Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey

Hello, year two thousand and thirteen! twenty thirteen! 2013! Did you know this is the first time since 1987 all the numbers in the year are different? Weird, right? And what's also weird is the fact that Marybeth and I have had this blog for over a year. Woah. We sort of missed our blog birthday in October. Were we supposed to do some kind of ritualistic ceremony? I sure hope not. We can slaughter a hot dog, or something, when I get back to the states, if you want, Bette. Or we can carry on, and damn the blog gods.

 -Anna-

shirt, skirt: thrifted HERE in KOREA 

(a tough thing to manage. like, really thrifted, not just old shit sold for too much. this ensemble, minus the tights, was 6,000 krw, which is like $6. my kind of stuff.)

tights: (doubled up because it's cold) black, h&m and navy (like you could tell) stolen from Marybeth

"pearl" necklace: thrifted

"pearl" earrings: icing

cat: Korea

Now I'm going to reflect on the year past and year to come because it's half my blog and I want to. So pipe down or get out! .. No, no, stay. It's nice here. Ahem. 2012 was good to me. I wasn't sure there at the start, worrying about getting out here, to Korea, to teach. I was living with my parents (whom I love and loved living with, by the way) after graduating college with a liberal arts degree, wondering what sort of year was in store. It was nerve racking not being sure of your future, as I'm sure any recent graduate (or perhaps some adults) can attest to. Gosh, all this growing up. I did my fair share in 2012, which I'm sure I can and should say ever year, but this year was my first full year out of school, in the real world, getting a job and having a salary and living on my own and not writing last minute essays at 3 in the morning.

I also ended a two year relationship with my first long-term boyfriend. In coming to Korea, the change and distance were finally enough reason for me to end something important, but exhausted. And that new freedom had the added bonus of allowing me to explore and have fun doing things I wouldn't have been able to do had I been in a relationship. Nothing has stuck like Cole since Cole, and quite frankly, I'm okay with that. Long distance relationships are hard, and I don't envy anyone who has to deal with one. I'll be leaving soon after 2013 ends and I don't want to worry about who I'm with and where we'll be going. All I should manage is myself, for now, until I'm in more stable situation. But then again, who am I to argue against the gushy-mushy-good-time feelings and their (sometimes tricky) implications? Ah, let's just see what 2013 has in store.

chris, greg, and me, the daewoo crew (as our apartment building named daewoo), out for new years. we had a fun night at our most frequented restaurant and bar. then we hit up a nori bang (singing room or karaoke) and rang in the new year there. it was my kind of night!

So now, what about 2013? What are my hopes for the upcoming year? I'm not really one for resolutions, because it shouldn't take a new year to make a new you. But I do have life resolutions and goals I'd like to achieve, so I'll state those.

I'd like to continue to be happy, healthy, positive, and hopeful. I have control over all of those things, and I'd like to maintain that. I need to create more. I need to draw more and I need to write more. I need to connect more with the people I love and value. I don't do it enough, and I'll wish I had when I don't have them anymore. Similarly, I will apply the lessons learned from the mistakes I made with past relationships, be in any form, to my future ones, as best I can.

I don't know about this blog though. I won't make any promises about it, but that's okay. It's nice to have here sometimes. I have pictures I'd still like to share, and this can be more personal than facebook. I can say more here, open up more, explain more. So it stays, but in varying degrees.

And to you! Reader! I hope your year is a successful one, however that applies to you. I hope you're happy. I hope you're healthy. I hope you are rewarded. I hope you fail, but just enough so you can learn and grow. I hope you make it to 2014!

Sweetly and sincerely,
Anna

p.s. I've been watching a lot of Doctor Who lately. Like, a lot. Maybe it's rubbing off on me. The skirt is sort of Tardis blue, and the stripes, kind of like the windows? And I have myself a companion? I even have my own galaxy of stars in my room. And, I mean, I am a bit of time traveler since I made it to 2013 before anyone else in the states... Eh? Eh? No? Just me?

Turning 24

wheeeere have i beeeen? i haven't been feeling very up to blogging for the past month or so. i kept putting off my mom's visit post and now it's been a month and a half since she left. i have been taking pictures though, and i have a small stockpile of photos and outfits to share. i didn't want to post them, though, until i took care of my mom's post and that never happened and blah blah blah....

anyway, something else has come up that's worth sharing. my birthday, of course! that's right boys and girls, i make my triumphant return to the blog talking about a day dedicated to my existence. i am one of my favorite people, after all...

but seriously, you only turn 24 once. aaaand i bought a new dress. two, in fact. here's one:

-Anna-

dress: H&M

sweater, tights: The Gap

boots: gift! Sorel

headband: gift! knit by my mama!

