This Christmas, I received 3 happy lights. H got me two different models, one of which P had also purchased for me. These are the people who truly know me well - a gift that is both an object and an experience! 

Next year, I'm purchasing only experiences for people. One of my cousins' kids received three Power Ranger toys, which he'll probably play with for 10 minutes. Baby S now has three baby dolls (one that H bought, one that I bought, and one that my aunt bought), two Baby Shark stuffies, and too many outfits (mostly purchased by me - woops). She actually will not sleep without those 3 baby dolls though, so I guess they are being used. How did she develop this personality?  

Meanwhile, I've been trying to substitute coffee with matcha, which has a slightly milder caffeine content (supposedly). Here's the matcha latte with oat milk at The Garden: 

While I've been to The Garden many times, this was actually the first to try their matcha latte, and their quality is fantastic. Not gritty, not bitter with just a bit of sweetener, and a good amount of that matcha umami brightness. Their chocolate chip cookies continue to be perfect, and I will go back soon, just to look at their plants. 

Time to start using that caffeine kick to plan for next year. On this week's list To Do: 

1. Contact a preschool for baby S
2. Start potty traning
3. Read 3 more books to meet my target of 20 for the year
4. Get a hook for the shower to hang my shower poof
5. Declutter to make space for the new baby - nesting has started! 

In my recent IG poll, I asked for recommendations for the best matcha latte, and multiple friends suggested Whisk Matcha:  

The cafe itself didn't look too spectacular, just a regular counter with an average display case, nondescript decor. I picked up an iced matcha latte with oat milk, and one of their buns with matcha filling, to go. 

Clearly, my friends did not lie to me about their premium matcha quality. Very smooth, not bitter, but has a strong tea flavor. I am craving it as we speak. The bun was fluffy, with a fair amount of matcha custard filling. Probably won't get the bun again, because I am getting enough carbs from work. 

If I keep going out to buy fancy drinks, I'm going to have to work ten times as hard as I am now, especially with the way the month is shaping up. Hopefully, I can still get to my target before end of the month, but it really has been hard with all the holiday festivities, end of year meetings, and unplanned illnesses (NOT pregnancy, although it does feel like a disease sometimes...). 

How do you stay positive when you spend 8 hours of your life working and facing all types of rejections? 

Picked up a few cruffins from Heritage Baking while at the Farmer's Market:

I love Nutella, so I had to get that one. We also chose calamansi, which was actually even better than the Nutella. Slightly tart, not too sweet, just enough filling: 

Support local. 

Sometimes, when I'm scrolling through social media, I'll see posts about keeping friends close to you and taking care of them, especially when they're down, because it's so important to have these connections. We all want to be supported when we're low, right? 

Then, the next post I'll see is one about ditching those folks with negative attitudes, who are draining away your life.

What's the right thing to do? 

Actually, do they support me the way I need? 

Things i like about work

1. Coffee, like from Pallet. They really do have one of the best lattes in town. Apparently, they don't use beans that are roasted past 3 weeks. Standards.

2. Meeting people

3. Hunting down new leads and winning them over. There's always a new opportunity waiting and it brings a sense of optimism.

4. Setting my own schedule

5. Working from home, which is way more efficient than office life everyday

Things i don't like about work: 

1. Feeling manipulative when winning new leads

2. Feeling conflicted because although I feel manipulative, I also think the product is useful and I make money this way 

3. The repetitive work after convincing them and having to set them up

4. Constantly chasing targets

5. Working from home, because my child can find me and is rather distracting

Today was pretty crazy though, rushing from one side of the city to the next and then calls back to back. Would be easier without a constant voice at the back of my mind that my child needs me, as well as my other child kicking me in the ribs to remind me that I haven't had lunch yet. Ah, the good old days of surviving on coffees, while destressing in the evening with a bottle of wine.

 Took a day off at Canffle with P&J: 

Salmon eggs benedict with a croffle (croissant x waffle, so sort of crispier, sort of more savoury): 

The smoked salmon was pretty salty. The salsa was also pretty salty. Overall, would not order this again, but might try the other eggs benny. The eggs were poached to my liking. 

