let the farm choose

anniversary v2.0 (tory edition)

torytolles — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:33:55 +0000

NB: If you’re reading about the political chaos in Honduras going down, know that we’re safe and sound! Fear not! So please forgive me for not updating our home-making section yet (and for skipping it entirely in Liberia), but please know that it is coming. However, I just went through all 467 photos from our anniversary celebration [...]

liberia post-mortem (liberia)

christolles — Fri, 29 May 2009 16:41:34 +0000

To those of you “in the know,” we’ve obviously moved on from Liberia. To those not, take a look at the header image. Before sharing anything about our new home in Tegucigalpa with you, let’s recap Liberia a little bit… My photos will be entirely out of order. Mea culpa. Below, a pan of palm kernel [...]

africa is hotter than norway

christolles — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:29:32 +0000

On the day we left Norway, the temperature was about 20ºF. When we arrived in Liberia around 11PM, it was 92ºF. The temperature has not changed since. Remember back in Science class when the teacher explained that the sun is most powerful at the equator because that’s where you are most physically close to the [...]

home-making 104: oslo, norway

torytolles — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 08:42:59 +0000

Thankfully, finding an apartment here is significantly easier (and cheaper!) than in Geneva. After sending hundreds of emails, Chris and I actually got to visit fifteen apartments. Imagine that. The deliberations followed; we have firmly established that Chris’s priority is a central location and I only care about finding a cozy place [...]

punchline: norway in january

christolles — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 23:12:34 +0000

Yay! We are now in Oslo, Norway, and our adventure continues. Just a quick post to let you all know we’re here safe and sound, and yes, we know we haven’t posted about our Christmas travels yet. I (Chris) will be undertaking a short-term project here in Oslo in collaboration with the Norwegian Refugee Council [...]

our christmas tramping…

christolles — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 13:21:24 +0000

Merry almost Christmas! As Tory and I will be on the road for a bit, we thought it would be of interest to include you in our plans. Though of course it’ll take us weeks to actually post about our travels, at least you’ll know where we’ve been :) Below it a Google Map of our [...]

brussels, belgium (tory edition)

torytolles — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 21:32:12 +0000

At the end of November, Chris (and I) went on his first Official Business Trip. Although it was really nice to have all of Chris’s meals and transportation paid for by his office, his 7AM - 7PM days, with “mandatory” dinner and pub-networking afterwards, lacked a bit of the glamour Chris initially imagined. Above is [...]

autumn hiking in the swiss alps (verbier, switzerland)

torytolles — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 18:51:13 +0000

A few weeks ago, as a favor (!?) to the environmental policy lawyer I’m interning with, Chris and I brought her two dogs (Brit, 1 year old, and Tessa, 3) to their professional dog-sitter in the ALPS. Tough life, I know. Two trains and a bus ride later, we arrived in the picturesque [...]

watson home-making 103: geneva, switzerland (a miracle!)

torytolles — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 23:22:14 +0000

[Apologies: after living in our new apartment for more than a month, I finally managed the magical combination of cleaning AND camera.] Living here has been such a blessing. We still did not have a place to live the day before our sublease ended - and Chantal came to the rescue! She is an incredible [...]

this is getting a little ridiculous

christolles — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:17:59 +0000

Incidentally, neither Tory nor I have decided whom we’re voting for, so please post a snarky comment if you’d like to sway us one way or the other. Anything associating Obama with salvation will be deleted without mercy, and the offending commenter will be removed from our blogroll. You’ve been warned. - via Yahoo! News ps - [...]

chateau de chillon, switzerland

torytolles — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:12:22 +0000

My torrid love affair with Chateau de Chillon began in July with its picture on page 157 of The Lonely Planet’s guide to Switzerland. The castle’s seductive name became the answer to any question ranging from “What are you most excited for about Europe?” to Chris’s frequent “What do you want to do this weekend?”. [...]

watson petting zoo part 04: moutons (france)

christolles — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 14:07:40 +0000

Two weeks ago, Tory and I had the pleasure of lunch at the Lallys’ house, a British family who moved to France a few years ago. They live in Prévessin (I think), just 10 minutes into France, and enjoy a stunningly serene backyard within walking distance of the Jura mountains. With Duncan and Heather (the parents, age [...]

yesterday i ran by all 23 human chromosomes

torytolles — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 08:21:01 +0000

Le Jardin Botanique is my favorite place in Geneva and they just opened an exhibit on the human genome, complete with 20 ft inflatable chromosomes. Amazing. Le Jardin is the same place where Chris and I recently invented a yet-untitled version of tag: (Chris+bike) x (Tory+running shoes) / (gravel paths+winding brooks+innocent bystanders) = |hilarity|. And [...]

watson home-making part 02: (finally!) geneva, switzerland

christolles — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:10:18 +0000

Bienvenue chez Chris et Tory!

watson booze cruise part 02: panach’ (switzerland [france])

christolles — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 21:19:05 +0000

Today I had the pleasure of sampling the finest of historical, revered, storied French beverages: Panach’! What is that apostrophe doing there, you might ask… no clue. If you roll francophone, please check out their homepage and fill us all in, because it certainly is ugly to have two punctuation marks in a row. That’s right [...]