Swiss You Were Here (Part 1)

After a long, pretty much sleepless flight, we arrived in Zurich. The airport was pretty much empty since it wasn't even 7 a.m. yet. Everything there was super efficient and easy to follow. We found the train station, validated our passes, and were waiting on our train by 7:30!

Exhausted!

The trains were easy to navigate, and we were in Interlaken by 10! We went to Coop to buy lunch so we could get change for the luggage locker. We put our suitcases in the lockers and took off to Thun. The train ride was beautiful!

Excuse the glare... taken from inside a moving train :)

We arrived in Thun just in time to catch the bus to Schloss (Castle) Oberhofen.  We explored the gardens around the castle. There weren't any other people there, so it was nice having it to ourselves.

We got back on the bus to head to St. Beatus-Höhlen. The bus announced each stop, so we didn't have to worry about missing our stop. We got to our stop and began the hike up to the caves. Once there, we decided not to go in since it would be a 1.5 hour wait for the English tour and we were exhausted.

J and his friend, Gnome

We caught the bus to Interlaken and explored there before getting our luggage and heading to Wengen. While in Interlaken, we saw lots of paragliders, which made us so excited to do it during our trip!

J's favorite store!

We caught the train to Lauterbrunnen, then changed trains to Wengen. I am not sure we were ready for what we saw next. The scenery was just unbelievable! I just about fell on the train getting to the windows! :)

After arriving in Wengen, we checked in and made our way to the condo. Wengen is a (somewhat) car free town, so we mad to walk. The condo was much nicer than we thought, and the view was amazing!

We enjoyed many hours sitting outside on our balcony. :) After unpacking, we headed to the local Coop to pick up some groceries. J LOVED looking at all the different products. We picked up all sorts of food and went back to the condo to eat a pizza we just bought. We made ourselves stay up some to try to get acclimated, but went to bed early excited about what we were going to do the next day. :)

to be continued....

Coming to a blog near you soon...

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SWITZERLAND 2012

Until then, watch this:

Packing, packing, packing!

We have been busy packing, and it is getting down to crunch time. I am hopeful we won't forget anything! I have been channeling my inner Santa by making lists and checking them twice. As long as we have passports and money we should be fine, though!

The weather forecast keeps changing, but currently looks like this:

The chance of rain is disappointing, but something we expected. Typically, it rains for a little while, then the sun comes out again. :) That's what we're hoping for. I need to find an umbrella to pack now that I think about it! We're also excited to be escaping the summer heat!

We are ready for some hiking followed by relaxing! We also found out that there will be a Mountain Spring Festival while we are there. There is going to be a yodeling group and everything! We are hoping to work that into our itinerary. I ordered some free brochures about stuff to do, but they have yet to arrive. If they don't come today, we will be out of luck until we arrive. We land before 7am local time (1:00 am EST), so we will be tired, but will have a full day ahead of us. I have us doing some leisurely sight-seeing, so I hope we can make it through. Once we can check-in, we plan to do that then hit the grocery store before passing out.  The traveling days will be the longest, but we are so excited to see all the scenery. Pictures are worth a thousand words, but I am sure experiencing it will be with millions.

I have several ebooks on the ipad to read during all the traveling. I also have an audiobook in case I get tired of reading and just want to listen. It also has games, so hopefully we can occupy ourselves without too much boredom. We have a 2 hours at RDU + 1.5 hours flight + 2.5 hour layover + 9 hour flight on the way there (and pretty much the same coming back.) Hope we can sleep on the flight over.

We're checked in for a flight... the journey begins soon!

Caitlin, Tybee, Beryl, Marion

It's about time I updated, I know...

Caitlin came for a visit in mid-May. We shopped a lot (she had lots of luck at Goodwill... I just found books :)), got pedicures, and tried food from Pinterest. We also went to Big Ed's downtown for Sunday lunch. So good! Good Southern cooking. We went to the farmer's market and bought from fresh strawberries.. yummy! It was sister's first trip to the one in Raleigh. I am pretty sure she was amazed. Except for staying up late to pick her up and J having to get up early to drop her off, we enjoyed having her here.

