Myeongdong

The day my sister and I went to have our Hanbok Photoshoot we meandered back a forth a few times between Myeongdong and Insadong.  I highly recommend Myeongdong for shopping and eating.  It's especially active at night when the street vendors come out full force and you can literally enjoy a buffet of variety without stepping foot in a restaurant.  It's been a long time since I have posted a blog but I figure better late than never.  Enjoy some photospam from our adventures in Myeongdong.

Sanchon (산촌) - Vegan dining in Seoul Part. 2

Founded and opened by Monk Jeongsan, Sanchon is a vegan-friendly restaurant that mainly serves temple foods. The dishes found here are a results of Kim Yun-sik, who was inspired by the simple, clean and healthy diet that a Buddhist practitioner taught him years ago. Now, being a top authority on vegetarian food in Korea, Kim Yun-sik helped perfect the standard and quality of temple food.  

The dishes are made with all natural ingredients such as vegetables and mountain herbs, and are cooked without chemical additives. The actual dishes served vary by season, and in order to meet the tastes of the general public, the restaurant includes "five spices" (garlic, shallots, mountain leeks, etc.), which monks are typically not allowed to eat. Those who would like their food without these ingredients are asked to make their request at least one day prior to visiting.  - VisitKorea

Sanchon (산촌) - Vegan dining in Seoul Part. 1

 I decided to split this post into 2 parts.  Mainly because I took so many pictures.  And I think the location was just as interesting as the food.  I wish I had some photos or video of the actual path to the location.  You had to take a winding path down an alleyway to find Sanchon.  I had seen a youtube video about eating at Sanchon and thought it would be a great experience for my sister and I.  I had never had a multi-course vegan meal and this was my chance to do so. 

Hanbok Photoshoot

Hanbok (South Korea) or Joseon-ot (North Korea) is the traditional Korean dress. It is often characterized by vibrant colors and simple lines without pockets. Although the term literally means "Korean clothing", hanbok today often refers specifically to clothing of the Joseon period and is worn as semi-formal or formal wear during traditional festivals and celebrations. - From Wikipedia

Purikura

 Purikura: A photo booth is a vending machine or modern kiosk that contains an automated, usually coin-operated, camera and film processor. Today, the vast majority of photo booths are digital. (Wikipedia) 
Warning:  Lots of pictures for this post...

Raku

I'm not gonna lie and say I don't like Raku.  The process is fun; I mean come on you get to play with fire!  And it serves well for people who have no patience.  After you bisque fire a piece you are ready to glaze and Raku.  Instead of waiting a week for your piece to go through the final firing, you wait... maybe tops: an hour.  But I really don't like that it is not functional.  Or rather not as functional as I would want something to be.  Heat, oxygen and sun can cause your Raku fired pieces to fade, so a candle holder or outdoor potted plant is out.  And I had to treat everything I made with shellac to help keep further oxidation from occurring. It's also not water tight, so no vases that hold real flowers.  AND here is the big one, not food safe.  So it's basically something pretty to look at which to me=clutter.  However art is in the eye of the beerholder and I made use of my pieces (well, most of them).

Pottery Wheel - Semester 2

During my second semester I ended up gifting most of my items.  I hate clutter and I missed the student sale because I went on a cruise to Mexico.  I have always heard handmade gifts are always nice to receive, maybe... maybe not.   I won't be gifting things for xmas again.  I have a few more things to make for people who have requested something and then I may open up shop.  I've been asked a few times if I sell my pieces or have a business card: no on both counts.  Why not?  I really don't feel my stuff is worth it but if people are asking, there has gotta be a market right?  So with a few exceptions, I am going to start selling my goodies.  At least that's what I am saying now.  It depends on my motivation and I don't want to have a supply/demand type situation.  I think it would take the fun and therapy out of it for me.  I may just produce as I have been and then post things up to etsy or a similar type site.  Anyone have thoughts on this?

I also took Raku during my 2nd semester and the pieces are very cool looking but they lack functionality.  I hate things that don't serve a purpose... and to me, art for the sake of art and just looking at it, it's not good enough.  I will be posting my Raku projects in my next post.  All of the pieces below are microwave, dishwasher and oven safe which means they are also food safe; very useful!

