home sweet home

We landed early, our luggage came quickly, we immediately caught a cab and got our car, then picked up my dog. Made it home, with only one minor mishap, when I had to borrow a neighbor's phone to get my boyfriend to come back when I accidentally locked myself out when taking out the trash. Oops.

Seven and a half days, six and a half books, seven dives -- not a bad way to spend a week. The nasty cough and the work weren't ideal, but it was still great to get away from my routine for a while.

Also, nothing makes me happier that I don't have kids than sitting near shrieking children on a plane. Such a relief to retreat back to my life, where most of the noise is made by me.

meat loaf

Earlier today, my boyfriend exclaimed in a horrified tone that he smelled "like a soapy meatloaf." I tortured him (and myself) by playing three or four Meat Loaf songs (did you know that some of his songs last eight minutes???) on YouTube. The sacrifices I make in exchange for the joy of tormenting him...

i spy

The hotel has wireless, and I've been logging in all week to stay on top of work, and last night, I opened up iTunes because I wanted to play a particular song, and I realized that some people in the hotel were sharing their entire music libraries with anyone else who happened to be logged into the hotel network and using iTunes. We spent an embarrassing amount of time snooping through people's libraries and snickering at (and playing parts of) their collections of Ace of Base, Spice Girls, ZZ Top, Megadeth, and Fine Young Cannibals.

recharge

Nothing like a fantastic night dive with mantas swooping and flipping around my head for 40 minutes, then a shower to wash the ocean away, then a solid nine hours of sleep, and finally waking up to an inbox that doesn't have a single email that requires immediate reply (yet). I'm sure stuff will start coming in, but for now, my vacation continues...

charge

I charged my Kindle and loaded it up with books before coming on the trip, and decided not to bring the charger, reasoning that it would just take up more space, and that there was no way I could possibly read enough to use up the charge in one week. You can read a lot before you need to charge it.

But I've been reading a lot. I'm halfway through my fifth book, and we still have three days (including a plane ride) to go. Being the type of person who is inclined to start worrying before anything actually happens, I was fretting about the possibility that the charge wouldn't last, and that I might have to buy a paper book for the plane ride.

Today, however, I discovered that my phone charger can actually charge my Kindle, which was a happy moment. It's such a strangely shaped charger, and I only tried it on a desperate whim. I can now read as much as I want to without worrying that I'll run out of battery at the beginning of my plane ride back. And now I know for the future that I can leave the Kindle charger at home and not get worked up over imaginary loss of book access due to excessive reading.

coincidence

We're in Hawaii! Tonight, we were at dinner, and my boyfriend started telling some story about when he and his law school roommate were climbing some mountain in Colorado, and all I heard was "climb" and "mountain," so I immediately asked him if they were singing "Climb Every Mountain" while they hiked, and he looked at me in a strange way and asked why they would do that, and what was the song from, and I then had to remind myself that The Sound of Music was not quite the formative experience for everyone else as it was for me.

After dinner, we came up to our room, and he flipped on the TV, and The Sound of Music was playing. Not only was it playing, but he turned the TV on at the exact moment when Maria walks into the Reverend Mother's chamber, right before she starts singing "Climb Every Mountain"!! I wasn't sure what it meant, but whatever it was, I was right. Right? Vague vindication is such a good feeling.

On principle, I insisted that we watch the rest of it, even though I've seen it a million times before.

ready or not

My gadgets are charged, my bags are packed, my dog dropped off, my library books renewed so that they won't be overdue, my Kindle loaded with new books, and I've finished all the work that I promised to get done by today, which will hopefully buy me time until we get to the hotel and back online.

I think this means that it's official: I'm going to Hawaii tomorrow!

In twelve hours, we'll be on a plane. In 24 hours, we'll be drinking the hotel's signature ginger ale. In 45 hours, we'll be diving. Sweet.

novice

I've learned a ton in the past two years, but the depth and speed of the knowledge of some of my coworkers still blows me away. I still learn something new almost every time I ask someone for help.

i love you tomorrow

Last day in the office before going to Hawaii for a week!

sweetness follows

I had to make a dish with heirloom tomatoes for a potluck dinner tonight, and I was feeling brave, so I decided to take on dessert. I've never made pies other than pumpkin pies, but my tomato tarte tatin came out rather well, and was a surprisingly convincing dessert, drizzled with a balsamic glaze and topped with whipped cream.

