Fall Fun Series - Thanksgiving Menu & Plans!

Hello, friends! Today's Fall Fun Series post will be about Thanksgiving. I'll tell you my super awesome menu, let you in on some super secret plans, and just blab a little about Thanksgiving and what it means to me this year.

Fall Fun Series - The Bathing Garden Mummy Mademoiselle Sugar Scrub

I felt it would be too repetitive writing about the same body care item so soon after my haul post. As today has gone by, however, I've realized that this is really the only fall body care item that has really caught my eye lately.

Mummy Mademoiselle in sugar scrub form smells like sweet and creamy strawberries. When rubbed on the skin, it manages to exfoliate without leaving the skin red and irritated. I've always had issues with rough products and my skin, so to find something that isn't too scratchy is a wonder I cherish every time it happens. My body thanks Shannon every time I use it.

I use this sugar scrub on my face every three to four days and it helps keep my skin looking and feeling bright and rejuvenated. That gentle exfoliation means I could scrub my face right before date night with M and not look like a tomato.

I'm at a loss for further words so how about instead I share the links to the other blogs participating in this series so you can check out what fall body care items they are loving!

Amanda at Thrifty Polished

Angela at Angela Kay

Ashley at The Bohemian Sassenach

Hayley at Polished At Heart

Jaybird at The Candle Enthusiast

Jessica at The Meltdown Blog

Julie at The Redolent Mermaid

Sandra at Finger Candy

Stephanie at Imperfectly Painted

Sunnee at Our Sunny Life

Fall Fun Series - Pumpkin Theme!

Welcome back to our Fall Fun Series! I thought I'd share my meager bit of pumpkin themed decor with you guys today. :)

Fall Fun Series - Seoul International Fireworks Festival

Image credit seoul.go.kr's 2015 Fireworks Festival page.

Greetings, everyone! I hope this post finds you well, and if you happen to be reading this from any of the areas in the path of Hurricane Matthew, I hope your reading this means the danger has passed and you are safe. For my Fall event I'd like to showcase the Seoul International Fireworks Festival. 

Fall Fun Series - Fall Recipe!

I know Patbingsu is more of a summer dessert, but there's so much variety in the toppings offered I feel like it can be an all year round dessert. My Korean themed fall recipe would be Patbingsu! I prefer the ones that are made with a shaved milk base instead of a shaved ice base. You can find a recipe here. I haven't tried making it, but if I were to try it I would find a way to add in something pumpkin-ey. Who needs PSLs when you have Pumpkin Spice Bingsu?!

On the more American side of things, I will have to say pumpkin banana bread. It's something I plan to make the next time we go to the commissary and pick up some pumpkin purée. Have I made it yet? Of course not. I'm the epitome of "has her life together." /s

My fall melts for the week are lacking. I melted two scents: Lasting Scent Candles' Sweet Embers and Glitterati's Pumpkin Soufflé Cinnamon Donuts.

Please don't forget to visit these other lovely ladies participating in this series and see what fall recipes they have to share with us!

Amanda at Thrifty Polished

Ashley at The Bohemian Sassenach

Hayley at Polished At Heart

Jaybird at The Candle Enthusiast

Jessica at The Meltdown Blog

Julie at The Redolent Mermaid 

Lauren at LoloLovesScents

Sandra at Finger Candy

Stephanie at Imperfectly Painted

Sunnee at Our Sunny Life

Fall Fun Series - Acts of Kindness

This road leads to a tea room in our neighborhood.

This is a hard topic. I'm not one to draw attention to things I do for others. I know it's good to share the good you put into the world, but I feel like I'm tooting my own horn so to speak. I do not think ill of those who do share their own good deeds, but I cannot do it for myself. I prefer to remain quietly in the background.

How, then, shall I participate in this post? By telling the acts of kindness I've seen in this world!

Fall Fun Series - Pumpkin Leaves Cinnamon Broomsticks

I'm bad at making choices. Especially when it comes to autumn. My favorite thing? Can I say everything? The atmosphere? The crisp air whipping multi color leaves around while pumpkins, scarecrows, and a whole variety of fall and Halloween themed decorations that pop up around the neighborhoods? Hay mazes and scarecrows?

Every day passes and I get a little more upset that my fall decor hasn't arrived. I want to take pictures to help illustrate what I love about fall! I can't do that outside of my home. Halloween isn't a big thing here in Korea. Some Halloween festivities are slowly becoming bigger in Seoul proper, but it's more geared towards those who wish to dress up, drink, and be merry. Trick or treating and decorating one's home still isn't a thing, especially in the area I live in.

Back to the original post topic! I absolutely love pumpkins. If I had to pick one thing, it would be the pumpkins. I love searching for the perfect pumpkins to buy and put on display. I love decorating the pumpkins and letting someone else cut the pumpkin up (I'm a hazard to my own well being, remember), and loading that pumpkin up with candles to complete the Jack-O-Lantern look. When I was a poor college student with no place to put a pumpkin, I loved the pumpkin themed festivities that occurred in the video games I played, letting me live vicariously through a pixelated world that did not take up space in my real world living environment.


Please don't forget to visit these other lovely ladies participating in this fall series and see what their favorite thing about fall is!