***Spoiler Alert:  For hardkoretom, if you don't care for surprises, read on.  If you care, maybe wait a week or so before reading on.  I gotta get myself down to the post office next week.***

Pottery Wheel - Semester 1

I have been lagging at this post.  And frankly with as much as I have improved I have been hesitant to post it.  But hardkoretom has been waiting to see my work for well over a year.  So this is for you and anyone else that wants to see my early work.  I won't say I am not proud, I am just not too thrilled with my first pieces.

Beware, there are a lot of images.  Not as many as my next post will have.  But one thing I start doing next semester which is really stupid is just giving my crap away.... without photographing it first.  And it's hard to photograph ceramics, I could use some pointers.  Natural light works really well but it's hard to work with the sun, it just does what it wants!

Patricia Griffin Workshop

For Valentine's Day I didn't head out in search of a crowded, over priced for the night restaurant or whatever it is people think married folk do on Valentine's Day.  Instead I spent the weekend with a group of ladies at a ceramics workshop.  Laura kindly coined it, "Valentine's Weekend Clay Play". Patricia Griffin is a ceramic artist who conducts workshops in a tiny one room school house located in Cambria.

Cabo San Lucas

Cabo San Lucas was our shortest port of call which was unfortunate as I would have liked to have seen more of it.  Not sure how good my experience of Cabo would have been as it had been hit by Hurricane Odile about a month before we got there.  Far off in the distance I could see some of the beach facing property did look pretty sad.  But for the most part Cabo was ready to go for incoming tourists.  

Puerto Vallarta

When we arrived at port there were photographers ready to snap your picture with, I assume, what they want foreigners to portray as an authentic person from each port of call.  I managed to get away unscathed at the first port of call.  My mom, not so lucky.  But after my first dodge attempt I did pose with the family.  It's something to remember the trip by and my mom enjoyed taking the pictures.  At least I thought so.

Arctic Road Trip

I crossed the Arctic Circle by air and by road.  One of the things I really wanted to do while in Alaska was to cross the Arctic Circle, it would be stupid not to.  I was so close, I just had to!  There were 2 options for crossing the Arctic Circle one involved a very LONG, day car ride.  The other involved a long car ride with a stop to see the Northern Lights AND a short flight.  Any chance to see the lights as many times as possible was our aim for the trip.  So we chose the flight up to the Arctic Circle and then a nice coach ride down the Dalton Highway to watch the Northern Lights in Joy, Alaska and then 'home' to Fairbanks.  It was a LONG day but so worth the beautiful scenery and clean air.  You know you have found an amazing travel companion when you can be up at the butt crack of dawn, return home at the butt crack of dawn the next day and still be smiling ear to ear.  Thanks Sylv, glad to have shared an awesome day with you!

Ice Museum at Chena Hot Springs

 Fair warning this is an image heavy post.  But the images are really pretty if you fancy a colorfully lit, winter wonderland.  Back to my Alaska posts that I seem to be taking my sweet time with!  The Ice Museum at the Chena Hot Springs was fun, we booked a tour through Alaska Tours after doing some price shopping.  We got to enjoy a tour of the ice museum which is kept nice and chilly year-round using geothermal energy.  How do you like that, it keeps cool with warmth!  While taking the tour you can, for an extra charge, enjoy an appletini out of an ice martini glass.

World Ice Art Championship 2014

The day my sister and I landed in Alaska we planned on visiting the World Ice Art Championship exhibit.  What we failed to plan for was public transportation, the buses do not start running until 9.  So my sister and I decided to walk to the exhibit.  It seems a short 2 mile walk is just not something that is done in Alaska, we got odd stares.  And when people asked how far we had walked to the exhibit they were shocked because it was SO far.  It was a nice, brisk, walk first thing in the morning, by the time we got to the exhibit our faces were very red.  I guess it was a little cold but not so cold we didn't have a blast looking at ice sculptures.

Note to self: Ice is sharp.

 I managed to slice my finger open sliding down this teeny ice slide.  2014 started to warm up sooner than usual in Alaska, so we ended up catching the tail end of the displays.  Several areas were cordoned off or had just melted into strange unrecognizable blobs.  I actually cheated and peeked at the sculptures before going to Alaska so I knew what they were supposed to look like.  The link up top will take you to this year's sculptures.

Day 5 - Road to Hana (Part 2)

Obligatory photo of mile marker 0

We had so much fun on our way to Hana the first day that we didn't quite make it there.  So for Thanksgiving Day, we spent driving the Road to Hana again!  Much less traffic and tourists, I guess most folks spend their day gorging themselves on food.  We spent our day enjoying the lovely drive and frolicking on trails and several different beaches.

