Weekly Wishes

Hello and welcome to my Weekly Wishes where I talk about my goals and wishes for the week ahead. Popping them here on the blog will hopefully help me to stay on track with the things I want to do or get done. These posts are part of a link up by The Nectar Collective where Melissa has a wonderful community of women who link up their weekly wishes and are there to support and encourage one another. It's also a great way to make new friends and find new blogs to follow, why don't you join me?

It's Monday, and the perfect day to share my wishes for the upcoming week. If you'd like to join in simply click here (and then click on the comments section of the top post) and link up your blog post. 

Last week I didn't do very well with putting my phone in the lounge when I went to bed, but I am going to FORCE myself to do this from today. I need to get into a routine with it, and having it outside the bedroom forces me to get up when my alarm goes off or risk going crazy at the annoying buzz that I currently have set. I have upped my water intake (I keep a 1 liter water bottle on my desk and force myself to fill it up 3 times a day). I did get to bed earlier 3 nights of last week, so that's a small start. I will see if it helps me stay awake during this week. I am still on track with my yoga challenge too. I have yet to finish my English camp planning and will get my basic plan done this week as it has to be handed in by Friday. Hmmm...not too bad for my first week of goals.

This week's wishes

1. Make the most epic cheesecake for hubby's birthday on Tuesday (and not let it be a complete disaster like the last attempt).

2. Remove phone from the bedroom EVERYNIGHT.

3. Finish English Camp plan

4. Continue with the 30 Day #summersplits2014 yoga challenge (and make sure to have had a cardio workout of either a hard 1 hour power walk or a session of Jillian Michaels before the yoga).

5. Make a donation to the Precious Women Ministry  which is fighting to end the war against human trafficking and exploitation in Cambodia (this might seem an odd thing to include here but I have procrastinating with this donation because of the difficulties in sending money to Cambodia from South Korea. I am writing it down here to remind myself to get my A into G and get to the bank to sort it out before it gets put to the bottom of the pile of things to do). 

Have a wonderful week everyone <3

Vietnam Travel Guide

Farmboy and I visited Vietnam in January this year (2014). We had a wonderful time, and it was one of our favourite holidays we have been on so far. You may be thinking of heading there soon (or sometime in the future) so to help you plan your trip, I have put together a rough budget, as well as some tips from our stay. Please keep in mind that my husband and I may travel very differently to you, and have different likes and preferences for things. I prefer the more luxurious path, while Farmboy would stay in a hammock for the entire trip if it was up to him. So we plan accordingly, and of course, try to stick to the budget.

For this trip we made the terrible mistake of missing our flights home, having to fork out another $1000 for the trip (not included in the budget set out below). Apart from this unfortunate accident, Vietnam was a relatively cheap holiday, the biggest expense was the taxi rides to and from airports as the airports in Vietnam are situated really far from the tourist areas. We budgeted in US$ and were able to pay for the majority of things with dollars, with my Korean credit card or by withdrawing at local banks into Vietnamese Dollars.

This was our first trip planning all our accommodation ahead of time (unlike the Philippines, Cambodia and Malaysia) and we learnt a lot from this experience. There are pros and cons to booking ahead of time (often the photographs online are very misleading, and sometimes you have such a good time in one place that you wish you could prolong your stay). I suggest booking your first and last nights before your trip, and then winging the middle days as you go.

We were away for 13 days, exploring Hanoi, Hoi Ann, Sapa and Halong Bay. 

Hanoi 3 nights (first 2 nights and last night)

Halong Bay 3 nights

Sapa 3 nights (2 of which were spent on the over night train)

Hoi Ann (3 nights)

Sapa (Northern Vietnam)

We went during the winter season (I hadn't actually checked the weather before booking our flights...silly me) and so this effected our planning quite a bit. Vietnam is very different in the summer time (especially the Northern parts) and can get rather cold. But the summer is a different story. Instead of rolling green hills and rice field terraces we had heard about in Sapa, we were met with dry, barren landscapes, which were beautiful in their own ways, just not what we were expecting.

We both enjoy making the most of our holidays, and so spend very little time in one place, opting to instead see as much as we can in the time that we have. This isn't for everyone, and the holidays tend to be more fast paced than lounging about and relaxing. This works for us. Most travel forums advised against only spending one actual night in Sapa, as the train journey is quite tiring but we found that 2 full days were just fine (the overnight rains arrives at 5am in Sapa and departs around 7pm leaving 2 full days of travel if you only book 1 night in the actual town).

As you can see from the pictures below, the over train was clean and comfortable. We paid $40 pp each way for the 4 bed room. We had room mates on both trips which wasn't ideal, but everyone kept to themselves and our belongings were very safe under the bed and in front of my top bunk above the door.

We booked a tour guide for $70 and really felt like we had been ripped off. Rather make your own way with a map. I think you would see much more if you trekked around by yourself. Our 4 hour trek took us into our tour guides' home (more so she could feed her baby than for us to see her authentic home) and then through the fields. It would have perhaps been better in summer if the rice paddies were luscious and green, but it was hot (even though it was winter) and rather boring, even though we were able to get some great photographs.

The town itself is fully geared for tourists, with the main roads looking like you've stepped into a Swiss resort. All the restaurants and massage parlours are geared towards tourists and are very pricey (a meal ranging from $12 - $20 and a good massage deal from $15 - $30). We found a little corner cafe away from the main road and ordered delicious bowls of Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) for a much more reasonable $3 a pop.

We did buy knock off North Face jackets for a steal at $22 each, and they look JUST like the real thing. You can get your hands on a whole range of North Face/Jack Wolfskin items, make sure to budget accordingly! They had everything from hiking boots to sports shoes, ski jackets to fleeces.

Halong Bay

We made yet another mistake by not heading right for an island off Halong Bay. The bay itself is very touristy with hundreds of different tour companies offering you 1 - 4 night boat trips. We weren't really interested in being cooped up on a boat for 3 days and so booked a hotel in Halong Bay City. This was a mistake as the taxi ride from the city to the port (where you catch the boats to the islands) was a $25 fare EACH way! We wanted to go climbing with Asia Outdoors who are situated on Cat Ba Island. The ferry schedule was very limiting so we actually ended up not staying in our fancy hotel for one night so we could have longer on Cat Ba. We booked a super cheap $10 room on Cat Ba Island, and looking back I would have not booked any nights at the Halong Bay DC Hotel (but the two nights we stayed there were in super comfy rooms which included breakfast and we are able to order room service and get our clothes laundered - which sounded like a great idea and one that we presumed would be cheap...it wasn't, $37 for our clothes was an absolute waste of money, but one can only learn).

