Love & Marriage

Did I mention that my friend Steph was getting married?

I forgot to?! How COULD I!?

Well it's true - My little Miss. Stephanie got herself married yesterday - and what a day we had!

Taping hems, flower fixing, a bright red dress, a four minute ceremony and a happy couple! We took a TON of pictures and I'm happy to say that they turned out REALLY well! Their photographer cancelled a little while ago (boo!) but it actually turned out more than great anyways because we had so many people taking pics that it was like the paparazzi was there and my lovely cousin came to help us get some group shots and the like so we have 8 million WONDERFUL photos that captured the beauty of the day!

It was a great day - low key - no stress, no worries. We went with the flow, chatted, ate good food, toasted to the happy couple and took a gagillion photos! All of the ones I took were on Steph's camera (which I had a little love affair with...ha) but I have a few (hundred) that my cousin took on my computer of the bride and groom gettin' themselves hitched at city hall and then coming out to the farm for fun and photos :)




The newlyweds as Thomas and I sign as their witnesses!





I wonder where they got married!? :P



Some of the goodies after - chocolate peanut butter cupcakes...YUM!

And then we just went about and took a bunch of cute photos! :)













I'm so happy for one of my best friends ever and her lovely HUSBAND!

Congrats!!!!!!!!!

Ridiculous Roommates

I have a new roommate.

She's okay I guess...

Thing is though...she always wants to be around me and she's a little clingy at times.

She follows me around - and complains bitterly when I don't inlude her in everything. single. thing. that I'm currently doing.

She thinks that she's so great - always strutting around, acting like she's the king of the castle.

And the food that she eats - uuugggh. Gross. It smells like ew.

She hates her bed, and tries to crawl into my bed with me all of the time - can we say weird?

And the kicker? If I don't get up right when my alarm goes off? She starts punching me. IN THE FACE.

Oh. And I caught her licking my hair while I slept the other night.

Yeah, she's more than a little bit weird.

Good thing she's cute.







Guess I'll keep her ;)

Sewing Escapades

My friend Steph is getting married in a few months. Infact, the ticker on her blog says it's only 129 days away! Whoa!

As her maid of honor, it means that I've got some jobs to help out with - and since she's a super creative do-it-yourselfer kind of girl and both her and her fiance are students on a serious budget, it means that there are tons of fun projects for me to partake in! It's fun to help out where I can, and I'm really excited to be a part of their wedding. I've been in a few different weddings in my day, and attended quite a few more, so I've experienced everything from the super expensive country club kind of wedding to the potluck at the rec centre kind of wedding...Both of which were perfect in their own special ways. That being said, I'm excited for Steph's wedding because even though I KNOW that no two weddings are the same....I REALLY just know their wedding it will be completely unlike anything I've ever been to or been a part of before and I'm so excited for her adoreable wedding at the cutest venue with a bunch of wonderful people!

Last weekend I headed over to her place while her fiance was out of town and we had some chit chats and catch ups and then she pulled out her newish sewing machine that she has been teaching herself how to sew on. Then my oh so domestic self (Please stop laughing - I can hear you from here.) attempted to pass along my somewhat limited all knowing and awesome knowledge of all things sewing.

My mother laughed and laughed. And then LAUGHED SOME MORE when I recounted that I has passed along my sewing skills - asking which sewing skills exactly I was refering to.

Either way - we were awesome and the project turned out famously!

See?


Getting the project started..



Look at me go!



Steph gives it a whirl! And rocks the sewing socks right off of...everything.


I'm so excited for our next project - because it definitely means that I'll be hanging out with one of my favourite girls while we laugh, giggle, chit and chat the day (and project to-do list!) away :)

Bites of Heaven

One of my Swiss girls sent me an email today.

The one who co-incidentally was from the same small town that I am from. It's funny, because despite knowing multiple people in common and frequenting similar coffee shops/restaurants/farmers markets/stores/etc. we'd never met here, back home.

