Auburn and Blue

Life

8
Mar

 

My friend Elena posted this today… and it just completed my day !
It is only 9.30 am but I can say that this day has already been a good one.
Even if all else goes wrong today… it has been worth the while to be reminded again of these truths.

I loved it so much, I want to keep it here on my blog.
I have heard it before – surely you have heard it too.
But I needed to hear this again today. And maybe you need to hear it also again today.

So, I am happy for Elena sharing.

And with that – a happy International Women’s Day !!
Hope you all get spoilt – those who celebrate…

I am not all that happy today ….as we will be saying goodbye once more to a dear friend who will be moving on in expat world…but the good thing is that we will be able to eat and laugh and enjoy life one more time before she goes !

We get to live this life but once.
Listen to the good advice this man gives us…

And then have a happy day you all !!

Ilze

10×10 Living Store

3
Mar

I love Korean Style.

It shows in their shops, their restaurant.. their street style.

They love vintage, retro, chic, cute and pays a lot of attention to detail !

One of the shops I discovered here, which hopefully those alike me would enjoy … is the ….

 

My kids love it too.

Upstairs is a LIVING section – bits and bobs for inside your home…

a little bit of this…little bit of that… for the kitchen, bedroom, travelling, jewelry, clothing, bags, flowers….

And downstairs there is the 10×10 stationery store.

I don’t have any pictures of that section other than this one from the outside, but I will show in another post, some of the wonderful things I have bought there in the past.

Yes – ever wondered where you could find rubber froggy’s in Seoul… off course… there !!!

Yes – it just makes my soul smile when I have to sign and there is a little cutie doll sharing the experience with me !

 

This shop is located in Hywha-dong in the backstreets behind the MacDonalds and Accessorize.

For exact location, e-mail me and I could give you directions.

Go check it out when you live here..or visit the area as a tourist…. there is always a little something for everyone who appreciates the little details !

Bye Bye Shop…

Ilze

My mind is a blur

26
Feb

I just returned from my look-see trip in Hong Kong.

I had lots of downtime in which I could catch up on e-mails, blog, do some photo editing, call some friends….but I was just simply exhausted.

I have lately just stared at my computer. My mind a big blur.

Too many things on my mind has caused me to not think straight, to be immobilised and totally unproductive.

I need a plan. I need a strategy. And I need to get into action.

It will happen. I know.

It’s just a little overwhelming right now… and I need time for things to fall into place.

I have wonderful blog posts waiting in my draft box. Please hang in there… I hope to scoop up the energy and zest soon enough to share some of those posts with you !

What have you been up to lately? Busy??

Or do you have your own set of “the impossibles” that you try to get down everyday, but don’t quite know where to start with it? Let me know. I’d love to hear what you are up to !

Ilze

Fresh Salad in a jar

15
Feb

So, I told you yesterday about My Valentine for 2012.

Missed that?… you can check it here.

Why I love it so much you still wonder … ?!

I told you  some ……. but here is a little more reason.

When I pulled out my salad from the glass jar in the freezer… it was as fresh as it was when I put it in there a week earlier !

I NEVER before could manage keeping the salad fresh for more than a day –  no matter which fancy trick I had up my sleeve.

And where did I find this wonderful tip?

I saw it on Pinterest… I pinned it down onto my Board “I’m a Foodie” and I just feel obliged to share it with you now !

For more on the how-to on this one, follow this pin and get the scoop !

ps – I do have a little confession to make….. I did not quite do the part about the vacuum sealing… I simply had put mine in the glass jar but it lasted way longer than my expectation anyway   !

Ilze

My Valentine Pinterest

14
Feb

My husband has been travelling quite a bit since he took his new job.
It meant that I had to spend a little more time with my other love…. Pinterest.

Oh, how I love thee….. !!!!!!

 

(shhhhhh…kids know already……but don’t tell husband…. he might leave me!….and I do still love him MORE….but I could not help myself falling in love with Pinterest…..)

So, today… how can I not dedicate this post to my Valentine for 2012 – the one that is near and dear…with me all the time…never leaves me unless I abandon my laptop for a while…and always waits for me to return… to spend a little more time… share a little more love.

In fact I love you so much, that I made this special Valentines card for you…. again with a little trick I learnt from a pin I found on Pinterest.

