A Wintery Wonderland

This past weekend, I had a long weekend and I had the itch to explore the outer realms of Korea, take a dive into the abyss you might say, but where to? Well I of course am super intelligent, a genius really. So where does my genius self go? I went to the only sane place to go to during a blizzard weekend, to a Korean beach of course.. So I put on my swimsuit and then proceeded to stick 10 shirts on, 5 pairs of pants on and 7 1/2 pairs of socks (couldn't find the 8th lefty sock..I swear it ran away. It was the rebellious type). So I layered up, stuck some chap stick and some super glue in my pocket (you know, just in case) and I prepared for an adventure on Mui Island and I found one..

There I outran polar bears, climbed Mount Everest, fought off snow monkeys with icicles, roasted 5 pound clams over the open flame in subzero temperatures, met the Swiss Family Robinson (they are so cool), and I still came back with all 8 1/2 fingers! (forgive my typos, please) ... Some how this trip gave me a new appreciations for winter. Maybe the cold caused brain freeze?

Happy Halloween!..... Uh...Well?

Oh I guess it actually Valentine's day not Halloween....Ah well, Valentine's Day and Halloween are practically the same, and they are equally scary holidays. Halloween you will die by the hand of the little trick or treaters if you don't buy the right kind of candy, and Valentine's Day you will die by the hand of your oh so Special someone if you buy the wrong present. Same, Same.I hope you all make it out of the holiday alive! :)

Indonesian Skies

Everything in Indonesia was absolutely gorgeous, completely and utterly lovely, crazy beautiful, spectacular, delightful, charming, ravishing.... (you get the point)....but the single thing that amazed me morning, day and night??? The skies, Wowzer. The prettiest I've ever seen. If only I could have packed a sky or two into my suitcase like I did the pineapples, avocados, mangos, bananas,... but the sky wouldn't fit... it was too big.. I tried, I swear I did. I jumped and jumped; yelled and screamed; spun on my head while doing the rain dance... but alas! the suitcase just wouldn't zip. So I had to take it out. Next time, I guess I'll just have to bring a bigger suitcase.

Clean off the flip-flops, break out the shorts..... it's practically summertime!

Well you will be sad to know that I'm back from three weeks of traipsing around Indonesia with Mandy in their chilly 80 degree winter weather :) There are many warm tropical pictures to share very, very soon, but first a few pictures of cold, snowy Korea that greeted me this past week... Somehow snow makes 15 degree weather perfectly fine with me.. :) but the times are changing and I can smell spring in the air...today it was in the 30s and 40s! I keep telling Mandy, with weather like this it's practically time to let loose and break out the blingy sunglasses and Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini. Yet for some reason she doesn't seem to believe me.?.? Oh well, I guess I'll just get a tan first. tsk, tsk. It's her loss.

I have a confession to make..gulp..

Well you see.. I am one of those horrible teachers. The ones who, gulp... has favorites....favorite students. Yes, yes, It's true.. I know, I'm ashamed. I have sinned.. forgive me please. Really, I can barely look at myself in the mirror.. but I tried oh so hard to be like a journalist or judge or something and be unbiased..but I can't help myself, some kids are just so impossibly cool... like the Korean versions of Paul Newman or Hepburn. They're just oh, so cool.So please raise your glasses of hot chocolate and eggnog (or prune juice, for the Mr. Byes of the world) to some of the coolest kids in Asia... more tributes to come when I come back in 3 weeks with an Indonesian tan and Chinese frostbite =) Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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Merry Christmas!..... and be jealous.

So why, you ask, would you ever think about being jealous, of me? Yes, I know what you are thinking. Jealous of her, ha! True there has rarely ever been an occasion for this jealously of Inge, well actually there have probably never been an occasion at all... BUT today is the day to be jealous..Finally it has come! for once in my long, back-breaking 12 and 1/2 years of life as a child laborer in the bitter cold of Southern Africa, this reason to be jealous of me has finally come!Why you ask, are you jealous of me? Well :::cough, cough::: I, Inge Kathleen ::cough, cough:: of the US of A, a lover of sleep and all food, and snob of cheese and Mexican food is ::drum roll please...Inge proceeds thump her sushi-stuffed belly:: I am.....uh...um..well.......Ha! got you! There is actually nothing to be jealous of. That was an empty build-up! I just wanted to see if I could string you along for two paragraphs. And it worked :DYes, I'm a jerk, what's new?But It's almost Christmas so don't hate me too much because poor me can't make it back to the States to stuff my belly with all the beautiful cookies, cakes, and pies of home...  Yet, as the overachiever that I am, even though I am not in the USA for Christmas, I am still determined to achieve a food coma and have a food baby for Christmas. A extremely difficult task when there are almost no ovens to be found in all of Korea.How will I manage this food baby, you ask? Mandy and I have schemed, and I think that we have come up with a perfect idea. We will spend Christmas day in the Philippines, our plans? eating our way through Manila.

