Quote of the Day

"Tis easy enough to be pleasant, When life flows along like a song; But the man worth while is the one who will smile when everything goes dead wrong." -- Ella Wheeler Wilcox, American writer

Quote of the Day

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who matter don't mind, and those that mind, don't matter." -- Theodor Seuss Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, American author

Birthday Month

I have officially entered my birthday month, which no, I do not celebrate, but yes, I do think about. I'm turning 29, which sounds close to 30, which sounds close to REAL ADULT LIFE. Being an adult is still questionable in your 20's (especially for some of our Memphis friends). I don't feel like an adult. When Ryan and I were frustrated because we missed a train, we each got ourselves candy and felt better. That puts us around 4 years old.

Last year around this time, Ryan said we could do anything I wanted. I'm sure he thought I'd suggest a party at our house or maybe a fancy dinner. But what I wanted to do was drive to New Orleans with a pit stop at Anthropologie in Jackson. Because it was my birthday, Ryan couldn't rush the shopping experience, and because I wanted to take advantage of this special time, I picked up just about everything in the store. He called after 45 minutes and I had just made it to the dressing room. What I love about Anthropologie is that it's colorful, and different, and a little hippie chic. For my 28th, I bought a black sweater. It was awesome.

This year will probably be different. Things I will miss... a friend sushi dinner, a Happy Birthday banner on my office door, the cats (they were always great on special occasions), cake batter ice cream, and of course, the option of going home. However, this time I'll have all new things to look forward to. My friend in the building, it's her birthday too, so we're doing something together. I'm not sure what that will be, but a sweet baby and a good dog will be involved. Ryan won't have time to pick out a present. Since Christmas, he's been working late and on Saturdays. He's asked if I could maybe pick something out myself. I haven't decided yet, but there's a French store called Sandro that's REALLY great. The clothes are expensive and oozing with European style. I tried on A LOT, and have my eye on - wait for it - a black top. Friends at school will probably want to go for aperitivo. It's sort of like happy hour... you buy drinks, and small dinner food is served for free. It's really popular here. One of the bars is actually called New Orleans. Funny, right? I might actually spend my birthday in New Orleans. With a new black top. Maybe it won't be different after all...

Big news for us - my family came for a visit! Here are some highlights... trains, skiing in Davos, and Zurich.















Ryan and I stayed in Zurich after my family left, and had the best weekend. I got a plant from a REALLY cute, little flower shop. When they wrapped it, it looked even prettier! At this point, I was beyond excited... I had just seen family, we were in my favorite city, and someone just handed me flowers wrapped in pretty paper. Does it get better than that? I don't think so. I was SO happy, I got Ryan to take a picture of me in front of the store. A few hours (and a few more flowers) later, I had Ryan pose with our treasures. I'm not sure it will have the same affect on you, but these two pictures crack me up. Look at my face, and then look at his. I'm kind of like... look at this in my hand right now, is it not the cutest, and is this not the best day, can you even stand it?!? And he's going... um, I guess these flowers are awesome, and of course I want to pose for a picture with them???














Ryan will have to share the other highlight... it's a restaurant in Zurich, where people try and jump over two beams in the ceiling, hang upside down, drink a glass of wine, then get to carve their name in the wall. You can't understand without the video, and he's got a new trick for posting them, so I'll leave it to him.

This is been a time consuming post, and I'm putting off cooking a whole fish that's been in my refrigerator since Saturday. I not only have to cook it in a way that makes it taste good (my Italian friends say just to rub olive oil on it, but that's been their answer for everything... sort of like Windex in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, so I'm skeptical), then I have to remove the bones. This could get interesting... ciao!

Quote of the Day

"Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit." -- Napoleon Hill, American author

CaRnIVaLE!

It's Carnival (Mardi Gras) time in Switzerland and it gets pretty silly here. I guess it started on Friday on my way to work. I'm riding the bus thinking about numbers, assets, and liabilities when, out of the corner of my eye, I see a high school aged girl wearing what appears to be a 50 gallon black trash bag as a shirt with dirt all over her face. She was laughing, so I guessed she was not beat up and forced to wear a trash bag. I thought she must be protesting something, and didn't really get it. Then I looked up and saw the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz and one of the Ghostbusters. Then I remembered this weekend is Carnival.

Carnival here is Mardi Gras and Halloween mixed together. It's a very big event (it's actually called Rabadan if your into wikipedia, youtube, or flickr) in the city just north of us called Bellinzona. It starts on Thursday and continues until Tuesday (I guess that's similar to New Orleans??) Anyway, we decided we would go Saturday night. We heard people wear costumes, but I was not planning on wearing a costume because:

1. I don't have a costume, and
   
2. I have found the people in Switzerland to be generally quiet, polite, conservative, sober, and responsible. I have no idea what kind of "costumes" everyone would wear. I sort of pictured this being a party with people wearing the little masks on a stick that you hold over your eyes while you wear a tuxedo and sip champagne. The costume parties I'm used to going to typically involve dressing up in something very funny, offensive, or otherwise crazy and would not be looked upon favorably by people in tuxedos with little masks on a stick. I don't want to be that guy. I already feel weird enough.