If you like my Pinterest Valentines Card I made, you can go like it on Pinterest, or re-pin it… or if you just like ME so much, just share the love on Valentines Day by liking my blog via the facebook buttons on the sidebar or on facebook itself on the  Auburn and Blue page.

Unfortunately I am not the only one in love with Pinterest?

And it is not even that easy to find out how many share this love with me …as the numbers grow daily  and by the minute !!!

But safe to say… MILLIONS…. yep….. looks like almost 20 million right now??

There is only one SLIGHT problem with Pinterest – it is seriously addictive !!

Yes – not even slightly. In a BIG way !! You should know that by now yourself if you are a Pinterest user.

What do you mean You don’t know Pinterest ?????!!!! Seriously ?????

Well….. I guess there’s no holding back on my baby…since you know that the secret is not quite safe with 20 million other Pinterest junkies running around anyway…sooner or later you would have found out about it….

Pinterest is the LATEST, GREATEST in Social Networking. It is oh, so pretty….

It is a virtual on-line pinboard where you curate all your finds on the web and arrange them into Boards, so you find them  easily later,  in a well-organised manner. It is public so everybody shares their pins and you can pin either what you find independently on the web…or you can simply re-pin other people’s pins. Trust me – hours and hours of fun….

Nobody restricts what you pin (unless you pin on the naughty side off cause ?! …. the “Report Pin” is also alive and well ) . And since the world wide web is literally your source…there are no limits to new material re-generating itself by the second…that is where the “addictive” part comes in.

Another great thing is that everybody can pin to their own preferences – Sometimes I pin things I need to find again….with a goal in mind… but other times I pin simply to get inspiration or get in the mood for a festivity… or to pass time as I sit on the phone and wait for an annoying service where I have to hold the line….

Here are a few of my Valentines pins…and yes… this is about the extent to which my Valentine following goes…I am not a big Valentine’s person (oops – don’t tell my Valentine)…but still… So many cute things I saw, I couldn’t resist pinning…

Ilze

The Joy of Books

8
Feb

I was filled with joy and emotion last night when I listened to my youngest, at bedtime, reading an entire book to me for the first time.

At school I have heard her during Reading time doing little bits of it, but somehow last night it struck me that she is there now…. at that place where she is unstoppable. She could sound out every letter/ word in her little beginners’ book and where she got to places where she was stuck, her first response was not anymore to stop and look for help from a grown-up. No, she was at the place where you could almost experience how her brain is now pushing itself to the limits to make sense of what she saw with her eyes and then what later followed with her lips to the point where it suddenly then all made sense! It was just so incredible to watch and realize that a new world has opened up for her.

How priviledged to be schooled and how blessed to have the capacity to learn and grow.

Even in my older daughter I saw the joy last week, coming home to tell me that she has moved up another reading level. And I know it is from her more regularly picking up a book at home and reading, reading, reading regularly!

So when I saw this video on youtube after my friend posted it on her facebook wall this morning, I had new appreciation for the Joy of Books.

Oh, the romance of an old bookstore. Filling you up with nostalgia as you watch it and almost expecting a movie scene to follow next, you can almost experience the warmth it provides to any stranger who would choose to walk into a bookstore from the streets on a cold, dark night.

 
I hope you enjoyed it too !

I am wondering… do you still prefer reading a book on a hardcover or have you become a kindle-girl?
Or do you have your whole library loaded on your i-pad?
Do you even still go into bookstores…..and what do you believe the future of those are?

After seeing this video – let’s keep it alive !!!!

With my oldest child, I sat EVERY single night to read to him, from day 1 onwards…. lots and lots of books…to the point where he has such a love for reading and books that he is years ahead with his Reading skills and the knowledge he gained from that is astonishing. Maybe even more so then that I realize how little one had to struggle a bit more for her right to read, as a Mom of 3 did not have the capacity to read every single night to her as I did with the oldest. And still, she discovered it – with the help of others and now I just want to help her continue on this wonderful journey!

I read in article in THE TELEGRAPH today that Reading a book can add another year to a child’s education by age 15.And quoted from that article:
Today, it will be announced that the UK Government will launch a reading competition for seven to 12-year-olds in England from this autumn.
It is understood that the competition will be based around who can finish the most books, with youngsters encouraged to read fiction in particular. Local, regional and national prizes will also be awarded.

