crafty mum in changing places

Long time no see...

Dear readers and followers and passers by!

It's been a while and for good reason. I was so in swing with posting and uploading in the beginning of the year and then several incidents kept me from going on. three children are not enough to keep me from posting but when one of them needs to be taken to the hospital every other day because he fell and needed crutches:

it only took him a few days and he fell again. This time UP the stairs and he needed some small plastic surgery on the other leg...

And so it went...

I tried to cheer me up in between driving to school and the hospital by visiting some nice cafes around here like the newly renovated Paris Croissant in Hannam-dong. It is a chain but all the branches are so nicely done and the food is good quality!

I also made a new friend: Griffin, the dog of my friend Ilze. I checked on him from time to time whilst there were away house hunting in Hongkong. I think he likes me and I am telling myself it is not only because of the chewy bones I always brought for him as a treat...

April greeted us with cold and rainy weather and we were desperately waiting for spring. 

Because the outside did not provide it we tried to install it in our house on the window sill in the kitchen

And then I had to have another operation: cysts from my breasts had to be removed. they were benign but too big and could  become a hazard in the future. So again a major operation and waiting for the results. All was fine but you worry and rething and reflect and ponder anyhow... My mind was simply to occupied for blogging and posting pictures on Flickr. I missed it but simply did not have the energy!

An after all that spring finally arrived with all its beauty and mild climate and sunny days! We welcomed spring in our house and also in the garden.

Over the following weeks we could be found around town in the various greeneries to get some little treasures for the garden.

And I love the varieties of succulents you encounter here in Korea. I am having problems chosing only some....

The pictures remind me of the year before when we moved to Korea: an new, unknown territory which is now home. In fact it became home very quickly. 

I am so thankful for that move and for the new life that opened up for us. The last months have been a bit rough due to health issues but we recovered quickly and are now open for everything to come!

I am sorry that I have been away for so long and will answer your lovely mails and comments within the next few days! And for everybody who is eagerly awaiting some snail mail from me: I am also working on that and am getting into a routine again!

Hope to see you soon!

Yvonne

 

 

 

Week in review - about the everyday

Sunday is a good day to resume the week. We have been busy with sleepovers, shopping for farewell-party-gifts, preparing healthy food, finishing knitting projects and gathering inspiration for our Paris trip.

The best thing I got was this Panda Bear:

It was given to me by Jakob, the little boy who grows up so fast and tries to be so cool these days - just like his older brother: 

Moritz still ponders on how to become famous and rich without doing nothing except lying on the bed and reading Donald Duck or playing Lego. Any tips from you would be highly valued!

The other thing he is awaiting impatiently is the new Angry Birds version

I finished some knitting I started in December. I thought it would be a good idea to finish this cowl before springtime.

Here are some close ups: 

It is so light and fluffy and soft and keeps me warm - I could wear it all day!

I also kept up with my healthy eating habit and even spruced things up there. More on Monday about that! This was a weekday lunch for me: fried potatoes, kale, beetroot salad, coleslaw and green tea.

And I took the little monster out shopping on the Namdemun market to get some farewell present for a friend who is leaving Seoul next week. She spotted something when we were there together and I went back to get it for her.

This boy loves to pose and he got himself a new bag. How could it be: Angry-birds related!

We spotted some astronauts where spectacles were sold and Jakob asked me if we could borrow then for his upcoming Astronat and space party.

At Lotte Department store, an incredible store like our German KaDeWe  (just see some pictures here) we spotted some unexpected but familiar ladies

... and some cute little monsters formerly unknown to us:

Around the corner everything was like normal: streetsellers offering pomegranates directly from their lorry

A few metres away from a French inspired bakery chain with a typical thing you need when opening a cafe in Seoul: Something French and a vintage inspired bicycle!

So back home we went to find a dog curled up in his basket

And some Paris inspiration and the dumbbells awaiting me in the bedroom

And today is a day for walking through the woods here

or curl up with a book and a tea here:

And maybe we even decide on doing both!

Have a great Sunday!

