Travel Love

Summer 2011

2011-07-28T02:52:00.003+02:00

This year we have had a constant flow of visitors into our life. From the moment Achim and I came back from India and got an apartment, our life has been filled with friends and loved ones. Lace was here ASAP to assist in taking care of all of our guests. From traveling carpenters, to friends, brothers, Swiss, and the list goes on. Every new week practically brought a new guest or two.

Achim decided to go to Switzerland on June 15th. Our semi annual family reunion was on July 4th, this is one of my favorite events in the whole world. Lacey came with me this year and we had a blast. My heart was so filled with love getting to be together in one compound with all my family members. I flew back into town and went and picked up my childhood best friend whom I have not seen in over 10 years. I picked her up and 3 out of 5 of her children. They came to Hobe Sound and stayed for a week.

This week was a highlight for me, I went to work and when I came home all of their smiling faces greeted me. We all had so much fun together, talking, playing, laughing, and going to the beach! These visitors touched my heart! These children and their mother are such amazing and sweet human beings. I am excited to welcome a visitor this weekend.

I would like to send a special thank you to all of our friends and family who have visited us over the last several years. So many of our friends and family members come to visit us from all over the the world. Achim and I love having guests and its such a privilege to have you in our home!

INDIA

2011-03-27T17:00:00.002+02:00

Morning Time in Arambol, Goa

2010-11-07T09:10:00.003+01:00

I woke up this morning to the sounds of roosters and scooters starting up. The sun is shining and its safe to open the windows (no mosquito's during the day). I drape a sarong around me and find my flip flops. I wander down the stairs of large guest house that we share with an extremely large family from Arambol (the beach we are staying at). I always stare at the courtyard and surrounding areas to see what my eyes will find. So far I have seen empty pop bottles of all kinds, old flip flops, chickens (living), pigs, 2 parakeets in a cage, old coconut husks, volunteer papaya trees, an old tire, old suitcases with wheels, and a close line full of clothes, today they happened to be our clothes.

I wander down the path a little further and see two men scrubbing a pig with sand and straw. I was wondering how they held the pig so still. I asked the mother of our small little community and she explained to me that it was her nieces baptism so they killed the pig in celebration. She was explaining this to me as she was sitting on a wooden stool with a knife coming out of the middle of it. She was using the knife to split the seashells that her two young daughters had collected on the beach earlier this morning. She said she is going to fry them up for lunch. Yum, sounds like clams to me.

I love to see how the locals of a fishing village use every part of the sea and the animal. As a tourist the options are the whole fish or prawns, but really there are all sorts of other foods that can be utilized from the sea.

India

2010-11-06T14:57:00.002+01:00

The people are kind. Sitting on a beach surrounded by palm trees, little girls running around with Sunday dresses and bare feet. Dogs running in packs. Cows roaming from one side of the beach to the other, grazing on trash heeps. Lifeguards dressed in red, baywatch style. Everything is for sale in front of your beach chair. Sipping on a lime blended up.

There is a lot of paperwork involved in Travel Love.

2010-03-11T00:08:00.004+01:00

The Swiss Farm: This is the house and land we want to buy in Switzerland.

Lately it seems that life is full of paperwork. As Lace says, "You two are always on task." Pretty much. I bark orders, Achim does his best to fulfill them. These are the things you don't know about/ or care about in the beginning stages of travel love. But with travel love comes paperwork. Name changes, immigration paperwork times 3, purchasing a house, plane tickets, car purchases, moving 5 times, address change, oops a ticket, insurance paperwork, open a business, close a business, file taxes, and much much more. Somehow travel love turned into paperwork love. This wasn't what Achim and I were dreaming of as we stared into each others eyes on a sandy beach in Thailand five years ago. All the paperwork is worth it though. I am so glad we met. So here we are, house is fixed up and rented out. Achi and I moved to Jupiter, FL.

I find myself missing my Swiss Family, the village life. I find myself really wanting to do something creative. I don't really know what that is or what it means, but I want to use my hands, get them dirty, mold or shape an object. I love working with people and talking to people, yet I find myself wanting to be artistic. I have about 9 inches of a scarf knitted from 3 years ago, and then I forgot how to knit. Help!