On Cat Ba Island we went on a fantastic climbing trip the first day, and the second day we hired a scooter to explore Cat Ba National Park. The hike up the peak of Cat Ba National Park was one of the highlights of our trip. 

Hanoi

Our first full day was spent on an amazing cooking course in the Old Quarter of Hanoi.  We had a great time and learnt so much about Vietnamese food and culture from our wonderfully experienced chef. Doing a cooking course at the start of your holiday is the perfect way to get to know the local cuisine, so when you walk past street vendors you know whats what. Often street food is delicious and much cheaper than eating in restaurants. We did our course through Hanoi Cooking Centre which included an early morning market walk to buy all our ingredients.

Our last day in Hanoi was spent visiting the local markets around the Old Quarter and drinking Vietnamese coffee while stuffing our faces with as much Pho as our bodies could handle. Pho is very cheap, a bowl going for $2 - $4 a pop and is one of the most delicious meals I have ever had.

Hoi Ann

We booked cheap internal flights through JetStar Airlines from Hanoi Noi Bai Airport to Danang Airport, and they also offer a bus service (click here) that runs from the Old Quarter to the airport. It was very cheap to use this bus, and it saved us a lot of stress too once we found the bus terminal (thank goodness for the GPS function on our iPhones). From Danang Aiport it was a good 40 minute drive to Hoi Ann (this is what caught us out the most with our budget, all the taxi rides to and from the airports).

Hoi Ann was our favourite place in Vietnam, and perhaps, in the whole of South East Asia. It reminded us a lot of Siem Riep in Cambodia (lantern lit streets to stroll down at night, great food, fabulous cocktails....it's a wonderful, 'vibey' town filled with something for everyone). The beach was only 20 minute cycle away (most hotels have free bicycle rental) and we were able to swim even in the middle of their winter time. Hoi Ann is most famous for its tailors, so make sure to budget accordingly! We hadn't planned to have anything made, but once we saw the quality of the suits we ended up having two made for Farmboy. Be prepared to bargain. You can everything from swim suits to lace skirts, to silk shirts and suits, as well as every leather item imaginable. In particular the leather boots and luggage looked beautiful. It wasn't incedidly cheap, but the quality is amazing, and compared to back Korea or South Africa, the prices were reasonable. 

We spent 2 nights at Thanh Van 2 Hotel which was great, and then spent our last night at the incredible Hoi An Ancient House Village Resort. We like to spend our last night or two in luxury, especially if we have been staying in backpackers or really cheap hotels for the rest of the time. We felt like we were on honeymoon again, and the suite was a very reasonable $90 for the both of us including breakfast.

We also did an early morning tour to Masan Temple to see the ruins. There are quite a few tours you can do that leave from Hoi Ann, and your hotel will be able to help you with booking.

A few tips

• Download the Orbitz and Hotels.com apps on your phone. We booked most of our accommodation through the app and always got at least a 15% discount on each booking for using the app. We were also able to book at the last minute and never had a problem with our bookings. 
• Book accommodation that includes breakfast. You will save yourself money, and save yourself the stress of trying to find something to eat that doesn't taste too strange, especially early in the morning (or do what we do and pack small ziplock bags of oats, almonds and cranberries to have for emergency breakfasts on the run).
• When booking flights be sure of what is included in your flight booking, especially with Air Asia. We booked flights for Malaysia for really cheap, and then only after booking did we realise that we could only take carry on luggage (which was restricted to 7kg's a person, and they were super strict at the airport, weighing all our bags including my big camera bag).
• If you're short on time, look to see if you can find cheap local flights on sites like AirAsia (this has saved us so much time and we have been able to book flights for reasonable prices). Download the AirAisa app, it's super easy to use. For Vietnam we booked our internal flights on Jetstar for $160 for two people return from Hanoi to Hoi Ann.
• Take your smart phone with you. We didn't have data, although we were told that sim cards were readily available and pretty cheap. But we were able to jump on a lot of free wifi in all the hotels we stayed at and a lot of the cafes. The GPS function on our iPhones was an absolute life saver, as it functions in helping you navigate, even when not connected to wifi.
• Jot down your expenses, this helps you stay on track. We took only cash for our 2 week trip and writing what we spent where helped us to stay within the budget (well, apart from the missed flight and tailored clothes that had to go on the credit card).
• Visa Requirements: For South Africans we had to 'book' our visa on arrival online, pay by credit card and then print out the emailed copy to take with us to when we arrived in Vietnam. It was painless to organise. I used Visa Vietnam and the price was $26 for two people (not included in the budget below)
• Pack a sense of humour. You will get lost. You will fight with your husband/boy friend/friends. You will get sick at least once and you will have an amazing holiday all the same. 

The budget below is the expenses for both myself and my husband, including our flights from South Korea.

If you have any questions, please leave me a comment below and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Happy travels!

Being a people pleaser

I have been a people pleaser for as long as I can remember. I have always found myself happiest when those around me are happy. This was a positive thing growing up, but lately, and especially over the last 5 years, my people pleasing tendencies have gotten to a point where I am hurting not just myself, but those closest to me.

We all know the famous quote from Lincoln that says

"You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time but you can never please all of the people all of the time" 

It comes in many different forms and each one  ells us to stop trying to please other people, stop trying to live your life for other people and start doing what makes YOU happy. But, this is all much easier said than done. 

Over the course of my life I have met very few people who don't like me. This isn't so much a conceited statement, but rather a statement of truth. I used to put my self worth in that, in the fact that everyone liked me so I must be a nice person. I think my need to be accepted, and flowing from that the need to please people and make every one like me stemmed from the years of bullying that I endured while at school in the UK. My family moved to England when I was 9 and from the moment I arrived at my first school, there was always one girl who took an instant dislike to me. Whether it was my accent, my darker skin colour (which they insisted was the result of fake tan) or the fact that I was far more comfortable spending my break times outside playing in the garden with the boys, whatever it was, I would go home crying every day, desperate to understand what I was doing wrong, to know what I could do to make them stop their tormenting.

