freitag favorites + happy 1st of august

The crackle of early fireworks is in the air, the sun is shining, and I’m reclining on the terrace with an iced coffee and a book. This is how I celebrate Swiss National Day, or the first of August.  There couldn’t be better timing for long weekend of not much to do and totally rest up after a busy, but wonderfully fun vacation with my family.

After two weeks of sun-rain-sun, the giggles of a happy baby, shopping, hiking to new views, eating lots of Mövenpick ice cream, swimming in Lake Zürich, relaxing with the family, I am reminded of how lucky I am to have family willing to trek so far to visit us frequently over the last few years, and enough vacation time to share lots of time with them.

We explored Zürich, walked around Thalwil, ventured to Basel (and the Vitra Haus, again), St. Gallen, Appenzell, Luzern, and down toward Interlaken/Lauterbrunnen. More pictorial highlights will come as soon as I have to sort more of my photos, and collect photos from everyone else.

In the meantime, I’m working on enjoying the lazy weekend, planning a few outings with Martin’s parents who are here for a few more weeks, and trying to research a warm weather getaway for late September.

• I’ll be back soon with more updates, but for now I leave you with some favorites. I wish you a wonderful summer weekend!
• If I had more time, making my own condiments sounds like fun.
• doodle // I guess my wandering pen swirls during meetings might be useful after all.
• sweet strawberry // I haven’t made crepes for awhile, but I think this recipe will be on the list for later this summer.
• on the grill // Summer grilling season is on, and I’m ready to experiment with grilling fruit. The NYT has already provided some inspiration.
• beautiful wood // These cutting boards are so gorgeous that I’m not sure I would want to use it, but I love them.