general FAQs
I like your outfit, where did you get it?
Lets be honest. Nobody is asking (or will ever ask) me this.
You sure do take a lot of photos!
Tell me about it. What can I say, I (usually) like taking photos.
What's with the stupid name?
I've kept a written journal since I was about 8 yrs old -- it has always been a way to organize my scattered thoughts. My favorite journal/notebook for writing/sketching these days are the green field books originally issued by the Federal Supply Service. They can be purchased through Amazon or Manco Inc.
Why did you start this blog?
I first started blogging "seriously" when I moved to SF over 10 yrs ago and thought it would be a good/fun way to document my dating life, SF life in general, and keep in touch with friends. (Those posts can be found stashed in the blog archives on this blog.) Now I blog because my memory really sucks and it's kind of nice to look back on a small moment I would have otherwise forgotten.
What is your background?
Architecture school drop out turned Art + Design double major. My parents were really happy about that one.
Is this a food blog?
I only post recipes when they relate to a memory or it's actually something I somewhat came up with on my own. Otherwise there are better recipes by more knowledgeable people to be found elsewhere on the internet.
Is this a travel blog?
A lot of posts are travel-related because take the most photos, typically using a 'real camera,' when we travel and then, since I'm often too lazy to print them, they end up here to serve as my travel diary. Now that we live in Korea, it probably seems like all my blog posts about travel. I guess a lot are. I don't think of myself as a travel writer or travel photographer -- just another person in the blogosphere that likes to blog about boring details of life for the sake of personal memory.
I tend to find the best travel info via stumbling across other people's blogs so I try my *best* to make my posts as informative as I can in case anyone accidentally finds this blog via Google.
Do you make money off your blog?
No. I blog for myself because a) I think only five people read this blog (parents included) and b) because I enjoy it. None of my posts are sponsored and I have no affiliations with anyone. But would I accept a free, year long, paid for/sponsored trip for me and Sly around the world? Probably.
You seem to travel a lot -- doesn't this get expensive?
We save up to take one BIG(GER) trip a year and then pepper the rest of our weekends with local excursions, weekend getaways, and lots of camping trips. Wherever we live, we do our best to take advantage of seeing and doing everything we possibly can. Obviously we can't always afford to stay in luxury accommodations all the time so we often prefer to cook our own meals and stay in cabins, go camping, or find unique/cheaper lodging options. Airbnb + Priceline.com are great resources for the latter. An extremely detailed and exhausting description of our travel style can be found here.
What's with all the weird food?
We will try pretty much anything (probably not dog or cat though) and both were raised by immigrant parent(s). What is "weird" to most people is not really weird to us. In our daily lives we try to eat healthy hippie fare -- a by-product of growing up and living in hippie towns for the majority of my life.
Are you vegan/vegetarian?
I don't think I portray myself to be either, but we do eat a lot of veggies I guess. Maybe we are closest to "weekday vegetarians?" If someone makes us a meal or we go out to eat with friends we'll eat everything put in front of us but for our daily diets we try to eat more organic vegetables (we subscribe to a local CSA delivery service here in Korea and plan our meals around our weekly box) , less meat, and very little sugar, processed foods, pork products (a personal aversion of mine -- I find pork delicious, I just really like pigs) and gluten. When we do eat these things we try to eat the best quality/local/organic/etc we can find. We like to approach sweets or more decadent foods as a "special" treat -- something usually saved for weekends or special occasions. Everyone is different, but this is what works for us.
Isn't eating that way expensive?
I'm sure you've seen graphics like this, or this, (and many many more...) Organic produce is actually less expensive than most grocery store proteins. It's even cheaper if you subscribe to a local CSA / farm share or even cheaper, grow your own food which is one of the easiest things in the world to do. Ultimately (and because we are hippies) we believe that diet is the best form of prevention/medicine, so in the long run we feel that the better we eat now, the less we'll have to pay for prescription drugs and medical-related expenses later. In that regard, we believe eating this way is actually cheaper.
Do you do anything else besides eat?