I was 15 when we returned home to South Africa, and determined to make every single person in my new school like me. I said yes to everything and everyone. I went out of my way to talk to everyone, to smile at everyone, to listen to everyone, to remember small details that would make people feel special. I so desperately wanted to be accepted that I sacrificed deeper, more meaningful friendships with people so that I could rather be friends with everyone. This was fine during High School (I often reflect on the fact that I have so many friends I would consider acquaintances, but very few who I would consider close friends). But, I was happy. I was happy with the fact that I knew I was accepted. Happy to be known as the 'nice' person, the 'kind' person. That was until my second year of University when my best friends boyfriend took a disliking to me. Who knows why he didn't like me, perhaps it was because he wasn't very kind or nice to her and didn't treat her like the princess she deserved to be treated like, and I often told her she shouldn't settle for anything less than she deserved. Whatever the reason, when my friend told me he didn't like me, my world came crashing down. It didn't matter than I didn't like him and thought him rather arrogant and selfish. The point was that no one didn't like me, and here was someone who was open with his dislike. It's strange that a guy whom I had absolutely no interest in could affect me so deeply. I eventually got over it after their relationship fizzled out and I left university, and that was the end of that. Until recently.

Farmboy has been the one to highlight my people pleasing nature, on more than one occasion (this is both why I get so frustrated and the reason why I love him with all my heart).  He has told me that I put those who care about me the most second to those that don't like me, or who I feel are upset with me. He has called me out a few times, explaining that it hurts when he is pushed aside, when thoughts of convincing other people how nice I am get in the way of spending quality time with him. He says that it's as if I know I don't have to work to make him like me, because I know that he loves me no matter what I do, that my relationship to him doesn't need to be cared for because he is always there. That was really hard to hear, I felt like I had let him down as a wife, and worse than that, that I had let him down as his best friend. I then spent some time looking back on my friendships, and I was deeply saddened knowing that I have done the same thing to my real and true friends, the few that I have. But being aware is the biggest and most important step to take to change.

Here is a list of the changes I am going to be making in my life, not just for me, but for my husband and for my friends:

It's okay to say no.

This is hard! I always worry that people will think I'm selfish when I say no to things. But, I say yes too quickly, and then want to cancel whatever appointment or activity I have agreed to doing, once I realize that I actually didn't want to do it in the first place. So I am going to try and stop saying yes straight away, and rather say something like, let me get back to you. Giving me time to think about my reasons for saying yes or no, and then being truthful with myself when I finally do answer. 

Realizing that there is no possible way that everyone can like me.

Just as the quote above says, not everyone likes peaches. And that's ok. It is probably not me personally that they don't like, it probably has to do with their own stuff they have going on. I can be quite pushy sometimes, telling people what they should do, how they should live their lives (but only because I genuinely want to help, and I genuinely want to make other peoples lives easier...this is why I blog, so I can share my ideas and suggestions without forcing them on people as I have done before...you choose what you want to take away from my blog, I simply provide the idea or the inspiration you may need to get started). 

Honesty is the best policy. Always.

Even if that honesty makes someone turn their back on you, you have done the right things and no one can argue with that.

Knowing that God wants me to focus on loving him, and having a relationship with him first, so that I can be whole enough to be the best version of myself for others. 

 

Tuna & Broccoli Quinoa Burgers {recipe}

I don't do very much cooking at home, I much prefer baking. But on the odd occasion when I do whip out the frying pan, I'm not scared to try new recipes. Especially at 10 o'clock at night. This meal was one of them and this time I got it right. So right in fact that Farmboy ate 9 of the 12 patties.

I adapted the original recipe from here to my kitchen and ingredients here in South Korea. The two pictures I have of them don't do them any justice so you'll have to take my word for it when I say these little patties are tasty beyond measure and so easy to make.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 cup diced broccoli
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 1 cup drained & flaked tuna or salmon (I used a big tin of tuna)
• 1/2 cup rolled oats, mixed in a blender to create a fine powder (the original recipe calls for almond flower or gluten free bread crumbs)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• Sea salt & fresh ground black pepper
• 2 eggs
• 1-3 tablespoons coconut oil for frying

Method

1. Cook your quinoa (I boiled it as per this great recipe) and leave to cool.

2. In a medium sized skillet, sauté the broccoli and onions in 1-2 teaspoons of coconut oil over medium heat until they are begin to turn soft, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the quinoa, broccoli and onions, tuna, oats and garlic. Season with lots of sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste.

4. Stir in the eggs.

5. Warm a tablespoon of coconut oil in a skillet.

6. Measure out a 1/4 cup of the mixture and press into a patty shape. Gently ease onto the skillet. 

7. Reduce temperature to medium low, and fry the patties for 3-5 minutes on each side, or until they are golden brown. Keep adding more coconut oil to the pan as needed. Serve warm or at room temperature with slices of lemon and sweet chile sauce.

Weekly Wishes

I have seen these kind of posts on a few of the international blogs that I follow. In a nutshell, they are all about your goals and wishes for the week ahead. What you want to achieve, and what you hope to get out of your week. Popping them here on the blog will hopefully help me to stay on track with the things I want to do or get done. I get rather distracted (if you could just have a quick peep into the drafts section on my website...half written posts hiding away, left forgotten, or simply discarded after I got bored or changed my mind with the topic). Nadia does a wonderful 'Meet Free Monday' post on her blog every Monday...perhaps I can convince her to join in this community with her posts.

Today I am linking up with The Nectar Collective where Melissa has a wonderful community of women who link up their weekly wishes and are there to support and encourage one another.

It's Monday, and the perfect day to share my wishes for the upcoming week. If you'd like to join in simply click here (and then click on the comments section of the top post) and link up your blog post. Melissa has some guidelines for you to follow, and to give you more of an idea of what's what with these posts.

Have a wonderful week everyone <3

Weekly Wishes 

1. Go to sleep earlier (I have been so tired over the last few weeks, and before I take the vitamin/blood test route I am going to give the 'more sleep' way a try first). I wake up naturally beore my alarm every morning at 05h15 so I can get some exercise in for the day. Then my day begins at 08h00 and I am home by 16h45. Three evenings a week Farmboy and I have night classes at 18h00and we only get home after 20h00. We still have to eat supper and then I have to do all the little things around the house I usually do when I'm free in the afternoons. So I have been going to bed later and later, and this is probably the culprit for my mid morning slumps. It's usually around 11am that I start nodding off at my desk, and only gets worse after lunch. Hoping that a few extra zzzz's will do the trick.

