Welcome to 2015 (and a surprise announcement…)!

Hi friends,

First of all: I know. I have left you stranded for far too long. Trust me, I’ve felt it too. There has been no content on here in a long time, and I have genuinely missed it. Let me fill you in on what’s been happening.

First of all, there was Christmas. So, I flew out of Seoul on December 24th and arrived in Melbourne on Christmas morning. Woohoo, just in time for Christmas lunch! As it seems to be a bit of a tradition these days, when I was exiting customs at the airport and facing the awaiting crowd with their Christmas antlers and eager smiles, my parents were nowhere to be seen. Well, I could see them but they couldn’t see me from way up the line. Every time I come home, somehow we miss each other, but it’s okay because it gives me ample opportunities to sneak up on them from behind (he he he).

Christmas lunch was delicious (as always) and my mum bought me a motherload of stuff from Lush. A post to come on all my goodies… so amazing. I suggested that if she were to buy something then perhaps I would like a few things from Lush… but not too many! Well, that all went out the window because if there’s one thing my mum knows how to do, it’s live well. So yes, me and my Lush goodies will be coming up on here shortly.

After that, I went on a whirlwind trip to Sydney on the 27th-30th December. This involved staying at a hotel right on The Rocks, where I saw this when I stepped outside:

Not too shabby, ey? For the next few days, I barely had time to catch my breath (or check my email) as we were whisked around to a number of places and I was sans wi-fi (even at the hotel!). One personal favourite of mine was getting so confused with the old TomTom GPS in the hire car that I caused my mum to stop on the freeway in between two separating lanes. There was left, there was right and then there was a big concrete slab in the middle where the space ahead was quickly declining. Can you guess where we were?!

All in all, Sydney was lovely albeit a little too busy, and I got the chance to catch up with my fam and also buy a dress for the wedding… of our friends. Gotcha! That is not, I repeat, that is not the surprise announcement y’all.

Okay what else? Just to give you a bit of context, I am currently writing this from my couch with my feet on the warm ondol floor as it is some sort of below-freezing temperature outside. I feel like I am miles away from my Australian holiday, partly because I am but also because it feels like a dream. In the best possible way.

So next up, Gavin and I had a wedding to attend which could very possibly win the title for Grandest Wedding of 2015/ever. I know it’s still early in the year, but seriously. It was beautiful. It also happened to take place on the 42 degree day which was somewhat challenging but nothing a little San Pellegrino filtered water (with stripy straws!) couldn’t fix. The service was so pretty, as was the post-service drinks and of course the dinner. Best wedding food ever, srsly! I had the best time just relaxing with Gav and celebrating with our friends. From this point on, the holiday really feels like a dream because I could just relax and hang out and oh my gosh I had the best time.

Next up after the wedding was Philip Island! One of our friends kindly invited us to his family’s holiday home and it was oh so nice. We hung out there for the night and next day, sitting on the beach watching this sunset:

This is seriously what Australian sunsets look like. This should be illegal (not really)!

Anyway, so after Philip Island Gav and I drove back and had dinner that night with my family at i Carusi II, aka the best pizza restaurant in Melbourne. This place does genuine, authentic, real-deal Italian pizzas and they are impossibly delicious. Highly recommend.

The next day, I pottered around and packed up my things to get ready. However, I obviously didn’t do a very good job because I tried to cram way too much stuff into carryon and had a bit of a kerfuffle at the airport. Namely, my bag strap broke (twice), causing my plastic toiletries bag to burst open, leading to a number of sub-100ml bottles of various goo to almost roll away from my possession. Couple with this with the fact that my bag wouldn’t stand upright (too top-heavy) and that I was wearing my jacket (it’s hot summer in Australia but absolutely bone-chillingly freezing in Korea) and even I’ll admit that it was a bit of a sight. Not that interesting but certainly not the most pleasant way to travel. This is why I need to be minimalist!

But the reason I was trying to pack so much in is because… we’re moving to Malaysia! I’m so excited and am really looking forward to this next chapter. Gav got a (really awesome) job over there and I am going to chill for a bit and try and restore my energy levels and just have a life in general. Although Gav is convinced that I am going to end up working at his company (and it looks amazing), so watch this space…

And that’s about all I’ve been up to! I got back in Wednesday night and had a few days of school with the munchkins. I can’t believe it’s almost finished, but at the same time I feel good that they are ready for their next chapter too: elementary school! Ah, to be a kid again ^^

What have you been up to? I’d love to hear! I hope you’ve all had a great new year and I look forward to posting more regularly in 2015. I’ve got a number of plans and ideas for the blog, so stay tuned!

Steph x