Quote of the Day...

"In order that people may be happy in their work, these three things are needed: They must be fit for it. They must not do too much of it. And they must have a sense of success in it." -- John Ruskin, English author, poet and art critic

My Husband the Comedian

Ryan - good thing you made that last post. It was HILARIOUS!

Quote of the Day

Lately work has begun to take over my life here (not so different from how it was in the US). This has greatly limited my posting to the blog. I feel bad about that because I know Malinda's posts are not funny and we are probably losing readers all the time. So, I've decided to maybe throw a few in that are short and sweet from now on if I don't have time/pictures for anything long.

One of the e-mails I get everyday at work is this accounting news brief. It sounds really exciting, I know, but at the end of them they always have a quote of the day. I read the headlines as quickly as possible and see if KPMG is being sued or anything, then I get to the quotes which are hit or miss. I think I will start posting the ones I like for your enjoyment as well.

Today:
“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it." --Pablo Picasso

We're Baaack

We've been on a Christmas vacation! And posting, while fun, is a little like work. It takes thought, time, and is prone to Facebook distraction. That should explain why we haven't done it in a while.

The past two weeks found us in New Orleans, Memphis, and Poplar Bluff, MO. More specifically, it found us eating junk food, sitting on our butts, and shopping at J Crew. Since pictures are worth a thousand words, I'm hoping they tell our story.

We started in New Orleans. This was Christmas morning. Bizzy is the only one that looks good that early, so we'll leave it at that. Sufficed to say everyone was happy - Santa brought his A game.

Here's Mossy reading her present - "Emails About Mossy: A Back Surgery Diary."








The cousins aren't as young as I remember. My Christmas memories involve wrapping paper everywhere, lots of noise, and little kids shouting out what they received. This Christmas was more quiet (except for the fake noises coming from the new iPhones at the kids table) and included word games!

Majeau Christmas, however, was exactly like I remember. It included Pepere falling asleep amid chaos and the girl cousins talking about boys. Ryan was a new addition to this conversation, but didn't have much to add.

We spent New Year's Eve at my cousin Tommy's wedding, which I was very excited about. NYE always feels forced and involves standing in a line while freezing. This year we enjoyed being warm, free drinks, and an uncrowded dance floor (which Liam enjoyed - wish I had captured it better). Judging by the pictures, it looks like we hijacked the wedding party backdrop for quite some time. Hopefully the bride knew the Majeau's tendency to take over BEFORE she married in.














During the break, we got to see two new things - my parents' (almost finished) kitchen and Sarah's baby! Both were awesome. The kitchen inspired lots of cooking. Bill got Ryan to help with some homemade pasta... they made about 5 pounds of it.













I enjoyed holding Sarah's baby a little too much, but not enough to want one of my own, even though Ryan suspected otherwise. Jacob and I just really connected... here we are both raising the roof.














We got to spend some time with Ryan's family in Poplar Bluff. They live out in the country and I'm in love with their dogs. They're total characters... here's Ginger watching traffic, one-eyed-Darby, and the white dog Freckles (who is deaf and perpetually happy).


Back at the Kelley's house in Memphis, there were Christmas cookies. This is an integral part of the holidays for Ryan, so his mom made about 12 batches. Every time I turned around there were more in the oven, and more in my tummy.













Our Memphis friends showed up for an open night of dinner and trivia. The table split into a girls and boys side - so effective for catching up. We didn't have to talk about football and they didn't have to talk about who was pregnant!












The trip included a first... Ryan's 1st NFL game! The timing was perfect because for the next two days he was sick and passed out.













We've been back since Sunday night, and I haven't exactly gotten into the swing of things. I don't think my body has either. I wasn't hungry at all yesterday (but managed to eat candy), and this morning (it's only 10:30) I've already polished off a bowl of pasta. Lovely.

It was a great trip... I miss being home, and this picture just about sums it up. On the couch, sharing blankets, enjoying ourselves. Doesn't get better. I hope you guys enjoyed your break as much as we did.