Yvonne

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little helpers on the journey

Hello there dear followers! Today I'd love to introduce to you some of my little helpers on my journey. Or should I better say secret weapons? 

Some of you asked me about how to manage three children and en ever moving household and stay sane or how I am taking some of my pictures and the like. So here are some links to people and Apps and homepages that help me on a daily basis.

I am a follower of these blogs that help me during my everyday struggle, journey, path through life:

• simple mom
• The Happiness Project
• Zen habits
• Be more with less
• Fly Lady

To record the daily happenings for later use in my project life or to remember when scrapbooking or editing photos on the computer I have been using this smart app called Day One recently:

The good thing about it is that you can set reminders throughout the day and it will just signal you from time to time that it is time to write in your journal. That is such a good thing because we know: we have all these plans but during the hassle of the everyday we tend to forget!

You can also perfectly print them out (I take a screenshot now and then) and add them to my journaling for the ongoing Project Life Album.

To help me get fit and reach my goals concerning better health and moving more I also have some helpers on the list:

• NTC Nike Training Club: This is perfect for me because I am sort of a loner and not a person who likes going to a gym. With this one I can be totally flexible and use the training intervalls whenever I have time.

This is such a great App and I love that the workout is shown in photos and you can see how much you accomplished already plus you can add your own music from your iTunes playlists.

• move more eat well with Cathy Zielske: I can combine training and healthier eating habits with scrapbooking. Who would have thought that even exists!?

An then there are the Photograpy Apps that help me a lot:

Isn't it amazing what you can do with photos without an expensive camera and equipment or enormous photography skills?

So this is part of what me keeps going every day - netwise. I did not mention any of these great blogs where I get endless inspiration about food, travel, interior decoration and life. You are following them anyhow and that could easily get redundant if I would also start it. This should be purely every day life "gear" apart from the decorative interior design world. And I did not mention books and people you can actually touch and feel - this will be another post. I just let you go here so you can explore for yourself and find out if any of them could be useful for you as well. And I maybe have forgotten some or will encounter more useful ones. I will keep track and tell you later - promised. One good thing about posting something here is also public accountability, isn't it? It helps me a lot not to get sidetracked all the time - which is so easy in the www....

See you later! Yvonne

 

 

MIA for some days - I am sorry

Hello dear readers!

I have been MIA for some days due to two little boys at home with temperature and coughs wanting mum's undivided attention. They are feeling better now and one of them even went back to school today.

Jakob is still at home and even had to stay at home on his birthday. He turned seven on Monday and we just had a little birthday party amongst the four of us. The big party will be held later, when he is feeling much better.

I think you can already guess from that picture what will be the theme for that party...

I  gathered a lot of tips from this great site called Birthday Party Ideas. Over the years  I  found a lot of great ideas for throwing parties, like what to do with the children within a certain Birtday party frame or how to decorate. So this year will be space and everything rocket related.

I also had a lovely lunch at the home of a school mom. She is Korean and made a typical Korean lunch for me: All organic and perfect for a Pescatarian like me (Vegetarian plus seafood).

As a mom of three who is cooking and preparing food all day long it is such a treat when somebody else makes an effort to cook especially for me. Thank you so much Keun-hae! This is not a small thing because she has a tight schedule. She is  mom of four, works as a coach in intercultural communication for managers, is frightfully intelligent, funny and warmhearted and looks stunning: what a combination all in one woman! She rocks! And I am glad I met her because we are having children in the same class (Jakob's) and share soccer training with 5 of our alltogether 7 children.

When it comes to the Souvenir Foto School I have to admit that I am behind. But that does not mean I will drop out. I just continue along the alphabet and will add some more days in March - that's it.

I wasn't really imaginative when it came to "J". I thought of "journey" or "juxtaposition", "jar" or "jigsaw" but did not have enough time and fantasy to set up something. So I ended with "Jaguar" becaue we have so many little metal cars lurking somewhere in our home in different colours.

So here we have another blueish photo. That is ok. and I will now think of "K" as in kale, kangaroo, kingsize, knit, kiss or even kindred spirit....

See you later!

