Nyon, Switzerland and the American Market

so, I wouldn't say it's really been a relaxing weekend, it's been quite active, but it' s been a good weekend. Today we went skiing in Crozet this morning for about3 hours and then we had a nice afternoon around the house. It was a gorgeous day and we took a monster walk with Ally. An active day, but really enjoyable.
Yesterday we went shopping at the outlets in Aubonne, Switzerland - I was trying to find a dress for the upcoming wedding and the hubbster needed a new shirt for same. Then we stopped in Nyon and wandered around the town. It's quite cute actually. We meander through the streets, stopped in a couple of shops, walked by the Chateau de Nyon (it's open other times of year for tours but not now), found the American Market (the real reason my hubby wanted to go there) and then headed back home. On the way stopping at yet another mall, hitting up two hardware stores in search of charcoal or charbon as they say in French (not charbois, as we asked one store employee who looked at us like we were crazy - oops). so, it was busy busy, but although it is always tiring going shopping it was nice because we had no time constraints we could take as much or as little time as we wanted.
Here are few photos from Nyon.


I really like the view of Lake Geneva and the alps from the Chateau de Nyon.
Now, a few words about the American Market. As you might have guessed from the name it is, indeed, a store that sells American food. I just walked around in awe. Not only were there shelves full of good ol' goodies from the US of A they cost a freaking FORTUNE. I would NEVER ever in my life in the United States consider paying such outrageous sums of money for that stuff...but when you live in Europe and you can't find it anywhere else you are tempted to pay a small fortune for those little things that remind you of home. For examply you could get a box of graham crackers (nabisco) for 14.10 swiss francs - that equals $11.85! Who on earth pays that much for a box of graham crackers? But I was tempted. I ended up walking away, but there was a part of me that was ready to fork over any sum for those precious graham crackers. They had so many things I didn't realize I missed till they were there staring me in the face. It's like when you used to have something as a kid and you haven't had it in years and suddenly it's right there in front of you. You just suddenly want it, there' s no rational reason why but you just think, "I have to get it." Actually, we were very good. Despite all the temptations we only came away with one purchase. Karo syrup. You just can't find corn syrup anywhere...or at least I haven't been able to figure out what it's French equivalent is. There are few recipes I'd like to make that call for corn syrup so I bit the bullet and shelled out 8 swiss francs for it. Crazy, but I figured it would last a while. Besides, I know you can make it from scratch (I looked it up on line ages ago) but facts are facts I'm never going to get around to making it. So, I bought it.

I wish I had taken some pictures inside the store, but I was so caught up in the joy of all those American treats! Crisco (which I wanted but just could NOT bring myself to pay $10 for a small can), poptarts, fundips, Ben and Jerry's ice cream, margarita mix, Cheerios, Jello, Ranch dressing, Newman's own dressing, shake and bake, the list goes on and on. I'm glad we found it for those times we just feel homesick and need a little shake and bake goodness! all in all a fun day.

A relaxing weekend

So, it's 9:30 am and we've already been to the vets. Ally has been limping for the past four days and yesterday it was pretty bad so I broke down and made her an appointment. Naturally, she wakes up this morning and is pretty much fine. Barely a limp to be seen. We took her in anyways just to have it checked out and, as we thought, there's not much the vet can do. She gave us some pills for the inflammation and if it starts up again we're supposed to take her in for x-rays. If it's arthritis they can locate where it is with the x-rays. The hubby and I were both rather shocked to realize that our little puppy is nearly 6 years old! This August she'll be 6. while that's not ancient by any means she's getting older so she'll probably start to have more aches and pains.

