Summer is Coming

It is hot here. It's mid-June and it's quite hot. These days it's ranging from 28-34C. I like it. Most everyone else is complaining about it. Today Mike and I got up, hopped on our bikes and headed to a nearby mountain. We couldn't find the trail on the mountain so we just cut through some people's private property, were yelled at by dogs, cut through a burial ground, pushed aside some dead trees, got a little scraped up and then finally found one. This trail involved many stairs. For some reason that is more difficult than just walking straight up a mountain.

After our jaunt down the mountain we came across a greenhouse and I squealed with glee as we (I) picked out some herbs to start an indoor herb garden. We (I) got: Rosemary, Pineapple Sage (?), Lemon balm, Peppermint, Spearmint, Thyme and Basil. We also got (for FREE!): a small red flower (sort of like a pansy), Nasturtium seeds and 2 small pumpkins. Mike and I hopped up to the roof after a heavy bike ride home to pot them. I'm so excited that my house smells good, and I'll have these on hand for cooking. So yeah, basically today has been the best.

Not to be confused for last Saturday which was also the best. My good friend Tristan Durst and I met up and got manicures and pedicures. Then we got pizzas. Then we went to her place where we drank wine and watched the Bachelorette. We paused for laughs because you wouldn't want to miss a ridiculously stupid thing that someone had said.

However, don't confuse this with the previous Saturday where we celebrated my friend's 30th birthday. For some reason Blogspot isn't allowing me to attach a photo. It was a bunch of us girls (and some boyfriends) having an indulgent dinner followed by classy drinks, followed by a not-so-classy noraebang (singing room) session. It's good to see that life continues after 30 and that you get to walk that fine line of being a dork and being a grown-up.

I have gone to Busan twice to visit my friend Nina. It has included going to the beach, hanging out and eating lots of food. Throw in some shopping and it's been the best.

My new to me favourite place to hang out in Seoul is Garosugil. It means "tree lined street" or something to that effect. It's basically a few streets, lined with trees where you can do some cute shopping and some fancy brunching and coffee/dessert ingesting. This place makes my life on Sundays. There are also interesting things to see. This is a human/blow up doll, vending machine. You put some money into the real person hand and then it gave you something back. I didn't do it. Stranger, danger and all.

I have realized that I spend way too much money on coffee. It's pretty bad, especially for someone who doesn't really like coffee. I like fancy coffee that doesn't taste anything like coffee but when you spend on average 5 bucks per cup it adds up. This was a marshmallow latte that was around 10. I had it with a friend in Jeongja Dong.

This is the friend I had it with. She's back! She was in Canada for far too long and now she and her husband have returned to Korea. In perfect timing for pension weekends away.