Pros and Cons of today

Here are the Pros and Cons of June 30th.

PROS:

-The Euro '08 which was hosted by Switzerland and Austria is over...so that means hopefully all of those millions of fans will go home and leave Zürich in peace, plus we won't hear honking ALL NIGHT LONG from whoever won each night...Spain won the finals last night and oh we all got to hear about it. Way until the wee hours of the morning.



-It's nice and hot so when I bake bread it will rise nicely.


CONS:

-Construction has commenced again and our tram stop has been discontinued. ARGH! They are going all night and next weekend will be a total disaster.

-It's soooo hot here without AC, on the 6th floor and roof windows...which means that we are like a greenhouse, I have no energy to do anything let alone make it down the 6 flights of stairs because we're out of apples and tomatoes.

Playing around with shutter speed and f-stop

I can't wait until I'm reunited with my tripod in the U.S.

June 23rd

Today my Dad would have been 58. He was funny. (Check out our vintage kitchen before it was remodeled. )

We celebrated by making his favorite Jello salad which my mom used to make for him every year. Good thing Jared likes it because I'm going to make it every year.

Here he is with my nephews in May of 2006...well trying to get Johnny to sit for a photo was next to impossible. Hudson seems to be enjoying himself.

Christmas 2005.

In Utah in May 2005 just a month before he passed.

A Spectacular Weekend in Zermatt

Ever since I can remember there has been a photo of the Matterhorn up in my Dad's library at home. He always had a dream of visiting the Matterhorn in Zermatt, Switzerland but never made it before her died. Most people know the Matterhorn as a ride at Disneyland, and come to think of it, that just might be another reason why my Dad liked D-land so much. This weekend my mother, Jared and I took a beautiful train ride to Zermatt in honor of my father because this is his birthday weekend and favorite time of year because it's also the longest day of the year. After months of rain we were fortunate to have the most amazing weather.

We stayed in the cutest hotel. Le Petit Hotel. We didn't even have to fork over 5,000 CHF for a view of the Matterhorn outside our window.

(For your information, in these photos the sky was really that blue.)

We took the Gornergratbahn up to Gornergrat for spectacular views of the Matterhorn and surrounding beautiness.

SO CUTE! SO BIG!

My beautiful mother.

Glacier water. Oh and the water in Zermatt was sooo good and ice cold straight from the tap.

I really love my husband.

In the little church we lit a candle for my Dad...

...apart from the crowd because that's what he liked...to be left in peace.

Clearly something was put on that post so the mountain goat would come lick it for the tourist. I've hike with real mountain goats in Washington and they've got better things to do.

Some other mountains...whatever.

Jared has a bum knee right now so he iced it in the snow.

Beautiful alpine blue flowers.

OK, so this bird is currently eating a crepe that is my Mom's. She didn't get to finish it because it swooped down from the sky and took it out of her hand as she was about to take a bite. I didn't see it because I was taking a photo but I did hear the fluttering wings by my ear. A squirrel did that to me once when I was hiking Half Dome. Except it was a sandwich sitting on my knee. I was annoyed.

Later in the afternoon we took a funicular up another mountain to get an alternate view of it. So, most of the weekend was spent staring at the Matterhorn.

We couldn't hike up the mountain because of Jared's knee, but if we did I bet we'd get a thumbs up to climb the Matterhorn.

I think they meant "Goggles" not "Googles".

A shot before dinner...

...and after...

...and in the morning from our rooftop.

Some facts about the Matterhorn:
-14 691.601 feet
- On average 3 people die a year climbing it and someone has died each year since 1961.
-Woman used to climb it in their skirts
-There was a Swiss guide who had climbed it over 370 times, his last time being at the age of 95...he died in 2004...not while climbing the mountain.


More Amazing photos...I took a lot.

Thun mit meiner Mutter

Yesterday my mother and I headed to the cute little town of Thun where the waters were glacier green.

Pulling the one-arm shot again.

Do you really think I wanted to ride the elephant? Maybe...maybe not.

I would like and XXXXXXXXXXXXL hamburger please.

After wandering around town, grabbing a quick bite to eat and resisting buying shoes we walked down the river to the head of the lake to this place.

Which had a map of what to do on what span of lawn.

Beautiful views of the alps!

