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
Archives for May 2014
Phuket Botanical Garden
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