Reading a book 'adds a year to children's education' – Telegraph.

Hope you enjoyed reading the blog today – THE WONDER OF BEING ABLE TO READ…we often forget about that gift we all received when we were just 4 or 5 or thereabout….

Happy reading everybody! A good book and a cup of something warm under a cozy blanket is still the best way to beat the bitter cold that is out there everywhere !!

Ilze

Sundays are not really meant for this, but……

5
Feb

… when you are where we are right now… then Sundays can’t always be about being lazy, resting and restoring the soul for the week. This Sunday unfortunately had to turn into a day of scheduling, searching and applying for new schools and catching up on school projects that are due soon !

Little one had a playdate and without daddy or a nanny, the rest of the family had to tag along and were hanging out  in a coffee shop near the friend’s house while she was spending the afternoon playing there. Logistics made it too difficult to come back home inbetween. Big city life….

One great thing in Korea though, is that you are very likely to get highspeed internet in most cafes. So, it was Cafe Benne again today, with their good wi-fi set-up, like I posted here. Great thing is nowadays with kids’ homework and school applications – all you need is a laptop and wi-fi and you are good to go anywhere !

We had a crazy 2 weeks and finally I could sit down today and do some scheduling for the weeks ahead. How funny when I realized for the first time today that the first half of my Angel-in-us calendar for 2012 is filled with Hong Kong snaps !  I love how the Korean stationery always have these great pictures everywhere to add to the ambience of their paper and inks !

I loved the calendar when I saw it – especially the bright orange cover… do you know that ORANGE is the color of the coming season?! Watch out – it’s gonna be a big, bright season ahead and I am looking forward to the citrus splashes everywhere !!

I already started collecting inspiration on my ORANGE board on Pinterest.

 

For you to also get into the groove – go peek  here !

 

But back to the calendar/ diary – I try to do things electronically nowadays, but still love the feel of a real journal to jot things down. Angel-in-us issued this one for 2012 with pictures and other little details that caught my eye one day while buying coffee just before Christmas. To read about this popular Korean coffee franchise, you can read this charming post that Ibyang Sanchet did on her blog, A Wife’s Charmed Life . When visiting Seoul, you will feel like you know the place already, once you have read her post !

So, I warned you that you will be hearing a lot more about not only Seoul, but also my expat journey.

Let me first say that the best part of being an expat is certainly the friends you make along the way. How wonderful that in preparation for our move, I have already been in touch with friends of friends who live in Hong Kong and who have been great in e-mailing and calling me with suggestions and lots of information that has been very helpful indeed. I already feel welcome over there !

Today, I tried to get together a shortlist of schools and contacted the Admission Offices. Schooling there seems to be in a bit of crisis right now, since the demand still far outweighs the supply and waiting lists are therefore endless and the process seems stressfull! The good news is that there are really great schools to choose from.

I am learning a lot in the process and I found this website, to be very helpful as a starting point. This is not only helpful for Hong Kong Schools but for any person moving children between schools and countries. It is worth looking into if you also got totally overwhelmed with the latest on IB, IGCSE, A-levels etc etc… those certainly did not exist in my days !!??!

A friend has kindly offered to pick up this guide for me and I am hoping it would provide me a key to unlock some of the confusion. You can find the link for it on this same website that is linked above. An overwhelming amount of information, but we all want the best for our little “angels”, right?!

 

Having so many choices is wonderful, but having it depend on so many variables is a little unsettling and a big reason for panic to set in. And then there is also the fact that kids the age of mine, start to have their own preferences and reasons for wanting to go to specific schools ! My daughter helped me by preparing a sheet for all the information we collected from the internet. This made her feel part of the process and they are already much more involved in the whole schooling decision. That be a good thing? Or a bad thing? Not sure. I see a big headache ahead, but…

For now, it is focus on getting into the system and hope for the best !

It has always worked out, and we certainly trust it will again.

Any experienced moms out there who want to share their wisdom gained in school transitioning?

Any Hong Kong moms who has insights to the schooling system firsthand?

What do you look for in a school for your kids?

