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Archives for April 2013

The candid series: busan

Written by: Amanda // Category: Photography, South Korea

I often get so caught up daydreaming about traveling to foreign lands that I forget I'm living in one myself.  Living in Korea has become so normal to me, I forget that to the rest of the world it's a huge curiosity. I've tried to dedicate a little bit of time toward the daily life of the locals in this post, but that was a while ago. I'd also like to reflect on a different city, where the hustle and bustle is quite a bit different than Geoje. Should I mention Busan also boasts of one of the most amazing burger joints in all of Korea? A few weeks ago, my husband and I, along with our friend Jared and Amber (whom I have referred to many times), decided to go to Busan to celebrate Amber's birthday. We didn't have that much time to ... Read More

For every woman

Written by: Amanda // Category: Beauty

I've always had a passion for people. I ended up getting one of my degrees in Sociology because I loved people so much. It's always fascinating to me to learn about someone's life, everyone has a different story, and a basis for why they are the way they are. I see most people a different way then most...which is crazy for me to say especially since I worked customer service for 6 years. I have helped the rudest of customers, had people call me names, throw food at me, and do anything short of spit in my face. I can't help but think...what made that person lash out the way they do? Family life? Work life? The way they grew up? I'm not here to talk about people in general, but more specifically women. It's no small secret women are ... Read More

DIY Lip Balm

Written by: Amanda // Category: Beauty, Recipes

My lovely friend first introduced me to the idea of making lip balm a few months ago. When she mentioned that the recipe was identical to Burt's Beeswax, and I was sold. We decided to save our lip balm making adventure for when we would meet up with another friend Sandra for her birthday. That 'meet up' happened this past weekend. After ordering all our ingredients off of Iherb.com, and the lip balm tubes off of ebay, we were set to go. Looking back at the process...I'll tell you, I've never had so much fun making something! It was a mix between a mad science project and an easy cooking recipe. What you need: 1/4 c. Beeswax 3/4 c. Coconut Oil 3 Tbsp. Shea Butter 1 Tbsp. Lanolin 15 drops of Rosemary Oil 30-40 drops of Peppermint ... Read More

Lately

Written by: Amanda // Category: Expat Living

                            -Lately I've enjoyed the company of my silly little bunny as I type away on my computer (tests and evals due this week!). -I've enjoyed the fresh spring air, even though sometimes it can be a little bitter still as winter holds on. -I've enjoyed probably too much the jelly beans that were hand delivered to me from the US. Even thought it's no longer Easter. -I've enjoyed wearing spring clothes. Even if that means 'checking myself out' hunched over in my tiny mirror (yeah, im 5'8"). -I've enjoyed my students...their laughter, their adoration, their ability to learn English crazy fast. -I've enjoyed dinner-dates at home with the hubs. Even if that means making one of my crazy weird somewhat-like-home ... Read More

Of ‘Weird Wednesdays’ and liebster awards

Written by: Amanda // Category: Awards, Weird Wednesday

Today's Weird Wednesday post comes to you from my current city: Okpo. I was minding my own business and walking down the sidewalk, when I noticed this posted on the window. It's no small secret that Koreans like to party. With soju. The thing that gets me is that they like to do this every night a lot. I'm always curious to know how they deal with the hangovers with working for a full 12-14 hours the next day. Maybe this is my answer? If I ever get to the point that'll never happen where I feel the need to see if Haejangguk soup actually works, I'll let you know. Second topic? Leibster Awards!  Patricia over at her adorable little blog The DIY Frenchie awarded the 'Liebster' to me.  Liebster is a German word meaning ... Read More

Recipes: boneless bbq chicken

Written by: Amanda // Category: Food, Recipes

I was looking back through some of my old posts, and I came across 'That BBQ Chicken.' This was a post I had written a little over a year ago about how we were adapting to our new lives in Korea. I distinctly remember not eating much of anything when we first got here...due to not knowing how to go about buying what we were comfortable with cooking. There was an abundance of kimchi and strange looking fish to go around, but our appetites weren't ready to take on such 'foreign' food. I will never forget the first time we received an order of chicken. We bought it off of Gmarket, and honestly I was a little sketched out by the idea of ordering poultry off of a website similar to Ebay. The chicken quality was pretty terrible, but it was the ... Read More

