Girlfriends are the spice of life!

This week has been filled with quality girl time! Poor Aaron has been getting lonely while I've had date after date with my girlfriends!  On Sunday, Sam, Gill and I all met up at our favorite coffee shop in Nampo for some catch up time, yummy tea and coffee and then delicious Indian food at one of the best spots in Gukje Market and some shopping later in the afternoon!

Then, last night, I met up with Stella (my very first co-teacher), Monica (my co-teacher last year) and  Okk (my current co-teacher) for dinner! Talk about a fun mix of girls! Monica retired last year, but started substitute teaching at Stella's new school this year... When they realized that they both knew me, they got really excited and called me right away to tell me they were working together and wanted to meet up for dinner!  I am so thankful to have had co-teachers who have loved me and built a relationship with me that has lasted even after we've moved on to different schools! (This is not always the case in Korea.)  Having them all together in one place was like having all of my favorite worlds collide!  AWESOME!

Tonight was Revenge night at Ashley's, which is always really fun!  2 bags of popcorn, a hand full of homemade cookies, some diet coke, and a little TV show gossip always makes for a great night in my opinion!  Tomorrow, Stella, Ashley and I are meeting up at a cupcake shop in PNU where we're going to decorate cupcakes!  Yes, there's a cupcake decorating shop in Busan!  My dream has officially come true... stay tuned for more on that soon! 

Are you the winner?!

Are you the 111,111th visitor to my blog?!  (Look at the counter to the right.)  If you are, you've just won yourself a prize!  Congratulations!  Just leave me a comment to let me know you were the 111,111th visitor, and there will be a little something special for you in the mail! :)

Happy Tuesday!

A's Custom Sweater Beanie!

Last weekend, Aaron and I sifted through our closets and got rid of some stuff we knew we wouldn't wear anymore.  As we were stacking the give-away clothes in piles, it dawned on me that a lot of them could be recycled and used as scrap fabric for other crafts I've been wanting to make!  For one, Aaron has been on a mission to find a comfy - saggy light gray beanie, so when I saw that he was getting rid of his light gray sweater, I snatched it from the pile, because I knew I could make a beanie out of it that he would love!  Luckily, he did! 

I forgot to take a picture of the sweater before I cut it up... but here's what it looked like... just your average Target Merona wool sweater!

I laid Aaron's dark gray beanie, that he LOVES and wears 24-7, on top of the band at the bottom of  the light gray sweater. (It's important to use the bottom of the sweater for the bottom of the beanie, to give it a more finished look).  Then, I cut a square out of the sweater material, about an inch larger than the beanie.

Then, I grabbed a sharpie marker and drew an outline a little bit bigger (maybe 1/4 inch bigger) than the beanie I was using as my example.

Then, I threw it onto the sewing machine and sewed along the marked line.  Then, I cut the excess fabric off.

In order to not have the beanie poke out on the top, you need to make a cross stich at the top. (basically make a + at the top).  In order to do this, fold the beanie in half, pinch the top and draw a line with a marker, making a + shape, then sew on that line.

Once you're done with that + stitch, turn it right side out and it's ready to go!  Aaron is a huge critic when it comes to beanies and how they fit him.  I'm happy to say, he was VERY pleased!  

He actually wore it ALL day! 

I grabbed the leftover scraps from the bottom of the sweater and quickly stitched up some baby mittens!    They're not perfect, but that's the point with any handmade thing, right?!  It's all about the character! 

    Hope this inspires you to re-think your clothing giveaways next time 

and to create something new and handmade out of them!

Happy 30th Chris!

Can you believe this weirdo is 30?!  (We love you Chris!)

To celebrate Chris's big decade change over, Stella planned an over the top birthday party at the penthouse-party-room of Hotel Mu in Beomnaegol.  Yes, I said penthouse party room.  Koreans our age usually still live at home with their parents, or are married with little babies and aren't comfortable having a party at their own place... Hence the creation of the Korean style party room, a place to go and host a party!  Funny right?!  Nothing about this place was funny though.  It was legit!  It had a huge bedroom, a full kitchen, an internet area built around a lounge area, 2 very fancy bathrooms, 1 GIANT bathtub, 2 giant rain showers, a karaoke room, A POOL, a retractable roof, and a pricetag to match!  Amazing though, right!