Thursday after she left, we headed to Tybee Island. It was an easy drive and not too busy. And for once, I wasn't the one who needed a potty break. We had a great time. We tried to put a puzzle together, but it was too hard and our trip was cut short.  We ate some good seafood, went to the beach, and rode around in our electric cars (even rode by Paula Deen's beach house). We ate supper at The Olde Pink House our last night and took a carriage ride. Nerd me was super excited and loved hearing all the history. Tropical Storm Beryl was coming though, so we left Sunday morning. We stopped for breakfast in Savannah before heading back to NC with Marion.

Our sod was still alive when we got back! And Beryl provided some rain later in the week. Thankfully, we are past the point of watering everyday. Marion got all moved in and we had plenty of time to get her settled and show her around the town and where she would be working. So far, she is enjoying it. And I think the company is glad to have someone so talented!

This past Saturday, we went to a wedding for someone J works with. It was at the NCSU Arboretum. It was beautiful. The wedding itself was interesting, but we enjoyed seeing a different type of wedding than we were used to. We left just before they started doing shots!

One the way home from the wedding, we saw hot air balloons

Got Grass?

Cause we do!

 

You can see where I moved my garden. I leveled off a spot where they stopped the sod, so now I don't have to worry about my garden killing our grass. :)

Also, Caitlin discovered our camera while she was visiting. She left us with this lovely gem. Thought you might enjoy.

1096

That's how many days we have been married- including one day for the leap year! It seems so crazy to us that it has been 3 years. Wasn't it just yesterday? 

Although we have had many great days since then, we both think that was the best, most perfect day ever! We are celebrating tonight with steak and a late trip to pick up Caitlin from the airport!

And now for our year 3 recap!
- I started grad school.
- Trips to: Nag's Head, Boston, Charleston, Lynchburg,VA, Lake Hartwell, SC, Athena, GA, Jefferson, Mississippi, and Kentucky
- Continued decorating our house (I have a feeling this will always be in our recap ;))
- Hung ceiling fans ourselves (without a ladder!)
- Became obsessed with Supernatural and watched all 6 seasons on DVD in about 1.5 months
- My big brother got married
- David graduated from State
- Decorated our house for Christmas- including a real tree!
- Got a new (to us) car (LOVE MY PRIUS!)
- Pinterest was thrown into our lives, which as resulted in us trying new recipes

Clark and Amy

Autumn Mountain Trip

Boston

Nag's Head

Blue Ridge Parkway in VA

Christmas

We have been incredibly blessed this past year... here's what we're looking forward to for year 4!
- Marion coming to live with us for the summer
- Caitlin's visit (she lands tonight!)
- SWITZERLAND!!!!!!!!!!
- Getting grass in the backyard
- Graduating with my Master's (= raise!)
- Caitlin graduating
- Marion graduating

3/5ths!

3 semesters down. 2 to go! I am now completely done with the semester! I passed both my classes (which is surprising, I know). I have until August 16th off from grad school. I will have 2 online classes in the fall. I will then have 2 on campus classes in the spring and be done! Just another year.

We bought our train pass for Switzerland today! Can't believe it is next month! We bought an adapter so we can charge our ipad and camera battery. I also bought a travel hair straightener! It's so tiny! It might take me a while to have straight hair, but at least this one won't take up much room. And it can handle the voltage in Europe, so whenever we go back, I can take it then, too. Our itinerary is pretty much set (though flexible so if it rains we can change.) I still need to setup our paragliding, but other than that, not much left to do but pack.

Caitlin is coming to visit this week. We're hoping to make a day trip to the beach Saturday. I hope the weather holds up!

We are going to Tybee Island for Memorial Day with J's family. Marion is coming back with us to start her internship. I have her room all cleaned out (since Caitlin will be using it this week!) We just need to put some things in the attic. I am hoping to find some dining room chairs so she can help me paint them this summer. So far no such luck.

We supposed to be getting sod this week! Project Get Some Grass might get checked off the list this week... assuming it doesn't rain too much.

21 workdays until summer... it's getting so close I can taste it!!!!!

Down Time...