2010: The Year of the Wedding. We have 4 very important and special weddings this year. My bro, his bro, cousin, and best friend of over 20 years. Then what after that........

I want to travel (whats new). I can't wait to be out of my comfort zone in a positive way, stretching myself and learning about a new place and a new way. To be on an adventure. INDIA........ Plus as pictured above we want to buy this beautiful piece of land with house and restaurant in Switzerland.

Whoa!! Where did time go.

2009-04-10T04:26:00.003+02:00

Lots of updates. House is done, now a boat to fix up, a garden planted, and weddding to be hosted. More to come and oops the camera broke.

It's All About the Food and Drink.

2008-07-20T19:42:00.010+02:00

My kind of guy. He's got his beer, my wine in the cooler, and a suitcase ready to roll.

All dressed up and ready to party.

This is just the apero before the bride even arrived. Endless plates of meat.

Croatia. We went to Croatia for Achims best friends wedding. I knew it was going to be an event. I have never seen so much food in my life. Four pigs and four sheep gave their life for this event. Achim and the guys got to be part of the slaughtering process. The wedding was held in Nova Gradishka, about an hour from Zagreb the capital city.

The journey to Croatia was a long and strenuous one, this was not due to lack of accommodations or good transport. This was due to 10 men and 2 women, all best friends being in a large van together. In Europe its ok to drink in a car, just no drinking for the driver. Therefore most induldged. We stopped every 30 minutes, I have seen every gas station from Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, and Croatia. What should have been a 10 hour drive turned into 14 hours.

I immediately clung to the only other female, a wonderful woman from Chile. She speaks wonderful German now. I do not, but I do speak the international language of, would you like to enjoy a bottle of wine with me. The wine drinking got kicked off at Simons apartment in St. Gallen. We polished that off and then I begged Simon to have one from his stash. He generously handed over a bottle of Malbec from Argentina of course. Maca, from Chile, turned her nose up at it jokingly since Argentina is her wine making rival country.

That bottle of wine was one of the best bottles of wine ever, we enjoyed it in the front seat of the van with our fearless driver Simon. By the time we reached our neighbor country of Austria, the wine was sadly gone. Naturally, we had about 12 hours to go. At an Austrian gas station I scavenged for more wine. Knowing that usually in Europe you can find quality food and drink at a gas station (IE yummy cheese at the gas station in France with Lace). My theory was proven wrong however when we were stuck with a not so delicious Austrian wine. That finished my wine drinking for the rest of the car ride, I fell asleep after telling Simon a thousand times how much I loved him for his great wine, and Maca got sick. Oops.

Finally, we arrived in Croatia. At the brides families home, we were greeted by her beautiful sister, wonderful little brother, and friendly parents. The moment we arrived the coffee, homemade Slibovich (which is a liquor every family makes), and beer started flowing. I was starving, so luckily then out came the plates and plates of homemade cured meats. Some of the best meats I have ever had. All different, all delicious, all salty. Yes, and some sliced tomatoes. In my first four days of Croatia I had no fruit or vegetables, but I had meat, meat, and more meat.

I love these people. They are all thin, and they all constantly tell you, EAT EAT EAT. So I did. Maybe the more cured meats you eat, the more beautiful you become. Hey it was worth a try.

Sweet Potato Pie

2008-05-26T16:18:00.008+02:00

If you have met me, then you know my love for the sweet potato. One of my favorite foods on the planet. I realize this recipe is coming a little late in the year. At the local produce market they have a $ 0.75 basket of veggies and fruits that are not quite as pretty anymore. You just grab a big bag and never know what you might get, you may get a huge bag or radishes, a bundle of arugula, onions and three sweet potato.

I did not want to waste these beautiful and grand potato products. So this is what came about!

Sweet Potato Pie

1 (1 pound) sweet potato (approx 4)
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup plain yogurt w/ 1/4 tsp. of baking powder
2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1(9 inch) unbaked pie crust

1. Bake sweet potato whole with skin on for about 1 hour, or until done. Remove skin.

2. Smash sweet potato in a bowl. Add butter, and mix well with mixer. Stir in agave nectar, yogurt, eggs, nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat on low speed until smooth. Pour filling into pie crust.

3. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 55-60 minutes, or until knife inserted into center comes out cleans. Pie will puff uplike a souffle, and then will sink down as it cools.

Let cool and Enjoy!!

FOOD AND TRAVEL................

2008-01-30T17:40:00.000+01:00

You may have noticed that food and travel have not been mentioned lately. Don't worry we are still eating and drinking and being merry. That is a given, travel not a lot. We have a wedding approaching and its kind of confusing because I am already married. I have been stressed and worried. I am not someone who plans in advance, planning in advance is not for me. However the "planner in advancers" always get me worried. I enjoy the thrill of not planning in advance, planning to far ahead just worries me. Somehow while planning a wedding I forgot this about myself. Finally its close enough that I can start making decisions and getting excited.

THIS IS GOING TO BE A REALLY FUN EVENT, WE ARE GOING TO HAVE PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD IN ATTENDANCE. AND ALL THE PEOPLE WE LOVE MOST AT OUR FINGER TIPS.

Achim and I were interviewed the other night by a family member, asking us about our life. There were so many details we did not know the answers to, but when we started talking about new adventures, the unknown, and travel we got very jolly and excited.

2007-12-02T16:00:00.001+01:00

Achims best friend Simon came to visit a couple months ago. It was amazing, Simon is one of us.

He got me excited about life, remembering dreams, drinking good wine, enjoying good food together. Achim and Simon have lots of big plans together! Simon also knows how to have a good time!

Simon was teaching Achim about romance, we will see if it stuck.

Urs came to visit!!

2007-12-02T15:53:00.000+01:00

My brother-in-law came to visit (its fun to say that, brother in law.) His name is Urs. He brought me dark chocolate w/ whole almonds from Switzerland. Thank you Nicole (his girlfriend, so thoughtful.)

Urs is one of the nicest guys on the planet, peaceful, smart, funny, and an Oberhaensli. What more could a girl ask for.

Urs said this to Achim and I,"You both go together well because you do not fit in a box." Well said.

Thanks for the visit, it meant the world to us!!

BOB came to visit!

2007-12-02T15:45:00.000+01:00

Bob is my biological father. We look a lot alike!! Its really crazy to grow up your whole life looking like your Mom, until you meet your dad. Its also amazing what a role genetics plays in life, we hold our fork the same way, think the same way, and we both like wine. None of these behaviors did I learn from him, they were just written in the DNA. (p.s. This pic was taken at 6am, but hey atleast you get the look alike part!)

The Living Room: Before and After

2007-09-30T14:49:00.000+02:00

The Living Room in the beginning

The Living Room Until A Few Weeks Ago.

The Living Room Now!!

We are starting to feel the progress!! Its really starting to feel like home!

Friends in the backyard!!

2007-09-30T14:37:00.000+02:00

Casa Oberhänsli has its first guests!!!

2007-09-30T14:16:00.000+02:00

Last month we had our first set of guests at our home. Pat (friend that we met in Thailand from Canada) and his lovely girlfriend Denise! It was so much fun to get to share our home and our beach with wonderful friends. They had just been in Costa Rica and arranged their flight home to come through Florida to pay us a visit.

I knew I loved Denise when the first thing she said when they arrived in our home was,"I would just love to eat some vegetables, in Costa Rica their were not a lot of vegetables and I need vegetables."

I often find that when traveling depending on what part of the world you are in it is hard to find vegetables. So in Oberhänsli fashion we enjoyed good food and drink, and lots of beach time!!

Beach side at Casa Oberhansli: Pat and Denise

I got Married!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-07-31T18:02:00.000+02:00

Party!!

Yep!! I think its the craziest thing I have ever heard come out of my mouth, but its true and its awesome!! Achim and I were engaged for approximately 12 hours. The plan was to go down to the clerk of courts and get the paperwork together to "eventually" get married.

When we got there after going through the metal detectors and the woman running her wand over me and saying, "whoop, i can tell you don't have an underwire on." Yikes I was violated by the metal detector lady.

Then we walk up to the counter, the woman very abruptly said, "Well what day are you getting married?"

Achim and I replied: ahhhh, duhhh, ahhh, we dont know?

The Lady: WHat do you mean you dont know!!