Instead, she was forwarded an email from me that I'd sent to a mutual acquaintance and already knew a great deal about my life in Switzerland before she'd even arrived or ever made contact with me. We were both shocked to find that we were from the same small town when we met in Zürich (and it wasn't until later that she realized I was the same girl whose emails she had read..ha!) because we co-incidentally both happened to stumble upon and work for the same, very small, aupair agency in a small suburb outside of the city.

ANYWHO.

She rambled on about what was new, how we needed to meet up and her plans for life for the next little while.

And then she started talking about things she missed, but mostly..she was talking about the Luxembergerli.


Jenn in front of the Confiserie Sprüngli at Stadelhofen



The delish luxembergerli in the flesh.


Oh how my tummy longs for them. We'd buy the worlds smallest quantities because A) We were super poor and they were super expensive... thus we couldn't afford any more than one or two on our salaries..ha. B) If you bought more than one or two you'd end up eating them all. In a matter of a very short period...and then you'd explode. And you'd probably think that it was still worth it...because yes, they are THAT good.

At this point, I just couldn't help myself. I turned into Pavlov's dog...and basically started salivating while reading her email. She talked about how she missed them so much and how she was so tempted to order some off of the internet once she had enough money. I had tried for so long not to think about them. I'd thought about the kids, the mountains, the cheese, the trains, the views, the chocolate, the music, the 200 dollar bills that made you feel rich...but I had refused to let myself think about the luxembergerli.

So what did I do?

Your darn right I went directly to the Sprüngli website and didn't pass go.

My heart did a double take as I remembered Swiss pricing. But then I remembered the sweet delicious taste of the luxembergerli. Their light, fluffy creamy inside..with their flaky yet not pastry-like outside. The way they melted on your tongue..and the flavours. Oh the flaaaaaavours. Raspberry, Chocolate, Vanilla, Champagne...Strawberry, Lemon, Stracciatella, Mocca, Lime - DOUBLE CHOCOLATE. The list goes on and on and on and then on some more. You walk into the Confiserie and all you see spread before you is a delicious feast of multi-coloured bites of heaven. The strawberry rhubarb though? Yeah - they take the cake..or in this case..the luxembergerli. Just the right amount of sweet, just the right amount of tart...and an extra dose of awesome..just in case.

I tried to recover from the fact that they wanted 45chf (basically par with the Canadian/American dollar) for the SMALL container of the little bites of heaven. PLUS SHIPPING. But all my mind could think about was how much I loved them. How much I missed them. How just one little bite would mean I could magically take myself back there for an instant - So I recovered from my near heart attack..and I had almost stopped caring how much they would cost. I went as far as to go to the order page and fill out information. I wanted NEEDED one. And since I couldn't order ONE...a box would HAVE to do.

Until I realized that they don't ship them outside of Switzerland.

Grrr.

Stupid Switzerland.

Stupid Sprüngli

Stupid little bites of amazingly delicious bites of heaven taunting me from across the ocean with their perishable nature.

Sigh. Sigh. Sigh.




..And just because I hadn't made myself swisssick enough already today..



The view from the house I lived in. The sun setting over the Zürisee..

My Very Best Becs

Some of the loveliest people that I know, I met in Switzerland.

I met a lot of great girls there - all nannies at the time...most from Canada, The US or down under in Australia or New Zealand. Bunches and bunches and oodles of great, wonderful amazing people.

Most of my REALLY close friends, the girls I hung out with ALL of the time and was inseperable from..are Canadian - which makes staying in touch relatively easy.

But then there is Becs.

My lovely Becs.

With her beautifully cute accent, bubbly personality and inability to determine time zones in Canada and their relation to her timezone in Queensland..LOL

It's funny - because today I was thinking about her - and how I missed her so much and how I needed to write her a note on creepbook and find that little peice of paper I wrote her phone number on once upon a time and catch up with her.