... what's that? Since I haven't had class this week and my final is open book/note online, I haven't had much to do lately.  I finished my last assignments early, so now I don't know what to do with myself.  I have been reading a lot and have even managed to keep the house looking decent- and the laundry clean! And to think this is what it was like before I started grad school...

I have the summer off (after a final Monday night) from classes. In the fall, both of my courses will be online. Woot! That will save time and money! Speaking of saving money... since buying my Prius, we have saved at least $50 last month on gas. How awesome is that?!

I have been working on nailing down more items on our Switzerland to-do list. I have mapped out some hikes we want to do and sights we want to see, coordinating train rides, and looking to see what we need to buy to get ready. IT IS NEXT MONTH! We are so pumped! Cheese, Cows, and Chocolate... here we come!

Marion got an internship in Holly Springs (the town just north of here), so she will be living with us this summer! I am excited that I will have someone to hang out with (when she's not working.) Hopefully, she will gain some good experience. We are secretly hoping they will love her so much, they will want to hire her when she graduates. :) It would be nice to have some family around.

I am hoping between having extra time with no classes and having a crafty person live with us, *cough* Marion *cough* I can get some things crossed off our house to-do list. We have hired someone to till and sod our backyard... no date as to when that will happen though. But I have some crafty things to do.

-Dining room chairs. Our plan is to get some older wooden chairs and paint and distress them. We plan on going for a mix and match look, so not all the chairs will be the same
-Curtains.. oh man we need some curtains! Living room, Dining Room, Kitchen, and Office!
-Find Fabric... yeah, I guess this will come before making the curtains, huh?
-Work on our hall gallery. We purchased a print in Charleston and have a couple of other things to add to it... I just need to get some frames.
-PLENTY of ideas from Pinterest.

Yeah, I have been putting most of those off. Maybe someone who knows what they are doing can motivate me to get 'er done!

I planted tomatoes and peppers in my pots. I am hoping this year will finally be the year that I get some great produce! Since it's already 91 outside, I will have to be diligently watering them! Speaking of, guess I better go do that now.

Birthday and Charleston

I had a great birthday! J planned a nice Saturday for us and kept me in the dark. We went to a restaurant in downtown Raleigh. It is called Bu Ku and serves global street food. I was a little leery at first, but I had the Korean BBQ and it was AMAZING! We then walked down to the history museum.  We finished up by renting a Redbox and eat cupcakes.

I have enjoyed not working this week. Spring Break treated me well!
Monday, I went to the park with my friends from church (and all their kids.) I helped wrangle the kids, we had a picnic, and rode the train. It was fun. Tuesday, I had a massage and girls' night. I also went to Red Robin with a couple of friends to get my free burger and sundae! Wednesday, I did nothing. I stayed in my PJs all day. That was a great day! Thursday, I went to the library to pick up a few books (and I read an entire one but the time J got home.) When J got home, we headed to Charleston. We got there around 10:15.

I forgot the camera, so I had to use my phone to take pictures. You can see a few here, here, and here. The weather was pretty good, the seafood was amazing, and hanging out with Richard was fun. He toured us around and showed us the sights. Charleston is like a nicer New Orleans. We really liked it- mainly all the live oak trees around!

I have 2 Mondays of classes, then a final and I will be done with this semester! It is quickly coming to an end. Hallelujah! 

On deck-
Caitlin is coming to see us in about a month.
Trip to Tybee Island with J's family for Memorial Day
End of the school year/start of summer
SWITZERLAND in just over 2 months.

New (to me) car!

It has been an exciting couple of weeks. Mainly because I got a new (to me) car. My car was on its last leg and there was no way it would pass inspection. We didn't feel like putting $$$ into it since it was 13ish years old and had 200k+ miles on it. We had been looking at the Mazda CX-5. It's beautiful. It was also more than we had planned to spend. :( We remembered Papa Ed had a Prius, so we made a quick call and bought ourselves a car. Last Saturday, we drove (well, J slept and read- I drove) to Pigeon Forge to meet Kate Kate and Papa Ed to trade cars. It was so nice to see them since we don't get to often! The Prius is much nicer than I thought and I am LOVING it! The 48 mpg sure doesn't hurt either. We spent the night in Asheville and went to see The Hunger Games. And on the way home, we had to stop at Steak N Shake.

