Summer's Anticipation! ~ Fashion Shoot ~ Part One

Do you remember a couple of months back or rather almost 11 months ago?  In April 2011, I had a 5-month challenge for myself ?Remember challenges two and three?2) Collaborate with another artist (fashion designer, make-up artist, etc.) on a Photography Shoot3) Do a Fashion Shoot in SeoulSo I didn't quite do a fashion shoot in Seoul, but rather in the most beautiful countryside of Gangwon-do in East Korea! Which was about a million times better than photographing in Seoul. And I got to do some serious collaboration too!I paired with the brilliant clothing designer Hyeon-ja of Gyahaha and business partner Hyunmi for a crazy Saturday of pretty clothes, 3 am wake up calls, lots of hard work and the most tasty beef barbeque in all of Korea. We didn't finish until the next day at 6 am! It was worth the sleeplessness. We produced this shoot for their summer clothing line which is absolutely stunning! I am finally posting Part 1 for the internet world to see. Part 2 to come! :) If you're in Seoul, be sure to visit Gyahaha near Ewha and Hongdae University! It's a girl's clothes Heaven!In honor of warm weather and good melodies, take a gander at my new favorite song from Avalanche City ~ Love, Love, Love .. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWzzbuJJYQc&feature=BFa&list=PL7F6FD55BE8CCC5A5&lf=results_main   

~ Back to School 2012 ~

These days I feel as though I am on the yellow school bus headed back to elementary school. It is the first day of school. The air is crisp, and there are so many exciting possibilities that await me, but also overwhelm me when I realize what there is left to learn. I question whether I can really digest all of this in time to use it for life?I have to remind myself again and again and then again that anything of quality takes work and lots of time to build. So Inge, breath in and out, repeat slowly (similar to all those pregnant women on TV, but hopefully much less painful?) and take in every moment of this lovely life and learn at your pace. Because the elephant is much more tasty when you enjoy each bite rather that trying to put the whole animal in your mouth at one go. That is unless you're one of those wicked cool snakes with a crazy detachable jaw.. But since I'm not, I'll stick to one bite, chew, swallow, and then repeat. Only 1,999,998 bites to go. I've got this!   

Fruit Angels, Papaya Skin and Beach Bumming

 Last week = Sunny skies, Ocean Kayaks, Pineapple smoothies, Moonlit swims, and Dark Chocolate ummmm... Are you jealous, yet? What if I added eight dollar beach massages to that list? Hehehe? Am I evil? Yes, I think so.Well then I guess you'll just have to visit me. Not to experience my evil side, but rather to partake in the Earthly heaven known as Thailand. When you deplane you will understand more clearly. There are practically wingless angels on every street corner, who sell fresh papayas, mangos, pineapple and watermelon. And Every time they sell enough fruit, they float into Heaven to get rewarded the prettiest wings in all of God's Heaven.So you must come to visit this 8th wonder of the universe. However, I won't let you in-country unless you promise to pack in ample HIGH-quality dark chocolate And sufficient cheese to last me for the next three months.  And if you succed in your mission, I will provide the above list of perks WITH a daily supply of coconut water and so many fresh papayas that your skin will turn Orange!Are you excited?I am normally not so generous with my Papaya. No, I usually guard it with my life. All Papaya thieves' hands are quickly tarred and feathered!But I have to change my tune, because, you see, I DID eat so many papayas that my skin has turned ORANGE. So orange that when I went to Americaland for Christmas half of my family asked me if I bathed in carrot juice in Thailand and the other half asked how much my full body tattoo cost me. Oooops! So I got their slight hint that maybe, just maybe, I needed to ween myself off my IV drip diet of papaya, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin deliciousness. I am slightly depressed from the lack of the 3 most important foods, but I'm using the patch, the 12 step cleansing program, and day-by-day I'm turning slowly, but surely back to my transparent state of whiteness. My grandmother would be proud.So in my new state of transparentness last week I spent the my days beach bumming, fruit shake slurping, kayaking, and just learning the value of being and enjoying the company three of the coolest ladies on the planet. Life is good.

Great Expectations ~ Self Portrait #22

The new year is in full swing. After 2.5 weeks in Americaland with my beautiful family and friends, but today I've packed my bags and I'm boarding a plane back to sunny Thailand. Oh, I'm so sad and excited all at the same time!... I want to stay, but at the same time I want to go. But I'm going because I know deep, deep down Thailand is where I need to be now, and really, who am I kidding? I can't complain. How am I blessed enough to live in the tropics? Really? I'm not sure, I slap and pinch myself daily to make sure this life is real.

I have no idea what this year has in store, but it promises to be one of amazingness. I can just smell it in the air. The smell is as good as walking into a room full of freshly baked cinnamon rolls. Who knows all the beauty God has in store for 2012? So get ready ya'll, it's going to be crazzyyy and as delicious as pumpkin pie with whip cream :)

 

Green Curry or Egg Nog? That is life's most difficult question!