I am wondering if there are people out there who geniunely regretted sending their kids to a certain school once they got to applying for colleges ?

I do want my kids to have the best possible opportunities, but I also don’t want to become an anxious mom who looses focus on what are the real important things in life…

…..and that certainly is not only their education !

Let me hear your voice by leaving me a comment and I will find a way to process…

Hope you have a happy week ahead everyone !

Ilze

Mitat

31
Jan

The year of the dragon is well on its way and today I want to tell you about somebody to look out for in this coming year……

 

During my recent holiday in South Africa I went to the  Christmas Market in Parys, Free State. Yes, that’s the little town where I hang out during Christmas break and it is quite fun to go browse around scouting for local talent and hearty finds ! My highlight at this year’s market was certainly

Mitat.

 

 

And what a cool website they have too … you can find it here.

There were so many items to choose from and regrettably I did not take pictures of the things I bought for my house in South Africa, but I did bring a few things back, including these gifts for some of my friends:

and a cute little Twine bag – who could resist?

 

Mmmm….  paper tags for mysterious little brown bag packages or as little hostess gifts!

 

Loved everything !

Do you ever go to a Christmas Market and have you found something great at your local market you wish to share? Do tell!

 

Ilze

In the middle of nowhere right now….

29
Jan

Today I am finding it really hard to focus.

I want to go back to where I was a week ago and continue on that path that 2012 had set me off on.

But it is hard to ignore the fact that I have been re-directed and need to think of a few things beyond those that I had planned in the beginning of this year.

(Image credit: Tim Walker)

Right now, I am just hanging somewhere in between where I was a week ago and where I will be going in the next 6 months and beyond.

A lot to think about. But as much as I am looking forward to our new posting, I am equally pulled into living my life here to the fullest for the remainder of our time here. This mostly revolves around my friends. I have met wonderful people here and continue to meet them and  investing in spending time with great people around me, is certainly a priority for me. I learn so much from others.

I have received such wonderful comments and messages following my post about our news and upcoming move.  Thank you all for your overwhelming response of well wishes. And yeah – my facebook likes got over the little bump of hitting 50…let’s hope 100 is next! Love to hear and see when people hang out with me.

Somebody asked me about the lack of content on my blog about my life in Seoul. I thought about that and had my reasons, but then I decided it might be a good idea to throw those posts in here in future. I love my house, my life and the city around me. So, be sure to check back in if you want to have a peek into that life that Seoul offers to expats.

And be sure that you will be hearing about moving, packing up and all the fun stuff that everybody experience who has ever had to pack up and relocate.

Sorry if you fancied my blog for the organisational inspiration that I promised in the beginning. It turned out to be a little harder to blog about that when your life is constantly thrown back into chaos.

So I have decided to perhaps just go with the flow and blog about life as and when it happens with and around me.

Hope you have a minty Sunday. With a husband off on a plane for his new job, I guess reality is slowly setting in.

But first ….time to go relax with my girls. They need Mommy time now !

Ilze

Life changes in one phone call

27
Jan

….and with that one phone call….a closed door opened… which is what I want to tell you about today.

 

Yesterday I did a post about changing a Bathroom in a day.

Life too can change in a day – in fact with the blink of an eye when tragedy strikes.

But as an expat, life usually changes dramatically with just one phone call.

It is not the usual job hunting, interview process, salary negotiation, watch and wait kind of job changes – like you have in a normal scenario…..full of expextation to hear an answer while already spending your new salary in your head… No.

In expat world -life is dependant on changes and moves up and beyond your control, and of which you are totally not aware…. untill on one happy morning you get informed of how the dominos have started to tumble this time round.

There are many variations of this same story, but in the basic form, this is how it happens….

You always know it’s coming some day again,

You are never quite sure when…..

You start to think it might be coming up soon…

And then you completely put your mind off it again and happily live life when…..

1. Boss phones husband and offer a new position.

2.  Husband phones wife to inform her about the news.

3. Husband and wife have a certain adrenalin going – be it in panic or excitement depending what has just been thrown at them.

4. Both calm down, realizing that this usually means zip your lip and don’t tell anyone for a few days. Protocol is alive and well.

5.Wife tells husband she will survive – even if she knows she might not…but whose gonna send Husband back to Boss with a “NO”.

