Christmas is Coming

We started off the Christmas season a few days before Thanksgiving by having our 2nd annual Christmas cookie making session. We started about 9am and finished about 9 or 10pm. It was a fun day and just a little chaotic. We mixed, baked, iced and decorated to our heart's content. The kids were interested for about the first 30 minutes and then they just wanted to play and eat the finished product. We distributed them to the men's co-workers, neighbors and friends. Most of whom think American Christmas cookies are great - something you'd never find in Switzerland.

Our Christmas tree is up! Tom and I love the Christmas traditions. The Friday before Thanksgiving we scoured the stores in Fribourg and found one that had Christmas trees. We had an enjoyable evening of trimming the tree while listening to Christmas music. This tree is much better than last year's (click for picture) and was less expensive. This is a half-way done shot; finalized tree picture to be posted soon. Oh, and the curtains are up, too - Tom and I finally agreed on and purchased curtains for the living room. What do you think?

My cats don't understand that this cute little hat was made especially for them. Try as I might I couldn't get them to sit still and pose for the camera. These are the best shots - the ones where they weren't squirming out of my grasp :)

Halloween and Birthday

Backing up a little bit... My birthday was about a month ago and Kacey and Lu surprised me with a super cute flip-flop cake. We went to their house for dinner (on Halloween) in costume to surprise the girls. Tom was dressed as a beach goer and I was ... well, I wore a camouflage shirt and hat. I realized as I was hunting around my house for good costume clothes, that I'd left most of my non-essential clothes items in Atlanta. So I did the best I could. It was fun to get into the spirit of things, though.

It was in the 30s outside and Tom was in shorts and sandals. We went to an outdoor Halloween party in the Burgess's neighborhood that night and Tom went as you see above. Just another thing for the Swiss to shake their heads at and say, "Crazy Americans!"

Like my Halloween toe socks?

England Photos

Our England Trip

We visited Oxford and many of the various colleges there. These gargoyle type heads were all over many of buildings.

Us in one of the college courtyards. We took a guided tour of the city and saw dining halls, chapels and courtyards that were just beautiful.

A college dormitory and dining hall.

The famous pub where CS Lewis and JRR Tolkein used to meet with other friends. We had coffee and a piece of pie here. It took close to 30 minutes to get the drinks and another 20 or so to get our pie (which we then ate in about 5 minutes :)

Tom and Katie with Richard and Emma - newly married! They stayed around for day after their wedding, so we got to hang out with them a little. Then they left for their honeymoon to Malaysia - fun!

Sunday, November 8 was Remembrance Day to honor all of the war veterans. This parade went down the street right outside our hotel.

I loved the red phone booths all over the place.

The Tower Bridge.

Buckingham Palace - no changing of the guard that day.

In a wet Trafalgar Square.

The Rosetta Stone at the British Museum.

A real mummy at the British Museum.

Tom's artistic picture of the Tower Bridge. We took the little tour of it and got to walk across the pedestrian path seen at the top. The bottom section can move up to let boats through - the official name (in case you want to know) is a bascule bridge.

We got dressed up and went to see Les Miserables while in London.

London Bridge

Kensington Palace. We were going to tour this, too, but we got our times mixed up :( I thought last entry was at 5, but it was at 4:00. Oh well - there's always next time. It was hard to do everything we wanted to do because things opened around 10:00 and closed at 4:00 or 5:00.

However, we did manage to make it in time for tea at the Orangery - right behind Kensington Palace. It was wonderful!! The sandwiches were dainty, the scones soft and delicious, the jams delectable and the tea cakes a variety of yumminess. This was one of my favorite things that we did on the trip. Tom endured it and ate a hamburger later.

We found a plaque dedicated to Switzerland in London.


We stopped at Stonehenge on our way to Bath. It's amazing to think that this structre is probably over 4,000 years old.

The Roman bath was probably my favorite site that we visited. The hot springs are still there just like they were 2,000 years ago. You can see the steam rising up from behind us. Some of the original plumbing still worked!

