Scotch Non-Toxic Nail Polish

Having painted nails is something I have come to absolutely adore. It makes me feel pretty, feminine and a little bit fancy, regardless of what I'm doing, when my nails are painted. But it does bother me that nail polish and nail polish remover are so stinky and toxic. Did you know that there is actual formaldehyde in nail polish? Eeew! Because of that, I try to go polish-free for at least one week each month so that my nails have a chance to breathe. But I miss the polish during those weeks.

Now I might not have to!

Scotch Naturals makes non-toxic nail polish in a wide array of stylish and current hues. They even have non-toxic base coat and top coat AND soy polish remover. I'm really dying to try it! The colors are so vibrant and the bottles are classic and preppy.

Aren't they lovely? Scotch even has a kids line called Hopscotch. Cute! Oh my. When I was a little girl, I would have been over the moon! 

Would you try it, or do you use non-toxic nail polish? Are natural or non-toxic beauty products a priority for you? Ever since having a baby, I've been more concerned with making sure the things we put on on and inside our bodies are safe. I'd love to hear your tips and favorites! 

PS - Rainbow Nails and Chanel Manicure

{photos from Scotch Naturals}

The Perfect Tuna Salad

Last week I had a craving for tuna salad, so I set out to make one that matched my craving. I was after a tuna salad with no mayo, lots of fresh and zesty flavors, big tender hunks of tuna rather than all mashed together, and for satisfaction's sake, a bit of crunch. I found a recipe online with most of what I was looking for and then adapted it for the perfect tuna salad.

The Perfect Tuna Salad (adapted from Tuna Salad Sandwich Recipe by Elise on Simply Recipes)

• 2 cans (81 g each) of white tuna packed in olive oil
• 1 shallot finely chopped
• 3 celery stalks thinly sliced
• 1 Tablespoon capers
• Juice of half a lemon
• Pinch of dill
• 2 Tablespoons minced fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon whole grain dijon mustard

For serving:

• Sliced baguette
• Butter
• Crema di Balsamico
• Salt & vinegar potato chips
• Coca-Cola

Drain one can of tuna and flake into mixing bowl, then add the tuna and oil from the other can to the mix. Add the other ingredients and mix gently until just incorporated. Be careful not to over mix.

We served ours open-faced on buttered baguette and then drizzled with crema di balsamico. A side of salt & vinegar chips and a Coke kept the menu down to earth. ;) It was so delicious we made it again two days later! Try it. You will absolutely love it. 

Zurich: Tram Buggy Zone

Getting around Zurich with a baby is easy as pie! Really. The trams are all set up for prams and buggies, and on the newer trams they're floor level so you can roll on and off with your buggy with ease. It's completely awesome. 

What is not completely awesome is that there is a certain type of tram rider who likes to stand directly in the buggy area and not move when buggies try to come aboard. It is infuriating! One day I asked J, "How do I say, 'You can be anywhere, I can't!' in German? I am so sick of people clogging up the buggy area!!" He told me, but it was too complicated, so my strategy became to either a). shove my way on and crash into people who didn't move while avoiding all eye contact (excellent results), or b). saying rather loudly in English, "You have to move, people!" with a dramatic sweep of the arm while avoiding any and all eye contact (also excellent) or c). completely block an aisle, throw the break on and (duh!) avoid all eye contact. Not exactly pleasant!

Well, last week I got on the tram and they are now outfitted with a big (and I mean BIG) message to standers that the buggy area is not for them. Check. It. Out. 

Way to go ZVV! It just makes me so darn happy. :) As does the actual message, which translates as "For future shareholders" or "For prospective investors." So bizarre. Something has clearly been lost in translation! But whatever it says, this is a huge day for mommies in Zurich. Yippee!

PS - Now that Coco is no longer in her lie-flat pram, I've decided to call her Bugaboo her buggy. So many words to choose from in this multilingual life of ours: Kinderwagen, push chair, baby car (that's a knee-slapper!), stroller, buggy. I'm curious, what do you call your buggy? 

