february is around the corner....

and i cannot believe it. really....it just feels like a week or so ago we were in vietnam. oh well....

school has been busy. i had to write reports last week which made going to the gym impossible for me. i wait until the last minute to do them, so i am usually up late and intaking loads of caffeine. i did manage to not eat horribly, but the gym did not happen. they are finised and done with for now....will have to write them again in about nine weeks or so.

i am down seven pounds. WOO HOO!!! i am quite excited. i have big rewards for myself when i hit 20 pounds down, 40 pounds down, and goal. i cannot wait. so far it has been easy although i was quite bored with tracking last week. it gets annoying. i am still doing it though and will weigh again in the morning.

i am posted more pics on the flickr page (click on link on the right). the rest of the vietnam pics are up and then some random ones from since we have been back. be sure to have a look.

only three teaching days this week which is nice. we just had a long weekend with the lunar new year holiday. it was fun and i enjoyed the time off. i think we have quite the haul until the next break which i think is spring break at the end of march. ugh. i hope the times goes quickly. paul and i are planning to go to hong kong for the holiday. woo hoo!!! i hope to do some shopping there.

no news on the art job. my prinicpal just left for two weeks of recruiting state side on saturday. he hopes to be able to let me know when he returns. i hope that God will continue to give me the sense of peace about the whole thing and make his will happen.

paul and i have been attending a church service here on campus on saturday evenings from 5-6pm. it just began two weeks ago by some of the parents on the SFS school board. it has been great so far. the pastor is from the international baptist church. the groups is small and the service is simple. we like it so far and hope that it will continue to work out. we have missed being in community with church. it is in the SFS chapel which is about a five minute walk from the apartment. yeah!!!

Snowy Recess Duty

It's 27 degrees out and snowing! Of course, it's my day for recess duty. The bell rings and we all bundle up to go out into the winter wonderland. The kids love it. They slide down the hill as their teacher takes baby steps so she does not bust it. They spend the entire time rolling in the snow, making balls, flinging bits into the air, pushing it into mountains, covering each other with it, making trails with their feet, and just standing taking it all in. It was great to watch them so genuinely thrilled about the snow. It made the snowy recess duty much more tolerable.

Woo hoo.....it's snowing!!!

update....

week #1 is over and went really well. i did make all my goals this week. i walked three mornings for at least 30-40 minutes, woo hoo! i wrote down all the food that went in too. my weigh in day is wednesday morning when i first wake up....i am happy to report that i was down three pounds this week. YEAH!!!

school was good too. even though my students and i were all pretty tired most of the week adjusting to be back at school. funny story......one of my students, brian, was helping another student, bridget, look up the work appetizer in the dictionary. they found it and were discussing endings.....appetizing and appetizer. brian kindly looks at her and says, "you just take the -ing off and add the -er." he said this with a slight french accent and a bit of sarcasm that had me rolling. they are so funny. i love working with kids.

paul and i tried a new church this week as well. it was good, but in total we have four hours of travel time.....two there and two back. ugh. that is the down side and we are currently trying to decide if it is truly worth it on a school night.

taking the bull by the horns.....

monday is the day i am taking the bull by the horns and i am going to win. i am done, finished, through......all of the above. i feel like garbage, get winded climbing the stairs at school, and just plain tired of looking at myself this way. so.... monday i am doing it.

my goals for this week....

• go to the gym and walk for about 40 minutes or so for at least three times.
• write down ALL the food that i eat regardless of what it is.

paul and i went to the grocery store this evening and got some fresh fruit and veg as well as some necessary staples (i.e. detergent and rice for ms. lee). most of the afternoon i read articles and other information on weight watchers dot com.

we came home and we picked up the apartment. then i began making my lunches, prep for my egg omelette in the morning, and made snacks. i wrote down all the point values of the snacks in my lunch bag so i am prepared.

it is good and i feel motivated. 2009 is a year for change in my health. :)

a quote i read on someone's site recently---

"failure to plan is planning to fail"

one from my friend leslie is..."there is no food more important than becoming the person God wants you to be."

babies, babies....everywhere....

it seems like the new year has brought many babies.....
so many friends have just had their babies, about to deliver, or are due this year.....
so exciting and fun! i pray that each of them are blessed with amazing joy and healthiness.

paul and i are waiting another year or so before we talk baby plans. my goal this year is get healthy and in better shape. this includes making better food choices and moving more. starting monday, i am going to try my best to go to the gym at least three days a week and start journaling my eating. i want be in shape and healthy.

a quote i keep on the fridge from my dear friend leslie....
"there is no food more important that becoming the person God wants you to be."

New piece of art....

In Vietnam, we got the piece below that was made by the hill tribe people in Northern Vietnam. This one in particular is a baby carrier. I just loved the colors and the patterns. I saw it once, commented on how much I liked it, and then went on. I could not remember where I saw it, so I just blew it off. Then we ended up in this alley accidentally and there it was. Yeah....got it on the spot. I hung it up tonight in the area near our dining table. The wall is covered with a light limey green paper similiar to the color of my kitchen in the treehouse. The colored paper brings out the colors in the hanging and really looks great. I am so excited that our apartment is slowly (very slowly) becoming a home. :)

Back in Seoul....

We made it back to Seoul late Tuesday night and caught the last airport bus to our neighborhood. We slept a whole lot of the day on Wednesday before going out to dinner at On the Border. We came home to ring in the new year with a bottle of red wine and freshly made brownies while we watched Prison Break. The last few days have been full of rest. I have probably slept more of the time than been awake. Nuts I know, but the truth none the less. Paul and I have been spending loads of time in front of the TV as we watch many, many episodes of Prison Break. We got hooked before the holiday and have watched all of season one, and are now in season two. Paul will load up four to five episodes in the playlist and the hit go. I also got to watch some of the episodes of Ace of Cakes which were a Christmas gift from Paul's mom, Sally. This show is awesome!!! She introduced me to it while we were in Houston and I got hooked. The only problem is that we do not get the food network here in Seoul. Thankfully, Sally gave me the first season DVD set for Christmas and now I am set.

In the show, the pastry chef who now makes crazy cakes is named Duff. He is not your typical guy for this kind of job. He has a goatee and his staff at the bakery are his friends. Most of which have tattoos, crazy hair cuts, piercings, and dress eclectically. My kind of bakery for sure. They like to challenge themselves by making cakes that are crazy and different. I love it. It is inspiring.

Today Paul and I slept in late again. It was an accident since the alarm did not go off. Ugh. Oh well, we went our for a late lunch/early dinner at an indian place and then went for coffee. We came home and Paul has been working on setting up my old laptop with the TV and I have been really creative. I hung up the wall hanging we got in Vietnam. It looks great. I also made an installation for pictures with string and these pre-cut paper frames. It looks cool....I just need to print pics to put in the frames. Then I straigtened some things up a bit and still felt artsy. I decided to put the base coat on the canvas that has been sitting blank forever, it seems. It is now drying and then I can gesso up another one. I have had an idea since we were in Vietnam and I am anxious to get it on canvas. I just have to wait for the easel to be free.

I love being artsy!!! I feel so in touch with my inner self when I indulge my creativity. :)