2. Remove my iPhone from my bedroom. I have a terribly habit of checking my phone ALL the time. It's the first thing I do when I wake up. I have read some studies that say the blu LED light from cell phones can cause disruptions in your sleep cycle, so I hope that by keeping my phone in another room while I sleep will help me sleep better, and help me get the balance right between social media and just enjoying real life.

3. Finish my 30 day yoga challenge (if you want to join in simply search for the #summersplits2014) and pop on over to my feed and say hello (@roxyhutton)

4. Drink more water

5. Finish my English Camp planning (I'm hoping to do a photography based English camp for my middle school girl this summer...they can already take the perfect selfie, so let's see if they can so the same with different subjects and themes).

What are some of the things you're hoping to get done this week?

How to make 'no-cook' play dough in Korea

And it's edible too for little hands that like to eat everything!

I used this activity to teach my students shapes and colours in a more hands on and fun way. It was during an English camp and so we had a whole afternoon for the activity (it takes at least 1 hour for them to actually make the dough and play with it a little so keep that in mind when planning your lesson).

You can buy all sorts of fancy clay in the stores here...but it's nowhere near as fun as actually making it yourself. This recipe is easy, and the kids all did it themselves (no need for boiling water or any fancy ingredients). A lot of edible dough recipes call for Kool-Aid to make your dough smell and taste good, but this is pretty much impossible to get hold of here in Korea. To colour the dough I had ordered a set of food colouring on Gmarket  but they didn't arrive in time, so we used the next best thing, water based paint (although eating the dough with the paint would not be a very good idea so keep an eye on your kids).

This dough will keep for 2 - 3 weeks when kept in a sealed container/ziplock bag. If it starts hardening, simply add more oil and knead until soft.

Here is a photograph of most of the ingredients with their Korean branding (except salt which my teachers found in the Science calssroom).

Ingredients

cold water (1/4 cup per batch/child)

flour (1 cup per batch/child)

oil (1 tablespoon per batch/child)

salt (1 tablespoon per batch/child...use ground salt instead of course salt. The salt is used to help preserve the dough)

a few drops of colour (food colouring or a water based paint)

*make sure to have big enough bowls for each student too!

Method

1. Combine flour and salt.

2. Add water & oil. Mix until combined (knead well, you might need to help little hands as they will get tired quickly).

3. Add food colouring/paint and knead well until combined.

If mixture is too wet, add more flour. If mixture is too dry, add more oil

I then called out a shape and the students had to 'create' it with their dough. You will be suprised at just how creative the can be. 

Happy playing!

x

Late afternoon beach picnic Styled Photoshoot

This is the third styled shoot that my friend Storm and I have worked together on so. We seem to feed off one another creative energies and have loved the planning processes that have gone into each of our shoots.

For this shoot, Storm suggested a picnic, and I have been wanting to photograph one of the secret beaches nearby, so we combined our ideas and I am so happy with how the pictures came out. My friend Hillian contacted me, wanting to be involved in some way, and  so we had our model...isn't she just lovely?

The weather changed constantly during the few hours of daylight we had to work with, and the local creatures (one of which I managed to capture, balancing on a tea cup) descended upon as as soon as were began. We had to be quick as every flying insect took an immense liking to any exposed areas of skin, and we left covered in bites and scratches. Thank you Storm and Hillian, for a great afternoon filled with lots of giggles and stuffing of faces with grapes and delicious sandwiches. 

Camping in Korea - Gangwon Province

We recently bought a little car here in Korea and it has been an absolute game changer. As we live out in the countryside, there is so much to explore, but very few ways of getting there. Having a car has also meant that we can just go off for the day to a new town, to parks, to mountains, lakes and rivers with a picnic, a hammock and of course our little gas stove for tea. We also found a tent and have dipped our toes into camping in Korea.

Camping here is very different to camping back home in South Africa. Koreans like to camp in parking lots, close together, no wait, scratch that, on top of each other. They don't mind not having a view and they certainly don't mind listening to whatever their neighbour has blasting out of their portable sound systems. That is completely not our scene, and so our recent camping trip up north to Gangwon province had us driving around for hours in search of peace and quiet (and a little shade). We finally settled on an old abandoned road (it was the smoothest surface we could find that had space for the tent and that was close to a stream) and it turned out to be the perfect spot. The road was closed off (little Cherry, being light weight and the size of a sandwich, was able to squeeze through the barriers - probably very illegal) and we found ourselves alone, with privacy and a flowing stream for my avid fisherman hubby.

Numerous cups of tea, plenty of relaxing and cooling off in the stream led to a wonderful camping trip. 

Our iphones and their navigation system were life savers, especially as we were only able to leave work at 6pm and only got to Gangwon province at 11pm. They showed us each camping site in the area (most of which were abandoned with no toilet facilities) as well as showing us small, farming roads which we were able to navigate around to find the ideal place to set up tent. We spent our first night just outside the town of Jecheon and then settled on the abandoned road somewhere along the river, north of Pyeongchang.

Driving here in Korea has been remarkably easy to adjust to. The roads are pretty well sign posted (although a lot of the time only in Korean) and the toll charges for our little Matiz are extremely low. 

Photography Styling Challenge {Personal}

First a little apology, I nearly a week late in posting my photographs for this challenge. This months theme, Personal, is the last instalment in the monthly photography styling challenge created by Redesigned by M. Life just got away with me (doesn't it always) and I am only posting my photographs for this challenge now.

The photographs cannot be edited, and only a maximum of five images may be posted (always difficult for me, as I can never choose which ones I want to display!). My first submission was for Morning {click here} followed by Bedroom {click here}, Order {click here}, Patterns {click here}, Fashion {click here}, Light {click here} and Living Room {click here}. Each theme or concept is open to interpretation by the photographer, and it has been really interesting seeing how each of us have handled the themes in our different ways. 

I wanted to share with you a little more of what I have been doing in my spare time for this personal theme. I met a wonderful new friend (Storm) who shares my passion for photography and beautiful images and we have been meeting up to create styled photography scenes (using our friends as models). We have done two so far (click here to see more of the photographs) and we just finished up a third one last week. This time a late afternoon, beach picnic shoot a short drive from my little town here in South Korea.

