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Congrats to Nancy and Gerald for the newest addition to the neighborhood, Cohen!!

Happy 31st and 32nd month Bday, Sephie!

31st month: Some Mango + Berry mousse cake


32nd month: Homemade chocolate brownie

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)

Victoria

Empress Tea Room.

I've never understood the appeal of high tea/afternoon tea. Always thought it was never a 'good value'. Ok, I'm really just cheap... but, c'mon... you know what I mean when you're looking at the bill and reflecting on what you just "ate". There is one thing that I'll give to the concept of high tea... it's that the fact that all the portions are so small that it brings itself to your attention. Think about that. You sit there, eating this bite size sandwich and thinking to yourself, "OMG, this is SMALL!" and you continue to think about it... "This tastes {add your adjective here}!" This is contrary to your usual routine of eating, and that's just not really caring and continue to shove it into your face.

So, the phrase "... appreciating the little things in life..." probably came from eating high tea. Well, that's just my theory.

I still think it's a rip off.



Parliament Building


Empress Lobby

Chin-up Tea: Pinkies up!

At the Empress Hotel in Victoria

Thanks for the trip, Cat and Drew!
Thanks for the ride, Drew!
Happy Birthday, Babee!
Happy 2.5 Birthday, Sephie!
Congrats, Cat & Drew!!
Congrats, Mom!!



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Tier#1

Tier#2

Tier#3

Sephie's personal tier of sandies and cookies.


While we were sipping our unique blend of teas, her majesty, Queen Elizabeth something something, came down and visited us! It was awesome. Came to our table and greeted us and annointed my daughter "Princess"! Awesome. And to make it all so official and stuff, she signed a certificate making it so. Ok, her handwriting is a bit off, but she did get the spelling right. And it wasn't exactly centered. We'll forgive her this time. She's old. (We didn't get a picture with her... said she was a bit camera shy)




Happy 2 1/2 Birthday, Princess Persephanie!!

Bob the Earth (the post formally known as Gaia)

So, I had a thought.

I hear this all the time in movies: A parental figure tells their son/daughter not to worry when they die, they will be watching down on him/her from the stars above.

Sure it's cheesy, I know.. but the thought... "what if it's true?" came to mind. Then the more I think about it.. the possibility gets better.

Ok, walk with me on this...

Our planet has been known by a couple of "names": Mother Earth or Gaea/Gaia, A concept that brings us to believe that the planet is alive and maybe at some level, even sentient. I can see that... there are the trees everywhere and billions of organisms that thrive successfully on it. On a level, not much different than the hair on my head and the germs that live on my skin. See the analogy there? Well anyways, Gaia is a theory created by a scientist named James Lovelock, who worked at NASA doing space stuff. (Well... details of the man isn't important, it's his theory that gets my attention) His theory claims that our Earth, "Gaia", is sentient enough to have a global system that can balance itself. The surface temperature, composition of the atmosphere, and the ocean's salinity. Despite the Sun's increase in energy throughout time, all three variables has remained constant. That's Gaia self-preserving. That's life!

(This concept is in entertainment very frequently: Final Fantasy games and movie, Horton Hears a Who movie, South Park episode: Lice Capades, and even in the new movie, Avatar)

So here's MY thought on this.. what if Gaia is actually a soul? A soul that's inhabiting a form that is a big giant space rock. Why not, right? "Souls" seem to able to inhabit many forms. We see it on many creatures that live on Earth. So why not a planet? Does size matter? I'm pretty sure it doesn't. And to extend this thought... what if ALL the stars we see out there are also Gaias?!? Suns and planets that have souls! I figure once someone on Earth dies, their soul would leave out to space and inhabit a star. When a star is born, that's the moment the soul enters. Then there it can thrive "forever"...or until an asteroid hits it.

So,why not?

Maybe Mufasa really was looking down on Simba. (But not Obi-wan... he was just a cheap 70s hologram)

Random pics

Pro!