Achim and I: Ahhhh..... duhhh.... we dont know.

The Lady: Well you can do it today.

Achim: Ok, we do it today.

Me: (Staring blankly at him.) Thinking to myself, what the heck no beach no nothing.

The Lady: Ok, well the go sit down and I will be with you.

Me: (telling Achim) Honey do you realize we are actually getting married in a few minutes.

Achim: Really. Oh. I thought we were just signing some papers.

Me: Nope, this blonde lady is about to marry us.

Achim: Oops.

The lady comes over grabs us takes us outside of the court house by the smoking section and a large potted plant. Tells us both in the middle of it that she is sorry but she cant pronounce either of our names. approx. 20 seconds later we were married.

It was rather weird and anti-climactic but turned out to be a good day with a really good spur of the moment party!!

Achim and I will be having our official wedding in Feb. or March. We will keep you posted.

Love, Mrs. Oberhaensli!!

This is at our party, lots of people magically showed up on very little notice, minutes and for some hours!!

The exact moment, The Lady is taking our pic, notice the potted plants and parking lot!

The House Update!! 3 Months after its purchase!

2007-07-31T17:33:00.001+02:00

So this is the house so far. Pictures really dont do it justice. Achim has worked hundreds and hundreds of hours on this and he is making wonderful progress. So far all 3 bedrooms are 95% complete, many trees that were not native have been uprooted, Achim has seen about 6 snakes (me zero), we have a stove and a dishwasher, working air con., and plumbing! Woohoo!!!

I am very amused by closets at this point in my life. We did not have any for a couple months so now really love them!!

Looks like I am trying really hard to figure things out. This is the living room as of now!!

Yipee! I have a closet now!!

This is what the master bedroom is looking like now. It used to be a horrible dirty purple room.

Who ever said Lowes is not the most fun place in the world. (This is where Achim and I spend many romantic Saturday evenings, all in the name of the house.)

Uprooting a giant tree with his bare hands and an axe!! Wow!

The Front Door!

2007-06-06T16:38:00.001+02:00

The New Door

The Old Door

This is how most of my stories will start out. ACHIM and I were at LOWES. I am spending a lot of time there lately. We needed a door. There is a lot that the front door tells about a house. I knew that the door was very energetically important. So Achim and I were trying to decide on the perfect one and in the cheapest price range! I said, "honey, can I dial a life line." He said sure, I knew he was thinking oh god here she goes again.

So I called my mom, she has really been in to Feng Shui lately, she said you need a solid door, and the correct color, and started rambling on. So I hung up and was more confused, b/c the door I liked was not solid.

So then I said, "honey can I dial one more life line. So I called Ada, the spiritual healer/ real estate agent. SHe said for re sale the door needed to be inviting, and to visualize myself in front of the house and ask the house what it wanted. I thought to myself ok that sounds good and hung up.

Achim and I are standing in the door aisle at Lowes visualizing and about to pick out the door, when the manager comes and asks us if we would like to purchase this door that had a broken piece (that no one would ever see) for $75. We looked and said ok. Then Achim said, $50. Someone then said no.

Then he said it again, and the guy said ok! Take it. So we ended up with the perfect door. Usually it sells for around $400 and we got it for $50!!

The kitchen?

2007-06-06T16:25:00.001+02:00

Kitchen? Currently we do not have an official kitchen because we ripped it out! We have a grill, a very lovely one and an electric skillet! Stay tuned for the plumbing update!

RULES AND REGULATIONS!!

2007-06-06T16:03:00.001+02:00

There are lots of different rules associated with owning and fixing a house in America! Judging from Achims frustrations with the rules, they must not have rules like this in Switzerland.

Our house needs new windows everywhere, and there are about 16 windows in this house. We figured out that we need a permit. First I call an office in a larger city near by, the woman tells me to come down to her office. I start thinking about it and think that is too far to drive. So I start searching through the phone book. There is a closer place to go.

We drive to the Satellite beach city hall, they give us all the rules that we have to follow. We go to Lowes, the home improvement store, find all the proper windows that fit the specs. The manager makes us copies of the papers we need.

We bring back the info. to the city hall and they say,"oh you live in that neighborhood, that is out of our jurisdiction."

