Korea 2012
Finally~~ I had a chance to sit down and go through my Korea pics which were mostly on my phone. In fact, only 4 photos below were taken on a regular camera~ lol! I loved this trip because we were just in Korea a year and a half ago so I didn’t feel any pressure to go sightseeing or take tons of nice photos. Here’s a photo tour of my favorite moments in Korea, the 2012 edition.
* Hanging with Joy on the flights. The flight there was pretty tough but then she slept most of the way back!
* Seeing my brother meet Joy for the first time.
* Being smooshed in the back seat of my aunt’s car while taking silly photos with my grandma.
* Giving my mom the opportunity to celebrate her birthday with her mom for the first time in decades.
* Baby’s Lounge! By far the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in a department store. They have an area for sleeping, changing, nursing/feeding and even measuring your baby’s stats. There’s a helper who cleans and even looks after your baby if you want!
* The Banyan Tree & our views.
* Seeing how my family loved Joy so much. They told me she reminded them of me at that age. Photo on the left is of my former movie star uncle teaching Joy how to be dramatic~ lol!
* Hearing my grandpa’s wise and funny stories. He is truly an amazing person. He’d probably give you a copy of his book if you met him, lol! He’s 89 years old and still blogs for his church and invests in the stock market. He once represented himself in a case against a huge corporation and was touted as a “David” winning over “Goliath” in the newspapers.
* Loved getting to experience life as a local since we got to hang with our family & friends who live there.
* We took Joy swimming for the first time. Loved the pool in our room~ perfect for a little one to learn how to swim.
* We’re so lucky we got to experience jjimjilbang (Korean sauna), Dr. Fish (where fish eat the dead skin off your feet…eww!) and many other adventures with one of our favorite couples in the world, Miny & Steve. Thanks to Steve’s friend (thanks Jay!), we got chauffeured around Seoul in a limo taxi.
* Wandering around the streets of Seoul late at night. We noticed a lot of the taxi drivers watching Korean dramas while driving~ lol or eek?
* Being an honorary groomsbuddy for my dear law school friend. Congrats Sam & Crystal! It was also awesome seeing my buddy Dave and my beautiful @petitetokio.
* Loved getting to spend quality time together. Just the two of us…along with thousands of Seoul locals.
* Our favorite part of each day was getting a letter & photos from Evan & my in-laws. He was having a blast on “vacation” and loving all the extra attention. So blessed to have such amazing in-laws.
* Joy was so happy during our trip! My grandpa read somewhere that a baby smiles more than 300 times a day. He told us that we should strive to do the same!
* Saying goodbye to my grandparents and aunt broke my heart but it just made me realize how lucky I was to have spent this time with them. They have a special place in my heart. They basically adopted me from when I was 2 to 5. My parents couldn’t afford to take me to the US so I had to stay behind. These were the days before the Internet, Skype and cheap international calls so they were all I had. And for that…I will love them forever.
* My favorite moment of the entire trip…fulfilling my dream of having all four generations of women together. An image that will inspire me for a lifetime.
What a whirlwind of a trip! I learned that the best memories aren’t made from grand events but from the simplest things…like culling mini anchovies together or staying up late talking. I saw how even the smallest gestures like putting curlers in your mom’s hair show immeasurable love.
We didn’t get to make a video for this time but if you haven’t seen it yet~ here’s the link to our video from our last trip. 
Korea/Japan Goodies
The last time I was in Seoul I spent a lot of time putting together gift packages for my friends. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to do it this time around! I did make one set though to give away here. Just leave a comment telling me you’re interested and I’ll pick/send out the package next week! [Congrats wizki!]
These are just a few little favorite things from Korea/Japan. We made a quick day trip into Japan on the way back. Here’s what it includes: coin bag made of hanbok material, hair turban, stripey twist ties, fuzzy socks, white board (perfect to write stuff on & take photos), non-stick self-standing rice scooper, 22 pack of colored thread, oilcloth bag, flower stickers, brown rice green tea, embosser, lunch bag, giraffe socks, plastic gift bags, metallic markers, 6 patterned tapes & a reusable bag.
iPhone Photo Apps
Since most of my Korea photos were taken with my iPhone I wanted to share a few of my favorite apps.
Instagram, Be Funky, Pic Fx and Tadaa are great for editing and fun borders.
Pic Frame and Diptic are what I use for collages.
Tegaki Camera, Label Box and Phonto are what I use for text.
Enjoy~ and share some of your phone photo creations! 
