If you follow me on Instagram, you'll see that most of the pictures I post are of Miso and Bo. And really, I can't stop. And of course, when Twitter tells you time and time again that you have the cutest cats on the Internet, why would you even consider not posting pictures of your cats sleeping, sleeping, and sleeping? Because I love my kitters so dang much, I also love cat versus human so dang much! I'm not sure when exactly I found this website (maybe through the lovely Diana at Our City Lights?), but when I first saw it, I spent hours looking through all the comics and laughing hysterically because Yasmine Surovec, the artist and genius behind cat versus human, completely draws your life. Anyway, I recommend you check it out, even if you don't compulsively take pictures of your cats doing absolutely nothing. Here's one of my favorites:
Bo is a pretty regular In-Betweener, while Miso has been known to employ the Pillow Takeover tactics and loves The Butt Warmer. Hopefully when Jude comes, he'll sleep in his own bed from the beginning so I don't have even more competition for the covers!
Hello my lovelies! I thought I'd do a roundup of my favorite posts that I wrote during my first year spent in Seoul. I moved to Cheonho in February of 2008 and we were married February 2009 and then took off for our 6 month honeymoon. After that, we moved to Wonju and spent almost two years there AND NEVER BOUGHT ONE SINGLE ROLL OF TOILET PAPER. No, I'm serious. I never bought toilet paper while we lived in that house because Kenny's friends and family had brought us toilet paper, Kleenex, and laundry detergent as housewarming gifts. I still think it's awesome.
So, anyway, I thought I'd share with you some of the best memories I made and some of the most profound moments I had when I lived in this big city a few years ago. Talk about self-referential, I know. Many of you might have started reading this blog after VEDA last August, so I thought it might be some background for the newer peeps as well. So, if you've got nothing to do, click through the archives and have a look!
Teacher, Teacher! I used to teach at an English preschool and my kids were hilarious. They also induced nervous breakdowns and lots of yelling, but mostly they were funny!
How to Be Surprised. This post is a reflection on what I felt when I am confronted with true vulnerability in others. And myself.
Subway BFF. This is part of the Imagine All The People series that's been defunct for a while, but which I'm planning to revive soon!
New Year, New Family. Reflections on the Lunar New Year celebrated with Kenny's family a few weeks before our wedding.
And those are some of the posts I most enjoyed reading and most enjoy rereading. Hope you enjoyed them, too! Also, check here in case you missed the Apartment Tour Video or my Expectations video on YouTube. Subscribe, yo!
Hi guys! Happy Valentine's Day! I hope everyone is enjoying something you love or spending time with someone you love. I'm not going to do a mushy post about how in love I am (I'm saving that for next Monday, my 2 year wedding anniversary!). Instead, here's a list of things I am loving at the moment, around the web and whatnot.
1.First, in case everyone thinks I hate the Internet because of last Friday's post about Facebook, I don't! I love the Internet! And so does this guy. Ze Frank is very, very cool. This is what "connection" over the web looks like and feels like.
2. I've just discovered this, via Chester Copperpot and her pretty much infallible taste in music. I'm pretty sure this is one of the most beautiful videos I've ever watched!
3. Anything and everything Garrison Keillor. I'm currently reading Lake Wobegon Summer 1956. I've never read anything by him before, but my grandmother used to play a Lake Wobegon tape series on the way to family reunions. I remember loving to listen to him tell those stories and sing snippets of hymns. He introduced me to rhubarb pie. I might still have those tapes in my closet somewhere, but I wouldn't have anything to play them on. Instead, I listen to the weekly podcast of the Lake Wobegon bit of Prairie Home Companion. Seriously, if you don't love this guy, I'm not sure we can be friends. ;)
4. marc johns. I spent hours scrolling through his work the other day. It's simple, fun, and oftentimes hilarious.
Have a good week, lovelies! What are you loving, lately?
Hello my name is Danielle, and I am obsessed with a number of things at the moment. Besides iced caramel macchiato. That's pretty much a given on any day. And because it's late and because I'd rather be singing with my husband (We're in a singing phase. He plays guitar. We sing. You wish you were us, I know), a list.
via my new favorite blog I Am Photograph, actually found via my other new favorite blog, A Beautiful Mess. Watch this video. For reals.
