It has been a busy week with work and I'm obviously distracted by everything that has been happening in Boston. Times like this I am grateful to be able to stare out the window, breathe deeply, and remind myself that each day on this Earth is a gift. It sounds cliche, but it is oh so very true. Wishing you a peaceful weekend.
My favorite nine-and-a-half-year-old boy is turning the BIG 1-0 at the end of the month. I ordered this gift last month and my kind friends hand delivered it from Portland when they were visiting us over spring break. I wrapped the two boxes with kraft paper and created a "ribbon" effect using textured bookbinding tape. I love using bookbinding tape as an alternative to ribbon on my packages. I couldn't find the exact bookbinding tape online since I bought it here in Busan, but you could use linen hinging tape or gaffers tape. I finished off the gift with a label I designed using the pretty lettering font Bombshell Pro. (I may or may not be able to spend hours perusing fonts.) Appah has a big surprise in store for J that is sure to make his 10th birthday the best one yet (more details soon)!
bookbinding tape, diy packaging, diy wrap, gift wrap, gift wrapping, packaging in PACKAGING, WRAP 
Over spring break the boys and I made the trek to Jinhae, a town in the South Gyeongsan province, for the 51st Annual Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival. Every April millions of people flock to Jinhae to enjoy the country's largest cherry blossom festival. With over 370,000 cherry blossom trees scatterered throughout the town, it is quite picturesque. The festival site is near a small creek with two mini bridges under a canopy of cherry blossom trees. I have never seen so many cameras, tripods, and couples taking photographs. Of course besides the scenic view, one of my favorite things were all the food carts and vendors selling delicious Korean treats. The festival is held in conjunction with the annual commemoration of Admiral Yi Sun-shin, Korea's beloved Naval hero. I have to say one of my favorite things about living in Korea is seeing my boys' interest and widening knowledge of Korean culture and history. I am looking forward to exploring more of Korea this year, as there is still so much to see.
cherry blossom, jinhae, jinhae cherry blossom festival, south korea in FAMILY, TRAVEL 
Casa Living is one of my favorite Korean lifestyle magazines. It has a nice mix of home interior, food, beauty, and lifestyle features. Although I don't buy many magazines these days (going through two international moves and 3 domestic moves in a 3.5-year time frame will make you think twice about having extra "stuff" around the house), I always flip through the pages of Casa Living when I'm at the book store. I love the styling and photography in this magazine. Speaking of international magazines, I need to get my hands on the latest Milk Decoration. It looks amazing!
Images 1 & 4-Lee Jun Geun / Image 2-Lee Jun Geun, Moon Sung Jin / Image 3-Kang Jin Joo.
casa living, korean lifestyle magazine in I LOVE KOREA, READ 
The boys went back to school this week after two weeks of spring break. Although I enjoyed having them around, it was time for me to get back to a regular work schedule. I feel lucky that I am able to work from home, running a load of laundry while I work on some designs on the computer. Sometimes multi-tasking makes me feel productive, but other times it leaves me feeling like I did not accomplish much. This week I played around with a timer to get myself to start some tasks I've been putting off. You can read more about this method here (it is similar to the Pomorodo Technique). I started off with setting the timer to 10-minute intervals and gradually increased it to 15-20 minutes. I have to say it helped me to stay focused and if I was on a roll, I would just re-set the timer and not take a break. If you have advice on productivity, please feel free to share. Although this will be a working weekend for me, I plan to take a few breaks to enjoy the sunny and breezy weather. Wishing you a lovely weekend!
BUSAN 
The boys are bookworms and if they are not playing with their Legos they can be found curled up somewhere around our home reading a book. So when the folks at lostmy.name contacted me about their personalized story books, I could not wait to see them in person.
