Day by Day with Gina

Lazy Days

UPDATE FROM SOUTH KOREA
Thursday, December 22, 2005

On Thursday, we took it pretty easy. We slept in a bit, made some phone calls to people in GA, and poked around until after lunchtime. Britt and I worked out and came home during the afternoon. Ben and I played babysitter while Britt and Becca had their well-deserved weekly date. We also watched a hacked copy of Elizabethtown, which was an entertaining movie at best. I thought Kirsten Dunst did a great job, though she's not, in general, my favorite actress to watch. We all decided Orlando Bloom was pretty weak, though. He played a great elf in Lord of the Rings, and that was really the shining moment of his career: look pretty and have lofty, disconnected facial expressions.

When I say a "hacked copy," that means that there is this store in Songtan where Britt regularly buys pirated versions of movies so he doesn't have to pay money to see them in theatres or rent them. He will usually buy the "real" version of the dvd once it comes out, if he likes it enough. I don't think they have laws here about piracy and all that sort of thing. It's Korea. Their idea of ethics is very...individually interpreted.

The star of the day, though, was Micah. He was on his tummy on the changing table and started to get his knees up under him. It was the first time he had tried to start moving that way, i.e. the beginnings of a crawl!!! It was really cute. And I think he's pretty darn photogenic, so here you go. Enjoy some cute pictures.
Imagine some really cute grunting noises during this picture while he tried vigorously to get moving.
There are three important ingredients to Micah's sleepytime: pacifier, blanket, and teddy bear!

Thursday, December 23, 2005

We took it easy this morning. Ben and I called the folks having a get-together at our house last night and enjoyed our speaker-phone fellowship. It sounded like you guys were having lots of fun without us!!! That made me happy.
Anywho, then we all started to get bundled up and go out for lunch. I had to grab my camera when Becca put Micah in his very warm snowsuit.
Can you say Randy from A Christmas Story? It was even funnier in person, because the flapping of his bulky arms reminded me of a penguin.
We all got our winter paraphenalia on and made our way down the street toward "the strip." We stopped by the optician to get Ben's glasses adjusted, then went out to lunch at "Happy Teriyaki."
I don't know about you, but I really like my teriyaki chicken to be not only tasty, but happy. This restaurant did not disappoint! Britt and Becca are regulars at this place, so it was a fun dining experience.
Ben and I are getting better at our chopstick skills!

We went down to the tailor shop to get fitted for our cool Korean shirts. I am getting a long-sleeved one in red and a short-sleeved one in pink. Ben's getting a men's shirt made in black. We're super excited about them. The price isn't too bad, either- only around $30 per garment. For a tailor-made, silk shirt, that is a really good deal!

We all trekked home and started to get ready for the evening meal. Britt and Becca host a meal at the hospitality house on Friday nights. Tonight, we did homemade pizza. I can hear your tummies rumbling from here! We all pitched in to get everything ready, and it was very yummy. The group went caroling after dinner, and Becca and I stayed in to clean up and take care of the little guy.

This weekend will be pretty packed, so I will have more events to write about. It's been good, though, to take it easy over the last two days. I have been reading Now, Discover Your Strengths (almost finished) and trying to zero in on my strengths more clearly. It has been a very good book for me. I read something today that was very important. It talked about how, once you find your strengths, "you will be most successful when you craft your role to play to your signature talents most of the time" (p. 167). I appreciated that it didn't say to change jobs immediately or seek out a new profession, but to try to focus on your talents, no matter where you are. Now, given, some professions may not bring out your strengths at all, but chances are that you can highlight at least some of them regardless (or irregardless, as my dad would say, but isn't that redundant?). I don't know if my profession highlights my strengths, but I am willing to give it a try. So, that is my goal over the next month or so: try to focus on my strengths in my job, and see where that takes me. I think that's a reasonable goal.

We have also been educating my brother on the fabulously funny show Arrested Development. It was one of our un-published, but very important goals of this two-week trip. We all knew this show was right up Britt's alley, but somehow he has remained oblivious to it...until now. We're almost done with season one, and we have a whole season left to go!!! Good thing we will be here at least another week...whew!

Love you guys. Miss you. Have a great Thursday!

posted by Gina @ 6:14 AM