Contrary to what's written above it would seem that all we do is eat hamburgers and ice cream. Keep in mind you're only seeing a select snapshots from a week or month or from a trip (where calories don't count). There's no way we could eat like that all the time and still fit into our clothes. Most of the time we *try* to eat healthy, but I rarely photograph/post those meals.
Why do you have a Home + Garden Section when you barely have anything in that section?
When we first bought our home I envisioned ourselves doing all kinds of pinterest-worthy DIY projects. Two years later and we finally decided on a color for our walls. Guess what? That color is white. Someday...
Do you realize that you are a crazy cat lady?
Cats are awesome.
What is the best campground in Acadia National Park?
Believe it or not, people ask me this question more than any other question! (The second most asked question is, "What lens do you use?") I don't know what I did to become an authority on the matter but my take on the camping in Acadia can be found here. You may want to familiarize yourself with our travel style though before trusting anything I have to say -- it may or may not suit your style of travel/camping.
Lets be honest. Nobody is asking (or will ever ask) me this.
You sure do take a lot of photos!
Tell me about it. What can I say, I (usually) like taking photos.
What's with the stupid name?
I've kept a written journal since I was about 8 yrs old -- it has always been a way to organize my scattered thoughts. My favorite journal/notebook for writing/sketching these days are the green field books originally issued by the Federal Supply Service. They can be purchased through Amazon or Manco Inc.
Why did you start this blog?
I first started blogging "seriously" when I moved to SF over 10 yrs ago and thought it would be a good/fun way to document my dating life, SF life in general, and keep in touch with friends. (Those posts can be found stashed in the blog archives on this blog.) Now I blog because my memory really sucks and it's kind of nice to look back on a small moment I would have otherwise forgotten.
What is your background?
Architecture school drop out turned Art + Design double major. My parents were really happy about that one.
Is this a food blog?
I only post recipes when they relate to a memory or it's actually something I somewhat came up with on my own. Otherwise there are better recipes by more knowledgeable people to be found elsewhere on the internet.
Is this a travel blog?
A lot of posts are travel-related because take the most photos, typically using a 'real camera,' when we travel and then, since I'm often too lazy to print them, they end up here to serve as my travel diary. Now that we live in Korea, it probably seems like all my blog posts about travel. I guess a lot are. I don't think of myself as a travel writer or travel photographer -- just another person in the blogosphere that likes to blog about boring details of life for the sake of personal memory.
I tend to find the best travel info via stumbling across other people's blogs so I try my *best* to make my posts as informative as I can in case anyone accidentally finds this blog via Google.
Do you make money off your blog?
No. I blog for myself because a) I think only five people read this blog (parents included) and b) because I enjoy it. None of my posts are sponsored and I have no affiliations with anyone. But would I accept a free, year long, paid for/sponsored trip for me and Sly around the world? Probably.
You seem to travel a lot -- doesn't this get expensive?
We save up to take one BIG(GER) trip a year and then pepper the rest of our weekends with local excursions, weekend getaways, and lots of camping trips. Wherever we live, we do our best to take advantage of seeing and doing everything we possibly can. Obviously we can't always afford to stay in luxury accommodations all the time so we often prefer to cook our own meals and stay in cabins, go camping, or find unique/cheaper lodging options. Airbnb + Priceline.com are great resources for the latter. An extremely detailed and exhausting description of our travel style can be found here.
What's with all the weird food?
We will try pretty much anything (probably not dog or cat though) and both were raised by immigrant parent(s). What is "weird" to most people is not really weird to us. In our daily lives we try to eat healthy hippie fare -- a by-product of growing up and living in hippie towns for the majority of my life.
Are you vegan/vegetarian?
I don't think I portray myself to be either, but we do eat a lot of veggies I guess. Maybe we are closest to "weekday vegetarians?" If someone makes us a meal or we go out to eat with friends we'll eat everything put in front of us but for our daily diets we try to eat more organic vegetables (we subscribe to a local CSA delivery service here in Korea and plan our meals around our weekly box) , less meat, and very little sugar, processed foods, pork products (a personal aversion of mine -- I find pork delicious, I just really like pigs) and gluten. When we do eat these things we try to eat the best quality/local/organic/etc we can find. We like to approach sweets or more decadent foods as a "special" treat -- something usually saved for weekends or special occasions. Everyone is different, but this is what works for us.
