Winter Skincare for Dry Skin

I have super dry skin, so in the winter, it's always necessary for me to have a more moisturizing skincare routine. My favorite wintertime cleanser is Lancôme's Huile Douceur. At first it seems so crazy to rub oil all over your face, but actually it is really lovely. First, you apply the oil to a dry face and massage in, then bring to the eye area and gently massage to remove eye makeup. (It's such a bonus to not need a separate eye-makeup remover. It really works, and with no raccoon eyes! ;) Then you wet your hands with warm water and mix into the oil already on your face. When you do this, the oil magically emulsifies and becomes a creamy cleanser. Finally, rinse with warm water or use a washcloth to remove for extra exfoliation. This cleanser leaves my skin feeling smooth and protected and it smells wonderful. 

For the past year and a half, I've been using Arbonne's RE9 skincare year-round. It's wonderful stuff, and really delivers, but this year I decided to trim the budget, so I'm making a switch. That means I am without an eye cream, night cream and day cream. I've been sampling a few different brands, but so far I haven't found a winner. I'd really like to find a drugstore or health food store brand that works well, but is still inexpensive. Do you have dry skin? What creams do you use in the winter? I'm curious, do you find that you spend too much on skincare, too?

(photo from Lancôme)

Cloth vs Disposable Diapers

There is Coco, just 13 days old in a really huge Kissaluvs Marvels All-in-One. Let's digress for a minute and swoon over this photo. Look at those tiny little legs! A far cry from the little chubber she is now. Way to go, breast milk! And would you believe that's a 0-3 month Onesie? She's swimming in it! And she still has her umbilical cord stump. Oh my goodness! It's so hard to believe how quickly she's grown into an almost crawling little lady. Back when she was 13 days old, she spent a lot of time sleeping in my arms. That time I cherished and loved and soaked up and basked in. And I'm so glad because look how quickly it's gone by and who wouldn't want that tiny little bundle swaddled up and sleeping in their arms? It makes my heart swell! I am so thankful for all of the newborn sleeping in arms time that I had with her. It was precious beyond words. She is definitely not a newborn anymore. Poof! Just like that. 

So, that diaper. I have three of those Marvels all-in-ones and they're one size fits all! I think I might go down to the cellar and get them out again. Why? Because I'm starting to see that we're spending a LOT of money on disposables. And...I think that my failed cloth diaper use the first three months of Coco's life was due to our very broken washing machine, not user error, and the washing machine is going to be fixed on Tuesday. 

I finally took the reigns on the laundry situation and called the Miele repairman myself. It turns out that the shocks on the drum are completely shot and a very important piece is broken, which is why water has been leaking everywhere for the past year. Yes, leaking water for a whole year! It's pitiful. But, while I was pregnant and cradling that sleeping newborn in my arms, it was not a priority. Now that Coco scoots around the apartment and eats potting soil when I'm not looking, it's a priority! Tuesday will be a beautiful day. I am honestly so excited to have truly clean clothes again. And with a fully functioning washer and dryer, maybe we should give cloth another try?

Over the past six months that we have used disposables, I have had the good fortune to have lots of coupons for diapers. But even with a 4 for 3 deal, or a 20% off coupon, or a 25% off coupon when you buy two, they're still really flipping expensive! The other day I was showing J the two types of plastic bags we have in the kitchen because the Ziplock bags are crazy expensive, so they're only for freezing baby food purée. The plain non-closure sacks are for other, non-freezer uses. I said dramatically that the Ziplocks are 18 Rappen (Swiss equivalent of cents) a piece! How's that for pricey? Wait a minute. Hold the phone. The diapers are 30 Rappen a piece - on sale! Yikes. Now that is expensive. Especially because we use 35-42 of them per week. Ziplock bags are clearly not the budgetary problem here! 

So, I'm really thinking we need to reconsider cloth. When we get back from our camping trip, I'm going to dig out the one-size-fits-all Marvels and give it another whirl. I bet with a tip-top operative washing machine and sunny days for hanging them outside, it will be easy. At least for the summer. And I can think of better was to spend that 50-60 Francs each month. 

