|| A Little Here, A Little There ||

Hi! Remember me?
Today, my laptop is charged so I have had time to blog, only a little, update my ipod with Christmas music and email. My computer only has about a half hour left of juice and I am panicking a bit. I haven't been able to blog all that I hoped to and I have a lot to update! It is killing me! Today, Jachen is calling the place we dropped my laptop charger to, to find out the status, since it should have been done by now. I am hoping it is ready soon! Sheesh!


A little update...
We had a nice and quiet Thanksgiving and then the day after I wasted no time and turned on some Christmas music. Justin Bieber to be exact...which basically is Pop Christmas, but still fun. Friday evening we were invited for dinner at Jachen's dad and brothers apt. His dad is always telling jokes...I can hardly tell which is something serious or a joke because he always says both in the same tone. He has always been very great to us and very giving. We were able to borrow moving boxes from him and movies. We never leave his presence without taking something of his home to have or borrow.

Saturday was my birthday, that I will save for another post. I took some pictures of the occasion. But, I will let you know that in the evening we began setting up for Christmas. The Christmas tree came out of the box and lights were strung. I sure love when a Christmas tree is lit and only those lights are on in the house. Such a great mood it puts me in.

Sunday, we finished setting up all our Christmas decorations. We decorated the tree and the room with what we have. Again, that will be for another post. I realized after setting it all up that I don't have one single Santa...I need to change that.

Remember how I told you below about an apartment we were pretty for sure getting?? Welllll, I tell ya, we most likely won't be getting it. ARGH. The manager said he only rents to SINGLE people. Dumb. We heard this from the girl who is moving out. She gave Jachen his contact information and Friday-Monday we tried calling me. His phone never went to him, dumb. So Jachen wrote him a note on Monday and dropped it off in his mailbox. We just explained we wanted to be able to talk to him directly and hadn't had luck reaching him by phone. Also, that we are confused how us being married is any different than someone who has a boyfriend/girlfriend living with them...since a lot of people here do that. We asked him to call us so we could for sure hear a no or yes. It's Wednesday now and we haven't heard from him. HOWEVER, in the mean time Jachen went to another apartment appointment. We liked that place however it is more money...2 bedrooms though. It is nice, an odd layout, but really this place is so for sure the best that is out there right now. That we can find. However, this place is empty now and the lady renting out is taking into consideration who can move in the soonest...and we still have to pay rent for December and January here. So we are nervous someone else might get it if they can move in before us. It has been a rather hard search, who knew?! There seriously is slim pickings. It has sure been frustrating, but we just hope right now that we either hear back from that man or some how are lucky and get this new place. If not, we have to KEEP looking. So stressful. We are just ready to finalize a place, start packing and start this new life here.

Coming soon...
I have some movie, book, and Christmas and non Christmas music recommendations. Also, some DIY Christmas decorations ideas/tutorials as well as the start of my Christmas posts. I am sure looking forward to having my cord back. Blogging is such part of my daily routine and now I feel so behind. ALSO, I am soooooo behind on reading/commenting on/looking at other's blogs. Once I get my cord, I will have lots and lots of catching up to do.

Hey, tomorrow is December! That is a pretty amazing thing. It is all sunshine here lately{or major, major fog} and I am still itching for some snow. Maybe just enough snow to line the trees and yards while skipping the roads. At night, the villages have Christmas lights that line streets and almost every village has a Christmas market. Coolest thing. We are going to one again this coming weekend and I will load my camera with pictures. You will want to see. Talk with you soon!

|| Our Thanksgiving ||

Well, we celebrated Thanksgiving over on this side of the world. During the day, Jachen was at work since clearly the Swiss do not celebrate this holiday{unless married to an American}. So during the day I watched the A&E version of Pride & Prejudice, the best one, while preparing for our Thanksgiving dinner. Jachen came home, we finished Pride & Prejudice, ate and wrote down some things we are thankful for this year. After, we went for a walk up to a Christmas art sale our village was having. It was a chilly night, but a great long walk to end the evening.

Also, I was able to Skype at the Farmer house, where I have spent many of Thanksgivings. My sister Alicia was there with her family so I talked with all them too. The Farmer family are technically unrelated, but oh so much family to our family. Also, I was able to Skype my family over at their celebration. It was wonderful to see my Grandma Jackie, I sure love her and I don't get to see her often...especially since I live moons away now. It was great being able to be part of both celebrations. Oh, and you should know, that first picture of Kaitlin and Joslin...I told them about a blog they should follow and the were looking at it when I took the picture...hence the "concentrating" faces.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Go eat already!
A picture from last Thanksgiving, here. Thanks Jos!

|| Here and Then Gone Again ||

I have only a bit longer before my battery runs out. Jachen asked a coworker if he could bring his laptop cord to work so he could charge my laptop. So, yesterday Jachen took my laptop to work to charge. Phew. Having my laptop working for a couple hours has me missing it. I sure don't like being rushed, but I am glad I could get the images I needed off my computer as well as post on here a little.

