There were so many things that I wanted to pack, but how do you choose what to bring when you are moving to a whole new country and you can only bring two 50lb bags. I am now settled into my new digs and there are a few things that I am so glad a packed and a few things I wish that I had packed. I brought my favorite blanket and one small Jellyfish stuffed animal. I am so glad I brought these things; although small, they help make this new space feel more like home. Surprisingly, I think I packed too many clothes... okay that might not be surprising... I wish that I would have taken some clothes out and packed some kind of wall decoration. My walls are so bare, I wish that I had packed some kind of tapestry or framed picture to make it feel more like home. But overall, there is nothing important that I forgot! Phew! It is such a relief to have the whole packing/unpacking stage behind me with relative ease.
This is a conscious flow word vomit:
I am leaving the country to move to South Korea for at least a year. I know less than a hand full of people in my new ENTIRE COUNTRY. Which is terrifying, also it is very exciting, I feel like I will grow so much through this journey. I am mostly shocked at how fast everything happened. I started my application to teach in South Korea in October, I was accepted in the CIEE teaching program at the beginning of December. In a very short time I was accepted to start teaching. Completion of my application probably took a little over a month and once that process was done I knew I was accepted within days. Upon knowledge of my acceptance, I knew that I technically wouldn't have a job until an interview with schools but my chances of a job was very likely. After acceptance I had to accept entrance into the program and also pay program fees within ten days. During this process I was constantly checking blogs and pinterest to see someone else's similar experience, but I found nothing. I want to show my step by step process with a timeline in case anyone is interested in doing the same thing. After the first ten days of acceptance into the program, I payed my dues (which they are very flexible and if you need to pay with multiple cards or do something interesting with payment they will work with you). The people at CIEE are very kind and will always be willing to work with you and take you step-by-step. I regularly emailed them with stupid questions, and they were always quick with an informative answer. The next step after that is to get an apostille copy of your college diploma and an apostille FBI background check. The apostille college diploma might take you a day or two, but the FBI background check apostilled takes at the soonest 2 1/2 weeks. To give you a time line I was accepted to start teaching at the beginning of December for a schoool year that starts on March 2nd. You want to get your apostilled documents completed as soon as possible. It took me till the first week of January to finish these documents. Once I had these documents finished, I had a skype interview with an actual school. The interview was very similar to most interviews I have had in my life. They asked the usual questions weaknesses/strengths and goals. Within two hours of my interview, I heard from my in country CIEE recruiter that they LOVED me and that they wanted to offer me a job. After the interview, I received a contract within 24 hours. I carefully read over the terms of my contract and accepted the contract within 24 hours of receiving it. At this point, it was the end of January and I had multiple documents to send my new employer. Then the waiting began.... FOREVER... It took two weeks to receive from my new employers my Visa Issuance #. Without this number, I couldn't even book my flight. By this time, it was February and I knew that the first day of school with my new job was less than a month away and I still didn't know my leaving date. THIS DROVE ME CRAZY. Apparently this is normal with teaching in South Korea. They hire their teachers (in my opinion last minute) right before they need them which makes the final month before you leave the country feel rushed. I just sent today (February 5) to the Korean Consulate my visa application. Hopefully I will receive my visa back within 5 business days. Pretty much right after I get my visa I will leave the country. So now during the time while I wait to leave the country, I am pairing down my belongings to the bare minimum, learing essentiail Korean, and earning my TEFL certificaitn (teaching English as a foreign language). It has been a crazy few months and everything has been moving fast. If you are considering teaching in South Korea, know that it will move fast, and check out this blog soon with the next update in my journey. Also check out CIEE with info about their teaching abroad programs. Feel free to comment with any questions. www.ciee.org www.gofundme.com/eucx6hc4 Breakfast tacos are one of my favorite things to eat in the morning. Its full of protein and healthy fats while being a delicious change to the normal breakfast routine. In our house, every Tuesday is Taco Tuesday; so we always have most taco ingredients laying around. You could basically make your taco with whatever ingredients you have in the house. I always try to have some kind of meat (usually left overs), a fried (in coconut oil) tortilla, cheese, and a sunny side up or an over medium