Isn't eating that way expensive?
I'm sure you've seen graphics like this, or this, (and many many more...) Organic produce is actually less expensive than most grocery store proteins. It's even cheaper if you subscribe to a local CSA / farm share or even cheaper, grow your own food which is one of the easiest things in the world to do. Ultimately (and because we are hippies) we believe that diet is the best form of prevention/medicine, so in the long run we feel that the better we eat now, the less we'll have to pay for prescription drugs and medical-related expenses later. In that regard, we believe eating this way is actually cheaper.
Do you do anything else besides eat?
Contrary to what's written above it would seem that all we do is eat hamburgers and ice cream. Keep in mind you're only seeing a select snapshots from a week or month or from a trip (where calories don't count). There's no way we could eat like that all the time and still fit into our clothes. Most of the time we *try* to eat healthy, but I rarely photograph/post those meals.
Why do you have a Home + Garden Section when you barely have anything in that section?
When we first bought our home I envisioned ourselves doing all kinds of pinterest-worthy DIY projects. Two years later and we finally decided on a color for our walls. Guess what? That color is white. Someday...
Do you realize that you are a crazy cat lady?
Cats are awesome.
What is the best campground in Acadia National Park?
Believe it or not, people ask me this question more than any other question! (The second most asked question is, "What lens do you use?") I don't know what I did to become an authority on the matter but my take on the camping in Acadia can be found here. You may want to familiarize yourself with our travel style though before trusting anything I have to say -- it may or may not suit your style of travel/camping.
KOREA FAQS
Why did you move to Korea?
We have both always wanted to live overseas together so when Sly was offered a position in Korea, we thought it would be a great opportunity to explore this part of the world.
What do you do?
I feel like this is a question everyone asks but the answer is always more complicated than can be contained in a few lines. Right now I guess you could say I'm a stay at home kitty mom, or whatever the correct term is these days. I'm still figuring it out since we moved out here.
How long to you plan on living in Korea?
3-5 years
Do you speak Korean?
Not currently, though I have started taking classes and can just barely read Hangul. Sly can speak conversationally.
I want to visit Korea. What is there to do?
Lots! I haven't been here too long to give a super thorough answer, but in general my one tip is to travel outside of Seoul, though Seoul is a pretty cool place to visit.
I want to work/live/teach in Korea, do you have any advice?
Unfortunately I don't, at least not in terms of job searching. There is a really good Korea reddit feed though.
We have both always wanted to live overseas together so when Sly was offered a position in Korea, we thought it would be a great opportunity to explore this part of the world.
What do you do?
I feel like this is a question everyone asks but the answer is always more complicated than can be contained in a few lines. Right now I guess you could say I'm a stay at home kitty mom, or whatever the correct term is these days. I'm still figuring it out since we moved out here.
How long to you plan on living in Korea?
3-5 years
Do you speak Korean?
Not currently, though I have started taking classes and can just barely read Hangul. Sly can speak conversationally.
I want to visit Korea. What is there to do?
Lots! I haven't been here too long to give a super thorough answer, but in general my one tip is to travel outside of Seoul, though Seoul is a pretty cool place to visit.
I want to work/live/teach in Korea, do you have any advice?
Unfortunately I don't, at least not in terms of job searching. There is a really good Korea reddit feed though.
photo FAQs
What kind of camera/lens do you use?
I mostly use a 50mm f1.2 lens on a Canon 5D MKII body. More details can be found on my camera info page.
Do you use any special filters?
On my camera lens, no -- nothing beyond a basic UV filter (or sometimes a polarizing filter). I edit most photos in Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop using various presets and actions that I have created on my own. VSCO and Totally Rad make some great presets and actions available for purchase, but there are so many available for free online. Afterglow actions for Photoshop is available for free download online.
Does the type of camera make a difference?
