Gratitude Month - Pinterest

Today I am grateful for Pinterest.

 

Let me tell you why.

 

It has widened my horizons.

 

I have tried probably 50 new recipes since joining Pinterest.

 

I have the world's cleanest looking caulk in my bathroom.

 

My mattress is all fresh and supposedly dust mite and bed bug free.

 

I learned how to make a few crafts.

 

I get inspirations on how to build different outfits.

 

I found ideas on gifts to get for people.

 

I have been inspired by quotes.

 

And awestruck by beautiful pictures of far off destinations.

 

The possibilities seem to be endless.

 

Here is proof of my Pinterest love.

 

I made no-knead bread in my Le Creuset yesterday.

 

And it is seriously sooooo tasty.   The crust is amazing.   Just as good as any artisan bread you would pay 4 or 5 dollars for at your local bakery.

 

In the interest of full disclosure though, I should have let it bake a little longer so it was a little more golden, but I couldn't wait.

 

Also, my store was out of yeast (weird, right?), so I had to buy what they had and it was yeast specifically for Pizza Crust.  In fact it said on the side, "not advised for bread making".  But I was tired and didn't want to drive to another store, so I bought it anyway.   It seemed to work just fine.  But I will probably try the recipe again with normal yeast at some point, just to see if there is a difference.

 

Simply So Good:  Crusty Bread

 

 

 

I also made this....

 

Crockpot Swiss Chicken Casserole

 

...but I used medium and sharp cheddar sheese instead, because I don't like swiss cheese. 

 

 

And before you mention that I lived in Switzerland for a year and half and so that it is weird that I don't like swiss cheese, let me just tell you american swiss cheese is nothing like what they sell in Switzerland.

“To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” ~ Tennyson

Hooray for the Olympics!   I hope you all plan to watch the opening ceremonies tonight.  

Here are a few thoughts I have been having about the Olympics today.

First...To dip or not to dip?   That is the question.   Honestly, even Olympic historians cannot agree on why in 1908 the flag bearer for the United States Olympic team refused to dip the flag as he passed by the King of England.   Most say it was because he was of Irish descent and he was trying to make a political gesture.   For whatever reason, it CAN be agreed upon that in subsequent games the flag was dipped.  But not always.  Obviously not in 1936...because of Hitler and all...but sometimes...in other years...who knows?  Anyway, it is not necessarily an American tradition as some have been erroneously saying.   My two cents....the Olympic games are not the right venue to get your political message across.   Also, it is just good manners to acknowledge and honor your host.    So I for one would not be offended to see some flag dipping tonight.  Also, I am now craving some chips and dip.  

Second...did you know that in years past there were literature competitions as part of the Olympics.   With Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals being awarded in things like poetry, art, architecture...right along with wrestling, rowing, and soccer?   I didn't know that, and I consider myself to be somewhat of an Olympics expert.  :)

Here is the Gold Winning poem from the 1948 London Games, by Finnish poet Aale Maria Tynni’s.

 “Laurel of Hellas” 

Laurel of Hellas noble-born,

most celebrated tree,

gazing to your lofty crown

the mind must dazzled be.

Third...I am not a big Michael Phelps fan.  Sorry.  Ryan Lochte...now that is another story.

Fourth...I will cheer for another country in some cases.   I am not so USA patriotic that there isn't room in my heart for a few other people.  Case in point...Roger Federer.   I hope he wins a gold.   Love him.

Fifth...I wasn't sure I liked the official London 2012 song by Muse (and I LOVE Muse) until I saw it set to this video, now its growing on me.

Finally...I am sad I will miss all of the games since I will be in the Netherlands starting tomorrow for 14 days and then in Denmark and Sweden for 4 more days.   I hope you will all double your efforts to watch every little sport (and yes that means trampolining too) to make up for my absence.



Citius, Altius, Fortius

I have accomplished and experienced many, many wonderful things in my life. But I can count on one hand the moments in my life that have really changed me as a person. One of those experiences was volunteering for the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics. I am not sure I can even articulate how much this experience meant to me. I worked very hard to be a part of it for one...12 months of training, language tests, background checks... all while working and going to school full time. I worked before, during, and after the Olympics for a total of about 23-25 days of volunteer work. I even spent the night in an Olympic vehicle in a parking lot so that I would make sure to be awake in time to drive a double gold medalist to the airport on time. As a side note, you really can accomplish hard things if you have the drive to do it, no matter what your circumstances.

Maybe it was because these Olympics were just months after 9/11 or maybe it's just the Olympic spirit in general (I suspect it was both), but these games were blessed. I know they were. I could feel it all around me every day, with every interaction.

