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Archives for April 2014

Korean Commercials Pt. 3

Written by: Amanda // Category: South Korea

I've been spending the last 30 minutes finding some of the Korean commercials on Youtube that have been circulating around these parts. I usually discover my favorites when we are sitting around in the local CGV theater waiting for our 'main feature' movie to start. I used to love previews back in the States, but here it's just a hodgepodge of weird Korean commercials, and maybe one English action movie preview. Oh well, it's given me plenty of material to share with you in yet another installment of Korean Commercials. If you're bored on a Sunday and want to waste a little time, you can also view the other two installments here and here. 6. Banana Milk: I tried it. Not as great as they make it out to be; especially if you're a grown ... Read More

How to take macro pictures without using an expensive macro lens

Macro Photography Without A Macro Lens

Written by: Amanda // Category: Photography, Photography Tutorial

Macro lenses are expensive, really expensive. I saved up a good year for my 100mm L series lens, and now I'm afraid to take it places due to the fact that it cost so much. It's not a great lens to take on a backpacking trip around Asia due to it's size, weight, and worth. I am 100% in love with the lens, and I don't regret getting it. However, I will admit to it not being the most practical lens to buy, especially if you're just starting out with your photography hobby (in that case I'd highly recommend a 50mm). Taking larger than life pictures is a blast. Once you start you can't stop, and you begin to notice things: textures, patterns, colors in a 'closer' way. This is macro photography. In my post earlier this week, I mentioned a tip ... Read More

21 Tips and Tricks to make your life easier! #lifehacks #householdtips #tips

21 Household Tips and Tricks

Written by: Amanda // Category: Uncategorized

I'm all about simplifying my life and finding ways to make it easier! I've been taught 'life-hacks' from an early age, it's just a matter of regurgitating that knowledge of the things I consider normal practices and writing a post for you to benefit from! The 21 household tips and tricks below (actually 22, I through an extra one in last minute) are all used by me on almost a daily basis (yes, even in Korea). FOOD: 1. Strawberries rinsed in vinegar last days longer. 2. Putting your  freshly opened ice-cream container in a ziplock bag will keep it 'first-use' soft. 3. Don't have an egg but you're halfway through making your batch of cookies? Use a mashed banana. BEAUTY 4. Olive oil takes off eye makeup as good (if not better) than ... Read More

Belated Blogiversary

Written by: Amanda // Category: Blogging

My second year blogiversary hit February 16th. However I was also approaching a very big milestone in the blogging world: 1 million page views. I decided to wait until that hit to celebrate my second year of blogging, and reflect (with a thankful spirit) on how this blog baby of mine his exceeded my expectations by a million (stupid pun intended) within one year of moving to wordpress.org. We hit the 1,000,000 view today! I'm still in shock about how my little travel blog, built to keep my family in touch with us while we're off traveling the world, has turned into such a big network of support. This post is all about you and how you've helped me reach this insane goal. These stats below are as of April 20, 2013-April 22, 2014 (when ... Read More

Gyeongju Cherry Blossom Festival

Written by: Amanda // Category: South Korea

The spring season comes like clockwork in Korea. So much so, you can basically plan to head over to a flower festival or two during the middle of April. This year was no exception, and as you have seen a post or two back, spring is most definitely here.  Gyeongju is the traditional city of Korea. As soon as you arrive within the city limits you're surrounded by old brick walls, the trademark Asian slate roofing, ancient tombs, and flowers. Lots of flowers! We decided to head up to Gyeongju during their Cherry Blossom Festival to score some awesome food, and enjoy the spring activities. We rented bikes for the day at $7.00 a piece, and went for a long ride. Unfortunately since we were on our bikes all day I didn't spend much time ... Read More

Wat Chedi Luang, Chiang Mai

Written by: Amanda // Category: Thailand

We spent a few days in Chiang Mai for a little R&R before heading back to Korea. Chiang Mai is a gorgeous place filled with tons of restaurants, outdoor activities, night markets, and breathtaking landscapes.  The weather wasn't hot and stuffy like South Thailand, so we spent most of our time outside exploring the city by foot. As we were walking towards the city center, we came upon Wat Chedi Luang; temple ruins dating back to 1440. The temple, in it's glory days, was known as one of the highest in Chiang Mai, but was later then destroyed by a natural disaster (either an earthquake or cannon fire, the sign translation was unclear). TRAVEL TIPS: It was a fun little walk to the temple, and we enjoyed looking around the grounds for ... Read More

Pros and Cons of Living in Korea

Written by: Amanda // Category: South Korea

I have a little bit of a love/hate relationship with Korea today. These moods go on and off throughout the months, but I feel like today it's especially warranted. Yesterday Derik was T-boned by a driver completely not paying attention to where he was going. As you all know by now, road laws in Korea are more of a suggestion than actual laws. Because of this we have to be extra careful drivers to avoid stupid accidents. Yesterday Derik was driving down a main road when someone pulled out quickly from a side road and rammed straight into the back quarter panel of Derik's car (yes I know what a quarter panel is…thanks to my year of working for ERAC). Thankfully the man wasn't going that fast, and they were both not injured. If that ... Read More

Thoughts

Written by: Amanda // Category: Lately

-Can you wear black to a Korea wedding? Wait, what exactly are the rules of a Korean wedding? My first one is in three hours, I'd better get to googling. -Why do cheese bagels have to be so delicious? Why can I only find them for 4 dollars at Starbucks? Korean grocery stores really need to get on the bagel bandwagon. Yesterday. -Headed up to the city to go shopping tomorrow. It'll be the first time in over 5 months. Here's to hoping I only get what's necessary and not the impractical. Sigh, a girl can wish (and so can her husband who is staying home). -Derik and I have had almost all the ingredients to make chili since November. The only thing we've been missing is chili powder. I could easily order it on iherb.com, but it seems I ... Read More

Springtime in Geoje

Written by: Amanda // Category: South Korea

If you haven't noticed from my Instagram feed lately, I have a slight obsession with spring. Call it the warming temperatures, the blue skies, or the blooming flowers, I love it all. My allergies on the other hand have been working overtime to make sure I know exactly what season it is - the one that brings itchy eyes, runny noses, and constant sneezing. I do my best to forget these allergies by fully immersing myself into any springtime activity that I can (pretty sure it's actually making my allergic reactions worse #ohwell). Asia is known for it's stunning spring landscapes, and with 2014 being  third one we've experienced, I can honestly say I have yet to be disappointed. I've spend a lot of time outside lately enjoying it, and it's ... 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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