Pregnancy Travel: Nice and Cannes

Looking back I'm so happy that J and I did so much traveling while I was pregnant. This weekend is a three-day weekend in Zurich for the local holiday Sechseläuten, which involves a snowman filled with explosives and lots of horses. It's not exactly the sort of thing you take a baby to, so we are just relaxing at home. We didn't even know what Sechseläuten was last year! All we knew was that we had a random Monday off, so we booked a weekend getaway through EasyJet and jetted off to the Cote d'Azur for the most perfect time. A little tip for those living in Switzerland: check departures from Basel. It's just an hour or so on the train from Zurich and you can get much better fares!

Here we are ready for take off. Can I just say how easy travel used to be? ;)

We stayed at the NH Hotel Nice and it was perfect: clean, comfortable, quiet and stylish. Best of all, they had a full breakfast each morning with scrambled eggs, meats, fresh squeezed fruit juice, fruits, coffee, and of course, beaucoup de baguettes et confitures. Every pregnant woman's dream come true! 

We went shopping and strolling through the town and markets and drooled over all the gorgeous flowers, especially the peonies.

We strolled along the Promenade des Anglais and had the best ice creams ever: Rose and Violet, handmade by a woman just on the side of the road. Oh, how I love France!

The next day we hopped on a train to Cannes, admired the blue water and took some photos - my baby bump was just beginning to really show! Then we rented beach chairs and lounged until the sun went down. So heavenly!

It was so wonderful! I encourage all of my pregnant friends to take advantage of traveling during those last few months as a couple. Now that we're a family, I'd love to take Coco to the Côte d'Azur someday, but it would be more about playing and naps and strollers. Our romantic getaway was all about dining out, enjoying each other and relaxing. Just what an expecting couple needs! 

Did you travel while pregnant? Where did you go and what did you do? If you're expecting, what sort of travel sounds good to you?

Stitch and Bitch

This afternoon Coco and I are heading to a Stitch and Bitch with a bunch of other mommies and babies. I'm a very capable yet inexperienced knitter, which means I can handle pretty difficult stuff and I knit really beautifully, but every time I start a new project I have to get on YouTube and watch a video on how to cast on! Seriously. Is that ridiculous or what?!

While I was in Spokane last month, I hit up the local knitting store, A Grand Yarn, and went a little nutso planning projects for Coco for next winter. The good thing is that I gave myself lots of time, the not so good thing is that I chose intermediate (!) projects and I'm a little nervous about it. I got the book 60 Quick Baby Knits, which is all patterns for Cascade 220 Superwash yarn. Yes, that's right. It's wool you can WASH! Essential when you have a baby and are not willing to hand wash, or even think about using acrylic! God no. ;) First up, I'm making Coco a pair of mittens, then leg warmers and then a hat with ear flaps. The book may claim they're 'quick', but I'm thinking that should take us right up to the first frost, people. I must be crazy. Oh well! The fact is, knitting is super relaxing and satisfying, and I know I'll enjoy myself. That Coco won't freeze is really just an added bonus! ;)

I'm hoping there will be some good knitters at stitch and bitch today. Otherwise, I'm going to be spending a LOT more time on YouTube in the coming months!

European Kisses

One of the things I really don't like about living in Europe is the kissing. Instead of shaking hands (or doing nothing like Americans) when meeting someone new or just a friend for coffee, Europeans feel the need to do the air kisses. They're cute enough, but every country does a different number of kisses and it's almost impossible to know when to kiss or when not to kiss. It's impossible to know if you should hug, or just kiss, or slightly hug while kissing or, just do nothing, or shake hands. It's my personal nightmare. I find it horribly embarrassing when I lean in to kiss someone and then it turns out we're not going to be air kissing after all. Oof! Fail. I also have no idea if I should talk while kissing, as in, "Mwah! How Mwah! are Mwah! you?" In Switzerland it's three kisses. So embarrassing when you kiss an Argentine (one kiss) or a Parisian (two kisses) and you keep going in for more. Oh! I really do hate the kissing. 

My final thought on the negatives of air kissing is that it spreads disease. Hear me out. A few days before going to the US, J and I came down with the most violent stomach virus in recent memory. So did all of the moms in my mommy group that had met that week, presumably because we all kissed when we got together. And, one of the moms in my mommy group is part of a Swiss mommy group and that whole group got it, too. Finally, let's just add that when we were raging contagious, just hours before the projectile vomiting began, we attended a little dinner party of Americans. No kisses were exchanged. The virus stopped there, my friends. Not one of our friends at that dinner party got it! So, there you have it. Yes, they're cute and ultra-Euro, but I hate the kisses. Sorry!