Then late on Dec 25 we will hop on a plane to the ever tropical Indonesia to start 2 weeks of hiking, beach bumming, hot springs finding, Sumatra-coffee drinking and, of course, EATING! eating mangos, pineapple, bananas and avocados, etc...... yum, yum.. but until then it's 10 degrees outside, and I'm of to put on my fancy Korean long-johns and waiting the weather out with a big ole cup of peppermint tea.. Oh and Mandy says Merry Christmas!... Yes..Yes..She's my roommate. A bit scary, no? :) She will protect me in Manila. She just has to give the creepers the her "look" and no one dares to touch us.

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Flavored Gasoline...

While blasting Korea with bone-chilling winds and freeze your tush off weather, God remembered to send a little gift Korea's way.... The First Snow! The reason for snow? Well....I hypothesize that it is so we can now freeze to the bone and have fun doing....all in one lovely same breath :) Basically, it's just a less painful death. It for sure still leads to death, but just a more enjoyable one.You see, it's like drinking grape flavored gasoline vs. drinking regular unleaded flavored gasoline (I prefer the super unleaded Shell gasoline as a beverage myself).. However regardless of what gasoline you drink, you will die no matter the flavor----grape, cherry, or otherwise--- but the grape gasoline tastes "oh so delicious!" So your death just doesn't seem quite as painful. And you all know that I am a peace loving person and an advocate of merciful killings.....so bring on the Snow!

A beautiful Idea!

It's winter, and I had a wonderful idea a few weeks back! I thought if I acted like I were a bear and went into a hole to hibernate by the time I came out, I would not only get a nice layer of subcutaneous fat, but winter would be over. And, and then I would be free to frolic in the meadows of South Korea while eating a lot of food (don't ask me what I'm eating in this dream/idea, but eating is always the result of 99.9% of my wonderful ideas)Well so I tried this idea. Went into hibernation just after my last blog post, and just yesterday I peeped my head out of my cave and my plan miserably failed. I mean epic FAIL-ure!......Well.........Ok I lied, winter is still here, BUT! I did obtain a nice layer of winter flubber in the process of hibernation(what? korean food is yummy!), and boy does it keep me toasty! It's great, It's like drinking green tea or hot chocolate all day long, except there are fewer trips to the restroom involved :)  It's a beautiful thing... Only four months until the frolicking with food can begin!

Ben Franklin and a Racist Winter..

It's November in Korea and the rest of the world (at least that's what the liberals on the news tell me), but the winter has already set in, in Korea. There is no fall nor autumn to ease my sun-loving self into winter. Korean winter does not mess around. no siree! It's warm one day and then BAM! One day it is COLD..BITTER..UGLY and COLD again. It was shorts weather one day and then the next, BAM! I'm wearing Eskimo Gear and ice fishing.It hates me. Not only is it cold and bitter, it is racist to boot! How do you say? Well,, every time I see it, it mocks my Mexican heritage. by blowing 10 degree winds and rain in my face, laughs and laughs and then calls me a beaner. (I know, I was surprised that the Korean winter knew racial slurs, but it does!).It's true though, I swear. All of it. 100% true.. Just like 100% the Florida Natural Juice is 100% Florida none of those impure California ones to screw it up. 100% truth. ::Inge begins to chant :: "I only speak the truth, I only speak the truth, I only speak th...."They say that the winter stays in town for at least 4-5 months. Didn't that Benjamin Franklin guy say that winter is like fish, after 3 days it smells? No, that wasn't him? Well he wishes he had had the brains ::God rest his soul:: to have said something so sageful.Jeez can a girl get a break? Don't they know that after 2 months of winter my body will shutdown automatically? Switch, bam, gone, done for, broken...no speaka Engrish,. I'm like a ticking time bomb.. 3, 2, 1 ..... except i won't explode after two months.. well at least I don't think I will..Oh shucks! ::Inge remembers that she skipped that part in her instruction manual, she runs to find it::-----Well I have no more words because the cold is taking effect and my brain is s-s-shu-u-t-t-ting d-d-d-d ooowwnnnn....Below are pictures of when it was warm.. I don't think I remember what color the sun was anymore and my dumb camera turned everything to black and white. So the pictures can't remind me. No wait, I remember the sun was.... it was blue, no that's not right..I know this one, I do, I do,.... It's at the tip of my brain! it was purple, wasn't it? like grapes! no wait.......?