Also, a whole dinner themed around heirloom tomatoes can work really well.

forgiveness

My boyfriend didn't get mad at me for backing my car into the garage this morning, hard enough to nick my car and dent the garage door. His dog had popped into the garage through the doggie door, and was busily trying to find a way into the car, and I was so intent on not running over the dog that I hit the garage door, instead. So, at least the dog is alive and my boyfriend isn't annoyed at me.

absence -> fonder <3

I was in Vegas over the weekend for a bachelorette party, and just 37 hours apart (plus a terribly early airport drop-off, perfectly timed airport pickup, and homemade pizza upon my return) made me appreciate my boyfriend even more than usual. Also, going out in Vegas, which is teeming with desperate singles, reminded me of how lucky I am to have caught a fish that is so much better than all the other ones who are still in the pond.

small packages

Technology is so mind-boggling sometimes. My MP3 player, which is about the same volume as my pinky and costs about $50, has the same memory as the enormous state-of-the-art desktop computer we got in 1994, which cost around $3,000. I know that expressing such wonder makes me sound old, but it's still pretty incredible, and I can't wait to see what happens in the next ten years.

early delivery

I've been loving the music I've been downloading from my birthday credits on Amazon (like the track I posted yesterday). One album I was interested in was not available for download, so I ordered it, and it took a while to ship out, and then it wasn't guesstimated for delivery until next week. After all this waiting (I ordered it on August 12), it got here one business day earlier than expected, which was kind of disproportionately exciting.

song of the day

This song, played perhaps a dozen times this day, made this day much better.

gazpacho saga

The gazpacho was on the menu this week, and I had a ton. I even brought some home to compare the batch I made using the recipe the chef had given me. I emailed the chef to tell him I had done a side-by-side tasting, and that my version was somehow lacking in comparison, and he said that it was probably partly due to specific ingredients (my olive oil probably isn't of the same quality, for example), but also because every time they make it in the cafe, they fine tune everything to match the exact flavors of the actual produce, which you can't capture in a recipe.

That made me a little bit sad. I am not a chef, and when I cook, things can turn out well, but I just don't have the level of knowledge and understanding and artistry that it takes to deviate from a recipe and perfect a dish.

The chef then suggested that I go to the cafe sometime to make the gazpacho with the staff, so I could try to get the knack. Really? Really. He even offered to give a free cooking lesson to a group if I wanted to set one up. Really? Really.

Then I had an inspiration. Some friends and I get together pretty regularly for themed potluck dinners, and the next one happens to be themed around heirloom tomatoes. I suggested that he come to that, do a demo for us, and stay for dinner. That would be such a coup, if we could get a chef to start coming to our dinner parties, although it wouldn't be much of a coup for him, since none of us can cook at the same level.

So let's review. Just by asking questions along the way, I went from wanting a gazpacho recipe, to getting the recipe, to having it served at the cafe, to getting an offer to participate in making it, to getting an offer of a free cooking lesson, to perhaps adding a chef to our dinner party.

grownup life

One of the long-anticipated advantages of being an adult (and having food in the office) is that I can have chocolate pudding for breakfast if I want to.

mix

A good friend at work randomly sent me an MP3 he thought I would like, so I figured I would respond with a mix CD.

It has been too long since I've made a mix CD for someone. I love the whole process: guessing at what the person will like, picking out too many songs, weeding them down so that the mix will fit on one disc, figuring out what order to put them in so that they flow...

wait for it

One of the best and most agonizing things in life is waiting to see if a prank worked.

8.5

Number of days until we leave for Hawaii!