{photo from Parisien Salon}

Do you have a bike?

J has been promising me that if I get a bike, Zurich will completely change. In his words, "there's no better way to see the city. It all looks completely different from the seat of your bike. You'll never get around faster than on a bike. You don't realize how small and close together everything is until you experience Zurich by bike." I believed him, but I wasn't exactly running out to buy a bike. Then he mentioned that he could get a baby seat for his bike and we could go on family bike rides and have picnics.

Okay! So I'll get a bike. But I'm extremely picky, so it will have to be one that I love. I've looked at a lot of bikes, but nothing quite falls into that "just right" Lindsey zone. They're either too relaxed, slow, heavy and bubbly, or too sleek, uncomfortably hunchy, sporty and speedy.

But the Ticino from Electra seems like the perfect bike. Isn't it pretty? 

I love the mint green color, white seat, wide handlebars and hammered fenders. Swoon!

J's bike has hammered fenders. It's a Rivendell Blériot. He bought the frame and then handpicked every single piece attached to it from the wheels to the pedals. I actually got him the handlebars for Christmas one year! :) It took him several years to finish it, but now it's gorgeous (and insured!;) and he rides it everywhere. Here is the beloved Blériot on the banks of the Limmat last summer. I especially love the white tires.

Bike Snob NYC wrote a hilarious review of the Ticino that made me laugh out loud. He mercilessly made fun of people who know nothing about bikes and choose one mainly because it's pretty. (Yep, that's me!) And then he got around to the point, which is that he had to admit that the Ticino is lightweight, fun to ride, fast enough and comfortable. Four stars in my book! Maybe if it stops raining this week, I'll take Coco on a walk to the bike shop down Seefeldstrasse and see if they have it in stock. 

Do you have a bike for commuting or just for fun? What do you love about cycling where you live?

{top photo from Electra}

Wish me luck!

Today I have a job interview that I am really hopeful about. It's ideal in so many ways. It's within walking distance to our apartment, it's part-time, it doesn't start until August, it's in an AMI Montessori school and they have a 0-3 Montessori program for Coco that I'd get a 50% discount on! Can you believe that?! It seems too good to be true...so wish me luck that it isn't! ;)

{photo by Steven Yamada}

Organizing: Martha Stewart Special Edition

Have you seen?! Martha Stewart has a new Organizing Special Collector's Edition on newsstands now! I was slightly giddy when I bought it at Hudson News in the Seattle airport on the way back to Switzerland last month. (Hint: You can also buy it from Amazon if you don't live near a newsstand. ;) It was like serendipity. There I was, wiling away the time on our layover, thinking about all the stuff I had brought back with me in our suitcases and wondering where on earth I'd put in once I got home. It's true. I'm embarrassed to admit that I haven't even fully unpacked yet! But how can I? The majority of what we brought back was baby stuff for Coco and I had to go through her armoire and dresser and sort out the clothes that no longer fit to put away (sniff!) and clear out space for the new stuff before anything would even fit in there. It's a big job. And with a baby, it's a job you're doing every twelve weeks or so. My goodness!

We've only been living in this apartment for eight months and it's not a finely tuned machine as of yet! I always find it a challenge, and it typically takes time to find organizational systems that work in a new space, but this time has been even harder. I'll tell you why. Our miniature, 150-year-old European apartment has a total of zero closets. ZERO! Unless you consider the itty-bitty medicine cabinet a closet. It's kind of an organizational nightmare. We have sideboards, wardrobes and dressers, but we need more. Or do we? 

Martha's first line of attack in the Organizing Special is to cut the clutter. Good point, Martha! Then she offers tips for every room in the house, including kids' rooms and entryways, two areas that I really want to focus on intently. This is going to be the most exciting spring cleaning ever. Not least because this is the first time that J and I have actually stayed in the same apartment for more than one year. Isn't that just nuts?! It wasn't always because we wanted to move, in fact, it was usually circumstances, like moving to a new state or country, or getting a job as managers of an apartment building meant we had to move across town, but it's beyond nice to finally feel settled at last! I find it rather fitting that we are settled down now that we have a baby. Sigh!

So, that said, I'm positively aflutter about this getting organized business. What are your favorite strategies in home organization?

