12.30.06
Posted in Diary Entries at 2:00 pm by Nicole
After many attempts to watch the TV series 24, we have started….again, but this time from the beginning. So far so good except it is a bit obvious at times which makes us feel really special when we know what is going to happen before it does! It is the years of watching CSI that has made us crime investigator extraordinaire people.
Today we spent the day in France which is just a 45 minute drive from home (I love how everything is so close here) For lunch we went to a real french Creperie where I had an amazing caramel and custard crepe. Mmmm! We went to a local french supermarket and wandered the aisles, chit chatting with the locals from Boston, MA of all places. We managed to find the only box of popcorn in the store, can you believe they just got microwave popcorn a couple months ago?! It is the things like that that make you realize how far behind some things are over here and just how different the lifestyle and culture are. There are no crafty stores, no department stores, no drive thru coffee shops/restaraunts (except McDonalds) and dogs roam the shopping malls with their smoking owners….
Every night since we have been here, Simon and I have had the strangest, most vivid dreams….I wonder what is in store for tonight? I’m going to find out….
Night! N.
Permalink
12.25.06
Posted in Diary Entries at 12:46 pm by Nicole
hehe 
Merry Christmas! I can’t believe it has come and gone so quickly! We started the day by opening presents of course! The favourites of the day were:
Si – Jelly Babies & Liverpool football shirt
Mum – Coach wallet, mini calendar, pink scarf, daily oranizer, Cashmere sweater (good shopping everyone!)
Dad – All of his books!
Me – Australian Opal necklace & sparkly compact mirror
As you can see it was very eventful for everyone! For me, a healthy Dad Kay & the trip for both of us to come and visit was the best gift of all. After a morning of cooking, we had an amazing turkey lunch/dinner with enough leftovers for a couple weeks. Turkey pie, turkey soup, turkey kraft dinner, turkey pancakes… My Dad was in shock when I told him of our child sized bird at 22 pounds! Hard to believe when I was born I was 4 pounds. Wow.
We spent the rest of the day relaxing & doing alot of nothing. Went for a walk, watched TV, listened to Day 5 of Anthony Robbins, ate some ice cream & turkey sandwiches….
Tony says we should change our physical actions so we’ll see how that goes tomorrow. Is that me procrastinating again? Tsk tsk
Permalink
12.23.06
Posted in Diary Entries at 1:17 pm by Nicole
Another exciting day of eating all day long! We started off well by having salad and chicken for lunch but it went downhill from there. We went to the Montreux Christmas fair where we snacked on Mexican Fried Dough with sugar (that isn’t the technical term), Fire roasted chestnuts and Candy Floss! Unfortunately it was quite chilly and I couldn’t feel my tongue, but i’m sure it was all very yummy. I’m reading an awesome book called “The California Club” it entertains me while the family watch their english TV shows. It is one of those books, which I rarely read, that I can’t put down. (Kind of like the Shopoholic series) I’ll write a review about it when I’m done
To start off the day today, I almost got lost running through neighborhood hills. They are so much different than our neighborhoods. So intricate in design, anyone is bound to get lost and never be found again. Luckily I am good with directions or I wouldn’t have a chance (poor Robbin would get lost). It is an amazing workout you get running around here, muscles I didn’t know I had have been hurting for days. Need to push through the pain to gain pleasure - We learned that today – not sure if I believe it though
Enough talk about food for today….tomorrow is Roast beef and Yorkies…mmmmm
N
Permalink
12.22.06
Posted in Diary Entries at 2:48 pm by Nicole
Today was spent in the enjoyable company of about 20 St. Bernards, 8 of them 6 week old puppies. How cute were they! (I’ll upload pics tomorrow) I’m so glad the nice man let us pet them! I will say though, they weren’t as soft as baby kangaroos. It was a beautiful drive through the Swiss countryside to Martigny (pronounced Martini) where we had authentic Rosti with Gruyere cheese (topped with Heniz ketchup!) and french fries that make McDonalds fries taste like cement.