Next, I have become slightly entirely bewitched by Internet shopping now that I've got a PayPal account. Turns out this was a huge mistake. It's so easy to push the little button and all my info is filled out and all I have to do is click. I should really wait until all my stuff arrives (of course I order from across the world and must have everything shipped to Korea, which takes FOR-EV-UR) and make a huge post, but I can't wait. This is my new winter way to make Koreans smile before noon! I'm pretty sure it's just as good as this one.
I bought this at Red Velvet Art owned by the lovely Elsie of aforementioned A Beautiful Mess. Really, this list is more like connect the dots.
Number Three: The picture above was taken with my iPhone and my latest App infatuation: Instagram. This is my favorite photo app so far, although I'm still loving the Hipstamatic and ShakeItPhoto. But Instagram is just good. It's easy to share your pictures and the quality is fabulous. Here are some of my favorite shots with it so far.
Also, I'm never not obsessed with my cats, but right now I'm obsessed with taking pictures of them. Especially Miso. She's just so photogenic and she looks at the camera and she stays still, like she knows what I'm doing. I'm not going to bore you with my latest series of kitters photos (don't worry, Bo is having his fair share in the spotlight, too). I'll save that for later. Put it on your calendar.
Next on the list is my latest absorption in literature. I'm just devouring it. I just finished Wuthering Heights two days ago. My favorite part: "...he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same." I'm pretty lucky that I feel this way about my husband most of the time. (You can gag now. Go ahead; I'll wait.) Yesterday, I picked up and finished Nora Ephron's I Feel Bad About My Neck and Other Thoughts on Being a Woman. Sharp, moving collection of essays if ever there was one. Today, I began Graham Greene's The Comedians. Next in the queue are another Dave Eggers, Zeitoun, and yet another Vonnegut, Slapstick, because there is no such thing as too much Vonnegut.
Since I began this list of obsessions with music, I think I'll end it there, too. What's playing over and over all day, while I grade papers, while I'm at my desk with 10 minutes to kill between classes, while I run in the middle of the night, while I drive 5 minutes down the street? Well, I'll tell you. Florence + the Machine. I am consumed by this music. Specifically, this:
And this:
And that, my lovelies, is what I am preoccupied with and riveted by these days.
I got out of bed at 7:07 am. I cooked breakfast. I prayed. I went outside to jump some rope, but it was raining. So I had an impromptu dance recital in our living room to burn some of The Belly (which is back with a vengeance might I add). Then I Skyped with my mother, and answered some email. And now I'm blogging. And it's only 10 am! I'm so happy. We'll see if the magic continues for another day. And I encourage you to make your own schedules (but don't make them better than mine because then I'll feel stupid) and post them! Make sure you leave me a link in the comments if you do your own so I can share in your happy dance when you finally achieve your own daily goals!!
For now, I'd like to leave you with a quotation I've been chewing on for a while. It's from the ever-wise words of Tamie, over at the owls & the angels. Seriously, if you're not reading her blog, you should be.
THE EFFORT ISN'T IN VAIN. The effects of the effort may always be a mystery to us. We may not succeed in life in the ways we think we should succeed. We may make the same mistakes, getting hung up in the same places, our entire lives. But, somehow, still, in a way that is held always and only in the heart of God, the effort is not in vain. We have to try with all our hearts, all the while knowing that it is never the trying that will get us there. We have to stop trying and fall on God's mercy alone.
Now, go! Live your awesome lives. And then tell me all about it. ;) <<- First smiley face EVER on this blog. Mark this day in your calendar. History was made. (I blame Korea)
As I was walking back from lunch today with my caramel macchiato disappearing quickly through my straw, I thought about how the woman at the counter smiles, every time, the same smile. She knows what I'm going to say, but still, just in case, she asks me what I would like. And everyday I order the same thing.
