Travel

Santa Monica

December 05, 2016

It was my cousin's first time in America and I was determined to show her the true taste of L.A.

We started out the day with some In-N-Out burgers (because we all know this is a must) then we masterfully dodged through tourists and tourist harassers at Hollywood Boulevard. TBH, Hollywood Boulevard isn't exactly my cup of tea. Just the stress of having to deal with those people who give you "free things" then demand a tip from you. It's like magic or something! Even before you know it, you have a signed CD in your hand that you never even wanted, and you feel bad not taking the CD with your name on it, feel bad not giving them something in exchange, but feel worst about allowing yourself to give in to this trickster, so you resort to nicely, but firmly saying no and walking away. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? I feel like if you've ever been to Hollywood Boulevard before, you would know exactly what I'm talking about.

 
That's why after Hollywood Boulevard and a drive through Rodeo Drive, I was so happy to finally be back at the Santa Monica beach. I love coming here during the weekend to just relax with friends, and walk on 3rd Street Promenade, enjoying the live music and the creative street performances.
I just love the whole vibe of this place. The sound of the ocean waves, the dogs, the children, and most importantly, seeing people doing what they love and not caring a bit about what other people may think of them. One in particular (I'll share a video on this later), was a man I saw just dancing his soul out to someone playing music. The only way I can describe this man in words was that he was drunk in dance. People were probably thinking he was a crazy man, but I LOVED it! You go man! Dance like a crazy man if you want to!
I just love the sense of freedom when I'm out here, and likewise, I think my cousin was tasting this bit of freedom here in L.A. as well. It was her first time ever in America, and I hope if there is one thing she took away, was this sense of freedom to enjoy life and do what you love to do without worrying about what other people might think of you. I mean after all, this is the land of the free.


Photos of Seojin Yoo @ Santa Monica

9. 22. 2016

x SKH 

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Faith

Creative Love

October 19, 2016

Love isn't stagnant; it doesn't stop where it first began. 
Love is ever moving and ever growing. 
Love is creative. 


This past Sunday service at Hillsong LA was a special service in which we launched Hillsong's new album, "Let There Be Light." Although I'm not a big fan of having to wait in a long line that snakes around the corner of the street just to get into a church service, it was here that I was reminded of how powerful it is to love creatively. 

Just as love inspires new songs in our hearts, love has the power of creating something new and fresh. And we are a world hungry for something new, something creative, something inspiring. We see it in our mindless habit of scrolling through Facebook and Instagram feed, just seeking for something innovative and awe inspiring. 


Love inspires. Love attracts. Love creates. 

As a recent graduate, I've been thinking a lot about the purpose behind my life and what I will be doing with my time here on earth. In thinking about all this, I realized the question that proceeds what I am created to do is the question of why I am created. 

But perhaps the answer to the why is love. Just as love has inspired an entire album of new songs, perhaps it was love that inspired God to create us. Perhaps we are the byproduct of love, for love, to love; a creative masterpiece created out of an expression of God's love for us. 

We all express love in different ways, but when you are inspired by love, the outcome is an overflow of creativity. I believe it is out of this creative process that each of us were created, new and unique. 

Inspired by such a creative love of the Creator, I want my expression of love to be creative, constantly seeking new ways to love, to create, and to encourage. I am excited to see how a creative love can shine its light in our world today. 

Travel

The Super Rest

October 10, 2016

One thing about my family is that each summer, we go on a family camping trip. Over the years, I've been to more National Parks than I can count with my two hands. But THIS camping trip was one that was one of the most beautiful. 

We tetris packed our car with all our camping gears and drove over 1,000 miles from Chicago to Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park.


When it comes to camping trips, it's never just about the destination, but about the whole car ride there and back. 17 hours of being forced to sit down in a small contained space with family means listening to parents' funny childhood stories, going through all 7 CDs of dad's old pop song albums, and getting lost in my daydreams. 



Throughout this camping trip, I had my phone on airplane mode, and went into a "super rest" mode, finding a cure to the infectious millennial disease of phone addiction. 



Lying down in our cozy tent while looking out into these tall wild tress, I couldn't stop saying to myself, "ì•„... 행복하다." ("I'm so happy"). 



