Happy Memories Jar

If I asked you to tell me some of the best memories you have of this year, I bet most of them would be about some major event, such as parties, travelling, new relationships. How about if I asked you to tell me all the bad memories you have of this year? It's a lot easier, right? All those times you messed up, when you did the wrong thing, when you should've done this instead of that. And it feels like you haven't done anything productive this year, that you didn't do all the things you planned. An awful year, wasn't it? I'm sure it wasn't. We just tend to remember the bad things more than the good things. I'm sure there's been a thousand little amazing things that have happened, we just don't remember them because the tiny bad things always seems so much bigger.

So I decided to do a memory jar, and what better time to do that than just in time for the New Year? So the idea is that every time something good happens, you write it on a piece of paper and put in the jar. Then at the end of the year, or whenever you're feeling down, you can go through them and be reminded of all the good things that have happened. I've decided not to make any big fancy New Year's resolutions this year, just simple "be more positive" and "don't waste too much time on social media" and the "Don't hesitate too much and let amazing moments slip away" that I wrote about in a previous blog post. And seeing all the happy things and writing them down is a great way to be more positive, because you're reminded that they do exist!

So I got a jar, some pens, ribbon, scissors, post-it notes and colourful origami paper, glue, tape and glittery stars.





I started with the little sign/tag/whatever you call it. I cut a rectangular piece out of the origami paper, then a smaller one out of a Post-It note and glued them together. Wrote "Happy Memories" and added some cute stars! Then I simply taped it on the jar by the corners.





I decorated the lid by placing the paper on the lid and then tracing it along the edge to know where to cut it.



Then I added a silver bow and a red ribbon round the bottom.



I also added some stars on the lid. Finished!





This is just how I made it, if you decide to make one you can decorate it however you want, the possibilities are endless! If you decide to make one please let me know in the comments, and I'd love to see a picture of it! Anyway, in case this is the last post I make this year, Happy New Year! ♥

Xx,
Mary

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Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Hello!

Today I wanted to do the winter wonderland tag. I haven't exactly been tagged by anyone to do this, but I was reading Abigail's blog and at the end of her own answers she had written "Feel free to do this tag if you'd like", so I decided to do it, as it seems fun! Winter is one of my favourite seasons, the other is summer, and of course I love summer but I can never choose between the two. It's like when it's spring, I'm really excited for summer, but after about two weeks of summer I wish it was winter. And then when it's winter, at first I'm excited but after Christmas and New Year I wish it was summer again! So here goes:

1. Favorite thing about winter?          Snow! I also love the fashion during winter. Also Christmas and New year, of course! And the coziness of everything, hot chocolate, tea... And I love it when we get to go ice skating and skiing during P.E. in school during winter, because I don't really like any of the other sports haha!

 2. Scarves or Beanies?          Scarves. I don't actually own any beanies. 

3. Favorite holiday movie?          Oh, I don't know... Home Alone is always great to watch, and I like Love Actually too. But I love watching animated movies during the holidays, and Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas has got to be one of my favourites!

 4. Favorite nail polish?          Right now I'm really loving this emerald green nail polish I have!

 5. Favorite Starbucks drink?          We only have one Starbucks coffee shop here in Finland and I've never been there, but whenever I'm on holiday in some other country where they have Starbucks, I always order some hot chocolate My favourite is the hazelnut flavoured one, and I also love the caramel one. 

 6. What are your top 3 winter essentials?          Hat, gloves and scarf. Sounds boring but you gotta have those if you don't want to suffer from hypothermia because of the subarctic climate here, haha!

 7. Name one item on your wish list this year?         Well Christmas is gone now and I didn't actually even have anything special on my wish list. But I really want some nice new winter boots. The ones I have now are big chunky ones that sure keep me warm but don't really go with every outfit I have.

 8. Favorite holiday song?          This is hard, I can't just choose one song... I love the albums Christmas by Michael Bublé and Holiday Wishes by Idina Menzel! 

 9. Did you go Black Friday shopping?          No,we don't have Black Friday here.

 10. Must have winter lip product?          Lip balm! Right now I have Maybelline's Baby Lips Intense Care lip balm and it's amazing! Next I think I'll buy one of those that have a bit of colour, like Cherry Me or Peach Kiss.

 11. Will you be rocking an ugly Christmas sweater this year?          No, I haven't had one for years!

 12. Have you ever had a white Christmas where you live?          Yes, every year. 

 13. Favorite winter candle scent?          Anything with cinnamon, really. Apple-and-cinnamon is maybe my favourite.

 14. How will you be celebrating this holiday?          Am I doing this tag wrong because Christmas has already gone? Well I spent Christmas chilling with my family, and the rest of the holiday (vacation, it's so confusing because holiday means Christmas and vacation?) I'll just enjoy the break from school, relax and eat. :)

❄ So there were my answer, happy holidays everyone, and I'm tagging anyone who wants to do this tag! ❄

Xx,

Mary

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Merry Christmas everyone!