And then tonight..the phone rang. My Dad handed it to me and said 'it sounds like Sam' (one of my best friends little sisters) and I picked it up..said hello and was like...BECS! AS IF!

You see - Becs is basically one of the most special people ever...and I think that we've always had a special sort of friendship. No...not "special" like it's a bad thing. Special like it's an Ah-Ma-ZING thing. She has an ability to bring people together, to be friends with anyone and can make friends with EVERYONE. One of the first times I ever hung out with her...we were meeting up to go into the city after she was finished working for the evening. We'd been texting back and forth trying to figure out when the parents would get home and when she'd be FREE! It was getting late - and I didn't know what to do..the trains were only running once an hour...so did I head down to the train and hope that I could meet her and we could take that train...or did I wait at home for her to call and say she would meet me..and then leave. I decided to head down to the train station in hopes of her being here. And as I was walking down the final stretch towards the station..she calls my cell and is like 'Er-iiiiiiiin...I just got dropped off at the Herrliberg station - but you'll never make it here in time as the train comes in less than five minutes..so I'll wait here for you and we'll catch the next one in an hour!' and I was like...BECS! I'M ALMOST STANDING RIGHT BEHIND YOU! I'LL SEE YOU IN TWENTY THREE SECONDS! and hung up the phone. Because phone calls in Switzerland are RIDIC expensive.

And when I showed up on our platform she was like...OH MY GOD I CANNOT BELIVE THAT YOU'RE HERE (you know, in the worlds cutest accent.) and proceeded to tell me how I must have the most magical PMS to have KNOWN to meet her.

After I recovered from laughing - I asked if she meant ESP..waited for her to stop rolling on the floor laughing (what - it's not gross - the Swiss are INSANELY CLEAN.) and from then..our bond, our PMS was clearly cemented.

So after thinking about her multiple times today, completely out of the blue...I wasn't THAT suprised that she called. It seems that despite being quite LITERALLY on polar opposites of the world...our PMS is still working. Working so well infact, that we proceeded to have a marathon phone chat and catchup where we both just babbled on despite the phone delays, ringing up a bill the size I'm afraid to even guesstimate and laughing as we do. We rambled about and told each other all of the fun new news about our respective lives. Hers being MUCH more interesting than mine of course - but that was fine because so much of her news was so exciting that I just couldn't be happier for her!

I'm now desperate more than ever to go and visit her..and long for the next time our paths connect and I get to see her lovely self again. My face is etched with a permenant grin from lovely little chat we had and I'm more nostolgic than ever.

Time to start counting my pennies. I miss my Becs and now more than ever just want to jump on a plane and go visit her. I miss the train rides we'd have throughout the Swiss countryside out to the 'burbs of Zürich. I miss our random daytrips - like the one to Liechtenstein. And I miss stuffing our face with cheeseburgers as we ran through the hauptbahnhof in Zürich...laughing our faces off about something or another.


Becs, Jenn & Julia - "How do you think we get to Lichtenstein from here? The "Liechtenstein BUS" or something? Ha ha...Oh."


So disappointed that we couldn't stand beside a "Welcome to Liechtenstein" sign - so my darling Becs made one of course!


Posing infront of the "highly secured" residence of the royal family - who likes to BBQ...hahah!


Becs uses extend-a-straws and drinks off of plates. Told you she was special.


Becs, Me, Marissa & Jenn - Three of my absolute FAVOURITE "Swiss" girls - at Bec's goodbye party - oh how I miss her!

One day, a day not too far from now..I can only hope that our "Magical PMS" will bring us together again for a glorious reunion...ensuring that this blog will have oh so many more stories to keep it going on for years to come!

Snow In Da FAAAAACE

As I mentioned before....I went tobogganing this weekend.

What I didn't mention is that I went tobogganing with some of the most lovely people that have ever existed this weekend.