60

Just hit 60 books since getting my Kindle last October (48 of which were in 2010), so I'm way ahead of schedule. Dare I dream of hitting 70 by my Kindle's one-year birthday? I'm going to dream it right here, to make it more likely that it will happen. I've got six weeks.

crickets

We're having a heatwave after several months off what has been a relatively cool summer for the area, which means that I've been leaving the windows open at night, leading to my accidental reacquaintance with the sound of slow suburban summer nights. I had forgotten what dozens of crickets sounded like -- after years of city and apartment living, even solo crickets seemed surprising and out of place.

chicken with pants

It makes me inexplicably happy that somewhere out there, someone decided that there was market demand for little figurines of chickens wearing pants, and they went to the trouble of designing, producing, and distributing such pants-wearing chickens, so that anyone with two bucks can have their own dressed up chicken for an office decoration.

midsummer afternoon dreams

Is there anything quite like succumbing to the irresistible forces of an afternoon nap? It has happened twice this weekend, and the sleep was so enjoyable that I stayed under, even after realizing that I was having a nightmare, because it was worth it.

pizza night

It's pizza night, and my boyfriend makes the best pizza from scratch. I think I've earned some pizza, after doing two loads of laundry, shopping at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, and preparing a batch of gazpacho for tomorrow. I also picked up some burrata to eat with basil and heirloom tomatoes while we make the pizzas. We've both been busy at work, so it has been a while since we've cooked, so I'm looking forward to messing up the kitchen and eating some good food.

rofl

Also, another highlight of mini golf today was that my manager (who is already quick to laugh harder than anyone else) was actually laughing so hard that he was rolling on the ground. Funny things become even funnier if someone is literally rolling in the grass next to a miniature windmill, kicking his feet in the air.

another day at work

I spent the first part of the day doing pro bono work, helping senior citizens get financial power of attorney set up, and the second part if the day playing mini golf, air hockey, and arcade games, and drinking Icees with my coworkers. I forgot how good Icees are, and I somehow managed to win at mini golf.

vicious cycle

I love when my dog suddenly starts snarling and chasing his butt in frenzied circles. He did it a few times at work today, and as always, it cracked me up.

six years

My dog has been coming to work with me for six years now, and having him at work makes both of us much happier. Drafting is better with a dog in your lap (except when he farts).

advice

Talking to people who want to apply for a job in our department always reminds me of why I wanted this job so much in the first place. It's reassuring to step back and look at the big picture and remember how it felt like to be an outsider, then a newbie, and then to finally feel like I had started figuring things out. I've come a lot further than I thought I would.

be prepared

Nine solid hours of sleep go a really long way towards preparing me for a day full of meetings. 

magazine day

My boyfriend is staying at his old house tonight, and my monthly mindless magazine came in the mail today. Perfect timing.

flow

It's always a relief when some of my deals start closing, especially after a few weeks of gridlock. Even if I'm doing the same amount of work each day, there's a psychological boost if a day's work results in signatures and closed deals.

even better

I won't have to make the gazpacho myself, because the chef just emailed me and said he's going to put it on the menu next week.

ask and you shall receive

After obsessing about the gazpacho they used to make at the tapas-themed cafe at work for over a year, especially after that cafe stopped serving dinner last year and more recently, announced that they were going to change their theme altogether, and after telling myself countless times that I would have to ask the cafe staff for the recipe, I randomly saw and recognized the chef at his new cafe today. I must have looked at him for a second too long, because he noticed and made eye contact in a way that made me feel like I ought to say something, so I said the first thing that came to mind, which was to tell him that the gazpacho at the old cafe is the best I've had, and to ask him whether I could get the recipe. He said I could just email him and he'd send it to me. And he did. And it was at a normal person scale (not cafeteria level, no need to work off a recipe that initially asks for 100 tomatoes), so I might actually make it soon.

