Tales from this week

Hubby is away in France for a work conference and I have a bit of free time before I go to bed.
This week I.............

- Went skiing 3 times. I am now an official wanna be snow bunny. Now to complete the picture all I need is a new and improved body, and a fancy new ski outfit complete with a fur trimmed (okay faux fur) hood. I have been trying really hard to get this ski thing down but I am still in need of serious help.

- Laughed with other semi-retired girls. That is what we feel like....semi retired. Semi retired sounds so much better than unemployed...trailing spouse...wouldn't you say?? On Thursday 3 of us went skiing and at lunch sat around and giggled about our life, how badly we felt that we were out skiing while the boys were working (yeah, right!), and how much laundry we have to do now that we are not working, not wearing suits, and not sending everything to the dry cleaners.

- Went to dinner with friends. Twice. Since I have become a homebody this is a new record for me.

- Washed my car at a self-service car wash. Might not sound like a lot to you but you try doing it in a foreign country and see how you feel! ;)

- Bought a food processor and made my own hummus and almond butter. I hate the hummus here and I cannot find almond butter anywhere. Soooooo I decided to be domestic (for once) and make them myself. The hummus turned out fantastic. The almond butter....not so fantastic. I roasted the almonds for too long before I processed them. Now what I have tastes like burnt almond butter. I will try it again this week.

- Got everything in order for my detox that is going to start tomorrow. No caffeine, alcohol, dairy products, meat, and crappy food. Sounds crazy but I did a detox program last year before my wedding and I felt great. This year will be more challenging as I live in a land filled with wine and cheese.
BUT I need to be a bit healthier and feel better so detox here I come. I will keep you updated with the results.

Happy Anniversary to me........and (of course) the hubby!

On January 12th the hubby and I celebrated our ONE year anniversary. Can you believe it?? I can't believe he has actually put up with me for one full year! ;)
Seriously, it means a lot to me to share my life with someone so wonderful as my husband. He is the best thing that ever happened to me.

OKAY, enough of me being sappy. We had a great weekend. On Friday we went out to happy hour and then to dinner for my friend's birthday. We had a group of 14 so it was great fun. When we got home it was 1am and we decided to exchange presents. One year is paper so I made Lars a photo album of us and all of the travels/adventures that we have had since the beginning of our relationship. I had a feeling that he had something special up his sleeve so not to be out done I got him a Tag Grand Carrera watch. He kept talking about how he needed a new watch and I was a bit tired of listening to him SO I bought him watch. I also let him know that since I am no longer working that this present covers me getting him a gift for the next 4 anniversaries!! ;)

It's a really cool watch. Here is a picture:


Then I got my present! I received from the hubby a beautiful pendant necklace from Marina B. Marina B is actually the grand-daughter of Bulgari. I had no idea. I have never even heard of her until I came to Geneva. Here is a picture (or two!) of the necklace)




On Saturday, we had a lazy day and then went to dinner that night. We went to a fabulous Thai restaurant called Patara. We had the tasting menu, and if you are ever in Geneva, I would highly recommend it.


On Sunday we spent a fantastic day skiing in Chamonix, France.

I couldn't of asked for a better anniversary weekend!

Vin Chaud

My new vice: Vin Chaud



I have never had it(or heard of it)until we moved to Switzerland. Vin Chaud is an amazing drink of a spiced hot wine that is served when it begins to get cold outside. If you are in Europe and you go to order a hot drink to warm you up - you must order it. Your life will never be the same. I can't imagine how I ever lived without it.

Here is a definition/explaination from Wikipedia:

Mulled wine, variations of which are popular around the world, is wine, usually red wine, combined with spices and typically served hot. In the old times wine often went bad, but by adding spices and honey it could be made drinkable again. Nowadays it is a traditional drink during winter used, especially around Christmas, to warm up. In Italy, this beverage is typically drunk in the northern part of the country.

Glögg is the Swedish form of mulled wine, similar to Glühwein in German-speaking countries. Glühwein is usually prepared from (not too expensive, sometimes outright cheap) red wine, which is heated and spiced with cinnamon sticks, cloves and sugar. Almonds and raisins are often added to the Scandinavian version, though not to the German. The oldest Glühwein tankard is documented in the high noble german and first Riesling grower of the world, Count John IV. of Katzenelnbogen around 1420. This gold-plated lockable silver tankard imitating the traditional wine woven wooden can is called Welcome.[1]

Below is a list of the country and their name for hot wine so you never have to be without it!

German, Glühwein ("glowing wine")
French, vin chaud ("hot wine")
Italian, vin brulé (French for "burnt wine")
Brazil, Quentão ("big hot")
Romanian vin fiert ("boiled wine")
Polish, Grzane wino ("heated wine")
Slovak Varené vino ("boiled wine")
Czech Svařené víno ("boiled wine")
Slovenian Kuhano vino ("cooked wine")
Hungarian Forralt bor ("boiled wine")
Russian глинтвейн ("glintwein")
Chilean Spanish Navegado.

Bon Ski!

Since we have been back I have been concentrating on two things. Trying to speak French and trying to ski. Believe it or not, the skiing is working out much better than the French!
I have French class on Monday and Wed from 9am-12pm. It's hard and my accent is terrible. I guess I could be better if I practised and listened to tapes but who in their right mind wants to that??? I am not sure why I am torturing myself (or my classmates) for that matter.

Now, the skiing has been a lot of fun. Even I have surprised myself with how much pain my body can endure! The past two Sundays Lars and I have gone skiing with another couple at Villars and then in Chamonix .

In the beginning of January I started skiing with the ski group at the women's club. Every Tuesday myself and a group of other girls go skiing at Les Contamines, France . This past Tuesday I was able to do an easy Red with only falling down once. I can actually say that even though I am so tired and my entire body hurts, I cannot wait to go again this weekend. Those new fancy ski boots that I purchased have been well worth it. My goal is to be as good as my hubby. Fat chance of that happening though. The man hasn't been on skis in 15 years. He gets on the slopes and you would think that he has been skiing every day of his life. UGH!!

Back in Geneva

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday and HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Just got back from a fantastic Christmas vacation with the hubby. We went to Pittsburgh to spend time with my family (and got to visit a few friends as well) and then went to the Bahamas to celebrate New Years.

See, I have this thing with celebrating the coming of the New Year with my feet in the ocean. I have almost made it a tradition. When I first started dating my husband, he had this grand idea of going to the Cayman Islands for New Year's. Really? I said.....who actually goes to the Caribbean for New Years? It seemed quite frivolous to me but what the heck - I went along with it. Now he is in deep trouble because my feet need to be in the ocean when the clock strikes 12...every year!! (Last year doesn't count because we got married in January....).

We stayed at a resort near the Atlantis and had full access to their facilities. The place was packed with people and you couldn't get away from all the obnoxious self absorbed tourists in their baseball hats and college t-shirts. The Atlantis in and of itself was addictive. So much to do in one place. We were literally sucked into all of the activities, water slides, spa treatments. Like zombies we were, walking around.......oh.....water slide.......oh......lazy river.......oh casino and slot machines............ We were a bit disappointed in ourselves because we barely explored the island while we were there. We did go to Nassau for the day to look at the shops but it was just dirty. We also did go swim with the dolphins at the blue lagoon (very fun!) and went to another island during the day to swim in the ocean.

We had a great time and we are already thinking about where to go next year!

We got back to Geneva on Saturday morning, suffering from the worst case of jet lag. Sunday we spent recuperating and Monday it was back to the grind (for hubby that is!).