Have you flip-flopped between cloth and disposables? What was the main motivator? Money? Environment? I'd love to hear! xo

On Living Far from Home

Today I participated in the Twitter Bomb for HR 4170, the Student Loan Forgiveness Act. I was pretty hardcore about it. I sent a personal tweet to every representative on the committee! Do you know what I said? I said that as two teachers saddled with student loan debt, we moved abroad to be able to afford to have a baby. And you know what?

It's true.

Don't get me wrong. I love living in Zurich. I'm insanely happy here. So it's not like I'm in exile or anything. But, if I'm perfectly honest, I never expected to like living here (let alone love it!) and one of the main reasons we came here was money. In Switzerland, unlike the United States, teachers are paid well. Another deciding factor was the excellent healthcare in Switzerland. Both things made having a baby here completely awesome. I want to do it again in a couple years!

Back in Portland, we were both working full-time as teachers in a private school, but with our loan payments, which were equal to our rent each month, we were living paycheck-to-paycheck and having a baby was out of the question. So we got a job as apartment managers and didn't have rent anymore! It was extra work on top of our full-time jobs, but it did make things easier. Even without rent, it still wouldn't have been possible to live off of one income so having a baby still seemed impossible. 

Then we started exploring our options. As Montessori teachers, each with a Masters in Education and  German (J) and French (me) language proficiency, we had a skill set that made us eligible for work visas abroad. We considered jobs in Germany, France and Switzerland and then we moved to Zurich. We had intended to wait a few years to start our family, but I had a burning case of baby fever and I could think of nothing else. I couldn't wait any longer than the requisite three months so that my semi-private health insurance would cover the birth nine months later. I had to be pregnant! And then I was. It's hard being away from family, but I am ridiculously grateful everyday for this insanely beautiful life I am living. We live in the most expensive city in the world and yet the life I've always wanted is more feasible here than in America, the land of dreams come true. 

So that is really why we came here. If the Student Loan Forgiveness Act goes through, it will mean good things for us. We don't want to stay here forever, but we also don't want to live paycheck-to-paycheck and have no retirement. If you'd like to participate in the Twitter Bomb, tweet with the hashtag #ListenToTheMillion and ask congress to hold hearings on HR 4170. Do you have a lot of student loan debt? Has it held you back in life?  

Mexican Food in Switzerland

The lack of good Mexican food is one of the hardest things about living in Switzerland. Once we went to Tres Kilos, which is supposedly the best Mexican in the whole country, and spent 100 francs on a terribly disappointing meal. :( It's bad enough now, but when I was pregnant it was absolute torture! I craved nothing more than Mexican food. It's kind of insane, but I used to dream (like several times a week!) that J and I were walking along in Zurich, and then suddenly there was a Chipotle that we had just never noticed before! Can you imagine?! It's like those dreams New Yorkers have of discovering extra rooms in their tiny apartments. So, we would run inside and get in line, and I'd be giddy thinking about my order and then every time. Every. Single. Time. Something would happen and we would never get to the front of the line! One time the dream was so overly elaborate that a gang fight broke out, complete with gunfire and ambulances, but usually, I just woke up. So sad.

Instead of continuing to dream of Mexican food, I've learned to make it all myself. It's very time consuming, but so worth it.  What could be better than fresh guacamole and salsa made with heirloom tomatoes and lots of fresh squeezed lime juice? Mmmmm. Not much. What is your favorite food? Do you ever dream about it? 

Frugal {fancy} Painted Nails

These days I feel completely naked without painted nails. Thanks to my lovely friend and neighbor, N, I have discovered the joy of the at-home manicure - a must in Zürich where an "Express Manicure" will set you back 60 francs. Yikes! 

I used to think that you couldn't have a decent manicure at home. Not true. N is really good at painting nails and I'm learning from her. Her secret weapon? Chanel base coat and top coat. Use those two products and your nails will look perfect for nearly a full week! I've never had a salon manicure last that long. I used to think that nails had to be long to look good painted. Quite the opposite! After I scratched Coco by accident, I cut all of my nails down short. As it turns out, short nails look way better (and last way longer) than long painted nails. How delightful!

