Sweet & Sour

...no, not the Chinese sauce, I am actually referring to my 2010 so far!!

Life is really funny in that way, don't you think? One door opens, another one closes.... After rain - you'll have sunshine.... You win one and loose another!

My January, plans and actuals, summarized in sweet or sour:

Sour

- Heart-ache (filtered!)

- The tragedy in Haiti!!!!!

- Enormous bill recieved for the delayed import of my car (Scheisse as the Swiss/Germans would say!!)

- My planned trip to the Dominican republic was cancelled

- Was called up for the lottery to get David Letterman tickets, but missed the call!!! ....and they don't call back if you miss it =(

Sweet

- I had the pleasure of having dinner with Paulo Coelho this past Sunday (Yes! The world-famous writer....)!!

- Confirmed trip to New york with a friend in February and I am ridiculously excited about it!

- Spent half of yesterday in a wonderful day-SPA in Zurich!! Am so happy I found it and will definately go back soon!

- Jewel sent me a tweet!! This makes me childishly happy! ...pathetic? Maybe.....but I'm still happy about it!

- My back is finally getting better! ...am even considering signing up for a year at the gym!

- Going to Disneyland in Paris in mid-February aswell (for work, but anyway!)

- Fell in love with John Mayers latest album "Battle studies"!!

- I finally found the black knee-high leather boots which I have been desperately seeking for years and they are lovely!!

- Going to Toggenburg for a couple of days at the end of February

....and last but certainly not least in the "sweet-category", I just received an award for my blog!!

(Thank you Emma from "Om en tjej"!!!)

This award comes with some instructions:

1. Copy the award to your blog

2. Link to the person who gave you this award

3. Write 7 interesting facts about yourself

4. Pass this award on to 7 other blogs

5. Link to these 7 blogs and inform these bloggers about the award they just recieved

As it is a little difficult for me to know what you'd find interesting, I will just mention whatever comes to my mind ;)

* I LOVE SINGING!! In fact, whenever I'm alone, I sing all the time ;)

* I work at Unilever as the European category planning manager for tea (brands like Lipton, PG tips, Beseda, Saga etc.)

* I have a thing, a soft-spot you could say, for Jane Austen books/movies!!

* It is incredibly difficult to make me angry - but once you manage, it is almost impossible for me to get back!

* I am a sponge when it comes to remembering lyrics to songs....doesn't matter if I like them or not ;)

* Making people happy makes me happier than anything else!

* I am obsessed with cupcakes!!

I am passing this award onto: Ella inspired, Fraidi, Leonore, the tea drinking english rose, Vegan goodies, More magic always & Here and there.

I hope you are enjoying 2010 so far and that your lives are SWEET - not sour!! I'm hoping mine will be more in the style of "Sweet Chili" going forward!! Isn't that what life should be like? Sweet and a little spicy ;) As Abraham Lincoln once so wisely said: "...and in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years"......these are words worth remembering and living by ;)

Hope to see you back here soon!

xox

Linda - Lost in Switzerland

Movie recommendations - Top 10 dramas

"A film is, or should be, more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what's behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later."

Stanley Kubrick

Dear fellow movie-lovers!!

So, I have decided to start listing my favourite movies, a far from easy task, and the first genre in this series will be my favourite genre: DRAMA.

I have a thing, a soft-spot you could say, for dramas..... People sometimes wonder how I can like heart and soul wrenching movies so much. The answer is simple, it makes me feel alive and at the same time it makes me feel more grateful and fortunate - a reminder that I can not get too often. Having that said may help you understand why these dramas are in my top-10 list ;)

I have chosen these movies based on the feeling I had when I first saw them as I feel it is the only fare way to rate.... (click the title to be redirected to the trailers)

1. House of sand and fog (2003)

2. Dancer in the Dark (2000)

3. Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)

4. The Fountain (2006)

5. Sylvia (2003)

6. After the wedding (2006)

7. American history X (1998)

8. The cider house rules (1999)

9. Requiem for a dream (2000)

10. The hours (2002)

)

A good-intended warning: The above movies will not make you feel good......but I would be very surprised it they don't make you feel at all!!