Bedtime Story: Counting Kisses

Since turning the six-month mark, our days seem to revolve around Coco's sleep schedule. She needs an hour long nap around 10 am and a two hour nap around 2 pm. Then, she goes to bed between 7 and 7:30. If we get the bedtime routine started too late, it means she's awake for another few hours and then everyone is tired and grumpy the following day. No thanks! She used to go to bed really easily, but now that she is so much more aware of everything going on around her, she really needs to wind down before bed. So we've started reading one or two books every night and I love it. It's unbelievably wonderful to snuggle up with my little bundle and read her calming, sweet stories every evening. 

We have lots of good bedtime books, but my favorites are all from a list that the Baby Center sent me. Do you get their emails? I had their pregnancy App on my iPhone and now I have the baby development App. Both are rad and I highly recommend! 

Perhaps the sweetest book of all is "Counting Kisses" by Karen Katz. The book leads mommy and baby through a series of kisses working backward from "ten kisses on tiny little toes", to "one last kiss on baby's tired head." It's as sweet as sweet can be and what makes it even sweeter is that my little baby girl giggles all the way through. Swoon! Honestly, it's the best! While I'm holding Coco and giving her kisses and reading her a sweet story before bed, I feel so completely contented and fulfilled. This life of being a mommy and having a family is what I have always wanted. All those years of playing with my dolls and taking care of them, I was dreaming of this: a comfortable well-kept home, crisp inviting sheets, a sweet chubby baby nursing in my arms, a soft nightlight's glow, counting kisses before we turn out the light. I am so grateful to have this wonderful life with J, in our beautiful home with our precious little bundle to love and watch grow. Every night at Coco's bedtime, we count kisses and I thank my lucky stars. 

{top photo by Amy Sinisterra}

Have a lovely Easter!

This weekend it's all rainy and grey, which makes for a rather depressing Easter. Particularly following the gorgeous weather we'd been having up until now. What a pity! I'm getting Coco's Easter dress all ready, and popping into H&M today to get her a pair of warm tights to wear with it. She will be cute as a button regardless of the weather.

A few things that caught my eye this week...

I'm seriously considering buy one of these.

I can't wait to try this sumptuous lip treatment!

What a scary prospect.

Hoping for a promotion!

I'd love to have this classic.

If you celebrate Easter, enjoy your holiday! If not, enjoy your weekend. I hope it's sunnier where you are. :) See you back here Monday! xoLindsey

Three Yummy Snacks

I love a good snack in the afternoon. However, if I don't make an actual snack on a plate, I'll wind up eating an entire bag of chips, or an entire chocolate bar and completely making myself sick! These are three of my favorite, satisfying, yummy snacks I love to enjoy during that lull between lunch and dinner.

#1 Salt & Vinegar Chips and Cottage Cheese

Don't knock it 'til you try it! These two are a match made in heaven and while it's not the healthiest snack you can muster, it's not the worst one either. Cottage cheese packs more protein per gram than just about any other food and it's a serving of calcium rich dairy to boot. How's that for a dose of yum?

#2 Toast with Black Cherry Jam and Cheddar

For this, I use a whole wheat baguette with nuts and seeds and I don't skip the butter. On top of a healthy layer of delicious, sweet black cherry jam is a thick slice of aged white cheddar. Mmmm. The contrast of the sweet jam and the salty cheddar is to die for!

#3 Cream Cheese and Lemon Curd on Sweet Toast

My upstairs neighbor Noel got me started on this and it's a new classic around our house. I find it's best on a sweet braided bread like challah, or here in Switzerland you can get Butterzopf at Coop. Toast lightly, slather on a thick layer of Philadelphia cream cheese and then caress with a silky lemon curd finish. Mmmm. Creamy, zesty, perfect. 

What are you favorite snacks? Are they healthy or indulgent like mine? ;)

Have you ever had your heart broken?

Lately I've been thinking a lot about when Coco gets older. Most of it is exciting, but I dread the things she'll have to go through that aren't fun or enjoyable. When I was 20, I fell completely head over heels in love with a guy named Peter and then he completely broke my heart. It literally ached inside my chest and I was so utterly crushed by the whole experience that I lost ten pounds. It was the most profound sadness I had felt as an adult.