The City of Salt Lake has been celebrating the 10th anniversary of the games this month, and it has given me a moment to reflect on what was in every aspect a beautiful and deeply fulfilling experience for me.

I thought I would share some photos from 10 years ago (again with the scanner), and some from a few days ago as my small tribute.

"The Olympic symbol, better known as the Olympic rings, consists of five intertwined rings and represents the unity of the five inhabited continents (America, Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe). The colored version of the rings—blue, yellow, black, green, and red—over a white field forms the Olympic flag. These colors were chosen because every nation had at least one of them on its national flag. The flag was adopted in 1914 but flown for the first time only at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium. It has since been hoisted during each celebration of the Games." ~ Wikipedia

My almost all access pass.


My pass to the Closing ceremonies. I was an athlete escort.

A lot of the tall buildings in SLC had these incredible banners draped over them with different images of Olympic athleticism.

The flame.

The Olympic Athlete Village Avenue of flags.

My spotlight in the Volunteer newsletter. You probably have to double click to be able to read it. There was also a spotlight of me in the Swiss Olympic committee newsletter, but the picture is hideous so I can't share it here. You will have to come to Utah to visit me to be able to see it.

There I am posing in front of the Swiss House (each team establishes a few restaurants/meeting spots around the area where their people can congregate) in my lovely Norwegian SLC 2002 Olympics sweater.

My boy Simon Ammann, double gold medal winner in the Ski Jumping events. Lovely, lovely young man. I got to drive him around to all of his press conferences. He even gave me flowers.

The letter Mitt Romney sent to all of the Volunteers after 9/11. Not one person quit their volunteer spot after 9/11.

Speaking of Mitt Romney, here is a very blurry picture of him speaking to the crowd last week at the Stars on Ice tribute to the SLC Olympics. Say what you will, but this man is very likely to be the next GOP nominee for president, so that he took precious time off during his campaign to come to SLC for this occasion, was very much appreciated. I have met him, and I can say with authority he is a very nice man. And no matter what anyone has said in the news about his Olympics time, he absolutely saved the SLC Olympics, which were the first Olympics games to actually make money in decades and decades. Also, the Winter Olympics that almost everyone who would know, says is the best they have ever been to. So kudos to Mitt for that.

This is me trying to photo bomb former Governor Mike Leavitt. (wearing my uniform jacket)

Finally shaking hands.

The mascots amuse me; look at the expression on the rabbits face. So silly.

I love this quote by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the father of the modern Olympics.

"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."

I think that is a good motto to follow in life as well.

Christmas Cheer - Day Six

Today's Christmas Cheer post comes to you retro style. Since today is the day that Santa Claus visits (he has to get a head start since there are so many children to visit in the world) all the good little boys and girls in Switzerland, I thought I would dig out some of my Switzerland Christmas pictures and scan them. Please excuse the poor quality.

Traditionally, Samichlaus (Santa Claus) and his sidekick Schmutzli (which means dirty...because he always had a dirty face) visits each house in the village with his big book of children's names. If you have been good all year you can reach in his bag to get Gingerbread men (Grittibaenz), Oranges, and other treats. But the Grittibaenz are my favorite. When Samichlaus gave me one at Christmas, mine had little raisins for eyes, and sugar on his tummy, he looked jolly...and he tasted jolly too!

If you are naughty, then Samichlaus instructs Scmutzli to spank you with a bundle of branches (or a switch).

If Samichlaus does not have time to visit your house, then you can leave out your boots by the front door and Samichlaus will leave your treat in your boot.

When I lived in Switzerland, we were invited to 3 dinners on Christmas. I don't remember the name of this family for some reason, but the little girl's name is Tatjiana and she is probably 28 or 29 now. She is so cute.

I love the 2 pictures taken at this home, because they have real candles on the tree. Soooo pretty. Actually this is a tradition in Switzerland, so every one does it but these are the only pictures I have of a candle lit tree.

Also, traditionally Swiss people do not put up their Christmas tree until the night before. So when the children wake up in the morning, they wake up to a fully lit and decorated Christmas tree that wasn't there the night before. I bet that is super magical, but also a big pain in the behind for the parents.

Since Santa Claus has already visited the children in Switzerland by December 6th, the presents on Christmas Day are actually brought by the Christ child and his angels.

This is the Market Square in Basel. Basel is the third largest city in Switzerland, it sits on the Rhine, and is directly on the border of France and Germany. The building in the background is the Rathaus or Town Hall, and it was built in the 1600's. It is covered in beautiful murals inside and out.

They put up a ginormous live Christmas tree in Market Square every year.