If you have already watched these or do decide to watch these - please let me know what you think?

xox

Linda - A "movie-watch-o-holic", Lost in Switzerland

Winter weekend.....

Another weekend in Switzerland, the land of a thousand ways to enjoy this season...

I'm not a down-hill skier myself, but am seriously considering giving sledding a go on Sunday! The mountains here are nothing less than incredible and I really want to start enjoying the opportunity to be at fantastic winter-sights in an hour of driving. It is a kind of everyday luxury!

I honestly think I have fallen in love with winter all over again... Not sure why as I can't remember ever feeling this way about this season before!

There is something about the way the cold takes invisible bites from ones cheeks and leaves a rosy mark... Something about watching the snow-fall that brings a sense of peace....

I'm loving the feeling of having been outside, feeling like you're becoming an ice-sculpture and then come inside to defrost with the help of a cup of hot-chocolate....

It brings back memories of building snow-lanterns and watching it glow in the dark...or even having friendly snowball-fights in the school-yard......

In less words, it makes me feel young ;)

“In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.”

William Blake

I hope you are all enjoying your winter-weekends!!! What are your plans??

xox

Linda - Lost in the Swiss alps soon....either on a sled, on cross-country skis or just making snow-angels ;)

YES!

I think I finally found it.....my new MOJO! My drum, my rythm, my way forward!!

Nothing fancy, no rocket science, no poetry - just words put together in such a sequence that they really manage to get to me!!

These words will be printed and I will try to keep them with me at all times.....reminding me of the importance of marching forward and being consistent and true when it comes to matters that are messing with your core-values.

You see.... I am a master in over-analysing things and dwelling upon them for ages before feeling completely reconciled with my choices and decisions sometimes! Well, I say no more!

This, my dear blog-readers, is my new motto:

Some lessons learned, going on 31:

Stay true to yourself....don't compromise on things that may cause you to look back thinking "what the H was I thinking!"!

Don't be too rigid either and stick to your principles just because (been there, done that....and will probably do it again....but less!)!!

Who knows? Maybe stepping out of your world or comfort-zone will be one of the biggest lessons you'll ever learn in life and MAYBE, just maybe you'll even enjoy it? Or AT LEAST it can be added to your list of life-experience.....

....if you make mistakes, learn from them instead of dwelling on them and use that new-found knowledge to avoid them in the future! You will make more, that is certain and when you do - read the note above ;)

I also found this quote that I really loved and wanted to share with you:

"It is ok to loose your pride over someone you love....just don't loose someone you love over your pride"

Unfortunately, the name of who wrote this was nowhere to be found.....

I am BACK and it feels great!!!

xox

Linda - (Less) Lost in Switzerland (at the moment... ;))

Top 10: Vanity must-haves

OK.....this may sound a little odd and ridiculous to some of you, but I actually do have a list of products that I would go into complete and utter panic if they had run-out! Trust me..... I have even tried to go for a couple of weeks without some of them with proven, significantly unwanted side-effects such as blemished skin, dry elbows, hair that looks like a Persian-cat on a rainy day, hair that looks like it has been left to dry in the Mojave-desert for a week or two and a sense of just feeling.....dull........
Now we can't have that, can we?! .....please don't take my exaggerations in a bad way ;))

Anyways! Here is my top 10 list of these life-(read vanity)savers of which my top-5 are the absolute musts:

1. Dermalogica - Ultra Calming Cleanser

The friendliest way to clean the skin! This is my winner and I will go to great lenghts to never ever run out of this again!

I simply LOVE this facial cleanser!!

2. Johson's Baby Oil

Ha! I knew there was a secret (beyond the simple age-factor) as to why baby skin is so soft ;))

This is actually a new found favourite that I don't know how I could have lived without knowing about all these years (thank you Aryan!!)!! Who says this can only be used for babies?! PLUS it costs a quarter of any of my normal body moisurizers!! Wow!

3. Sebastian Potion 9

I blow-dry my hair ever morning......this would be far from possible, considering my Nordic-origined-blonde-hair if it wasn't for this little tube of wonder!! ...and you just need a little!