I am glad the doggies didn’t mind my terrible hairdo. I started the day off by frying my poor hair with my $200 straightening iron. Little did Simon know that the Canadian power adapter he gave me to use would make my iron melt to pieces and fall apart in my hand. We’ll see how it turns out tomorrow….my hair that is.
Our search for the best Creme brulee came to an end today. Unforunately we ate too much at dinner for our dessert. No problemo, i’ll have mine for breakfast. That’s allowed in Switzerland, isn’t it? I mean, we had fries and mayo for breakfast in Amsterdam, this isn’t any different. We stocked up on food like the shops were going out of business. There are still 3 days before Christmas! I’m sure it will all be gone by then…our eating has been out of control to tell you the truth. It is disgusting.
We don’t have any plans for tomorrow yet, possibly going to the hottest outdoor spa around (literally). I haven’t found anywhere I would wear my bathing suit in Zero degree weather besides here. ~
N
Permalink
Posted in Diary Entries at 1:47 am by skay
My battery on the laptop failed and I lost the entry, however it’s really no biggie because all we really did was say goodbye to F and G and go for walks. I did a little extra and went all the way to the Cafe de la Place on the way to Blonay and back which took me 35 minutes. In the afternoon we went to Placette for a snack and we bought an 8kg turkey which, even with my broken French, was fairly easy to do. Tomorrow we are going to see the St Bernard dogs which should be fun!
Permalink
12.20.06
Posted in Diary Entries at 11:20 am by skay
Wednesday Dec 20th
Up at 9, went for a walk and did a 30 minute with an add on to the top roundabout.
Dad got home at 1130 we all had lunch and then went for a walk downtown while Niclole and I shopped for groceries. had coffee at Fredy’s and then went to the CAN, the Nestle store. Home at 5 ready to make dinner.
Permalink
12.19.06
Posted in Diary Entries at 11:18 am by skay
Tuesday December 19th
I got up at about 9, however my first eye opening was at about 7am when I really should have dragged my lazy butt out of bed. I had some muesli and then unpacked the suitcase, realizing that I had packed some of my worst possible clothing. Our first excursion with Mum took us to Placette where she went off to play bridge and we continued into the mall to look for clothes. Of course we found nothing but the odd dog and a mall full of fashionably dressed Europeans saying nothing but “pardon” to each other. We eventually made it to the restaurant on the top floor, a marche type place and sat and waited for Fiz and Gordon… and waited… and waited. Eventually we started to have lunch, a slice of pizza, a side of vegetables for Nicole and a chicken shnitzel with bean chili, green beans and roast potato for me. By the time we had finished and also devoured a piece of tarte a la creme we were conviced they were a no show. As we stood to leave, nicole spotted them coming in looking fairly fresh and worry free, however we were soon to learn that they had not been able to locate the car keys mother was supposed to leave for them and therefore had to get the train into town…
We departed so that F and G could do some grocery shoppng and Nicole and I could go and search for a patisserie that would have a slightly more creamy and less rubbery tarte a la creme. We wandered the block and found the last remaining slice of pie and ran back to the mall out of the cold. Now when I say cold I don’t really mean cold, I mean it was a little too brisk for me to be out in just a t-shirt however everyone else was bundled up like it was -25 outside. It was probably 1 or 3 degrees, perfectly normal weather for being out and about but the way people were scurrying about like ants you would think the deep freeze was here.
We met up with F and G again and grabbed the car (10CHF parking by the way) and drove home. Before dinner, we went for a quick walk, 17 minutes aroudn the block. Dinner was uneventful, we had chicken and of course pie. After dinner we did our workouts, the pushups and Nicole’s things that she got from her gym and then kicked back to watch some tv…
Permalink
Posted in Diary Entries at 1:27 am by Nicole
After 12 hours and 2 flights we arrived safe and sound to Simon’s mom in the airport. The flight itself wasn’t so bad, British Airways is definately the way to go. I slept most of the trip while Simon twiched for more than most of it! We had a short stopover in London Heathrow where we wandered the airport and had free shots of Bailey’s (@ 8am!). It is so nice to see Fiona & Gordon again, I do wish it could happen more often.
