December 11, 2013

sunshine bloggers

alas, here goes another belated post! 

apologies and thank you to wander to wonder, speak style rock and buddy the mutt for tagging me as a sunshine blogger {such a cute name!}. there seems to be varying rules with this as well so i'll tweak a bit -- stating 5 random facts, answering 5 questions, tagging 5 bloggers and asking 5 of my own questions. 

random facts: 
01 //  i trained all my childhood as a flautist at the manhattan school of music. it was actually my mama's dream to see me on stage. few months before auditioning to juilliard's pre-college division.. i quit. thankfully my mama didn't hold it against me. 

02 // back then i wasn't afraid of being on stage, in front of people and judges, but as i got older it began to terrify me. i guess it's different than playing an instrument, but i really don't enjoy speaking in public {but my previous jobs required it..! needless to say, i had a lot of sucking up to do.}

03 // i used to have this obsessive habit of memorizing things from the olympics.. like the figure skaters from the 1988 calgary games and gymnasts from the 1992 barcelona olympics. when we had to move to the dc area in 2010, i picked silver spring, maryland, because i remembered that dominique dawes was from there. i thought .. hmm.. she's from there.. it must be a good place. i'm so simple minded. when i told yangkyu my reasoning he was floored. he's more of a google research guy. 

04 // piri is not my first cocker spaniel! i had one as a child. i named him bobby after a boy in my second grade class. 

05 // yangkyu and i met at a non-profit where i worked {he was a long-time member}. he drove me to my hotel after my interview for the position and afterwards i gushed to my friend about how i thought he was really cute. 8 years after being friends, dating other people, living in different cities, reuniting in new york and finally dating each other, we were married in new rochelle, new york, overlooking the beautiful long island sound. it was one of the happiest days of my life.

questions from speak style rock
01 // what is your life motto? 
treat others the way you like to be treated. i try to take bad experiences and learn from it. we've all probably been there - fall out with a friend, nasty work environments, lonely days at school. i think if people go through being hurt, they wouldn't want others to feel that way. i'm not perfect, but i try to be more conscious about my actions based on my experience. i also try to practice giving the benefit of the doubt. i've come to realize that people may not always have bad intentions behind their actions and words. i've been misunderstood and it's one of the most frustrating feelings i've felt. so before i react to a negative situation, i take a step back and think if i may be misunderstanding them. 

02 // who is your role model? 
my parents. my mama gave up her job to raise me and my brother. sometimes stay at home moms get a bad rap, but i think being a mom is the hardest job out there. it doesn't start at 9 am and end at 5 pm. and my mama has been living with a mental illness for a number of years now but she still teaches me life's most important values. and my papa - he was once a big corporate person but our life's difficulties has changed him. now he lives a minimal, humble life. there were many moments in my life when my parents could not be there for me and my papa always thanks me for turning out alright. but i always tell him i wouldn't be who i am without them. 

03 // has this year 2013 so far been better than last year? 
we had some downs this year. yangkyu lost his mother in february, which was really hard on him. subsequently we had to stop plans on some things we were working towards, like buying a house due to our pregnancy issue. but there were definitely great moments as well. not sure if it was better than last year, but we'll count our blessings for all the good things in our lives. 

question from buddy the mutt 
04 // what do you like most about your current pet(s)? dislike?
i like everything about piri. his sniffs, wet nose, cuddles but also his fierce independence. i don't dislike anything about him. how can i? look at his face! 

05 // if you could go anywhere in the world for free, where would you go? 
i want to go the obvious places like japan, france, finland, norway, sweden, great britain and italy, but there is also a place i learned about during a class in college - kizhi pogost. there is a church there that was built without using a single nail. i've always been intrigued and wanted to go. i love beautiful, unique architecture. 

***

thank you for reading! i'm passing on the sunshine and tagging the following blogs that i currently enjoying reading -- the cat you and us, kid granny, true my lens, hello ellie and us on cloud 9. 

my questions to you bloggers -- 
01 // where is your happy place?
02 // how do you unwind from a stressful day? 
03 // what is the one act of kindness that you still remember to this day?
04 // what is a cause that is near and dear to you? and why?
05 // share one tip or advice on anything - life, school, work, on living a happy life, etc.

i love days like this.. with snow and hot chocolate and blueberry muffins in the oven.

yesterday was long and slow.. and i loved it. 

dc had a snow day which forced yangkyu to work from home. it was nice having him around the house during a weekday. piri took less naps because i think he too liked having him home. 

we had hot chocolate, watched the snow fall, baked blueberry chocolate chip muffins and listened to the nutcracker on vinyl. when our favorite - the spanish dance - played, piri grabbed his nutcracker toy and played with it. it was just the perfect moment. 

christmas presents started coming in the mail, unexpected gifts too and more art prints for our gallery wall made their way into our mailbox. 

our weekly flowers, ranunculus in brilliant red, were in full bloom and we watched the sunset with the sky glowing in violet and orange. 

i really do love days like this.  