Having painted nails adds a little whimsy to everything I do throughout my day: washing the dishes? paying bills online? changing a diaper? dropping a letter in the mail? All fancy when done with painted nails!

Do you paint your nails? What are your favorite manicure tricks and products? 

{photo from here}

Tiny Bathroom

I've been thinking very seriously about shower curtains since reading this post a couple weeks ago. The bathroom in our new apartment is super tiny. This means I need to think fast because I've got the grand opportunity to get a stylish shower curtain (without breaking the bank) while I'm home visiting over the next few weeks. 

Here are my current picks, which I find like, but which may or may not coordinate well with our Pink Dogwood and White Lacoste towels.

Simple and clean from west elm, but I do worry that the white would be too bright and draw attention to the contrasting flooring.

This Marimekko stand out from Crate&Barrel would definitely add some pop and excitement, but the colors might mean hiding the pink towels or buying more white ones?

If J and I were little children, I'd definitely choose this one from Dwell Studio, but we are grown adults so it is much too juvenile. Ultra cute for a modern kids' bath though, don't you think? Speaking of being children, J and I love to think about what fun we would have had together as little kids. We're pretty sure we would have gotten along really well even then.

I'm also fond of this embroidered curtain in the light blue from Pottery Barn. They used to (as in this morning) have an embroidered shower curtain with dots instead of the parallel lines. I preferred that one, but perhaps it sold out today. Either one is clean and crisp, which I love.

As you can see in the picture below, the bathroom truly is miniature. The toilet is to the right of the tub and immediately to the right of that is the wall. Mini, indeed! I want to make sure I choose a shower curtain that will draw attention away from the not-so-attractive tile floor but will still coordinate, lest I should accidentally draw more attention to the floor through accidental clashing. Yikes!

This photo was taken just as the previous tenants had finished clearing out.
It's looking a little grungy, yes, but it's bound to be sparkly clean for us when we move in tomorrow! 

So far I haven't found a shower curtain that I absolutely love and am ready to buy. And I'm thinking that the curve around the tub may mean we need two. This was the case in our last apartment in Portland, but in the end I opted for two overlapping clear liners and just one shower curtain. No matter what, it's very exciting to be moving into and creating a home we will live in for the next three years. Tomorrow I get the mailbox plate engraved! 

Faithful reader, what do you think? How can I add a little drama and intrigue to this boring bathroom? Am I crazy to wish to make it inviting and to look a little bigger? 

{shower curtain photos from here, here, here and here}

Snail Mail is for Lovers

photo from www.usps.com

How gorgeous are these stamps? I love sending letters, but here in Switzerland, at 1,90 CHF ($2.25) per letter to America, it's so much cheaper to call! What a sad truth. I hate to see the art of letter writing disappearing into oblivion, but perhaps these fabulous stamps will help letter writing make a come back! They are Forever stamps and I'm more than a little tempted to buy up a bunch and tuck them away for future letter sending.

I'm dreaming of sending letters today. Love letters to J, heartfelt letters about my life in Switzerland to good friends, witty letters to pals. 

When was the last time you sent a handwritten letter? When was the last time you received a handwritten letter? Who did you write to or who was it from? Did you receive a reply?

Capsule Coffee

I'm now the proud owner of a capsule coffee maker and it's my new best friend. They're prohibitively expensive new, but I found this used model from an American relocating back home. She was sad she couldn't take it with her.

That fancy shmancy red orb is the Nescafe Dolce Gusto coffee maker and all the boxes are filled with little capsules that you put into the machine and then flip it on and presto! A fresh cappuccino or latte machiatto. Yum! J is such a sweetie and when we got home after picking it up, he automatically made space for it in the shelf above his beloved kettle. Joel is a purist and drinks French Press coffee and lots of tea. I'm not that sophisticated and I tend to run with the trends, so I'm a Dolce Gusto kind of gal. 

Here's a cappuccino in progress. It takes two capsules, first a milk capsule to make the frothed milk almost all the way to the top, then follow up with the espresso capsule to finish it off. Wow. The milk is actually foamy and delicious and this machine is so completely cool. I am in love!