The first toast of the night...

Love this guy!

and I REALLY love these girls...  (Jenna, Meagan, Me, Ashley, Stella, Grace, and Juhye!)

Me, Ash and Stella.

How awesome is this penthouse patio/pool area!  This was the room with the retractable roof!  

It was incredible!

Stella even had a custom cake made for Chris, with 31 stars (1 for every 30 years and 1 for good luck!)

I was equally as excited that it was time for cake! (wink wink)

The boys (Jeff, Adam, Aaron, Birthday Boy, ??? (sorry), ??? (sorry), and Jared)

and the lovely ladies!

Everyone else stayed the night at the party room, but Aaron and I had to leave around midnight to wake up at 5:00am for a sunrise photo shoot.  We had talked about leaving at 10pm, but just couldn't leave. Sometimes deciding to be with friends over sleep just becomes the only way to go!

Chris and Stella, You two completely outdid yourselves!  It was such a great night! :) 

Happy 30th Chris!  Hope it's the best decade yet!

Homemade Tagalongs!

It's been 4 years since I've indulged in one of my favorite girl scout cookies!  4 years people!!  While my favorite are Tagalongs, Aaron's are Thin Mints!  I found this recipe for Vegan Thin Mints and was determined to make them as a surprise for A last night.  Unfortunately, my trusty baking store in the foreign market doesn't carry peppermint extract like I hoped they would... And "No", lady at the store, "the mint liquor that you sell will not work as a substitute for peppermint extract!"  Nice try though!  I went home last night a little defeated and frustrated that every time I try to cook or bake something fun, there is at least one ingredient that can not be found in Korea!  I digress...

Aaron got home just as I was finishing dinner and asked why I had Zec (제크) Crackers (Korea's RITZ equivalent) on the table, since we never buy stuff like that.  I explained that I wanted to make him Thin Mints, but that I couldn't find the peppermint extract.  He immediately said, "Let's put peanut butter on these and dip them in the chocolate!"  YES!  YES!  YES!  If I can't make Thin Mints, I'll make Tagalongs!  

I love this man!

Let the tutorial commence...

INGREDIENTS:

- melting chocolate

- peanut butter

- RITZ (or Zek - 제크) crackers

TOTAL TIME:

Prep & Cooking time = 30 minutes or less

STEP 1:

Spread some creamy peanut butter on a cracker.

STEP 2:

Place a 2nd cracker on top of the peanut butter, like a sandwich.

STEP 3:

Put the "melting chocolate" into a small bowl, and drop it into a pot of water on low/medium heat. 

(Wait about 5-8 minutes for the chocolate to completely melt.) *My chocolate looks weird because I tried to melt it in the pot, before Aaron told me about doing it this way. Good thing I've got him around.

STEP 4:

Dip one side of the cracker sandwich into the chocolate...

...and lay it onto a sheet of wax paper.

STEP 5:

Set the 1/2 dipped cookies in a cool place and hang out for a little while, while the chocolate hardens.  I chose to hang with A and Mav.  Wouldn't you?!  :)  Since I don't have a big refrigerator to put my cookies in to set the chocolate, I put mine on the window sill, since it's 40% outside and the chocolate hardened right up in no time!  Clever, eh?!

STEP 6:

Then, re-dip the cookies, covering the opposite side with chocolate.  Place them back onto the wax paper and wait for them to harden.

... Wala, you've got homemade Osteen style Tagalongs!  How easy is that?!

Oh, and for the record, they were scrumptious!
*** UPDATE: I made these same cookies a couple days later, but omitted one of the crackers, and WOW!  They were even better and had the same texture as Tagalongs!  You'd be the life of the party if you brought these cookies along!  :)