Sorry Mom.....BLah, Blah..and some pictures

I think I should win a prize for the amount of times that I have said sorry for my negligence to update my family on my where abouts in the world. My prize? Well I have many, many brilliant prize ideas like... free watermelon, dark chocolate, cold hard cash.. any takers?So for the 293872th time in the past 4 months, so very sorry Mom. I really meant to do this earlier, but I have been rather busy here in Korea. Yes, yes, I know what were you're thinking, South Korea? I know I should have told you all earlier that I was moving, but I just thought it sounded fun and Bam! now I'm here for a year. Just like that.It's just like that one night when I stayed up too late and watched one too many infomercials and the next day I woke up and realized that I had just bought a Bow Flex, a life time subscription to a magazine all about cows and a red magic apparatus that takes dents out of your car.1) First of all I didn't own a car.2) Second the only workout my arms gets are from an intense workout known as X-Treame E-A-T-ing. It's New fangled.:: inge use a bow flex machine? ha. It's more likely that inge will update her blog..:: "Hey that's not nice!" ::inge then gives the odd blog commentator an evil glare::Anywho....What was I thinking? Well the better question is how did I even got hired to be an English teacher? Who are we kidding, I'm grew up in East Tennessee, East Tennessee! Are we even sure English is spoken in East Tennessee? Well, Ok if you want to know the truth. The real, REAL truth is that I got my Mexican friend Juanita to speak for me in my phone interview with the school. She's has been in the US for a couple of years ago already and her English is quite nice. Otherwise they would never have hired me nope, nope., not with my "English" I only can write this blog post because of a wonderful website --> www.freetranslation.com. Technology. it's a beautiful thing.Yes, I know what your thinking. How do you manage to teach English if you can't even speak English? Well no worries. Granted they don't understand me, but they had already paid for my plane ticket over here.  What could they do send me back? Nope. Nope, I'm an investment and too expensive to sell. I'm like a really bad cellphone service, you sign a year contract and then WAM! you discover that the phone drops calls left and right. It doesn't matter where you are. No matter if you're in a tunnel the call is dropped, or on top of a tunnel (call dropped), in your house (call dropped), or your if you climb the tallest telephone tower (call dropped)... Well my Korean school, poor things, is stuck with a bum call-dropping contract for a whole long year with me and all of my East Tennessee goodness. ::don't laugh, we make a mean chicken biscuit::Blah, Blah, Blah and finally some pictures to water down the Blahs ----> Aren't my Korean students beautiful? :)

Emmy + Josh Hitson - Part 1 of 2, maybe 3

Yes, Finally! I got off my bum and posted Emmy & Josh's wedding -- I know, I know - I feel guilty, terrible really for waiting this long to post my own sister's wedding... Yes, clearly I am a bad person, sister, sister-in-law, aunt, mother (um, mom and dad I have something to tell you ::cough, cough::), Anyway, I'm a bad human being, child of the earth, I am on my grandmother's S-list, And if I had a heart, it would be rotting from the inside out - lucky for me I don't have one, oh the simple pleasures of life ;)This is the first installment of 2 maybe 3 posts of their wedding ( 3 posts if you'll pull my arm or if I become super indecisive and SUPER productive all in one day). The next post will becoming tomorrow morning after I finish pumping IRON and pretending to do push-up but in reality I'll be watching a super intense workout video on the my comfy couch with a warm Cinnabun covered in gooey icing. yum. my favorite part of the day! And then I'll be so worn out from watching other people sweat and burn calories that I'll need to eat the Hungry Man breakfast at the I-HOP (because face it, no matter how good the hash browns are at the waffle house, it's still gross) and after that THEN I'll post wedding numero 2 (ha, look at me and my Spanish - so proud of me in this moment)But in all seriousness Emmy and josh's wedding was an absolutely beautiful day. The best it could have been. and I couldn't of been happier or more honored to document their day. Looking at the images and them together always but a big silly, cheesy grin on my face. Congratulations guys, I LOVE YOU! -- And thank-you, thank-you to the Amazing Mandy McConaha --> http://mandolynm.blogspot.com and Becky Fluke --> http://www.flukephotos.com/ who photographed this day with me - I love you guys too. You're are amazing! Enjoy and come back tomorrow for Numero DOS! (<--- look Spanish again, I'm amazing! The next thing you know I'll be able to speak Mexican!)