I got to visit the Jane Austen center. I really like her books and enjoyed learning more about her and seeing the town she lived in and wrote about.

We visited the Fashion Museum in Bath where I got to try on a corset and crinoline. Needless to say, they aren't the most comfortable things in the world.

William Shakespeare's birthplace and childhood home. Did you know his father made leather gloves for a living? That was news to me.

Shakespeare's grave. His wife, daugter and son-in-law are buried next to him.

Learning a "new" language

Tom and I just got back from our England trip on Sunday. Even though we were there just 10 days, I feel that I learned more "British" in that time than I have in my 1.5 years in French-speaking Switzerland! I thought I'd share my lessons for any who wish to learn as well :)

(Note: please forgive the grammatical errors, I didn't take the time to format everything properly...)

- Lovely: In American, we'd say good or great, maybe wonderful. As in, We're having a lovely time or after a meal one would say, That was lovely. Also used to describe an article of clothing, an event, a place, or anything else, really.
- Brilliant: See lovely.
- Pop: In American - to go somewhere real quick. As in, I'm going to pop to the store for some eggs. Or, I'm going to pop over to Cristina's.
- Loo: In American, bathroom. Often used with pop. As in, I'm going to pop to the loo. Also used: toilet, WC.
- Please/Thank you: Must be used at the end of each interchange between customer and service person.
Example Conversation (only slightly exaggerated)
Me: I'd like a cup of coffee, please.
Server: Of course, Thank you.
Me: Thank you.
...
Server: Here you are...Thank you.
Me: Thank you.
Server: Thank you.
...
Me: Can I have the check, please,
Server: Of course you can, thank you.
Me: Thank you.
Server: Thank you.

- Chips: In American: French fries. Often used as Fish and Chips - a traditional English meal of fried fish and french fries.
- Crisps: In American: Chips.
- Tube: The London subway system.
- Car Park: Parking lot.
- At the Weekend: Instead of "on the weekend."
- Quite: Used often with the phrase "a lot" or used in the place of very. As in, Quite a lot of people here today, aren't there?
- Pie: a traditional pub meal composed of a bottom and top crust with a cream sauce, meat and vegetables inside. Quite lovely.
- Pudding: Any sort of dessert, most often referring to cake type desserts. (Now I know why Figgy pudding is called what it is.)
- Black Pudding: You probably don't want to know, but in case you do, click here.
- The Weather: Commented on quite a lot.
- Dreadful: Used to describe the weather.
- Diabolical: Used to describe the weather.
- Awful: Used to describe the weather.
- Lovely: Though seldom the case, used to describe the weather.

So, now if you go to England, you'll have a head start on me and will be able to sound like a native in no time! We had a great trip (pictures to come soon), and I really enjoyed seeing a country and culture that was different, yet very similar to what I am accustom. It was also wonderful to be able to talk to people and communicate easily with them. I would definitely like to go back!

A White Birthday

This year I had a birthday full of birthday firsts... My first birthday when there was snow on the ground, my first b-day snowman, and my first birthday event of (helping) put snow tires on the car. When I woke up, there were probably 4-6 inches of snow on the ground - I couldn't believe it - snow in October! There was plenty on the balcony, so Tom and I built a GT snowman. Thanks to Ed, Nancy and Ellie for the GT scarf (I was wearing it until Snowman stole it) and to Lisa for the sweater! And just for the record, Tom did not go out in public dressed like that :)

Even thought there was snow, it wasn't too cold outside and the sun was out and shining.

Our backyard.

It's SNOWING!!

Yep, it's October, and it's been snowing all morning here! I'm really not in GA anymore.

Tom talked me into this...

