The beauty of connecting...

My best friend during junior high and high school; the amazing, beautiful, talented, inspirational, positive, and sweatest heart I know, Jessica Hoffman, has embarked on a journey she calls: "30 Days of Beauty," where she creates 1 new daily video about something she believes is beautiful!  I have been so inspired by some of her messages that I've felt the need to share them with you!

Days 1-15...

Day 1 The Beauty of Beginning

Day 2 The Beauty of Inspiration

Day 3 The Beauty of Balloons

Day 4 The Beauty of Compliments

Day 5 The Beauty of Baking

Day 6 The Beauty of a Journey

Day 7 The Beauty of Discipline

Day 8 The Beauty of a Road Trip

Day 9 The Beauty of a Crown

Day 10 The beauty of a Sunset

Day 11 The Beauty of a Lip Gloss

Day 12 The Beauty of Literature

Day 13 The Beauty of a Wish

Day 14 The Beauty of a Dream

But today's post really struck me, because it was called:

Day 15 The Beauty of Connecting...



"In this digital, facebook age we live in, it's a rare treasure to actually connect with the people in your life on a one on one, face to face level... but what a joy it is." Living 3738 miles from home makes connecting with loved ones really difficult for me... and I've seen some of my favorite relationships fade to dust, if you will, because of the distance.  I'm a little bit sad this morning, thinking of the joys that we get from connecting with good friends and family, and how I'm really missing out on that by living so far away.  Facebook just isn't cutting it for me anymore!  So, with that, I'm urging you to take 5 minutes out of your day to e-mail me (calocal@aol.com) or skype chat me (jillersanderson) and let me know how you're doing!  It's only fair right, since I share every detail of my life with you! :) 

So, let's connect!  I'll be here all day! :)

First glimpse of the new place!

This dining area of my apartment is was the ONLY part of my apartment that was finished as of Thursday night...

But by Friday night, I realized I wanted to scratch the red and flower scheme and go for blue instead!  So with some left over fabric from the new duvet and bed pillows I made, I sewed some pillows and recovered the wall canvases!

Ahhh, much better!

My new place is slowly coming together and I'm loving it more and more every time I come home to it!

Baking breakfast!

I've been living in Korea for 23 months now (almost 2 years, WOW!), and I have never, ever, ever, had an oven in my apartment - until NOW!!!  Yes, that's right!  I have a tiny oven! 

This morning, I took fulll advantage of my new little tiny oven, and made myself a batch of delicious, and long awaited, home made, mini sized blueberry muffins!

Isn't it ironic...??

# 1:  You know how I was so excited about the idea of living above a restaurant?!  Well, that was, until I realized that it's a 24-hour restaurant... and their lovely (insert sarcasm here), gigantic neon sign (which happens to be hanging right outside my bedroom window) makes it look like the afternoon sun is shinning through at all times of the night!  Isn't it ironic?!

# 2:  I've been internet researching netbooks online for the past week, because my macbook air hasn't been charging (so, it basically only stays on for 3 minutes and then - wala... shuts off!  uuuuggghhh)  So, this afternoon, I went over to a gigantic computer wholesale warehouse near Nampodong and bought myself a new computer!  Then, literally, as soon as I got home with my new "travel size" netbook, my macbook air decided to work perfectly!  Isn't it ironic?!

# 3: Lastly, I'm dating a 29 year old man, but as we're sitting here in my neighborhood's PC bang (because my internet is down), he's playing none other than... drumroll please... STARCRAFT!  Yes, Starcraft!  And I quote: "Dude!  I'm playing Starcraft!  I don't know how to do it!  Oh, oh, oh!  Wow, I'm movin'!  Look at me go!"  Might I add, we make fun of this game everyday, because our students think it's amazing!  Isn't it ironic?!

Gossip Magazine Project

Last year, my aunt Debby sent me a ton of STAR magazines to keep me up on my celebrity gossip while I was out of the country!  After reading through them, I put them to good use!  Today in my English winter camp, each student had to make their own magazine by cutting out pictures and writing sentences about each picture!  

They literally wouldn't stop!  They loved looking through gossip magazines!  I even gave them break time to get up and play, but no one left their desks!  haha!

They worked so hard on these that I didn't have any extra time to teach other stuff for the day!  I love days like this! 

Cheers to gossip magazines making my day of teaching a breeze!  Thanks aunt Debby!