Yvonne

 

Weekend bliss

Weekends are just wonderful! Pure family time and relaxation most of the time. More time for conversation, games, books, crafting, hugs, walks and good food. 

Moritz was having a sleepover party at a friend's house and Pauline also had a guest. And now that there were two girls and just one little boy in the house it all turned miraculously quiet - and Pink! The girls were playing dressing up and they were ballerinas and princesses - a thing Pauline normally dos not indulge into. With two boys in the house they are playing Robin Hood or Agents or something mor action-typish-boyish.

They watched "Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel" - the Czech version of Cinderella. It is an all time classic from the times when I was a child. The film is from 1973 and still is full of magic. And because it was freezing cold outside with snow still on the trees it was a perfect thing to watch. Maybe some of you know this gem - I just don't know the English name for it. I love that in this version Cinderella is self sufficient and can ride a horse and help herself all the time. She is a modern Cinderella in some respencts. And when Prince Charming told her she will be his wife she answered: "I think you forgot something! You did not even ask if I want to!"

That definitely would not occur in a Disney version...

The weekend photos for the Souvenir Foto School are also ready to show:

Home for us means also a sleeping dog in one of the rooms. So I had to incorporate George somehow. So "D" is for dog!

With someone like him around you you can really relax. He just shows you how to do it: Bathing in sunlight, doozing off...

And then to "E"

When I told the children about this course they wanted to share their ideas about what to capture around the house  for a certain letter. I told them it has to be something typical, something we always live with day to day. Moritz said:  "So for "D" it is "dark chocolate" then!" I loved this idea! But unfortunately the last dark chocolate we had in the house has been eaten somehow last night with some pistaccios, cashews and a glass of red wine!

So he brought his dictionary. Having only had 1 year of English at school  his vocabulary is still abit limited in this language. The children made a list of things to photograph for each letter in the alphabet. I am happy they found something with "Q" and "Y" and "X" already!

So noe "E" will not be peaceful sleeping furry friends but the opposite: I got some drumbells recently to do some weight training due to my commitment to Cathy's class and because of my bad bone situation. I like "playing" with them and I think they are quite sexy as well. (I have to have some incentives, don't I?)

Well, enough of them! But believe me: I could go on and on like that! Who would have thought I would find pleasure in taking pictures of weights??? Come on, it is still lazy me, wanting to sit on a sofa with book in hand all day! But they got me. Now I am looking for a fancy workout mat. It just doesn't work on a Kilim. I tried for the last weeks but we keep sailing through the room, the kilim, the Hula Hoop and I!

But to not give you a totally wrong impression of the eventually new me, here are some books I am reading and I can only higly recommend: 

See, I am still on the sofa, reading! Quite an ecclectic mix but that is how our life is here... 

I will now hurry to bed and take my small library with me! Hope to see you soon again here! Sleep well!

Yvonne

 

 

 

 

 

Eat your Greens

Dear readers!

The pescatarian adventure is coming along nicely and the family is taking the ride with me at home. They are still eating the whole stuff at school but don't eat meat at home any more. We started this in early november and it feels good!

Pauline jumped on the wagon and ordered her vegetarian school meal a few weeks ago. There are already a lot of people doing this at the German school so she is in good company. And with the healthy food here and the amount of soy in the Korean cuisine there really is no problem of missing anything!

As for "Move more, eat well", there is also progress. Markus and I are doing our exercises, we eat well, spend time outside in the wonderful winter sun and I am tracking my progress in a journal. There are even days when you can find me walking the dog at 7.30 in the morning WITHOUT MOANING!

Thangs again to Cathy to initiate this new workshop wich is a great way to combine healthy living with scrapbooking (who would have ever thought that?!)

So  Kimbap ( the Korean variaty of sushi rolls), Turkish sigara börek and Cheesecake (all homemade) and green tea count as a healthy teatime in our house.

And again and again I am thankful for the best kitchen helper ever: Jakob is joining me all the time preparing food. He wants to become a chef and have his own restaurant. Markus is constantly warning him what these working times will do to his family life but he is still convinced. 