And finally, a picture of me inside the Town Hall.

I am really craving gingerbread now. :)

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag Switzerland!

Switzerland is 717 years old today!

A big Gruezi mitenand and a Happy Birthday to my people.

Stupid reality shows that suck you in with their evil ways....

I think I am supposed to be embarrassed to admit this...but I watched the TV Show 'Greatest American Dog' tonight and I kinda liked it. Why oh why did they have to make a show about cute dogs, now I have to watch it, because I love animals. They only thing that could make the show better is if they had brown bunnies and pandas competing as well. Never mind, scratch that, the dogs would probably chase the fuzzy little bunnies and the pandas would just sit there and eat bamboo and not help out one bit. They are lazy like that.

The above picture is of Travis and Presley, I think they are my favorite competitors so far.

And this has nothing to do with anything really but today was the anniversary of my last day in Switzerland, and boy how I miss that place. It's been a long time since I was back. Let's just say somewhere between 10 and 20 years.

My People

As I was perusing the newspaper on Friday looking for fun and interesting things to do, I noticed that there was a new IMAX movie in town, called ‘The Alps’. Be still my beating heart. You already know how I feel about cinema, but what you may not know is that I just adore IMAX. I think it started when the IMAX movie ‘Everest’ came out. I had read the book ‘Into Thin Air’ a couple of months before, and I was very touched and moved by the story. I became a little obsessed with Mount Everest and learning about Nepal and Tibet, and with prayer flags (thank you Matt for hand carrying some back from Nepal for me), and with mountain climbing in general. Odd, considering I have a very real fear of heights. But anyhoo, at the time Utah did not have an IMAX theater and I was just so tingly with excitement to see this movie that I didn’t know what to do with myself. I was SUPER excited when I went on a trip to Washington D.C. that year and saw that ‘Everest’ was playing at the Smithsonian: National Air and Space museum. My friends and I planned to see the movie on the only free night I had during that trip. The day came, and we drove into the city, walked up to purchase our tickets, and were told that the museum was closed for a wedding reception. WTH! Who do you have to be to get the entire National Air and Space museum to shut down for your wedding reception? I mean geez. I was bitterly disappointed. Anyway, to make a long story short, they finally opened an IMAX in Utah, they re-released ‘Everest’ in the theaters, I went to see it, LOVED it, and went to see it again at the very next showing. It was just as compelling and heart wrenching as I had imagined it would be.

So…when I saw that there was an IMAX movie called ‘The Alps’, of course I had to go. After all The Alps form a part of the land of my people. Ok, ok I know I say that a lot – “My People”. What does this really mean? Let me take a moment to explain. If I have ever communed in a place that brought me joy, then by default the people of that area become “my people”. So if you are Dutch, or Singaporean, or from New York City, or are from Washington D.C., or from Nashville, or if you are Irish, or English, or Californian, or German speaking, or wee little Scots, then you are my people. If you have ever been to Disneyland, worked the Olympics, or attended the Sundance Film Festival, then you are “my people”. But of all the people that are “my people” the Swiss have a special place in my heart. They can be hard headed, and proud, and when you first meet them they may seem cold - but you will never find a truer and more loyal friend than a Swiss person. And although I cannot say that I have seen every place there is to see in the world, I CAN say that I seriously doubt if there is anywhere more breathtakingly beautiful than Switzerland. There were times when I lived there when I would see a sight so lovely that it seemed like it couldn’t be real. One cannot look at such a landscape and not feel a divine presence.

So back to the IMAX, this movie is about a man who has come to climb the north face of the Eiger, the same mountain that had claimed the life of his father when he was nine, 40 years ago. The story is compelling, not just because of the personal aspect but also largely in part due to the mountain itself. The Eiger is one of a group three famous mountain peaks in Switzerland; its neighbors are the Monch and the Jungfrau. In German their names translate into the Monk, the Virgin, and the Ogre. At approx. 13,000 feet, the “Ogre” is not the tallest of mountains, but due to its strange weather, crumbly composition, and mile high rock face, it can be a dangerous mountain to climb. I lived for a short time in the shadows of these three great Alps, and to see their silhouette in the horizon is awe inspiring. What I loved most about this movie and the reason for the post I guess is that there are many lovely shots of Switzerland. It brought tears to my eyes and I felt homesick watching it. If you ever get the chance to go to Europe I highly recommend an outing in Switzerland, I don’t think you will be disappointed. But if you don’t get the chance and you just want to see some really beautiful scenery, I recommend a trip to your local IMAX.

And as the say in the language of my people – Tschussli, I hope you all have a place and a people that you consider to be yours.