It is 10am and I have already been out for a run and almost even got lost. Waaaayyyy too early for all that excitement. We are planning a trip to the “mall” shortly and will come home with lots of yummy goodies and hopefully some clothes to wear. Thats what happens when all I pack is Christmas gifts, I don’t get to bring clothes to wear.
We are all looking forward to the arrival of Simon’s Dad to come home from the hospital tomorrow, that will make for the best Christmas present ever.
N
Permalink
12.18.06
Posted in Diary Entries at 11:17 am by skay
Sunday 18th Dec to Monday 19th Dec 2006
We had all day Sunday to prepare, an idea that proved to be a magnificaent bonus for us since every other time we have come over here we have taken the early flight. Having the day to get read means you don’t forget stuff due to being too sleepy and you actually have time to relax and prepare yourself. We left at 345 in a limo driven by lurch’s taller younger sister and because it was Sunday night it only took us 40 minutes to get to the airport. We had alerady checked in, another time saving and extremely bright thing to do so all we had to do was drop the bags and we were done. So we made our way to Swiss Chalet, ironically, and had some chicken and scratched our bingo tickets. Time was really flying and so we decided to go straight through to the gates after dinner whcich was a good idea since it took us probably 20 minutes to get through. Even with this stringent, or apparently stringent search system they have I still managed to get 2 vials of cream and a large bottle of contact lens solution through the security people. We got to the gate as we were boarding and were very happy to find that once on the plane it was a new 777 and we had front row bulkhead seats in the World Traveller Plus compartment meaning we had leg room to die for. The flight was relatively uneventful, I watched Wicker Man with Nick Cage but I will have to watch it again to see the 40 minutes I fell asleep for in the middle. They didn’t provide me with my vegetarian meal, good thing I was faking or I would have thrown my organic hummus at them. Nicole got hers and it looked quite good, vegetarian penne with salad and crudites. We landed in London and had to change planes for the 1h10m flight from Heathrow to Geneva. The plane was much smaller however still larger than I recall the last Air Canada plane we were on. At this point, I think I realized very little could actually go wrong and promptly went unconscious for the entire flight. We arrived in Geneva at about 1130 am and our luggage was almost the first off the carousel. The weather was beautfiul, clear and sunny and about 3 degrees and not a spot of snow in sight. Mum was very happy to see us and it was really a relief to see her looking so good. In her haste to get us home she left the parking ticket in the machine but Nicole found it thankfully and we set off for home. It got late very quickly and although Fiz and Gordon’s flight was delayed by an hour it was very soon that they arrived at the station. So we were all finally here, the only person missing was the patient of the hour, Dad, who will be home on Wednesday to make the homecoming complete.
We made some mashed cauliflower with garlic (remember to cook the garlic next time) and mashed potato with roasted chicken for dinner. This was after our trip to the Co-op where we found that the GPS does work here and that they have TONS of Weight Watchers food in the supermarket all labelled with the point values which will make things much easier for us.
Permalink
12.13.06
Posted in Diary Entries at 8:46 am by Nicole
The frantic wedding planning is underway before we go on vacation. I can’t believe how far we have come in only a month of planning.
Reception Site – Done – Victoria Hall, Cobourg
Caterers – Done – Kingscourt Catering
Dress – Done (Should arrive in June)
Flowers – Of course Done by Trillium Florist
Save the Date Cards – Done by Simon
Accomodation for Guests – Woodlawn Inn (hurry & book a room if you want to stay there!)
So many things left to do:
Ceremony site
Choose Colours
Invitations
Photographer
Decide on/Book Honeymoon
Officiant, decorations, favours,etc etc…
Dad has been so helpful in visiting and paying Vendors, I couldn’t do it without him. Mom’s input has been so valuable as well and I can’t wait to see and talk to the future in-laws about our plans!
Alleta came with me last weekend to try on dresses one last time before the big purchase was made. Unfortunately she didn’t get to see the one I bought, so it will be a surprise for her too!
Enough wedding planning for today, need to get back to work
Nicole
Permalink
« Previous entries Next Page » Next Page »