Switzerland: Getting there & Zurich

  Getting to Switzerland is a trek.  We left around 6:00 pm and got to Zurich just a couple hours shy of 24 hours later.  Part of that was time change, but we also didn’t sleep one wink on the plane.  It was hard to when we just kept following the sun.  The sun only really went down for about an hour and then we caught back up to it.  On the upside, Sean managed to drink quite a bit of the free wine Air Berlin was offering on the flight.  And they gave us a cute little package of personal items (toothbrush, sleep mask, socks, earplugs, etc). We left LA when it was 100 degrees and arrived in rainy Zurich in our comfy plane clothes and flip flops.  By the time we got to our hotel room at about 5:00, we were BEAT.  And wet. And cranky.  We wanted to just go straight to bed but our good sense told us to go get something to eat and try to wait it out another hour or so.  So we found a cute little place to have our first Swiss dinner and enjoyed it more than I thought we were going to considering how tired we were.  We got back to our hotel around 8 and passed out.  Until 1:00AM, at which point we were wide awake and ready to start our day.  We killed a couple hours playing cards and talking and finally couldn’t lay in bed any longer and got up around 4:30 figuring we’d just get an early start at getting to Lucerne.  We stumbled into the strangest 24 hour pizza joint that was basically the only thing open and had, no joke, the best cup of coffee I’ve ever had in my LIFE.  In a china glass nonetheless. And the best pasta that I am pretty sure had been on the warmer all night long. But it was delicious! Then we headed back to the train station (which is inside the airport in Zurich) and found our saving grace for the rest of the trip, the Tourism Office.  They will help you with anything in there.  The people were so nice and friendly (in every city we went to).  And its free.  So we would just go straight to the tourism office, buy our train or bus tickets and ask a million questions and save ourselves a lot of hassle later. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see too much of Zurich and despite what we had read, it really seemed like a cool city.  Luckily, we got another night there at the very end of the trip and did a little more sightseeing but if we ever went back, I would definitely give Zurich a day or two to explore.

Life lately

Enjoying these little ladies that are impossible to get a non-blurry picture of.  Sean has been working away at building them the coolest chicken coop.  He seriously amazes me sometimes.  This thing is built better than our house! Chicken post soon to come…

 The cats are enjoying the bench we recently setup in Hazel’s room.

 A break from working to get lunch and some fruit at Avila Barn.

 Found some bedding on sale at Pottery Barn and jumped on it.  The exposed white faux down comforter was getting a little sad.

 Scored some cool old washboards on Craigslist for the laundry room.

Anxiously awaiting the delivery of this beauty that is the first piece of decor for the nursery.

 Spent this past weekend sanding, sanding, sanding a dresser for Hazel’s room.  And then stained it right up in about 15 minutes.  Its allllll in the prep.  With life too, really, huh?

 This pretty plant by the sink is making me really happy.  Just hope I can keep it alive…I tend to kill houseplants.

Terribly blurry picture but we had our first fondue in the house on Saturday night!  Fondue is kind of a big deal to us so it was a fun first.

 We’ve been planning meals and cooking from the garden a lot lately.

 

Stocking up on some swimming supplies for Hazel just in case it decides to be a nice warm fall and she decides to come out eager to hit the pool.  A girl can dream right?

Pregnancy Essentials

Josie Maran beauty product / Free People bra / KLEAN KANTEEN 27oz Classic Canteen / Moleskine Pocket Ruled Notebook, $15 / Bump Nest Pregnancy Pillow Stone Chevron One Size / Mustela ‘Stretch Marks Double Action’ Cream / Mama Mio Pregnancy Boob Tube, $50

Above are just a few of the lifesavers I have found during my pregnancy.  If you do one thing for yourself (pregnant or not!), buy one of these bump nest pillows.  They are HEAVENLY!!  I sleep like a bear during hibernation every night and have zero discomfort sleeping since I’ve been sleeping with this thing.  And if you do two things, keep a journal. I already get a kick out of reading my first couple entries from right after I found out I was pregnant.  I can only imagine how valuable these memories are going to be in 20 or 30 years when our kiddos are grown and we are wishing we were back in the “good ‘ol days!”  Slightly un-related….these are seriously feeling like THE days.  The ones I will look back on as the best ones of my life.  Early 20’s were way fun and being 17 and footloose and fancy free was the absolute shit but there’s something so fleeting and precious about these memories were making right now.  I can tell they need to be savored.  So I’m writing as much as I can remember (and for as long as I can manage to stay awake at night).

Life Lately

Getting things together for Hazel’s medicine cabinet.  The cutest little supplies we hope we never have to use.

Shopping for some cute things for her brief brush with summer before it gives way to Fall.

Sips & Songs on Friday night at a local winery.  For me, it was a little lacking on the sips.

The cutest little souvenirs my sister brought back from Thailand for Hazel.

Sean’s been doing a bunch of experimenting with his new BBQ.  He cooked a brisket one whole afternoon (above) while we were doing yardwork and we made the yummiest beer can chicken.  Also, it sounds weird but cantaloupe + seasoning salt grilled for a couple minutes on each side is AMAZING!  Got the idea here and loved it.

The Veggie Garden

A month ago we sacrificed unpacking from a 2 week trip to Switzerland (more on that soon) to spend the weekend putting in our veggie garden.  It turned out to be the funnest weekend.  Really any weekend I can spend outside with Sean, smelling like sunscreen, soaking up the sun, and bbq-ing is a good weekend in my book.