December 10, 2013

gift guide for the animal lover

are you almost done with holiday gift shopping?
no? 
do you have an animal lover in your life?
well, then i think this little gift guide might just be something you're looking for. 
it's some of the cutest stuff you can find online. 

01 // asos panda sweater
02 // custom pet portrait watercolor
03 // red dog mug set 
04 // cloud7 hand-carved birch dog whistle
05 // turtle pillow covers
06 // paper pups origami book 
07 // weiner dog oil and vinegar set 
08 // crazy cat lady cotton tote bag 
09 // dog and cat necklaces 
10 // found tote with removable travel leash 
11 // claudia pearson brooklyn dog tea towel
12 // be brave art print 
13 // sock bunny 

over the weekend, me and yangkyu did the whole "i'll tell you what i got you if you tell me" deal. we almost fell for each other's "come ons" and "pleases" but decided to be adults and wait until christmas morning. but guess what happened yesterday? i accidentally saw what my present was. so there goes christmas morning surprise but that's ok. i'm crazy happy with what i got. 

ps - do you have a dog? piri has a holiday wish list that may just appeal to your furry family member. 

December 9, 2013

it snowed which made us happy, but now it's all slush and ice. it must be monday.

how was your weekend?

we got real snow for the first time around here. snow that actually stuck. but now it's all slushy and it's one big icy mess outside. piri and i were slippin and sliding during our morning walk today.

i can't wait to start baking those holiday cookies for friends and family this year. i picked up pretty packaging at world market. i don't go there often but when i do i'm reminded of all the neat stuff they have. makes me want to pick up something in every aisle. 

i also got reacquainted with the phantom of the opera and became insanely addicted. i read the book in elementary school, memorized the soundtrack in junior high school and saw the play at the majestic theatre in my mid-twenties then forgot about it.. until i saw the 25th anniversary performance at royal albert hall on netflix and it brought back all these memories. yangkyu once again was puzzled to see how i knew the words to all these songs {old musicals.. disney movies... i know too many songs from those..}. i found myself watching the 2004 movie as well as the theatre sequel, love never dies. yeah. talk about getting hooked.

hope you all have a great week ahead! 
 ^^ still likes being under the tree. some of piri's presents came in the mail over the weekend. including some from his wish list. ^^
^^ bed heads. we took this right after we woke up on saturday. i said "just for our eyes." oh well. now it's on the internet you guys. ^^

December 6, 2013

have a merry weekend.

hooray for the weekend. this week was a bit funky for us. weather wise that is. it's been warm. reached the sixties yesterday. today we're enjoying a quiet day indoors since rain decided to pay us a visit. as i write this, piri is snoring on our bed in front of the space heater. he looks incredibly adorable. 

what do you have planned for the weekend? 

we're picking up pretty parchment and wax paper, gift boxes and cello bags to send our holiday cookies in. i did a test run of some jelly filled butter cookies last night and they were tasty! we're going to use these pretty downloadable holiday tags created by jessica over at the creative index {she's so talented! and her cocker spaniel looks just like mine!} and hopefully these cookies will be shipped by next week. crossing my fingers! 

our holiday cards also came in the mail yesterday. they are from minted. i love them. {i actually love their entire non-photo card collection}. we opted to do a non-photo card this year. i love the typography, the greeting and the simple sign-off. so we'll also be writing notes to our friends and family members all weekend long. this is really the best part about christmas. writing snail mail. 

hope your weekend is merry and bright! 

ps - i laughed so hard{!!} at some of the childhood christmas stories you shared on this post. thank you so much for sharing them. oh the things our parents did to make us believe in santa. i was also very touched at non-memory related comments about hard working parents. made me realize to hug my parents extra harder. they live in korea now so this morning i sent them an e-hug. extra hard e-hug. 

pps - enter for a chance to win an ipad mini here!