I used the following settings on my Nikon d300s & 35mm 1.8 lens:

-ISO 400

-Aperture of 9

-Shutter-speed 1/250

-I had my white balance on shady

The weather was changing constantly while we were shooting, and I wasn't quick enough with my white balance (well actually, I was too distracted with getting my angles and composure just right that I started neglecting my settings). I try not to focus so much on getting my settings 100% correct (some of my photographer friends out there are probably cringing right now!) as I feel touch ups can be done later in an editing program (I use Adobe Lightroom), but creating the actual picture cannot be done at a later stage. Anyway, I plan on editing the images in a slightly different way that is my usual style, this time trying some film textures and edits. So I had this in mind the whole time while shooting, and so I am not that happy with these photographs as they are, raw and unedited. But, it was a lot of fun frolicking in the waves and eating the sandwiches once we had finished shooting.

As always I would love to know your thoughts, please do leave me a comment below.

Enjoy

x

Make sure to check out the other particiapnts in this challenge:

At The Corner Of Happy And Harried, My Food Tapestry, Inge Kathleen Photography, The Delicious World Of Chefette Spicy, A Tree Grows in the Bayou, I Live Under A Rock, Hooked On Homes, Samta Photography, Miss Wang Photography, SimplyVegetarian 777, Coconut Craze, Redesigned by M

Disney's Frozen inspired Wedding shoot by Nadia Meli

Disney's recent release, Frozen, has taken over South Korea by storm. I still can't walk through the halls of my school without hearing at least 10 different voices screaming 'Let it Go'. No one really knows why this particular animation has has became so popular here in Korea, but, regardless of the why, I can't help joining in, no matter how fed up I am of hearing the same song over and over again. And there really is no denying that Frozen was a fantastic film, with subtle (and not so subtle) changes to the traditional fairytale story that make all of us ladies feel some kind of connection with Elsa.

While planning a Frozen inspired lesson for my middle school girls I came across this beautiful styled shoot by the talented Nadia Meli. Nadia lives in Germany and has such a beautiful portfolio of images ranging from romantic weddings to soft lit lifestyle photography. She was very sweet in allowing me to showcase this styled shoot here. Isn't it lovely?!

It was Nadia's work that inspired me to really dip my toes into the world of styled photoshoots (I started off with a flower crown shoot with a Korean friend, then captured a South African friend at a temple here in my town, complete with red roses and full red lips. And yesterday I finished a fun filled picnic inspired shoot on the beach...photographs to come soon).

Thank you for making such pretty pictures Nadia, I hope my travels bring me to Germany one day so I can meet up with you over a cup of coffee or attend one of your incredible workshops.

x

You can find Nadia at the following places:

Blog

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SkinFood Black Sugar Scrub Foam {review}

My review on the SkinFood Black Sugar Face Serum is one of my most popular posts to date, and this lovely scrub goes hand in hand with it. 

This scrub is part of SkinFoods most popular range of products, their Black Sugar range. And their is a reason is has developed such a cult following...it's amazing! 

The packaging is a gold coloured tube, with SkinFoods classic designed labels on the front and the back. The twist off cap is slightly annoying, as when your hands are full or product, the last thing you want to be worrying about is screwing the lid back on. It would be far easier if the cap was a flip lid, but this annoyance is minor. But do be warned, the contents of the tube do settle over the course of a day and it's best to shake and tube before using or else when you open it you'll be welcomed with only liquid and scrub particles. 

The scrub itself has tiny grains of black sugar and feels gritty upon first application. But after lathering, the gritty particles melt and the scrub becomes a rich creamy foam. This means that the product is very gentle on your skin, and suitable to be used everyday, or 3 to 4 times a week (depending on how sensitive your skin is). The first few seconds of application are where the real exfoliation will take place so make sure to scrub on the areas you want to fully exfoliate (like the nose and chin areas for me) before the scrub becomes foam.

The scent is amazing, as with all of the other products in this Black Sugar range it's refreshing and sweet, with a hint of citrus to wake you up and leave your skin reeling revitalised. 

After use, my skin feels clean, and super soft, without being left too dry. My skin has definitely been brighter, and the product itself is very effective at removing dead skin cells off the surface of my skin. I will most certainly be repurchasing it, along with the serum. 

The tube is 160g, and costs -+ W7300 (thats around $8) here in stores in South Korea. 

April & May through Instagram

I am a little behind with this series of posts, and so I am combining April & May together. We are finally settled into our new apartment (click here to see the before photographs) and have been enjoying the balmy weather. Summer is definitely on it's way here in South Korea, and with it the humidy. So we are making the most of late afternoon braai's (or as the Americans & Brits say, BBQ's) and trips to the beach.

It's been a wonderful couple of months, and we are about to go into our third teaching contract (second contract with our current schools and current town) and are looking forward to what the new month holds for us.

Wishing you a wonderful new month ahead x

Korean Temple Styled Photoshoot

My friend Storm and I had such a great time creating and styling the flower crown shoot we did a few weeks ago (click here to see the photographs) that we have decided to do another styled shoot. Our next model was a South African girl I met on a rooftop braai a couple of weeks ago, Roslyn.

I really wanted to incorporate something truly Korean into the shoot, so we decided to again shoot here in my small town. This time, at two of the local temples.

Roslyn, you were a pleasure to photograph and I had a wonderful afternoon chasing the light with you and Storm. Thank you for being our model, I hope you (and my readers) like the photographs!

x

We are going to make these styled shoots into something of a series here on the blog, often incorporating DIY elements into them (just like this flower crown). The next shoot is going to have much more of a summery, salty flair so make sure to check back here on the blog soon. I'll also be posting sneak peeks on the Facebook page soon.

Happy Friday everyone!

How to make a Flower Crown #DIYDaysInKorea

Myself and my very talented friend Storm, who moonlights as a stylist & florist in her spare time, created this flower crown for a styled photo shoot we did a few weeks ago. We got together one day to brainstorm ideas for fun and creative activities we could do without spending lots of money and so we have started a #DIYDaysInKorea series (we even started a 'hashtag' so you can follow along too!).

If you are based here in Korea and would like to join one of our DIY days (we will be having our first official one on a Saturday in a few weeks time) you can pop on over to the Facebook group for more information. 