Stretching Menus

My New Year's resolution is to stick to our monthly budget. I'm very good at making budgets thanks to the handy and intelligent Excel spreadsheet. And it does gives me such a great feeling of satisfaction to know that everything is accounted for and planned out. The problem is that once that fateful payday has occurred and I've made the requisite transfers to our savings account and US account to pay our student loans, then everything goes to pot. Somehow, we wind up spending more than I had planned, and along with the overspending seems to come a lot of wasted food. Why didn't I freeze that leftover chili? I completely forgot about those tender asparagus spears! Clunk, thud, it all goes in the garbage. Bad.

This weekend we're having one of our favorites: Roast Chicken. Typically, we only get two meals out of a roast chicken and then wind up wasting the rest because it becomes unappealing having sat in the fridge covered in saran wrap for too long. Not this chicken! It's a free range chicken from France and I intend to get every last Franc out of it.

Tonight we'll have the roast chicken with vegetables, same tomorrow. Then, I'm going to pull the rest of the chicken from the carcass and make Oriental Chicken Salad from Nourishing Traditions. 

Do you think I can get more from this chicken? Please send me your ideas! I hereby declare 2011 the year of waste not, want not. 

Lauterbrunnental

A week after arriving in Switzerland, Joel and I went to do a hike from Kleine Scheidegg to Männlichen and then on to Wengen.  This hike is in the Jungfrau Region of the Alps and it was even more magnificent than expected.

Fresh Alpine Air

The Lauterrunnental
(tal means valley)

The North Face of The Eiger shrouded in clouds.

Along the path

Wildflowers photographed by Joel

Happy Cows

And friendly!

Joel on the way up to Männlichen

On the top!  Literally in the clouds.

About to hike down 3000 feet in one hour.  As in straight down!

Clearly needed Avalanche Gates

More wildflowers

Just a day in the Alps

Picture perfect mountains

About half way down.  Trees!  

Alpenglow

Miraculously we got on the last train out of Wengen and made all of the final connections back to Adliswil.  Talk about lucky! 

If you would like to visit Kleine Scheidegg and the Jungfrau Region, here are a few tips. 

Joel got the book Classic Walks in Western Europe at Powell's before we left and this was the first walk we did from the book.  Highly recommended!

We were surprised at how sore we were after this walk.  Hiking straight down uses completely different muscles, so be prepared to take it easy for a few days afterward, or train yourself adequately ahead of time.  

Half-Fare Travelcard holders can save money on train fare with the Tageskarte (Day Pass) from SBB.  The Tageskarte will get you all the way to Wengen and then you have only to pay 12 CHF for the private Jungfrau Railway to Kleine Scheidegg.  

Not a Half-Fare Travelcard holder?  SBB has offers for visitors from abroad.  For an even thriftier approach, look into the Eurail Pass before leaving home as Swiss Trains, like everything else, are notoriously expensive.  

However, once you get there, it's like those Mastercard commercials. Utterly priceless!

Ridiculously Expensive

You've probably heard that Switzerland is expensive.  Maybe from a friend who stopped over while backpacking through Europe in college, or maybe you've been here yourself.  Either way, I'm here to tell you it's true.  Switzerland can be insanely expensive.  After a while, you get to know where to go and how to shop, but on the whole, you can count on paying more than you would elsewhere. A little joke of mine is that everything costs double.  The other day, after we opened our bank account, we walked past, and noticed for the first time, the "2 Franc Store."  As in the Dollar Store.  

Probably the most expensive thing here is dining out. If you live here, you can avoid it, but if you're a visitor, it will bankrupt you. Last week J and I went out to dinner with Romy, from Half the Sugar Bowl, and her husband.  This was our first experience eating out since arriving in Switzerland. We took out plenty of cash, expecting high prices, but looking forward to meeting some other Anglophones right here in the neighborhood. Our neighbors are lovely people. And the menu? Completely blew me out of the water. We paid $20 for a basic cheeseburger! Is that a typo you ask? No. Luckily I was not very hungry, so Joel and I opted to share our solid gold burger. 

Isn't the sparkler thing a nice touch?