Shooting in large format is completely different than shooting with a camera phone. Both have their merits. At the end of the day, a good photo is a good photo. I subscribe to the belief that the best camera is the one that you always have with you. Learning photography basics and learning the ins and outs of your camera always makes a difference and will always win out over equipment. The book Understanding Exposure is an invaluable resource no matter what camera you buy.
Should I splurge on a camera body or on a lens?
I'd go for the lens, though I would ask yourself what your intended use of the camera is. Will you notice (or be bothered by) an image isn't tack sharp? Is weight a consideration (fancy lenses = heavy)? What do you plan on taking pictures of and how do you want to use your camera? Do you want this to be a one time purchase or do you see yourself becoming more involved later down the road? I know a lot of people with fancy cameras that a)never use them b)don't know how to use them outside of an automatic setting. On the other hand, for the longest time I used a "nifty fifty" canon prime lens and it took really great photos especially for the price point. I chose this lens because a)it's very inexpensive and allowed me to re-familiarize myself with shooting at a fixed focal length b) it's a very light lens in terms of weight which made it good for traveling and c)it stopped down to f1.8 which allowed me to take photos in low light. It was not the perfect lens but for the price (and weight) it's a great one to have in your kit. After using that lens for several years I finally upgraded to a 50mm f1.2.
What is the best lens to keep on my camera at all times?
I think this is sort of like asking someone what their favorite movie/book/food/song/pair of shoes is. The answer is: it depends. Again I would ask yourself the questions from above to figure out what you like to shoot, how you intend to use your camera, and how much will you notice the differences in lens quality because I'm pretty sure most people (myself included) cannot always tell a difference.. In college I always shot film using a 50mm lens. When I switched to digital I started out with an 18-55mm kit lens. It's a pretty good range to start but I found myself always shooting closer to the 50mm range. When I decided to upgrade I wanted to find a good "all-around" lens. I wavered between 20-70mm and a 50mm. In the end I bought the nifty fifty to play around with and realized that it matched how I liked to see/photograph the world. I also really loved the low light capabilities. But that is my personal preference. I don't like zoom lenses because I personally feel I wouldn't use the lens outside of a 35-50mm range. Again, it comes down to how you plan on using your camera. if I' were shooting a wedding, I'd pick a 20-70mm lens. If I were shooting wildlife, i'd pick a 300mm lens. When I shoot landscapes or architecture, I like using a wide angle lens. I'm not much into macro photography so I don't really have those lenses in my kit, or not really good ones anyway. But everyday? For me its a 50mm prime lens.
What is the best lens for travel photography?
See the above in regards to how you like to use your camera, what you like to photograph, etc. When I take a trip I ask myself what I plan on photographing and how much gear I want to bring. For example:
Traveling light (hiking, backpacking, or feeling lazy)
SLR w/50mm, no battery pack
camera phone.
**Traveling plus (If I know there will be some interesting architecture or opportunity for badass nature shots and we'll be on the move a lot)
SLR w/50mm lens
SLR w/10-22 mm wide angle (usually carried by hubby)
Camera phone
Traveling deluxe (variety of conditions, wildlife is involved, I know we'll be staying mostly in hotels, feeling especially artsy or masochistic, etc)
SLR w/50mm lens + batter pack
SLR w/10-22 mm wide angle (usually carried by hubby)
70-300mm zoom lens (I really only bring/use this lens if wildlife is involved otherwise forget it. When used, it's usually at 300mm. If I ever get super serious about wildlife I might just go for a 300mm prime or 100-400mm, but those lenses are like next level commitment in terms of weight and size so I don't know)
Manual film SLR w/50mm lens (these are actually reasonably compact)
Travel tripod
Camera phone
Underwater point and shoot camera
**Usually this is the setup I bring when traveling because hubs can carry one camera, I can carry another, and there's not a ton of hassle or keeping up with equipment.
I mostly use a 50mm f1.2 lens on a Canon 5D MKII body. More details can be found on my camera info page.
Do you use any special filters?