We Have Furniture AND Snow!

We've been sitting on cushions for the past three and a half months. A few days ago, we got most of our furniture (the last of it will deliver when we get back), and we couldn't be more excited. The living room is far from finished... the second couch is still in boxes, there's nothing on the walls. BUT, it looks lot better than it did, so we had to show it off. See that? It's a couch. We can sit on it. There's a place to put our TV. A shallow table takes up a blank wall. What more could you want?















It snowed here this past weekend and again today. Judging by our balcony railing, there's a few inches on the ground. I took this picture on Sunday. You can only see the tops of our apartment buildings from the street because they're built on the side of the mountain. It was gorgeous - sunny and snow.

We're doing Christmas a little different this year. Ryan and I are always together, and we don't totally understand the stores, so that rules out a lot of surprise gifts. It got us thinking last night of the presents we've already received. This year has been a big one.

We got an amazing apartment. We'll probably never have a view like this again, so that's a pretty cool gift. I got to talk to my brother today on his birthday. He's five, and that's old enough to carry on a funny conversation. That was an unexpected present. I have in-laws that think nothing of taking care of my cats for the next two years. If you've never cleaned a litter box for two BIG cats, I'm not sure you know what kind of a gift this is. My mom gave me a ton of books before we left, and in each of them she wrote a little note about the stories. It's like having my own personal Barnes & Noble. On top of the books, today she told me that I was a good sister. Because that was a great gift, I told her thank you, but I should have told her she was a good mom. I thought of it too late. Ryan and I have never spent so much time together. We walk everywhere. We talk all the time. And we spend most Fridays and Saturdays making up something to do. That's been the best gift to come out of Switzerland, and I hope it's one that we can give each other in the future. So, for our parents who have at one time or another hoped their kids were happy, here's a gift for you. We're the happiest.

Speaking of gifts, Switzerland has chocolate. If you order a hot chocolate, this is what you get. It's the thickest, richest, chocalatiest drink in the world. Notice my use of "spoonful" as a verb... the chocolate made me crazy!

Expats WITHOUT Cats

Our cats will not be coming with us after Christmas like we planned. Apparently Gracie showed her true colors when Mr. Kelley brought her to the vet. By true colors I mean her Linda Blair from The Exorcist side. They are the most passive cats (to people) you'd ever meet. But get them around animals and they'll cause concern for human life. That experience mixed with the fact that he and Mrs. Kelley actually like having them around led them to offer us the BIGGEST favor ever. They were hoping to save us from the 10+ hours in the air, the hour or so getting through customs, the 3 hours on the train to Lugano, and the 20 minute bus ride to our apartment. Can you picture it? It looks like two angry cats covered in whatever mess they've managed to make in the previous 15 hours. Knowing we can avoid this AND have our "precious angels" taken care for the next year and a half, is amazing.

So, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. We can't THANK YOU enough.

Catching Up

It's been a while. I'm going to give you the same answer I gave my mom... school is requiring more time, we actually have friends now, and I found a website that lets me watch Mad Men. Moreover, I tend to write when I'm upset (my seventh grade diaries will totally back me up), and we've been pretty great lately.

A lot has happened, so I'll attempt to catch you up. First, we got to really see family over Thanksgiving (this is opposed to sort of seeing them through Skype, which is very helpful, but not the same). We met Mom, Bill, Bizzy, Jon and Lisa first in Sienna and then traveled with them to Rome. I'm going to quote my sister from Facebook here and say that "it was ah may zing."