egg. You could use scrambled eggs but the runny yoke is the best part! Those are the basic building blocks, but after that you can go crazy with spices, condiments, and veggies! Ingredients1 Corn Tortilla 1 tbsp Coconut Oil 1 tbsp Butter 1 Egg 1 tbsp Mexican Blend Cheese 1/2 tsp Sriracha 1/2 tbsp sour cream 1/3 cup Chicken (or any other choice of meat, leftovers work great for this) Heat oil in skillet to medium/high. Cook corn tortilla till golden brown on both sides 2-4 minutes. Remove tortilla from pan onto paper towel. Turn heat down to medium add butter, in same pan cook your egg over medium 2-4 min. Use half of the pan to cook your egg and the other half add your left over meat shredded to heat up. Once egg is cooked and meat is warm assemble all ingredients on top of the tortilla. VideoI made a video to document one of the many times that I have made this dish. I actually made a mistake by having my pan too hot. This video goes to show that no matter how many times you make a dish you can still make mistakes. The end result was not very pretty but still VERY delicious! As the weather gets colder and the leaves start to change, everyone is pulling out their cardigans, PSL, and turning in the pink lipsticks of summer to dark lipsticks and nudes. I love Fall and more importantly I love changing to Fall lip colors. Normally my mind goes to deep magentas, plum, and deep reds, but lately I've been obsessed with NUDES! Going to the deep dark colors that are so popular in the Fall can be a little scary as a fashion risk. If you are not used to such bold makeup choices but are wanting to have your makeup reflect the seasons changing I recommend some of my favorite nudes. Lorac Alter EGO Lipstick in SocialiteLorac Socialite is one of my favorite nude lipstick. It is highly pigmented and a cream lipstick which makes it have a matte finish. It also has a very pleasant smell with some vanilla undertones which makes it smell almost like baked goods. It's a little bit of an expensive lipstick at $16 but currently it is on sale at ulta for only $8! tréStique matte lip crayon in Nantucket NudeI love the packaging of the tréStique lip crayons! They are small, compact, and come in many different colors. Nantucket nude is starting to become one of my favorite colors. Many nude lip colors you have to be careful that they aren't too cool of a color otherwise you will look like a corpse. This shade has just the right amount of pinkish undertones to be a nice warm neutral color. I actually got this mini lip crayon in my ipsy bag which was a great deal since a full size one is $28 but you can get straight from tréStique this bundle where you can pick three different mini crayons for $32! Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in CharmThis is by far one of my favorite lip colors of all! I have had this stain for a very long time, and since it is a stain it does not need to be reapplied after I eat. The color lasts for quite a long time. The color is a little bit more peachy but I think it is super versatile and I usually wear this regularly year round! It is about $10 for this one and thankfully you can buy it pretty much anywhere! Some of the places that usually carry this product is Target, Walgreens, Walmart, Kroger, and Ulta. And it has a very nice refreshing peppermint scent! NYX Butter Lip Balm/Lipstick in Pops, Marshmallow, CirceIt is no secret that I love NYX products. NYX probably makes up a little less than half of my lipstick collection. The products are smooth, pigmented, come in many shades, and my favorite part affordable! Each of these products range from $4-$6 and the butter lipstick and butter lip balm were both products I got as part of my Ipsy bag! I would have to say that the Circe Lipstick is my favorite though! The other two have more of a matte finish where Circe has a gloss finish!
What's your favorite nude lipstick? And what Fall fashion trend are you most excited about?? Comment below to tell me what you think! I love burgers! But honestly who doesn't?! I probably cook burgers once a week or once every other week. But lately I have been doing the same burgers over and over... so it was getting a little boring. I love just a simple seasoned burger on the grill topped with lettuce, tomato, pickles, ketchup, and mustard. Every now and then you have to break up the routine and make some new toppings choices and change the patty. Add Bacon to the patty!I season my patties with just some salt, pepper, and worcestershire sauce. Then I add some beautiful thick cut bacon right into the patty. Cut the bacon into half inch long strips. Then form your patty and put four chunks of bacon mixed right in. So Beautiful! Then let your formed burgers chill in the fridge with a dollop of BBQ sauce right on top of each patty. Grill your burgers for about 10 min (flip at 5 min), and while you are grilling you can prep your toppings. I caramelize LOTS of onions and put my left over bacon in a 350 degree oven for 30 min. Once the burgers are cooked I turn the grill off put cheese on each burger and let them sit on the grill till the cheese is melted and this gave me some extra time to finish on my toppings. Also use this time to make an amazing side. I recommend parmesan potato wedges. Assemble toppings
Much thanks to my brother Jonathan for this collaboration. I'm glad that we both live in a world where "too much bacon" does not exist!
