Cookies & Chicken

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Most Friday nights, I work. But every so often, I get it off, which is bad because I don't get paid, but it's also good because it just might turn into a spontaneous night of baking, friends and ordering in fried chicken. Like so...

At this point, Charlotte and Kristin came over, our fingers were dirty and our conversations never stopped, so I didn't get a chance to snap a photo of everyone together. Next time...

Morning...

...is my favorite time of the day. It's just exciting to know that the whole day is ahead of you with an endless amount of possibilities. And there's really a calmness that is only unique to mornings (I guess that's why the term "morning calm" exists).

Alright, let me just be real with you. The only reason I love mornings is because I get to have breakfast, which is my absolute favorite meal of the day. I get creative with breakfasts every once in awhile (like if I have a breakfast date *ahem* Charlotte *ahem*). But what I really love are my staple breakfast foods, which consist of coffee, peanut butter, bananas, wheat toast.

Put together, it looks something like this:

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It's 12:12 a.m. at the moment but looking at this makes my tummy grumble. What's your favorite meal of the day?

Lunar New Year

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This post is sort of revealing how far behind I am in my project, but oh well. This was taken during the Lunar New Year holiday. My dad's side of the family went to my grandma's tiny apartment to eat and spend some quality time with each other. In this particular photo, everyone was leaving and saying "goodbye." My grandma, as she always does, started crying. This is my aunt telling her "it's ok."

Here are a few photos of me with the g-ma. She's losing her vision, so she didn't exactly know where to look. Is it bad to think that was cute?

Until next time...

Marriage Talk

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There's really not anything aesthetically pleasing about the photo itself, but what was happening during this photo is what delights me. 

During this time, Mark and I were reading this book about marriage, which was such a great eye-opener. It had such great advice about what to expect in our first year of marriage. For example, the book talked about how important it is to be intentional in expressing our love and affection to each other or else we might slip into some bad habits in our first year. Anyway, this book ignited a lot of wonderful conversation topics between us about what we expect, what we hope for and what we look forward to the most in marriage. 

On this particular day, over this particular coffee and waffle, we had the most wonderful and honest conversation about each other. It was edifying, humbling and loving all at the same time. 

I can't wait to marry this guy. 

What a month!

I know my 366-day project hasn't been as consistent as it should be. And I've done a poor job of taking a photo a day for February. But I do hope to get back into it for March.

February has been a whirlwind of a month. We celebrated Mark's birthday, Valentine's Day, Jamie's going-away and we had a false start to moving into our new apartment (will explain later), among other things. February has been a month marked by transitions, a major test in patience and a lesson in time management.

I'll admit, I've let the pressure of wedding planning get to me at various times, but more importantly, the exciting realization that it's finally around the corner hits me all the time. It's really fun to know we're in the double-digits countdown now!

For some reason, a lot of financial curveballs have been thrown our way this month. However, it has also been a rewarding for Mark and I as we've seen the fruits of our frugalness (aka saving!). We purchased our flights home in April and our honeymoon to Riviera Maya, Mexico! The expenses were steep, but we feel good knowing that we saved for these exact things for the last month and a half. And it's sure gonna feel good when we're soaking in the rays on the white sandy beaches.

I'll be honest and say that I'm more than happy to say "goodbye" to February. I'm excitedly anticipating March and April as I've officially marked these two months as "crunch time." We'll be in major money-saving mode, and I'll be doing as much last-minute planning as I can do overseas before the real crunch time hits when I return to California.

Until next time...bisous xoxo

And another date

...but this time with my best friend. I had a doctor's appointment in the morning that Jamie so kindly accompanied me to. Then, we got breakfast. Then, we decided to walk around. Then, we decided to explore. And what started as just a boring ol' doctor's visit turned into a full day of exploring Korea. Don't you just love that?

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The photo above was taken at this beautiful furniture store we stumbled upon. In terms of aura, I'd rank it up there with Anthropologie. Everything had a French farm-feel to it. Wood, old books, vintage bottles, mint greens, worn copper...it was all so gorgeous. 

