Thursday, October 20, 2011

My little man turns ONE

The little man had his milestone 1st birthday last month, and seeing what a blast he had (despite his initial shyness with a crowd of people he didn't know) was worth all the time, energy and occasional bouts of stress that went into the planning.  I'm still waiting for pictures from the big day but I do have one from the dohljabi that never fails to put a smile on my face when I see it:


No pressue buddy...this only determines the course for the rest of your life.


Tuesday, September 20, 2011

1st birthday party inspiration ideas

It's almost little guy's first birthday...I still can't and won't believe he's growing up SO fast.  I remember last year at this time I had just started maternity leave and was pretty bored out of my mind for the first week or so.  In order to take my mind off of feeling swollen and heavy, I perused 1st birthday ideas for fun (did you know I like to plan ahead?).

Korean tradition makes a big deal out of the first birthday (or dohl) as its original intent was to celebrate an infant's survival back in the time of high mortality rates.  Over the years, especially with the rise of the internet and photography blogs, people have been one-upping each other to put together an even bigger, highly styled, more whimsical bash.  I won't even try to keep up given my already crazy life, so I'm trying to keep things simple and easy. 

So for those curious to know what a dohl celebration is like, I thought pictures could explain this better than any words can :)



From uncleowly - an example of a traditional dohl table. 

from kokoliving.com - one that combines tradition with a modern flair.

From terryandesther.blogspot.com - whimiscal princess theme

from kokoliving.com - simple and elegant
 It's been difficult narrowing down the design elements from so many insipirational blogs and photos online, but I think I've put together something simple and fun at the end.  Pictures to follow after this weekend's festivities!


Wednesday, July 27, 2011

It's been a LONG time

...since my last post.  Juggling work, family, baby, friends, and miscellaenous other stuff (like trying to maintain a tiny fragment of a social life), really eats away at the time I planned to allocate to updating this blog.  I can't believe the July's ending soon - summer is halfway over already (and so is 2011!)

One of my biggest challenges in blogging is re-learning how to write in a open and engaging way, especially given that the bulk of any writing in the last several years has been very cut-and-dry stuff like emails and application review comments.  I hope that this blog will help me develop a stronger writing style which infuses more of my own personality within its contents!

Moving onto another topic, I've belatedly started planning A's first birthday party (called the dohl), which is a pretty significant event in korean culture.  I like to call it "my second wedding," as it entails just as much planning and stress (many moms say even more).  With the event less than 2 months away and nothing really done, I've got a ton of stuff to do.  More details on dohl planning in future posts!