Vanessa + Daniel

So Mandy and I were at it again, and this time I dragged my aunt along for another adventure. This time to photograph the wedding of Vanessa and Daniel. Where to? Omaha, Nebraska. A 13+ hour drive! Yes I'm crazy. I have a doctor's note that attests to it. The note even has that extra hideous doctor handwriting to prove the legitimacy of my decrepit mental state. But this trip was a grand adventure and one that I'll never forget. Well, I may forget the 1000001 barn I saw driving there, however the 1000002 barn was a show stopper. literally. I almost wrecked the car after seeing it. don't ask. you don't want to know. The back seat driver And the peanut gallery were stunned speechless. It was perfect. :)

The wedding day was a day overflowing with emotion and excitement. It took the meticulously planning of Vanessa for all the details to come together. The ceremony was filled with tearful guests. I almost cried, and I never cry (my heartless state is so bad that I am often referred to as an ice queen and accused of having tears of stone). So my almost tearful experience is evidence that this was a unique day in so many ways. Thank-you Daniel and Vanessa for inviting me to be a part of your big day.

But before the pictures I can't forget to thank Mandy McConaha for coming to photograph with me. It is never the same without you (check at her beautiful work here --> http://mandolynm.blogspot.com ). And a huge shout out to my aunt for dealing with me and my oddities for 13 hours straight, twice, there and back.

This wedding had such a classic feel to it that I felt that it needed to be edited in black and white. I just had to edit it that way because when the photography gods in my head say black and white, I obey. You never question them. It is blasphemy. (it's like throwing a party in the South and not serving Sweet Iced Tea. You DON'T do it. Or you'll be exiled to New Jersey or, or....Indiana..shudder)

After that ridiculous introduction, here are just a few of the favorite images we captured. Congratulations Daniel and Vanessa!

A bright note!

In the mist of all the crazy sleepless nights, caffeine, and ridiculous research papers that are hopefully leading up to my graduating in May (well, that is if I don't fail anything), something just wonderful happened!

What is it? The Bright Note in my currently chaotic life!?! Rachell + Lee's wedding. The one that I photographed in Nashville last fall with my friend Drew, just got featured in Southern Wedding's Blog/Magazine! AH!!! I swear it's true.. how exciting, right? Here's the link to prove it or just click on the pictures --> http://www.swsmag.net/blog/2009/4/16/real-wedding-rachell-lee.html and attatched to the feature is the most spectaculous story of how Rachell + Lee met :) Enjoy....

Narcolepsy and Photography..

So I sit in bed writing on a Sunday morning way too early I don't think the birds are even up. ::Inge just realizes the birds are in the south because it's so flippin' cold outside. lucky them. i'm packing. Mexico anyone?:: So back to sleep. I would go back to sleep like a normal person but I am pretty sure it is apparent that I am not normal, slightly deformed actually. Mom says I wasn't dropped, but I don't believe it. My body thinks that it is normal to wake up at 5:10 on a Sunday morning when the night before it went to sleep at 1:30. this is definitely a sign of a dropped baby or maybe i was one of those babies that bounced, you know like a ball or, or a pogo stick. They say I was rather fat. Did you know I was born a 11 pd baby? I know. what happened to me? I let myself go. too much bouncing I guess.

So the new year is definitely in full swing, and I hope you know this is post 2 of January. Booyah! 11 months of new years resolutioning to go.. I've started school and also portrait sessions! Yesterday I had a lovely session with some of the greatest girls ever. They were up for anything no matter how cold the day was and they did it so very stylishly. :) Here are some of my favorites from Sarah, Diana, and Kathryn's session!

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