Next time, I should spend less time idly obsessing, and more time just asking.

flower power

Wow, lavender chocolate is pretty interesting. I like it.

where is thumb man

For some unknown reason, I always liked those shirts and jackets with the little hole for your thumb, but for some other unknown reason, I never had one, until recently. Not sure why I like them so much, but they make me happy whenever I wear this sweatshirt.

serenade

My toilet has learned how to sing -- a long, aching, resonant howl -- and every time I flush it, I have to listen and giggle as it does its best impression of an amorous steamship. It's really quite impressive. Then again, my family has a history of unconventional appliances, including a shrieking freezer, a whooping toilet (probably a long-lost cousin to this one), a self-starting TV, and most recently, in my last apartment, a hyperactive washing machine.

there's the rub

I just used my company-issued free birthday massage credit (it never lasts long in my account), and it went overtime, and it was wonderful. Going out for a last dinner with my remaining visitor (one left on Tuesday, and #2 is leaving tomorrow), and I can already taste the deviled dates.

our song

Ever since last October, when we went to Hawaii and the resort played this song many times a day, my boyfriend and I have heard it everywhere: in restaurants and stores, on the radio, on TV, and we have come to the inevitable conclusion that it must be "our song." It's a good song.

We're going back to the same resort in a few weeks, and we're wondering if they will still be playing it. If not, it's OK, because I downloaded it.

discount soundtrack

I received some Amazon gift credits for my birthday this year, and I've already bought a couple of Kindle books, but I have also decided to make a concerted effort to download some songs I've been listening to a lot on YouTube, and some complete albums of new music. I then discovered that lots of albums are $5 each for the next couple of weeks, including some that I actually want, which will allow me to get that much more music (and still have credit left over for even more books). I love music, books, and presents, and I love a bargain, so this is kind of a magical moment.

satisfaction

It is admittedly somewhat satisfying to honk very loudly at someone who drove his BMW from his driveway into the street without looking, forcing you to brake hard enough that your dog flew across the back seat. It is tempting to go back tomorrow to honk at him some more. Revenge is a dish best served loud.

free upgrade

Why is it that I like my house and office, but I like them even more if my friends like them? Nothing has changed, but hearing good things about them makes them better, somehow.

wine

We went wine tasting today on our way back from our trip up to Cyrus, and both places where we stopped had some really interesting (in a good way) wine, and I bought a couple of bottles to have another time. We got back in time for me to show my friends around our revamped office and then grab dinner.

so full

Lounging at the hotel where we're staying for the night after eating so much food that I look pregnant. I've been too busy hanging out and having fun to update since Friday, which is my favorite reason for not updating.

almost there

If my brain and I get along for the next few hours, we will make it to the weekend, which will be full of good things (and hopefully not too much work):

(1) Sleeping in on Saturday

(2) Two of my favorite people arriving on a jet plane Saturday evening

(3) Hanging out with those friends (and a few others) Saturday night

(4) Going up to Sonoma on Sunday for dinner at Cyrus

(5) Three-day weekend (taking Monday off!)

(6) Wine tasting in Sonoma on Monday

aloha

Even though I came home from work a little bit cranky, my boyfriend still gave me my birthday present: an extremely silly poem (which I'm not allowed to publish online, but have posted on the refrigerator) and a surprise trip to Hawaii in four weeks. Now that's what I call a beamish boy.

icing on the cake

An afternoon meeting turned out to be birthday cupcakes :)

2^5

It's my birthday! I like some numbers more than others, and 32 seems like a good one. Here's to the power of two.

The year has started off well so far -- the dogs didn't bark to wake me up, my friends have been sending funny emails and quick message on Facebook, I had a good lunch with some coworkers, and a negotiation call ended up being with a lawyer who was a law school classmate of mine, whom I had just run into a couple of weeks ago. It was one of the smoothest calls I've ever had.

