freitag favorites + vacation is here

It’s been quite a week and I’m happy to say that Friday is here. It started out well with a beautiful hike with a friend on Sunday on the Brienzer Rothorn, a beautiful train ride up and hike down. I’ll share more about that hike soon. It was the positive highlight of a week that, so far, has gone downhill from there.

First, it was a few tough days of deadlines and quickly finishing tasks for handover at work. Martin was gone Monday-Tuesday for some coaches training and, on top of all of this, Reese’s small cold turned into a nasty fever starting Monday night. I wasn’t sure how we were going to make it through to Thursday, let alone the flying home.

Luckily, Reese was able to spend Tuesday with our nanny (her last official day, sadly). By Wednesday, Reese was just a feverish, sleepy zombie repeating like a broken record, “Mama, mommy, mama.” She was too sick for pre-school on Wednesday and so I stayed home with her in the morning and Martin and I traded in the afternoon so that I could also try to wrap things up at work. He took her to the track (still a quiet zombie) and by evening we were just thankful to have survived the day. We were basically all packed and had time to spare in the Thursday morning as our flight only left at 2.00.

Of course, by now, I’d hoped that we’d already be spending time with my family in the US, but our vacation plans took a little detour again yesterday when our flight plans went through a series of delays and announcements like, “More information at 2.30.” and then “More information at 2.45” and so on. Finally, around 4.15, the flight was cancelled and we were re-booked for today. Meanwhile, Reese was still a bit sick, though better than the day before.

Let’s just say my few two days I felt a lot like this mama sheep, and I’m really in need of a break.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BYG4ue-jUVx/?taken-by=popmyeyes

So, now we’re up and eating breakfast and ready for day two heading for the airport. It feels a bit like Groundhog Day, but hopefully we’re off and in the air towards Portland by the time you read this post.

In the meantime, I’ll leave with you this week’s favorites and I hope you have a wonderful weekend . . .

• danish farmhouse //  I have major house envy when it comes to this beautiful farmhouse. From the wide plank wood floors and minimal furnishings to the spacious and utilitarian kitchen.
• pool // This natural swimming pool with lily pads is oh-so-beautiful.
• cornwall // The landscape of Poldark really makes me want to explore Cornwall, so perhaps we’ll get to stay in this beautiful seaside rental for a late summer vacation sometime.
• outdoor furniture // My biggest complaint about our outdoor furniture, which I failed to thoroughly consider before we bought it, are the bulky, white cushions. Yes, they are comfortable, but they are difficult to keep clean and even though they outdoor fabric, we cannot just leave them outside all summer with our frequent thunderstorms. This means that either we cover everything tightly with a tarp (which we aren’t inspired to remove often) or we have to move them inside and out, storing somewhere in living/dining room. Ugh. Next time I’m going for something like this cool two-way chaise sofa featured here and here (sofa lettino) with fewer cushions, which I will definitely recover in another non-white fabric.
• fall cooking // I may not be ready for fall, but I am ready for some fall cooking. This corn chowder is topping my list.