I had the best meal of my life in Rome. It was also the craziest meal experience I've had to date. Hopefully the pictures help you understand. Lisa found this restaurant in a New York Times travel article two years ago, and decided to hold on to it. I'm not sure we would have ever found a place like this if not for her efforts. There was no sign out front - nothing telling you they might actually make food. The room was only big enough to hold 4 or 5 tables. The kitchen was right behind our table. It consisted of one big stove with a propane tank out front. Bugs were everywhere. And not just the flying kind that might be attracted to the inside lights when a door gets opened. I'm talking roaches, but smaller. I'm not good at eating around bugs. In fact, they typically force me to stop eating all together. So the fact that I not only ate this meal, but loved it, says a lot. If I saw a bug on the wall I'd just look away. By that point I had already eaten an appetizer and I wanted nothing to stop me from trying more. There were two people cooking, one with a cigarette in her mouth. About halfway through the meal a dog walked in off the street. I thought it was an accident until the lady (with the cigarette) called it by name - Aldo. While we were eating, Aldo walked right up and put his head on my lap. That got him a piece of chicken. He stayed, without much protest from the cooks, and continued to beg.















Aside from the bugs, cigarettes, dog on lap, and stove top behind Mom's head, the food was unbelievable. There was no menu. Instead, they had a fixed meal for the night that included bruschetta, mashed potatoes (that had tomatoes, beans, olive oil, garlic and spices - this is what made me stop looking at the bugs), beans, 3 kinds of pasta, chicken, and pork. For dessert, they brought out grappa and limoncello. The picture's a little dark, but Bill's face says it all. We were blown away.


We did lots of other things, but eating was definitely the highlight. We saw the Colosseum, lots of churches, and Nero's palace that had been converted to a dog park. It's crazy how many ruins can fit in one city. We had a guided tour of the Vatican, which was helpful. In Sienna, I learned that I loved Brunello wine. When I returned to Lugano, I learned that it was the most expensive. It was a great trip.
Since we've been back we've gone to dinner with friends and met friends in Como. Friends! There was a moment at lunch one day when I realized something had shifted. I was giggling with someone who wasn't Ryan. Not just laughing appropriately as a response - giggling. The other day, I actually took part in an inside joke. These things are slowly seeping back into my life, and it's nice.

The making of friends has been interesting. There's a girl Laura that I've gotten close to. I was sitting next to her today when we were told to form groups. I didn't even question it - I was with her. I also knew there would be a few others who were givens as well. One boy came and asked us if he could join. Laura gave him some push back... we were already four people, but eventually told him that if he got approval from the teacher, that yes, he could join our group. I just watched, noticing how I was in, and this boy wasn't. Total role reversal from just one month ago.

One thing I've learned, just in case anyone's interested, is not to be weird. Weird is a hindrance to making friends. I was probably a little weird in the beginning. I wanted to put myself out there, let people know I was up for going out after school, grabbing lunch, that sort of thing. I thought if I didn't explicitly say so, they'd just go along with their normal groups and assume I was fine. But that's not the weird I'm talking about. I look around the classroom and there are still people who haven't found friends. I can't explain this except for the weird factor. They're too negative, too awkward, can't seem to follow normal conversations. I hate it, and in fact, I make it a point to try hard with them. But the group as a whole doesn't. They leave the outliers alone. Because they're weird. So, just in case you move to Switzerland, the "take away" is to be patient, and fight the weirdness. Eventually, friends will come.

I had a class today that was taught by an American. Even though all my classes are taught in English, being American someone makes it different. He spoke quickly (English being his mother tongue), made jokes no one else understood, and single handedly made me the resident interpretive expert. I often get strange requests. People want to know what some word is in English, and even if we've never met, they somehow know I'm American, so they ask. Some are easier than others. One time they wanted to know what the "red points" were called. You know, on your skin, after the bugs? The word they were looking for was "bites." Anyway, at every break today I had a line of people at my desk... did I know the date of the assignment, how many people will present on Friday, did I understand the lesson? It was all pretty funny.

Speaking of school, I have a paper to write. Early America - Spoils System vs Merit System. I'll leave you with a picture of some olives we bought from an outdoor market on Saturday. Ryan wanted me to take the other picture... we see produce here we've never seen before. Anyone know what this is??? In person, it seems like spiky cauliflower, but that's just our best guess.