It's a new year, woot, woot! And TODAY, my dear friend Elizabeth Lauer slapped me in the face. Ouch! What? Why?! Jerk! (can you believe her violence? I have red markSSS to prove the attack!) and then she told me that I should get it together and blog more often. Blog about what? I asked. "Blog about your life," she said ::I yawn:: "Who really cares?" I inquired.Lauer thinks that since I moved to Asialand 3 years ago that I am hard to get in touch with.. Can she really be talking about me? Me, hard to contact? really? no, no, not me!?! I am awesome at the keeping in touch! I'm really fabulous in this department. You know I think that I'm as good at keeping in touch with people as Superman is at flying or Garfield's is at eating or perhaps, perhaps! I am better!Ok. you're right, dear readers. The above analogies may have been exaggerations...er... or uh... boldface lies (sorry Mom, that won't happen again.). So this year I resolve to write more about the mundanities of life on this blog to keep in touch, and I shall also eat more pineapples!!Sooooo let's began...hmmm...Where shall I begin in my journey of story telling!?Life Story #1.One day long, long ago.. er..about 3 weeks before Christmas, I was riding my bicycle blissfully through the rice fields. Listening to my iPod 'White Christmas'  song to be exact! And then it hit me, almost as hard as Ms. Lauer slapped me today! This year an 80-degree, green curry-filled, no eggnog Christmas was not going to work for me, no sir!  I was not going to settle for a Christmas without a good measure of dark chocolate, ugly sweaters, weight gain and family drama. It wouldn't be Christmas, would it?So I turned my little bike around and peddled as fast as I could to the nearest Expedia.com hotspot, so fast my bike pedal fell of.. And there I booked my ticket back to Americaland for 3 weeks to surprise my family and enjoy a sweet Tennessee Christmas with them. Ahhhhh! It has been so worth it, and I'm so happy that the spontaneous side of me won over Ms. Practicality.Oh, you see! that ride made me realize that it truly doesn't really matter if I live in the most beautiful or tropical places, make oodles of money or most notably eat papayas and pineapples until my stomach explodes..... If I have all of these things, but I don't take the time to live life with the people I love, who cares about the rest?So Happy New Year Ya'll,... Aren't you excited to see what beautiful things will ensue? :)My beautiful family is below!   

Hellos and Goodbyes....

