A FEW THINGS

Hello! Nothing too exciting around these parts at the moment - just looking forward to Thanksgiving long weekend! (And I'm taking Tuesday off to give me an extra long weekend with my boys.) I'm waiting to receive a couple of parcels in the mail that will be big blog contributors in the next week. Hopefully they come soon!

In the meantime, here are a couple of photos I snapped last week!

1. My birthday card from hubby. It's no secret I love princesses - of the Disney and real life variety. And this princess card talks. So cool. When I read it a little closer I had to laugh. I think someone might be hinting I'm a bit of a diva? Or princess if you will? ;)

2. Halloween washi tape I put on cards for my family!

3. The last hydrangea of the season from the abandoned house next door. They're especially pretty when they turn pink! (Our bridesmaids carried white hydrangea in our wedding so I have a soft spot for it.)

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! See you  next week.

SWITZERLAND - POST THREE

This post is going to combine the next two stops on our Switzerland trip - Zermatt and Gruyeres.

As you might remember, the Glacier Express Train took us to last stop - Zermatt. This is a pedestrian only town; the only vehicles were golf cart sized electric go carts. With a glorious view of the Matterhorn (trust me - glorious is the only word that fits there) it is just the most majestic thing I have ever seen.

We spent a few nights in this town and spent most of our time hiking. If I had to choose my favourite activity in the world hiking in the Alps is definitely top three. Besides hiking we ate a delicious meal of flambe steak which felt very fancy and exciting, did some shopping, and went to the Matterhorn Museum (our Swiss Travel Pass was also a free pass to museums)!

I could have stayed there forever. Again, it is a town known for skiing so I like to imagine us going back there some day. The skiiers in the family can ski and I can lie in a hot tub and eat Swiss chocolate.

From Zermatt we made a quick stop in Gruyeres. We only spent one night in the home of Gruyere cheese - the key ingredient in cheese fondu. Yum. We did a little tour of one of the cheese factories but they were done making cheese for the day so we didn't get the full effect. (Again - free with our Swiss Pass.)

This was an adorable town (and tiny!) with one cobblestone street through the center flanked with restaurants and hotels. At the end of the street is a chapel and behind that a medieval castle (and a weird alien art exhibit??). Every restaurant sells cheese fondu made from their own special blend of local cheeses.

The medieval castle in Gruyeres (not to be a broken record but again free with the Swiss Pass) is open to the public so we did a little tour and video which was a good way to kill some time before our delicioussss fondu dinner. Hubby and I keep a mental list of the favourite meals we've ever had (who doesn't?) and this was totally top ten. During dinner a glider plane (it looked like a life sized version of a paper airplane) was flying around the hills and was actually pretty cool dinner entertainment.

The only downside to this stop on our trip was this is when it started to get hot. Like smoking hot. Like make you fight about stupid stuff hot. And we had to carry our backpacks from the bus station up a gigantic hill to get to the town. First world problems, I know, but really you could add this to our list of marriage challenges. ;) Yikes. But it was an adorable town and the cheese was crazy amazing so totally worth it. If you ever make it to Switzerland, it is worth a stop but one night was enough to see it all.

CURB APPEAL - POST FOUR

Here it is. The moment we've all been waiting for. The house painting before and after.

Now, before you skip ahead, let me warn you. This is not the final product. I have a number of things on my outdoor to do list as you'll see in the photo below. Everything else (except for a new house number) will be a project for next year. I want to take out the concrete steps (that are flaking apart) and put in new wooden steps, get some shutters and window boxes, new outdoor light fixtures, finish painting the house, a new front door and new windows just for the entryway (all the other windows were replaced before we bought the house), chop down the dying pine trees beside the driveway, and even just do some landscaping.

That's a long list.

And that's why this year I am happy with 2 of 4 sides of the house painted and a new house number. Baby steps. (Concrete steps?) :)

As an FYI - we scraped one side of the house at a time and our neighbour told us you really only have to get rid of the paint that is flaking off. Then we spot painted areas that were worse than others. After that we did 2 full coats and it looks sooo much better (in our opinion)!  Take a look! (PS - painting is way better when you have a super cute assistant. And I mean...super cute.)

END OF SEPTEMBER BEACH DAYS

This past weekend was the most gorgeous end of September weekend I can ever remember. We wore shorts, finished up our outside painting, walked the nature park, and went to the beach!

One of the best things about our house is that it is a ten minute walk from the beach. When we bought our house it was the beginning of December and I didn't realize until the snow melted in the spring how close we were to the ocean! It was quite a lovely surprise that hubby laughed about - my sense of direction is horrendous.

Ever since Leroy was a wee little guy it was our regular summer routine to get ice cream, go to the beach, throw the frisbee and look for beach glass. We've started a bit of a beach glass collection and it's nothing to scoff at. ;)

For a few different reasons we haven't spent much time there this summer (can you say moved - twice?) and when Sunday was so absolutely gorgeous we decided to go after church. Even though I don't get to see them every day I'm pretty lucky to have such special guys in my life. (And on the upside - Leroy has been spending time with me in my home away from home!) I hope your weekend was lovely too!

Below left: What I call the "Stairs of Death". The steepest, most tetanus - infested stairs in the universe. We take Leroy off his leash before we descend because otherwise, let's be honest, I'm sure we would all die.

Below right: Our little manny isn't much of a swimmer. A few weeks ago when visiting a friend's cottage he totally surprised us when he chased a stick into the water and swam! Normally he wades and if you threw something for him you end up getting in the water to retrieve it yourself if it's something you don't want to lose (like a frisbee). He didn't swim yesterday but he spent a lot of time running in and out of the waves and was happy as could be. And pretty crazy adorable.

SWITZERLAND - POST TWO

In post one I talked about our time in Zurich and Kyburg, Switzerland.  Today we're off to St Moritz - a town well known for skiing - and according to my guide book, a favourite of celebs and royals.

St Moritz was a quick stop on our trip.  This was our starting point for the Glacier Express, the express train that took us through the Swiss Alps.  I had read about scenic train rides through the Alps and bought our tickets in advance.  The train was definitely the best way to see Switzerland.  We were scaling cliffs and mountains and passing countless rural towns.  The windows of the Glacier Express extend up to the ceiling so the views of the mountains are extended overhead.

Stores and restaurants in St Moritz were mostly closed due to it being an in between season (ski season was definitely over but summer tourism had not yet started) so we had dinner and walked around the small lake.  We didn't find this town particularly special because it felt like a resort town with expensive boutique stores and not a lot of charm.  The next morning we hopped on the Glacier Express (slight hiccup there when hubby took us in the wrong direction on our little connecting train and we temporarily thought we might have missed the G.E.) and spent the full day traveling by train and watching the gorgeous scenery...and rereading some Harry Potter occasionally.  Here are a few photos from St Moritz and the Glacier Express.