Today is Thanksgiving.....

in the States.  At times I miss being at home for these sorts of holidays.  Other times - it doesn't bother me at all.  It makes me laugh when my Grandmother cannot understand why other parts of the world don't celebrate Thanksgiving.  What do you mean - she says- that there is no Thanksgiving in Switzerland.  Such a strange country that you live in.  

You would be surprised (or maybe not!) how many people (i.e. Americans back at home) ask me whether or not there are Thanksgiving celebrations here.  The truly delusional as me if we have Thanksgiving sales.  HA, HA, HA

Anyway - I might be tempted to cook a turkey if 1. it didn't cost a bloody fortune for a turkey and 2. if we had a family.  When it is just the hubby and me, I cannot justify cooking a turkey. Friends of mine suggested I do Thanksgiving at my house and they could all come over and try a Thanksgiving dinner.  Yeah, right.  

Soooo I am going to continue with our Thanksgiving tradition of having sushi for dinner.  Hubby is making dinner reservations.  It's so nice to have a European husband that doesn't want a turkey for dinner!  :)

Oh...the gym

So I made the trek to the gym yesterday.  After months of not going it was my brilliant idea to take a Body Pump class.  I can barely move today - no exaggeration.  I said to the hubby - I think I did something to myself.  (Honestly, I feel like I pulled every muscle in my body).  He says - yep, it's called exercise!  God I love that man.

Anyway - the Holmes gym in Lausanne is soooo different than the one in Geneva.  In Lausanne everyone looks......normal.  No kidding.  There are no boobs hanging out in class, no full faces of make-up, no skirts.  Yeah, that's right skirts.  A few of the women in Geneva would wear these black skirts over leggings to class.  I really don't get Europeans at the gym sometimes.  I even saw one girl walk out of the gym in Lausanne with wet hair (gasp!).  That would NEVER happen in Geneva.   In Geneva I think that the women would work out with their furs on if they could.

While the gym in Lausanne is not nearly as nice as the one in Geneva it is much more laid back  - and I like that.  Now I just have to make myself go again.  

Motivation or lack there of.....

What can one do for motivation?? Any thoughts??  I feel like I am floundering about without a purpose.  In my previous life I used to be so independent, hard working, driven, SUCCESSFUL...etc, etc.  Here in Switzerland it seems as I am just existing - doing things to pass the time.  Where/when does this feeling end?  I need a purpose and I need to get MOTIVATED.  It's hard to follow a plan when there is no plan....  

It's been a year 1/2 since we have moved to Switzerland.  At first it's okay not having a job but then it gets to be a little much.  I think that it would help if we had children but having a child just to have something to do is not the way to go about it!!  LOL

I am going to try to audit a photography class at Webster University to learn some more things about Photography. Really would like to be better - maybe even do it professionally BUT no idea where to even start.

Anyway - I have a friend visiting from NYC this week.  It's so nice to have her here.  It feels like a little piece of home has come to visit.  :) 

After she leaves on Friday I need to start getting my sh** together.    I need to dust of the self books that I have.  If I only knew where I put them.........

The newness of it all......

So, this week I am socializing.  My parents who were here for a week are now gone and then I have a friend coming in on Friday.  This gives me 4 days to socialize with 'new' people (as I call them) and hopefully make some friends in my new city.  I had cafe today with a girl who was really nice (although I think a tad younger than I).  The plus is that she lives in the near vicinity of me which is rare.  I didn't think that anyone lived in my neighborhood.  It is soooo quiet.  I hate all of this - Hi, my name is....will you go to coffee with me and be my friend shit BUT it is necessary.  We all need human contact to survive (unfortunately!).  The sad part about it is in my previous life in the States I was very social.  In this life - not so much.

Wed - it's the same thing and Thursday it is a coffee with the free spirits group from the women's club.  Might do some obedience training with Callie on Wed and Thursday after the coffee I have having some friends from Geneva over for lunch.  

All in all it is a good week.  I don't feel like going back to bed and pulling the sheets over my head.  Quite a bit of improvement from the weeks before!

Lessons..........

I actually ventured into the city on Tuesday. I had to change over a gym membership from Geneva to Lausanne (who am I kidding. I never go....). Afterwards, I made a quick stop at Globus. In the store there was this old lady in front of me moving soooooooo ssssssllllllooooowwwwwllllllyyyyyy. Every time I tried to move around her she would end up right in front of me. I (not so quietly cursed her under my breath) and made a mad dash to get around her.

I stop at the parking garage to pay my ticket and the f'ing thing doesn't work. My ticket was creased and not reading properly. Now what am I supposed to do?? There was no one in the office as it was closed for lunch (surprise, surprise). I press the info button on the machine and say - Hello. My ticket doesn't work. Not a big deal you think right?? REMEMBER I am trying to do this in FRENCH. UGH!!! There was a voice that came over the loud speaker and the man said blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Shit - I thought to myself. What the F did that guy just say???? I look around and there is a lady behind me and she said well????....and I say "I don't understand". So she takes my ticket from me and proceeds to HELP me and because of her this man could fix my ticket. Guess who the lady was??? Yep, the old woman that I cursed while in Globus.

Lesson - don't curse anyone out loud. Keep it in......
I wonder if she helped me just to teach me a lesson??

So I am procrastinating.......

Here are a few shots from last week's photography class.

Our assignment was photo jouralism. I don't think that I really captured it but at least I had fun!

Gathering around the baby.




The market in Nice



Fish market in Marseille.

Unpacking.......

SUCKS!

Ugh - how many pairs of shoes can one person own (and I am talking about my husband too!). I hate, hate, hate all of this 'stuff' all over the place. It makes me want to curl up in a ball and go to sleep.

The hubby is lucky. He is the one that gets to work and escape from all of this madness. Not me - nope. I just get to sit here amongst all of our stuff. Not know where to put anything is for the birds.

I am going to do this the easy way.....

I am going to throw everything away - which should of been done BEFORE we moved.