These #DIYDaysInKorea posts are about making beautiful things for your home (whether that home is in South Korea or South Africa, or any where else in the world). We hope you enjoy this series and that you leave feeling inspired.

x

How to make a flower Crown #DIYDAYSINKOREA 

Step 1

Get your tools, foliage and flowers together.

You will need a pair of scissors, florist wire, your flowers of choice and of course a cup of tea. 

Forage, pick, buy or pinch a few flowers and foliage for your crown. The crown will need need sturdy foliage to give it structure, as well as comfort for the wearer and to add a green element to it too. We used Boxwood as it is plentiful on the Korean sidewalks. Other foliage that can be used is willow or olive branch as they have flexible stems that twist easily

Step two

To create the base of your crown you need to use sturdy foliage. We used Boxwood, but willow or olive branch works well too.

Start by gathering a few stems of your foliage (you can use a combination of greens if you’d like) and wrap your florist wire around the base. Continue to add in stems of foliage wrapping the wire around each piece to make sure it is secure. Once it is long enough, join the two ends and secure with wire.

Step 3

Next is to add your flowers. For the flowers we chose to use a mixture of silk and fresh flowers. We found that using a selection of bold flowers, such as peonies and roses mixed with a few whimsical flowers such as jasmine or honeysuckle worked well. Make sure the flowers you choose are hardy so that they don’t wilt too quickly while you are working with them.

To add the flowers cut off the stem at the base of the flower. Pierce florist wire through the center of  the flower and make a hook. This make is easier to attach the flower and position them in an appealing arrangement. 

Secure the flower to the base by wrapping the wire around the foliage.

Step 4

Lastly enjoy your floral crown! To make your pretty floral crown last a bit longer you can spritz the fresh flowers with water; however the fresh flowers won’t last out of water for longer than a day or two.

One of my favourite photographs from the styled shoot...click here to see more.

Klairs Illuminating Supple BB Cream {review}

I have been after a BB cream for a while now, and as I now live in the original home of the BB cream you'd have thought it would be easy to find one that suits my skin. But alas, I have been nervous to be too adventurous with my choices and have fallen back on my trusty Essence BB Cream from back home in South Africa. That was until I was recently sent this one by WishTrend  to review (click here for more info on WishTrend and how you too can get your hands on South Korean beauty products wherever you may be in the world). 

This Illunminating BB Cream from Klairs is very popular here among Korean women. Here is the blurb from Klairs (their English translation is a little off but you get the idea):

For dry skin- Offers great Hydration with the best moisture ingredient; Hydraluronic Acid

For sensitive skin- Brings soothing effect with calming component such as Aloe Barbadensis leaf juice

For ageing skin – Great wrinkle improvement with highly concentrate moisture formula

For trouble skin- Does not worsen the trouble spots with low irritant ingredients and skin-friendly components. 

Klairs’ Unique smart color system is suitable for any skin type tone. No need to cover up with unhealthy looking artificial color of other BB creams. Sun screen + Primer + Foundation + Finishing Powder = [Klairs] Illuminating Supple Blemish Cream! Save your precious time in the morning and finish the base makeup with great BB cream Korean women die for.

The truthful brand, Klairs is eco-friendly cosmetics. Against animal testing, no alcohol, no parabens, no artificial coloring. Low irritation to the skin with safe and great ingredients, especially safe cosmetics for sensitive or trouble type skin."

When I first opened up the packaging I was a little nervous as the product only comes in one shade. All of the other reviews I had seen had been done by Asian girls with very light skin. So I thought it would be far from suitable for my naturally darker complexion (thanks to the countless number of hours I spent in the sun as a young child). BUT I was wrong! The product blended effortlessly into my skin (both on my hand and on my face). Most BB Creams have a greyish cast to them, making your face look sullen. But this product, with it's slightly yellowish undertone, suits my skin perfectly. From all of the reviews I have seen on this product, it suits most skin tones (although, for my very much darker skinned lady friends, this one probably won't be suitable, although it would be interesting to see if it did blend).

The packaging is simple in design, just like the product itself and has a small nozzle to dispense just the right amount of product. This helps you control exactly how much product you want to use, without making a mess. The packaging is written in both English & Korean. 

The initial coverage is very light, but definitely buildable leaving skin with a very natural, dewy finish. Korean women are very into the 'dewy' look, especially the older ladies, so finding a matte finish can be tricky. But, with a dusting of your favourite powder, your skin will look just the right amount of dewy, and not like an oil slick.

This is suitable for all skin types, and one of it's promises is that has sebum control. I have combination skin, and it didn't provide very much oil control for me. But, with a dusting of translucent powder and my favourite Innisfree Sebum Control powder I had no shiny skin, even after a full day of wear. Most BB creams make skin appear oilier than other foundations because of all the added elements they provide, things like sun protection. This would naturally make a product oilier. I didn't notice excessive oiliness though, the same amount I experience from any foundation I use, regardless of the brand. I also always apply a sun cream under my foundation/BB cream (I am currently loving the Sebum Control Moisture Sun sun cream from The FaceShop...review to come soon).

Here is the ingredient list for those of who would like to know what exactly goes into the product:

This image of the ingredients was found on AegyoPrincess.

And now for the results. In the before photograph I am barefaced (this is my skin after following my morning skincare routine of cleanser, toner, eye cream, lotion, suncream & primer...blog post to follow soon).

The after photographs were taken with only the BB Cream applied, no other makeup was used in the shot.

My biggest skin concerns are the pigmentation I have on my forehead, nose/under eye area and my upper lip region so this was the biggest test for me. I wanted to make sure that this BB cream would provide adequate coverage. You can see from the photographs below what the results were for me.

I really like this BB cream, and even though it doesn't offer that much oil control, I love how natural my skin looks. I am able to build up the coverage, and have noticed that the coverage is better when applied with my fingers, and not with my trusty Sigma F80 Flat Kabuki Foundation brush. Both application methods give a smooth finish, but I prefer the brush as I don't have to get my fingers messy. My skin is left illuminated (as promised) but without the shimmer that most illuminating products have. This is a big plus for me as I'd rather add my own shimmer exactly where I want it, and not walk around looking a unicorn. 