On my camera lens, no -- nothing beyond a basic UV filter (or sometimes a polarizing filter). I edit most photos in Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop using various presets and actions that I have created on my own. VSCO and Totally Rad make some great presets and actions available for purchase, but there are so many available for free online. Afterglow actions for Photoshop is available for free download online.
Does the type of camera make a difference?
Shooting in large format is completely different than shooting with a camera phone. Both have their merits. At the end of the day, a good photo is a good photo. I subscribe to the belief that the best camera is the one that you always have with you. Learning photography basics and learning the ins and outs of your camera always makes a difference and will always win out over equipment. The book Understanding Exposure is an invaluable resource no matter what camera you buy.
Should I splurge on a camera body or on a lens?
I'd go for the lens, though I would ask yourself what your intended use of the camera is. Will you notice (or be bothered by) an image isn't tack sharp? Is weight a consideration (fancy lenses = heavy)? What do you plan on taking pictures of and how do you want to use your camera? Do you want this to be a one time purchase or do you see yourself becoming more involved later down the road? I know a lot of people with fancy cameras that a)never use them b)don't know how to use them outside of an automatic setting. On the other hand, for the longest time I used a "nifty fifty" canon prime lens and it took really great photos especially for the price point. I chose this lens because a)it's very inexpensive and allowed me to re-familiarize myself with shooting at a fixed focal length b) it's a very light lens in terms of weight which made it good for traveling and c)it stopped down to f1.8 which allowed me to take photos in low light. It was not the perfect lens but for the price (and weight) it's a great one to have in your kit. After using that lens for several years I finally upgraded to a 50mm f1.2.
What is the best lens to keep on my camera at all times?
I think this is sort of like asking someone what their favorite movie/book/food/song/pair of shoes is. The answer is: it depends. Again I would ask yourself the questions from above to figure out what you like to shoot, how you intend to use your camera, and how much will you notice the differences in lens quality because I'm pretty sure most people (myself included) cannot always tell a difference.. In college I always shot film using a 50mm lens. When I switched to digital I started out with an 18-55mm kit lens. It's a pretty good range to start but I found myself always shooting closer to the 50mm range. When I decided to upgrade I wanted to find a good "all-around" lens. I wavered between 20-70mm and a 50mm. In the end I bought the nifty fifty to play around with and realized that it matched how I liked to see/photograph the world. I also really loved the low light capabilities. But that is my personal preference. I don't like zoom lenses because I personally feel I wouldn't use the lens outside of a 35-50mm range. Again, it comes down to how you plan on using your camera. if I' were shooting a wedding, I'd pick a 20-70mm lens. If I were shooting wildlife, i'd pick a 300mm lens. When I shoot landscapes or architecture, I like using a wide angle lens. I'm not much into macro photography so I don't really have those lenses in my kit, or not really good ones anyway. But everyday? For me its a 50mm prime lens.
What is the best lens for travel photography?
See the above in regards to how you like to use your camera, what you like to photograph, etc. When I take a trip I ask myself what I plan on photographing and how much gear I want to bring. For example:
Traveling light (hiking, backpacking, or feeling lazy)
SLR w/50mm, no battery pack
camera phone.
**Traveling plus (If I know there will be some interesting architecture or opportunity for badass nature shots and we'll be on the move a lot)
SLR w/50mm lens
SLR w/10-22 mm wide angle (usually carried by hubby)
Camera phone
Traveling deluxe (variety of conditions, wildlife is involved, I know we'll be staying mostly in hotels, feeling especially artsy or masochistic, etc)
SLR w/50mm lens + batter pack
SLR w/10-22 mm wide angle (usually carried by hubby)
70-300mm zoom lens (I really only bring/use this lens if wildlife is involved otherwise forget it. When used, it's usually at 300mm. If I ever get super serious about wildlife I might just go for a 300mm prime or 100-400mm, but those lenses are like next level commitment in terms of weight and size so I don't know)
Manual film SLR w/50mm lens (these are actually reasonably compact)
Travel tripod
Camera phone
Underwater point and shoot camera
**Usually this is the setup I bring when traveling because hubs can carry one camera, I can carry another, and there's not a ton of hassle or keeping up with equipment.