2 years ago...

2 years ago today Ryan and I were civilly married in a quick and quiet ceremony in Boston's Arnold Arboretum.  Today I read the blog post that I had written about this day (click here) and it reminded me how far we have come...

Since this day we have successfully navigated an international move, set up our lives in a new country, have gone on many adventures, had many experiences, and officially celebrated our wedding with our family and friends in Florida.

For all those who have been asking which anniversary we will celebrate, we decided that it would be impossible to just "forget" one of the dates - instead, we decided to celebrate both dates in their own special ways. For our civil ceremony anniversary date we will celebrate in similar fashion to the day itself, quietly and privately by spending time with each other at home, giving each other a card, and going out for a meal. For our public ceremony date, we will pick a night or weekend to go away somewhere and spend time with each other to remind ourselves of the special week we spent in Florida with our family and friends celebrating our wedding. So, to kick off our new tradition we spent a relaxing weekend at home, went out to a "Sunday brunch" at a hotel downtown (going out for breakfast is not common in Europe, but several hotels offer large brunch buffets to satisfy a craving), and took a stroll back home along the lake.

I love you Ryan -- I can't wait to see what the next 2 years brings us!!

Words to live by...

A very Genevoise weekend

This weekend, in a desire for pure relaxation, we decided to not make ANY pre-determined plans and just relax, doing whatever we felt like our little hearts desired.  As a bonus, the weather this weekend turned out to be lovely, so we took full advantage of it.

Friday evening we checked out a new (to us) restaurant outside of town called Na Village.  They have a lovely terrace and the thai food was the best I have had in Geneva thus far. It was a delightful start to the weekend - even if it meant not watching the Switzerland/France world cup game (a cardinal sin on this continent)

On Saturday, we woke up and went for a beautiful 3 mile run/2 mile walk along the lake. This weekend marks the start of our training for the half marathon in St Moritz, Switzerland in August and I couldn't have hoped for a more inspiring view and weather to kick off our training

Every year on the first official day of summer, Europe celebrates the "Fetes de la musique", which is essentially a 3 day festival of music and concerts. Somehow we missed this festival last year, but this year we took advantage of it and on Saturday afternoon we meandered through the streets to check out the makeshift concert venues sprinkled throughout the parks and city. In the evening, we meandered our way a few miles down the lake to the Wakeboard Club, one of the beaches in town. We sat in the sun and enjoyed a bottle of Rose while catching up with friends.

As the sun was setting we headed off to dinner at our favorite local restaurant around the corner, Entrecote St Jean, and then spent the remainder of the evening checking out more concerts in the park nearby our house.

This weekend reminded me how much I really enjoy Geneva in the summer - in the summer it is full of festivals, gorgeous weather, and easy access to the beautiful lake and beaches. I'm looking forward to enjoying all that Geneva has to offer again this summer!

There's no place like home

The last few weeks have been crazy to say the least. Fortunately, a quieter stretch is in sight and its time for me to start rejoining the blogisphere... starting with a quick recap of our trip to the US a few weeks ago

In late May, we headed back to to the US to Ryan's brother's wedding.  Fortunately, I was also able to plan some extended time off before and after the wedding -- I flew into Boston before to spend some time with Boston friends and coworkers and then I took some time off after to spend time with my family in NH.  The trip was a perfect blend of celebrating the love of a wonderful couple and spending quality time with our nearest and dearest family and friends

Relaxing at Ryan's family's lake house in upstate NY

The beautiful bride and groom and their immediate families

Yours truly -- see Mom, I promised to take more photos with me in them!

Wedding shenanigans with the nieces and nephew

"Let me take a selfie"

Hanging with the family on the couch at home <3 

Siblings at the lake in NH -- we were able to spend an entire week together!

Handsome brother and my favorite lake

No trip to New England is complete without a lobster roll

My overall conclusion from the week: I truly miss home... don't get me wrong, I love our experiences and adventures in Europe and I would say yes again and again to the opportunity to move here, but after almost 2 years in, my homesickness is starting to settle in a bit. Said in another way, spending valuable time with family and friends while home makes me immensely happy but also reminds me that there just truly is no place like home....