Amanda at Thrifty Polished

Ashley at The Bohemian Sassenach

Hayley at Polished At Heart

Jaybird at The Candle Enthusiast

Jessica at The Meltdown Blog

Julie at The Redolent Mermaid 

Lauren at LoloLovesScents

Sandra at Finger Candy

Stephanie at Imperfectly Painted

Sunnee at Our Sunny Life

Fall Fun Series - Hanji (한지) Halloween Pencil Holder

This post is a bit late. I underestimated how long this project would take from start to finish (about 60 hours). Oopsie. Anyway, here's my contribution to today's Fall Fun Series post: a Halloween themed Hanji pencil holder!

First, I may have to explain Hanji a little. Hanji is a traditional handmade paper from Korea, typically made from Paper Mulberry (dak) trees. Lots of functional and artistic pieces can be made using a combination of Hanji, a sort of cardboard/wood base, and some hanji paste (it's corn starch paste, or wallpaper paste). This craft is used to make lots of exquisitely beautiful pieces, my favorite of which simulate wood grains and staining by using a combination of black hanji paper, wrinkled layers, and a bleach water solution.

I'm not nearly that complex in my hanji crafting, so we'll settle for a very un-Korean version of this craft. Since I also promised a step-by-step process of this several months ago, I'm going to go ahead and make this a two-in-one post. Will that make it long? Very likely. Am I sorry? Only partially.

Fall Fun Series - Fall Music, Movie, and Book!

I'm a bit behind on this series. I'm still waiting on some fall decor in the mail, so who knows when that post will be up. I'm not much of an apple fan, so I skipped that post. Basically I'm glad this is a very relaxed series, otherwise I would have to step out.

Fall Fun Series: Fall Melting Stash Overview!

Happy Labor Day! I'm cutting this post very, very close to the posting time I wanted to follow. How close? I have less than an hour until this post is supposed to go live. LOL! Please forgive me, I'm not usually this frazzled. I had much more excitement than I bargained for this weekend, which is 180% accountable for my lack of post preparedness.

Today our Fall Fun Series (I was going to abbreviate this, but the abbreviation has already been taken by a much nastier phrase <_<) participants are sharing our fall melting stash! I have a recent post that includes my overall wax stash, but there have been some major renovations to my fall stash in the past month, making this a perfect time to post this! 

Fall Fun Series: An Introduction and Fall Tag!

Hello there friends! This will be a new post series that myself, and a bunch of old and new blogging friends will be engaging in this autumn season. We will be covering our fall wax melts, candles, recipes, decorations, and more. Please feel free to join us in the comments when we post by telling us what you are melting or creating or loving this fall. If you are a blogger and would like to join us please let us know and we will send you the schedule of posts. Please welcome the following bloggers and check out their posts as well which will generally post Monday and Friday starting September and ending the day after Thanksgiving (some may post on different days or times):

Amanda at ThriftyPolished

Ashley at The Bohemian Sassenach

Deb at It's Always Something

Jessica at The Meltdown Blog

Julie at The Redolent Mermaid

Lauren at LoloLovesScents

Lindsey at Little Bit of Lindsey

Liz at Furianne

Sandra at Finger Candy

Stephanie at Imperfectly Painted

Sunnee at Our Sunny Life

To kick off the first post we will do a Fall Tag!

1. What is your favorite thing about fall?

The decorations. Throughout the season, the colors and decor that can be found throughout buildings, stores, and houses makes something in my core extremely happy.

2. Do you get fall colors where you live?

You know, I don't know. We landed in Korea during winter, so it's hard to say whether there is a 'fall' phase. I assume so, as all of the other colors and seasons make themselves known.

3. Favorite fall scent (wax, or anything)?

There is a cinnamon and pumpkin potpourri that my mom would always bring out as the weather cooled down. She no longer has that potpourri, and vendor interpretations of the mix fall short, but it continues to remain my favorite scent.

4. Favorite fall food or drink?

Pumpkin pie. It's the only pie I'll eat, and it happens to be around consistently in the fall season!

5. Football.....yay or nay?

Yay and nay? My parents are both big football fans, so the sounds of NFL happenings on the TV is synonymous with fall to me. I don't particularly search it out to watch on my own, though.

6. Do you rake, jump in, or burn piles of leaves?

I used to, when I lived in areas that had deciduous trees. When we moved to Texas that stopped being a thing, and I've kind of grown out of it.

7. Haunted house or corn maze?

Corn maze. I'm never phased by haunted houses.

8. Have you ever gone on a hayride?

Yes!

9. Cider or hot chocolate?

Hot chocolate all the way!

10. Carve a pumpkin or eat pumpkin pie?

Pumpkin pie. I'm a clumsy person, and I feel like carving a pumpkin would not end well for me.

11. Do you dress up for Halloween?

I used to. Even when I didn't go trick or treating I would dress up as a witch and hand out candy on the front porch. If we ever move to an area that has active trick or treaters I'll start dressing up again.

12. Candy corn.....yay or nay?

Yes! I absolutely love candy corn.

13. Favorite Halloween movie?

The Nightmare Before Christmas! 

14. Scariest movie?

Hard to choose, as I'm a bit of a scary movie buff. The first time I watched Alien sticks out in my mind, so I'll go with Alien.

15. Halloween or Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving!

16. Do you watch the Macy's parade?

Nope. I forget it's a thing until it's mentioned by x or y news outlet/Facebook.

17. Apple pie or pumpkin pie?

Pumpkin pie, of course!

18. White or dark meat?

White!

19. Jellied or real cranberry sauce?

None of the above. I don't care for it all that much.

20. Will you host or travel for Thanksgiving this year?

Host... sorta? We don't expect company all the way in South Korea, so it'll just be M and I this year.

How about you? Join us by giving some of your fall tag answers! Next post we will feature our fall melting stash.