Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Six Things You Should Know About Me + A Giveaway!

6 things you should know about me
I'm so glad that my friend Rachel decided to tag me in this! She's been one of my favorite bloggers for a long time now and I love reading about her time as an expat in Europe and especially about her transition back to the states. Because let's face it, as much as I want to live forever overseas, we will most likely end up back 'home' in Oklahoma and I know it won't be the easiest transition to make! Besides my love of Rachel's blog, I'm a sucker for anything that lets people know a little bit more about the blogger on the other side of the screen. So let's get this party started!
1. What's the best piece of advice anyone has given you?
Just keep swimming...just keep swimming. Ok, not really even though that is really good advice. I remember growing up, my mom would repeat the scripture to me 'do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow has enough worries of it's own'. Can you tell I was a worry wart growing up? I tried to control everything I could and when I couldn't, I would stress and worry about it. But I have to realize that there is only so much that I can do, only so much that I actually have control over. With the other things, I need to do what I can, and let the rest go! 

2. If you could meet any blogger in person, who would you choose?
It's no lie that me and Laurie were meant to be neighbors. I met her months ago when I was just starting to rebrand my blog (aka actually take this thing seriously) and we hit it off right away and try to talk often. I keep trying to talk her into coming and visiting! But there's something about a stupid ocean separating us or some nonsense like that. 

Other than that, I also have my dream team that I would love to have an international blogger meet up with. Hey Rachel, Belinda, Bonnie, Melyssa, Crystal, Nicole, Casey, Katie, and Jenna...are you down?

3. What's your biggest struggle in life?
Being too much of a planner. I'm always looking to what's next, the next step, the next destination, the next job. It's not always a bad thing but it goes along with the worrying I talked about above. I'm a planner through and through and I want to know what the next five steps are in advance. And it goes without saying that sometimes there's just no possible way of knowing or things can change last minute (especially here in Korea) and it can stress.me.out.  

4. Favorite piece of jewelry {other than your engagement/wedding ring} and why?
I have two pieces of jewelry that mean the world to me. The first one is a pearl necklace that my grandma gave me when I was born. You are supposed to add another pearl each year but I liked the simplicity of just a few tiny pearls on there. 
The second one is my great great aunt's engagement ring. This is a woman that I looked up to and admired. She was the oldest of 13 children and spent her life caring for others and raising her siblings. She was brave enough to walk away from a dangerous marriage even at a time when it was highly looked down upon to do so. She then married a wealthy man because he promised to give her an education (one of the most important things to her) and she continued to work until very late in life editing and reviewing books. My favorite story is when she told me about her second marriage, how they never ummm....consummated it, how there was always another man with them when they went out to dinner, and the list goes on and on. In her upper 90's she sat in her chair, tilted her head and told us, 'ya know what...I think he was gay.' Even though this ring isn't from the best marriage, it reminds me of her and what a strong and hardworking woman she was. 

5. What's something you love about yourself?
I really love my bright blue eye color. My whole family has dark features...and then there's me with my pale complexion, blonde hair and blue eyes. I used to hate it because I stood out and didn't look like the rest of my family. But over the years I have started to love my eye color for the fact that it's unique. My siblings actually used to tell me that I was adopted when I was little and I remember believing them and going up to my mom and telling her it was ok if I was adopted, and that she could tell me the truth. Thankfully I have my grandma's nose and my sister's laugh to seal my fate as a part of my family. 

6. Tell us something we don't know about you.
Deep water makes me a little nervous. Weird coming from someone who loves to sail and is scuba certified. But something about not knowing what's around you...or beneath you, makes me nervous every time. 

Pick six to answer for yourself:
1. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
2. If you had an endless supply of one food, what would you get?
3. If you could hop on a plane right now, where would you go and why?
4. What is your biggest pet peeve?
5. If you had to describe yourself in three words, what would they be? 
6. What is your biggest fear?
7. Would you rather be rich and stressed? Or poor and happy?
8. If money and university major didn't matter, what job would you want?
9. Why did you start blogging? Do you still do it for the same reasons?
10. What makes you the happiest?

I'm tagging:
Katie
Crystal
Nicole
Jamie
Kenzie
Jenna
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And as an added bonus today, I'm jumping on board with Crystal from The Happy Type and some very lovely ladies to bring you a truly Korean giveaway! I have to admit, Korea has some of the best beauty products I've ever tried, and they're super affordable too! And lucky you can win some of these amazing products to try for yourself!
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It’s no secret that South Korea is any cosmetic and beauty product lover’s playground. For years South Korea has been one of the world’s leaders in beauty product production and most recently its innovative BB and CC creams have set the states a buzz. Birchbox calls South Korea ground zero for beauty innovation”, so why not see what all the fuss is about? 

Lucky for you, you don’t have to get on a plane to Korea to take part in the Korean cosmetic boom! I have spent the better part of two years living, learning, and loving the country of Korea and in honor of my return home to America, my friends and I are giving little old you the opportunity to get your hot little hands on a whole slue of Korean cosmetics and beauty products.
Korean Beauty Giveaway 
Here are the lovely sponsors for this crazy awesome beauty product giveaway!
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goodsfinal

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Rules:
1. The validity of the winner’s entries will be verified by me and if any entries are false a new winner will be selected.
2. Winner will be contacted no later than the 23rd. Winner will have 48 hours to respond, if winner does not respond with 48 hours a new winner will be notified by email.
3. Sit back and relax because I’ll package your pretty little package up and get it in the mail. Contest is only open to U.S. residents.