I hope you all are having a lovely Christmas! ♥

I didn't get that many Christmas presents this year... I think it's because my parents paid for my ticket to One Direction's concert next summer, but I'm not going to complain because how exciting is that though?! Okay, I'm not a Directioner even though I do like them, I'm just more into alternative rock and pop-punk. But when I heard that 1D will be coming to Finland for the first time, I was really excited for my two friends, as they are the biggest fans of 1D I know. My parents then asked if I wanted to go, and I said yes, because why not? One of the most popular boybands right now, my friends are definitely going, and I've never been to a real big concert before.

The only concert I've ever been to was a charity concert last spring with Finnish artists such as Satin Circus and Mikael Gabriel, and I was part of the interview team. I didn't actually interview anyone, because I'm so shy and I was scared that I would mess up the questions and stumble on my words. So I just kind of helped set up the cameras and stuff, but it was still really cool getting to see actual singers and bands in real life! The guys in Satin Circus were really good-looking... I would've gotten an autograph from them and even a photo with them but I was too shy to ask for that, and now I regret it. So I suppose the lesson here is that you shouldn't think too much about things. Nothing too bad can happen, right? I was thinking the whole time,

"Should I ask now? Should I say 'can I have an autograph' or 'can I have a picture with you'? Maybe I'll ask after that girl has left. Okay, now! No wait, what if...?"

And too late, they left. That happens all the time to me, and after the concert I made a promise to myself to never hesitate for too long. The thing is you've got to live, seize the moment, carpe diem, whatever. Take on a YOLO attitude if you have to, because sometimes you only get one chance to do things, and if you think too much about it, you'll miss it. That's already happened too many times to me, and I'm really not gonna let it happen anymore. Hey, this could be my New Year's resolution. Don't hesitate too much and let amazing moments slip away.

That reminds me of a video by the  Youtuber Zoella. I haven't actually seen the video (I'm not even sure what it's called, I think it was "Just Say Yes"), but I saw a GIF set of it on Tumblr, where she was saying something like how you wouldn't want to live your whole life thinking 'what if I had done this', 'what if I had done that' and 'what if I had said yes'. And I agree, I wouldn't want to live my life in regret! Actually, I think I'll go watch that video right when I've finished writing this blog post.

Sorry, I might have gone a little (a lot) off-topic! I was talking about the One Direction concert, or Christmas presents, I don't even know anymore... So I'll be going with my friends to the concert in June, and we're planning on taking the same bus as it's in a different city. But I feel like they're anyway going to make plans and stuff without me. They're like BFFs, and I'm not they're best friend, so I just hope they won't be ignoring me during the trip. They said they're not going to leave me, which I hope is true, because if I'm going with them then we're going to be in Helsinki hours before the concert starts and I don't know what I would do if I was alone (or ignored).

Back to the Christmas presents, my dad got me a book called Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella. So I normally like getting books for presents as I'm a total bookworm, but if there's one genre I can't stand, it's chick lit with really cliché romantic plots that are basically love-at-first-sight-and-the-girl-doesn't-realize-she's-beautiful-before-the-guy-tells-her-she-is. And that's kind of what Wedding Night seems like, but with a twist, where the big sister tries to sabotage the protagonist's wedding. But I've only read the back cover of the book, and you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, so maybe I'm wrong, maybe it is a good book after all. At least I hope so.

And okay, Girl Online by Zoella is one of those love-at-first-sight-and-the-girl-doesn't-realize-she's-beautiful-before-the-guy-tells-her-she-is, but I wanted to read it because I heard it also dealt with issues such as anxiety, friendship dramas and cyberbullying, and a lot of other things teenagers can relate to, and I wasn't disappointed. It really was a good book, and I might do a review of it someday!

Whoa, this was a long post! I hope I didn't bore you to death and congrats if you made it this far. Anyway, have a great day!

Xx,
Mary

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It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

It certainly is! I went to the mall this morning (morning! I usually sleep until like 1pm on holidays...), and it was so very Christmassy with toys in the shop windows and Christmas lights hanging from the ceiling and strung around little trees here and there. I was going to go to the bookstore, but I was there so early it wasn't open, only the grocery stores were! Oh well.

Yesterday I was helping out at my big sister's restaurant for the first time. I've helped out in her café before, but then I was back in the kitchen washing dishes and preparing sandwiches and cakes. This time, in the restaurant, I was supposed to be handing out menus to the customers and so on. My sister told me to sit behind the cashier so I wouldn't be in the way in the kitchen, while she herself was running back and forth between the kitchen and the rest of the restaurant. It was really awkward whenever someone came to the cashier to pay, because I literally had no idea what to do. So I'd stand there mumbling, "Sorry I... I don't really know how this works, er, please wait a minute" and then I'd kind of wave my sister to come take over. Well that was embarrassing. She also asked me to take the orders, but I refused to, because I clearly suck at talking to people. What if I wrote down the wrong order or table number? So I just handed the menus to customers (even then I didn't really know what I was supposed to say!) and cleaned the tables after they left. But she said that I did well and maybe next time I could do something harder (meaning actually talk to people). I don't know how I should feel about that...

Here some wintery photos from this week:

Anyway, have a nice day!

Xx,

Mary

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School's almost out!

