Category: Shopping

0901 Frame Shop

3/7/2010

If you need something frame, 0901 frame shop is the place to go!

They do (get this) custom made frames for 'cheap, cheap'! (Go figure.) We have had SO many things framed here it is kind of ridiculous. If you take in one or two things they normally have a 1-3 day turn around. One time I took in 8 pieces and got them back in 2 days. 0901 ROCKS! Here are a couple of samples of things we had framed: (sorry for the bad pictures, I left them wrapped for moving purposes.)

To get there by subway, got to Samgakji subway stop, go out exit 2 & 0901 will be about 5 stores down on your left.

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Custom Made Just For You!

3/7/2010

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In case you haven't noticed, you can have any and everything custom made here in Korea. I wish I had found Ms. Han earlier, who knows what all I would have had custom made...underwear? How fun would that be?! ;-)

Ms. Han will come to your house; bring all her own stuff, sewing machines, thread, elastic and more. All you need to provide is enough room for her to work, the dining room table worked well, an iron and ironing board, pay her 90,000 won, feed her lunch (she really likes soft tacos and Tostido chips) and she will sew all day for you! She works from 9-5.

Ms. Han gave me permission to give out her information. If you would like to hire her, you can contact her on her cell phone (in Korea the call it a 'hand phone') at 017-282-7249. She has post privileges so you will just need to sign her in at gate 17. She told me to tell you if you hire her from this 'ad' to tell her you saw her on the computer! She will get a kick out of that!

Ms. Han worked from me from 9AM to 8:30PM. (Yes, I paid for overtime.) I had her make scrubs for my niece. She made 9 pieces total ~ seven tops and 2 pants. My niece is going to be the best dressed X-ray tech in the states!

Ms. Han told me to tell you she can make anything as long as she has a picture of it.

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Fabric Market...The Reason I Went

3/4/2010

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Since I drug you all over the fabric market with me last week, it is time for you to see what I was doing...(I won't mention any names, but one of my faithful readers already guessed what I was doing.) Before I get started here are subway directions to the fabric market: Take line 1 or 5 to Dongdaemun take exit #9. The market will be be the large building slightly ahead of you to the left.

I was having curtains made for our new house in Texas. Before you ask, no we do not already have a house. I just guessed. I had the drapes made extra long & extra wide. If they are too long I will just tack them up.

On my first trip I found the lady I was going to have make all my curtains. I don't really know her name, but here is the sign to her shop. She is in the basement. She speaks a little English, I speak a little Korean, but what really worked well for us was Konglish. If you can speak Konglish, you are golden. I designed most of the drapes I had made. She drew designs, I nodded yes or no. She did everything perfectly - just the way I wanted, and they were SO INEXPENSIVE!!

I love these drapes, casual ~ perfect for the dining room and office. And for a mere 65,000 won per panel! I know - get out of town!

And check it out...they are lined and everything! (The color above is the true color of them.)

Boy 1 just wanted BROWN. He wants everything in his room brown. Brown, brown, brown. The plain brown curtains are for his room, the red are for the master bedroom. Lined - I can't remember exactly but I know they were no more than 30,000 won per panel.

OH, and check out the curtain rods!!! Only 12,000 won per rod!

The sweet young face in the photo is the lady that made all my curtains. The curtain she is showing off is for Girl's room. Girl was very specific in what she wanted. Blue as the main color with pink and green. Girl's curtains are a sheer with blue fabric behind it. I learn on my many trips to the fabric market that sheers are EXPENSIVE, so I am not going to tell you how much I spent on these or Hubby might have a heart attack and frankly I like having him around.

The little boys would be happy with nothing on their windows, so I picked their curtains...I love these. Their room is a nautical theme so I bought thick white rope for tie backs.

The favorite curtains I had made are for the living room. Aren't they fantastic?! I also had pillows made for the couch I don't have yet. Don't worry, I have something in mind.

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Fabric Market in Dongdaemun!

2/26/2010

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I've been spending a lot of time at the fabric market lately, and I mean A LOT of time! I have probably gone to the fabric market at least 12 times in the past 2 months, and I still have one more trip to go. What am I doing you ask? Well, I will tell you but before I do you have to understand a few things about the fabric market..... This place is HUGE it is 6 floors high including the basement and is 3 buildings wide. I admit shopping in Korea is overwhelming, but the fabric market takes it to a new level of OVERWHELMING, and this is especially true if you don't have one ounce of sewing talent in you. The fabric market is EASY to get lost in, it is a lot like the streets of Seoul, there are little alleys all over the market...I see something shiny and I take off through another alley, before I know it I forget about leaving a trail of bread crumbs and am off in the land of thread not knowing where to go next....

