the korea part of my trip involved a lot of bus traveling. :) i visited busan, gyeong-ju, and seoul. i ended up meeting other travelers (who were english teachers in different parts of south korea) and bumming around gwangali beach with them. i ended my trip with about a day and half in seoul (really, 2 days w/ my flight cancelled so it was spent in the airport). 

back in the states!

for the past two weeks, i was traveling around tokyo, japan, and areas in south korea! an exciting trip filled with lots of sites to see and meeting other travelers. this was my first trip outside the united states and the more exciting part was that it was mostly by myself :) i met with friends in tokyo and seoul who showed me around for a day or so and then explored other places on my own. while liberating to do and go places without obligation to other people, traveling alone can be lonely :\ it’s a bit more difficult when you also don’t speak the countries’ languages. meeting other travelers was a huge high point on the trip; really, any english speaking person was welcome conversation! overall, the trip was much needed and a great enlightening experience. i’ve also learned a lot of things about traveling (as a newbie i learned tips for my next trip—especially booking lodging and obtaining railway passes ahead of time).

next post will have some photos of the south korea part of my trip :) btw, to see more photos, look at my instagram (username: applejcks)

there’s a commencement speech making the rounds on the interwebs lately given by adrian tan, author of “the teenage textbook”. his message? “don’t work. be hated. love someone.”

awesome speech that should be read in full, but these were some lines that resonated:

Do not waste the vast majority of your life doing something you hate so that you can spend the small remainder sliver of your life in modest comfort. You may never reach that end anyway.

Resist the temptation to get a job. Instead, play.

and about love:

…fall in love.

I didn’t say “be loved”. That requires too much compromise… It far easier to find a reason not to love someone, than otherwise. Rejection requires only one reason. Love requires complete acceptance. 

…

You will also find that it is no great tragedy if your love is not reciprocated. You are not doing it to be loved back. Its value is to inspire you.

-that’s something to remember when we’re all depressed by unreciprocated love. it isn’t about being loved back; sure rejection hurts, but look at how valuable the experience, the outlook is. it’s true, what mr. tan says: “In loving someone, we become inspired to better ourselves in every way.”

ALSO, wishing my sis all the best today and all the days to come! i wish i were in SD with you right now! :D

serious post. warning.

i try to source all images i’ve found on the interwebs—either to a site i’ve received it from or from the original source (if it’s not too hard to find). it’s recently come to my attention, via tumblr radar, that an image i created a couple months ago has been reblogged with my copyright/credit removed. the tumblr user has been sourcing other images, so i hope this was just an oversight. in any case, all designers or artists’ works are their creative babies. it’s always nice to see so many people resonate with the message we convey, but please respect their creative ability and work and link or source images you reblog/post. 

as a reminder?

i posted “punch today in the face” about 5 months ago—a time in my life where i NEEDED inspiration and motivation to get me out of bed b/c things were just…kinda horrible. this inspired me and i wanted to share that feeling of “go out and get them/show them what you’re made of!” 

this morning, artsyy was featured on the tumblr radar for her post in february. awesome that it’s getting over 20,000 hits, but please source the image! 

UPDATE: thanks for sourcing, artsyy! :D it’s a given that with image sharing networks like tumblr and pinterest we tend to lose the original credit after people post, repost, reblog, etc. i definitely appreciate your effort and understanding :)

the past few weeks has been filled with food, design, and some new developments…

[bbq + dulce de leche cherrios]

[rain in SJ and LA/Costa Mesa]

visited LA and SD this past weekend:

[in santa monica]

[@ stella rossa w/ crispin cider & shaved mushroom truffle pizza w/ apple-smoked bacon, and porter! (in sd)]

AND….i got into grad school! 

1. booked a trip to japan and korea for mid-april to the beginning of may! so excited :) it’ll be my first international trip (excluding canada and parts of mexico).

2. loving the styling in anthroplogie’s new issue/catalogue

3. baked whole wheat honey banana muffins

4. made a pea pesto pasta w/ a side of steak & brussel sprouts

5. sunny (and sometimes chilly) weekends

6. took the time to organize some spices into these little jars w/ labels & twine

7. bought cute sandals from target (now on a target spending hiatus, i swear!)

8. working, working, working (but that’s good!)

haven’t gotten to finish my furniture projects and i’m having less and less time to search for inspiring things to post :\ unfortunate, but i’ll make the time for it this week. i’m heading down to LA and SD later this week and hope to have some great pics for inspiration! :D