Home Away From Home

I recently read a quote on Pinterest that said "Home isn't a place. It's a feeling." I immediately thought- Wrong!- home is a place. It's the place you grown and learn; the place that brings family together; the place you hold closest to your heart! But as I kept thinking about it, I realized maybe the quote was right...for me, "home" is really wherever I am with the people- or sometimes person :)- I love. 

The places Rusty and I have lived are so completely different and yet they all became home so quickly. We went from living in a tiny apartment in Greece- home of gyros, feta cheese, and the most beautiful islands you'll ever see- to living in arctic weather, surrounded by technology and saunas. And we get to call Utah and Chicago "home" as well since our families are there. So while at times I may feel homeless as we move around, I actually have multiple homes and wouldn't want it any other way.

So, as for our home here in Oulu- we wanted to make it a little more "homey", so we decorated our apartment! I use the term "decorated" loosely because I am too cheap to purchase very many home goods that we will end up leaving here when we go back to the US. Luckily, I have made some great friends here who let me borrow and even have things for the apartment!

Hoping to find a few more things to spruce up our place, Rusty and I went to a thrift store, Palejekiirpis. We ended up buying a few throw pillows for our pink couch and glass frames to hang on our wall. We decided to get artsy and fill the frames with hand-drawn Sharpie art, so we went to Prisma, which is like Target, and bought a white poster board and also a shelf for our projector. The project turned out better than expected because Rusty had the brilliant idea of using the projector to project whatever we wanted to draw and then trace it to the poster board. Before leaving to one of his away games, Rusty surprised me with candles, flowers, and pumpkins, which also helped add some color. It's far from designer quality, but I am happy with the finished product. It makes for a cozy little Nordic apartment! 

While I am happy with the decor, I have come to appreciate the little things about our apartment that make life easier, like having a microwave and dishwasher. It's hard to believe we lived without them in Greece! Oh and I can't forget the central vacuum! Hooray for not having to sweep all the time! I am also a little obsessed with our drying rack which is built right in to the cupboard- I'm a little OCD about making sure dishes are completely dry before going in the cupboards and yet I don't like drying them with a towel because I feel like I'm rubbing germs on them, so to me, this is genius!). Since it is the middle of winter, I am especially grateful for our heated bathroom floor and the heater on our deck. But as I mentioned before, the location is by far the best quality of our apartment. I love looking out at the sea every single day- (which is now frozen over and covered in snow!) But, with or without snow, the view never gets old.  

(P/S- I waited too long to post about this, so some of the pictures are from back in October! I included some from now too so you can see fall and winter in Oulu!)

Our finished products!

Our tiny washing machine

Our "patio"- so glad it's enclosed!