I tend to get dry, flaky patches on my nose, so when applying this and any other foundation/BB cream, I am just careful to either have exfoliated the night before, or to make sure I apply a primer (I am currently loving this Velvet Skin Primer from The Face Shop). 

You can purchase this BB Cream online from WishTrend for $24.99.

If you enter this code 052313605 at check out, you can also save yourself $5!

Happy Shopping!

Life After The Dress {episode 12} Maureen Kohler

Today's post in my Life After the Dress series is a little different to those you may have read so far. To read all of their other interviews, click here. Today I am going to be introducing you to one of the most precious people in my life, my Gran.

My dear sweet Gran is a very private person, and when I first asked her to be part of this series she very graciously declined, but after some serious arm pulling, she agreed to write me a little email response to my questions. I wanted to post what she wrote to me as it is so inspirational, and well, being married for 57 years is just such a wonderful accomplishment (is accomplishment even the right word to use here?).

May all of us married women have a marriage as prosperous and loving (and as long!) as theirs.

My grandparents have been happily married for 57 years. He was her best friend’s brother and they started dating at the tender age of 17, finally marrying at 26, after my Grandfather (Charles) qualified as a dentist. 

"We have four lovely children and are still happily married – now with 7 lovely grandchildren!

'After the dress' we were very much in love and I was happy to marry and spend the rest of my life with my new husband. I regarded married life as a “vocation”, bringing up the children and looking after my husband.

Life for both of us was very busy — Charles in practise and me running the home — I was fortunate in not having to go out to work but mostly it felt like “running a small hotel singlehanded” to quote a friend of mine!

But we had lots of fun. We have a lot in common and enjoyed our tennis, music, good friends, weekends away with the children, holidays at the cottage and so many things go into making a happy home life!

Of course there were ups and downs along the way but nothing we could not sort out together; having our religion in common is a big plus for us too.

'A pearl of wisdom' to quote my beautiful sweet mother “ Tis loving and giving that makes Life worth living”; this is very true". 

Thank you Granny, I love you very much xxx

Innisfree No Sebum Mineral Compact {Review}

I bought this wonderful setting powder at the same time when I purchased the Pink Beam Mineral Highlighter a few months ago. Both this and the Pink Beam highlighter come in the same sweet round compact, but this one is mint green and the other is soft pink. They both form part of Innisfree's Mineral range of products and have less harmful ingredients and additives than most other brands. 

As with the highlighter, this sebum (or oil absorbing) powder comes in two forms, a pressed powder (this is the one I have) and a loose powder. The loose powder is a little too messy for my liking, but would work well when dusted over the face. I still love my (very old) Yardley translucent  loose powder for setting my makeup, so this pressed version is perfect for me.

It's small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, and perfect for slipping into your hand bag. I carry my with me all day for touch ups on the go. 

As the packaging states, this sebum control powder is designed to give you a "soft and powdery finish". I'm not exactly sure what that means really, but doesn't it sound lovely. This powder absorbs all the oil and shine on my face and lasts all day. We haven't hit summer yet, so I can't say for certain that the oil control will last all day when things get really humid here, but if it doesn't it's not a worry as I am happy to touch up throughout the day.

The powder is white, but when rubbed into the skin it becomes translucent and doesn't leave any white residue or noticeable white streaks or lines. As with the Pink Bean highlighter, my only complaint is that the sponge is white, as when applied over my foundation or BB cream, the powder puff undoubtedly gets dirty. But this isn't so much of a worry to me as I am able to buy replacement puffs easily and they are very affordable.

I am loving this new addition to may makeup products, and the packaging is just so sweet. You can find yours at your nearest Innisfree store for W12 000 or online through Gmarket.

For international buyers, I'm afraid I haven't seen it for sale on any of the international sites that sell Korean makeup. When I do I'll be sure to let you know. For now you can find other great Korean products for international purchase at the following online stores: w2 Beauty, Soko Glam and WishTrend.

The Wonderlust Tag

I saw this tag on Emma's blog (Emma is a fellow English Teacher & blogger based here in Korea and blogs over at Cupcake Traveler) and it inspired me to write a post using the Wonderlust tag too. If you do a post on your blog, please do drop me a link so I can read it, or link up on my Facebook page, I'd love to know more about you x

1. Your most treasured passport stamp?

I had to spend a bit of time thinking about this question. I think it would be a mixture of my first South Korean stamp which I got when moving to Korea the first time back in 2010, and then the stamp for Greece which we got when we went on honeymoon in 2012. 

2. Can you recite your passport # from memory if asked?

Ummm...no. I might be able to if I didn't have to also try and remember 2 sets of South African ID numbers, passport numbers and Korean ID numbers...now I have to rely on scanned coppies of all of the above in my emails.

3. Preferred method of travel; planes, trains or automobiles?

Planes, trains, bikes and feet! I don't really have a preference, I think time would be the only limiting factor for me. Trains are great when you don't have to be anywhere in a hurry (especially the overnight train we took in Vietnam). Also, we have spent a fair amount of time in buses too as they tend to work out better for our pockets (and of course when time is a again not too much of an issue). As I am quite little (5'5 to be exact) I can usually curl up easily anywhere, and so legroom on planes/buses isn't too much of a problem for me....I guess it also helps having someone who doesn't mind having me leaning on him ALL THE TIME.

4. Top 3 travel items?

Down travel pillow, kikoy (a cotton towel/sarong/blanket/) and my iPhone (for quick snaps and it's indispensable 'maps' & hotel booking app features).

5.  Hostel or hotel?

Both. If it were up to my husband, we would never stay in a hotel. But, I am, as he calls, rather 'precious' and he doesn't mean it in the princess kind of way, and I have a habit of breaking out in rather unsightly rashes and bites when staying in hostels. But, I love the experience, and right now our budget only caters for hostels, and we have had all sorts of adventures staying in them. I may be a city girl, but I am rather adaptable (and with the help of my own pillow) can sleep anywhere.

6. Are you a repeat visitor or do you explore new places?

We have yet to go to the same place twice, there are just far too many places to explore in this world, and not enough time to see anything more than once. Having said that, the one place we would go back to, again and again, would be Greece.

You can see photographs from some of our travels by clicking here>>> Vietnam, Malaysia, Greece, Cambodia, Hong Kong & the Phillipines)

7.  Do you read up on your destination (culture, history, safety) or do you wing it?

We pretty much wing our holidays. I don't think this is the best way to travel, but we enjoy feeling like we are the first people to experience something or see a particular place. It's not for everyone, but we enjoy our travels and so far so good!

