first strawberries of the year and a cup of coffee.

After dinner we took a walk to the beach and Rebecca swam. I got a sun burn.

Johanna

perception

I’ve been warming up Twirling World show with Sonja, working on the ANTI 2011 programme details and the upcoming book. I’ve been cycling, doing Kinesis and Zumba. Went for a day to Helsinki. And wondered about the flowers in the garden. You cannot imagine how much joy the rhododendrons bring me! And they are all going to bloom this year – very soon.



Johanna

a week of sports

Today I did a longer aerobic workout and went for a Nordic walk for about 95 mins. I took it very easy as I’ve been exercising a lot this week (about 10 hours including Zumba, functional training, Kinesis, cycling and Nordic Walking) and my body feels a bit tired. But I wanted to do one longer aerobic exercise so this afternoon was a good moment to do that. It was surprisingly warm and it was ok to just have a t-shirt on as I walked the Jynkänvuoren pururata twice. As I was Nordic walking and listening to music, I was thinking why I feel so tired. This week my body has physically felt tired because of rather hard exercise but I’ve also felt tired in relation to my work. Strange as this hasn’t been the busiest time ever. But I guess I have a few processes going on which always take more energy than expected. Two new works that I’m planning and working on, the ANTI Festival programme and our upcoming book…

I’m so excited about being invited to perform Acts of Clothing in the autumn in few festivals. I was so happy to get a phone call last week from one artistic director and to be invited to a festival I’ve never performed before. Great! And of course we have a show of Twirling World in June at the Paikallisliike event as part of the Kuopio Dance Festival.

Oh well, now it’s time for the ice hockey world championship final!

Johanna

 

 

 

the most stylish person in Kuopio?

Kuopion Kaupunkilehti is looking for the most stylish person in Kuopio! You can vote until noon on the 27th of May by email kuopio.toimitus@kaupunkilehti.fi or by visiting certain shops in Kuopio. Remember to explain why the person you vote is the most stylish one and leave your contact details – you might win something.

Do you think there are stylish people in Kuopio?

Johanna