We call Viera the place that governs our neighborhood, its 45 minutes away. They tell us that they have different rules and the windows have to be even stronger. (more expensive and more of a pain) Achim drives to Viera and they tell him that he needs a Deed for the house and the homeowner present (thats me).

I call Claire, the woman that closed with us on the house. She tells me she sent the Deed out 2 weeks ago. I said it never arrived, she said, Hmmmm....to bad. So she send me a copy via fax, but lets me know the original was the one she sent, so there is no longer an original copy.

Achim and I "stand up" at 6am so we can get the permit before I go to work. The woman takes our paperwork and says go eat Breakfast and come back in an hour.

We go have breakfast. Walk into the permiting office, and the woman looks at us and says"You are going to hate me." She then explains that the computer systems went down and we will have to come back again in 2 hours.

But I had to go to work. After I got off work we rushed back and now we finally have our permits!! Yipeee!!

Achim was installing a window by himself, and stepped on a large black snake. Thus causing a chain reaction and the window fell out and broke. Luckily the girl at Lowes took it back with a smile.

We have to move in, in 2 weeks!

2007-05-17T20:43:00.000+02:00

In the title office signing 1,000 papers to own this house. The woman asked me," are you both buying the house." I said, No, I am, he is just my carpenter." (and everything else)

Phase 1: The Clean Up Process!! 1.5 weeks into we have filled up 2 giant dumpsters and tons of trash by the side of the road!!

The Back of the Florida Room!! Looking good!

Palm Trees in the back yard!! They are gorgeous!!

The front porch!!

The Shed!

The Master Bath!! Fit for a King!!

The Guest Bathroom. The neighbors say the toilet hasnt worked in 2 years!! The people were going to the side of the toilet, hence the pile of rags.

The Garage

A Closer look of the Florida Room!!

Kitchen.

This is the living room and Florida Room!!

Here she is, the diamond in the rough!! Day 1

One week into the house.

2007-05-14T22:31:00.000+02:00

I am the proud owner of the ugliest house on the block!! We have had the house exactly one week and Achim has filled two giant dumpsters with stuff that was inside the house. He has completely torn out the kitchen, removed all doors, thrown away countless appliances, pieces of furniture, rotten things, and most lovely of all, 2 toilets that were filled to the brim with crap (literally).

He is a saint. We have to move into the house in one month. SO the plan is to work hard to get it to a livable quality. Which for Achim and I is two different things!!

I PROMISE, the pictures will be up soon.

NEVER GIVE UP!!

2007-05-01T19:36:00.000+02:00

Achim and I had a dream that started festering about a year ago. What could we do together, putting our heads together we decided that we wanted to buy an ugly ugly ugly house.

It started swirling around our minds in Switzerland exactly one year ago. We made a visual display and researched and kept our dream alive, telling everyone and everything about our dream to own the ugliest house on the street, and turn it into CASH money for us to continue to build our dreams.

We have been through it all!! Bankers choking on their coffee when i tell them my non existent work history and even sketchy rental history. However ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.

We did not care we kept trying. By accident I ran into a friend from second grade whos brother does real estate. In passing at a wedding I said hey I want an ugly house. Four days later he calls me and shows us the beast.

After the loan falling through and then being ok, trying to get it insured. Finding out that I need to wire money from a bank that is another state 3,000 miles away and you have to be there in person. In the begining of the process I would get flustered and emotional but now I know I have a lot of people that want their paychecks, and it all depends on me and my house. Cross your fingers!! We are supposed to be closing on Friday.

I will keep you posted!

TIME

2007-04-17T14:17:00.000+02:00

Swirling around in the "life." The life where everyday at my new job, a weight loss clinic. I hear people tell me they don't have time to drink 8 oz. of liquid in the morning. They have no time to pull their car over to a park, and take 10 minutes to eat their chicken and salad. But they do have time to go to Mickey D's for a number three. Often times I find myself wanting to yell at them and say "this is your life, do you hear what you are saying?

What do you have time for? Whats important? Unlike most people I find myself not having time for work, or not having time for negative people, or not having time to watch TV. But I am very interested in having time for lots of food, beverage, fun, friends, and Love!

