Saturday, January 29, 2011

Hot Air Ballon Festival in Chateau d'Oex!

Yesterday I headed up the mountain town of Chateau d'Oex to check out the Hot-Air Balloon Festival. I spent the day w/ my good friends, Brad, Kelly and their daughter Anna and we had a fabulous time viewing the balloons amongst a gorgeous backdrop! We couldn't have asked for a better day!


A blimp cruising by!


Cute animal balloon!






Funny astronaut balloon!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Holy Cow! Gourmet Burgers and Juice Bar


For lunch today, Mark and I finally headed over to Holy Cow. It's a gourmet burger joint in Lausanne that is pretty famous in this area, as it has been voted "best burger in Suisse-Romandie" two years running! It's a tiny place, crammed full of people waiting to order a true American-style burger! I agree, its definitely one of the best burgers I've eaten in Switzerland. I had a regular hamburger and Mark enjoyed "The Big Cheese." I definitely recommend giving it a try...just be prepared to take it to go, as there is only one table and a hand-full of bar stools (2 of which we were lucky enough to snag). These expats w/ a hamburger craving will be back again soon!

Friday, January 14, 2011

Goodbye 2010...Hello 2011!


Taco Surf Reunion!

1st Christmas at Sis and Adam's new house

Opening gifts on Christmas Eve


Enjoying family time!


Very proud of the chef! :)


Mom and Dad in the kitchen!


Lots of Ollie time!


Our good-lookin' group at Searsucker on NYE

Mark and I ringing in the New Year!

Watching the seals in La Jolla!


One of the San Diego spots we miss!


Happy 2011!


Mark and I wrapped up 2010 with a few jam-packed weeks full of visiting friends and family in the US. We split our time between Phoenix and San Diego and crammed in as much as we could! I spent Christmas with my family in San Diego while Mark was with his family in Phoenix. It was so great finally getting to hang out at Sister and Adam's new house! Being with them and my parents was really special since I miss them very much during the year! Then Mark jetted over to SD so that we could spend NYE with his friends who came down from San Francisco and LA. We had a fun night at Searsucker for dinner and rang in the New Year at Hotel Se's extravagant party!

I also got the chance to have a mini-10 year reunion with my high school friends...so fun to see Clarisa, Karla and Steph! Got in more good friend time with Steph...love our In 'n Out and EZ-J lunches! I caught up w/ friends Jen and Dan at Taco Surf, our Mexican food joint we frequented religiously back in the days of living in PB! Jules and I did our second annual Holiday Bowl Parade 5k run and Broken Yolk mimosa breakfast afterwards! My time there also included Taco Tuesday with a group of my close friends....reminising about the good 'old days and catching up on current news at P.B. Bar and Grill, lol! Our last day in La Jolla provided us with a perfect sunset and nice dinner with my family at Mandarin House. There were lots of tears that day....thank goodness for Skype!

The weeks there went by so fast, I think I need a vacation from my vacation! It was sad to say good-bye, but hopefully we'll make it home for Christmas '11...as long as the weather doesn't deter us. We almost didn't make it home this year due to Heathrow's snow/ice closure debacle! We landed back in Suisse this past Sunday and have spent the week fighting our nasty jetlag!

Wishing everyone a very healthy and happy New Year! Cheers to 2011!