I usually do a quick search for the top things to do in a particular place, and then rely on locals and their recommendations for attractions/restaurants and activities. As we don't get very long for our holidays, we find ourselves constantly on the move (which we enjoy as we like to jam pack as much as we can into a trip, knowing we will mostly not be returning).

8. Favourite travel website?

I spend quite a lot of time on Trip Advisor, and then highly recommend apps like Orbitz and Hotels.com for great deals on places to stay (they often have amazing discounts for using the app too!). I spend a lot of time on forums and personal travel blogs, but it can all get very daunting when first researching a country. I like to have a pen and paper out, as well as Google Maps open so that I can start to get a feel for the place first. Once I have a basic idea of where I want to go, I create an excel spreadsheet and get to planning the finer details. We don't often book accommodation in advance (this has worked both well, and worked terribly in the past!) but again, we like to wing our travels and not be too tied down, as often we will really like a place and want to stay much longer there, or really not like a place want to cut our stay shorter. Having a good skeleton planned in Excel helps a lot, and then allowing yourself breathing room when it comes to accommodation works for us. 

9. Where would you recommend a friend to visit? Name the city & why

Here is a small list:

Hoi Ann in Vietnam for their tailors, incredible night life and delicious food

Lazy Island, Koh Rong Saloem in Cambodia (just off Sihanoukville) for the wonderful, quiet & relaxed beach atmosphere and their incredible hosts. They have a small selection of beach bungalows and the island is small and peaceful, the perfect place to unwind.

Buan, South Korea our current home town. It's small, and very much in the countryside and gives you a real feel of genuine Korea. It's close to the beaches and not too far from the major cities. And we live here and can show you around :)

10. You’re leaving tomorrow, money is no option, where are you going? 

On a roadtrip in a vintage (but carefully checked by a mechanic) comfy RV motorhome to explore America. 

Introducing WishTrend...helping you get your hands on South Korean beauty products

A lot of my readers have been wanting to know how they can get their hands on some of the amazing skincare and beauty products here in South Korea. Todays post is about an online beauty haven filled with make-up, skin care products, hair care and beauty tools as well as bits for the man in your life.

WishTrend is a South Korean based online beauty store specialising in products that are really popular here in Korea, but that many people may not have heard.  WishTrend has introduced over 400 products from 30 brands to 50 countries with more than 100,000 loyal customers, and is still growing! Their tag line is this:

We believe that as long as you ‘WISH’ to be beautiful, you will be beautiful. We explore the world to find the best cosmetics and introduce them to them to beauty inspired explorers.

The website itself is set up in a very clear way, and you can easily find what you are looking for using the categories function.

WISHTrend also stocks beauty boxes called WishBoxes which are filled with different goodies in a particular theme or product line.

Here is a small selection of some of their best selling products:

I have recently become an affiliate with WishTrend and what this means is that if you use my link to purchase something from their store, I receive a small commission from the sale. I am in no way endorsed by WishTrend, and all of the reviews I do of their products will always be honest and be my own. Affiliate links are not a way for bloggers to make a sneaky buck off you, but are rather a way for us to to earn a tiny amount of money for the work we put into our blog.

Wishtrend offers free shipping on orders over $69 and your package will include loads of free samples too! Any order over $129 and you get yourself free EMS shipping (EMS is the premium shipping method here in Korea and you get your goodies within 5 days - 9 days).

I was sent the following Klairs Illuminating BB cream and will be doing a review on it soon. 

For my South African readers here is a little information on shipping costs and times:

Shipping Cost

Standard Shipping: 13 USD

EMS shipping: 45 USD 

Delivery Time 

Standard Shipping: over 30 business days

EMS shipping: 5-9 business days

Here is a little collection of what I've got my eye on in their store, although every time I visit their site my wish list gets longer and longer...The First Boosting Essence, Ciracle Radience Eye Miracle, WishBox Nail Polish Box, Ciracle Pimple Solution CC Cream, ElishaCoy 3D Spin Cleaner, OST Original Pure Vitamin C20 Serum + Vitamin Sleep 9 to 5 Crema, MISQS Creme de Velvet Lip Matte in Iron Lady or Burgundy

You can find WishTrend at the following places:

Facebook/Twitter/Blog/Pinterest

And one more way for you to save, if you enter this code 052313605 at check out, you save yourself $5...pretty cool hey?

Happy shopping!

Our new apartment in Korea {the before photographs}

A few weeks ago I posted some photographs of our apartment here in South Korea. Since then we have moved into a much larger (but very much older) apartment and have spent the past few weeks getting stuck into scrubbing, clearing and DIYing.

In my haste to get my hands dirty, I didn't take very many (or any good quality) photographs to show you the real 'before' shots, but here is what I do have. We took over this apartment from a good friend who finished up his time here and went back home. In no way are we saying he was a dirty creature, but, mess and clutter and dirt has a way of slowly creeping up on you, to the point where you don't even notice it anymore. And if you're not an OCD cleaning machine like I am, then you wouldn't even notice the layers of grim collecting in all the nooks and crannies. So, these pictures are pretty bad...We love you Owen, but boy oh boy did we have our work cut out for us moving into your place :)

Some of these photographs were from the day we moved in, and others are from a few days after when things were tidied up. The weather on both of those days doesn't help the photographs, and makes everything look worse. It wasn't pretty for those first few days...

The Kitchen:

Dining Area (part of the Kitchen)

Main Bedroom

Bathroom

Lounge & Front Patio

Spare Room (to become Farmboy's Man Cave)

Second spare room (to become my office)

Laundry/Outside Patio

So as you can see, we have a huge amount of space to work with, and that alone was enough to help us look through the mess. This will probably end up being one of the biggest houses/apartments we ever live in, and is more than triple the size of the first flat we lived in after being married in 2012. 

Since these pictures were taken we have spent countless hours scrubbing and cleaning, sticking, moving, spraying and throwing out. Make sure to pop back next week to see how our little home is coming along.

Do you have any great cleaning tips to pass on? We don't know whether to replace the bathroom tiles (a big expense to spend on a place we will probably only be in for another year or two) or any other tips for getting rid of mould and grime? I'd love to hear from you!