My parents just sold and moved out of their home (my childhood home), and I didn’t think it would affect me as much as it has.  I’m guessing that whoever said, “home is where the heart is” had just moved out of their childhood home—or home of twenty years—and… Read full post »

 

I haven't spent much time pondering why a person might have goal-oriented tendencies vs. process-oriented ones, but over the past few years I have discovered that I unquestionably fall under the goal-oriented camp.  Chalk it up to being a first-born, type A, mark-it-off-the-check… Read full post »

I feel a bit guilty about posting this so late since the wedding was well over a month ago, but because the wedding was only one part of the big-life-changing-events package I signed up for (the other components being a move and a new job), I… Read full post »

 

As I've discovered over the past few months, one of the benefits of being unemployed, from a glass-is-half-full perspective, is that you have loads of free time.  Alongside this discovery has come another (of the glass-is-half-empty variety): that an unemployed person's free time… Read full post »

In the past few months of wedding planning, I've come across many a etiquette-centric quandary, and none so far-fetched as the formidable task of wedding-envelope addressing.  Don't get me wrong: I love a good tradition as much as any other bride-to-be out there, but when my fiancé and I… Read full post »

For various reasons, this summer I found myself back in Seattle instead of in Geneva finishing the second half of a Masters program.  Like so many other people at the moment, I'm trying, in some form or another, to take the "un" out of "unemployed."  Like so many other p… Read full post »

Several years ago a high-school friend recounted the joy/terror of a brief period in her life when she was engaged...along with three of her housemates.  Their coffee table consisted of a piece of wood supported by--no joke--four piles of wedding magazines, and after a month or two the we… Read full post »

 

I don't even like cake.  But I do like projects, which means I've (perhaps foolishly) decided, among other things, to make my own wedding cake.  The other day, after placing a few cake-decorating books on hold at the library, I visited an awesome cake-decorating supply store… Read full post »

In high school I used MS Word's built-in thesaurus so often that I had the shortcut key memorized.  "Why write 'said' when I can write 'gasped' or 'whispered' or 'exclaimed,'" I thought.  "Why write 'funny' when I can write 'droll' or 'witty' or comical'"?  As a result, my ver… Read full post »

The other day my fiancé showed me a Youtube video wherein a spandex-clad cyclist dude creatively, hilariously, and accurately chronicled the differences between the spandex-sporting/carbon-components-inclined/protein-shake-drinking/Lance-Armstrong-wannabe cycling crowd and the tight-… Read full post »

I was walking out of my local rock-climbing gym around 11pm two summers ago when two representatives of the Duck Dodge, Seattle’s infamous summer regatta series, stumbled up to me and introduced themselves.  I was not being accosted by waddling, quacking ducks, but rather by a cou… Read full post »

Like Segways and laserdiscs, the knifork (see picture) is one of those inventions that works much better when confined to a bar or café napkin than when placed in any kind of reality*.  In fact, I had never heard of kniforks until I…

Read full post »

 

Okay, I admit: there is no such thing as a $927 banknote, but its equivalent in Swiss Francs does exist (only in Switzerland, right?).  When I closed my Swiss bank account the other day and they handed me the remaining amount in cash, my jaw dropped as I… Read full post »

Several years ago while in Geneva taking a summer French course, a friend half-joked that I should take my bicycle seat into class with me so that it wouldn't get stolen.  In a land where drop-dead gorgeous (not to mention drop-dead expensive) bikes are a dime a dozen and… Read full post »

A couple of years ago, I had the privilege of living with a couple of other linguaphiles.  The three of us loved languages and words so much that it didn't strike us as strange to start a blog devoted exclusively to all things words--an online, word-lover's version of an… Read full post »

The French are not so different from Americans after all.  Yes, they eat snails (which, by the way, are divine.  I mean, what wouldn't taste good after being doused in butter and garlic and served in its own little tray?), count cheese as a dessert, and, like most Europeans,… Read full post »

Two pictures adorn the entrance of my local swimming pool's changing rooms:  A smiling, humanish male figure wearing short swimming trunks and, standing next to him, another male figure wearing both a frown and below-the-knee swimming trunks.  There's a giant "OUI" plastered on the… Read full post »

 

As much as I love Geneva, sometimes it feels a bit like an antique shop: Look, but don’t touch.  People are well dressed, the streets are clean, there’s an order and process for almost everything (which, more often than not, means that there’s a form to be filled… Read full post »

If you want to see the concept of efficiency personified (and trammified, and trainified, etc.), come to Switzerland.  Along with pictures of the Matterhorn, small-child-sized cow bells, and Heidi-like pastoral settings, Swiss tourism advertisements trying to lure people to visit its is… Read full post »

The other day while studying at a café, I overheard several interesting conversations taking place nearby.  At one table, an older woman was conversing with a young girl (whom I took to be her granddaughter), the woman speaking Scottish-accented English while the girl responded i… Read full post »

Time to strap on the x-country skis and try skiing to class!  Well, almost...     I should probably wait until it's more than 2 cm deep. :)

 

  Read full post »

Tonight I previewed what it feels like to be seriously injured.  The scarier part is that the accident happened was entirely my fault, and that it could have been prevented had I even used an iota of common sense.  Here’s the story:

Me to Roomie : I’m biking downtown to meet with… Read full post »

 

With apologies to Ms. Austen, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a college student in possession of a good laundry bag must be in want of a dryer.  As a many-time student, I have added my two laundry tokens to this particular shared collective memory.  While an… Read full post »

There are a great many things I appreciate about Switzerland: good public transportation; ubiquitous farmers markets; Smart Cars and Smart-Car-sized parking spaces; near-free University tuition; mountains of cheese, dark chocolate, and Swiss snow.

One thing (or, rather, one person) that&rsquo… Read full post »

Do you ever wish you could wind a huge strand of floss around your fingers and apply it to your life, getting all the gunk out of those hard-to-reach emotional/spritual/mental/psychological places?  I do.

From whence did this random thought originate, you ask?  Okay, okay, but onl… Read full post »