I take a few more turns and I find zippers of every size & color! Not that I would ever know how to put a zipper in, it is just nice to know they are there in case I ever need one. I see more sparkles and take off in a new direction.....

HOLY COW...I'm in the land of buttons!!

Another turn takes me to more fabric than I have ever seen in my lifetime.

By this time my head is spinning, the next turn I make takes me to tassel, piping & curtain rod alley!

Not knowing what to do next, I see and elevator and hop on board, only to find this sweet young lady asking me which floor I want to go to...Goodness, I have no idea, just pick one!

I land on the top floor, floor 5 and think to myself, is this a transporting elevator? Because when we landed I no longer found fabric, buttons, zippers, thread, yarn or tassels. I am now finding myself in what appears to be a large costume jewelry shop. If you are into making jewelry, this is your lucky floor. I've never see so many things to make jewelry in my life! I don't even know what you call half of this stuff!

If you are not into making your own jewelry, no worries, they will make it for you....

The jewelry floor wasn't really what I was looking for, so I headed back down and this time I took the stairs.....next floor ( I have no idea where I am at this point) LACE!

and more fabric!!
Check out the delivery delivery man....

I've had enough...it is time to go home, only to find we have been blocked in....

But no worries, when someone blocks you in here in Korea they always leave a phone number in the window for you to call them, or in this case, they just left the keys in the car so the attendants could move it.

I know, I know, you still have no idea why I went to the fabric market, at this point I couldn't remember either.....

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Happy Valentine's Day!

2/14/2010

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Happy Valentine's day to the love of my life! Wow - this was our 18th Valentine's together, can you believe that? Thanks for a great evening!

We only have 1 month left here in Seoul, so we are trying to make the most of it. Saturday night we went to the Millennium Hilton Hotel for a fantastic dinner with some wonderful people! We ate at Cilantro where we had the dinner buffet. If you have not experienced the Millennium Hilton in Seoul, it is worth it! The atmosphere was perfect for groups of friends or families, the service was fantastic (by Korea standards) and the food was delicious! We had Alaskan king crab, with the shells already cut for easy eating, tuna, halibut and salmon sashimi, prime rib, beef kalbi, duck mouse in a puff pastry, beef tartare and so much more! I even found a new wine I love thanks to Eric & Lisa!

After dinner we headed to Myeong-Dong to see the show Nanta!

I've been wanting Hubby to see Nanta for over a year now (I saw it with Boy 1 last year), but I just never got around to taking Hubby, that is until it hit me that we are REALLY moving and SOON! Nanta is great fun; the setting is in a kitchen where four chefs are preparing food for a wedding. While preparing food, they use anything they can find to make music! From knives to pots and pans to trash cans and each other! It is slap stick comedy at its best! If you live here I would highly recommend you go see it! It is great for people of all ages!

After the show T and I really wanted to shop, but we had the guys with us. Here is a little preview of Myeong-Dong (Molly, you are going to LOVE Myeong-Dong!)

hair stuff & jewels!!

I really wanted a wig!

I couldn't resist!

We ended the night at JJ Mahoney's in the Seoul Grand Hyatt. JJ Mahoney's is a great place to listen to live music. The band that is playing there now is FANTASTIC! Here is a link to their FB page. They will be playing at JJ Mahoney's through 10 April, 2010 ~ go see them, however if you are going to drink, be prepared to spend a bundle!! We bought the first round of drinks ~ 4 drinks, 77,000 won!! Holy crap!

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Dapsimni Antique Market

2/1/2010

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The Dapsimni Antique Market, also know as the Janganpyung Art Arcade is a great place to find all kinds of Korean treasures! Most items here are antiques, but there are a couple of places that sell replicas. To get there by subway take line 5 to Dapsimni Subway stop and go out exit 2. There are 3 buildings and they are numbered 2, 5 & 6.

This area of Seoul is not as well known to foreigners as other parts of Seoul, so there aren't as many English speakers in this area. Hubby and I have visited this area together twice and both times we were hungry and decided to stop in for a bite to eat. We stopped at a place that looked like a 'galbi' restaurant, but to our surprise they did not have galbi, so we just ordered what some other guest were eating....this is what we got....