button: antique show

necklace: Flapper Doodle pendant a la Scathingly Brilliant's Etsy

i had an absolutely wonderful birthday, one of the best. school was a breeze on wednesday. four of my 6th grade girls came in to my room, told me to close my eyes, surprised me with a pyramid of cookie pies complete with birthday candles, and sang to me! it was so heartwarming! then i had my last kindergarten class of the year. one class made me flowers and the other gave me a party hat. best of all was when they all gave me hugs ^^

after school, i grabbed dinner at a nearby galbi place with a few friends from my building. we got some mekju and soju in us (beer and, well, soju), and then headed to woodstock on the other side of town. woodstock is this great little lp bar with tons and tons of old records. and it's run by this sweet little korean man. so we drank some drinks and listened to some tunes and had ourselves a grand time! it was so nice to have everyone together and happy and it made me happy and so thankful. it made being away from my family and friends at home a little easier.

so many faces

super cool, right?

so thanks for the laughs and the beers and the cards and the gifts and the love i received this year from everyone who thought of me today. or rather, yesterday. round two this weekend! let's see if my person and anything else i take with me makes it safely home and in one piece.

over and out!
anna

oh! and did you notice? i dyed my hair! i went for an ombre thing... i like it.. but it's strange looking down and seeing a different color. i've never had my hair dyed before, but i was in need of a mini makeover, so it's fun having a sort of new accessory to play around with.

Unofficial halloween and official halloween!

Two weeks ago I went back down to Carbondale to visit my bestie Kaley. We had a hoot and then a holler. I did forget to bring my camera, however. UGHUGHGUUGHHHH! So most of the pictures are from my phone. Let's see, where to begin? Carbondale is beautiful this time of year and since I stayed there a day longer than I usually do we had more time to do adventuring. We went hiking, to an apple orchard, a winery, a festival, lots of naps, and then the usual bar hoping and being best friends. :]

The above pictures were taken at Giant City State Park. It's named that for a reason, the place is crazy huge! On Saturday we just drove through it and I have never seen anything like it before so I definitely wanted to go back on Sunday so we could actually get out and explore. 

On Sunday we also were planning on going to the Blue Sky Vineyard so after we hiked I quickly changed into the outfit I had packed and Kaley took some pictures for me. I couldn't resist. The place was so beautiful. 

That day we had also gone to the Wakonda vulture festival where I bought a couple things, some for Anna. :) Unfortunately one of the items I bought was this really cute dress that ended up not fitting me. Bummer. But I'm holding on to it in the hopes I can one day do something with it. 

{I'm not cute. I know}

And here are some of the pictures of the vulture fest. This town was seriously the cutest. Very country and but also hippy-ish. My favorite part was that there were dogs everywhere! Even at the vineyard there were people with their dogs. Now that is my kind of town. They also were selling some really amazing stuff. Everyone seems so creative. I hope Anna likes what I got her. 

Somethings were really beautiful, like this crazy fairy door. 

Somethings were a little weird... not sure what's going on these doors.

On saturday we went to an apple orchard. Not what we were expecting exactly but we got some yummy apple pie, apple cider, and apple bread! 

Now here are a few photos that survived the weekend!

This is a picture I took from the roof top of Kaley's boyfriend, Phil's apartment. I climbed up there and threw a pumpkin off into the parking lot while they all cheered. Not sure where that idea came from but even though I was really cold up there it was also really pretty. I'm surprised my iPhone took sure a great picture. You can even see some stars and that was the best part because the sky was so clear and full of all these glittering stars. Amazing.

 Oh and here is an almost empty glass of the moonshine Phil's cousin brought him. I did not personally partake in the drinking of this concoction, but I could smell it and I watched them all dive in. Looked awful.

It was such a fun weekend. I miss Kaley. Hanging out with her that weekend was like hanging out with Anna. She's seriously like a sister to me. It also made we miss Anna cause the year before she had been there too and it's so easy for us all to be together. I love it.

Then this past weekend for Halloween Brooke, Sam, Max, and I had people over to our house for a Halloween party!

I spent a large portion of the night being a dead body on the floor so I didn't as many pictures as I would have liked but here's a few to show you how this night went...

It was a very interesting night that went on until 4:30 am! Our house was a frickin' mess afterwards, but it was so much fun. I can't even remember it in it's entirety but from the looks of it, we had a blast! Best part was our haunted basement entrance, hence being a dead body. Check it out! Looks kinda weird seeing as how I had to use the flash but, trust me, it was scary with creepy sounds and fog and everything!

Spooky huh? Well, that's about all I've got. Catch ya on the flip side! 

<3<3<3,

Marybeth