Even though every time I had to use the restroom, I had to walk up this hill to the public bathroom station, this view on the way made it hard to complain about the inconvenience. This photo was taken early in the morning with fresh morning dew still moist in the air. Simply beautiful. I could not stop overflowing with praise and thanksgiving, thinking about how this magnificent sunrise happens every morning. What a gift each day is! 


Reminded of God's goodness and His faithfulness looking at this rainbow over our campsite one afternoon. 

Dad thought it would be fun to do a plank on this wooden bridge.


Breathing in this awe inspiring nature, the creative side in me started to awaken, and my brain started to fire up so many ideas for the future. My number one strength, according to Strengthsfinder 2.0 is that I'm "futuristic." Which basically means that I get excited about the future and am good at getting people inspired by what is to come. This time of rest has been a preparation stage of storing up inspirations to be unleashed in the future. This trip took place in a pivotal transition period in my life, of having recently graduated from college and of moving out of home into the new land of Los Angeles. I do not know yet where this life will take me. However, I am excited about it. Even if life keeps throwing me darts of discouragements, I will pick up the courage of knowing that the God who so wonderfully crafted this beautiful nature is also crafting my life story.


My life is filled with spontaneous projects and random adventures, so I'm not sure what type of blog "click of a moment" will turn out to be. But one thing I do know is that my heart is filled with ideas and hopes, and I just have a feeling this is just the beginning of an incredible adventure. 



Thanks for reading, and welcome to my blog :) 



x SKH 

Lifestyle

Insta - Sept.

September 30, 2016

Life in LA- Fresh, warm, inspiring.


"Visioneering" would be the one word to describe my season right now. It's a place of much uncertainties, but filled with hopes and dreams.






About

Hello!

September 29, 2016



Hello and welcome to my blog. Please take your shoes off (I keep an Asian household) and feel free to lounge around in my jumble of thoughts and archive of videos and photos.

x SKH

Thoughts

to a life taking risks

June 23, 2016

I have decided to live life taking risks and embracing the unknown. If there was no mystery in life, there won’t be any room for faith. By definition, Hebrews 11 says, “faith is certainty in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Basically, what a life of faith looks like is embracing the unknown and believing in the things we hope for in life.

Cheers to living an audacious life! Here’s to one more month of worry-free, anxiety-free, stress-free time of resting at home before taking a leap of faith straight into LA beginning of August.

Do I know what I’ll be doing there? No, not exactly. Is it a risk? Yes. But is it an epic faith opportunity? Heck yeah. I’ll take it ;)

Let’s see where this road takes me…!

Faith

It's my duty to love

June 21, 2016


Yesterday was Father’s Day. But in our household, it looked more like a Mother’s Day. My mom hurt her back the previous day and was in a lot of discomfort last night. In the evening time after dinner, I saw my dad sitting by my mom’s side, tending to her back and trying to help her feel better. After an hour or so, feeling much better with my dad’s care, my mom thanked my dad. In response, he chuckled and said, “It’s my duty.” And he looked at me and explained how in this situation, he wouldn’t say “it’s my pleasure” (my dad's favorite English phrase) because it’s not his pleasure that my mom is in pain, and it’s not his pleasure to have to tend to my mom’s back for an hour, but that he does it simply because it’s his duty to do so as a husband.

Recently, I’ve been thinking about how emotionally messy relationships are, and I’ve been wresting with this idea of what love is… and what my dad said about his act of love being his duty really brought a lot of my thoughts into a conclusion.

Thoughts

Complete

May 17, 2016

First day being back home post graduation, and laying down in the comforts of my home, writing, I feel so complete.

I’m so excited to take the next few days of rest to reflect back on the four years of college, and to journal. But just from the surface level reflection, these are just a few thoughts/life lessons that comes into mind as I look back in my college years.

 - Grace. Everything is by grace and grace alone.

- To gain something, you need to give up something. Choose to gain what really matters, and learn the art of giving up.

- Let love be genuine. You don’t have to pretend to love hundreds of people you can’t genuinely love. Just love the few well and sincerely.

- God is more interested in doing things in you than through you. He cares more about your heart than what work you can do for Him. You are his child, not a slave measured by performance.

- You don’t have to exhaust yourself. Whatever it is. God created Sabbath for men. A rested soul loves well.