I guess the first clue that it would be a wild party was at work when one of the guys who we were going to go with said to wear "your worst jeans and your worst jacket." Okay... still not thinking this is a big deal, because this guy is Italian and has very well dressed at all times. His "worst jeans" are probably still very nice. I took this information to mean don't worry about dressing as if you were going to a very nice restaurant.

Then I asked another guy at work if he was going. He answered: no, he was not--make sure to wear clothes you don't care about. I said "really?" Then he acted out someone throwing up on his shirt.... Sometimes there are benefits to not knowing how to translate every word. Acting things out is fun.

Despite these signs I don't want to wear a costume, because I really have no idea. We plan to meet my Italian friend from work along with another couple he is friends with at the train station to go to Bellinzona. One of Malinda's friends from school also decided to come down from Zurich to go with us. Malinda's friend has never been to the Carnival either. As we are waiting for the agreed upon time to meet my friend, he calls and says he will be late because his friends have decided that he should dress up as a woman and it's taking longer than expected to get his makeup right.

At this point, we decide that we could wear some Mardi Gras beads at least so we look festive. I mean, my friend is dressing as a woman! Malinda's friend from Zurich brought some swimming goggles to wear, just in case. Good move.

So we went to the train station, and EVERYONE has on a crazy costume (except for the random people who were apparently coming to Lugano for vacation and looking at everyone like they were nuts). I loved it! Some of the costumes were really great too. I saw Bender from Futurama, lots of priests having beers with terrorists, lots of animals (mostly pigs), devils, mummies, knights, and one guy with a long white t-shirt with a dishwashing detergent cake taped on the back!? When our train pulled up, it was already packed with tons of other people in costumes who were all singing!!! Their was nowhere for us to sit, but it was only about a 20 minute ride.

When we got there, it was great. It was Mardi Gras and Halloween mixed together like I said. If you have never been to Mardi Gras, it's like Tom Lee Park during Memphis in May. If you have never been to Memphis in May or Mardi Gras... come on... live a little. It was a fun party with lots of people outside. There were bands too! The first band we saw was on some bleachers and they were playing Rage Against the Machine.

The next band was in front of this super old church. They were all dressed like leprechauns and the conductor was real pumped!

So, last night was fun and it made me think that maybe some of the Swiss people do know how to let loose a little. I was impressed, and hope to go next year as a giant calculator.

Quote of the Day

"Love sought is good, but given unsought is better."--William Shakespeare, from "Twelfth Night"

Super Bowl Party (of one)

I can't really explain how happy I was to watch the Saints win their first Super Bowl. The game aired at about midnight our time, so the plan was to take a nap that afternoon... prepare ourselves for the 4 am victory dance. I fell asleep reading (no offense Amy Tan). I think we were excited, because Ryan took this picture. When he fell asleep after me, I did the same. So, here's a look at our pre-game activities... probably very different from yours in the US.














The problem with our plan... Ryan didn't wake up. He did, however, turn over.


I tried to wake him once in the beginning. Our slingbox wasn't working properly, and it froze when the Saints had the ball. I was pissed, and "asked" him to fix it. Afterward, he went back to sleep.

I wasn't holding back... cheering, pouncing on the sofa, yelling at the tv. Nothing phased him. Except for when the Saints put their first points on the board. I had to celebrate and this is the result. See the eyebrow scrunch? He wasn't as excited. After this picture was taken, he said "okay, I'm going to sleep now," and went to bed.
And it's a real shame, because that's when the game started to turn around. When the two point conversion ruling went in our favor, I felt I had to capture the moment. No one to take the picture? No problem. We're number 1.

Then, the most unbelievable things started happening. The game looked like it could actually be won... by the Saints!?! This was too good. I felt like I needed to do more, be more in the moment. I brought some beads with me from our Christmas trip, thinking I might throw a NOLA style party one day... gumbo, homemade king cake, that sort of thing. Anyway, I remembered that it was all in the closet, and I thought, well, it needed to come out. This was a party after all. So, now I wasn't just cheering in a Swiss apartment at 3 in the morning by myself... I was doing it with a Mardi Gras boa! Much better.

I don't know how to describe what came next. They won! The New Orleans Saints won! Even now I can't believe it, but I knew then that I wanted to remember it. I was one excited, Saints shirt and PJ wearing, old beads and boa donning, PROUD, proud, Saints fan. It doesn't get much better than this.
People talk about how this process gave New Orleans hope. I personally think they had hope long before this season. And I couldn't be happier about them being in the spotlight like this. I wanted this sentimental, shoulders back, proud of where I came from kind of feeling to last, so I decided to wear my Saints shirt to an Italian class the next day. I started by introducing myself to the French guy sitting next to me, saying "I'm from New Orleans, you know, we just won the Super Bowl? See my shirt?" It was a wasted effort. He didn't know enough English to really know what I was saying, nor was he even aware that the Super Bowl had taken place. I kept trying, though, and finally found someone who knew what I was talking about. He even gave me a high five. A high five from a Romanian! Only here... pre-game naps and Romanian high fives. I'll never forget when the Saints won the Super Bowl. THE SAINTS WON THE SUPER BOWL!?! Ahhhhhh, still feels good.