My Fascination!

2007-02-06T10:37:00.000+01:00

Over the last couple of years I have really noticed that science is proving a lot that we have known intuitively for thousands of years. Recently I read a study that was done regarding breast cancer. It showed that they can trace back an incident that happened approx. 15 months before the person was diagnosed with cancer, something which caused the person a great deal of anger. In science we are learning more and more about energetics and how this affects our health. One of the most poisonous things in our lives is stress which is energetically living at a lower vibration.

This is truly my favorite topic to study, learn about and apply in my personal life. In my lifetime I have been blessed to come in contact with different healers and their modalities. Some modalities in which I got to learn myself and use on others.

Some of these amazing healing modalities that I have been in contact with are Chiropractic care,Reiki, Pranic healing, Acupuncture and Chinese herbs, Young Living Essential Oils, Massage therapy, Personal fitness training,The Secret, Dr. Emoto, Landmark Education, Peak Potentials, and many others while attending Bastyr University.

Many people talk about what “their thing” is in life and often I say I don’t know.I always feel like I have so many things.

This is definitely my thing: Energetics and how it applies to healing and getting all the things you want in your life. This is the “thing” I love. Nothing inspires me more then when I hear about people healing themselves by changing their own energy. This can mean so many things, often times its just about changing what is in your head, changing your mind. Change your thinking and you can change your cells, and therefore change your life.

I have always wanted to be a public speaker and educate masses of people. Often times I kind of go back to Nutrition, which I believe is extremely important and a part of energy and life. However- My dream is to educate large groups of people on how to live life to the fullest and how to change their energy to be healthy, wealthy, and happy. Learning these things (and constantly learning and applying and learning again) is what truly changed my life.

The Coconut Macaroon

2007-01-22T11:47:00.000+01:00

I had a Coconut Macaroon (I have had many) that I bought from the heatlh food store in the Zurich train station. It was the most delicious one I have ever laid on my tastebuds. Perfect flavor and texture, and gluten-free. Which a macaroon should be, but often people add flour.

I bought the ingredients several months ago, but was waiting for the right moment. The urge came, and I made these wonderful little balls of coconut yumminess!!

3 Easy Ingredients:

Toasted Coconut Flakes
Egg Whites
Sugar

Bye Bye 2006, Hello 2007

2007-01-02T14:44:00.000+01:00

When I was quickly thinking about 2006, I thought hmm..... not much happened. Just the usual. Then I started really thinking and realized that 2006 was one of the most unique years of my life.

What made last year, 2006, very unique was I spent most of it living in Switzlerland.

Living in a new country is truly an experience and I recommend that everyone give it a try!!! At first I felt so alone, had no friends, could not speak with the people. Then I got over it, I learned that I just had to jump in and go for it. Now Switzerland feels like home 100%. I still can't eat as much cheese as a Swiss person though!!

2006 was also the first time, Honey and I lived together, not just traveled together. Its the "same same but different." I have really enjoyed it, I got to be a real live "haus Frau."

Travel Love grew up. The beauty of Travel Love is that it is at the heart of who we are. We are still continuing to travel. It will never stop, now we have simply added in a few more ingredients and a few more adventures. Next stop buying a house, to fix and sell!!

In one month we are leaving the Schweiz and heading to America for the next Chapter!! Don't worry we won't be there for too long!

Meeting the Family...........drum roll please.

2006-12-11T10:22:00.000+01:00

My honey has a huge family, his mom has 13 brothers and sisters, and his dad 12. WOW!! I think I have 12 people in my entire family total.

We have never been to a family function before, he is not real keen on large family functions. Eventually, in life, there is a family event you must attend. It was his godfathers birthday party. I was really excited because I love meeting new people and I love families. They tell a lot about people, whether we like to admit it, or not.

The excitement wore off for me, really quickly when I started thinking about how I can't speak the language and I have a lot to live up to since his sisters Egyptian husband, learned Swiss German and spoke Swiss German with the Grandmother.