GUESS WHAT?! We are pretty sure we found an apartment! Our Bishop mentioned his daughter was moving out of her apartment so we contacted her and went last night to check it out. It is MINIATURE...no dishwasher and the tiniest fridge. Tiny fridge meaning ONE shelf. Death. However "cozy" the apartment is it is nice, new, there is a storage room, a dryer{lots of places we have looked doesn't have a dryer}, newly painted and nice floors. She also is willing to leave a few pieces of furniture that we actually need. Also, the big thing is it is a GREAT price. I was skeptical at first when we went in because we have been in search of a 2 bedroom and this one is a 1 bedroom, but the place had a bit of character for the price and we could easily store our extra bedding in the storage room and bring it out when people come to visit us. ALSO, she is moving out in a few weeks and she said she would pay for the rest of Decemeber, half of January and we will pay the other half of January and we can start moving in in the middle of January. That will be nice to not have to rush moving in one day, we can take our time. The apartment is only 10min from Jachen's work...we timed it. Another negative is it is not too much in a "city" like we wanted, but it still has some great walking places and a it has a mini little store I could walk to. My biggest worry is the tiny fridge. We could buy some sort of freezer/fridge, but then it would have to be out in the living room. There are also very little shelves/cupboards in the kitchen so we would have to be creative about where we keep things in the apartment. The price is too good to pass up and we will just have to adjust to a smaller apartment and hand washing ALL our dishes. It feels nice and new and though it is small the price fits the place. Needless to say I couldn't sleep last night. My mind was racing about all the adjustments and changes that will happen if we choose to live in this place. But, I think mostly we have just been spoiled living in a house since we have been married and living in a tiny apartment will be a great adventure. We are deciding in the next few days, but I am sure we will be choosing this place. Well that is that.

I can't believe Thanksgiving is tomorrow. Can you? You ready? I will miss the yummy food I am used to on Thanksgiving, but we are making it the best we can with what we have. I sure wish I could eat some pumpkin pie or pumpkin squares tomorrow. However I did get a bit of pumpkin pie on Sunday which was for realsy handmade fresh from pumpkins and all, delicious.{I will tell you about the Ward Thanksgiving lunch when I get my laptop charger cord back}.

My birthday is on Saturday and of course this week is going like a slug. The one week that is taking it's sweet time. Also this weekend we will begin the Christmas decorating. Yippee! I just noticed today our across the street neighbor has some Christmas decor outside...it really is happening! I mentioned last night to Jachen I should make him a Christmas music mix for his car and he replied "Well then I will be singing Christmas music"{cus remember in a previous post I said how I don't let him hum Christmas music} so then I replied "Well after Thursday, Thanksgiving, you are allowed to!". I am so excited to start listening to Christmas music. I am ecstatic about getting my hands on that Bieber's Christmas album and I also already have the new Michael Buble Christmas...can't wait! Also, don't tell anyone, but I am kinda excited for the snow. I know as soon as the snow comes I will change my mind...I have never been a huge fan. Lie. Actually, I probably was a fan as a kid...but that doesn't count.

I have had plenty to do even though I have been without my laptop, but I sure would like to have it back in my life. AND luckily I have an iPod and can access internet easily there. In the previous post I mentioned using Jachen's ancient PC...it's fine, but he has a European keyboard which has the Y and Z switched and that just gets confusing ALSO there is no exclamation key. Bizarro. Bless my laptop.

I will be back soon! Enjoy your Thanksgiving and Black Friday!

|| Autumn Goodies ||

So lovely.
Autumn is slipping away. Sad.

Lace Blouse|Fox hand warmer|Fleece pillows|Sequined clutch

Fantastic Mr. Fox poster|Butter London|Wrist warmers

|| Silly Charger ||

My cord is at the shop getting fixed. It will take a week for it to be ready so I will be without my precious laptop. A WEEK!? I don't know what I will do with myself. I might have to muster up the courage to use Jachen's 18th century computer to do some blogging. There was/is more than just blogging that I had plans on doing with my computer, argh.

Well, I'm off! We have some Christmas prep to tend to today! Have a great weekend!

Ps. It took me a million years to type this on my iPod.