Today was the last proper day of school. Normally we don't have school on Saturday, but tomorrow we'll come to school for 45 to get our mid-term report cards and have some Christmas tarts and glögi (that's a Scandinavian hot beverage we drink during the holiday season. It's traditionally made from red wine, but they also sell it without alcohol, which is the one we'll have at school obviously. It's got lots of spices such as cinnamon, almonds and raisins and it's really yummy!). This short day is kind of pointless, really, especially when we have to wake up early on a weekend...

I had a maths exam today, and it was REALLY hard! I did revise for it, but seriously, does anyone really know how to do algebra? I got stuck on the last and hardest question which, according to my friend, was the easiest. She said she'll laugh at me if she gets a better grade than me. This isn't really making me feel any better, because normally I get the highest grades from exams, and whenever I get a grade that's not the best, there'll be people in my class going "OOOOHHH!" and then they won't shut up about it.

But little do they know that I don't really care if I get a perfect grade or not. As long as I pass it I'm happy. It's like everyone sees me in a certain way, like my classmates see me as the quiet, nerdy wallflower who "always" gets perfect grades, and I've got to keep on playing that role. When I don't, I get weird looks from people, and it feels like I'm not accepted anymore. Even if I'm still being myself, just without the always-getting-perfect-grades part.

Or for example whenever I'm having a good time and not being as quiet as usual, I always notice people look at me like "Is she actually talking? She hasn't even got anything interesting to say." Maybe these looks are why I prefer not to participate in conversations, I just get so discouraged. I want to be able to be myself, you know, but I feel like I have act the way everyone expects me to act.

Which is another reason why I'm really looking forward to the Christmas holiday, when I can just stay at home with my family and be myself. And it might surprise my friends if they knew that I'm the most talkative person in my family! I used to be more talkative at school too, but it changed somewhere around 5th or 6th grade, when I was ignored and had people talk awful things about me behind my back for no apparent reason, just because the Mean Girl in class didn't like me and didn't allow anyone else to like me either. I'd spend the recesses alone, refusing to talk to anyone, and maybe that's why I don't talk to my classmates that much, because I feel like I can't trust them anyone.

But! I was going to write about how much I'm looking forward to the holiday! Christmas is when you're supposed to have a good time with people who are important to you, right? And enjoy all the lights and Christmas songs and foods and everything, which is why I love this time of the year so much. I really hope we'll get a white Christmas this year, but the weathermen have said that it's not very likely, which sure is disappointing.

Please, let me know in the comments what you think about Christmas! And I really wanna know if there's someone out there who actually reads this blog, so why not say hi or something? I'm starting to get a feeling that writing this blog is like trying to tell something to my group of friends, because no one ever listens to me. I hope that's not the case because sometimes I just want to be able to say things without being interrupted or ignored, and I feel like this blog is a place for me to do so!

xx,
Mary

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Hello there!

I decided to start a blog today! And yes, I admit it, I got the idea when reading Girl Online by Zoe Sugg, where the protagonist keeps an anonymous blog. I'm about halfway through the book now and I totally love it! It's such a cute book, I definitely recommend it to all teenage girls!

So, you might be wondering who I am. I'm Mary, a 14-year-old girl from Finland. And let me tell you that Finland does not have polar bears walking around the streets and no one lives in igloos here (seriously, I've heard people say that!). Although we do get snow for about 4 months every year and like one week of actual summer... Except this year has been rather warm. Damn you, global warming!

I can't really say this is my my first ever blog, as I have started two/three blogs on Tumblr. The first one, with the URL merryweathertoday, was a pretty lame one I had for about a year. Then I kept a break from Tumblr and later started another blog, searching-for-dawn. Not as lame as the previous one. I blogged about a couple fandoms and humour stuff, and then after some time I decided to change blog styles and URL, and now I post hipster/indie pictures as dawwhn. But enough about that. I decided to start a proper blog blog, you know like all those lifestyle and fashion blogs etc. So here it is, The Sunflower Painting!

Why this name? Because I love painting, and my watercolour painting of sunflowers happens to be one of my favourite paintings I've done. And I also love sunflowers. They're not my favourite flowers though, I like dandelions more. People see dandelions as weeds, but I've never thought of them that way. I think they're pretty, and especially when dandelions are usually the first flowers of spring here where I live, it's really lovely to see the bright yellow petals bring colour to the outside world after months of grey and colourless winter.

But there might also be a bit more to the name I chose for this blog. When I'm at school and around people, I'm always the wallflower. And the word "wallflower" reminds me of a painting, just hanging there on the wall, observing everyone. I may be part of my group of friends, but I'm not really there. I'm almost always ignored and left out of the conversations and the inside jokes, and they only ever turn to me when they need help with homework or something. It's a bit sad, but now I'm do used to it I don't really care anymore. You know how you need to step a bit further away from a painting to see how it really looks like? Well it's kind of like that when you're a wallflower. I find it really interesting, and I'm sure I'll be writing on here about the perks of being a wallflower (and I'm so sorry, I haven't actually seen the movie or read the book! It feels like everyone's seen or read it, why am I so behind with everything?).

Anyway, have a nice day!

Xx,
Mary

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