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Archives for June 2014

Searching for Whale Sharks

Written by: Amanda // Category: Philippines

If there was one animal in the world that Derik would like to see the most, it’s a whale shark (in the wild, not in captivity). But merely seeing it isn't enough, he wants to swim with one. While we were traveling through the Philippines, we had to stop by Donsol to give snorkeling with these enormous sharks a try. Donsol is home to one of the largest schools of whale sharks in the world, and I knew if we were going to see them in their natural habitat, Donsol was the place to do it.  Sure you can go to other areas in the Philippines where people lure the sharks in with bait (essentially turning them into pets), but we were in it for the adventure. We spent a relaxing three days in Donsol, enjoying the best sunsets I’ve ever seen ... Read More

Final Words on Korea

Written by: Amanda // Category: South Korea

Truth is, I was a mess our last few days in Korea. Between the stress of moving and final farewells to people I hold close to my heart, I was pretty much a sentimental sap that would cry at the smallest thing. Korea was good for us. It taught us how to live on our own, in an unfamiliar land, full of complete strangers who spoke a foreign language. It taught us to be flexible and when to roll with the punches as well as when to stand up for ourselves. It taught us to appreciate western civilizations that literally have the world at their fingertips. It taught us that traveling is a lot less scary than it needs to be, and I guess that’s why we are continuing on in our adventure across the world. I’ve learned people that live in ... Read More

Moving Overseas? How to Get You and Your Belongings to Your Destination Country

Written by: Amanda // Category: South Korea

The following post is contributed (written by) by site supporters of Living Another Language, not me. :) Moving house can be pretty stressful, but it is significantly more so when relocating to a new place overseas! Moving to a different country can be very exciting due to being presented with a range of new experiences and opportunities, but it does take a fair bit of planning. This often means dealing with a few headaches, but it can be so worth it when you arrive at your new home with most things under control. In order to achieve this sense of relief, you will probably want to focus on the key points of getting both yourself and your belongings to the destination country. Here are a few handy tips that will help you to accomplish ... Read More

Boracay, Philippines

Written by: Amanda // Category: Philippines, Sponsors

Boracay, Philippines has to be one of the most gorgeous vacation spots in SE Asia. During high season (exactly the time we went) there will be people crawling around all over the place, but you'll still find time to enjoy the romantic, breathtaking beauty Boracay has to offer, and participate in the fun activities at night. Although our time on this luxurious island didn't start off well, we made the most of it and ended having a great time. I'll be writing a post on things to do in Boracay down the road, so stay tuned for that! In the meantime, enjoy the pictures. :) ... Read More

Steel Wool Photography Tutorial

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

We all know I'm a pyro at heart. I also have a huge love for night photography. When the two combine, it's like magic! I've had my eye on steel wool photography for a while, and of course I procrastinated participating in the art until last minute. Thankfully I had a wonderful friend to spend 4 hours on the beach with me around midnight on Friday the 13th, and we had an absolute blast! I'm here to share my fun pictures (some are kind of flops, but I still like them), as well as teach you how to do it too! WHAT YOU NEED: -Camera with a manual mode setting -Tripod -Remote timer -Kitchen whisk -Shoestring -Steel Wool (grade 0 to 0000) -Clothes that cover your body (aka no shorts, tanks, t-shirts) CAMERA SETTINGS: In most ... Read More

The Florida Keys – A Photo Journey

Written by: Amanda // Category: Guest Post

We have officially made it to New Zealand. People weren't joking when they said the internet is slow, and I'm a little behind on my blogging work and design projects, due to lack of finding internet at the airports yesterday.  I'll be speaking of NZ soon, but right now I'm using whatever shreds of internet I can pull off my phone to get you this post today! I plan on committing a bit more tomorrow when it comes to blogging and designing (if I can find a good internet cafe), but right now it's time to rest. We spent 31 hours+ traveling today and yesterday-Derik and I are completely exhausted.  Thankfully V from Life+1 is here to rescue me from being the worst blogger in the world. If you haven't met V yet, or visited her blog, you should ... Read More

Things to Do in Phuket

Written by: Amanda // Category: Thailand

We traveled around Thailand for about 21 days, and in that time we spent two weeks in Phuket. We arrived not knowing what to go see, where to stay, and how to get around. Sometimes it's fun to figure it all out once you get there; after traveling for 1 1/2 months already, we were tired of planning. Doing things spur of the moment was the break we needed. Phuket is a ridiculously busy tourist destination. We arrived during some European holiday, and it was extra crowded. I wasn't a big fan of how 'touristy' it was, bumping into people as we were walking on the sidewalk, and vendors constantly chasing after us to buy something from them. However, it's an easy island to navigate, and after renting a scooter, we enjoyed the freedom we had ... Read More

Why We’re Leaving Korea

Written by: Amanda // Category: South Korea

As you may have read earlier this week, we're leaving Korea. This may come as somewhat of a shock for some of you- I don't blame you, it was rather sudden. Honestly the whole 'New Zealand' thing was planned out entirely within the space of 35 days, and we're still in shock that it's actually happening as well. I thought I'd take a little time to explain why we're leaving Korea. In January and February Derik and I took a two month trip back to the US and around Asia. After returning to Korea, things just weren't the same as what they had been the previous two years we'd lived there. Things seemed stale, tired, and altogether too normal than what they should be, especially since we were residing in a country completely different than our ... Read More

We’re Officially Announcing…

Written by: Amanda // Category: South Korea

We've kept it in for weeks now. Some of you probably have known something was up, and maybe you've noticed we've been deleting certain messages on our Facebook walls. Well, there's a reason for that; we wanted to wait until the timing was right to tell everyone (aka make it 'public')  It's harder to keep things quiet nowadays because of the whole social networking business, but I feel like we've actually done a pretty good job keeping this one to ourselves. You can only wait so long before the news starts getting leaked out of nowhere. That's why today we decided to let you in on our little secret. Living in Asia has been wonderful. We've met amazing people, seen spectacular things, and grown closer together as a married couple in ... 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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