Paris, Lausanne & Anniversaries

Now that I started working it’s been much harder to take the time to go horse riding, or do anything but work really. I’m not complaining; I am setting up my own business and this was never supposed to be easy. That’s probably the scary bit, actually. I remember a few years sitting in the office in Singapore and thinking about all the other things I could be doing instead. Now the situation is the other way around: I’m always thinking about what I could do work-wise. But that’s the entrepreneur’s story. 

A few days ago, in Paris, I had a chat with an old friend who told me she wants to quit her job (she works for a politician) and start her own company. She said, and I quote, she wants to have her own business to be free. 

Before I knew it, I blurted out that having your own business is the opposite of being free. You’re never, ever not thinking about it and there’s always something that needs to be done. I didn’t mean it in a bad way. It’s true that working for yourself allows you to be free. If I want to step out for a four hour lunch I can, I just need to work that extra four hours at some other point. It’s still a luxury. 

Having said all that, M and I have managed to take quite a bit of time off in the last two weeks to go and see family in Lausanne, Switzerland, and in Paris. It was also the week of M’s birthday and our three year wedding anniversary. We had a lot of amazing food, wine, laughs and good times with friends and families. Here are a few pics.

Switzerland alway involves a bit of riding - here on Dream Boy

We visited the chateau de Chilean with Canelle & Iris

For some funny reason I had thought that the poet Byron had been kept prisoner there. Actually, he only came as a tourist.

View from the top of the castle onto Lake Leman

The first treat for M's birthday....a beer, or rather a swimming pool. 

We bumped into a street show organised by the local circus school. 

Man, I wish I had been to circus school. 

We went to cheer my dad who was doing a triathlon. 

They do the swimming bit in the lake (doesn't get more glamorous that that). The red floaters indicate when the swimmers turn around and come back. 

That's about four dozen people racing in the water

Enjoying a lil' sun near the lake

A pretty blurry photo of M blowing his candles

In between coming back from Lausanne and going to Paris we came back home for a few days and celebrated our anniversary. M left for work in the morning and made a surprise to come back mid-morning with lots of presents. Such a good day!

Sitting on a terrace - the only way to experience Paris, even in a heatwave (36C!)

Cliche, did you say?

We spent one evening having a picnic in the Champs de Mars at the feet of the Eiffel Tower. I've done this many times over the years but I still enjoy it as much. 

More celebrating and more cake!