ashleyd /

Fourth of July in Geneva, Switzerland

The title of this post should really be fifth of July because on the fourth of July, I went to work as if it was any other day. As an expat working abroad in Geneva, Switzerland I get the local bank holidays off versus our US national holidays. Our bank holidays tend to be clumped together around Catholic holidays in the Spring and late Summer versus in the United States where it seems to average one per month.

While I didn’t get Friday off, I was amused to find that many people in my office were also wearing red, white and blue. The only difference was that they were wearing the colors in support of France who played, and lost to Germany, in the World Cup Friday night.

But, on the fifth of July, we did indeed celebrate Fourth of July, or America’s birthday as my friend Emily calls it. More than 30 people from five different continents came together yesterday afternoon to enjoy sunshine, delicious food, lots of beverages, frisbee, a few dips in the lake, and an excuse to wear lots of red, white and blue!

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The host committee, led by Emily and a few of her friends, went all out providing patriotic leis, paper lanterns, cups, plates and more! Even though our grill was only a foot in diameter and barely held a rack of ribs, it stood up to the test of cooking lots of meat for hungry friends all afternoon!

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Emily, aka Lady Liberty in Geneva, deserves a prize for being the most patriotic person I know. An equally as patriotic ensemble was worn last week during every USA World Cup game in addition to being sported at her law office on Fourth of July.

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Meanwhile, yesterday’s festivities made Bo and I both realize that neither of us have any red in our wardrobe.

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My favorite food of the day included the delicious cheeseburger I shared with Bo as well as a few of the ribs, freshly imported from the United States via Delta. But, the real star of the show was Emily’s homemade Salted Caramel Apple pie. It was INCREDIBLE. I would ask for the recipe if I thought I would actually last through a recipe as complicated as one that includes homemade crust, lattice crust and made from scratch salted caramel.

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While Bo and I both missed the long weekend and fireworks our friends enjoyed back in the United States, we had fun celebrating with so many new friends from across the world yesterday.

What did you do to celebrate the Fourth of July?

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July 2014 Goals

So I guess I’m not perfect. I had great aspirations to do a June goal post, just like May, but somehow the month sped away. Speaking of speeding away, how the hell are we already half way through the year?

So, while I may not set formal goals each month as June proved, even if I do them every other month that will be 6 times more than last year. I know that July is going to be a tough month for me due to some work stress at the beginning of the month and then two weeks of vacation mentality at the end of the month. Hopefully, by sharing these goals with you all I will stay accountable!

July Goals

Fitness: Woah! I just put out a time goal for my first triathlon! While of course I will be proud of myself to finish, I spent some time researching last year’s times and this would put me in the middle of the pack for my age group which is 19-34. While I feel pretty good about each of the individual sports, I get hives thinking about all of them together. Having a time goal in place motivates me even more to get my ass into my wetsuit and hop in the lake this weekend then get out and hop on the bike. I add the goal about prescribed run workouts because I know it’ll be easy to make excuses when work is busy, next week, and when we’re on vacation in Savannah. But, since I’m my own coach this year, I need to be a hard ass. I know the goal I want on September 28th is going to be tough but if I put the training in now, I can achieve it. Yoga should be an easy one as I know I’ll go in Geneva the first 3 weeks of July and I’m excited to try out a Savannah Power Yoga when I’m home.

Home: I am leaving this one blank this month as I really believe there are bigger, more important areas to focus. Bo has put a lot of effort into our flat these past two months and while to the naked eye it looks very much like it did before, to the person who lives here it is a whole new home. There is better organization, brilliant new gadgets, a laundry room and storage closet which is being used super efficiently, and lots of other improvements Bo has made since moving here.

Personal: I’m able to use my New York state drivers license for one year after arrival in Geneva. As luck would have it, on July 12th I’ve lived here for a year. That means that if I want to drive Alpy, our cute car, I have to get my act together and get my Swiss license. The second personal goal is the most important one for me this month. I have the opportunity to be home in Savannah with Bo for 11 days. I want to soak up every minute of time I get with my family and friends. In order to do this, I’m going to unplug from social media a bit so I am really focused on the moment. I will blog in the mornings or evenings, but otherwise I want to focus on the memories we will create together. It’s such a gift to have this time with them.

Blog: June was all about updating my About Me section and getting my Pinterest plug-in up and running. Now that those two are done the next goal is updating the race recap and travel section. We still haven’t decided how to organize the travel section so if you have any ideas, let me know!

What are your goals for July?

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Who Lifts You Up?

Over the past few weeks and months I have found myself stepping out of my athletic comfort zone far more often. Trail running, swimming, signing up for a triathlon, clipping in a road bike, and pushing my pace are all things that have intimidated me to the point of resistance for years. I’ve cheered and supported my friends in these endeavors but never believed enough in myself to personally accomplish them.

Tonight, while pushing through my speed workout, I thought about what I would have done a year ago in this situation. After a long day in the office, I probably would have told myself I could do it next week and shirked off speed work for a few more minutes of work or a relaxing evening. In the back of my head, I didn’t think it was that important because I would be “fast." Now, a year later, the runners in my life are constantly pushing me whether during runs or training conversations, to get out of my comfort zone and focus on how strong I’ve become. These simple words and mantras are finally starting to register mentally and help me push down the negative thoughts.

Surround yourself with people who lift you up

In fact, I’ve evolved into a person I barely recognize sometimes and it is because of the people in my life. They aren’t all here in Geneva, in fact, many are social media friends that I have yet to meet in real life. But regardless of how they came into my life, I am blessed to have people who support and lift me up on a daily basis. On Monday night, as I prepared to swim a mere 100 meters in our swim meet, I was overcome with nerves so severe that I was on the verge of letting a co-worker take my place at the meet. Within minutes every single person on my team was surrounding me, telling me how strong and courageous I was for standing on the starting block, preparing to swim. They motivated and supported me until with only ten seconds left I turned, flashing them a smile, assuring them I would swim as fast as possible. To this day, I barely know some of their names since we spend most of our time with our heads in the water during our early morning practices.

But, tonight, I took the time to organize all my notecards and start writing thank you notes, one by one, to those incredible people in my life who lift me up daily. They will never know what an impact they’ve had on me these past few months during this time of change and adjustment.

Take the time tonight to think about who you surround yourself with each day. Do you have an opportunity to find more positive influences? Have you thanked someone in your life lately for helping motivate you to be the best person possible? 

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