[Our delicious breakfast.]

[And end the day with a little dessert!]

Date Night

With our busy schedules, sometimes it's hard for me and Mark to get a date night in. When we're together, it's often with a group of people or we're together but we're doing work. We try to set apart one day out of the week to just hang out.

This was an impromptu date night. And it was fantastic. 

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I love this guy!

Go back to bed

There's not much to say about this photo. It was a beautiful morning. The sunlight was soft. The bed was warm. And all I could hear was the bed calling my name.

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Loner

I've mentioned this before, but because I'm traveling all over Seoul for various jobs, it's easier for me to hang out at a cafe or restaurant than to go home for just an hour. I've been having my fair share of alone time and, I have to say, it's amazing. I guess it's making me more of an introvert, though, since I now prefer to just chill out and read a book by myself rather than get dinner with friends.

This was one particular Monday night after work. A roll of kimbap, a nice hot bowl of soup and a good book. I was one happy camper.

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Saving Money

I'm learning a lot about saving money, like how you can't do everything and expect the figure in your savings account to grow. As simple as it sounds, it's a tough realization to come to. I can't go on as many coffee dates or eat at the amazing restaurants here in Seoul.

Instead, I have to have ramen nights. And it makes me feel like a college student all over again, except that I ate better than this in college. Sigh.

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Talented friends, part II

Next up in my list of talented friends (which is in no ranking order) is Hannah. She and I purchased the same camera around the same time, and it's been nice discovering our new toy together. Not only are her photos amazing, but her videos are too! Here's her January video:



Michael Holmes, another dear friend of mine, has a huge collection of great videos he's made. He has kinda served as our teacher throughout this whole process because he just has a lot of knowledge on photography and videography. One of my favorites isn't really so much about the editing as much as it's just a window into how incredible and fun he is as a teacher.



Could you imagine having Michael Holmes as your teacher in middle school? It would have been awesome!

Talented friends, part I

I have really talented friends. Take, for example, my future hubby, Mark Ratto. Ever since he got his camera for his birthday last year, he's been honing his craft of filming and editing. One of my favorite videos he's made so far is this one. But this next one is quickly becoming my favorite (a tribute to our little goof):

I've been missing her a lot lately, so when Mark presented this little video he made of her, I was so happy. I think it captures her personality beautifully.

Next up is my love, Jamie. She, too, got a new camera recently and it hasn't taken long for her to discover yet another gift. Here's her amazing video of her month (but really our's) of January.

(Watch in HD.)


As you can tell, I'm in it a lot...and I'm perfectly OK with that hehehe. When she's back home, I'll be watching this over and over again, reminiscing on these beautiful days.

Part II coming soon...

Meet the Baker

Jamie and I have been on a baking kick this winter season. I purchased a toaster oven last spring in hopes that it would inspire me to bake more this winter...I think it's working!

I think it's safe to say that neither of us are "naturals" in the kitchen...in fact, after our first baking experiment (peanut butter & nutella cookies), it looked like a flour bomb went off in my kitchen. But as we've been making new goodies almost weekly, we're becoming more comfortable and smooth in my tiny lil' kitchen.

At first, Mark protested our baking dates because it meant more tempting, unhealthy food for him. But as soon as he takes that first bite (he's usually our taste-tester), he seems to forget why he opposed it in the first place :) Despite our inexperience, I'm happy to report that everything we've made has come out delicious.

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These are pumpkin-spiced cookies that literally melt in your mouth. The drizzle of cinnamon frosting puts it over the edge on the scale of divine-ness. We found the recipe on Pinterest, which is where we find all of our baking recipes. It starts with us drooling over the picture, then clicking the link, then examining the ingredients to see if we can even get it in Korea. If it can, then it's a go!

I can't help but feel like this is perfect training for my future wife duties. What man doesn't love to come home to the smell of yummy cookies?