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Archives for October 2013

Blogging 101: Using Pinterest to Maximize your Blogging Potential

Written by: Amanda // Category: Blogging

Pinterest. If you're a female and have lived for the past few years, odds are you've discovered Pinterest and all it's wonderment and glory. I have to admit I used to be quite the pin addict, but over time I've slowly let go of this time-consuming addiction and manage only to get on the black hole of a site once or twice a week. One thing you may not know is that Pinterest can actually be a great source of referral traffic, and can even grow its' way to becoming one of your leading traffic sources. Ok I realize I just lost all my non-blogging readers, so sorry for that, but you never know, maybe this post will come in handy for you one day! A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of writing for Kate's 'Grow Your Blog' series, in ... Read More

Busan International Fireworks Festival

Written by: Amanda // Category: South Korea

This past weekend we finally went to something I've been patiently waiting a year and a half to go to. We went to the Busan International Fireworks Festival. Here's the deal. It took me TONS of convincing to get my husband to drive up to Busan, where over 1 million spectators would be fighting  us for a prime spot to see the show. I may have let it slip earlier this month that this particular festival was the only one I've ever really wanted to go to, and it would be the PERFECT birthday present. If you don't know by now, you should probably know I have an obsession for fireworks. I explain all about it here.  Somehow my birthday present thing worked on Derik. Or maybe my husband is just super stellar and would wait around for 8 hours ... Read More

Geisha Town [Kyoto After Dark]

Written by: Amanda // Category: Japan

Kyoto, Japan is known worldwide for it's traditional looks, amazing Japanese culture, and most of all, it's real-life geisha. The first time we visited Japan, I was severely disappointed we never got to skip on over to Kyoto and go geisha hunting, so we made a point to go back on our second trip we took over Chuseok a month ago.  I've already posted about the gorgeous Fushimi-inari Shrine (basically the most internationally known trademark landsite of Kyoto), and it's about time I let you take a little trip with me around downtown Kyoto. And get this. We didn't even have to hunt very long for geisha. They were EVERYWHERE (we aren't counting the vast crowds of people who paid a ton of money to donn a traditional kimono for the ... Read More

Confessions of an Expat

Written by: Amanda // Category: South Korea

This morning I woke up at 10:30am. Totally unintentionally. I was supposed to be up at 7:30, designing my life away for some amazing bloggers. Unfortunately for me, last night my husband drugged me. Don't worry he did it to himself too and was faced with the same situation (thankfully today he doesn't have to work till later). We decided to try these new allergy pills we bought from the pharmacy yesterday, and the lady told D it would make us a little drowsy. A little was a bit of an understatement. I feel like I took the equivalent of four Benadryl, and my arms and legs feel like noodles. Well heck, I guess that could be from my first day of Focus T25 (I can survive another 70 days right?). Anyway, due to my drugged predicament, I ... Read More

Korea: Where Random Situations Rule (on Twitter)

Written by: Amanda // Category: South Korea

A few months back I wrote a post about some of the random things/situations I get into as an expat living over here in Korea. Here's the thing. Stuff like that happens every darn day. I try not to bore you with my ever so frequent, tiny, little mishaps and adventures that obviously come about by living in a foreign country completely different than my own.Here's the thing though. I can't ever keep anything to myself. My husband has grown indifferent to my misadventures (remember how I said they happen every day?) and usually just shakes his head at me. But not the Twitter world! I've just gotta get these moments out there, and twitter has seemed to be the best way to do it. I went back over the last couple of months on Twitter (because ... Read More

Five Challenges (with Silver Linings) of Moving Abroad

Written by: Amanda // Category: Guest Post

The thing about blogging is that you meet all sorts of hidden gems. I'm talking about people like they're jewels, but seriously some just sparkle in a way that catches your eye. Anna from 'Eat, See, Do' is just that person. Not only is she ridiculously gorgeous, she has a beautiful outlook on life, AND is adventurous. I'm really excited she's taking over my blog for the day, I hope you enjoy her as much as I do! ---------------------------------------------------------------- Hi there ‘Living In Another Language’ readers. I’m Anna, popping over from EatSeeDoBlog.com, a blog about travel and life in France. We left London almost a year ago, travelled for six months and then my kiwi fiancé and I moved to Montpellier, France four months ago ... Read More

Jinju Lantern Festival

Written by: Amanda // Category: South Korea

Korea has a lot of festivals. Flower festivals, clay festivals, mask festivals, firework festivals and lantern festivals. One of my old co-teachers told me that they have so many festivals because their country is so small and they need something to do. Hey, I'm not complaining! I really wanted to go  to the Lantern Festival last year, but it came and went without so much as a peep. I got wind of the festival this year by someone posting a picture on Facebook. I convinced my husband to take me right away (my birthday wish) over our holiday on Wednesday. I'm so glad we went! We left Geoje at around 4:30PM and got to Jinju just as it was turning dark. It was a hour and a half drive, and was pretty simple to get to (for once). I could ... Read More

Quarter of a Century

Written by: Amanda // Category: South Korea

Well folks, I've hit the big one, 25. Wait, is there ever really a 'big one?' I suppose after you hit 50 it's kind of downhill from there. But as of right now I'll relish in the moment that I am now a quarter of a century old. My husband has been cracking jokes about it for the past week, but it hasn't phased me. Especially since he's two years older than me. No matter what he says, he'll aways be the 'old one.' Sucker. It's usually around this time I tend to get a little sentimental and start missing my loved ones at home. I can just picture half a dozen girls all knocking my door down the day of my birthday and stealing me away for the night. I had some pretty awesome guy friends too...and ended up actually marrying one of them. My ... Read More

Capture the Colour 2013

Written by: Amanda // Category: South Korea

I couldn't be more excited about my nomination from Casey at We Took the Road Less Traveled to enter the Capture the Colour photo blogging challenge. I've always had a love for photography, and had a fun time looking through my past photos, trying to find ones that properly represent the colors: red, blue, green, yellow, and white.  I had the hardest time with green - I had so many green photos! Probably the most difficult color to match was yellow. My husband was a pal and helped make my final selection. I also had to make sure to pick photos from different places we've traveled to. Judging from last years winners, there's some pretty amazing photographers participating in this contest. Although winning is most likely not on the table, it ... Read More

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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. 💕
Oh Switzerland, you beaut.🇨🇭 We spent a coup Oh Switzerland, you beaut.🇨🇭 We spent a couple days enjoying the beautiful weather in the land of chocolate, cheese, mountains, and cows with bells 😍😍🤩. If you remember, we visited the same area  a month shy of two years ago but but the weather was quite the opposite! I’d have to say though, when you visit such a majestic and beautiful area, it doesn’t matter what the weather is, you’re going to be in awe and love it anyway!
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