A French weekend

Bonjour all!  How is your weekend going?  Mine has been very French!

Friday, we had a team lunch at work as a send-off for one of our co-workers who is going onto another project.  We went to a French restaurant close to the office.

We shared some escargot as an appetizer.

And I had frog legs for my main course!

Friday night, Bo and Ashley hosted dinner at their place.

 

I brought some cheeses to snack on, including this one!  Ail des ours literally means "bear garlic", so I was really intrigued when I saw this in the grocery store.  It was tasty!!

Dinner was a delicious beef bourguignon!!

Saturday, we headed over to France again.  I had purchased a ski lesson on BuyClub, which is Geneva's version of Groupon, so I was eager for my first European ski day!

It was a bit overcast, but it was a fun day!  We had just enough time to pick up our rental equipment and have lunch in Chamonix before the lesson, which was a success!  I brushed up on the skills I learned in Colorado, so it was a good confidence booster :)

Today, as usual, was spent relaxing and catching up with all things life and work.  I can't believe we are heading into the last week of January.  Time is flying!

That time of year

Bonjour friends.  It is Sunday afternoon in Geneva, and the weather is sunny and cold! Today was the first day that I really got a glimpse of what everyone means when they say "the city is dead during winter".  I think everyone is on the slopes!

My first Alps ski adventure was postponed until next weekend, so I've spent much of this weekend catching up on things.  It is, of course, my busiest time of year at work, and so that leaves very little time during the week to do much.  So this weekend was filled with paying bills, running errands, Ikea-related nonsense, running, yoga, and time with friends.  The highlight (hopefully) will be tonight - the NFC Championship!!  Go Hawks!

Happy new year!

Bonjour friends!  I know that it is now 11 January, so I'm a bit late, but happy new year!  I am back in Geneva after a lovely vacation spent in the US.  I was lucky to be able to spend quite a bit of time back in the States, but the time went by so quickly!

Hello Tampa!!

The Christmas holiday was spent enjoying some of my favorite traditions... seeing old friends, Christmas Eve service, the Yummy House, and impromptu piano recitals.  It felt so nice to be home for the holidays again!

Salt and pepper tofu!

Florida sunrise

Running on Bayshore is my absolute favorite!

Friends since elementary school!

I also was finally able to go out to Colorado to check out Stephanie's Frozen Tundra Chalet!  Stephanie was a super gracious host for (so many!) of us, and I had such a great time catching up with friends and learning to ski!

More snow than I've ever seen in my life.

Seriously!

We went snowshoeing on the first two days.  

When we were going down a powdery hill, I somehow lost one of my snowshoes and didn't even notice!  I am the one in front that looks to be waist-deep in snow!

Then it was time to hit the slopes!  Our group was pretty evenly divided between skiers and beginners, so it worked out nicely!  Lena, Cindy, Brian, and I were able to do lessons together.  We did a group lesson on the first day and a private half-day lesson on the second.

Waiting for the shuttle!

Our ski instructor Tony was awesome!

Ski school students :)

Apres-ski with the gang!

By the third day, we were skiing on our own!  I started out pretty shaky on day one and was falling all over the place.  But our instructor was super helpful, and by day three, we were all skiing pretty independently, even if it was only on the beginner runs.

On NYE, we had a group of 15 with us!  After a day of skiing, we headed out on a sleigh ride!  We stopped for some hot chocolate and roasted marshmallows, and then we headed back as the sun was getting ready to set.

For the evening festivities, we spent most of the night hanging out at the house, but we did pop out for some fireworks and a few drinks at the local bars!  This is the third year in a row that I've spent NYE with Stephanie, Cindy, and Lena, and it was great, as always!!

Stephanie had the brilliant idea to have everyone bring a flag from their country (UAE, UK, Singapore, Switzerland, USA!) to take a picture.

After Colorado, I spent a few quick days in Tampa and Nashville before heading back over the Atlantic.  This weekend has been spent mostly sleeping and unpacking!  I'm not sure if I've quite recovered from jet lag yet, but I suppose I will have no choice once Monday morning rolls around.  The first part of the year is my busiest time at work, and things will really kick into full gear starting this week.  Here's to hoping that all goes smoothly!

Go Hawks :)