HOW DID WE END UP HERE.....

If you had told me 20 years ago, that in my 40's I would be happily living half way up a mountain at 1380 meters, above one of Europe's leading ski resorts..... I would have thought you were insane!

It probably would have been one of my last CHOICE destinations in the world to live. Given my dislike for skiing, sensitivity to the cold and my two left feet which slip over on the flat, never mind the steep, icy slopes.  I am a country girl at heart with a passion for the beach.  I love nothing more than my wellies and coat, searching for shells and driftwood on the British beaches...

So it was never part of my life-plan to live in the Alps, a land-locked country with no sea. 

I still to this day don't know how we ended up actually living here!  As four years ago we bought an old, rundown mountain lodge/guest house with the intention of renovating it and turning it into a family HOLIDAY home, not our permanent home.  As the rebuild progressed and our affection for the area grew, it seemed like a good idea to give it a try so we enrolled our children into the local Austrian  school and Kindergarten, of course being British they did not speak a word of German.... but this did not put us off.

 I have always considered myself to be very British, so for me it was a huge life decision to leave my family, friends and job behind and up-sticks and make a home in another country with my husband and children.  I also gave up my fabulous job in London in Fashion to become a full time mountain Hausfrau und Mutter.

I swapped my  Jimmy Choos for Ugg boots, sent boxes of Yorkshire tea-bags and cheddar cheese out, dragged a beautiful pale blue Aga from the UK to here. I filled my husband's stinky fish van full of every item that reminded me of home, union-jacks, my miss matched vintage china collection, my daughters Barbies and lots of family photos and drove it overseas.  Got our family dog Max a passport and shipped my beloved grey horse Dan out here too.

I have joined countless German evening classes and still struggle to speak the language properly, put my kids into the local German speaking schools, where they did not even know a word of the language but now are fluent.  Suffered through countless parents evenings, where I had not understood a word they were saying (sometimes a good thing).  I have also learnt to walk, ski, ride and drive in the snowy and icy conditions.

I have made some wonderful new friends, joined the local yoga group, the Ski Club Arlberg, target-shooting club and riding stables. I have volunteered for anything and everything, sometimes regretting things I've got roped into. I have learned a lot about mountain life, its beauty in the very different seasons, its traditions, its religion and its wonderful sense of camaraderie.

There have been times when I have laughed and cried, but have learnt to embrace the change and most of all have loved the challenge of trying something new and becoming a mountain girl!

My "tongue in cheek" style blog is the story of our journey and adjustment to our new life in the Alps becoming "a landlocked mermaid"....... I am sure many of you can relate to it and I hope you enjoy reading about the continuing journey.

LIZ  X

10 THINGS THAT YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT ME,

10 Things you may not know about me... 11 actually!

I HATE tomato Ketchup!  It's like a phobia, I cant bare the taste, smell, colour or bottle even! I have no idea where or why this is the case, must be something from my childhood I guess. (so much so that I can not even post a photo of Ketchup below).

I LOVE grey horses with grey noses.  I have had 4 horses in my life and all have been grey.  My heart lurches when I see a grey horse in a field even.  Maybe Knights in shining armour, riding on white steeds, you know childhood dream stuff.

I never would have dreamed that I would love my children so much.  I was not a maternal person until I had kids of my own and now my life is complete.  It used to worry me that I may not be a good Mum, so it's unreal how the natural bond of your own child/children takes over.  Maternal instinct always astounds me.

I was was working on the Queen Elizabeth 2 cruise liner for 4 days from Southampton to New York, a week after it had hit a tidal wave and the sea was still incredibly rough, I spent virtually the whole trip in my cabin being violently sick, (as did most of the other passengers),  I thought the ship was going to sink and we would be too far out in the Atlantic to be rescued.  Never ever have I been so pleased to see land.  It was one of the "nightmares" of my life!

I believe in Angels, Fairies and mermaids.... as does my daughter, who is truly my angel.

I was "Head Girl" of my Junior school!!!

I have a passion for cute cafes, with pretty mis-matched china, gorgeous cakes and milky lattes.  They just lure me in and I get lost in my cafe world.  My dream one day is to have my own.

My desert island must-have would be my UGG boots.  I am addicted to Ugg boots.  I have them in all colours, lengths, indoor ones, outdoor ones, old ones and new ones.  I put them on my feet as slippers when I get up, as I hate having bare feet and wear them the whole day through.  It's a nightmare now when I put on a pair of heels for a party as I wobble around and my poor feet are crying out for their comfy Uggs.

I am a Cordon Bleu trained cook.  But only worked in the business for a couple of years before I realized that this was not the job for me, as the hours were so unsociable, the money was rubbish and you constantly smelled of food!  Oh, and I got fat.

I come across as a confident person but actually I am very shy inside.  I have battled with this for most of my life especially as a child...  My worst nightmare is walking into a crowded room alone.  I start to sweat even thinking about it.  I think that I hide it well though.


I got married in CHANEL.

DEAR 16 YEAR OLD ME.....

Dear Me ...( aged 16 )                        

My advice for life would be...