4. Dermalogica - Daily Microfoliant

Bye bye to over-sized pores! Yep, using this for a few weeks in a row is the only thing so far that has helped this very common "problem". I tried for a while to do without it, which turned out to be the biggest beauty mistake made during 2009! I will not repeat it!

5. Elisabeth Arden - Eight hour cream

Just put a teeny-tiny little drop on your lips, dried elbows or wherever else you think nothing but the magic of Dumbledoor or photoshop could fix and voilaa!! A minus for the smell, but even so - a fantastic product!!

6. Clarins - Beauty Flash Balm

Lack of sleep, hang-over, a good cry - you name it! This is another tube of miracle that will make you look like you had nothing but beauty-sleep since you were born! (Thank you Tanja! You gave me this little pointer ;))

7. Dermalogica - Super Rich Repair

The PERFECT night-cream! A little pricy in all honesty, but you don't need much, so it lasts long...

8. Smith's Rosebud Salve

An oldie, but a goldie!! A simply fantastic lip-balm that works in all kinds of weather....and can always be found in my hand-bag (somewhere.......).

9. Redken - Pure Moisture

When I found this hair-care series I was amazed!! Never before had my hair felt so revived in no time!! Eeehhmmm, this was also after one of those experimenting periods where I said to myself that I really don't need all those fancy hair-care products. Well, as it turns out, I do!

10. L'Occitane - Grape Shower Oil

Especially in summer and winter.....

It's not that I can't do without this one, but I sure do better with AND it smells better than most oil body-cleansers ;)

If I missed any life-savers or if you have any better ones - please DO share!!!

xox

Linda - Lost in Switzerland....fully stocked ;)

The slippery road to remember how to ice-skate

Coucouuuuuu!!

Hope you all had a fantastic new-years eve and that you are all enjoying your year so far ;)

Did you make any new-year resolutions?? Do tell! =p

I am blissfully happy right now because we decided to go for ice-skating today.......something I have been really longing for but haven't really done in 10 years or so!!

Quick report of the outcome:

* Started out like Bambi on ice.....do blame the ice-skates for the worst slippery-sliding though ;)

* One fall! Not too bad -just got a little cold!

* Need more practise to skate back-wards! In all honestly, I felt a little embarrassed to practice as there were soooo many people on the ice....and there is something about 7 year-olds mastering something that I can barely take on as a beginner that makes me blush! I know....pathetic (and the same reason I never learned how to ski downhill ;))

* Proud to say that I still manage the over-stepping in rather high-speed! Hihihi!

*To conclude: Ice-skating is still a blast at the age of 30!!! Will definately go again!!

Now rewarding myself with hot-chocolate in the sofa....getting ready to watch "Where the wild things are" that I've been looking forward to for MONTHS!!!

Only worry at the moment: Going back to work tomorrow and would lie if I said I feel excited about it.......oh well!!

I wish you all a wonderful week!!

xox

Linda - Survivor of the first attempt at ice-skating in 10 years!!!

Movie recommendation - Under the Tuscan sun

Under the Tuscan sun (2003)

4/5

Frances Mayes (Diane Lane) is a 35-year-old San Francisco writer whose perfect life has just taken an unexpected detour. Her recent divorce has left her with terminal writer's block and extremely depressed, and her best friend, Patti (Sandra Oh), is beginning to think she might never recover.

Frances decides to take a break and she buys a villa in the beautiful Tuscan countryside and decides to begin anew.

Restoring her new home, she eventually finds the fulfillment she was searching for, including love.

Some may call this movie cheesy.... I call it "the perfect-movie-for-a-rainy-day-and-an-instant-feel-good-trigger"!

Yes, it is a light-weighted story - but it is so utterly charming it will leave you with a smile from ear to ear... Diane Lane is simply wonderful!

If you haven't seen it already, I highly recommend you to run to the nearest movie-rental shop and pick this one...

Watch the trailer:

....or read more about it here:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/under_the_tuscan_sun/

Let me know what you thought? Enjoy ;))

xox

Linda - Lost in Switzerland