Kids!

Yesterday, Loola asked me to take some pictures of our 4th grade students making funny faces for a power point she's creating, to use in our open class next week.  I tried my hardest to get them to do something really funny, but Korean kids are sssoooo darn shy and NEVER want to take pictures doing anything remotely embarrassing... So this was the best I could get!  Since I haven't done any school related posts for a while, I figured I'd post these little schmooches! :)

DIY custom coffee mugs!

Back in early July, I saw a post on Pinterest for how to make a custom coffee mug with a sharpie marker!  FANTASTIC!  I love all things custom, and love them even more when they're easy to make!  

Directions:

"All you need is a sharpie (any color) and a porcelain dish that you want to permanently alter. You can even use super cheap mugs from the dollar store to create gifts or party favors. Just draw on the surface of your mug and bake it for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Allow them to cool completely before washing or using."

Here's the direct link from  the darling blog: A Beautiful Mess

... and here's my own little rendition of the DIY custom coffee mug!  I made it before I officially became Mrs. Osteen, but Aaron told me I couldn't use it until we were married... so, today it made it's grand debut in my classroom at school, along with some hot water and a yummy bag of green tea! :)

Happy mugging!

I'm published...

... Or not?!  

Yesterday, Aaron and I went to get massages at an AWESOME Thai place in Nampodong... Ahhh, splendid bliss if you ask me... but that's beside the point!  

As we were waiting for our masseuses, I grabbed the Summer issue of 

Busan Haps Magazine...

...and began flipping through the pages, when to my surprise, I came upon a photo that looked oddly familiar.  I quickly grabbed my iphone and pulled up my Guinsa Temple Blog entry, which I had written back in 2010, and sure enough, the photo printed in the magazine was one that I took when I did a temple stay there.... stolen right off my blog!  

What the heck Busan Haps?!  No one ever contacted me and asked if I would mind if they used it, and I surely wasn't sent a paycheck, or even given a simple photo credit!  WOW!  That's shady business if you ask me! 

It gets better (or worse, depending on how you look at it) because when I got home and went to their website to write them an e-mail about the issue, I typed in Guinsa Temple and there was an online article published as well, but this time, it had ANOTHER one of my photos, stolen from my blog. 

Don't worry, I wrote up an invoice and sent it right on over to Busan Haps Magazine's publisher!  We'll see what they say.

So, am I technically published, or not?!  hmmmm

*** UPDATE: I received two VERY nice e-mails this morning, one from the photo editor and another from the chief editor of Busan Haps Magazine, apologizing for the oversight of including my photo without consent and agreed to compensate me for using the photos.  They also added a photo credit to their website photo. 
It's official, Busan Haps is back on my good side!   

My last 2 weeks!

Aaron and I have been busy bees lately!  We've been studying up on how to start a small business and all the tax laws / legal mumbo jumbo that goes with it.  Kinda feels like I'm back in college all over again, except without the giant student loans - Man, I LOVE the internet!  

Two Friday's ago, I got to have dinner with my old friend Colin, who I met when I first came to Korea (remember him?).  He's traveling Asia for 7 weeks and was in Busan, visiting old friends.  We met up at Fuzzy Navel Tacos in Seomyeon and spent 2 1/2 hours catching up on lost time - It's amazing how much can happen in 2 1/2 years!
*Iphone pic

Last Saturday, we had a really fun Anniversary photo shoot with an English teaching married couple, 

Noelle and Mark,

... at a local amusement park in Busan.  We all bought the unlimited ride pass and laughed, screamed, and said our prayers that the rides didn't break, pretty much our whole way through the night!  We had a blast hanging out with these two while building our portfolio and getting some great experience and fun images!  They were up for anything, which allowed us to try a lot of different things, some of which worked beautifully and others of which were disasters, no fault of theirs!  lol  We learned an important lesson that night: If we're trying to get nice couple photos, don't attempt doing it in a crowded Korean Amusement Park, no matter how fun and cute the backdrop is!  Lesson learned!  

Thanks for being our guinea pigs you two!

Last week we had a Typhoon roll in (Typhoon Bolaven), which I blogged about here.  It was scheduled to come right through Busan on Tuesday morning, but unfortunately took a detour further west.  That didn't stop Aaron and I from enjoying some of it's powerful winds though!  Aaron picked me up from work, and we rode the scooter over to the west end of the island and watched the usually calm ocean waters crashing against the bridge, sending water 30 feet in the air!  It was a sight to be seen!  Not to mention, the wind was so powerful it nearly blew me over a couple times.
*Iphone pic

Last Sunday night, we had a couple's date night at the Lotte Giant's game with 3 other couples who are English teachers in Busan!  These 6 have become friends of ours over the last 2-4 months, and we absolutely love being around them.  Aaron and the boys are like peas in a pod and us four girls are just as close!  It's a special friendship that's begun to form over the short time we've known each other, and we're lucky to have them!  Oh, and to make things even better, the Giants WON!
*Iphone pic

On Wednesday, I took the day off work!  :)  Since living in Korea, I've tried my best to mold to the Korean "workhorse mentality" and only use my sick days if I'm literally keeling over.  (My old co-teacher, Monica, worked as a teacher for something like 25 years and NEVER took a sick day... and that's actually common in Korean society!)  But, I decided that since it's my last year here, I'd reward myself for the hard work I've put in all these years and take a sick day to relax and stay in bed!  (My neck and back were really really sore, so that was my excuse.)   I spent the day lounging in bed, watching teeny bopper movies like Katy Perry's movie Part Of Me, playing with Maverick and basically just being a lazy bum!  

Yesterday, we did a photoshoot with the most adorable 2 month old baby boy.  His mom and dad, who happen to be from Indiana and Michigan, have been living and working in Korea for 2 years now as English teachers.  Katelyn, the mom, actually had an all natural birth here in Korea, which is amazing to me!  What's even more amazing is that her ENTIRE delivery bill was $300!  Heeellllloooo!  Here's a little sneak peak of their bundle of joy, Trip!  Schmooch!!!!!

Last night was Jenna's 25th birthday (far left of the picture above at the baseball game)... So she invited us, the other 2 couples in the picture, plus some other close friends to a party at her apartment.  I made my "semi-famous" chocolate chip - oreo stuffed cookies once again.  They've become my go-to when potlucks come around and to see people's fingers immediately grab for them as soon as I pull the lid off the tupper ware is a nice compliment for me! The party was so much fun! ... so much fun in fact, that Aaron and I arrived home in a taxi at 4am. Ahh, to be young again! :) 

*Iphone pic

This morning we watched some college football (Clemson vs Auburn), a bit of a rival game between Aaron and my mom!  Then we spent a couple hours on skype with my mom and dad, which is always a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon!  Later, naps were had, a movie was watched and a Mexican style dinner was jointly prepared, cooked and devoured - thanks for the recipe Pinterest!

There's not much on the schedule this week except for a couple's photo shoot with a gorgeous married couple on Saturday and a birthday party for our friend Adam later that night!  Looks like I'll be making more cookies... (and exercising all the sugar away!) Hope everyone's doing well on the other side of the world.  

5 of a kind...

I was organizing some paperwork in my room yesterday and came across a bag of wedding cards that I had saved to put in my memory box (yes, I have one of those).  These 5 were especially great because each of them was from one of Aaron's childhood friends!  They're like brothers and are pranksters through and through... so, of course they got together and bought us the 

EXACT SAME WEDDING CARD 

from a local art store in Black Mountain... Love these boys!