Monica

|| Troublemaker ||

I have had something wrong with my Macbook Pro time after time...ever since I got it 4 years ago. Right now, my charger isn't charging my laptop, so I might be off my laptop until I can get it to charge or replace the charger. I have only had this charger for 6 months, so it should still be working. We are in search for the receipt...we have been really good about keeping a jar of receipts so we better have saved that one. Recently, I have had a few other problems with my laptop...I tell ya, it is on the fritz. I can feel that soon, death will become her.

Luckily, I have my Ipod to still be able to check emails, but I can't blog on my Ipod. So if you see me blogging after this, you know I am having charging success.

Well gotta end this before my laptop dies.
Ohh now my computer is charging...it likes to do that...the charger will randomly charge. There is no consistancy to when it will charge.

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if my laptop just needs a real good cleaning.

THIS JUST IN...I found the receipt and my charger has a 12 month guarantee. Hopefully the charger IS the problem.

|| NCIS ||

We love NCIS over at this house, big time.

I watched NCIS back at home when I lived with my parents, it was our favorite show and was on quite often. Jachen watched some throughout the years too and liked it. This summer I got a chance to borrow from a friend the first 6 seasons on dvd and Jachen and I decided to watch them from episode one in order all the way through. That took us a while. Season 7&8 we downloaded online and we are finally caught up to current episodes of season 9 which we watch online. Actually, we still have to watch the new episode from this week. We have been watching it religiously and we feel like the characters are our friends. Really. We are nutso. I have had my fair share of dreams about Very Special Agent Tony Dinozzo, Gibbs and McGee. We are obsessed in a healthy way, of course. If the five main characters were real people I would want to be their friend especially Abby who is a very cool eccentric scientist. I just love the dynamics of the characters, their interactions with one another and how great and funny they all are. 

Can't wait to watch this week's episode!

Do you watch it?

|| Autumn Goodies ||

Oh Anthropologie, you are so beautiful.

You make Autumn THAT much prettier.

Blouse|Knit Cardigan|Zig Zag Blouse

Starry Sweater|Poncho|Blooms Top

More Autumn here.

|| Not My Day ||

I am feeling like this right now.

This morning I was so looking forward to our appointment to see the flat for this evening that we had scheduled to see over a week ago. I was excited because I was hopeful for it being The One and I was also okay with it being something we didn't like and turning it down. I was ready to move on with a decision whether it was yay or nay. This afternoon Jachen got a call from the girl who booked our appointment and said the place was just taken. WHAT? So supposedly some other person sold the place this weekend without our lady even knowing about it until now. We didn't even get to go look at the place. How could they just sell it without others knowing or without the appointments made getting a chance? I am just so furious we didn't get a chance. There was no 'nay' because it wasn't even our own decision. The place that was supposedly unlisted, better than the last place we saw and the place that I daydreamed about is already out of our hands before we could go look. I am so bummed. So we are back at square 1...actually we are at 0. We still have time, but it has continued to be one let down after another and I am officially sour towards our search. Jachen is unbelievably positive,
as always, and I am Sulky Susan right now. I need to find a way to start again.

photo source|source

|| Christmas Sneak Peak ||

Although on my blog I am postponing the Christmas/Holiday talk until after Thanksgiving, it doesn't mean I am not thinking about it or prepping for Christmas outside of the blogosphere. We have begun our Christmas shopping, Christmas decorations finding and discussion of what we will do on the big day seeing as how this is our first Christmas married. Also, I have begun making some Christmas decorations. About a month ago Jachen's grandmother was getting rid of bags and bags of ribbon and I got the first pick of what I wanted. I didn't know what I would do with them at the time, but there was some fantastic gold and white ribbon going on and I knew it belonged to me. I made a few things with the ribbon last night and started some other projects. I will not post the crafts until after Thanksgiving. The real Christmas discussions will have to wait till then. I have some great Christmas talk coming...can you believe by the end of the next week it all begins? My family has the tradition of whipping out Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. I will carry on that tradition. I don't even like Jachen to hum a Christmas tune. I am hardcore.
I am ecstatic about decorating the house next week. Ecstatic.

|| Chicks & Tunes ||

Different girls, different music. Which suits your fancy?

Enjoy. 

|| Autumn Goodies ||

More Autumn before it leaves us.

Thank You card|Slippers|Pumpkin Oatmeal cookies|Leaf Necklace

Tree Stump mug|Apple pillow|Beeswax candle

Autumn here, Autumn there

|| Forever 21 ||

Fab.

Shop these looks.

|| Oldies and Goodies ||

These are my all time favorite movies from growing up.

The other night I was thinking about the movies I watched growing up and decided to start making a list of those movies. Some I haven't seen for a long time and I hope to remedy that soon. It is fun introducing these movies to Jachen...the other night we watched Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, so great. I am sure in the mood to watch Matilda, Swiss Family Robinson, Jumanji, The Saint and Kindergarten Cop. Also soon it will be time to watch White Christmas and Little Women. Little Women is one of those great wintertime movies.  These sure bring back memories. 