I hope these are indicative of how the rest of the year will go, at home, with friends, in the office, and at work.

early

My parents sent me flowers for my birthday, which is tomorrow.

no on 8

My exciting moment of the day was finding out that Prop 8 was overturned. It has no practical effect for me, since I'm straight and not a big believer in the institution of marriage, but it just appeals to my sense of justice and logic.

routine

It's always been convenient that my boyfriend and I work in the same department, so that we see each other every day, but it's so nice to know that now I'll get to see him every night, too.

democracy

I find it hilarious that in an online poll of my department to brainstorm ideas for ways to reward people for good work, one of the current leading ideas is: "Dress up [the general counsel] for a day in the outfit of your choice."

at the car wash

The guys were having a dude moment, washing a vintage car in the driveway. I asked them to do "sexy poses, like girls in silly movie scenes about car washes," and this is what resulted.

time capsule

One of the side effects of being a pack rat who moves a lot is that I have a lot of boxes full of random things that represent various phases: boxes from law school, boxes from when I lived in midtown, boxes from Switzerland. I generally give up on unpacking before I get to the last few boxes, but this time, I did a more thorough job, which meant that I got to rediscover some old memories with good friends as I unearthed, among other things, photo booth pictures, a magazine from Argentina, postcards from Russia, a volume of printed and spiral bound emails. I've had some pretty good times with really cool people.

this is it

By engaging in another mad session of unpacking yesterday, preceded by a morale-boosting dance party with my dog, I unpacked most of my remaining boxes. Today, my boyfriend moved some furniture into the guest room (just in time for our guests this weekend), and he'll move the rest of his stuff in gradually.
The place is looking less like a storage locker or skating rink, and more like a home.

breather

I'm going to give myself a night off to eat leftovers and Cheetos while watching bad TV and reading children's books. I've got a solid week of work behind me and a solid weekend of unpacking ahead of me, so tonight is a night for just me.

these little piggies

I decided to get a pedicure to reward myself for a week (and upcoming weekend) of hard work.

win

I was in a meeting a little while ago, and had a sudden epiphany: it's Friday! I couldn't completely stifle my excited reaction. My job is great, but that doesn't diminish my love of weekends.

hatched

It was indeed a productive day. I even correctly estimated the amount of time it would take to get the work done, which somehow makes it even more satisfying.

counting chickens

This is going to be such a productive day.

a thousand words

I love looking through pictures of me and my friends, especially if those pictures were taken during trips to random places like Yap or San Sebastian.

scot

A morning conference call is so much more enjoyable if one of the people has a Scottish accent.

let it slide

I've finally come to terms with the idea that I can't keep my Google Reader unread count at 0 -- there's just too much Internet and too little time. I managed up until February, when I went on a two week trip, and haven't been able to keep up since then. For a long time, it was over 1000, but now it's under 300, and I've decided that if that's one of my worries, then my worries aren't so bad.

working like a dog

Work has gotten really busy, but my dog (and his "coworkers") always provide fun company and distraction during the day (during one meeting, my dog lost interest in the discussion, and started wildly chasing his tail, much to the astonishment of the other meeting attendees).

Here are a bunch of them scrambling for treats from our biggest resident dog lover.

And here is my dog with my boyfriend's dog, sitting on the couch in my office, waiting for something interesting to happen. They gave up after a while -- apparently, dogs don't like watching humans drafting contracts.

comparing notes

I hang out with a lot of lawyers, but almost all of them are coworkers. I rarely spend time with groups of lawyers who are at other companies or law firms. I did that yesterday for the first time in a long time, and listening to the amount of discontent (or at least the desire to appear discontent) expressed by this group of law firm lawyers was both depressing and uplifting. Depressing because I know some of these people, they were my law school classmates, and it's sad to see them feeling trapped and dissatisfied with how things have turned out so far, and uplifting because it really is good to keep a sense of perspective and to see the life I've avoided living.

unpackrat

I spent about four or five hours unpacking and arranging some more of my stuff this afternoon. I really avoid packing and unpacking as much as possible, but I have to admit that the fifteen boxes I got through made a big difference, and the place is starting to look more like home.

