the blog

Life this Week in Los Angeles: August 18-24, 2025

Monday, Aug 18 Slept. Tuesday, Aug 19 I Left the Building! I got up when the alarm went off at 7:30…and headed to the San Ferando Valley for the Suiho En Japanese Garden. It seemed a little “new” to me. A little too pristime. I mean, it was fine. A 6-acre garden
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Life This Week in Los Angeles: Aug 11-17, 2025

Monday, Aug 11 Another almost completely sleepless night. I slept from 2-3:30am…and then again from 7:30-8:30am. I think it’s a combination of not being in my familiar, comfortable place…being in a different place…totally flip-flopped time zone…and I can’t find my allergy pills I take to sleep. Went to the movies with niece,
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The Last Week in South Korea: August 4-10, 2025

Monday, Aug 4 Four Days. Tuesday, Aug 5 I had a plan. A breakfast spot I’ve wanted to go to the whole time I’ve been here. Set the alarm, got up, was getting ready…got an email from supervisor at the remote job “can you do this HUGE LIST asap??” So I decided
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Where Bloggers Live: Surviving Korea’s Heat and Humidity

Welcome to Where Bloggers Live: 2025! Happy New Year! “Where Bloggers Live” started out kind of like HGTV’s “Celebrities at Home,” but…with bloggers! We all like to peek behind the scenes and see inside people’s homes, interests, and lives, so every month this wonderful group of seven bloggers family of amazing women
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Life This Week in South Korea: July 28-August 3, 2025

Monday, July 28 Had an early morning hospital appointment: 7:30am to get bloodwork done, then 9am at the nephrologist. That’s what I thought. But surprise, they also wanted me to pee in the cup. WHY DON’T THEY TELL YOU AHEAD OF TIME THAT THEY’RE GOING TO WANT YOU TO PEE IN THE
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This Week in South Korea: July 21-27, 2025

Monday, July 21 Finally got my butt up out of bed and off the drama-box and did something productive. I packed my medium size suitcase with stuff to take to the PO to pack in a big box and ship to Katie’s by boat. It’ll take 2-3 months to get there, so
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This Week in South Korea: July 14-20, 2025

I’M LEAVING KOREA IN THREE WEEKS. Sorry, just had to say that out loud in the hopes that it would stop it from careening around in my head. Monday, July 14 Well, today was par for my course. Since even before I came to Korea, I’ve been hearing about and wanting to
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Life This Week in South Korea: July 7-13, 2025

Monday, July 7 Big News! I left the building! Ha ha. I walked with friend K to the kebab place in the alleyway behind our building to get dinner. Not far, but far enough, as it is HOT. Started my clean-out. Went through like 15 spiral notebooks and had to tear all
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This Week in South Korea: June 30-July 6, 2025

Monday, June 30 A quiet day. Read, did remote work, napped. The usual. The weather report keeps calling for rain every day, so I don’t make any plans to go do anything…and then it doesn’t rain. Annoying. Tuesday, July 1 Ooh. Today I paid my last full month’s rent here. I’ll only
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Looking back: July 2012 | i blog every day

This is from July 2012. I was still living in Brooklyn. These pictures are from my stoop area. The blog was titled “i blog every day.” Interesting how much 2012 sounds like 2025. I blog every day. …in my mind. all through my day i have moments and I think “ooh, this
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This Week in South Korea: June 23-29, 2025

Monday, June 23 – Friday, June 27 It was just a rainy week of computer piddling and productivity, remote work, napping, reading, writing, sorting out insurances for the future, and reading news about the war that wasn’t, then was, then wasn’t. I didn’t even pretend that I was going to leave the
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The Coffee Shop I Never Went Into: A Story of Regret

When I thought about coming to Korea, I had this picture in my mind of becoming a “regular” at a local coffee shop. A place I’d stop in a couple times a week, to either sit and chat a bit with the barista, or take a cup to go…a place where I
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Looking Back: June 2009 | a change of plans

This post was originally published in June 2009 on my former former blog, “I Think I Saw a Dragonfly.” I’m resharing it here as part of an archive series called Looking Back. I realized I still had posts from the blog I did even BEFORE my last blog, Bettye Rainwater Photography. That
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Life This Week in South Korea: June 16-22, 2025

Monday, June 16 Today was a not much of anything day. Shocker. BUT I did get through my entire To Do list, AND had a long nap, so…there’s that. The rainy season has come early to Seoul. Which fits perfectly with my “I don’t want to leave the house/depression” era, but not
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Looking Back: June 2012 | Winding Down

This post was originally published in June 2012 on my former blog, “Bettye Rainwater Photography.” I’m resharing it here as part of an archive series called Looking Back. vacation started today. at 4:01. pm. not a minute too soon. i have ten days to do anything. to do everything. but tonight –
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Life This Week in South Korea: June 9-15, 2025

Monday, June 9 After a morning ticking boxes off my To Do list (which is like sweeping against the tide), I had a stupid dr’s appointment in the stupid afternoon. Usually I’m able to schedule for first thing in the morning, but Ms Doc is going on vacation and only had this
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Where Bloggers Live: My Five Favorite Things About Summer

Welcome to Where Bloggers Live: 2025! Happy New Year! “Where Bloggers Live” started out kind of like HGTV’s “Celebrities at Home,” but…with bloggers! We all like to peek behind the scenes and see inside people’s homes, interests, and lives, so every month this wonderful  group of seven bloggers family of amazing women
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Life This Week in South Korea: June 2-8, 2025

Monday, June 2 I don’t know. I like you guys. I kinda feel like I should protect you from MY WRATH at this RIDICULOUS DAY. I think I need to calm down so you don’t have to read 27 paragraphs of &*%^#%#!!!! Long story short (actual long story here complete with 27
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