Are any of these your favorites?

What are some of your favorites that aren't up above?
Which are you in the mood to see again?

|| I Really Love Gold, Part Five ||

Gold. Yay. 

I know, I know you have been missing the gold posts.

Don't worry, I am back with gold.

Gold nugget necklace|Gold necklace|Macaron Necklace

Kate Spade Perfume|Cameras|Gold nail polish|Clutch
Gold posts//1|2|3|4

|| Autumn Goodies ||

More of lovely Autumn.

See more here, and more is on it's way!

Foxy mug cozy|Owl bank|Cocktail ring
Pumpkin pie with gingersnap crust|Velvet blazer

|| Hunger Games ||

I am freaking out! Are you as excited as I am? Can you not wait like I can't?? 

It is making me want to read the first book again.
Heck, it's making me want to finally finish the last book.
So epic. Gaaahh.

|| Sookie ||

Sookie St. James from Gilmore Girls

I have been watching episode after episode of Gilmore Girls lately. I love this show. I used to dislike this show back in the day, but in college I had a roommate that had all seasons on dvd and that is where I got hooked. I bypassed the fast talking of everyone on the show and fell in love with the characters. Then I moved to a different apartment a few years later and had another roommate that had the seasons on dvd. Glorious.  

While watching it these days I have decided my favorite character is Sookie. She is so funny, cute, spastic and such a great friend to Lorelai and Rory. I want Sookie as my friend. I love when Sookie is in a scene. Below is one of my favorite Sookie moments. 

Thanks to whoever held their camera up to their tv and captured the Sookie moment.

|| Autumn Goodies ||

Lovely Autumn.
Only a few more weeks till the official start of Winter.
We still have time, time to enjoy the likes of Autumn.

Recipes|Pinecone candle holders 1&2|Give Thanks card|Calendar

Velvet bow collar|Raccoon dish

|| Weekend Lovin' ||

More photos and details over here.
Also check out the videos I took of Swiss Yodeling over there.

|| Snippets of the Weekend ||

It is almost bedtime at the close of our weekend. Soon we will make the climb upstairs to our chilly bedroom, but tonight I know I will sleep like a baby because since I woke up this morning I have been sleepy. I would love this blanket from Donna Wilson to be wrapped around me as I quickly fall asleep. We had a great and eventful weekend. Many photos were snapped so I will post those tomorrow. 

The snippets
This weekend I drank A&W Rootbeer{a big deal}

We watched some really good movies

Bought some great Christmas decorations

I received a big ol' birthday package
I made some amazing tea
Skyped no one, blah
Was emailed videos of my nephew Henry, what a doll
Got some Christmas shopping done
Held Jachen's hand
Heard some Swiss Yodeling

Drove in some serious fog
Watched this amazing{looking} trailer, watch it!
Jachen made me breakfast
Was very happy

BUT, the best weekend happenin's of all...
my dearest and oldest{not age wise} friend Kerianne had her baby early this morning. I have not heard the name yet and it is driving me bonkers! But, there she is. Now, I just need to skype this little one. The only time growing up that I remember{I am sure there were other times} talking with Kerianne about our future little ones was in high school french class and now, here we are at the start. Seems like yesterday we were silly little girls dreaming of our future. She will be a fantastic mother. Now name your baby and tell me her name already!

I hope you enjoyed your weekend.

|| Owl Lover Project ||

How lovely. 

Over here at My Barn Owl, you can choose which owl picture you want for each month of 2012 and then print out a calendar! Great huh? Pictured above is the pictures of owls I chose for each month. You just select the month for each picture, click download calendar and then a PDF file opens and you can print 4x6{around that size} calendar pages onto 8.5x11 paper. However great that is, I still have my eyes set on THIS calendar. Also, the 45 artists that contributed their artwork to this project is listed under their owl if you want to follow their links to find their work.

Enjoy!

|| Hipster Girl Dress Up ||

Well that was fun! It's me in animated version.

Here, you can dress yourself up too! I love me some dress up. I love the first outfit the best, I would wear that everyday. If someone where to make this available in a bigger variety of options like more clothing, more shoes etc I would "play" this game constantly. There should also be jewelry, lipstick, and purse/bag options too. So fun. If you end up doing this I want to see what you come up with. Thanks Kyla!
I just found THIS! the guy version.
The Jachenator and I.

|| Birthday Package Surprise! ||

Yippee!

Now, I just have to wait till the 26th to open.
Mensch.

|| Darwin Deez ||

I like to bring you "All things lovely" and I would say this applies.
I would like a camera headpiece like he has.
What a goof.