I had an absolutely wonderful time. It took me back to my childhood. It reminded me of things that I had promised myself when I moved back home from Europe. It showed me how much I love the people who are in my life. It reaffirmed how life is actually pretty darn awesome.

The afternoon was entirely too much fun and filled with oh so much laughter and smiles. And bumps on the head, snow in the face and a few instances of almost running over each other. And maybe a small child or two.

I don't really know what else to write..I guess the pictures will sum it up much better than I can! So here goes!



The Dream Team



Climbing our way to the summit - which is much more terrifying then it looked at the bottom - Thus...we made the boys go first.



Next up? STASHLEY! And they're so cute!



Snow in da faaaaaaaaaaace



Matt is such a daredevil - no hands?! He's a CRAZY MAN.



Who needs crazy carpets when you have a real sled?



More snow in da faaaaaaaace.



My brother decided to try going down standing up. And he SURVIVED.



Hein after an intense ride down the hill - look at the condition of that poor crazy carpet - haha!



The gang. And you know, of course..the only picture with me in it..and I look like a fool. Apparently I was having so much fun I was sleeping. Or we can blame it on the fact that I hit my head. Yeah, let's do that.


Oh! And as for these questions - First - I am a little too old for this. I may not have broken a hip...but I did walk away from the hill battered, bruised and sore. And I may or may not have smashed my head into the ice...whoops. Secondly - Yes, I may have turned into a popsicle. For real. My hair got wet and froze into long icicles. Yeah. Welcome to Canada eh. Third - Yep - We were the only ones there without a kid on the hill. But it was okay..because apparently we were 'cool older kids' and all of the kids wanted to be friends with us. And wanted to race us. And sled with us. Because we're just that awesome. Finally - Hein did crash into everything and everyone - and even managed to do a full ROLL on his crazy carpet - somehow rolling right back onto his crazy carpet and continuing on down the hill. He barely managed to escape taking out two kids who decided to stand in the MIDDLE of the hill because our group of 20 somethings started screaming at them to get out of the way as he was barrelling straight towards them.

I'm still not sure how this day happened...a whole bunch of random awesome people coming together at the last minute to have a great time doing something that we haven't done in years! It was awesome..and confirmed to me that we must go do stuff like this again. Next week...skating..snow mobiling or skiing? Who knows..I may just turn out to like this winter crap after all. Maybe. But don't tell mother nature I said that..or you're dead meat.

Pro To The Ductive

Today I've been working away preparing a presentation that I'm doing next week. Evidentally someone thinks that that it'd be a joke and a half to label me an 'expert' in my 'field'. Field being farming and marketing and all that jazz. Which you may be so inclined to be like..what are you talking about? You're a TEACHER foo'. You didn't pay thousands and thousands of dollrs to go to school for five years to be an expert at farming now did you? You majored in history and PSYCHOLOGY. That's not even close to plants, dumb dumb. Alas, I just can't help it if they just see my supreme level of awesome despite these things.

So this agricultural symposium that's being held next week was all like....YOU SHOULD COME AND SPEAK ABOUT THINGS YOU KNOW - and we'll give you FREE LUNCH.

And I was like...Uhhh...lemme think about it for a - OF COURSE I'LL DO IT! I'd be HONOURED!

...because who doesn't say yes to free lunch?!

I neglected to tell them that I'm anything but an expert...and am now frantically putting together a presentation about blah blah blah that's filled with erm ahh oooh's that will wow them them into letting me stay for lunch. But as of right now...it's basically an empty powerpoint. I think that I typed the name of our farm in there somewhere. Maybe. And I did one little drawing on my notepad of me killing a powerpoint presentation. Okay, maybe three. But other than that...I'm at a loss for what to do. Completely and utterly unproductive.

Okay. That's a lie. I did break into my mothers facebook account and change her profile picture to this lovely little picture of her doing a belly flop in my cousins dining room on new years eve.



Tell me that's not productive. I dare you.