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Archives for August 2013

Guess We Didn’t Get the Memo

Written by: Amanda // Category: South Korea

Today Derik and I stepped into a Korean gym for the first time since February 2012. We've basically been avoiding the gym for the past (almost) two years and with good reason. No one wants to pay a zillion dollars ($80-$100 a month) for a gym membership to a worn down, no a/c, dirty gym. For that price I'm expecting full blown celebrity status gym where fresh, cool water is served on silver platters. Am I wrong? I used to go regularly to the gym back when I was living in Portland, so adapting to a new workout schedule was tough. I've done Insanity multiple times, Jillian Michaels, yoga, and a few thirty day challenges. You can read more about my no-gym fitness routine here. Anyway. We have an upcoming epic two month trip (Hawaii and ... Read More

Korea Doesn’t Care About Miley

Written by: Amanda // Category: South Korea

Harsh but true. I heard about her little 'stunt' she pulled at the VMA's a few days ago, and ever sense she's been the talk of everything social media. I'm not going to elaborate except to say (with every inch of sarcasm), "Way to be classy." What's refreshing is the fact that not a single person in Korea knows or even cares who Miley Cyrus even is. I'm sure if they ever found out, they'd take one look at that nude-color plastic underwear set she was wearing, and they'd shut that door real quick. I'm pretty sure the only music stars they are aware of are the ones that have become a worldwide phenomenon. I'm talking The Beatles and Lady Gaga. But let's face it, the only music celebrity they really care about is Psy. My girl Patricia ... Read More

Step Into My Life

Written by: Amanda // Category: South Korea, Weird Wednesday

First of all, I can't believe it's already Wednesday (not that I'm complaining). I've seriously been up to my eyeballs in blog design, and am super excited for the ladies I've been working with to finally show off their custom made new looks! I didn't realize that design would be such a huge endeavor, but you all have been good to me. The Suitcase Designs is becoming a very prevalent part of my work life! In other news, I owe you some blog posts. I know lately I've been slacking on my blogging responsibilities, and you've been waiting patiently for new travel posts (especially about a certain vacation). I spent the first two weeks after my trip to Borneo trying to catch up in emails, comments, sponsor duties, and just normal life stuff ... Read More

Blogging 101: The Sponsor Game

Written by: Amanda // Category: Blogging, Sponsors

There isn't a single blogger out there who will tell you that figuring out sponsorships for your blog, as well as advertising on others is easy. When I first took the jump into sponsorships I'll admit I had no idea what the heck I was doing. Thankfully there's grace in learning from your mistakes, and moving on. This post is obviously specifically for bloggers, sorry everyone else. I just don't want you to make the same mistakes that I did, and cost you lots of hard work and money. In this post we'll be covering both buying and selling of sponsorship ads. Let's talk about buying an ad space. I wish it was as simple as: buying an ad + ad approval on target site = thousands of new visitors to your blog and potentially followers. ... Read More

Don’t Get Mugged

Written by: Amanda // Category: travel tips

No really, it's a serious thing. To many times naive  tourists head off to an unfamiliar land and aren't aware of the potential trouble that a pure lack of 'travel smarts' can cause. Yes I said it: 'travel smarts.' You either have them or you don't, and if you're even considering venturing off to a distant, foreign land you'll want to get some asap.  There are too many stories circulating around South East Asia about how iPhones have been snatched right from someone's ear in Vietnam, a taxi driver in Malaysia screwing a van full of friends for 50 bucks more than he should have charged, and phony, overpriced tours that are often offered on the busy streets of Thailand. Derik and I have both have 'travel smarts,' more Derik than I. He is ... Read More

Introducing…(aka HUGE NEWS)

Written by: Amanda // Category: Uncategorized

It's been a few weeks in the making, but I'm finally formally announcing my design site: The Suitcase Designs! Cue my heart beating at fifty million miles and hour and palm sweats. I've been dabbling with blog design since I first started blogging back in February of 2012. If you ask my siblings, I actually have a history with web design. When I was 12 years old, I went through a kick where I wanted to make my own website. I got a free domain through Yahoo and learned (all by myself) how to use html...css wasn't around then. As most childhood fads go, that design phase blew by as fast as it came. After moving to Wordpress.org, the freedom to use coding in my blog designs became almost limitless in my eyes. I discover new things each day ... Read More

Three Years Ago the Wedding Bells Rang

Written by: Amanda // Category: Uncategorized

Well not really. We had our wedding on a cliffside (Ecola State Park) overlooking Cannon Beach, Oregon, and had our music played from an ipod hooked into a few speakers. I don't think a single person could complain of the beauty this location gave. No need for wedding decor, nature already took care of that! It was a great location for a destination wedding, and after I received the park permit for $15 dollars we were set to go. We had our wedding on a Monday of all days..mainly because it was one of the only days the park had available in August, and it happened to be on Derik's birthday. So yes, we got married on my husband's birthday. He jokes around that he planned it that way just so he wouldn't forget the anniversary. To this day ... Read More

Let’s Talk About ‘No Poo’ (FAQ 2)

Written by: Amanda // Category: Beauty

I'm feverishly trying to catch up from my 9 day vacation away from my blog. I've waded through hundreds of emails, managed to catch up on sponsorship duties (thanks for being patient ladies), and am just now working on my blog comments. Thank you so much for hanging in there with me! I have a couple posts in which I receive at least 4-5 comments a day from, and those are my posts about 'No Poo'. It's a nightmare to me to even think about trying to answer all those comments from vacation! So I've decided to write yet another follow-up to my original post: I Don't Use Shampoo. It's been well over six months since I've stopped using shampoo and conditioner. If you are unfamiliar with the term 'no poo,' it basically means nixing shampoo ... Read More

We’re Back!

Written by: Amanda // Category: Borneo

We're back from the jungle, and feelin' the Monday blues. Borneo was incredible, and definitely a very different vacation than Derik and I normally take. We're used to basking out in the sand and sun, getting sweet tan lines, and enjoying a cocktail on the beach. In Borneo there isn't time for that! Sure, there's plenty of pristine beaches, but why lay out when you have an entire jungle to explore?! Our 9 days in Borneo were chalk full fun things to do; we didn't even have time to get our scuba certifications like we had planned (oh well, we have Thailand and Hawaii coming up in January). We saw hordes of monkeys, did some snorkeling, cruised down a couple of remote rivers, and ate way too much local food (that extra five pounds doesn't ... 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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