It’s Monday morning and I hold in my inbox quite possibly the best and most serene Dailies ever. So— I’m cutting to the chase. You can thank me later.
For those of you who are unfamiliar, you can find a fun little archive of Dailies right here, where we virtually follow our favorite artists/designers/bloggers throughout the day— we’re almost up to 50 at this point and hope to bring you a lot more stalking inspiration for the year of 09!
Up for today is dear Sally Shim, owner of one of my favorite e-shoppes, Shim + Sons. Currently on hiatus until March, her shoppe is empty, but no worries— she has plenty of visual treats on her online journal right here.
I’m so excited to have the sweet Sally grace our site, so I’ll let her take it away. Thank you, dear Sally!
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5:54 am :: I wake up and turn off the alarm so it doesn’t wake up my husband. I’m a morning person and usually the first one up in our family. I look outside our bedroom window and see the twinkling lights on the Gwangan Bridge. We sleep with the curtains open since we love the view of the East Sea from our apartment.
5:58 am :: I go into the bathroom to take a shower and the water is not working. I check the kitchen and same thing, no running water. I’m wondering if the water will be turned on soon. I make myself a bowl of plain yogurt and homemade granola. I sit down in front of the computer and check my three email accounts—business + personal + junk. I respond to a few emails and make a note of the emails that require a timely response. I review my “to do” list for the day, which I write every evening before I go to bed. I post an entry on my online journal and upload a few photographs on to Flickr.
6:32 am :: I’m in the mood for a hearty breakfast. I whip up some homemade waffle batter and start boiling a small pot of eggs.
6:55 am :: My youngest son wakes up and five minutes later my oldest son is awake. The boys share a room now so the first one up will often wake up the other sleeping brother. They go into their playroom and fiddle around with some legos while I finish up breakfast.
7:10 am :: The boys eat their breakfast while I go into their room and make their beds and lay out their clothes. I go back into the kitchen and eat a few waffles and bacon strips with the boys. I pack Big J’s snack for school—yogurt, strawberries and rice cakes.
7:34 am :: I check the water again. Yay, it is working! I hop into the shower. We have no curtains in our bathroom, but we’re high enough that no one can see us in there [at least I hope]. I can see several octopus boats in the distance. My husband gets up and takes a shower while I get dressed. The boys have finished eating so I ask them to clear the table. They go back into the playroom to resume their lego building.
7:55 am :: I tell my boys to put on their jackets, hats and shoes. I do the same.
8:05 am :: We head downstairs to wait for the bus. It is a little chilly outside but thankfully we are the first stop so our bus driver is always on time.
8:10 am :: The boys are buckled into their seats and we’re off to pick up the five other children who ride our bus. We drive down the main street in Haeundae, past the aquarium.
8:32 am :: We’re technically late for school, but the children are still in the play yard waiting to line up. The head teacher rings her hand bell which signals the children to line up by class. I wave goodbye to Big J and tell him to have a good day. I chat with a few mothers and arrange for Big J to have a play date with one of his classmates after school. I go upstairs to Big J’s classroom to tell him and his teacher about the play date since this means I won’t be picking him up after school.
8:45 am :: Baby J and I get back on the bus. I chat with one of the other mothers on the ride home.
8:55 am :: We are back home. I open up all the windows in the living room. We normally enjoy clear blue skies here in Busan, but today is a bit overcast. I clean up the breakfast dishes while Baby J goes into the playroom to read some books.
10:02 am :: I need to pick up some art supplies for the boys. We head to Kyobo bookstore in Seomyeon. We hit a little bit of traffic.
10:30 am :: At Kyobo I find some supplies for the boys’ craft toolboxes. My husband and I are leaving for Tokyo [sans boys] in a few days and I want to make sure they have some new goodies at their disposal.
11:02 am :: We leave the bookstore and go down the street. Baby J spots a phone booth and is fascinated that you can talk to someone on this “telephone machine” [apparently the boy has never seen a non-cordless telephone in his entire life]. We stop by Uniqlo. This is one of the stores I wanted to visit in Tokyo, but recently discovered there is a store in Busan. I am disappointed they don’t carry the children’s line in this particular store, but I find several things to try on. Baby J entertains himself by playing a counting game on my iPod and munching on some sliced apples. I settle on two cotton dress/tunics, a turtleneck and an umbrella.
11:55 am :: I was planning to eat lunch at home but Baby J is really hungry. There is a Japanese restaurant located next door to Uniqlo so we end up eating tonkatsu and udon.