Oh well, my mind is at ease that nothing horrendous is wrong with our dogs leg, so now I'm going to change and we're going to head off to the shops to search for a wedding dress...and maybe a hat as well. I mean, it IS an English wedding. Hopefully, we'll have more success than we have had clothes shopping in the past. It's difficult determining which European size you were. And, I don't know, the styles and fit just seem different and I have trouble getting used to them. I mean let's be real, I'm no fashionista. I'm most comfortable in loose jeans and t-shirt. but it's fun to dress up every now and then or to go shopping for a nice outfit.

so, I'll let you know how we fare. gotta run.

brief update

So, I'm getting used to the new do. If I want it to look all smooth and sleek like it did after visiting the hairstylist I have spend some time with it...but so far that doesn't bother me. Give me a couple more weeks and I'll be saying, "aw, forget it. I'm not spending 20 minutes blow drying my hair!"
The kids at the theatre are really funny about my haircut. Some of them look at me and say, "you look different. What did you do?" Others shout, "You got your haircut!"

In other news I'm currently on a travel kick. I've planned a small trip to Venice in May. I'm really excited about it. I've wanted to go to Venice for ages and I just thought, "right, I'm going to do it. There's never a good time, so I'm going to choose a weekend and we're going." so that's what I did. Yay! Of course, it wasn't that simple. I looked up flights, found some awesomely cheap ones but didn't book them because I needed to make sure I could take that particular Friday off from work. then when I went to book them the flights has gone up. Not too much, so I thought screw it we're still going. Then last night I sat down to book the flights at around 7:15, but then we were late for dinner with our friends so I said, "I'll just do it when we get home. No big deal." 5 hours later when we got home and I sat down to book them the flights had doubled! Can you believe that bull? Doubled in 5 hours! What crap. I was so mad I felt like breaking something.

so, my darking hubby found a different airline, with slightly cheaper tickets and we said, "Screw it, we're going." so about an hour ago I booked our tickets. Hooray! Venice, here we come. 3 days and nights in Venice. Should be good. We're going to stay in this little apartment you can check it out here: www.cagarzotti.it It actually turns out to be cheaper than most of the hotels I looked at and we get a whole apartment all to ourselves - with a kitchen and everything. Plus it's right in Venice not off the island. It should be a good trip. i'll try and be better about sharing photos and stories immediately after we get back instead of 3 months later...but I can't promist anything.

OK gotta run.
ciao!

ahhh, I did it!

I finally cut my hair! And I love it. This will probably just be a quick post while I'm waiting for my cookies to get out of the oven. But, back to my hair. I've been thinking of cutting it for over a year. In fact, since after our wedding in September 2007. After the wedding I did cut it, but not too drastically, just shoulder length. Then I didn't get my haircut again until this morning - not even a trim! yikes, I really needed a haircut. How terrible my ends were -it's almost too embarrassing to write about...but not quite.

there's my first attempt at taking my own photo! I didn't set the timer for long enough. Here's a better one.

I'm still getting used to the not quite long bangs that often fall in my eyes. but I'm sure I'll figure out a way to make it work for me. Actually, knowing me I"ll probably just tuck that bit behind my ear or pin it back with a bobby pin. Which sort of ruins the idea of the style...but well..that's me!

I really like it and funny enough it's still just long enough that I could pull it back into a dinky little pony tail! hee, hee. it looks ridiculous, but I could do it if I wanted to. I'm sure tomorrow I'll cry about cutting all my hair off, but today I love it. Then again it looks terrific and my hair feels so smooth and soft because a professional styled it. Wait until the first day I try to style it myself. I'll probably start throwing things and screaming. Won't that be a treat for the hubby?

Here's a photo with it more off my face. This is probably how it will end up looking more often than not - like this

What do you think? Sometimes I look in the mirror and think it makes me look like high schooler again...and I'm not so sure that's a good thing. Ah well. For the moment I'm really in love with it and myself! I wanted to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe to go with my new haircut. but I'm a good girl and didn't. I already paid a decent amount for the haircut, like I'm going to fork over more money today! What a tight fisted dork I am. Gotta love it. So, hope you all like my new do. Stay posted to see if I'm still enamored with it over the next few days! hee, hee, hee seriously, every time I pass a reflective surface I stare at myself. People at the mall must have thought I was totally vain! I guess I am a bit!