Day 4 - Upcountry and Central Maui

Day 4 started out well before the sun came up.  Our plan was to catch the sunrise from the top of Haleakala, it was also the same plan several other dozen people had.  Though most of our trip to Maui did not involve places that were crowded by people, this stop was a very crowded one.  This stop also annoyed me a bit.  I loved watching the sunrise, I just didn't love the people.  It was overrun by disrespectful tourists (I know I was a tourist too, but not disrespectful).  There were signs posted to stay on the trail and even barriers put up.  Several people (mostly from across the ocean in the opposite direction of where I came from) were climbing over and into habitat protected areas.  All in the name of a good photo/video spot.  They were rude, disrespectful and appeared dismayed that they were not allowed carte blanche to be douche bags to nature.  They also had no qualms standing directly in front of you butt rubbing your crotch and blocking your view.  Enough of my nagging!  The sunrise was amazing.

Day 3 - Maalaea Bay

On day three we opted for an early day of activities.  Our first activity of the day was a nice visit to the Maui Ocean Center.  We had planned to go snorkeling later in the day but wanted to find something fun to do that was not to physically taxing earlier in the day.  The Maui Ocean Center was it.

To the right of where my mom and aunt (your right not theirs) were standing is a giant shark mouth that makes for a great photo op.  Too bad I missed out on being eaten by a shark, I was saved by my urgent need to find a restroom.  I swear I must have a bladder the size of an infants.  Luckily the bathrooms were clearly marked and I had not trouble on this trip finding a bathroom.  The last trip I didn't fair so well with locating bathrooms.

Day 2 - Road to Hana (Part 1)

Day two in Maui started off quite early for us, it was still dark!  We wanted to get an early start to get to the start of the Road to Hana.  We wanted to leave early enough to beat any crowds and still enjoy the drive and scenery.  And also to enjoy a little zip-lining (more on that later).  I have read several places that taking your time and not rushing the drive allows you the benefit of fully enjoying the Hana Highway.  Though we didn't make it all the way to the end on this day, we were able to revisit the Hana Highway again during our trip.

Start of the Twin Falls Hike.

Day 1 - South Maui

Our first morning in Maui we all woke up quite early due to the time difference.  I kept hearing noise and had a difficult time trying to get back to sleep.  I decided it would be a bright idea to walk down to the beach and enjoy the wee hours before Mr. Sun decided to wake everything up.  It was quiet, aside from a few birds and not a single soul could be seen up and down the coast from where I was.  I noticed the Pacific Ocean wasn't nearly as fishy smelling as it is back home.  So I had to taste it; not as salty either, I wondered why.  If I wanted to know the answer I would have consulted the all knowing Internet.... but I just wanted to enjoy the morning, sitting alone, contemplating life and watching the water.

Little Tokyo Historic District

Sunday I took my little sister down to Los Angeles for some fitness thing again.  Last time I drove down I ended up spending the day in Costa Mesa/Anaheim.  This time I decided to park and just walk, I have been in need of alone time.  Alone in a city of how many?!  Shaddup!  Though the shots below don't show it I inadvertently was there during some Rock and Roll half marathon.  So many people!  Also last time I didn't have to suffer an olfactory onslaught of toxic fumes and urine.  Thank you Los Angeles for the fond memories you always provide.


So I ended up in Little Tokyo for several hours.  I took the time to walk around and soak in the sites and food.  I honestly had several meals Sunday.  I had 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches and 1 dinner.  No beer this time but plenty of food.  I was walking all day in heels and I ran a 5k on Saturday, my logic is flawless; I was starving!  I'm not fat, I'm big boned.


Though I was in Los Angeles on a day of a half marathon, I somehow was lucky enough to find myself very alone.  In none of my shots were there any humans aside from one.  I will explain that one when I get to it.  When I got to Little Tokyo my plan was to park on 2nd street but the half marathon road blocks had other ideas.  I ended up parking under the Weller Court Shopping Center, which I didn't realize at the time.  When I emerged from the parking structure I was greeted by the Ellison Onizuka Monument.  It was actually the one thing I really wanted to see while strolling around Little Tokyo.  The Challenger accident is one of those memories I still hold vividly in my mind.  Or as vivid as the memory of a 5 year old can be.  I had all the books on space and loved reading about Buzz and Neil.  I cried watching the news that day.