It turned out great!! The scariest part of the whole night was the car/truck ride there. First when Honey told me that I was the first girlfriend he had ever introduced to his grandmother.(anxiety mounts) Then we were driving in a small work truck from Honeys company, 3 of us were crammed in the front cab of the truck. Our driver, a traveling carpenter whom we found a few days previous, was a fabulous driver but there was snow on the ground and we were swirling through these tiny little Swiss village country roads with only one lane for all traffic. No guard rails, only mountains and big drop offs. As I dug into Honeys leg, they were wondering what my problem was. I just said my usual reply, "I come from flat land, don't mind me."

We arrived at a beautiful location tucked in the middle of nowhere. We had to walk down a winding road, the first part of the evening was spent outside. Where we enjoyed, typical Swiss music ( you know that funny sounding music, that you don't know if its politically correct to laugh, or if the musician is doing that on purpose). Honey assured me that we would have that kind of music at our wedding. (and i think he was serious) We enjoyed Gluh Wein (hot spiced wine), Rum punch, and wine. Thank god for the hot drinks, these Swiss are crazy, hanging outside for 4 hours in the freezing cold rain.

The setting was beautiful, there was a huge waterfall right behind us. Eventually, once everyone got frost bite on their toes we went inside. It was a big cabin style building. The story was told that Honey's great grandfather used to own the property. It was a really famous mill, where huge logs were brought to be sawed in half using the waterfall as power. Then, it became to costly to transport the huge logs up the hill and the city bought the place, now you can rent it for events.

Most importantly. THE FOOD. The food was great. I could have stopped at the appetizer it was so yummy, lachs, a few varieties of shrimp, fois gras, pate, and many other delicacies. The food continued, and was all great. We had a really interesting soup, the English translation, wine foam soup. YUM!! I will have to look that one up.

Oops, another Most importantly. THE GRANDMOTHER. Mutti, she was beautiful. I love grandmothers. My grandmother was my favorite person on the planet. Mutti looked fabulous. She is 80, has raised 13 children and gets along wonderfully. She always has a huge smile on her face. So we just smiled and grinned at each other and it was perfect.

The picture is me walking down the windy road to the event. If you squint your eyes in the background you can see the waterfall!! The first time I saw snow in Switzerland, besides when we were high up in the mountains.

Seafood Love

2006-12-04T09:27:00.000+01:00

We are taking a small break for a moment from love, man to woman. And changing genres to Food Love, man to food, woman to food.

I am currently in Zurich, working (just wanted to type that for a minute, instead of saying dog sitting). Dog sitting is ....... Well atleast I get to wander around town, and stare at all the lovely shops and most of all, all the great food.

My new favorite place is the food section of this really fabulous swiss department store. Its called Jelmoli. Anything you could ever possible want, gourmet everything.

What does a Florida girl go for? A person who insists on always traveling to a place with a beach!

SEAFOOD!! Thats right.

I know I know, I am in Switzerland. A landlocked country. No Ocean. Its kind of tough for me at times. But love conquers all, right?(don't worry, my love is a seafood lover as well!)

Sunday marked a special occasion. My Swiss love, left the village and came to the big city with me. Its Christmas time, so lucky us, the gourmet food land is open.

My love says, " Lets just buy whatever Seafood we want, we will cook it up, and it will be better than going out to eat."

I said,"hmmm... ok."

#1: We purchase 1 kilo of mussels = 25 chf ( i thought this was a pretty good deal, considering)
#2 We purchase 1 filet of red snapper = around 250 grams =21 chf (gulp)
#3 We purchas a salmon steak= 9 chf

Then we were off to buy the essentials for cooking, lemons, garlic, onion, and white wine.

Mussels w/ white wine, a squeeze of lemon, garlic, onions, and a dash of thyme.

Fish cooked in a pan w/ sauteed garlic, onions, and the juice of 3 fat lemons.

We ate it one item at a time and enjoyed every bite. It was all so scrumtious. I can't remember the last time I had salmon. The last time I had red snapper was earlier this year when we were in Nicaragua.

That was the hard part for me, buying seafood in a landlocked country. The prices are just different. Of course, it makes sense.

My love had to keep chanting, as I babeled," Kiara, its ok, we are not in Nicaragua, remember in Nicaragua, even the red snapper was more expensive, it was $4 per fish there."

I miss the ocean, but atleast w/ modern technology. The ocean can come to us! (I am usually one that prefers to eat locally, however one can't live on sausage alone.)