And here a glimpse of a leftover lunch setup for me alone when everybody was at school or at work: Salade Nicoise, mushroom risoniotto, penne with spinach and green tea: Life can be so good - and yummy!

For the Lunar New Year we got our yearly gifts from the companies Markus works with. They sent us like 10 kg of meat in a freezer gift suitcase. I told him he'd better bring one of these fruit cakes they are selling for loads of money in the supermarkets now. And as if they had heard us, he came back the next day with one of them:

So we are eating our daily apple and I also did make a super delisious Tarte Tatin but unfortunately it was one before I could take a picture...

Have you eaten your Greens today?

Yvonne

 

It looked like springtime...

Yesterday it really looked like springtime when I took the children to school. The sun was coming out and I ignored the temperature sign on my car showing minus 10 degrees and drove straight to the Han river to go for a spontaneous walk. I thought I could go for 30 minutes and then head over to Yeouido to check out Paul Patisserie, a gem I knew from my time back then in Istanbul. 

My walk took not 30 minutes but one hour. I am glad I did it. One words for 2012 is health and what is better than an early morning walk by the river in the sun? but of course, to minimize the health effect I went to Paul to have a croissant and a cappuccino. I have been  limiting myself to 2-3  cappuccinos a week for a while now. This was a special treat: sitting in the Patisserie, having some of my books at hand (Big big Thank you  to Markus ' parents for giving me a Kindle for Christmas!  - it is great to have my books available in a second!). 

I am currently reading "Living the savvy life" by Melissa Tosetti, "Pictures at an exhibition" by Sara Houghteling and "Wild Things: the Art of nurtutring Boys" by Stephen James. And yes, I am a parallel reader. I definitely need more than one book by my side!

And on my way home towards the mountains I have been listening to this in the car: 

 

 

 

Life is good! Has it been good to you lately?

Yvonne

 

Baby, it's cold outside

Hello again! It is freezing cold outside. 

I am definitely not a winter person. But because of new standards for a healthier life we walked downhill through the woods to Samcheong-dong the other day. Pauline is also always a little grumpy when it comes to going for a walk. She loves Sports but not walking. But once she is in motion she loves it. On our way to the forest we've been greeted by a friendly little helper of the street worker in our area:

This really is the country of cute (and I did not even start showing you all the cute paper goods....).

The footpath  to the national park starts near our house and we can walk all the way down to Samcheong-dong through the forest. In the middle of the walk you have a wonderful view over Seoul. It looks amazing when the lights are on!

I am thankful and happy we chose to live here! We are surrounded by Green and have a big city at our feet. 

And for healthy living; do you remember I started the habit of trying a new recipe every week? I kept that but was less diligent when it came to the mail thing. There weren't that many letters posted every week. but you should only start one new habit at a time and wait a few weeks until it really turns into a habit, right? Babysteps!

The new recipe for last week was oven baked Ratatouille from the "River Cottage veg everyday" cookbook I got myself for Christmas. I am not such a fan of Ratatouille but my husband Markus loves it. For me it is a bit to sour if cooked the normel way. But I thought it would be a bit sweeter because the heat from the oven might caramelize it. And so it is. It is more creamy and sweeter and absolutely amazingly yummy! If somebody wants the recipe, please contact me! It is so worth it and super easy to prepare because it is roasting all by itself. You just need to cut the veggies and toss them!

And this week I'll try another one from the book: "Mushroom risoniotto". 

Doesn't it look yummy? I will try this out tomorrow after a few rounds on the ice skating rink with the children. The best thing about the recipes is that there is no fuss in making them. You don't need to prepare things for a long time or need to memorize an elaborated recipe with a lot of ingredients. Not that I don' like elaborated recipes but when time is short like sometimes in the evening it is perfect to have a new recipe at hand that is quickly prepared. 

I will tell you if it was as delicious as the last one.

What did you try out this year? Any new vegetarian or fish recipes?

Wishing you a lovely evening! I am off now to a tomato-mozzarella-pesto-salad-baguette prepared by Moritz. He is our baguette- and Panini-maker in the family. Jakob is the salad guy and tea-maker and Pauline just enjoys...

