5 Foods I Can’t Wait to Eat in Texas

Posted on November 15, 2014 by Meagan & Dave | HappilyEverExpat.com

Tomorrow I’m making the long journey home to Texas for a two month long visit. I am so incredibly excited to see my friends and family. I am very lucky in that I get to travel home pretty frequently compared to most (about every 8-9 months), but it’s still hard to be away from “home” and the people I love for such long periods of time. Living abroad definitely takes its toll on a person.

This year I get to spend Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years with my family, spend a long weekend in NYC with my best friend, see Justin Timberlake in concert and celebrate my Dad’s 60th birthday with him. Pretty amazing, right?

As well as missing people (who are definitely my top priority), I also miss other comforts of home… FOOD! Korean food is excellent and I have been making sure to fill up on it before my long trip home, but the food in Texas is hard to beat. Here are the top 5 things I’m looking forward to eating when I’m home.

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Playground Photo Shoot

Posted on July 18, 2013 by Meagan & Dave | HappilyEverExpat.com

I spent all day Wednesday with my best friend, Ashleigh, and her two gorgeous little girls. I try to spend as much time with them as I can when I’m home because they are all amazing and I love them so much.

We had a great lunch with lots of hilarious conversation then made our way to Eureka Park in Denton, Texas for a photo shoot.

Ashleigh

If you thought Ashleigh was beautiful, her two little girls will melt your heart! Continue reading →

New York & Florida

Posted on July 7, 2013 by Meagan & Dave | HappilyEverExpat.com

Hey, everyone!

If you’ve been wondering why it’s been so quiet on my blog lately, that’s because I’ve been traveling. My mom and I have been spent the last few days enjoying New York City and we’re currently in New Jersey visiting family friends.

We will be heading back to Texas tomorrow and then I’m going to West Palm Beach, Florida on Monday to visit my amazing friend, Joni.

I’ll post again when I can. I hope you are having a great weekend!

Eternal Love

Posted on July 3, 2013 by Meagan & Dave | HappilyEverExpat.com

Here’s a love lock found in Denton, Texas.“If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you.” A. A. Milne

Action Photography: Soccer

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Meagan & Dave | HappilyEverExpat.com

With less than a week until I leave, I’ve been thinking a lot about my upcoming trip back to Texas. One of the best parts about visiting home is getting precious time with family. Unfortunately, my niece will be in Florida this summer so I won’t get to see her. She just turned 10 and it’s amazing how much she’s been changing while I’m away.

Each visit home flies by because I spend most of my time catching up with loved ones, running errands and trying to get things in order to leave again. When I was back in Texas in March, I tried to tone things down a bit. I stopped making plans with people and let them make plans with me and it worked out well. This opened up a lot more free time for me and I was able to relax a little more.

I was really lucky with my timing because I was able to be back during soccer season. It was my my niece’s first season to play. She is a great little player and it was so enjoyable to watch her.

Like any proud aunt, I took my camera to the games. I took these photos before I had my photography class so I was just playing around, but I think they turned out pretty well considering I basically knew nothing about photography at the time. And it’s nice to have the photos because I really miss her a lot.

Family Photos

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Meagan & Dave | HappilyEverExpat.com

When I was back in Dallas I found a Groupon for a 4 hour photography class by Beaux Arts Photography for only $50. I decided to give it a try.

The class was broken up into 4- 1 hour segments.

The Art of Photography – covered basics of photography as an art form and photo composition
Camera & Lighting Essentials – Aperture/Shutter Speed/ISO, JPG vs. RAW
Practice – We were given assignments and were sent out to take photos
Adobe Lightroom 101 – How to backup, store, organize and edit your photos

The class is designed for true beginners. The instructor, Sam, explaned things in very simple ways and made things that are a bit complex a lot easier to understand. He was very patient and was willing to answer every question. I thought he was a great teacher.

The most valuable part of the class, for me, was the last hour on Lightroom 4. This is a program that I was already using, but not well. Sam taught me several new tricks that I wasn’t aware of that have really improved my photo editing skills.

I decided to take what I learned and put it into practice by taking some family photos for my brother and his family. This was my very first portrait photo shoot and I am really happy with the results!

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Random Acts of Kindness

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Meagan & Dave | HappilyEverExpat.com

When I visited home in February, I was so happy to get back and see all of my friends and family that I miss so much while I am living in Korea. I was thrilled when I realized that I would be home for Melissa’s birthday. Melissa is one of my very dear friends. We went to high school together, but we didn’t actually become friends until we bumped into each other at our university one day during our freshman year.

This year, most of my friends are turning 29 and I wanted Melissa to have a memorable beginning to the last year of her 20’s. I wanted us to spend the day performing Random Acts of Kindness (RAOK). My sister-in-law, Mendi, and I planned out a big adventure for the three of us. We only told Melissa to meet us at Mendi’s house so she had no idea what what we were doing.

When Melissa got to the house, she received a warm welcome!

Then we explained what the day had in store. It was a lot to take in, but she was excited!

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From the mouth of a 6 year old…

Posted on March 14, 2013 by Meagan & Dave | HappilyEverExpat.com

As my nephew was watching TV, he lifted his head, looked at me and asked me this question…

Parker: When are you going to leave?
Me: Back to Korea?
Parker: [Nods head]
Me: On Tuesday. Why?
Parker: Because I don’t want you to go.

Awww

Road Trip!

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Meagan & Dave | HappilyEverExpat.com

Finally made it to Houston to see Dave!

Life in Texas

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Meagan & Dave | HappilyEverExpat.com

I love my family! It’s so good to be back for a visit. I miss them a lot when I’m away. I’m staying with my brother and sister-in-law while I’m here. My nephew has been kind enough to turn his room into my hotel room.

I got a text from Mendi (SIL) before I got on the plane yesterday saying she was cleaning my room. I told her to be sure to leave a room service menu. To my surprise, she did. When I opened it up, it was blank. Hahaha

I’ll be in Texas until mid-March, then it’s back to Korea with my love.