Skincare Rescue Plan: Overview

Guys, it's starting!  I'm sharing all I've learned, all my resources, and all my budding passion for skincare!  I'm starting a new series that originally began as a cheat sheet for my sister, but there's so much information about skincare out there, things quickly began to mount into an ever growing Google doc.

In this initial post, I'm going to break the ice on the topic of skincare and give you an overview of what we'll be learning.  There's always more to learn, but I'll be covering the solid basics, offering additional resources, and sharing my own experiences with what I've tried.  Let's start with some super important information.

How to Be a Good Guest At a Dinner Party

My boss, Diane, likes to throw dinner parties.  We'll usually have two a year for the whole office plus dates.

Now, Diane is a part of high society here in Atlanta.  To my embarrassment, I was not prepared for her high society dinner party.  We arrived right on time and came empty handed, both major faux pas I was unaware of until I saw everyone else arriving "late" and bringing gifts for our hostess.  Dear oh dear, I'm never letting this happen again.

To save yourself the same embarrassment, read this article from Dinner, A Love Story for the low down on proper etiquette.  Then the next trick is figuring out what kind of hostess gifts you can bring after being invited over so many times.  Don't want to seem repetitive, you know?  Here are some ideas and tips.

Job Hunt Tips: The Interview

Here's our last post about Job Hunting!  I hope this series has been helpful and informative to you.  As always, please leave ideas and questions in the comments section and you're welcome to email me, too.

Part 1: The Pursuit

Part 2: Linkedin 

Part 3:  The Resume

Part 4: Interview Prep

Job Hunt Tips: The Interview Prep

Thanks for keeping up with my series on Job Hunt Tips.  Click below for previous posts.
Part 1: The Pursuit 
Part 2: Linkedin 
Part 3:  The Resume
Part 5: The Interview

Job Hunt Tips: The Resume

 Here's Part Three of the Job Hunt Series.

Click here for others tips:
Part 1: The Pursuit
Part 2: Linkedin
Part 4: Interview Prep
Part 5: The Interview 

Job Hunt Tips: Using LinkedIn to its Full Potential

Here's Part Two of the Job Hunt Series.
Click here for others tips:
Part 1: The Pursuit
Part 3: The Resume
Part 4: Interview Prep
Part 5: The Interview

Job Hunt Tips: Focusing Your Pursuit

To commemorate my first year working as a recruiting coordinator, I’m sharing some tips I’ve picked up at work and during my 7-month job hunt before that. Here’s the first batch!
Part 2: Linkedin
Part 3: The Resume

Part 4: Interview Prep
Part 5: The Interview

How We Threw a Japanese Dinner Party (with tips!)

We had some of our old friends over for dinner last month.  We don't get to see them very often since moving to the city, and we were excited to spend time with them.  I was also excited to have the chance to wow them with a fancy made-from--scratch meal.  Having recently taken a sushi class, Japanese was the most impressive thing Caleb and I could feasibly pull together, so that was our choice.  Pride cometh before the fall, my friends.  This Japanese dinner party became much more of an ordeal than I'd originally expected, and it had me mega stressed, especially when I couldn't find the resources I was hoping for.  What's amazing, though, is that not only did we totally pull it off, but all of the worry and frantic rushing was kept behind the curtains while our guests were only aware of a kick ass dinner!  Mission accomplished!

Now I admit that this exposition is long winded, but you know how I need to be thorough.  Also, I wish that I'd had something like this when I was looking for tips.  By the way, if you have any questions or more ideas, please share in the comments! 

Here's what we did!

My First Try At DIY Dry Shampoo

I learned of the wonders of dry shampoo in 2012 and found that the Batiste brunette variation was my favorite.  The dark color meant my hair didn't look like chalk, and the nice smell was fun.  It soaked up the oil in my hair and let me start washing my hair only every other day, which was a great time saver, too!  However, after finishing the first experimental can and loving the dry shampoo, I realized that it was mega expensive.  The brunette formula I used cost upwards of $8, and it only lasted me a couple months!  Plus, that pretty smell wasn't enjoyable anymore, because the propane and everything else in the formula started to aggravate my lungs each time I sprayed it.

Cue the Wellness Mama blog, my health nut kick, and this super easy recipe for homemade dry shampoo!  There's even an adaptation for dark hair, and it couldn't be simpler!

Tips for Choosing a Rewarding Credit Card

This January, Caleb and I decided to look into getting a credit card.  They're important to have while traveling abroad, and if you get a rewards credit card, you can rack up points and miles and credit!  As long as you pay of the monthly bill on time, you can't really go wrong.  In fact, because you spend money anyway, it seemed like Caleb and I were wasting opportunities without a rewards credit card.

via abcnews via Getty images

Wedding Details: In Between the Ceremony and Reception

One of the parts of the wedding that I got the most compliments on was also the part that I put the least amount of effort into and the part that I was most worried about.

Cocktail Hour
 

While the wedding party goes off for pictures after the ceremony, in other weddings there's usually, I guess, cocktails.  There are snacks and mingling or sitting at your table looking at the chocolate kisses and restraining yourself from burning the silverware over the candles.  That's how the weddings I've been to have been like.  And it's usually a nice time when you can talk and make noise and not have to sit still and listen to a pastor for a while.

The venue for my wedding (a historic train depot) had limited space.  We were using the museum room for the ceremony, then the reception would be on a large lawn.  The only area left for a cocktail hour was a smaller lawn on the other side of the building.  A few brainstorm sessions birthed the ideas of board games and a popcorn machine.  I figured we could have some tables and chairs around, too, but that's about all I had when it came time for the wedding week crunch.