 And one month later:

The one month recap is that everything is actually doing really great.  Our pumpkins each have a couple leaves and we thinned them out a bit and adjusted the water (pumpkins need a TON of water).  I think this is the year that we finally got them in the ground early enough. We are already up to our elbows in squash, lettuce and arugula.  Herbs are doing really good.  We have a couple little jalapenos and another mystery type of pepper that I can’t remember the name of growing.  Out of curiosity we peeked to see how the carrots are doing and there are legit full on carrots waiting to be pulled up. Crazy!  I started a garden binder a couple years back and have been keeping a garden journal with notes of what was planted, when, seed packets for reference, recaps on how things are doing at different stages, what has worked well and what hasn’t, and things that we did to combat issues.  I am hoping that after a couple years this becomes a valuable reference.  Another huge help has been Pat Welsh’s Southern California Organic Gardening book.  It breaks everything down month by month and has such good and easy to understand common sense advice.

Father’s Day

Our garden is somehow thriving.  Its a miracle!  We’re already up to our eyeballs in squash and, the best part, squash blossoms!  We made a yummy breakfast with both of the aforementioned and a bunch of herbs. It’s one of my biggest pleasures so far living in our house, cooking from our garden.

Being as how this was Sean’s first father’s day (In my book at least.  He is skeptical of my interpretation of the rules), I told him to pick what he wanted to do and we’d do it.  Shock of shockers, he picked to go to a brewery.  He got to drink some tasty beverages and had a ready and willing designated driver with him (I think he’s going to be slightly bummed when I’m no longer preggo).  We had an amazing lunch at the tiny but delish and stylish Bell St. Farms in Los Alamos.  Its a must-do if you are in the santa ynez/santa barbara/los alamos area.  Lastly we made a pretty epic dessert.  Recipe here in case your interested.  I can’t wait to celebrate again next  year with our little Hazelnut in tow.

Baby Makes 3 (If you don’t count the 3 cats and 3 chickens)

Well from one project to the next…house is finished and now were expecting a little lady in September.  Could not be more excited and more ready to meet our little Hazel “nut”! Progress on the nursery to come soon!

June House Status Update

There’s still a ton to be done and our to-do list is a complicated system of index cards and color coding (don’t ask) but we are officially enjoying the house!  Last weekend we tackled one of the bigger projects of staining the front porch and back deck and man does it make a difference having everything cleaned up and polished.  We had to do a ton of sanding and pressure washing to prep them for stain and we both ended the weekend sunburned and pooped but its done!

And then we commenced to put up some 4th of July decorations which really made me happy. I’ve been dreaming of decorating our house for the holidays for almost 2 years now and as each holiday passed us by and we weren’t moved in it killed me a little bit inside.  So you better believe I am going all out on good ‘ol Independence Day.

This past weekend we hosted a little blueberry pancake Father’s day breakfast on Saturday morning and spend the rest of the day putting down guerilla hair on the front slope. We originally were going to skip it but the weeds were persistent and I grew of spending 15% of my life weeding so we went for it.  Turns out, I love the way it finishes off the yard, it was crazy cheap, and I think when it fades a bit it will look less intense.

 

And just for fun, a little nook & cranny of the house that I’m really loving.  I think I need another week or two before I am brave enough to post any pictures of the inside of the house.  There are still piles (albeit strategic) in our living room & things are just altogether a little un-done still.

The Garden: “The After After”

This weekend we went to town on finishing the landscaping. Sean’s parents and aunt & uncle came up to help us and we banged it out.  Installed sod in the front & backyard, wheelbarrow-ed 7 yards of pea gravel into the yard, finished the irrigation, & finished hooking up the water heater so we’ll have hot water when the gas gets turned on on Wednesday.  I still cant believe this is our yard…it changed so fast.

There’s still so much to be done but we were determined to move in Easter weekend so were just moving in.  The gas is getting turned on on Wednesday and that was pretty much the only thing the city had to hold over our heads.  We still need our occupancy permit but there are just a limited # of items that need to be finished for that so there is a possibility that we could get them done and legitimately final by Friday or we can always just move our stuff in and say we aren’t yet living there, which they really have no way of proving or disproving.  Either way, were going for it!  My mama is going to help me clean the place up on Friday and Sean and I are going to try to get some miscellaneous stuff moved and then Sat were renting a truck and (again with the help of our super awesome families) clearing out our storage unit!!!!  Praying everything goes according to plan and that by Saturday evening all our stuff is in our house.  I’ve set a hard goal for myself that I am going to find my baking stuff and bake these on Saturday night, along with setting up a little Easter egg hunt for our niece & nephew.  Easter will barely squeak by as being our first holiday in the house and I don’t want to let it pass without a little bit of festivity.

*All photos courtesy of Mama Mel.

Carpet is a game changer.

 

These pictures don’t quite do the carpet justice.  It’s really much prettier (and multi-tonal in gray and white) in person.  But holy cow does this make a big difference!  It all of the sudden seems like a livable house upstairs.  And gas is going to be turned on on the 16th so we are self-imposing a 12 day allowance to get things wrapped up, get signed off by the city, and get moved the heck in.  Our little army is coming over again tomorrow to clean and garden. Thank God for help!