6. Husband phones Boss back – cool, calm and collected to accept the job offered while thinking… my wife is going nuts at home… be it on a positive or a    negative note – depending the news!!

7. Wife sits at home and think – LIFE JUST CHANGED – ALL IN ONE PHONE CALL – and from that moment on….. a million things will need to happen untill she knows, for sure… she will sit on this same couch again… in another house, in another country … with no idea how that will all work out…just knowing that it will !

That was me again this week. Except for the part where Wife was this time round part of the cool, calm and collected clan. WIth off course a big YES…woohoo baby…on the side !

First there was moving to the U.S. – that was exciting as I was to have my first baby there and it was our first expat assignment.

Next was a move back to South Africa – that was exciting because going home was fun and I could go back to work.

Then came a call to move to Moscow – husband made me sit down…on the chair that just arrived that morning for my newly renovated office, to break the news. That was exciting because it had a certain element of mistery and magic to go to Russia to explore beyond the “Iron Curtain” as I knew it growing up.

The call to Korea was a different one – I had to shamefully go pull out a map to see WHERE exactly is Korea? But the great thing again was that it was unknown to me… implicating that there would be a lot to learn about people, culture, lifestyle and history that I had absolutely no clue about. And so it was – I have been enriched by this experience. And same goes for my kids.

This time it is different. HONG KONG is next on the map. I know where it is. That’s a great start !

 

(Image credit:www.chinahighlights.com)

And this time I am excited for the following top 5 reasons, which I will share in a minute.

Breaking the news to your children always goes with a bit of nervousness, as not everybody tends to be at the same place in life when these changes happen… but we are blessed to have happy, well-rounded children who embrace change despite having to cut ties with friends they have bonded with for various reasons. And despite having to swop that nice, cosy spot they have carved out in life over here right now …..for that uncomfortable feeling of being the new kid on the block again.

On Sunday we shared the news to the little one, 5 yrs old…and I wish I recorded it as we went from zero to hero all in one minute in her world !

It went like this..

Me:”..you know what? Daddy is going to have a new job..and his not going to do his old job anymore

L – WHAT??!! He’s not gonna be our DAD anymore????!!!!

Me – No, I mean his OTHER job – you know…at the office….but it means he has to go to another country

L – WHAT???!!!!!  BIG outburst in tears… but THAT means I will not see M or I or ANY of my best friends anymore????!!!

Me – I know, but it is a really fun place where we will go….

L – (sobbing still but trying to compose) - WHAT???!! Is it Australia ??

Me - No, but it has a BEACH..

L - But still not my friends !!!!

Me – it has DISNEY World

L - WHAT ????!!!!!! ….YEAH !!!! …..My friends LOVE Disney. Whoo Hoo….”

And then life continued. All done. All happy.

And the greatest testimony through it all still goes to my husband – despite his hard work, despite me being super proud of him and his career, the kids still think that his REAL JOB is being their Father – which just means that he is there for us, always has been and always will be. And nobody has become the by-product of his ambitions.

Okay – so  back to those top 5 reasons:

1. It is closer to home – at least 4 hours and no “extra leg” anymore – a direct flight now to SA

2. Nice weather, Easier shopping, more variety in restaurants, more English, more Cosmopolitan City.

3. Great schools, great expat community, I believe.

4. A place with hustle and bustle – yes, that’s my kind of place ! and maybe that will convince a few friends to come visit who were a hard pull to get to Seoul –  you know… bribe the kids with Disney, the beach, the rugby….something for everyone ?!

5. But I love that it is still in Asia – which I have now grown to love and respect and in which there still lies a list of fabulous destinations we were hoping to see and visit and explore. And close enough to my current destination to come back or have my girlfriends over for a weekend trip !

New doors have opened up again and the best thing about it will be that that can happen with the old ones not closing on you….

Life has just, once again, become so much more with so many new opportunities and so many new awakenings that will go with it.

Challenges – for sure. Sadness of leaving friends and Seoul – for sure.

We are happy to move on as much as we are grateful for the time we had and will still have in Seoul.

But we will be taking with us…. more than what we ever came here with.

Life has and continues to be good for us as a family. We are blessed and we are thankful.

 

Ilze

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