Always dream.... dreams are nicer than the real world and if you believe them enough they may come true,  anythings possible.

Believe in yourself.

Treat others how you would like to be treated back.

Smile and the world will smile with you.  Be sad and you will be sad alone.

Have fun and be fun and you will always have friends.

Listen and you will learn. Especially to grandparents stories and tales, they have lived and seen so much and have fascinating snippets of advice to offer.

Learn as much as you can whilst you are young, however boring it may seem at the time,  as when you are older, time is less available and nothing is as easy as it was when you were young. But never stop learning.

Only boring people get bored.

Don't care too much what people think about you, it's what you think that matters.

Drink champagne and dance on the table.

Wear short skirts and high heels whilst you have the legs to show them off.

Take up a good opportunity whilst it is there, there may not be a second chance.

Don't worry about your future, who you will marry, how many kids, where you will live, as what will be will be.

Sometimes push yourself out of your comfort zone, try something new.

Don't worry about failure, it's better than never having tried it.

Remember... You can't control the uncontrollables!

Laugh out loud every day.

Be glamourous, stylish, interesting and always have a lipgloss with you, just in case!

Say to your parents/partner/children you love them when you feel that moment, don't wait, as it may not be the right moment again.

Pretend you have confidence even if you haven't.  Only you know that you are shy.

Listen to others and learn from the ones you admire.

Speak your mind and thoughts when you think you need, or just want to.

Don't judge others, as you don't know what they have been through in their life.

Burn that special scented candle you have saved in the drawer today, not tomorrow.

Don't buy anything just because it is practical, does not show dirt and guaranteed a lifetime.  Buy it because you love it.

Remember animals/pets are our best friends, they listen and don't answer back and offer us unconditional love, when we show them love and trust.

Believe in angels, mermaids and fairies.

Have and keep secrets.

Make time to....

Follow your instincts and intuition, they are often right the first time around before you dwelt on them too long.

Enjoy your life, every moment, happy sad, good and bad, and remember to tell all the best bits to your own children one day.

Liz x  (aged 40 and a bit)   and still doing all of the above!

PHOTO GALLERY... Mountain life.

Just wanted to add a gallery page to my blog showing the area in both Winter and Spring.

It is like two different worlds, living on the side of the mountain in St Anton, one of Europe's most popular ski resorts, where each week during the winter we have approximately  6,000 holiday makers and a bar that sells the most beer in the whole of Austria in just 5 months!  There is every nationality here but the common language seems to be English, (luckily for me).  The town becomes a "party town" and it is famous for it's apres-ski. 

Then when the season closes at the end of April, the town goes into sleep mode and you will walk down the high street and see only a hand full of  locals and hardly a word of English spoken, it's all German or the local dialect of Tirolerish!  In the summer we get a few walkers to the area and coaches with tourists making a day stopover.

Spring in the mountains is simply beautiful.  It really is like the film the sound of music and Heidi.  So green and the most spectacular array of wild flowers, cattle grazing in the lush grass after spending the winter months inside and you wake up to the tinkling of their huge cow bells around their necks! 

Although I consider myself more a beach-girl, I am blown away by the beauty of the mountains.

Ski mornings

A regular occurrence, of finding my car in the carport covered in snow

sleigh ride through the valley

a lovely lunch spot

My morning drive to school

The view of the Gurgltal from my lovely Dan.

St Anton ski slopes below our balcony

The valley, East view from the balcony

Spring riding, still snow capped mountains

It's a dogs life! Spring

Same view but in Winter

My favorite gallop track!

Blond in the Alps

HOME FROM HOME

We just returned yesterday to the Tirol,  after spending the kids school holidays in the UK.  It was a whirlwind of visiting family and friends and all my favourite shops, cafes and junk shops, that I so dearly miss.

 Once again I stuffed my Ryan air hand-luggage case with Yorkshire tea bags, English Cheddar cheese, Bisto gravy granules, Colmans mustard, and as many glossy magazines as my 10 Kg hand luggage would allow.  I gave up long ago bringing back streaky bacon and Lincolnshire sausage for fear of it being confiscated by the Customs officer.  It's funny but having my creature comforts from the UK with me in the Alps, makes it seem so much more like home.

I GUESS YOU CAN TAKE THE GIRL OUT OF YORKSHIRE, BUT YOU CAN'T TAKE YORKSHIRE OUT OF THE GIRL!

I got my fix of walking on my beloved beach in my Ugg boots and watching the waves bring lovely new shells ashore plus the odd piece of drift wood.  I love the effect, the sense of freedom that the beach and sea have on me.  I appreciate the flat ground, such a contrast from walking up and down mountains, the air too is different, walking at sea level is so different to my other life living on the edge of a mountain at 1380m above sea level.  Looking out to sea and seeing water for miles and miles compared to looking out and seeing very steep mountains.