We went to go see Inception again, and had lots of new theories and levels of theories. I wish this movie were based on a book so that I could read it and have something more concrete to base my theories on, especially if it followed the general rule that the book is always better and more complex.

groove

It's weird, but sometimes, I like when I have a ton of work to do, and I get in a groove with it, and just cross item after item off of my To Do list. You'd think that I'd rather just not have anything to do at all, and while I admit that downtime and slow periods are great, there really is something satisfying about having of ton of things to do and then actually doing them.

seven years

I've been a lawyer for seven years now, which I find somewhat unbelievable. I feel lucky that I had a short and liveable time at the firm, and I've had two jobs that both qualify in my mind as once in a lifetime opportunities for a young lawyer. Lawyers tend easily towards bitterness, it's in our personalities, but so far, I have no regrets.

again again

Today is the second time in less than a week that I've put on my jeans and found money in the pocket. Perfect timing to sign up for a chair massage at the end of the day...

mgmt

I have a really good manager, which makes a huge difference when things get tough. If a call goes really badly, I know that I can tell him all about it, he's got my back, and he will laugh even harder than I do at some of the ludicrousness that happened. 

watched

My conference call had some spectators.

morning

Mango guava peach smoothies and poached eggs over steak in the cafe, sour gummy bears and aloe drinks in the microkitchen, and a happy, lazy Bernese mountain dog (not pictured) in the lobby. I will assume that these are good omens.

cooking for fun

I have never been the kind of person who could be depended on to cook dinner and put it on the table every day, as evidenced by the large number of dinners-for-one that consisted of gummy candy or stale cookies, but I do like to cook as a hobby, rather than as a necessity. There is something simultaneously exciting, soothing, and satisfying about finding a new recipe, deciding on small improvements, looking for the ingredients, and trying to make the final product resemble the intended dish, although never within the estimated amount of time. Even better if I'm cooking for the next day, so that there's no pressure to finish in order to eat. Instead, I can graze on other things picked up while at the store, like olives stuffed with garlic, a runny cheese, and slices of a sourdough baguette.

easily pleased

It's so easy to make his day.

inception

I love doing something that I think will be OK, and then have it turn out to be unpredictably fantastic. It's not really something you can plan, which makes it even more special when it does happen.

I am usually satisfied that I got my money's worth if I walk out of a movie theater having been entertained by a movie that turned out to be moderately smart, decent to look at, and not terribly inane. I am occasionally pleased if a movie exceeds that standard and is either smarter, prettier to look at, or more clever.

It is very rare, only once every few years, that I walk out of a theater thinking that perhaps I ought to have paid more, and that perhaps I ought to go see it again, because I probably missed a lot the first time around, because it was all so smart, beautiful, and clever, that I couldn't soak all of it in at once. Last night was one of those nights, and I won't say anything else about Inception, because part of the experience is watching it without having any idea what's going on, but it was smart and beautiful and clever, and we walked out of it and talked about it for at least an hour afterwards. The special effects, chases, and fight scenes were well done, but instead of being the main players in the movie (as is the case with so many movies now), they were just supporting members to the brains of the movie -- the ideas, the plot, the characters. It was just amazing.

I'm not a big movie person, but it's movies like this one that make me think, "Oh, I can see why some people love movies so much, it's because of movies like this." Completely entertaining without being dumbed down, with lots of things to think about afterwards, so that it keeps you entertained for a long time after the movie is over.

haha

Hit up an Indian buffet and a comedy club with some girls from work, and the joke that stuck with me is, "Do you think female suicide bombers get the same job benefits as their male counterparts? Because honestly, who wants to do a good job and then get rewarded with 72 male virgins? 'Does this feel good? No? How about this?' Better make it 72 experienced men for the female suicide bombers."

rewind

I've been on a mission to read as much as possible, and a few things have really helped that mission along: Kindle, vacations, summer hiatus for TV shows, and the mobile library van. Also, once I got in the habit of reading more, and started meeting and exceeding my goals, it became hard to stop. I have to admit that I slowed down for a while, though, when my reading choices started getting really heavy. I was reading a lot of long, dark books about the Holocaust and serial killers and civil war, and they were well-written and thoroughly researched, but sometimes, it's hard to push yourself through several 500-page books about how terrible people are and how much evil can happen to good people. I'm glad I read them, and I know I'll be going back to those kinds of books in the fall, perhaps, but for now, while it's summer and everything is made of sunshine and breezes, I'm going through a decided backlash, and my last few books were written for children. I love kiddie lit -- everything makes sense, things never get too complicated, and everything always turns out OK in the end. (And also, the books are so quick and easy that my tally is going up really quickly. It's not cheating, as long as the books are over 150 pages. That's my rule, and I'll stand behind it).