It always feels good when.....

2006-11-27T09:55:00.000+01:00

there is a happy ending/ beginning!!

I am really into the law of attraction. Basically, what you focus on or put your energy towards, is what you attract in your life.

This could get really deep and philosophical but its not!

The little story is:
Last night after I posted my piece about the beginnings of Travel Love, my phone rang.

It was a friend of mine from England, whom I met in Nicaragua. She fell in Travel love w/ a guy from the states. She is "in the beginning" the exciting part, that part that feels so mysterious. (Its so mysterious to you, meanwhile the people around you are saying,"Duh... you guys are obviously in love, whats the big deal.")

Here is a bit of the conversation:

SHE says: I just don't know how he feels about me. He keeps talking about his future plans but doesn't say my name in there. He keeps saying "I."

(meanwhile he has only flown back and forth to England 2-3 times in the last couple of months to see her, I think he might like her)

I say: Well did you ask him if you are in his future plans? Did you ask him if he would like to speak in the "we."?

(she sputters!!)

She says: Well no, but I just don't think he is as serious as me. He isn't even looking into his VISA options or anything. I just think he thinks this is a fun thing.

I say: Oh, I am so sure he really has flown back and forth spending every last cent he owns just for a bit of fun.

She says: Well If he doesn't want to think about the "We" then I just want to end it now.

I say: Hmmm.... Is that what you really want? Is that what your heart tells you to do?

Then we go about chatting. I say the basic stuff: be yourself, don't think all bad things, he obviously likes you.

Then I recieved this e mail from her today:

Spoke to "BOB" and he just laughed at me and asked which bit of all
this was still casual. He's as serious about seeing if we might be serious as I am. And he's upfor seriously planning in the"we" and finding a solution. SO-oooo good to speak to you. You cheered me up so much. I promise I
won't leave it so long before I call again.

See wasn't that beautiful!! All you have to do is ask..... We all know that but always forget when it comes to our own life! When we step aside its crazy to think we would kill off love just to protect ourselves. But we do it all the time!!

Moral of the story: Don't make up what you think the other person is thinking. Just freakin' ask!! Silly!

The Thrill of the Unknown.....

2006-11-26T16:59:00.000+01:00

In the beginning.....

In this travel love situation you never know what to think. Especially in the beginning. I was in that situation and constantly meet people that are in that situation.

First you wonder. Was it love? Was it travel love?
Then, you wonder, all the other thousands of questions.
#1 How will this ever work. We are from two different ends of the world, and do not speak the same language.

I say, That is great!! The less talking the better. When I first met Achim that is what I loved. I didn't realize it at first. But after meeting him and then being apart from him, having lots of time to think. I realized, WOW!! He didnt ask me any of those annoying questions like:
What happened in your last.....?or How many people have you.....? or What are your issues? How do you feel about....? or What are all the names of your ex's?

There was no judgement based on who we were in the past.

(So many times i think we ask people a thousand questions about their past, and then judge who we think they are and what we think they are all about. which not fun,and takes the sparkle out of who people are.)

It was just he and I in the now! There was no past, there was no future (in the beginning). It was just us in that paticular moment of time.

We would meet up somewhere half way around the world and just not know.

Looking back on those times that were not that long ago. I realize that I knew all along. But I had snuffed out all those instincts that we have just because I did not want to get hurt or look like the fool again.

Then you fall in love and act like a total fool all the time. Its really liberating.

Was it love? Was it Travel love?

2006-09-25T07:09:00.000+02:00

The inspriation of this blog is travel love.
Travel love- when you meet someone traveling and you fall instantly in love. You do not know if its the real thing or if you really like this person just because you are traveling.

This is the situation I was in with the fellow in this picture. Was it love??? Was it travel love?? Well after going back and forth accross many continents, we know. Drum roll please.......... ITS LOVE!!!

So what do you get when you mix a traveling carpenter from Switzerland (who traveled for 4.5 years with out coming in a 50km radius of his home) and a girl originally from Florida who is into traveling, health and nutrition, and mostly just loves to talk?

You get many adventures. Many of which end up in the kitchen combining our backgrounds and food experiences from around the world.