They paved the road through our neighborhood this week. We had suspected this was the case since the city had been working around manholes. It's nice to have a smooth surface throughout the entire neighborhood instead of the more finished parts.

I made another crockpot cheesecake this week. Delish! I am not sure why I deemed that blog worthy, but it is.

I have 4 more weeks of class and a final between now and summer! 2 of those weeks I will only have 1 class instead of 2. Going to be so nice! My classes in the fall are online. And I finally got a student ID today. Apparently, if you are only enrolled in distance classes, you can request one online and they will mail it to you. Since my classes this semester are labeled distance, I got mine. Bring on the discounts! (Not that I haven't been using my USM ID. What? I'm still a student...)


Tomorrow, J is jumping into a new golf season. I have already bought him 2 Groupons, so the season is about to be in full swing.

Caitlin decided to come see us in May. She'll be here for 5 days. Super excited! I am hoping we can make a beach trip. Last year we couldn't go because of the wildfires. Too bad I have to work for a couple of the days she will be here. :( She has a friend that lives a couple of hours away, so I think her friend is going to come down one day to see her. win-win.

Next week is a sort of short week for me. Wednesday I am going to a workshop, and Friday is early release. Then SPRING BREAK! I plan on getting my garden ready and being lazy! Thursday (12th) we are leaving for Charleston. Woot Woot!

90ish days!

That's how long we have until we take off for the Alps!

The plan: Fly to Zurich. Train to Wengen. Enjoy lots of this:

Followed by a couple of days of this:

Then it will be back to the real world for J (after a short time to kick the jetlag!) We're super excited!

Plans are made...

I enjoyed not having class last week. It was so nice to have my Monday night back. This past Monday was a little abbreviated because we had our mid-term. I was home by 8:00!

J's mom and sister came for a visit. We enjoyed getting to see them! I wish I could have spent more time with them. J took Monday off, then worked from home today. We did do some shopping and even discovered the car that I have been wanting is at dealerships! Now that the reality of paying for a new car is here, we are now wondering if we want to pay that much for a car. They are expensive! We also mulched our flower beds, and now our front yard looks so much better! J also took his car to get an oil change and an inspection. He came home with new tires and new brake pads. It's been an expensive month! (J hired a lawyer to his speeding ticket so he doesn't have to take off work.)

We are also entertaining the idea of sodding our backyard. We have started getting quotes. Man, being a homeowner is expensive! Well, when you care about how your house/yard looks anyway.


We have also decided to take a big vaca this year. We are still working on the details, but it caused us to rethink our priorities. We decided we would rather take a big vaca than go on a trip during Spring Break. We cancelled our hotel in Savannah, but are still planning to go to Charleston. This will give J more PTO so we can use it for other things. :)

It has been almost hot here... 80s this week! I hope that doesn't mean we'll be in the 100s this summer!

Pinterest....

I have limited the amount of time I allow myself on Pinterest. However, I found a couple of recipes I just had to try. With company coming, I thought it was the perfect time since if I didn't like it, there would be less leftovers. :)

First up, zucchini cakes.I didn't take too many pictures, but here they are cooking:

They were pretty good. I am not sure if I would make them again since it was time consuming though.

Next up was my favorite!! Crockpot Cheesecake

It was SO good! We were surprised at how well it turned out. I can safely say that there will be more crockpot cheesecake in our future. The only thing I did differently from the recipe was that I added a dash of vanilla.

So, thank you, Pinterest!!!

In like a Lamb...

I think it was a lamb here. I guess March will be going out like a lion!

We have had an eventful few weeks. J got a speeding ticket on the way to the gym last week. I had him take the long way so we could stop by the library. As we got into downtown, he got pulled over (we were going downhill... a little too quickly.) We are hoping we can get the ticket lessened so our insurance won't go up. We will find out March 23, since that is his court date.

I have been busy with school and work. Next week is NC State's Spring Break, so I won't have class! yay! I have a mid-term coming up. I can't believe this semester is almost halfway over.