Cheese

I've been waiting for my mother to arrive to pick out cheese's at the market. We went Tuesday morning and asked the man at the cheese stand for recommendations. We got some sheep and goat cheese. Then we wanted to get some hard cheese's. We also wanted strong ones. When he gave us samples and we kept saying, stronger he was surprised and finally asked, "where are you from?" in a confused tone like, "why do these Americans have such good taste in cheese." Well let me tell you. I'm sure in started before but ever since my brother Jeremy was called on his mission in 1993 to France we have had a fair amount of interesting cheeses pass through our home. Well, the strongest cheese he had was called "Grossvater" (actually a different name a bit, I thin is Swiss German but I can't quit remember and Google translator doesn't do Swiss German) meaning "grandfather" because it had aged for so long. We were in heaven that night with the cheese.

My mother melted some sheep's cheese onto a salad.

She also went to town with the mushrooms. Oyster, Lobster, morel, and some purple ones from France (which Jared really didn't like) mushrooms.

Here is our stack of fruit that is attracting SO MANY fruit flies. Why not keep the fruit in the fridge you ask? Well, first of all I hate cold fruit, (I have super sensitive teeth) second, our fridge is the size of a shoe box. It won't fit.

A sunny day in Zürich...hooray!

FINALLY! A day where we don't have to get bundled up an run for the tram to get out of the rain. I got to wear my espadrilles that I got in Paris (which ended a 2 year search for the perfect pair.) It was a beautiful day in Zürich. Pounced down the 6 flights of stairs and headed downtown on foot. My mother wanted to check out the churches.

Hooray for blues skies and big puffy clouds.

Grossmünster

Ferris wheel.

Fraumünster

St. Peter

Cool banana chandelier.

My mom thought this soccer purse was cool. It was an inside-out soccer ball. We didn't buy it.

Then she made me take a photo with the "toilet paper" purse. She got a kick out of us caring the toilet paper home.

Then we made lasagna with the stair shaped pasta I had.

Barefeet

About a month ago Jared found this article online about how we walk wrong and going barefoot is better. It's really long however, I recommend you read it. Anyhow, in the article they suggested these shoes made by Vibram. They help protect our feet with the feeling of being barefoot. We ordered them and my mother brought them out with her (especially since they each weighed about 5 oz.) Check out the link to all the different kinds. Yes, you might look funny walking in them but they feel sooooo good while walking. They suggest that you do a bit each day to get used to the shoes. I already love mine. When we get back to P.A. you will see me walking the Stanford dish in them.

We're still Newlyweds!

Yesterday for our anniversary Jared gave me the best surprise...he came home early from work...and with flowers! I was so happy to see him:)

Here I am trying to decide which way to wear my dress. I opted to wear it tied up since we had to walk in the rain to the restaurant for a delicious dinner.

We are definitely still newlyweds and plan to stay that way!

Prom pose.

1 year of bliss.

1 YEAR!

One year ago today, Superman snatched up Alice in Wonderland from single life and together they joined the folds of the married.

I hear people talk about their first year of marriage being the hardest...

...well I beg to differ...

...we started out with giggles...

and smooches...

...and are still leaping for the joy we have in our lives.

First stop was Kauai for our honeymoon.


Did an Olympic triathlon our first summer.

Hiked up Half Dome in record time.

Then we moved to Zürich, Switzerland to continue our honeymoon exploring Europe.

Milan

Paris

Venice

Prague

A beautiful day in Interlaken.

Croatia

We started our silly...

...and are still sillier than ever.

Here's to a great first year of marriage. The best year of my life so far:) We are more in love than ever!

Peek-A-Boo

My mom and Jared discovered the other night that you can chat right outside the window with each other.

Two can play at this game....

...unless one of them turns into a vampire and starts sucking the other's blood.

BEAUTIFUL!

BEAUTIFUL!!!!

Luzern with Mom

Before heading to Luzern we got some shots of the ginormous "football" players set up in Zürich's main station for the Euro '08.

My mom really wanted to touch the leg. Here she is looking around for security guards who might be watching.

Not too cloudy, and just a bit of rain allowed us to have a pleasant Saturday in Luzern. Jared and I already visited there once and loved it so we headed back.

It's really fun wandering around with my mom. It's also nice to have a personal photographer so we don't have to keep doing the extended arm shot.

After visiting the Luzern Art Museum we headed to the Glacial Gardens. Very cool place. There we learned all about Switzerland's glaciers. The Garden's were actually situated on a sight which was discovered many years ago by some people building their house. It has an original of the scraped, formed rock that the Glacier made before vegetation and civilization took over.

A cute little cave on our way up to the terrace that looks over Luzern. Jared is eyeing a chocolate plant he discovered on the walk.