crack ho

So many crackable parts!!

office

This is what work looks like today.

noms

Lunch looks good today.

cyrus

I made a reservation to go back to one of my favorite restaurants in a few weeks. My boyfriend and I went with a close friend while he was in town last September, and now we're going back with that same friend and his newly minted fiancée, who is also super-special to me. Birthday weekend, friends in town, and excellent food -- it's going to be great. 

integration

Kindle for Android! Now I can read even for a few minutes when waiting in line somewhere without my Kindle.

sushi surprise

A small sampling of the huge dinner my sister and brother-in-law had last night. Hand rolls, soup, recipes from Nobu and Momofuko, pie from Tartine...

laugh it off

Sometimes when I do something especially boneheaded, often as a result of my contrary and speak-first-think-later nature, the best thing is to talk to a friend who can laugh about it with me. Some of my funniest memories come from my own acts of unthinking stupidity.

direct

There is finally a direct flight between San Francisco and Zurich, and this is what it looks like.

tgif

When I was a few years younger, I would maximize the benefit of traveling by trying to leave on a Friday afternoon and get back on a Sunday evening (or even a Monday morning), sometimes several times a month, and regardless of how many time zones I was skipping. I have no idea how I did that. I got in this afternoon, and am so glad I have a weekend to recover.

home

I made it home and found out that my boyfriend and dog made it before me, so I had a welcome committee, and my boyfriend had put fresh sheets on the bed and dinner on the table. I didn't get business class on the flight home, but at least I got it once I got back :)

booty

Some of the loot I'm bringing home.

brb

I have less than a day left here, and it's always hard to say goodbye to friends and past lives, but it's good to know that I'll definitely be coming back for a wedding in the spring. I usually leave a place not really knowing when I'll be back next, and somehow, knowing makes the parting more sweet than bitter.

heavy

I bought 12.5 kilos (over 27 pounds) of gummy candy at my favorite shop in Zurich. The shop owner is one of my favorite people in Zurich -- always friendly, always nice, always willing to put up with my fragmented German.

next to godliness

It's so good to have a serious shower after getting back from a little road trip.

bonus round

Four day weekend, even though the 4th of July fell on a Sunday this year! We went to an amazing thermal bath resort for two days, did lots of relaxing and soaking and hanging out, and my friends got engaged while we were there, and it was just a really sweet and happy time to play third wheel.

scenic route

We took a wrong turn on the way home, and it was so beautiful that we had to get out and enjoy the scenery for a few minutes.

observation deck

I love seeing good things happen to good people.

a room with a view

This is the awesome view from the balcony of the hotel room where I'm staying tonight. My friends and I decided to escape into the mountains to go to the thermal baths.

explosions in the sky

Saw fireworks two nights in a row -- last night from above, in the mountains, and tonight from below, by the river.

timing is everything

How perfect that I am in Zurich while all of the following are happening:

(1) A four-day weekend for 4th of July (I'm a US employee, so I get US holidays while I'm traveling)

(2) Beautiful summer weather (less common in Zurich than in Mountain View)

(3) A dear friend's birthday

(4) Zuerifaescht, a huge city-wide party that only happens once every three years

(5) The summer party for the Zurich office (jamon iberico and champagne are my favorites, but there are also bouncy houses and goofy sunglasses)

barfussbar

For my first night back in Zurich, we went to my favorite bar, which is a women's swimming pool during the day, is set in the middle of the river, and has amazing views and a lovely breeze. Lots of old friends showed up, and we started making plans for the rest of my stay.

like butter

It's gratifying to come back to Zurich and see that everything still runs and works the same way -- smooth, like butter. It's the Swiss way. Nothing has changed, I still know my way around, a lot of my friends are still here, and it's going to be a good week.