Finland

My first task after arriving at homeland was to pick up my oldest from a camp at Ulvila. She spent a week in this beautiful scenery in Kullaa, Silokoski Leirikeskus (see pictures below), learning Finnish language and bonding with other Finnish kids from all over the world. She had a great time, and probably would have wanted to stay at camp for another few days, but I was happy to have her back with me, and to start my vacation accompanied with all my daughters, and my mom too!

Smelling Good

While I was packing for a trip, my 6 year old was playing around with my camera, and took this picture of my two favorite perfumes. Hermes' Kelly Caleche, and 24 Faubourg. The first scent is quite unique, not too sweet, with even a slightly bitter tone to it (bitter in a good way), and the second is a very sensual and sexy warm floral scent. The 24 Faubourg is one of my all time favorites! It's now almost empty with just a small drop left...so I gave the bottle to my daughter who loves to collect mommy's old perfume bottles. I did crop and edit the picture, but it's pretty good for a 6 year old. She may grow into another personal photographer yet!

My Recent Instagram Pics

Good dog!

Scary tiger!

Yay!

My favorite Long Island spot

Wow your hair has grown long. Time for a haircut!

Jones Beach

My hashtags were #toughjob #nychighrise #hanginginthere

Made an up-side-down plum cake. It was yummy!

My favorite pieces. Art by artist and art by my kids side-to-side.

Skyping with my first born. 

Guess which one of my girls got a haircut? 

Skater Dress

Throughout the years I have loved to see the different styles my au pairs have had and how the personality comes through in their style. All my au pairs have been stylish in their own way, some are  real fashionistas, some more trendy, some more sporty, some very "street", some a bit artistic...and of course a blend of current trends adapted to the individual style.  I have to say Finnish girls have a great style!

I love this skater dress + sweater + converse sneakers outfit. Very cool without trying too hard.

Coco keeps photobombing my photos! The skinny b**ch!

Sunset at the Ocean

On Saturday night we went for a sunset dinner at the Ocean restaurant in Bayville, Long Island. It is an amazing spot on the beach to enjoy any time of the day, but extra special at sunset. This was my first time at this particular restaurant, and I had heard only good things about it. However, our experience was a bit strange this Saturday. We chose to sit on the sun deck lounge, and we were seated promptly, the staff was courteous and friendly. We ordered our drinks, appetizers, kids' meals, and our own main courses. Despite requesting the appetizers first they brought out the kids' meals first. Ok, not a big deal we thought. Our appetizers came soon after. We were enjoying the beautiful views, watching the sailboats in the distance, people walking on the beach, sipping sangria, having a conversation. So we didn't really even notice how much time went by and still no main courses. We only noticed after the table next to us started complaining that they never got theirs. And they arrived about an hour after us...

"The sun goes in my eyes!"

"I need sunglasses"

Ah, that's better. 

I could while away hours watching this view

The wedding guests mingled downstairs

Our waitress told us the kitchen was overwhelmed because of a wedding party going on downstairs, but that our food would arrive very soon. So we waited another half hour. But still no food. At this point it was a bout 2 hours since we had ordered, and we decided to call it a day, and asked for the check. There was no apology from the waitress, nothing was given on the house. Of course we paid for what we had been served, but it would have been nice to hear an apology or an explanation why our food never came.

The sangria was yummy

The crab cake was pretty good

So was this little mixed plate of pita, hummus, babaganoush and olives

The bride and groom being photographed

Aaaahhhh.... and the stress is just melting away while watching this.

My husband is not one to stay quiet in a situation like this, so he called for the restaurant manager and had a pretty long chat with him. The manager even recognized us from another restaurant, Prime, in Huntington, where we go every now and then, and where he used to work before. He didn't know why we never got our food, but at least he apologized for it. The Ocean supposedly has three kitchens, one for the catering area where the wedding was held, one for the lounge, and a sushi kitchen. Only the sun deck lounge had a problem with the food, so the problem must have been in that kitchen. I saw sushi orders come promptly and they looked really good. Next time I will order sushi. So yes, I will give the Ocean another chance. The view is just too beautiful to pass up going again.

What I wore on Sunday

On Sunday I had some errands to run, and then I had to pack for a trip. It was very warm and humid, so I just wore whatever comfort clothes I found (H&M pants, Target tank, Birkenstocks, Hermes bag). By the way, I hate packing and unpacking with passion. I don't know how I could make it more pleasant... any tips?

What I wore on Saturday

Camouflage shirt from H&M, army green pants from Ann Taylor, Alexis Bittar earrings, Michael Kors bag and sandals. The pictures are what they are because my personal photographer is at camp and her services thus not available...

Worldcup Confessions

Ok, a bit of a confession here... I haven't seen one FIFA world cup game from start to finish. Just bits and pieces here and there (lobby of my office building, my husband watching recorded games, etc.). I am a big fan of Brazil, so I was very disappointed when Brazil got butchered by Germany. I was at the airport, seeing my first born off to a trip, and got the bad news while eating in the airport diner when the German travelers were cheering (yelling and screaming like crazy) every time they scored a goal agains Brazil. One, two, three, four, five...let's stop counting now...embarrassing, is how I felt, and I did not even watch the game! Felt bad for Brazil, and Neymar and Silva, who I'm sure felt responsible for the loss (and not having played)... So I'm not really invested in the finale. Although, my boy-crazy 6-year old wants Argentina to win because apparently they have cuter players! I don't really care whether it's Argentina or Germany that wins. I'm only going for what I know about the players, and certainly the Argentinian key player, Lionel Messi, has a compelling story. He battled a hormonal deficiency when growing up, which would have left him almost as a dwarf if not for medication, and struggled to pay for the expensive medication, eventually getting the Spanish team from Barcelona sign him up and pay for the meds. He may have a bit of a Napoleon complex, but it's ok, given the backstory. On the contrary, I know nothing about the German players; they may have their own sob stories. Need to do some googling before tomorrow's game. Who are you rooting for?

Neymar looking good in Wall Street Journal Article. Isn't he CUTE! 

Lionel Messi, the Argentinian little big man...