I thought the wisest thing for me to do before I jump right into the swing of things is to introduce myself a bit better. I want you, dear readers, to feel like you know what kind of human sits on this side of the screen, writing about her life. It’s not an easy task to accomplish, I know, but I’m going to give it a shot.

As you might have seen on the home page, my name is Anniina. If someone uses a nickname, it’s most likely Ansku. For a short while longer, I’m still 27. I was born and raised in Finland, and not counting a few short stints abroad to the US and Denmark, I’ve lived here my whole life. Thus, if you see my English sucking… No, you don’t, move right along, I’m trying my best.

Recently at a get-together one of my friends said I’d lived an interesting life. After giving it some thought, I concluded that it is true in a sense, though it feels like bragging to say that about myself. Even though I am an introvert and a homebody, I’ve been fortunate enough to travel a lot, work varying jobs at home and abroad and try many different hobbies. I currently work as a shift manager at a hotel restaurant (a job I don’t hate but am definitely not thriving in) and spend my free time reading books, being creative or hanging out with my partner and friends.

I think that was enough of the boring, general stuff. I’ll end this intro with these 10 random facts about me:

• I have a hard time trusting anyone with no books in their home.
• Coffee tastes like poison, there’s no way around it. Sorry.
• I’m excellent at thinking of creative projects, starting them, and then forgetting about them for the rest of eternity.
• I have a Master’s Degree in History. If there’s one thing I learned from my degree, it’s the fact that I still know nothing about history.
• If you can think of a cooking show, I’ve most likely watched it. You will never catch me cooking anything fancy in my kitchen, but I love watching other people do it.
• Me, my boyfriend and one of my best friends are all born on the same date. Not the same year though, that would be too creepy.
• I’ve done a year of military service in the Finnish Defence Forces.
• Having my nails done makes me feel on top of the world.
• A pair of hand-knitted wool socks comes everywhere with me. I don’t care if it’s Lapland in January or Greece in July, I’m bringing ’em.
• I’ve never owned an iPhone! That might change soon though, my current phone is struggling…

A little more about this blog

Now that you’ve gotten a glimpse into who is writing, it’s time to chat about why I’m doing it and what to expect if you choose to stick around here. Having a blog has been something I’ve thought about ever since blogs became a big thing. I’m pretty sure you could still find my attempt at writing one from my teenage years when I had no idea who I was, what I was doing or how long things stay on the internet. I, for one, have no desire to try to go digging for it as the embarrassment might stop me from trying again. So essentially, this blog is me trying again. For this round, I come armed with significantly better motivation, a plan and most importantly, a reason to keep going.

This is a blog about my life in my late twenties and my journey to turning 30. The plan is to keep things rolling long after thirty too, but that’s what we’re starting with. I’ve written a 30 before 30 bucket list and you’ll get to follow along as I try to do the things on that list. But because my life is more than this list, so will this blog. Some topics I’m for sure going to cover are creativity, travel, reading, and fitness as well as just plain, basic life updates.

I’m not trying to do anything groundbreaking here. This is just another blog in the vast expanse of the internet and that’s all I need it to be. I’m not in this to make money or gain a lot of readers and attention; I’m in this to have something to look back on and if possible, create community. A big reason for this blog is also my love of words and writing. I consider myself to be a decent writer, but I know it’s a skill that will disappear if not used. So here I am, making myself use it consistently.

“I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.”

JOan didion

My love of words also means this will be a text-based blog. I enjoy taking pictures and will share those as well, but looking at them will not give you any sense of what’s really going on. Some posts will be long, some short. Some will be creative, some will be me just ranting to get things off my chest.

And there you have it. I’ve now given you the same info about this blog that I have. Things will shift and evolve as I go along, there’s no doubt about it.

I hope you will join me on the ride!

– All my love, Ansku