Seasons Glory dessert with mochi waffle: 

Definitely would order this again, and would pair it with the mochi waffle too. They're a good match of the texture and the sweetness. 

I actually ended up eating most of this, because P&J were both still full from their breakfast, and had bread proofing in their ovens. This was a nice break without the baby, without working, no responsibilities for a few hours. 

It's also nice to have a mom and daughter day, like today, when we went out to a friend's baby shower and left dad to do all the chores at home. I would've stayed out longer so that H could have a few more hours alone, but baby S had a big blow out and it was time to go home. Super thankful that she took a short nap in the car. Otherwise, it would've been tantrums for the rest of the evening. 

That's my life these days - work, eat, house, babies. 

I've been seeing ads for Nancy Go Yaya everywhere, and scheduled in a visit as soon as I could.  Sorry M and J for ditching our plans, and going without you!

Here's their famous Kaya Toast with poached eggs for dipping:

Soy sauce and white pepper is offered to mix with the egg, to create a dipping sauce for the toast. It had a huge slab of butter in between the two slices of toast. Not bad, but not something that I'd crave.

We also got the laksa noodle, and it was super flavourful and delicious. Kept us warm as we walked around Chinatown afterwards. 

Very Instagram worthy, but not as wallet friendly. Definitely other things I crave more in the area, but it has such a nice atmosphere inside the cafe. Great service, which is what you pay for, I guess. 

WOOOO, it's been a stressful day. One of the most stressful, mainly because I hate making mistakes. It was such a careless thing to do as well, switching up a person's conversation like that. 

Lately, I've found that my concentration is shot, and I can barely remember people's names. I keep losing track of time as well, and if not for technology keeping me on track (Google Calendar and Google Keep are my BFF's), I don't think I would have accomplished even half of my target this month. On top of all that, it's been difficult with lots of emotions. Grateful to those who put up with my outbursts, and keep me well fed with home cooked food... My brain and body need all the energy I can get. 

Fat Mao has been around for a while, and I have never made the effort to try it out. Finally, H and I found a bit of time to sneak away.

How did they get the texture of the roti to be crispy and chewy? It's not like other roti, definitely the best in town. I haven't tried other ones around the world, but dare I say best in the world? 

Then the noodles came. 

I had the Khao Soi, Chiang Mai Curry Noodles, and the broth was essentially the same as the dipping sauce for the roti. The server recommended the wonton noodle with it, so I went with it. They top it off with crispy noodles, interestingly enough. 

A huge chicken drumstick is hidden beneath the pile of noodles. The chicken was a bit too dry for my liking, maybe it sat in the hot broth for too long.

H had the Hot and Sour Pork Noodles, which tasted super refreshing with the lime, and it wasn't too spicy. He chose the wide noodle to go with it. Similar to the chicken, the pork slices were a bit overdone, but otherwise, it was really tasty!

We also had the thai iced tea, to cool off our tongues. 

It was really the best day - date with the husband, checked things off the To Do list, and even had time to play Animal Crossing. Things are looking up. 

 

C came over to visit, and since we're both always craving sushi, I thought we'd treat ourselves to a beautiful sushi platter from Sashimiya:

This was only the regular sushi platter, and not even the chef's special! Look how many vibrant, super fresh pieces of sushi we got! I will definitely be back, maybe even this week. The chef chooses what type of fish to use, based on the varieties they receive, and so the next platter might have a different assortment of sushi. Exciting. 

The California roll used real crab meat, and it didn't need excessive amounts of mayo to generate flavor. I regret giving one piece to baby S to try, because she kept on asking for more, more, more! I want more sushi...

Speaking of baby S, she's definitely spoiled already, especially with food, because we give her whatever she asks for, other than really sugary food. With salty foods, we'll try to rinse off any sauce and salt before sharing it with her, and even then, I'm sure her daily sodium intake is probably too much. We can only make do with what we have though, and fed is best... 

She has also been showing more personality, and one of those traits would be a general lack of perseverance. Today, she figured out how to stack up blocks, and had a huge tantrum when she knocked down her tower and couldn't get past 4 blocks. It terrified her poor grandma, who was also playing with her at the time. What can you expect from a less than 2 year old toddler? 