Yvonne

 

New beginnings

Happy New Year and off to new beginnings!!!

I have moved from moline

Today I visited the Yvestown blog again after a while where I haven't been reading blogs and found out she started afresh this year and deleted all her old blog entries. That is a pity in some ways and very courageous and positive thinking because why look back when there are wonderful new things ahead?

And then it dawned upon me: That was exactly what I need: To have a clean slate and start anew with another blog page. I wasn' so courageous as to delete my old blog entries but I moved and want to start fresh and new. 

The last year was great because we moved to lovely Seoul and had a wonderful time already. I was eager to move East and the city awaited us with open arms. There is so much beauty here and I hope I can show you some of it over the next few years.

And now for the excuses for not blogging for so long: I was preoccupied with some medical issues again. They found 14 cysts in my breasts and I maybe need a mammotony te have them handled. They are benign but so many and one is really big. I always had one that was coming and going with the pregnancies and extensive breast feeding. But no other pregnancy is scheduled so I have to have another plan now. On top of this I had a bone measurement.  I don't know why gynaecologists in Germany don't do that on a regular basis but maybe it is a money issue or they think it is not in their department!  And I found out I have Osteoporosis, too. So then - there were two ways to handle this: accepting that I maybe getting old and sick and cranky or take action. I decided on the latter. I took action immediately and gave up meat cold turkey (that sounds funny but I HAD to express it this way!). I wanted to do it for a long time but always was to weak and lazy. Now was the right time to kick out some of the calcium killers out of my body. It was so easy because we did not eat much of it anyhow. For the other calcium killers: I am not drinking Coca Cola (never) nor am I an extensive coffe drinker (1- to 2 Cappuccionos a week). But I love black tea. I drank it in litres like people from the North of Germany with a love for England do. I limited this to the weekend mornings and now savour every cup even more. I am lucky my new doctor is a nutritionalist , too, so she was happy I am taking care of me nutritionwise...

My husband loved that I cut meat from the  menue and finds it funny that I call myself a pescatarian (vegetarian plus fish) from now on because I did not give up on fish and shellfish.

The other action I took was to get going. Meaning: to lift my butt from the chair and sofa and be more active: I am doing small workouts every other day, leave the car behind and walk more often, got some small weights to build up more muscles to protect my bones and even got a fancy hula hoop Korean style with accupressure/massage bobbles inside. And guess what: I have so much more energy! (And if I practice enough I can compete with all the retired Korean men and women you meet in the park in the morning at 6 o'clock doing hula hoop in the free open-air gyms here in Seoul)

Of course I should have started this years ago but it is never too late and I think I'll feel better and healthier over time. And we are having so much fun: the whole family hula-hooping along here!

And of course I am not doing it all alone. I have Jonathan from No excuses workouts who is sending me supportive emails evry day and workout tips every second day to keep me on track. And can you believe it: it is for free! And I downloaded the Nike training App for my phone where you can have personally put together workouts with  the music from your ipod. I also have to admit that Cathy Zielske inspired me with her road to fitness as before with her way of scrapbooking. Thanks again Cathy! I even decided to jump on the wagon of her new workshop Move more , eat well 2012. it combines scrapbooking and a way to better health plus it is good for me to have some public accountability ;-)

Soooo, that is for a better start into 2012! I am happy I did not have to start in 2012 but already did baby steps in the last month of 2011. That made it a lot easier for me. When I left out the meat I was feeling better but I think that was only psychologically at first. When i gave up black tea I felt not so good. I had a headache for a couple of days. And me being a person who never suffers from headache thought: oh my goodness, I am a black tea addict and my body now shows me how much it relied on that daily intake! But it was better the next week and with so much more energy I will have more space in my head for doing the things I love: crafting and cooking and reading.

 

So this new blog will develop slowly. I will add some links to the sidebar from other lovely blog people and share some helpful sites to get you going in the chaos of everyday life. But for the readers who liked my personal insights into Seoul and Korea,

my love for decorating

and crafting

and family life

will also find this here. I am just adding to my usual repertoire this health issue thing because I think it is time!

Love seeing you back here!

Yvonne