How to make a fresh Fall flower crown with Russian SageRussian Sage is the perfect canvas for an amazing flower crown because the stems are long enough that one branch cut at the base is long enough to go around your entire head. It is thin enough to be bent into a shape and thick enough to stay in that shape. Once your crown is dry you have a real flower crown that can be used over and over. I love this because most fresh flower crowns wilt and can only be used for one day. SInce this one is an herb it keeps its form and even looks better once it is dried out. It also has a lovely lavender like smell which is an awesome bonus. In the future I might try adding some fake flowers to make it even more full since this is such an amazing crown base.
I recently relocated from the Atlanta area to a town just outside of Denver. I lived in Georgia my whole life and after 23 years of being in the same place, I decided to make a change. There are so many new things to me in Colorado: lack of trees (in GA there are trees EVERYWHERE like you can barely see the sky through all the trees), dry (SOOO dry, I feel like I have to bathe in lotion every day), and MOUNTAINS! I fell in love with the mountains instantly. I had never experience any thing like them, and I certainly had never hiked one. My first few weeks in mountain country, I went on a nature hikes in the Rocky Mountain National Park, and instantly I thought that I was a master hiker. I decided to climb my first 14k feet elevation peak thinking that it was gonna be similar to my walks in the park. Oh boy was I wrong. Quandary PeakWith an elevation of 14,265 feet and 6.75 mile round trip, we (my sister-in-law and I) were told that this was a beginner 14er. I am an averagely active person and the idea of around 3.4 miles to the top of a mountain sounded achievable to me. If you are interested in knowing more about the peak (were to park, where the trail head is located) go here. Thoughts I had at the beginning of the hike:We had done all the prep work needed. I went to the thrift store the day before and bought my windbreaker jacket and hiking pants, and I went by Target and purchased a small backpack with a water bladder and lots of snacks. I read lots of blogs and felt like I had all the supplies that I needed; I thought I was prepared. As far as supplies go I was very prepared, but emotionally I had no idea what I was in for. Thoughts during the hike:"It's taken me an hour to walk one mile" "Did a 7 year old just pass me?!" "Everyone on the mountain can hear how hard I am breathing" "Why can't I breathe?" "Is it time for a break yet?" "Where did all the trees go?" "What am I going to pee behind without any trees?" "Did a 70 year old just pass me?!" "My heart is pounding out of my head! "I've walked 20 steps...break time." "Where is the path?" "Everyone on this mountain has passed me." "Did that 12 year old just tell me 'You can do it, don't give up!'?" "I hate that kid." "I'm gonna stop to take a picture of this beautiful view, but really I just want an excuse to take a break." "I'm gonna die on this mountain." "I hope I don't see a bear." There are very few people that hike their first 14er and find it easy. It is difficult no matter how in shape you are. The air is very thin and even if you walk on the stair master 3 hours every day the change in altitude is going to hit you like a ton of bricks. It is impossible to not feel self conscious about your performance on the mountain even though no one is going to judge you. From my experience, hikers are the nicest people in the world and are always willing to give you a word of encouragement. When we were "almost" at the top it felt like we would never make it and I probably was told at least 15 times "Your almost there!"(I kind of hated all the hikers and their optimism). I also found out about myself that when faced with a mountain sized obstacle I will not give up, but I will complain 95% of the time. So if you are planning your first 14er, heed my warning. Don't give up and feel free to laugh, cry, whine, or whatever you need to do to get to the top. But be prepared to have lots of feels. FYI, don't be disappointed when you find out there is no Taco Bell at the top of the mountain. Trust me, I looked.
|
AuthorFlowers, Food, Free-spirit Archives
October 2015
Categories
All
|