During that time, I was babysitting regularly for an alumnus of my sorority in Eugene. One day when I was leaving to go home, she could see how sad I was and asked what was the matter. I explained the situation in one sentence (it really doesn't take more than that, does it? ;) and she said the kindest two things to me. First she said with true conviction, "I know you're going to find someone just perfect and you will be so happy." I believed her. Then she went on to say something that really surprised me: "I'd never relive my twenties, no matter what you gave me I'd never go through all that again." I remembered those words often throughout my twenties (which are thankfully over!) and I was glad through the entire confusing, questioning, searching decade to have some reassurance that I wasn't undervaluing one of my life's golden ages. 

Have you seen the movie The Wackness? It's a sweet movie in a lot of ways. And Josh Peck is so handsome! I guess it's true that everybody has to have their heart broken sometime, isn't it? 

{photo from here}

Anthropologie Knobs

My dearies, do you love your closet? I do. It might seem like a strange thing to love, but it's true. Our closet is from the PAX line at IKEA and it's gorgeous. Putting it together was a seriously daunting task, but now that it's finished and functioning, we love it so! The closet corner of my bedroom is delicious because all in the same place I have my pink Keep Calm and Carry On poster, my lovely curvy bedside table lamp and my beautiful closet that has a built-in dresser with a glass see-through top that houses all my jewelry and sweet-enough-to-eat Anthropologie knobs on the drawers. Yum!

Apparently the sleek doors really did think the Anthropologie knobs were good enough to eat because this morning I woke up and noticed that one of my darling knobs had broken off and was and looking oh so pretty lying on the floor. Sad! And thank goodness Coco isn't crawling just yet!

My first thought was, "Oh no!" And then I thought to myself, "Hmmm...maybe I can fix it." Nope. Then I thought, "Maybe I can replace it." Out of stock. And then (finally!) I realized that the silver lining to this dreadful mess is that I get to order new Anthropologie knobs for my built-in dresser! That's not such a bad thing, is it? 

I'll be smarter this time and get knobs with a more conservative projection so this doesn't happen again. Here are a few I'm thinking about. 

It is a shame that my lovely knob was decapitated by the closet door, especially because the color was so pretty - not quite blue, not quite green, but rather just right. 

What do you think of the knobs above? Would you stick with a blue hue or go with pink or silver? 

{bottom photos from Anthropologie}

Rainbow Brights!

Today I got a wild idea during a routine nail session with Noel. I realized as I looked through and tried to decide on a color, that she has every necessary OPI hue to do rainbow nails! It's a little crazy, to be sure. But I'm loving my bright, cheerful manicure. 

I wasn't feeling quite nutso enough to wear a pair of my bright skinnies with these out-there nails just yet, but maybe later this week. Instead I went for a pair of distressed grey washed J.Crew skinnies, a black t-shirt and a deep purple cardi from Nordstrom. (Had to bring in the purple somehow - with only five fingers, it had to be left out! ;) Here in Zürich, we have lots of rain in the forecast this week, which is good for my allergies, but a bummer nonetheless. Having rainbow fingernails will be sure to keep life feeling springy for me this week. Yay!

I've already decided that my next nail color choice will be three different shades of pink with two of those shades randomly repeating on the other two fingers of each hand. Stay tuned. It's going to be rad. :)

What nail colors are you loving this spring? Are you ever experimental with nail color?

{photo taken with Hipstamatic}

How to Follow Your Bliss

Oddly enough, when I became a mother, I felt freer and more creatively untethered than I've ever felt in my whole life. Yes, my whole life! This came as a great surprise to me, because on many levels - financially, physically and professionally spring to mind - motherhood is supposed to be the most limiting time in a woman's life. Well...that is what society would have us believe, anyway. 

I just ordered a copy of Martha Beck's book Finding Your Way in a Wild New World and I can't wait for it to arrive! (I've actually tracked it twice already to see when it will be here. ;)

In an interview with Elle magazine, Beck describes the ways in which we've abandoned our natural instincts in favor of social pressures and expectations, for example to have a successful career or to marry. She entreats readers to go back to their true self, whatever that may be. I feel like I mostly know who that is for myself, but I could use a little help getting past societal expectation in order to fully get there. I'm so very ready to put her method into practice. 

Do you have dreams or ideas on the back burner? What's keeping you from going after them?