BC Day

An impromptu photoshoot at Queen Elizabeth Park on BC Day.

Cousins - Best Friends Forever!

Lately, Jaden had been staying over at our home during the weekends. It is not the first time. However, this time was different. Both Persephanie and Jaden begged me to allow Jaden to sleep over. It was Sephie first time ever pleading me like how I use to beg my parents to allow me stay over at Eileen's house. It brings back my childhood memories with Eileen. Persephanie and Jaden was so sad when it was time for Jaden to go home. Just like to good'ol days except Eileen and I had never fought. These two are at each other's throats every 15 mins!!! It's getting better.

Lina

Persephanie the "Babysitter"

Persephanie loves her new mui mui. She really loves craddling Cara and always asking to hold her. She's already a great babysitter.

~Lina

Birthday/Father's Day Cup

A sequel to Mother's Day/Lina's birthday cup.. we have yet another ceramic cup to paint. Pickup is this Thursday! Can't wait..

Project: Gardening

Lina's been having her green thumb itching. So, we've decided to try and kill two birds with one stone by (attempting) to grow vegeatables. Re-Experiment with gardening and save some grocery money while we're at it. I say "re-experiment" because we had once tried it before.. and failed. All our plants either died or were saved from the brink of death by mom.

We have brown thumbs.

Why and how we failed last time:
1) Location, Location, Location.
2) Soil
3) Not watering. Duh! We have lifestyles that distract from gardening responsibilities. Plus, we're just forgetful.

Now, writing this list.. it seems we not only failed, we failed MISERABLY. Because, those are the only 3 things that any plant life needs. And we didn't provide any of it. Sad. Really really sad.

This time it's different. We're doing our homework.

Our Goal.

So to fix this, we tackled each of the 3 failed points.
1) We're putting this garden in a spot that will have at least 6 hours of sunlight.
2) Not just random soil. But, this time we're using a 50/50 mix of organic potting soil and compost. This should really be enough nutrient for any vegetable.
3) This is my favorite solution... the Self-Watering container. I found this idea on the internet. People had been DIY-ing a simple and cheap solution to minimum watering for plants. (inspired by the Earthbox). This DIY is almost free! As compared to Earthbox which I found locally for $100! I was sold on "minimum watering" and "cheap".

I'm excited about this project.. updates to follow.

Mommy day

Afternoon Tea at Le Chez Lam. A mother's day gift for mom-in-law and Lina. But, decided to invite Grandma, Pauline, Nancy, Eileen, Cat, and Vivian too! (Plus their spouses and children) Did this to prove I can host one for cheap. Equal or better than the afternoon tea we had at the Empress Hotel. I think I did it.






Final Total Tea Tally:
18 people, $209.63

Momma's bday

As usual, mommy's birthday spans a few weeks of May. This year was no exception. Starts with a group "May Babies"(or as spelled on the cake: 'May Babie') party with Martin, Eileen, Lina, and Randall all having their days topped with an awesome cake from Ganache:



The actual birthdate started out with a morning at the ceramic store to make mommy her own cup:




PRE-GLAZE:





Then continues with cake at home: (Thomas Haas cake... thanks to Cat!)


The night ended with a celebration with close friends. It was also a house-warming and Tony's birthday as well... with more cake (ESL Bakery cakes thanks to Barney and Danny)

Ahhhh! I've gained weight!

With all the events happening Cat and Drew's wedding, Olympics, Chinese New Year dinners ect... I believe I've gained some weight. I dare not step on the scale but just want to go on the treadmill. In fact, I should do it now.

333 days to go

(What?!! it's been almost month already!)

On the road to better living...

So I woke up this morning and found a book " Chinese System of Food Cures". I've decided I'm going to incorporate some chinese dishes and make up some of my own. I need these dishes to be healthy, easy and cheap. So our first meal for today is: brown rice, broccoli, carrot, turkey breast, orange and water. Tonee and Sephie is also getting the same meal just different portion. The one is the picture is Sephie's portion. Mine is a bit more and Tonee's the most. I forgot to mention about the sauce. I've made it tasty (ginger, oyster sauce, cornstarch, oil, black bean sauce).

360 days to go.

Lina's Weight Goal

During grandmother's 100th birthday banquet four days ago. I had made a promise to lose weight within one year. I'm not sure how in the world I'm going to do this but it has to be done! I've also setup the counter to motivate

It's that time of year again...

Singing

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Hip Hop

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Disco

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Classic

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Sephie's First High Tea on Mommy's Bday

Finally! This has been the day I've been waiting forever!!! My daughter and I having our very first high tea experience. Sephie was the perfect daughter during the entire time at Secret Garden. She knew exactly where to place things and even knows how to hold the tea cup properly. It seems like she's been doing it all her life. I can say it is the most memorable bday ever! I love her so much.

Lina

EDIT: more pic

Taste of Chicago

Something Lina wanted to do for as long as I can remember. Go to the Taste of Chicago. Today was that day.
Got access to an awesome parking pass. (Thanks Ben!) Wasn't hot, wasn't too sunny, wasn't cold, wasn't TOO big a crowd(I remember it being a lot worse), and most importantly... Persephanie wasn't TOO cranky. It was awesome.

For 72 tickets @ $48.00:
Got a taste for:
- 2 giant BBQ turkey drumsticks
- 1 platter of seafood tempura
- 1 boneless BBQ rib sandwich
- 2 small taste of Rainbow ice cream
- 1 full scoop of Rainbow ice cream in a waffle cone
- 1 Eli's turtle cheesecake
- 1 Eli's strawberry cheesecake
- 1 Italian ice (mango and blue raspberry)

To walk off the food, a trip to Buckingham Fountain. Seems fitting this time around.. "Married with children"

Then for dinner we went to Joy Yee's. Awesome.