What panned out was, as the guests told me, perfect.  Even the DJ commented that it was a great idea.  "Most people think the reception is only dancing, but I like what you did there with the carnival theme."  I wasn't going for "carnival," I was going for "garden party," but whatever the interpretation was, I know the goal was met.  People had something to do, people had refreshments, and people had fun.

This is what it looked like!

 Two young girls in attendance said it was the most fun wedding they'd ever been to, and I suspect it was because of this part.  I know it's not the biggest deal, but that made me really happy.  I wanted people to enjoy the ceremony and the party afterward.  Mission accomplished.

 

Thankfully, the mission was accomplished without me having to go crazy.  We rented the popcorn machine, bought the kernels, oil, and seasonings.  We made blue cones for holding the popcorn, and I purchased white tablecloths in bulk, cups, and drink dispensers.  The tables and chairs were already at the depot available for us to use, and the rocking chairs came from my husband's mother and the corn hole sets came from his uncles.  The games came from my own house.   (We've gathered quite a collection over the years.)  I'd originally wanted to have music, too, but it became something I couldn't afford the effort or reasoning on, so that got cut 2 weeks before the wedding, and people were fine without it!  How awesome is that!  I'm so, so pleased, and I wasn't even there to see it much.

{ All photos property of Sarah Becker Photography }

Laser Hair Removal: Take Two

This post has been in the editing box for a long time.  It's the second part of my experiences and research with laser hair removal in Korea.  Click here for Part 1.

I almost can't believe I've subjected myself to such extremes, but after not getting the results I'd hoped for at S Deul, I started going to a different place called NOVA Clinic in Gangnam before I had to head back to the States.  Read ahead for all the details!

12 Facts About Birth Control That You Should Know

Oh. My. Goodness.

I had no idea how much I didn't know about birth control!  I've just made my decision on Monday, and I just stopped having bad dreams about birth control on Monday.  Now today I want to get all of my research out into the open so maybe the next girl will find it and get the information quicker.  Because gosh darn it, it was So Dang Hard to find all of this information!  I spent days hunting and gleaning and organizing, and I want my hard work to be used as much as possible, so I'm spreading it!

12 FACTS (that I didn't know):

Laser Hair Removal: I'm for real

I started having appointments in February.  I'm having laser hair removal done!

It's been a big splurge, but I am getting a killer deal:

Legs: Five sessions for 600,000₩  (approx. $534)

Underarms: Five sessions for 50,000₩  (approx. $45)

Lip: Five sessions for  150,000₩  (approx. $133)
Bikini: Five sessions for 200,000₩ (approx. $180)

I loosely calculated how much I spend on shaving my legs and underarms.  I use the Gillette Venus Embrace razor cartridges and change them about 12 times a year (more for summer, less for winter).  I never buy shaving cream; I just use Dove soap when I shave.  Assuming these razor cartridges stay at $18 for a pack of four, that's $54 I spend a year on the razors.  The combined price of my laser hair removal procedure is $667, and this procedure will pay for itself after... 12 years or so.  And that's not even accounting for the time I'll save from shaving and tweezing, the razor burn I won't give myself, and the confidence I'll get to flaunt.  (Middle school tauntings may or may not have had a mild influence in my decision.)  Keep reading for all the details!

How to change the language in Google Chrome, now with pictures!

May 29, 2012 edit:

Chrome's changed a few things around since I first published this post in March. Here's what you should do.  Just type in chrome://chrome/settings/languages to your address bar and skip to Step #3.

I'm more dexterous on Firefox and Google Chrome, while the Korean staff sticks with Internet Explorer.  In my own classroom, I recently re-installed Chrome after the computers were reset for the new school year, but the default language of Korean left me lost during some of my surfing.  I used every trick I could think of, but I could not get Chrome to display in English, at least not without learning Korean so I could read what exactly those option buttons said.

I digress.

Tutorials are better with pictures, and I'm going to show you with Korean pictures how to change the default language in your Chrome browser.  I'm going to use Korean pictures so you'll see that you don't need the English text to get it done.  :)

Step #1
Click the wrench in the top right corner of your browser.
Select "Options (O)" from the drop-down menu.
OR
Type this address into your browser: chrome://settings/advanced

Step #2
Select the third tab there on the left to open up the "Under the Hood" options.
Select that button there under the second bolded section to open up your "Languages and spell-checker settings."

Step #3
You will see a list of the languages already added.  If you see the word for "English" (or a different goal language) already in the list, go ahead and select it and go to step #5.  If not, click the "Add" button.

Step #4 (If needed)
Select your goal language from the drop-down menu.

Step #5
Once your goal language is selected, click this button on the right to "Display Google Chrome in this language."

Step #6
A yellow box will show up telling you to close and reopen your browser and then everything should be in the language you chose!

Let me know if you've found this helpful!  Have any other internationals been having tricky times with such things?


Just this week I found out how to change the time zone for my Gmail themes.  Turns out you have to change the city which shows as an option at the bottom of the Gmail themes page.  Finally, the ocean pictures on my email screen will correspond with the daylight in Korea.  I can't tell you how much that's been bugging me!

Korean Culture: Dating

I'm pretty bummed; Blogger lost my post on Korean couples from a couple days ago (but Blogger is in the processes of restoring it).  Here's one I'd saved on Korean dating to make up for it:

Please don't think that I'm planning on getting a Korean boyfriend once I get over there, because that is not going to happen.  But, after my last post about Korean culture, I was still interesting the couples and dating scene.  I've done some research and I've got some interesting cultural differences show you.