This place had mirrors. Lots of them.

Here's my mother trying to navigate her way through. Pretty hilarious.

And I will love forever and ever and ever......and infinity...I am eternally yours....and ever and ever....;)

Jared is smiling really big because he knows I'm about to run into a mirror thinking it was really him...well I did. He was overjoyed with tricking me.

And the random lion carved out of the wall.

Mom arrives!

My mother finally came to visit. It was much anticipated. Yesterday she and I decided to wander around Zürich. Since it wasn't raining, (I've decided that if I'm prepared for rain, then it won't.) It's fun to walk around the city with someone not from here because they notice things that I tend to overlook.

She arrived in the midst of the Euro '08 soccer finals.

Since we were out most of the day we took the little pully thing that we ended filling up with goodies and other sorts.

Blue sky!

Color in Globus!

On the way home we got caught in the middle of craziness because a game was about to start.

Germany was playing that night and I love how these girls were dressed.

Meike and Fabian are both from Germany and stopped by after the game, which was a treat:)

Art in Basel

This morning my mother and I headed to the market and then up to Basel because they have a lot of great art Museums. First stop was Schaulager. Andrea Zittel was showing there and it was AWESOME! Definitely check out the link.

We didn't get rained on...because we were prepared.

Even though I'm very against umbrellas, I allowed my mother to buy one.

This was the best part of one of the museums we went to...the elevator.

Improv Everywhere

I heard about this group from a friend a few years ago when they were featured on NPR's This American Life. Anyhow, they have a new group. Urban Pranksters. I like this prank, DO NOT PUSH.

Great dress

Zurich Top City To Live for Expats

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/984abd38-3653-11dd-8bb8-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

Euro '08

I braved the rain on Friday and took some shots of Zürich's transformation for the Euro '08 that is going on for the next 3 weeks. As Jared and I took our Sunday walk today we had to push past temporary beer and wurst stands among little bars and restaurants that are set up along the promenade by the lake. There are tourist everywhere and I don't know how to distinguish myself from them.

A giant screen screen floating in the Lake for the VIP's.

Giant soccer players at HB (main train station.) It was also featured in BBCNews' June 5th Day in Pictures. (It's picture 9.)

Sun bursting through

It has been raining, A LOT again. I've decided, and am still trying desperately, to not let it effect me. The sun burst through the clouds the other day.

Tropical Salad *POST #700*

Last nights dinner, Tropical Salad with cottage cheese (something I didn't like until coming to Switzerland, I think it tastes better here) and chives.

We meet at last

Senja and I met online...well through our blogs. We have a mutual friend Meike who she grew up with in Germany and who's in my ward now. We've been emailing for the past couple of months and she came down from Sweden for Meike's birthday and we finally got to meet. We chatted the entire evening and could have gone on all weekend. She's a lot of fun and it felt like I had known her forever. Well, we will be friends forever:)

Basel with Jeremy

My brother Jeremy was in Basel yesterday attending the Art Basel and Design Miami shows. He owns a furniture store in L.A. called Noho Modern. It's really fun to walk around the city with him because he will pick up a conversation with anyone. I remember when we were in NYC a couple of years ago and he made several friends on the street that day. He really has an eye for potential and can weed out B.S. pretty well. He's fluent in French and Spanish and people are always amazed to meet an American who speaks a foreign language so well.

Here we are in Basel, he's really focusing on getting a good shot.

Making connections with the French.

I cruised around the show and got some shots of the furniture.

I mostly just like this woman's ensemble.

I love copper.

And oh yes, the best part. The new Audi R8. The one that is feature in Ironman. I actually saw one in downtown Zürich a few weeks ago. (Go see the movie. It's good.)

Since regular luggage doesn't fit in the car you have to buy the luggage that comes along with the it in case you want to take a weekend trip. The trunk is in the front.

Bern 10k

My friend Julie and I ran the Bern (capital of Switzerland) 10k on Sunday. She hurt her leg and I haven't really kept up on my running so we were taking a chance on being able to finish. However we did in just over an hour. I came in 469th out of 2753 Swiss woman. Not bad I thought for not really training.

Before the race they had some enthusiastic woman lead us in exercises.

It was a pretty run and it wasn't too hot.

Thanks to Jared for cheering us on. He couldn't run because it was woman only. He wore his running clothes and shoes though to join in on the fun. Some of the highlights were little kids on the sidelines with skirt guns spraying us with water and the old Swiss ladies playing the steel drums Caribbean style.