I know I am so lucky to live two so completely different lives but sometimes it takes some adjusting to mentally and you always seem to have the feeling of being transient and being an outsider.  I seem to miss out on family occasions, fun parties, Harvey Nichols sale preview evenings, the nice weather, etc etc. Plus I never seem have the right clothes with me for the time of year either, except of course my marvelous Ugg boots, which seem to work well in the mountains, beach and countryside... Horrah for the Ugg boot!!   However  I do believe being born under the star sign of Gemini the twins, does help me balance the two worlds I live in and I have to say life is never boring, but as they say...  Only boring people, get bored!

SPRING IN MY SADDLE

Well I just love spring!  Maybe after seeing snow for the past 5 months (this includes my little trip to the UK at Easter, when it snowed too!!!) I feel ready to see the grass and flowers again.

It's marvelous to have light mornings and being woken by the dawn chorus of birds tweeting in the trees nearby, it inspires you to get out of bed and get cracking.  Something that my fellow Austrian friends find easy all year round, not just in the spring, as life over here starts early, school begins at 7.15 in the senior school or 7.45 in the juniors! Plus they have had breakfast, cleared up and still have time to walk to school!  I guess I am not really a morning person, but in the spring I feel more inspired to get up and do.

Spring riding is the best!  Catching the first glimpse of wild flowers poking through, one minute they are not there and the next they are, like magic they just appear!  The morning sun glistening through the trees in the forest where I ride, making fabulous shadows below.  Plus the freedom of being able to ride in a zippy rather than ski jacket and sometimes without my riding  hat, so that I can feel the breeze in my hair, makes it even more special.

There is the lovely sound of trickling of water as it melts from the mountain tops and runs below and turns the grass greener and greener.  Farmers are out in force, spreading muck on the land so that they can make hay later in the year and then letting out their animals who have been indoors the whole winter to enjoy their new found freedom and taste the fresh lush, green grass.  New-born lambs play in groups, springing and jumping on their tiny unstable legs whilst their mothers eat greedily from the land.

My beloved horse, Dan, also loves the spring, I can feel his enthusiasm as we venture out, and at last his long, thick winter coat is nearly out and underneath is the soft, short new growth, it too glistens in the daylight.

I have put all our ski clothes away and piles of winter boots, until next year and instead got out the garden furniture and cushions, filled my window boxes with lovely plants and most exciting of all, I can hang my washing on the line again, and enjoy that fabulous smell of freshly laundered bedding.

The town of St Anton, where we live was only weeks ago full of holiday makers and skiers, the place was alive with music, bars and restaurants full to the brim and now its like a ghost town or Geisterstadt as the locals would say!  Now everything is closed, everywhere has been cleaned and there is an air of relaxation around, the locals have time for themselves and everywhere you go you meet someone you know rather than a stranger/holiday maker.  It's like two different worlds.  So completely different and yet in exactly the same town.

Spring in the mountains is like stepping into the movie The Sound Of Music.... The Hills are Alive.....

I DIDN'T PLAN THIS EITHER!!!!

It wasn't planned, it just happened!
Don't you just love the way things sometimes just happen without you seeing it coming or planning it?
This is exactly what happened to me in February.

I decided one sunny morning to drive out of St Anton into another town around the mountain, purely to see something different and maybe have a coffee and explore this other rather chic ski resort, which shares the same lift pass as us.
I ordered a delicious cafe latte in the cutest little cafe, serving their coffees in pastel coloured cups and saucers, whilst customers in ski boots and others in fur coats, bobbed in for snacks and drinks.  I am rather fascinated by cafes, and love people watching and checking out the different styles and layouts of the cafes themselves!

I have always dreamed of one day having my own cafe with little shop accompanying it, selling all sorts of gorgeous knick-knacks and useless objects that you don't need but just have to have!  I can visualize it perfectly, but who knows if this will ever come to fruition?

As I headed back, dreaming of my cafe/shop lifestyle, I noticed a lovely new boutique all white and shiny, somewhere I had not been before, it must be new!!  Of course I went in to explore.  It was lovely  inside, it was new too, and before long I was chatting away with the owner, you know about the usual stuff.. .. How we ended up living here, how difficult it is to learn german when you are older and not going to school daily, how I miss working and how I have become a full time mother and housewife, and how I had decided to drive to this delightful little town for a coffee and look around for no other reason than that.
It always puzzles people, myself too actually, how and why we came to live in the Alps, and they are even more puzzled when they find out that my husband is English too and that I was not a chalet girl who married a local!  I do struggle at times to explain how we actually did come to live here, when we didn't ever actually plan to live in Austria full time, and at times I revel in the bohemian feeling of just going with the flow and ending up here.
I sometimes think that people must think we are escaping from something or running away from something sinister in our past.

Anyway before I knew it, I had purchased a fabulous new dark green parka coat and also I had got myself a JOB!!!!!!!

So there it is, without even so much as a plan or thought, I have myself a part time job working in a lovely, cool and chic boutique in the mountains!
The perfect way to practice my dreadful german, to get my fix of fashion, to meet new people, to display and sell things to others, to play shop and run it as my own and best of all to get dressed up in nice clothes rather than ski/riding clothes and to swap my Ugg boots for something rather nicer on my feet!!

And do you know what?  I love it!