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Archives for May 2014

What I Miss About Summer in the USA

Written by: Amanda // Category: Expat Living

There isn't another place that can do summer quite like the good ol' USA (sorry, I'm quite biased). As a matter of fact, when someone asks me to describe my ideal summer day in the USA, I see myself driving on a wide open highway, windows down, hair blowing in the winds, and the music blaring. Obviously I'd be singing at the top of my lungs, and I would be in the company of some of the most amazing friends a person could have. Man, I miss those days! Now that we're into our third summer out of the country, I miss certain things more than ever. Family reunions on the lake: It's been years since I've been to a family reunion, but  I have fond memories of the times my family did make the long drive up to Minnesota to enjoy a weekend ... Read More

Phuket Botanical Garden

Written by: Amanda // Category: Thailand

I've never considered visiting a botanical garden even once in my life. I'm not sure why, I guess I thought they were something that old people or plant enthusiasts go visit. Boy I was wrong. The Phuket Botanical Garden showed me the magical wonders of all things…ground growing. We only had 30 minutes to visit while on a tour of Phuket, and Derik had to keep pulling me along and telling me to pick up the pace, or I would have never made it back on the bus in time. There were so many plants! Some were super cool like the mini banana tree and the weird honeycomb plant (see below…it's green and super weird), and some were just plain gorgeous like the water lilies and bonsai trees. I've never seen such a crazy collection of specimens in my ... Read More

Instagram Favorites

Written by: Amanda // Category: Uncategorized

Instagram. By now everyone (and their mother) has it or has heard of it. I started my Instagram account way back in the days when it was still new, and only like 12 Facebook friends of mine had it. My oh my has it grown. Instagram is a wonderful creative outlet for photos and videos, allowing users to share their lives with the rest of the world. To those of you who don't have an Instagram yet, it sounds weird I know. My husband still doesn't understand it. I've become rather obsessed with finding awesome travel and photography accounts to follow via Insta to get my daily fill on all things wonderful. I'm here today to spread the love and share my favorites! Also please let me know if you have more I can add to my ... Read More

Monkey Beach

Written by: Amanda // Category: Thailand

Monkey Beach on Phi Phi Island, Thailand is quite the little escape from the norm. If you're not interested in monkeys (I don't know about you but they kind of creep me out), maybe the brilliant blue-green water or the white sandy beach will make you want to stick around for a few hours. Don't forget the gorgeous landscape of gigantic sheer islands jutting out of the ocean, filled with the greenest trees. Derik and I booked a snorkeling and sightseeing tour around Koh Phi Phi, and it turned out to be an all day thing. Unfortunately the snorkeling was the worst we've experienced in Asia (hardly any fish or coral life), and the boat we were on was overly crowded, but at least the views were pretty! On the tour, we were allotted about 40 ... Read More

Sunburn Remedy: Instant Pain Relief and Overnight Healing

Sunburn Remedy: Instant Pain Relief and Overnight Healing

Written by: Amanda // Category: Beauty

Summer is quickly approaching, and with that comes long days outside, lounging at the beach, and the inevitable sunburn. Some people are just lucky and usually tan instead of burn, but if you're anything like me, my pasty white German skin soaks up those rays a little too fast. The beginning of summer is usually torture for my poor skin, as I'm an avid sun lover. Don't worry I ALWAYS put on my SPF, but sometimes I forget to reapply. But then there's days like this last Saturday, when I had no idea I'd actually be getting sun at all! Derik and I participated in a community garage sale and were able to get rid of a bunch of stuff we had laying around the house unused. The thing was, apparently we didn't get their early enough to set up, ... Read More

Change is Inevitable

Written by: Amanda // Category: Uncategorized

There's been a lot of talk on change, simplifying, and living minimalistically around the blogging world. I don't know what's going on with 2014, but I feel like everyone's taking an extra step to make life less about 'stuff' and more about the experiences. Maybe some people are just beginning to realize you really don't NEED a lot of crap to make you happy. I love the picture above that I captured while we were in Phu Quoc, Vietnam, because this little boy didn't need much to make him perfectly content. Derik and I watched him play with his pants (as comical as that may seem) for at least an hour as the sun went down. He was doing his own thing, happy to be alive and running around in the water and sand. If only life was always that ... Read More

The Negative Side to Travel

Written by: Amanda // Category: Expat Living, South Korea, Travel

Derik and I have been blessed with the opportunity to travel. Sure we don't travel as much as a lot of other travel bloggers do, but we acknowledge and are thankful that we're able to do something not everyone can. We don't have children, we don't have possessions back home, unless the few containers at my mother in law's count. To be honest, those containers could just disappear and I'd only shed a FEW tears due to our wedding and engagement albums that I'd never see again. The clothes, kitchen supplies, jewelry, and various nicknacks we did keep mean nothing to me. I repeatedly have readers exclaim that they wish they could live our lives, and then go on to talk about how discontent and bored they are at home, and it really bothers ... Read More

Korean Beauty Products

Written by: Amanda // Category: Sp

I've been converted. I used to shy away from Korean beauty products due to my belief that whitener is put in everything. Took me two long years to realize this is not actually the case. I learned the Korean words for 'whitening' and 'bleaching' and went on my merry little way to the makeup store. And then to another, and another and another. Wouldn't you know it, after a while the ladies in the store closest to me now know my name. Here's the deal. Some say Korea (and other parts of Asia) is 12+ years ahead of the States when it comes to makeup technology. That's not something to shrug off. I dove head first into the Korean makeup world when I bought my first CC cream, Angel Aqua. I was a little freaked out at first that the cream color ... Read More

James Bond Island

Written by: Amanda // Category: Thailand

The cool thing about traveling is you get to see a ton of different places (duh), and some of those include places that were forever captured on film as part of a remote movie set.  Thailand has been used in multiple movies, but one of it's most famous movie set locations was on Khao Phing Kan Island. I don't know if you're into old movies, but if you are, maybe you have seen the 1974 classic 'The Man with the Golden Gun.'  I'll be honest here, I didn't watch the movie until AFTER I visited the island, but at least I saw it right? The movie brought so much fame to the island just a boat ride away from Phuket, that it is now lovingly called James Bond Island. (just in case you haven't seen the movie, here are a few screenshots from the ... Read More

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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