Life is Beautiful

Motherhood, Sewing, Family

Jesa

~ Etc.

We had Jesa, a ceremony practiced in Korean tradition of remembering our ancestors on the anniversary of their passing.  We have it every year for my grandparents, and what we do is we put up pictures of them and set up a table full of food for them to partake, and bow to them and remember them, even though they’re no longer with us.  Of course we don’t really believe they eat the food we prepare for them, but we do believe their spirits come down and visit us and are grateful for us taking the time to prepare the food with love, and know that we still think of them.  This is one of the things I love about the Korean tradition, which is remembering and honoring our ancestors.  

{Dress: Romwe | Necklace: DIY}

Sneak peek of Brahmin Fall 2012 campaign

~ Etc.

{Jacket: Anthropologie | Dress: Lauren Conrad via Kohl’s | Tights: Target | 
Shoes: Beverly Feldman via LC by Neiman Marcus | Bag: Brahmin}
{Jacket: H&M | Top: Korea(DIY’ed) | Skirt: ASOS | Bag: Brahmin}
I will be a part of Brahmin’s Fall campaign 2012 that will launch in a couple of weeks.  I got to style some of their handbags from their Fall collection, and you guys are getting a sneak peek before their official launch!  
I hope you have a happy weekend!
Here are my favorite handbags they have now: 1, 2, 3, 4.  
Photographs by Ryan Young Fotografie.

My 10 year high school reunion

~ Etc.

{Dress: Calvin Klein | Shoes: Seychelles} 
Jay and I attended my 10 year high school reunion.  Oh boy, how time flies!  When we were getting ready to go, Jay comes out wearing a red wife beater(which I call it his nipple shirt since he had cut-out his cotton t-shirt to a tank, but little did he know that the edges kind of roll inwards with cotton so the giant arm holes stop right past his nipples, exposing them both for the whole world- maybe I’ll ask him to do a tutorial!), a tie, and a badly stained basketball shorts.  He was SERIOUSLY going to wear that ensemble to MY high school reunion, if I had given him permission to do so.  I told him he had to make me look good and be the trophy husband that he is(I’m the girl version of Ryan, ya’ll!), so I demanded he go change immediately.  
Once we got there, we played a little game where one person asked questions like, “Who married their HS sweetheart?”, “Who’s managed to get out of UT?”, “Who has the most kids? Who has the oldest kid?” and with those last two questions I thought I was ahead of the majority of the people, since I popped out my second child when I had just turned 25 and all, but of course this is Provo, UT after all, what was I thinking?  There were handful of people with 3 and 4 kids, and I think one even had 5 kids.  5 kids!!!  And you’re only 28!  Doesn’t that just blow your mind?  Us mormons sure know how to breed.  Or my non-mormon friend would call it, we’re like the energizer bunnies who just keeps going and going and going……………..and going. 
The reunion was interesting, it was awkward, and it was good seeing people I haven’t seen in awhile.  Facebook makes it a little anti-climatic with HS reunions, but I prefer face to face any day.  And thanks to Jay for enduring the 3+ hours with me and being a good sport about it.

Water table.

~ Etc.

One of our girls’ favorite activities is to play with the sink.  The kitchen sink, the bathroom sink, they’re not picky as long as there’s running water.  They’ve drenched the carpet/floor/counter tops many many times, so one Saturday Jay built a water table for the girls.
And since then, no more soaked up floors in the house!

My kids love me!

~ Etc.

from right to left: daddy, mommy, ana, adi, and achilles(i think? i hope?).
{Shirt: GAP | Skirt: H&M}
One night my girls wanted to express how much they loved me.  So they drew bunch drawings and asked daddy to help tape them all over the wall.  Then they brought me “gifts” which were random things they found around the house.  And I couldn’t have asked for better gifts, how cute is that!
And I got a thank you card from one of my friends the other day.  I read it aloud to Jay and the girls during dinner time and after reading it I said, “Aw.  She always writes the sweetest cards.”  Then I see Adi looking at me for a little bit and then she whispers to dad, “Daddy! Come over here, I gotta tell you something!”  and they go into the living room.  For the next 15 minutes, they wouldn’t let me come near the living room and I hear them whispering the whole time.  So 15 minutes later, Adi comes runs to me beaming and says, “Mommy, mommy, look! I wrote you a thank you card!  I said it out loud and daddy wrote down everything I said, look!”  And indeed, it was a thank you card.  And it was one of the sweetest thank you cards I’ve ever received.  And I knew that’s what she wanted to hear(competitive, that one), so I made sure I told her many times how much I loved the card and how she writes the sweetest thank you card.  And only then did she look content before running off to play.  
Many times I feel like an inadequate mother.  There’s always something I could improve on, something I could work on, something I should do or not do, do more of or less of, something I shouldn’t have said or have said, and I beat myself over it.  But at the end of the day, I realize that the single most important thing I could do as a mother is to have them know that I love them immensely, without any measure.  No matter what.  No matter what they’ve done or will do in the future.  That my love is always constant, never changing.  That I will not judge them or withhold my love, but to always embrace them with open arms, especially when they’ve done something bad because that’s when they’ll need my love the most.  And with that one aspect of motherhood, I know I am doing a well job.  Well , so far anyway, but ask me again when they’re teenagers…