Shopping habits

Written by: Amanda // Category: Expat Living, Food

I just bought a new blender. This is big news...seeing as how the one we had before was so old and stained from the last 5 teachers that had it, I was too scared to use it. I love blending things. I also love juicing things. I had a juicer back in the States (thanks to my awesome sister Jessica), and I really did some damage with the things I would buy in the produce section every week. Unfortunately a juicer here is very unrealistic due to the amount of expensive fruit I'd have to buy here to make the amount of juice I made substantial. Btw, all fruit is expensive here. I've learned to buckle up and take the blow to my monthly paycheck while I go to pay for groceries each week...but anyway I can save, the better. I love fruits and ... Read More

Out with the old…

Written by: Amanda // Category: Expat Living

You may have noticed a few changes to my blog the past few days.  Thank you for being patient with me while I cluelessly dove head first into HTML, CSS, and many other website enhancements I had managed to skirt around for over a year. My blog has needed a good facelift and 'refreshment' for quite some time, and I've finally had the time to sit down and do it. I still have a few little things to fix and create, so bear with me. I have also recently discovered  Bloglovin. How the heck I've managed to live this long without it...I'm not sure! This site was created for bloggers as a way to read all their favorite blogs in one place, without having to jump from web address to web address. Over the past few days I have loved finding amazing ... Read More

I’m attracted to attractions

Written by: Amanda // Category: Japan, Travel

After a crazy amount of delay and procrastination, it's here. I've finally blogged the last and final post from our Japan trip in February. I don't know why it's taken me so long, after looking at the pictures I realized how much I actually loved our last 'mini-adventure' in Osaka. First of all, I have to admit, I'm a tourist at heart. I LOVE looking at brochures and pamphlets about events, attractions, and landmarks in any given area. You never know what's around until you start digging a little. I've found some rather interesting things to see because of my strange hobby, and the SPAM museum in Minnesota was one of them. I've been to that museum three times and I don't even like SPAM. Anyway, right before our trip to Osaka, Japan I ... Read More

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Currently on Instagram

Our adventures may be few and far between nowadays Our adventures may be few and far between nowadays, but the ones we get to take are oh so sweet. 

My daughters are now 2.5 years and 6 months old. Life never slows down, but only gets faster with each day we’re blessed to live. Social media may not be a part of my life how it used to be, and instead I’m working on living life intentionally each day as we raise our girls during these crazy times. 💕
2020 has been a year has it not? As much as I love 2020 has been a year has it not? As much as I love social media, I found myself taking a break as the things we were all going through made social media so insignificant to me. 

In January/February I had a miscarriage. It was a horrible way to start the year, and little did I know it was just the beginning of it all. 

Even with the loss, hardship of moving back to the US in the middle of a global pandemic, and navigating our new lives here, we were given many blessings. The greatest of those was finding out I was pregnant again in March.

It’s a scary time to be pregnant right now, especially after a miscarriage, because doctors visits are very minimal. Also, Derik was never able to come to a single visit. I was terrified something would happen and I would be told bad news and have to face that alone. But God was gracious to us. 

We kept our special little secret to ourselves, and it wasn’t until our third trimester before we told immediate family and close friends. My pregnancy was very private for me, and a special time to bond closely with the babe growing inside me.

Our sweet little girl arrived November 30, and yes I had to deliver with a mask on, but she is perfect and I truly feel our family is complete. 💕🌈
 
“When a rainbow appears, it doesn’t mean the storm never happened or that we are not still dealing with its aftermath. It means something beautiful and full of light has appeared in the midst of the darkness and clouds. Storm clouds may still hover but the rainbow provides a counterbalance of color, energy, and hope.”
I am in love. As I’m sure every other plant/mons I am in love. As I’m sure every other plant/monstera collector is when you get to behold such a beauty in real life. If there were ever #plantgoals, this is it. 

