Taking the Plunge...

Well, I was successful once before but that was when I was living in Korea and had a lot more free time on my hands. What better way to get into the habit of blogging more than to BLOG EVERYDAY! Yep, I signed up for NaBloPoMo! (National Blog Posting Month) That means I am going to do my very, very best to post daily for the entire month of November. Booyah! Take that inactivity! So wish me luck and leave me lots of comments so I know people are trickling back in. ^^ Happy Blogging everyone! Oh, and Happy Halloween!

My Sentiments Exactly...

This made me laugh today.

Memory is Fading...

I can't believe it's almost been 2 years since we were in Korea. I have forgotten so much! I am really thankful that I kept a blog through that experience otherwise I probably wouldn't be able to remember anything. I forget that I am forgetting sometimes- like today when I was trying to talk to a coworker about patbingsu and couldn't remember it's name. I was just like uhhhh you know, uhhhh red bean ice cream?? Everyone will be relieved to hear that I am maintaining my curse words and insults.

I am such a Korea nerd now. I wish I had some Korean friends here. Whenever I hear Korean or am in a Korean restaurant or grocery store I perk up. It's sort of the opposite of how I was in Korea where I would almost give myself whiplash trying to find the English speaking source.

Unfortunately here Korean folks seem to stick together and don't really seem to care about my interest in their language, culture, food, etc. Another instance of me being just regular in Canada.

Matt and I have figured out to make some Korean food at home- there's some chamchi kimbap that Matt made. I make a really spicy gimchi jjigae and we have figured out galbi and bibimbap as well. I wish we had some hot stone bowls so that we could make dolsot bibimbap. We've even managed to grow some perilla from seeds I bought off of Ebay! I should take some pictures of that since I've always been terrible with plants but in this new adorable apartment I have found my green thumb. Maybe it's my landlady rubbing off on me? (She has an amazing garden.)

Kiaster 2.0

Like I mentioned, I was rear ended shortly before starting my [new] job. My poor gold Kia received a lot of damage and as a result the other insurance company refused to repair it and paid me out. Which actually really, really sucked. I don't understand how one day you can have a perfectly good car that is reliable, looks good and is mechanically sound and they can give you such a measly amount because it's "old". Needless to say, my joy of being debt free was shortlived and I went straight back into debt buying the Kiaster 2.0. I do love it though, especially the heated seats. Seriously, I wish all of my seats (except for my toilet seat because that creeps me out) could be heated. I've never had a car this new (it's 2009) so that is a novelty. I am cheap though so I would have rather kept that money and waited a few years to buy a new car. Oh well. I guess it shouldn't have surprised me since the woman that hit me didn't even see me and probably was going 60 km/hr while I was at a complete stop. The impact was so jarring that my cigarette astray thing popped out completely! Luckily it was full of change and not cigarette butts. I'm just glad I wasn't seriously injured.

Now my car is pretty awesome since I have a GPS (trust me, this was a valuable investment for work) and automatic windows and doors. Basically I have arrived into the 21st century! Now all I need are some fuzzy dice.

Our Adorable House

When I last left this blog there were a lot of big things happening. I got a new job, we moved, someone rear ended me (and thus caused me to have to write off my car and buy a new one. Frick.), lovely Leah decided to return to BC. Big things.

I had great intentions and took a bunch of pictures of our new abode and then did nothing with them. Well, I put together a crappy slideshow so those of you who do not live near us can see where we hang our hats.

I have to say, I am in love with this place. I will be incredibly sad when we leave it. It's quirky, unusual, spacious and is just 'home'. We haven't lived here for very long but it was meant to be, as cliche and cheesy as that might sound. Our landlady is so precious, the price is right, the location is fabulous. It just makes me all warm fuzzy thinking about it. This house feels like happy. There is an issue that the downstairs tenants smoke inside but they seem to have stopped that since we moved in and asked them to stop. The real test is coming though, since it's getting colder outside. I am really, really crossing my fingers and pleading to the Universe that they continue to smoke outside because I don't want to move and the smoke (besides being gross and ruining our furniture, clothing and other belongings) really affects Matt's health.

We welcome visitors and like I mentioned, have a spare room. I haven't invited over scads of people but if I like you you can come over. My home is my sanctuary. I hadn't pictured my sanctuary to have such hideous curtains, but I guess it is my fault since I have been too lazy to replace them. I seriously can't wait until I can put up our Christmas tree in front of that bay window. Nesting much? Haha...

A Small, Ginger Step...

...back into blogging? I know, it's been a long, long, long time. And even when I blogged last things were sporadic at best. I've almost forgotten how to use this thing (and don't get me started on my typing skills...)!

What am I doing back here? Is it for real this time? I guess we will see.

I just finished reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and I really enjoyed it. I feel like my 20s have been spent searching- searching to figure out who I am and what makes me happy. Pretty self centered, but important I think. The only thing about this book that has made me feel unhappy is that there was such a long waiting list to get it from the library and that it's due back tomorrow so I can't go through it and make notes and re-read parts I especially liked. Maybe I should buy my own copy? Hmmm...

Anyway, I will possibly do a full review a little later. The point was that while I was reading this book and the author declared that her first commandment was to "Be Gretchen". That is great and brilliant. I am much happier when I follow the "Be Amber" rule, even if it's not always easy to do. Part of being Amber is that I do like to write, but that I don't always write the most perceptive, cerebral, thought-provoking subject matter. But this is okay. I like doing it anyway and I like sharing my day with people and receiving feedback. I love comments and I like having a record of things since my memory is appalling. My blog is like the penpals I faithfully wrote to when I was growing up except I get to keep the letters.

So baby steps it is, but hopefully I will get my readers back and have something enjoyable happening over here again. And the picture? I wanted to share something that made me ridiculously happy and excited today- my new official job I.D.! It even has holograms and everything. How cool is that?