The positive I see is that she knows how to express her emotions. It's going to be a long journey for her to learn to be patient and anger management...

On a side note, there has been a very persistent fly in our house for the last 3 days. Usually, flies in our house land on a window and get the smack down pretty quickly. This one must be a different mutation because it has been able to dodge all of our attacks. It's also smart enough to perch on surfaces that are harder for us to smack. 

Dinner at Kalvin's Szechuen Restaurant tonight: 

We also had sweet and sour pork ribs, and a vegetable dish with garlic, which are not in the photo, because they came later on. When we arrived at 5:30PM, the place had a few tables, but the take out orders were already piling up on one of their other tables. The server warned us that by 6:30PM, we would have to get out, because they had another reservation, so we had to order quickly and scarf everything down. 

Preserved vegetable with pork and hand made noodle, in soup. Pretty salty, but did not make me thirsty like food with MSG levels would.

 

This ginger pork liver (or is it kidney...?) dish was actually surprisingly good. They cooked it just enough so that it was done, and a crisp texture. 

Baby S didn't really eat much, other than carbs. That's OK though, all the carbs and salt from today will balance itself out over the week, when we offer her healthier options. The important part was that the grandparents had a blast watching her eat, watching her laugh, watching her personality coming through. Makes the last 15 months seem more worth it, when she is so much fun. 

I'm sure when I reread this in a few days, things will have changed with her again, and she might be a terror... 

I'm still really thinking about difficult questions, and how relationships can drift. My energy after hanging out with some people just gets extra low. My mind is filled with thoughts like, why don't we connect like we did before, and why does this take so much effort? Am I the problem here, not wanting to put in more effort and thinking maybe it's not worth it to try so hard? Were we really that close before, or were we friends of convenience? At a time like this, when we're wanting to grow our family and I'm starting a new job, maybe it's not wrong of me to stop thinking about certain relationships and focus on more uplifting topics. Need all the positive energy!!!

Also, it might just be extra hormones combined with poor sleep. Woke up last night at 4AM, couldn't fall asleep because I was too hungry, came downstairs for a snack, sat on the couch, and next thing I knew, it was 7AM, and baby S was screaming for me. 

Learning a new job has been exhausting. I've forgotten what it's like to navigate a completely new system and new team of faces. Need strong coffee in the morning: 

The first few days, H dropped me off at work, and we would visit Elysian on 7th and Ontario together. Pretty latte art aside, the coffee is decent and the service is friendly. What more can you ask for?

I do prefer JJ Bean though. 

It's also super weird to type and use a Windows system right now, now that I've been so ultra focused on learning to use a Macbook for the last few days. I feel so crippled and limited when I'm on the Macbook, because I can imagine doing all the things that I do on Windows, but I can't communicate it fast enough with the Macbook (or at all). 

This is probably what my parents feel like, except 100x worse because they didn't grow up with any type of computer at all. I wonder what baby S will use in the future that I will completely be useless at. 

Stumbled across the quote in today's title, and thought it was wildly appropriate. Does anybody know where this quote comes from? 

I haven't made time to post about it yet, so maybe the hype for these tempura rice bowls from Tendon Kohaku is already over? We spent about 1.5 hours waiting in line for BOGO50% off on their grand opening day, last week. Baby S was not interested in waiting in line, and it was difficult to stay patient with her tantrums. It must've been difficult for her to stay patient with her parents, who refused to listen to her cries for food and entertainment. 

Anyways, I don't think it was worth the wait. The rice was not soft enough, the tempura all tasted the same, and it was too salty (ask for sauce on the side). By the end of the meal, the tempura were no longer crispy.  The portions are average, but I would not pay full price, which would've been about $20 per bowl, including tax and tip.

We also tried their beverages, which come in very aesthetically pleasing plastic pop bottle shapes. I also would not pay for this again, because it didn't really stand out. I had the refresher with yuzu, and expected it to be fizzier with more yuzu flavor. While there were pieces of real yuzu, it was overall just a mouthful of sugar. V and J had the milk teas, and they had similar comments that the beverages weren't that great.

I couldn't resist ordering the chanwanmushi for appetizer:

In contrast to the overly sweet beverage, this was a mouthful of salt. If it's any saving grace, the texture was very smooth and soft, 10/10 for that. 