Since moving from Germany, it has been a long and slow process getting our life back to normal. All of our belongings have yet to arrive so we’ve literally been camping in our house on an air bed and camping chairs for two months. 😂 All that to say, having to start my plant collection over again here stateside has been so much fun! I will miss the plant prices if Germany, but the selection here blows my mind. Anyone else obsessed? We’ve lived here for almost 8 weeks now and I already have 11 plants 😂😬😬😬. I don’t have a bed or a couch, but by golly I have greenery. 😂🤦🏼‍♀️🌱
Oh my heart. I’ve been trying to figure out the Oh my heart.

I’ve been trying to figure out the words to say about our time in Germany, but my fingers can’t seem to type out how to express my love, gratefulness, thankfulness, sadness, and heartbreak I feel about leaving. Every country we’ve lived in has taught us something and has given us so many beautiful memories, as well as opened our eyes a little more to different cultures and ways of living.

But Germany was special. The first time we stepped foot into Germany was in 2015, and we loved it so much we stayed the extent of our travel visa (3 months). I was able to visit again in 2016, and then we officially packed everything and moved in 2017. Germany has always had my heart: the people, the festivals, the food, wine and beer, the immaculate home landscaping, and even all the rules that every resident is just expected to follow to a tee (like recycling every tiny scrap of trash). Our family grew from two to three while in Germany. Bringing our daughter into the world, and raising her for a year and a half in a different culture, will be one of the most beautiful memories of my life.

Our move was impacted by the COVID pandemic, and it took three long months of delays, red tape, and countless phone calls to get everything together so we could actually get on a plane and have our stuff packed and shipped to our new home. 
I am breathing a sigh of relief to know all the stress of everything is over and our new adventure can begin. I am mourning the loss of leaving Germany. I am in a weird transition right now trying to grasp it all, but here we are jumping into new things head first! We are back in the US for a while, in the beautiful state of Tennessee, and look forward to many new memories, travels, friends, and being able to spend time with family! 
Photos from my sweet and talented friend @juliejayphotos
I feel like I failed hard this year at Christmas m I feel like I failed hard this year at Christmas markets. We went to a total of ONE market, which is exactly 19 less than I told myself I would go to this year to make up for not going to any the year before 🤦🏼‍♀️(I was 40 weeks pregnant and not feeling crowds). I will say, it was a great one and the weather was so nice, we stayed out until the market shut down.

If there’s one thing I will miss most about Germany when it is our time to move, will be the sheer enthusiasm this country has for Christmas, and I’m not talking about consumerism. Food, laughter, friends, family, music, dancing: celebration. Also, Germany shuts down for not only one day, but THREE. Stores are closed, mail is not delivered, people aren’t out and about. Everyone is home enjoying time with family, and I love it. However, I may have gone into full blown panic mode Christmas Eve when I realized I had a total of 8 diapers to get us through until the 27th. 👀
We spent Thanksgiving back in North America: Whist We spent Thanksgiving back in North America: Whistler, Canada! A 10 hour flight from Germany , and I can’t say this one was better than the one we took over the summer on our trip to Alaska, but we survived! Entertaining a 11 month old for that long is much harder than a 6 month old, especially when they aren’t into sleeping on the plane AT ALL. 🤪

Whistler was beautiful despite the lack of snow, and we enjoyed our time with family, the delicious food, and as much sightseeing as one could do with a jet-lagged baby. 
This was actually my first trip to Canada ever, (unless you want to count the move my parents took up to Alaska from Arkansas when I was two. 😂🤷‍♀️ ) and I loved it! We would really like to take a big Canadian road trip someday and explore more of the country! 😍😍🇨🇦
Being a mama may mean I don’t always have time t Being a mama may mean I don’t always have time to put myself together, but I would rather spend the extra moments making special memories with our daughter that she can cherish forever. I doubt that she will look at this picture and see a tired, messy haired mama that’s barely had time to wash her face nevermind carefully apply makeup, but am hoping she will see a mama that never tires of carrying and cuddling her, or sharing new experiences with her. 💕
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