After almost a year of Tom climbing he (and my neighbor) talked me into going. It was a little bit of a challenge, but not too scary and rather fun. This was my first time, and by the end of two climbs my arms were dead! We went a few other times on real rocks which I liked better. It wasn't clear where to put your hands and feet, but the climbs were less vertical and didn't require the arm strength that the very vertical wall did! So I tried something new and even enjoyed it :)

I survived thanks to lots of encouragement from Tom and Chantal.

Here I am literally holding Tom's life in my hands!

Summer Visit to the States

Tom and I came to the States for two weeks at the end of July. Almost immed- iately after arriving in Atlanta, Tom headed off to Oshkosh, WI for an airshow with his dad and sister while I headed in the opposite direction for a visit with my parents and then a brief stint at the beach with Ashley and Cristina. It was a jam-packed two weeks, but lots of fun.

As for Tom's trip, he spent 10 days either in an airplane, sleeping underneath the wing of one or admiring them (both in the air and on the ground). And he had a blast. Yes it was hot and there was no a/c, yes they had to walk a lot, and yes, the tent was a little on the short side, but he thoroughly enjoyed it. He went to plane workshops, watched plane movies, saw just about every type of plane there is and even saw Harrison Ford from afar. I'm glad that he had a good time, but was also glad it was him and not me :)

I spent my weekend in Dothan visiting with my sisters and parents, going to garage sales and eating yummy food. Then Cristina and I road tripped to Myrtle Beach, picked Ashley up at the airport and checked into our beach side hotel! We spent our time talking, wading in the surf, talking, sitting in the hot tub, talking, making cheesecake, talking and watching a few movies as well. It was good girl time and the beach was beautiful.

After our respective trips, we met back up in Atlanta for some good steak dinners, some shopping and a few more visits with friends and family. Then, all too soon, it was back to CH. Switzerland is great, but it still doesn't feel quite like home!

Tom got to see his friend Matt who is studying in WI while at the airshow. In the background is the Holst campsite.

Tom was co-pilot!

We took an afternoon and did some shopping.

Kitties :)

I have so many cute pictures of my cats, I just had to share a few...

We found Cloé taking a nap in Andrea's skirt.

Maggie climbed into my suitcase while I was trying to pack for our trip to the US.

Cloé is pretty easy going - she was patient with Ellie while she did an extensive photo shoot of her and Maggie.

My cats like to sleep anywhere out of the ordinary.

Maggie is in and out all summer. She loves the balcony, but prefers the view of the birds to that of the mountains.

A Swiss Wedding

At the end of May, Tom and I went to our first wedding over here. We met the couple (Pascal and Laetitia) through the church and though we haven't spent a lot of time with them, really enjoy their company when we do. It was fun to go to a wedding here and see the differences and similarities to weddings back home. We were told multiple times that this wasn't a typical Swiss wedding, but since it's my only frame of reference, I'll just have to go with it.

Differences
1) The wedding was an all day event. We arrived at 10am and didn't leave until 8pm. We had a big lunch around noon and then different dinner stations in the evening. You had the option of bread and cheese, crepes, and chocolate fondue with fruit!
2) The wedding was in 3! languages at various times. French and German to accommodate the different native tongues of most of the guests and English during the ceremony because that is what the pastor spoke.
3) At the end they did the customary Swiss balloon release at the end of the day. Everyone wrote something on a little card with their address on the back which they tied to the balloon string. Then everyone released the balloons. The idea is that if someone finds the balloon, they will send you the card back. A few days later we got a card from Lucern - it was from the balloon Tom released - neat!
4) The ceremony was pretty traditional (from my point of view), but then after lunch there was another service of sorts. A different man preached (in French with translation into German) and then different people came up and sang or did skits or read poems for the couple.

Overall it was a fun day and we felt honored to be a part of it. Best wishes to the newlyweds!

At the wedding (which was held outside) with the Alps and Lake Geneva in the background.

On our ride home (about 40 minutes) we got to see a beautiful rainbow. It went across the whole sky and lasted the entire drive. Along with that, the sunlight was lighting up the landscape brillantly. It was gorgous - thanks, God!