The way to a woman's heart....a delicious Valentine's dinner at Pur!

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Mark and I celebrated a belated Valentine's Day last night! He took me out to a fantastic dinner at Pur, a restaurant in Lausanne Flon. We enjoyed the beef carpaccio as an appetizer and then I ooohed-and-aahhed my way through my main course, the pork ribs (en francais, ravers de porc rôti à l’ananas confit, aubergines marinées au sake et miel!) Mark and I ordered the same thing and both loved it! They were delicious...so tender and the BBQ sauce was delightful...tangy and sweet at the same time. I have a very high standard for ribs as most don't stand up against my Dad's ribs, but these were great! The meal was topped off with the addition of a good bottle of wine and a side of cooked pineappple and spicy potatoe chips. It was a very memorable Valentine's Day! For those of you reading this in or near Lausanne, add Pur to your list of must-eat places!

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!

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!

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!

Holiday Shopping in London

Walking through Marylebone to Oxford Street

Selfridge's window display

Beautiful department store decorations

Kickin' off the holiday shopping season in London - Happy Christmas!

Adidas' live window display! - Love the dancing!

Oxford Street- One of London's best shopping areas

The infamous Harrods!

Harrod's window display

I want to take this guy home!

Back on Oxford Street in the evening to check out the Christmas lights

Crowds of people out shopping!

Meeting up with Mark's friend Candy

We jetted off to London last weekend to enjoy the start of the holiday season! We stayed in the Marylebone neighborhood, within walking distance of Oxford and Bond Streets. We spent Saturday cruising through some of London's best shopping areas! Oxford Street was shut down to traffic and there were tons of crowds out starting their holiday shopping. We started out in Selfridge & Co., one of London's oldest department stores. We continued down Oxford, then over to Bond Street, where some of London's most high-end stores call home. It was fun to see all the beautiful window displays.

After a hot chocolate break at Starbucks to rest our feet, we headed in the direction of Knightsbridge, where Harrod's and Harvey Nichols are located. Harrods has a fantastic gourmet food hall that I could spend hours in! In the evening, we headed back to Oxford Street to enjoy the Christmas lights.

That night, we met up with Mark's friend from law school, Candy. She moved to London earlier this year and we had a lot of fun catching up with her over dinner. The next morning, we met up with her for brunch as well. Then it was time to head home! It was a great weekend and we enjoyed the holiday spirit!

Lausanne Snowstorm 2010

Trekking to the bus stop early Wednesday morning!

Mark took these pictures of the heavy snow that fell all day Wednesday

Our very own winter wonderland!

A crazy snowstorm hit Lausanne this week! It stranded buses, trains and shut down Geneva Airport. Everyone had a tough time getting home, including me! Here's my story:

I took the train into work on Wednesday to avoid the roads, which was definitely a good idea! However, heavy snow was still falling when I got back to Lausanne on Wednesday evening. My bus on the #1 line only made it 3 stops before it got stuck behind a line of other buses that were stranded! The bus driver told everyone "Descendre" (get off)!! After checking in with Mark to see if the other line was still running, I headed for the #3 bus, but stopped when I saw that another bus at the front of the stranded row was starting up again, woohoo! The bus driver made an announcement that he was driving an abbreviated route, but I lucked out that my stop was included. Unfortunately, that luck didn't last too long! The bus made it one stop and then got stranded trying to pull away from the curb on a hill! At that point, I was out of options (it was the same route as the #3) and so I started walking!

It was an eerie scene as I climbed up the two (steep) hills to home! I probably saw at least 1/2 a dozen buses stranded on the road and mobs of people were walking, since they also had to get off their buses! It was somewhat chaotic, and yet calm at the same time. I was very thankful to make it home that evening, having had a 2 1/2 hour commute! According to Internet statistics, Lausanne only gets that much snow about once every 5 years. It will be interesting to see if that was our "bi-decade" storm or if this winter will bring more snow like it! At least I really can say that I have "walked home 5 miles in the snow, uphill, barefoot"....okay, so I didn't have to walk as far as five miles and I wasn't barefoot (thank goodness), but it's a good story. :) I'll keep you posted on our winter weather!