It is hard to believe that just 2 years ago I arrived in South Korea., and today after 2 years of teaching English in South Korea. I am finished, done.  No more are the days of eating pounds of kimchi, chatting with my favorite fruit lady, slurping delicious Korean soup, sleeping on heated floors, nodding to the nameless man at the garden store, trudging to Paris Baguette for my morning watery, overpriced coffee or seeing if I could coax a smile out of Mr. Grumpy, my school's old crossing guard each morning. (It worked twice!)All these familiarities will never be again. They took months to build but were gone the second I stepped on this bus to the airport., This is the weirdest thing about traveling. All these things that you take so long to carefully construct dissipate when you pack your bags and board the plane to another land. Life will, once again, completely change.  Your normal will no longer be the same, it will and must adjust. It's strange and sad leaving a place you get to know, but then it is also so addicting to know the next destination will be full of unpredictability, challenges and newness.So I'm in that weird, magical period of transition. Saying goodbye to my old haunt, South Korea and greeting my new one, Thailand.Yet before I jump into learning what makes Thailand tick, I will wait a moment. And in honor of the past and all the happy memories that Korean life bestowed upon me, I wanted to make a list of all the beautiful things that I will miss ever, ever so much., in no particular order. And please excuse all the food references. I have a big love affair with food. If it were legal, I would be in holy matrimony with food. It would be the best husband. No ring needed, Sir Food, just give me Tuscan wedding full of what I love the best, food! ^^1. The Korean Apple ~ the most perfectly crisp, sweet, fantastic apple ever.2. Korean Elevators ~ ahhh the ride is so smooth!3. My students.. Of course not all of them. some I thank the Lord above that I'll never see again, but there were some angels among the devils. ^^ As you may have guessed, I'm one of those bad, bad teachers who had favorites. It's True!Gasp! Inge!? You what!?!Well, let's be honest here. It's just easier to like the kid who remembers to bring you a nectarine after lunch versus having affection for the one who steals one off your lunch tray without asking..hateful child! Yes! Again my world revolves around food, sad but true., and you better not ever steal fruit from me, or else!4. Koreans and their never ending willingness to help you.5. Slurping Korean stews (jjigaes) in the Winter, Yum, yum, yum!6. Market Day7. Eating7b. Eating with Chopsticks (Oh don't roll your eyes all you awkward chopstick eaters, these little devilish sticks are fantastic for more than just eating rice, If only you knew!, Angel hair pasta was never so easy to retrieve from a vat of boiling water and then when you're finished you can use the chopsticks to keep your hairdo up! Mr. Fork has nothing on you! and I bet you didn't know that you can eat cake with chopsticks too?)7c. Ordering a meal at a almost any Korean restaurant and getting it 8 minutes later. The service is incredible!7d. Korean Barbeque ~ but mostly BBQ Eel., Oh so tasty!8. Sleeping on the toasty, heated Korean floors in the bone chilling winters.9. Tea fields, sweating in rooms of jasmine ovens, and bathing in Green Tea saunas with Koreans.. Oh yes, I did!10. Getting told by a student that my hair 'looks like ramen noodles.' The most creative assessment of my knotted nest of hair yet.11. Eating silkworms, rotting skate fish, boiled blood, live octopus, and ehh... a bite, just ONE bite of man's best friend!... Yes I did it! I'm a terrible human being, I deserve death, but how many people do you know have done that, eh? Ruff, Ruff :)12. Learning that thanks to Kimchi, the Korean's manna!, garlic breath was the only acceptable smell for one's breath. No need for mouthwash in this country. So freeing! I feels as good as being old enough to tell your mom that you won't wear tights ever again! (don't judge, I had a weird childhood! and tights are oppressive!)13. Realizing that it is actually a complement and not an insult when Koreans tell you that you have a small face,white, white skin, and a pointy Pinnochio nose, who knew?14. Learning that the way to get out of trouble every time is to play the "I'm a dumb foreigner" card. Magic!15. Using toilet paper to clean up everything. No napkins needed.But Some of the most special memories, the ones that will stick with me forever and ever?1. My little orphan boys and girls., Without them I'm not sure I would have made it out of Korea sane. I would return to Korea just to see them again. I will write much more about them soon, I promise!2. My lovely Waygookin (foreign) and Korean friends., Amazing, Amazing, Amazing lifelong friends.3. My sweet North Korean Grandmother, chef extraordinaire that always made it her mission to fatten me up by giving me double the kimchi and a double-decker Korean pancakes., and never letting me leave her restaurant without giving me a million hugs and telling me how much she loved me.4. Learning that salsa dancing is my caffeine., Give me 32oz of espresso coffee at 1am and I'll be asleep by 1:30, but get me salsa dancing and I'll be going till 6 in the morning. ^^5. And every other amazing blessing, relationship, lesson, trip, conversation, etc.. that there is no time to write about, so, so blessed!So we need pictures, yes? Well I decided to focus on fully enjoying my last month in Korea will all my favorite people in Korea without the burden of carrying around my ever so heavy but beloved camera with me. Instead I decided to carry around the most awesome invention ever, the disposable camera, Magic! Here are the fantastically terrible pictures that came from all the fun!Pictures to come of Thailand, but right now I'm concentrating on napping, eating, yoga, eating fruit, salsa dancing and taking in all the sights and sounds without carrying around Sir Camera. He needs a vacation, like myself., but he'll be out in full force very soon I'm sure :) 

The City of Ants

I did a little Seoul excursion this past Saturday, and I was greeted by one of the most beautiful places I've yet to know in Korea. This is officially my new favorite place in Seoul. It's called Gaemi Mauel, directly translated as the Ant City because it is a little town set on a hill. I probably love it so much because it feels nothing at all like the big, gray city of Seoul. It is full of color, hidden in the hills from the madness that Seoul is so well known for. I met some high school girls on my way down who escaped the city life and their nasty high school exams to take a day's vacation. We chatted about how much we disliked exams and how much we loved, loved, loved all kinds of food! It was such a lovely Saturday.The sun was setting, and it was threatening to rain, so I didn't get to explore all the nooks and crannies, but perhaps next weekend? I am itching to do a portrait session there. It would be amazing! 

So long Kimchi, Hello Sauerkraut!

Meet the Harbert family. They have been living in South Korea for almost 2 years, and they've loved it, but they are currently packing their bags and saying goodbye to Korealand and their favorite food, a Mr. Kimchi (hahaha). I lie, them and Mr. Kimchi are well, you see, they just haven't found the beauty in all the garlic and months of fermentation. I don't understand personally, what is not to love about a food that is full of rotten garlic? I mean, it makes your breath rancid for days. It's fantastic! ;) They much prefer Guacamole, which you all know, the Mexican in me applauds.But before they said goodbye to our little country of bitter winters and fermentation and head off to their next adventure, they asked me capture a bit of their family in Asialand. I am so happy they did. It was a perfectly sunny day, and it didn't feel like work at all, much more like I was hanging out with friends and taking pictures of their cool kids., who happen to like mohawks, skateboards, Ben - 10 and tutus! A photographer's dream! (yes, I admit, I did a little happy dance when I heard that Noah had a mohawk) Thank-you guys for the opportunity to photograph your family and best of luck on your next adventure! May it be full of many blessings.view my portfolio here