life - The Elephant Mum

The tale of our weekend visiting Kotka and Hamina continues. If you missed the first post, you can find it here. On day 2, we went on to visit ...

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finland, travel in finland

Our family trip to Kotka-Hamina: hiking in Valkmusa, watching Baltic fishes close, and enjoying Finnish cuisine.

July 7, 2018

If you ask me, Finland is the perfect travel destination for families. I joke that you can find a changing table and an highchair also in a snow ...

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finland, reviews, travel in finland

Fun family day at the waterpark of Serena Resort

July 4, 2018

My summer holidays are around the corner and for the first time in over 10 years I’ll take four weeks off work. Wow. I feel excited and ...

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mindfulness, parenting, self-care

Thoughts on unconditional parental love, compassion, and acceptance

June 27, 2018

There is a common idea that becoming a parent automatically provides you with the ability to unconditionally love another human being. My ...

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crafts

The easiest recipe for a birthday cake: win at every party with beautiful and tasty cakes

June 23, 2018

I love baking but being a working mom I simply don’t have time to spend in baking fabulous cakes. Over the years, I have tried several ...

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finland, reviews, sustainability

We didn’t invite cows to our summer picnic

June 20, 2018

I bet you are wondering if I have lost it or what with such title, but bear with me and I’ll explain the whole story. Few weeks ago I got ...

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mindfulness, parenting, self-care

June’s favorites: mindfulness, acceptance & lifestyle

June 17, 2018

I have found some great resources this month and I am over-the-moon excited to share them with y’all. June has been intense for me. At my ...

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marriage

They did not live happily ever after

June 13, 2018

(The following article authored by myself originally appeared on the magazine Yliopisto-Lehti) “The purpose of marriage is not being ...

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parenting

Learning to manage my expectations over my children

June 9, 2018

Expectations are powerful beliefs which can heavily influence our experience of reality. During the wait to become a parent, being it through ...

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Paola

I was born and raised in Italy, now I live in the winter wonderland that is Finland. I worked as a mathematics researcher, an IT project manager and consultant, and now I work as product owner. I love nature, reading books, playing boardgames, cooking and eating good food. I enjoy learning languages: I speak Italian, English, Finnish, Hindi, and I understand some Spanish. I am grateful to have three wonderful kids who call me "mamma". One came from my belly, the other two from fateful encounters.