And for some reason that made me think about communities. As I continued to walk, it occurred to me that there are two kinds of communities (although I admit there are many more than just two.) One is formed by happy accident, sewn together by our habits, our addictions, or our routes to work. These are the kinds of communities weaving us together with threads of circumstance, proximity, and convenience. We serve each other because it's easy. We interact with each other because we're in the same place and the same time. These types of communities are not chosen. I don't think "Gee. I'm joining a community," when I walk up to the counter and order my daily tall iced caramel macchiato. So, there are the communities that you take part in maybe without even noticing them. And these are also good because when you do notice them you can appreciate them and think how wonderful it is that you've secretly been interacting within a fellowship of all sorts of people and you didn't even know it. But now you're pretty sure that the barista's smile as she hands you her beautiful caffeinated creation is something that helps you get through the rest of your day with the monsters. And you hope that your smile and your cheerful thank you helps her through the rest of the drinks she has to make.
And then there are other kinds of communities. The ones you choose to be a part of. And they take some work. I'm thinking in particular of the expat community here in Korea. It existed for me mostly online, and even then it wasn't something I really participated in. I was on the outside, even from an internet standpoint, too shy to comment or too ready to say exactly what I thought. But when I made an effort to meet these fabulous people in person, it was worth it. Yeah, yeah, blah blah blah, we've heard it all before, you say. Well, perhaps. But. I wanted to be a part of something and it was work, actually. Every time those people get together it's at least an hour away from my house, and it's usually time I spend away from Kenny and time I spend not doing laundry or reading or writing or various other things I could use as excuses. But it's always worth the effort. And I find that it's the communities you work to be a part of that nurture us and help us to grow the most. It's communities like this that come together and support people in need. It's communities like this that teach you how to laugh at life and at yourself. It's communities like this that make your life richer and deeper.
Actually, this isn't at all what I wanted to say. I thought it out and I wrote some notes down in the front of the collection of short stories I'm reading on the train, but it came out all wrong. Oh well. Participating and being part of communities and sharing goals or interests or weirdness or whatever- it's always worth the effort.
Anyway, watch this video. Because it will make your life better. Guess where I found it? Oh yeah, it was over at Tamie's blog. I'm going to have to make a tag soon so that you can look at all the places I've linked to her blog over the course of the past few months. It's getting a little ridiculous and she probably thinks I'm some crazy stalkerish person who reads every post in a pose of anticipation and excitement, never goes away unsatisfied, but does have to cleanse herself of the envy that constantly rises within because her writing is just. that. good. Well, if she thinks that, then she's right! Anyway, watch this video. It's as awesome as you are.
for the awesome linkage I'm about to bestow upon you.
Today was the first Sunday of Advent and I got to participate in it by being part of the group that lit the first candle. I wanted to write something about Advent tonight, but after reading something a friend had written, everything I wrote seemed to be echoing his piece. So, instead, I offer you the original. This is a link to one of my buddy's posts on Advent a few years ago that he was so kind to share with me. You can find it here: Part I, and Part II. I believe that everything he says is spot on and that we waste so much time in our lives by refusing to live expectantly, refusing to feel everything thoroughly. We refuse to do the waiting as the waiting should be done. And I think we're missing things. At least, I think I'm missing things. I just want things to be here and to be now. But this Advent season, as I stood in front of the congregation this morning and sang The First Noel, I allowed myself to be overwhelmed with anticipation... things are coming toward us, sometimes in slow motion. And so many times the slow motion is an opportunity. I plan on taking those opportunities.
Also, Thanksgiving has come and gone and everyone has posted their mandatory list of things they're thankful for. Well, my favorite blogger of all time (who often makes me late to meetings, to work, to appointments, to church, to wherever I'm supposed to be but can't get there on time because I'm reading her blog and can't seem to pull myself away) posted something that seemed so true and I thought that I would share it with you.
On a completely unrelated note, Roboseyo (who seems to be taking over my blog at the moment- was this your plan, Rob? To charm me into plugging your blog ceaselessly?) has done some incredible editing to the stupid video Kenny and I made about ordering food in Korean. He has made it watch-able, entertaining, and actually helpful and informative. So, watch it again because it only gets better! We tried to record me actually ordering the food, but the first place was closing and wouldn't take my order and the second place was no longer serving what I ordered, so both calls were aborted. The next time I order something, I'll try to remember to turn the camera on first. It's much easier to remember all the Korean when you're sitting in your apartment with your boyfriend. It's much harder and incredibly nerve-wracking to actually speak to someone on the other end of the line!
Anyway, hope you enjoyed the linked love I'm sending you this holiday season.