That doesn't look too bad right? Well, take a closer look....

Yes, that is a little baby octopus. I was just thankful it wasn't alive. And this is how you eat something like this….

Here are a few of the side dishes. Hubby loves the egg dish; I have to admit it has grown on me.

All in all this meal wasn't that bad. I'm not sure I would have been able to say that if I had just moved here, but after almost 2 years of living in Korea, I will eat *most* anything they put in front of me! Hubby and I ate almost every bite even though it was VERY SPICY!!

After eating Hubby and I spent a few hours at the antique market, we didn't end up buying any antiques, but we did buy this really cool bar - it folds out and opens up & holds a ton of booze & a few glasses.

We also bought this Chinese Apothecary cabinet. Both of these items are actually the same color, the lighting just makes them look different.

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New Year's Day

1/30/2010

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This year Hubby and I were super excited to go to the fish market on New Year's Day for fresh shucked oysters! I wish this could be a yearly tradition, but I'm not sure that is possible since we will be living in CENTRAL TEXAS next New Year's Day.

About 200 fresh shucked oysters, and when I say fresh shucked, that is what I mean. The little old lady is shucking as you are buying. We bought all of these for 30,000 won (just under 30 USD).

While we were there I grabbed this luscious piece of tuna.

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Girl's Shopping Day!

11/19/2009

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So Hubby and I were in Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas for a week, our schedule was school from 8-5, drive to Kansas City, eat & shop. I didn't realize what serious shopping withdrawal I have gone through since living in Korea. Don't get me wrong, there is great shopping in Korea, but I've missed popping into Ann Taylor, Gap, Tommy, Marshall’s, Ross, Victoria's, and many more. The thing I have missed the most is SHOE shopping! Again, don't get me wrong, there are more shoes in Korea than I have ever seen in life, Korean women LOVE shoes. The only problem is my foot is BIG to Korean standards (8.5 just in case you are feeling sorry for me & want to send shoes) and if I want shoes I need to have them custom made. So, back to my story, poor hubby had to go to school all day, then go shopping with me most nights. He didn't really see to mind too much. One night our friends the Z's saved him and invited us over for dinner. It was great catching up with our old friends and neighbors! (Can you believe I didn't take a picture of them?)

On Friday night, after school let out, we drove to Kansas City to pick up my MIL (Mother-in-law) & SIL (sister-in-law) from the airport. They flew in for a day of shopping with their favorite in-law. (I just dubbed myself that thank you.) On Saturday morning we woke up and headed out to my favorite Kansas store in a little town call Atchison. For those of you that know the area, that's right we went to Nell Hill's! (Hubby stayed in the hotel to sleep, he was done with shopping and jetlag had finally caught up with him.)

Our trip did not start off quite like one would expect. We had a nice drive to Atchison, but when we parked the car and I jumped out with excitement, I felt something funny under my foot. I looked down,
screamed and jumped back in the car. This is what I stepped on:

After taking a moment back inside the car to recover, I got out of the car again, cringed, walked over the dead mouse, and then forgot about him for a while.

Here we are just before going into Nell Hill's:

If you have never been to this little store in this little town and you live close enough, you REALLY need ot go! It is so fun, and it stocked full or goodies for your house. You can get anything from candles to furniture!

Not even a foot inside the door and MIL already found her first purchase!

I would love to have this wall unit in my house.

And SIL would like to have this one.

And another piece of furniture I would like to have!

After spending a couple of hours at Nell Hill's we popped over to the little cafe next door, I call it the 'pie place'. I think the real name *might* be Jerry's. Anyway, we had lunch there, which is not anything to write home about. I forgot you should just skip lunch when you go to this little cafe and just go straight for the pie. We had a sampling of pies and they were all amazing! Pumpkin, coconut and chocolate - the chocolate and coconut remind me of the pies my mom used to always make at Thanksgiving. OH BABY!

There was more shopping to be done this day, but I will stop here. Atchison is a great little town, visit if you can! (No, I'm not getting kick-backs.)

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Furniture Shopping

10/1/2009

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Hubby and I are toying with the idea of buying furniture here instead of waiting till we get back to the states to purchase it. If you live here and you would like to go look at furniture (not in a mall), take the blue line, line 4 to Chongshin University, go out subway exit #1 and walk straight, there are tons of furniture stores on the right. Here are a few of the couches we are considering buying.....