I ♥ PICNICS

Just came back from a FANTABULOUS day picnicking outdoors in the sunshine at Husemersee (inbetween Schaffhausen and Wintherthur)!!

It is truly amazing how an afternoon of fresh air, sunshine, picnicking & playing in the green grass does wonders for ones soul! ....and it's so simple!

Just pack a cooler bag of some goodies & cool drinks, bring a blanket, a swimsuit, sunglasses, sunscreen, something to read, something to play with, your camera, your loved one, your family or some good friends and just find a spot somewhere (preferably by the water)! THE WORLD IS TRULY YOUR OYSTER!

This time, we also brought soap-bubbles.......they are so pretty!!

As I stated in my previous posts, I would really have liked to try to have a picnic in a tree, but still think that would be a little premature ;)) Besides, a tree picnic would require a big old oak tree or similar and they don't errhhmmm really grow on trees here (oh gosh, I'm such a nerd!)........

 

The weekend was spent in Winterthur and it has been really great and veeeeery calm.... Still being very careful with my back as I don't want any relapses! Missed the fireworks in Neuhausen on Saturday on purpose as we got a little tooooo comfortable in front of the TV, having a 30 rocks marathon......with popcorn!

....and we easily convinced ourselves that as we had seen fireworks just a few days earlier, it wouldn't be a disaster to miss them (if any of you reading this were there - please do tell how it was??).

It is Sunday evening so, like every Sunday evening, I'm thinking about the week ahead of me!

This time with a little bitter-sweet taste... Bitter as I will go to Germany on a business-trip this week, for a few days, and I'm a little bit afraid of what my back will have to say about that and because, like after any great weekend - I just don't feel compleeeeetely ready for a week of hard work ;))

So why is it sweet? Well.... Believe ir or not, but I actually really LIKE my job! I have a great, challenging job and some wonderful collegues! Also, this week in Germany, I will get to meet the people I work with practically every day over phone, e-mail & web-conferencing, face to face again, which is always fun!

Now time to once again snuggle up in the sofa, watching a good movie or perhaps some more 30 rock?? Eeeeehhhh.... Do I have an addiction? Does it sound bad?? Could be worse, right?

How about making a vow to do the following things this week? I hope you're with me!!

1. Give someone that is not a close friend a compliment!

2. Smile at and say Hello to all the elderly people you pass by...

3. Call an old friend with whom you haven't spoken for a while.

Remember, it is nice to be important - but it's MORE IMPORTANT TO BE NICE!

I really hope you had a great relaxing weekend and that you'll enjoy the rest of your Sunday!!

Sending you all a big smile right now (regardless of your ages ;))

xox

Linda

Happy, but a little lost in her Sunday dwelling....still in Switzerland

Dear diary...

It is Friday and the dark, angry-looking clouds that were earlier hiding the beautiful sunshine have now disappeared......the sun is shining on Schaffhausen again!!

Am happy as I managed to have lunch today with a good friend who's getting MARRIED soon (am soooo excited for the two of them!!). Love to hear all the planning details and am soooo looking forward to their BIG DAY!!

...just left for me to also decide on what to wear?! Gosh! Only two weeks away!

For the past few days, I've been working from home which has been great for my back!! I'm laying down with the computer in my lap, my handsfree plugged in, ready for phonecalls and teleconferences and alternating that with back-excercises and walks. Now I feel muuuuuuch better (and am completely off medication)!!! ...the feeling is like I have been released from prison (not that I actually know what that feels like......but...oh well...)!!

Opening up my e-mail inbox this morning, was despite the ridiculous number of unread e-mails (450 in 1 1/2 weeks during the holiday period??), a "peace of cake" thanks to the WONDERFUL colouring system I am using to determine wether the e-mail was:

- Sent only to me or containing the words "activity request"

(Priority 1 to open! - marked in RED)

- Sent to me with but with someone else in my team in copy or contains the word "deadline"

(priority no 2, marked in BLUE)

- Sent to a group of people with me AND someone else in the "TO" field (Normal priority, e-mail is GREEN)

- Sent to a distributionlist with me either in copy or in blind-copy and all the rest

(Just regular BLACK)

I am a little bit of a structure freak at work, so basically the total opposite from outside of work (this was just for you mom, if you are listening as I'm sure you'd be wondering who I'm talking about). I believe in the saying "Don't bring your work home"! (or maybe that's just a lazy excuse.....not sure!).

Still a lot of greens and blacks left but I have reduced the number of red's by 100% and the blue's by 75%! I think I can feel pretty good about this considering the starting-point....

A little bit of a theme in my life right now seem to be fireworks! I ♥ fireworks!!

