Charleston Take Two!

Hey all! Sorry I haven't been around much. Honestly it's not just being busy; I've been in a blogging slump. Sometimes it's hard to maintain a blog when you aren't sure anyone is reading. I'm trying to get myself to write anyway though.

I stated this blog for myself: to chronicle my adventures so I could look back and to practice my writing. So I bribed myself with coffee, lectured myself a bit, and dragged myself here to write this.

Little rant over.

So darn cute.

Apologies

Hey guys.
I'm writing this post as an apology. I know I haven't posted in ages (since December) and I feel bad. I kept thinking that I should at least do a Photo Sunday, but then I kept not doing it.
A lot has been going on in my life, and I've been super busy...and when I wasn't busy I didn't really feel like posting.
In all honesty, I'm not sure how much I'll be on this blog for a bit. Because!

I am going to grad school! Well hopefully. I got accepted to a grad school, but I need to get student loans, housing, and a visa before I'll consider it set in stone. So I'm not going to announce where I am moving until it's 100%. While I may not post a whole ton in grad school, when I do post they will be longer and I will be traveling a lot.

Here's a super cute picture of my dad's new puppy as an apology. Perhaps I'll just post tons of puppy pictures until I have something else. haha

There will be some longer posts coming up in the next couple months.

March: I am going back to Charleston, this time my stepdad and YC will be joining my mom and I. Look forward to a more detailed Charleston post this time. We will be spending two days there.

May: YC and I will hopefully be going back to Singapore (yay!) for one of his best friends' wedding. I'm hoping that we will be able to schedule in a layover in Japan or Taiwan.

Summer: My mom and I are hoping to make a trip up to Boston and Salem before I leave for grad school.


Hopefully I'll also get my butt in gear for at least some Photo Sunday posts. Regardless, I at least plan on posting long posts and tons of pictures for the aforementioned posts!

So sorry again for my vacancy. I swear grad school planning stress is going to kill me.
I promise to try to post more.

HUGS!
-Alisa

Liebster Award Nomination

Hey guys! I've been nominated for the Liebster blogging award. It is a way for lesser known bloggers to get to know each other. Apparently it helps get the word out about your blog.

I was nominated by Claire Wang from Adventure at Work. I know her through Aileen Adalid's travel group on Facebook (I am Aileen). Thanks to both for this opportunity to get to know the blogging community.

A Book Review and a Yoga Challenge!

Hello all! I've been feeling super productive recently, so here comes another post!

First off, a book review! Last week YC and I went on a book date where we each bought the other person one of our favorite books. I bought YC The Name of the Wind; my absolute favorite book. YC bought me The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.

I finished my book in only a couple days, It was a super easy and quick read. The story is written in first-person from the point of view of a unique kid who attends a special needs school. Though it is not directly stated in the book, it is fairly clear that Christopher is on the Autistic Spectrum.

Here is a link to the Goodreads page.

The Mandatory Thanksgiving Post

I feel like it is mandatory for bloggers to post a Thanksgiving post with a list of things they are thankful for. While I think it is kind of amusing that everyone does it, I also think it is a good practice.
Sometimes it is hard to remember what you're thankful for, so whenever possible sit back and list the good things in your life. It always cheers me up.

So here is a list of things I am thankful for this year:

A pretty accurate summary of my family in one picture.

Korean cultural musings 하나

So I wanted to just state a couple of things that I have noticed differ between American culture and Korean culture. I am not making any judgement or claiming that either way is better I am simply making some observations and I would be curious to hear what difference struck Koreans visiting America or really anyone living in another country.

So without further adieu, here is what I have noticed.

From my hike in Seoul!

Cooking Experiments! A New Idea

So YC came up with an awesome idea that I think I'll be trying out in the near future.

Cooking experiments!

We'll try out recipes from various countries and chronicle the results. This will include pictures of the attempt, how it turned out, and the recipe we used.

Also, I'm really bad at cooking, as in I messed up instant mac and cheese on more than one occasion. So, this should make the whole thing quite amusing.

What do you guys think?

The other week YC and I attempted to make onigiri, so here is a summary of how it went as a preview for these upcoming blog posts.
Sorry I don't have the recipe for this one, but we will be doing a redo where I'll include the recipe. So stay posted!

Here they are! The onigiri!

An Update on My Life

Hello there lovelies.
Seeing as how I haven't written a full post in awhile, yet I haven't gone on any new adventures, I decided to just give you a little update on my life in general.
And because everyone loves a list (I'm pretty sure that's a fact. haha.), here is a list of five recent happenings in my life.

Here we go!

The amazing Tres Leches Cake

On Uncertainty

Since last winter I had been planning on moving to South Korea in August to teach English. I even got my TEFL certificate and had all my paperwork together. I'd even been offered the job.

Then everything fell apart.
I didn't get to go to Korea in August. I am still stuck in my hometown in the US of A.
I work two sporadic jobs and I live at home.
Hope got to go, which I think sometimes makes it worse for me.

So I decided to write a post on how I'm dealing with having my plans for an entire year crumble around me, and the huge uncertainty that followed.

Cute pic with the bf that wouldn't have happened if I'd gone to Korea.