Wait, is that a keyboard guitar?

A couple weeks ago,  Aaron and I were walking to a restaurant in Nampodong when we heard some music coming from down the street. Usually this means there's a special performance of sorts, so we went to check it out!  Turns out, it was a store opening performance, where these three girls were playing electric instruments, singing, and dancing around in short shorts and stilleto heels, hoping to bring in potential customers!   If that's not enough to make you giggle, this surely will... One of them was playing a keyboard guitar, 80's style, and their song choice: "Cotton Eyed Joe!"

I tell ya, there's never a dull moment around this place!

Dinner Party!

Last night, Aaron, Okk, Craig (Okk's other foreign co-teacher) and I had a little dinner party at my place! :)  Aaron helped me cook up some Vietnamese "make your own spring rolls" ingredients!  We love these things!  You dip Vietnamese rice paper in hot water and it becomes like a tortilla, and you can put whatever ingredients you want inside!  We used egg, crab meat, ham, cheese, chicken, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, mushrooms, red and green bell peppers, and some carrots... and Aaron made his famous Vietnamese peanut dipping sauce! Turns out it was a big hit! :) 

We all sat on the floor in my bedroom (because that's how we do things in Korea!), and had the best time laughing, chatting, playing a phobia game (thank you Aaron for your creativity!), and just enjoying each others company!

Craig and I (and my apron!).

Aaron and Okk.

Cheers to good friends, yummy food, and lots of laughter!

Off to the races!

Last Sunday, Aaron and I rode the scooter, an hour away, to the Busan Gyeongnam (Horse) Race Park...

...where, after parking in the very front row (SCORE)

and paying our .75 cent admission fee (DOUBLE SCORE!),

we found a seat in the outside area of the 32,000 person grandstand...

... and joined the crowds of excited families!  (Yes, families!)  Horse races aren't just for the fancy hat wearing rich folk in America, it's for little kids, too!  They were making up all kinds of cute cheers for the horses they wanted to win the race!

We quickly got settled in, and watched the horses and their jockey's warm up for a bit...

...and then placed our first bets!  Don't be fooled though... it wasn't quite that easy!  We had been here once before, but couldn't remember how to make bets!  So, first, Aaron went on a mission to find betting scantron cards and a list of all the horses and their stats! Luckily, we had our iphones to do some translating, so we had a rough idea of what we were actually doing!

My first bet was for a whole, whopping, $3.50!  I bet that either horse #1 or #8 would win the race!  Luckily, horse #8 won the race... YAY! 

But, it only paid out something like 1 3/4 what I bet, so I actually lost about 25 cents!  Oops!  Lesson learned... don't bet on two different horses to win 1st place!  

Just pick one!

After that race, Aaron found an English pamphlet explaining all the different bets you can make, so the next 3 races, I was a big winner!

...and by big winner, what I mean is, I won $7.00! 

Hey, every dollar counts, right?!

"I wanna make that!"

"Oooh, I wanna make that!" has been something I've found myself saying over and over again this week as I've browsed Pinterest, my new favorite website!  So, yesterday, I decided to make some of those things I've been saying I've wanted to make... although, since I live in Korea, and I can't exactly drive to my local Home Depot, Joanne's, or Michael's for craft supplies, I had to put my resourceful cap on and think outside of the box, to use the things I knew I COULD get in Korea! 

Inspiration # 1:  DIY Coasters!

These were made with 4 inch x 4 inch tiles, some craft paper (Mod Podged) and a piece of felt glued to the bottom.  I will definitly be making these THIS way when I eventually move back to the US, or find a tile store in this country that will sell me 4 tiles! 

Tutorial on: http://lightrefreshmentsserved.com/?s=coasters

Unfortunately, since I have no idea where any tile stores are, I went to where I knew I could find something that would work just as well, DAISO!  DAISO is kind of like the dollar section at Target, but AN ENTIRE STORE worth of it, and they have everything - not always a $1.00 though, from kitchen supplies, school supplies, home decor, gardening tools, baskets, bath accessories, makeup, oragnaizational stuff...  It's fabulous!  Anyhow, I found these tiny sauce dishes for .90 cents each, and figured they would work just fine as coasters.  Originally, I was going to use them upside down, like in the picture, but later decided to set them right side up, so the cup could sit snuggly inside.  I also bought a small roll of handmade Korean traditional paper in a nearby market for $1.00 to cover them with!

The final product!  They're not perfect, but that's the point, right!  Anything handmade should look a little like it was! 

Inspiration # 2: Covering flowerpots

(or in my case, a wine glass!)

I had some paper left over and had seen this tutorial for covering flowerpots...  http://www.christinechitnis.com/2010/01/pretty-pots.html...

... but decided to cover an empty wine glass instead, which now humbly sits upon my refridgerator as decoration!  It's cute from afar, but not so great up close!  Patience is not one of my strongest virtues, and this sometimes carries into my projects!  lol

Inspiration # 3: Crafty envelopes!

Lastly, I saw these envelopes a couple weeks ago and thought they were so cool and creative...

http://michelleums.tumblr.com/page/24

So, I took the final scraps of paper that I had, and a couple HomePlus paper grocery bags and made my own version of the crafty envelopes!  Mine, however are brown on the inside, with the fancy paper on the outside!  Now I just have to start writing letters again so I can actually use them!

 

If you're not already a fan of pinterest, you should be!  We can follow each other and get inspired to be creative!  My username is: JillinKorea... Fitting, right?!

So, that's what I've been up to this weekend!

Sometimes I'm crafty!

My sister Kelsey recently introduced me to Pinterest! She warned me that I might get addicted, so I begged her not "to invite me"!  But, she did, because she knew I would thank her later, which I totally do now!  

I've been re-inspired to get creative again and pull out my sewing kit and art box!  Last night, I bought a $3.00 apron from a local market that had these 3 patterns in pink, brown, and white.  I cut it to pieces and fashioned the scraps into little roses, which I then attached to a pearl bracelet I already had in my jewelry box! Simple, easy, and a conversation starter!... especially in Korea, where they've never seen anything like this!

If you don't already have a Pinterest account, sign up!  It's fabulous!