WELCOME TO OUR PARTY!

I am Matthew, the co-host of this wonderful event, and I'll give you a little tour. Enjoy!

This is my roommate Casey, my co-host and big fan of Tennessee.

As you can see we had a great crowd, a wonderful collection of celebrities and other necessities: Pink Panther, Charity Case, (Casey in the back,) Grapes and Lady Gaga.

The gnome and the party animal tried to dress up as us, but, well, they couldn't quite hide the gnome and party animal. Isn't it obvious here who is the real Casey/Matthew and who isn't?


We never found out who was hiding behind this one. Eerie.

After a looot of crazy dancing ...

... we fell into our beds - depleted but happy. Thank you for a great evening, everyone!

VISITORS

Some visitors can be mean. They sneak into your yard and are shameless enough to eat the work of art you have created the day before. You'd think being watched closely from the window would stop them but nooo! Not even banging the window impressed this cheeky squirrel.





Other visitors are much more fun. They play peekaboo, dance with us, and show us new creative uses of cleaning utensils. Thank you Nelson!

EXTRAORDINARY

We are not big on fridge cleaning, and Hanna's eternal conflict with the sewing machine has not been totally resolved, but sometimes ordinary times (like grey October Sundays) call for extraordinary activities. The results were actually very satisfying.

SUOMI CALLING

President Obama is not the only one who spoke about important things in public today and was loved by the crowds. Despite the competition, the Finnish community managed to fill the FinnStyle house with Finland lovers and engage them in a panel discussion - featuring Marko! Hopefully they will send us some pictures ...

HELLO, MR PRESIDENT!

Who is worth standing in line like this? (Yes, Marko, of course, but he was not the main attraction of this event.)



Can you see him? It was difficult for me too, but nevertheless a great experience: Barack Obama came to campus for a rally to support Mark Dayton in his race for governor. 10 000 people came to see and hear him. Good crowd. Good man. Good speech.


Obama greeting Minnesota, crowd going crazy.

GOODBYE, GARDEN!

Even though the temperatures (21°C) made it hard to believe, the end of October is a good time to clean out your garden. Even more so when you meet some friends and neighbors there.


Our pepper trees were growing so well, we decided to keep them.

Garden work - we dig it!


And so we relocated some strawberries and peppers ...

.. to our beautiful backyard. See you in spring!

MAY I PRESENT ...?

These buildings are part of the Earle Browne Heritage Center. What country do they remind you of?


Yep, some Finns must have been here before us. It was a beautiful environment for Hanna's first conference presentation.

(In reality, there was also a (small but interested) audience, a prezi on the screen and, most importantly, two co-presenters Jason and LeeAnne.)

When the job is done: Rest in the sun!

OCTOBER SMELLS

When the days are getting shorter and cooler, it's important to make your home even cosier. So we try to produce all kinds of good smells that make us happy. Vanilla candles, ginger tea, fresh flowers, apple compote, cinnamon - hmmm! Can you smell it?

FEEL GOOD, INC.

After Bono hurting his shoulder and Art Garfunkel losing his voice, we really needed some good pop and rock Karma. And when Damon Albarn packs his string band, brass band, Syrian combo (!), a couple of rap artists, some soul choir singers, and, most importantly, his melodica, then the least we can do is be there and cheer. And so we did: feel good!
P.S.: And Clint Eastwood came too ;-)

SURPRISES

We thought it would be just a normal weekend, with lots of time to rest, watch some movies, work, go for a walk by the lake (this time Calhoun), and otherwise do nothing special.





But then, surprise number one, the small one, made us change some cooking plans: Our abandoned garden patch produced a whole load of green peppers. Letscho-time!!


Well, but here comes the big one: Wedding plans were made!! Wohooo! Congratulations, bro and siz! We are so happy for you! (You'll probably have to make your own baby though.)