At J's work, they reorganized many of the departments. The new person in charge of his department did away with work from home. Just when he was about to qualify!!! We are not holding out much hope he changes his mind. :( J also had his annual review at work, and he said it went well. Unfortunately, this doesn't mean a raise since no one is getting them. Oh well, thankful for employment regardless!

I have been enjoying going to BodyCombat at the gym. It is a workout!!!

I have been finding some interesting recipes on Pintrest. I am hoping to be able to try some out soon... I just need to get an apple corer.

We have also decided on a Spring Break trip: 3 days in Savannah and 3 days in Charleston. I am just in the beginning stages of planning, but I am so excited. Once we get back, I am sure I will be itching to plan another trip. Hopefully we can go somewhere this summer!

We filed our taxes last weekend and should be getting a refund. Super excited about that. We are planning to put it toward sodding the backyard. It is on the to-do soon list!

That's all at Casa de Morrow. We will be having visitors in the next week and a half, so I will be busy cleaning, working, and my favorite- grocery shopping!! :)

Cajun Shrimp Casserole

We tried a new recipe tonight. It turned out really good. I just wish we had doubled it!

1/2 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
5 oz cream of mushroom soup
¼ cup chicken broth
1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I used more)
1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice
1/8 cup grated Parmesan cheese

 

1) Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and next 3 ingredients; sauté 7 minutes or until tender. Add garlic and lemon juice; and sauté 1 minute. Add shrimp, and cook 3 minutes or until shrimp turn pink. Stir in soup and next 4 ingredients until blended. Pour into a lightly greased 11- x 7-inch baking dish. Sprinkle evenly with Parmesan cheese.
2) Bake at 350° for 15 to 20 minutes or until casserole is bubbly and cheese is lightly browned. 

Yummy!

Pull up a seat....

except you can't...

We ordered a dining room table! We got it from a new website I just discovered, Joss and Main. It was a great deal! Now, we just need chairs. For now if there's 5 or more, we'll just have to stand around eating.

That also means we had to move our small dining room table somewhere. So, into the nook area of the kitchen it went. The overhead light isn't centered (which we can add to the to-do list), but we can sit at a table and watch tv now. I think the table might get more use now!

Another Day, Another Dollar

We finally got blinds up in the living and dining rooms. Maybe one day I will post a picture! We also ordered a dining room table this week! It should arrive on Monday. Hope we like it!

J has Monday off, but I have a workday. It usually seems to happen this way. We both have Memorial day off though!

Nothing too exciting here, besides getting blinds up and buying a dining room table. It was a stressful week for both of us, so we are glad it is the weekend. We are going to hit the gym, wash our cars, and go to the young married's valentine's party. Should be a good time!

Instead of going out on Valentine's, we went out Wednesday to the Smokehouse in downtown Varina (I had a coupon :)). We both tried BBQ, and while it wasn't MS good, it sure was better than Eastern NC BBQ! We also has friend pickles, which are always good!

Is it June yet?

Happy Anniversary, NC!

We can hardly believe we have lived in North Carolina for two years. Time flies. That also means I have been teaching for two years. Some days, I can't believe it. Other days, I don't know that I can do it for 23+ more years. Ah, the joys of teaching!

J has almost been at his current job for a year. Once he has been there for a year, he gets to work from home one day a week! No fighting traffic or having to put on real clothes. Not to mention it will save us some gas money! It will be nice to see him when I come home from work for a change.

We haven't been doing much lately. Work, school, and church mainly. And we have been continuing our Supernatural Marathon. We should finish season 4 tonight. I am still not sure why we like it so much, but we do! We DVR'd all our shows this week so we could watch Supernatural.

We watched the Superbowl at home. We didn't care much about the game; we just wanted to see the commercials. We thought they were mostly disappointing.

My classes are going well. Mondays are just extremely long for me, but I am glad to have class out of the way for the week! I am counting down the days until May 8 when I will no longer have class and work. 1 whole month of just work before 2 months of nothing!

We're still undecided about where to go for Spring Break. I am hoping to decide soon! I have a travel bug, so I need to plan a trip stat!

I checked out four James Patterson books yesterday. I finished one, so I am off to start another!