I have the pleasure of having a "castle" (the Munot)....as my neighbour....kind of...and on Wednesday this week there were FIREWORKS up there! We were sitting on the balcony/terrace and talk about the best seat in the h o u s e !! (with the exception of having to spend 15 minutes cleaning out firework/gunpowder residuals from my hair afterwards...and not to mention the mess it left on the floor....all worth it though)!

This weekend, on Saturday, there will appearantly be another firework session at the beautiful Rheinfall and we will definately be going to this. YAY! Hoping to find something I can use as a tripod as the pictures were not so nice as I had hoped =o/

Let's see...... Will keep you posted!

Oh....this next few lines certainly do not go by the theme of fireworks.

Recieved some very disappointing news (applying THE FILTER now if you are wondering) just before the weekend, so feeling a bit down at the moment - but will surely snap out of it! It just felt.........so meant to be??! Well.... I HAVE to snap out of it.... A positive attitude and mindset is KEY to many ways of being creative and moving forward in diffrent aspects in life - keep this in mind! (I'm also reminding myself by writing this ;)).....

Need to watch wome more of 30 rock and laugh a bit!!

Have a great weekend girls & boys, ladies & gentlemen, wives & husbands, mom's & dad's and whom ever else is reading this (you should really drop me a guestbook note telling me who you are *wink wink* ;))!

xox

Linda - Still lost in Switzerland

Ps. I love my little flag counter that I installed a couple of days ago! It counts the number of unique visitors per country =))

Some recently shopped "treasures"

Coooou Cooouuuu!

Wanted to share some of my latest findings with you as I adore all of them ;))

Where possible I will tell you where you can find them in case you, as me, fall in love with any of these items....

The first picture is a blouse that I bought online at ASOS.com (I know, I'm mentioning this site a lot....it's brilliant!). I think it's soooo cute! It's got my favourite thing, a neck bow-tie and little dog-prints! AND it doesn't cost a fortune!! Couldn't resist...

The second books are both inspirational and funny! They come from a LOVELY book website called, Taschen, that has a great range of cute and interesting books such as these that look great on your coffee-table (for ppl in Stockholm - they also have books from Taschen in the store Stockhome in Sergelgången)...

On the third picture you can see my latest shoe-purchase... Got these Paco Gil flats in Venice and they are GORGEOUS (my opinion of course....) and comfortable! Found the website - but not my shoes on it. Found some other good ones though...uuuhmmmm... ;)

Picture number four is an adorable bar of soap that I found in a shop just around the corner from where I live called Lieblings. It's a wonderful little shop where I love to go in if I'm out walking in Schaffhausen and I have some spare time... They also have an online Noa-Noa shop!

Number five is a cute denim dress from Calvin Klein, bought at a fabulous brand outlet in Lugano, here in Switzerland, called Fox Town. If you are in the area - I'd stongly recommend a stop there! There are plenty of stores in there - but my favourites were Ralph Lauren, Burberry, Gucci and Calvin Klein. Very good prices and actually a good assortment!

Oooohhh! Number 6 is a little tray - perfect for bringing the cup of tea or hot-chocolate upstairs to my sofa (and it also fits at least 4 cupcakes at the same time ;)). This little treasure is also from the Liebling shop here in Switzerland.

The seventh picture is one of the two carneval masks that I bought in Venice (the other one is the green, feathered one that you can see in my Venice post or in my Flickr photo-stream).

It's handmade and I love the colours and the flower details. Unfortunately here I can't give you a link but simply repeat something said before in my Venice post; GO THERE if you can! It's great! One piece of advice on buying masks... Don't get the ones in the stands on the piazzas etc but go for the ones in the specialized mask-maker stores. Not THAT much of a price diffrence, but quality-wise a big diffrence.

...almost the same story goes for the 8th picture. These little cherry earrings were so adorable that I couldn't resist (even though found in a department for children! Who says grown-up's can't have cherry earrings?? ;)). I found them in San Gimignano in Tuscany, so also in Italy......and again, if you have the opportunity to see Tuscany - GO! Such a beautiful place...

Anyway, I found something very similar here if you are interested.

That's all for now..... Will now head out for a little walk by the Rhein and then do some back-excercises so I can get this back of mine fixed ASAP! I'm MOTIVATED (Yeah!)...and reaaaaallyy bored of staying at home!! My comforts right now are my wonderful boyfriend, the TV series "30 rock" (really, if you haven't seen it - do ASAP! I'm laughing my ass off!!) and my blog!

Take care and hope to see you again very soon!

xox

Linda

Lost somehere by the Rhein in Switzerland