Chilbo (Korean Enameling) from Korea

Rocket Man (new name for hubby Curt) recently returned from a business trip to Asia which included my beloved South Korea. He was able to stop in and visit my chilbo teacher, Nan. I think he bought her shop out. She was thrilled to see him.


I am planning on incorporating these into my maedeup and make a bunch of necklaces for my Etsy store.

He loves her birds and so do I.

I've always loved her chilbo flowers.

This has really got me inching to get out my chilbo supplies and start creating. I just need Rocket Man to drill some holes into the copper pieces and I'm all set. Maybe this weekend!

She is very talented and had her own show in Itaewon a few weeks ago featuring her designs.

On the kitty front, the fighting is still fierce at times and unnerving for me. Louie has lost quite a bit of weight in the aftermath. I happen to catch Louie and Finnigan in a calmer time.

A Trip to the Mall

I had our grandson, Noah, for an overnight and I like to take him to the mall. They have a play area and he can run and play with other kids. While I was there with my mom, a Korean dad sat next to me with his little daughter.

I started a conversation with him and told him about my recent return from Korea. He is a Korean citizen and going to school here on a education VISA but would like to live here permanently when his schooling is finished. We talked a lot about Korea and I don't know about him but it made me homesick for Korea.

He wrote down instructions on how to get to a great Korean market. He said it had great kimchi and mandu (Korean dumplings) which are two things I have been craving. I'm planning to go to this market next week and I'll take my camera. I'm curious to see how it compares to grocery shopping in Korea.

The maedeup piece in the picture is going to used as a lanyard for my next trade show. How better to advertise the beauty of maedeup then by wearing it myself.

Spooky Seoul

This is the picture that got me semi famous in the Korean blog sphere. We were out in Seoul the day after Halloween last year looking for a certain Mexican restaurant (not many in Korea) when we ran into this spider guy. I still find it today the most creative costume I've ever seen and in a country that doesn't celebrate Halloween.


I wish I had shot some video but to be honest I was freaked out by the spider guy. He seemed to walk in my direction and I didn't want to get too close.


He never said a word.

These are a bunch of police officers staying out of his way. We found the spider guy near the Blue House (Korea's version of The White House) which always has a large presence of officers. The spider guy walked towards some of the officers and they were jumping to get out of his way.

Korean Fashion

While living in South Korea, I would pick up Korean fashion magazines. They are huge, over an inch thick in many instances. Compared to U.S. magazines they were a steal at 5000 - 8000 WON (5-8 USD).


This is one of my all time favorite pictures. The baby bunnies are so cute.


I feel the Seoul is one of the hidden fashion meccas of the world. Just stand on any street corner and watch the fashionistas walk (or run) by. I found a great source for Korean fashion at feetmansoul. I always felt under dress when in Seoul with my jeans and tennis shoes. I still wonder how the women manage the uneven pavement, subways and stairs with 4-6 inch heels. My Korean girlfriends were pros.

It Begins With A Pendant

Most often a maedeup project begins with a pendant. I found this pendant on Etsy and fell in love with it. It is made by Lilly Allen Designs. The pendant is a Christmas present for my mom and has each of our names along with our birthstones. I used black cording because it goes with everything.


Making gifts is a great way to practice maedeup and the design possibilities are infinite. You just have to remember to use enough cording. My Korean maedeup teacher was so precise with figuring how much cording was needed for a project.


Here is a picture of the entire necklace.

I looked out this morning and saw that my grill (which was off at the time) was steaming. It was the strangest sight and I'm sure there is some physics explanation that would be way over my head. It was just something that made me go hmmm.

The tale of the three cats continues. There are still raging hissing matches from time to time so I was shocked to walk into the room to discover this sight. Louie is in the middle keeping an eye on the other two.

The good news is I got a full night of sleep without any interruption.

Say It Ain't Snow!

I woke up this morning and looked out my front window to this blanket of snow. The leaves are still on the trees for the most part. I was hoping the weatherman was wrong but it looks like we ended up with about four inches of snow. Luckily, it was too warm for it to stick to the driveway and roads.

Finnigan decided to give me a wake up meow at 3 a.m. which was answered by a hissing Louie. I really tried to get back to sleep but it was sporadic at best. Louie was exceptionally crabby this morning going at it with both of the cats. I can't think of a worse sound than two cats fighting. It freaks me out! Here I was worried that the two cats would pick on him.

I did run out today to pick up a few things. I had never used the defrost on our Sonata before. I drove all the way to the store and back before I found the button. It is a little rectangle with squiggly lines on it. How was I suppose to know that meant defrost! Oh the challenges of living back in the United States.

A Tale of Three Cats

There's been a lot of hissing going on around my house lately. My daughter and son-in-law recently put their house on the market and asked if we would watch their kitties until their house sold. It's hard to say no to your kids when they are grown (it was much easier when they were young) so of course I said sure.

My only concern was that we already have a cat, Louie, who has his own set of weirdness. He has always been terrified of everything so most of the day is spent under our bed. He could be the poster cat for the term "scaredy cat". How would he react to two additional cats? Would he ever come out from under the bed? Would the two other cats pick on him?

I glad and proud to report that Louie has found his backbone. He's not letting the two new kitties push him around and he is letting them know regularly who the Alpha male is. The picture above is of Louie (on the left) and Finnigan.


I'm one proud mama to find my Louie hissing and standing his ground with the hair on his back standing tall. I've even found him to be the aggressive one. The only problem I've encountered is that I've been awoken a few times to cat fights going on under my bed. It's hard to get back to sleep after being awaken by two angry kitties.


I worried that Louie would be at a disadvantage since he is declawed and the other two are not and he only has three legs (I'll tell that story in the future). I was wrong to worry. He has risen to the occasion and isn't taking any guff from the two visitors.

The other kittie is a female, Meesery (or something like that) and she stays out of it most of the time. She prefers to spend her time eating me out of house and home. I am going through a bag of cat food a week with her around. She eats constantly while the other two barely eat at all. Louie will occasionally get in her face with a few hisses from time to time just to let her know too who the boss is.

The following picture is not for the squeamish so you have been warned.

This morning I woke up to the strangest sound. I thought it was the wind although it didn't sound like anything I had ever heard before. I fell back to sleep for awhile but finally decided it was time to get up. I went into my bathroom to find this! Ewwww. Louie has never done anything like this so I knew it was probably Finnigan.

The new kitties also like to walk all over my craft table. Now I admit that my table is not organized and is covered with stuff. I do try to keep it clean but when I'm in my crafting zone, the table always looks like a tornado came through. I find containers of supplies have been knocked over even making it to the floor. I could get mad but it has been a good excuse for me to take the time to clean it up.

We are supposed to get 2-4 inches of snow overnight and for once I hope the weatherman is wrong. We rarely got snow in Korea and when we did it was usually just a dusting. I never drove while we lived in Korea so I know that my winter driving skills are rusty. I'm just going to hang around home tomorrow and referee the cats.