12:30 pm :: Our bellies are full and it is time to head home. We see these crazy big balloons floating in the sky. Baby J thinks there is a big party going on across town.
12:52 pm :: When we arrive home I unpack the bags while Baby J goes into the playroom to pick out some puzzles. We sit in the living room and work on some word puzzles together. Actually I sit while he puts the puzzles together since he doesn’t want my help. We talk about the sound each letter makes and Baby J starts coming up with words that rhyme with each puzzle word. He has a hard time coming up with words that rhyme with zebra. So do I.
1:39 pm :: We move on to a dinosaur world map puzzle. Baby J needs me to help him a bit. We talk about the different dinosaurs and the countries where they were discovered. It is amazing how much Baby J knows about dinosaurs. He has absorbed so much information from his future paleontologist brother.
2:07 pm :: Baby J wants to draw in my studio. He loves to draw and will go through a big stack of paper if left alone for an extended period of time. He sits down at my worktable and begins drawing with his favorite black Sharpie. He goes into the playroom to find a lego man. He wants to draw a picture of him. I sit down at the computer to respond to some work-related emails and read a few blogs. I check my watch and remember that Big J has a play date after school so I don’t need to pick him up.
2:32 pm :: I start printing a few 2009 calendars I designed earlier in the week. I print one for my studio and a “year of the ox” calendar for the boys. I jot down a few notes in my sketchbook regarding making Chinese zodiac prints and stationery—year of the ox, year of the rabbit, etc.—for gifts and possibly for my online shoppe.
2:43 pm :: I write in the last stack of new year cards. I’m finished! I work on a few more stationery designs that have been floating around in my head since last week. I start thinking about the balloons I saw on the way home today. I decide to frame the calendar for the boys since I have an extra white Ikea frame in my closet. I also find a spot in the boys’ room for Baby J’s painting.
3:08 pm :: I fix a snack. Baby J eats waffles + fruit [his choice] and I munch on apples + peanut butter. My husband is home early today [he’s a bit under the weather] so he sits down with Baby J to watch a movie together. This means I have some extra free time. Hooray!
3:18 pm :: I’ve been putting together little gifts for the boys while my husband and I are in Tokyo. This is our first trip without them and I want to make sure they have a good time with their grandmother and great aunt. I decide to make them shark appliqué shirts for one of their gifts. I print out a shark picture and trace it on to some fusible web. I finish up the shirts and wrap them up in boxes with handmade tags.
4:24 pm :: The sun is shining brightly in to our apartment. I walk over to the window to take in the view. I enjoy living by the water, a nice contrast to the hilly and mountainous landscape back in Portland.
4:28 pm :: I look at some fabric swatches and start sketching out a few quilt designs. I’m determined to make quilts for the boys this year.
5:05 pm :: It is starting to get dark outside. I leave to pick up Big J from his play date. When I arrive at his friend’s house all the boys look run down and ragged. We stop by the grocery store on the way home. [Grocery shopping in Korea is an experience. There are always people handing out samples and shouting to you about this and that product at this and that price. For someone who likes to shop in relative silence, this has taken me awhile to get used to.] Big J eats some samples [fried wontons + tofu + black bean noodles] while I quickly grab the food on my list.
6:11 pm :: We fix dinner [Korean barbecued beef + vegetables, soup, rice and kimchi], eat and clean up. Everyone is a bit tired since it is the end of the week and we’ve all taken turns battling a bug the past several days.
7:00 pm :: I clean up the kitchen while my husband gets the boys washed up and ready for bed. The boys pick out a few books and Big J reads two books to us. My husband and I each read a book and then it is lights out.
7:30 pm :: The boys are asleep and I tidy up a bit around the house.
7:58 pm :: I revisit the quilt sketches. I’m a bit torn on what size to make the quilts. Their beds here in Korea are super singles, but Big J has a queen size bed back in to the States. I hem and haw—super single or queen.
8:32 pm :: My husband decides to go to bed early since he still isn’t feeling well. I change into some running pants and my husband’s t-shirt, grab my iPod and head downstairs to the gym. I spend the next 25 minutes on the elliptical. I really want to start working out in the mornings but find it difficult to get myself motivated.
9:02 pm :: I take a quick shower and get ready for bed. I hop onto the computer to do some research for our trip to Tokyo. I read through all the great recommendations for sites + shops left for me on my online journal, jotting down shop names and addresses in my notebook. I write my “to do” list for tomorrow.
10:44 pm :: I yawn. Time for bed. I lay down and read a few pages from my Korean language book. My eyes get really heavy. Lights out. Good night!