In this situation, maybe there was a different "right time" to visit this restaurant, and that would've been when the line up was not so long and when my child was not so hungry. The tantrums and the screaming were unreal, and I had to carry her about 80% of the time. However, we would've missed out on the deal. 

In another situation, is there ever a right time to make a life changing decision, like changing your job? 

According to my old boss, I chose the wrong time to resign and start a new job. 

Me: When would be the right time to quit?

Him: Maybe a year and a half from now. We are going through a lot of changes, and we had plans for you to be a key player. 

Me: Yes, it all sounded like a great opportunity, but this other opportunity came up, and on paper, it is a perfect job for me. 

Him: The industry you are going to is unstable, because of the pandemic.  

Me: It might be, but I'm really ready for a change. 

Him: You have a new baby. With your current job, you can do all your work and spend time with the baby, since you are an expert already. 

Me: Yes, but this opportunity is really perfect for me, and I'm ready for a change. 

Him: Also, I am going on vacation next week! 

Me: Oh no! *sarcastically*

Him: You really chose a bad time to quit. I'll let you think about it for a day before I start the process with HR. 

Me: It's okay, I won't change my mind.  

This conversation further validated my feelings that this was the right time to start a new job, instead of waiting around to see how my relationship with my ex-boss would progress... I'm going to miss a lot about this old job, but I won't regret the timing of this choice.

Our weekends have been taken over by meals out with friends and family. We visited Egg & Co. this morning for brunch, and thank goodness my FIL arrived at 9AM, because the tables had filled up by the time we all arrived at 9:30AM. 

Starting with dessert first, here's an order of pancakes. It comes in a stack of four pancakes, and usually the strawberry compote and cream would be piled on top, but we asked for it on the side, so that baby S could also have some. 

My truffle mushroom eggs benedict, with a side of sausages: 

My MIL had the truffle mushroom eggs benny too, just without the sausages because it's one of her days to eat vegetarian. 

This was the chef's special, pulled pork eggs benedict, look at H's hand, eagerly waiting to dig into his food: 

And my FIL had the prawns and chorizo hash, which looked fresh and amazing: 

Crispiest hash browns in Vancouver? Possibly. 

Eggs benedict were tastier than they looked! 

Definitely order the pancakes, even just to share. 

I had an orange juice, and I did not like the particular flavor of the one they serve, so I wouldn't order it again. H and I both liked their drip coffee, while his mom thought it tasted bland. I concluded that the quality of their beverages is subjective, but the general consensus is that their food is great, and we would all come back again.   

I'm extremely grateful for these opportunities to meet with people face to face, because I've been getting annoyed by my coworkers, friends, and family when we have conversations online, via instant messaging or text messaging. I would just be quietly swearing in my head, when I see their text flash across my phone screen. Then, I start questioning why I keep in touch with these people, because it's so frustrating sometimes when I read their nagging requests or petty complaints. For example...

Person 1: "Can you figure out how to return this for me?" Why can't they figure it out themselves? I'm not your secretary.

Person 2: "I bought too much food!" First world problem, my insides are clenching at the thought of the food that will be wasted. 

Person 3: "Did you do this already? I didn't see the reply, so I just assumed that you didn't." Why did you bother messaging me about it then, you twat?

I have started to ignore some of my messages these days, for my own sanity.

In person though, I love these people, and could spend a long time with them. I like having meals with them, I like taking walks or going shopping with them. I don't mind being in the same car. It's interesting how our online personas can be so different from real life. 

Maybe I don't like having my attention and time taken away by my messages from what is happening in real life. I'll just have to get better at ignoring the things that don't matter in life. 

Recently, I've been having two dinners, one with the baby, and one after she's asleep. I do this partly because her bedtime routine completely drains me, and I get so hungry by the time she's in her crib, one hour after we've eaten dinner together. The second reason is that I just want to enjoy my food without a baby asking me for things!

H went to pick up pasta from Anton's the other night, while I finished cleaning up our first dinner, and I think he ordered the Penne Alla Calabrese, except we swapped it for fusili. In my mind, fusili traps in more sauce in the spirals... Does anybody know if that's actually true? 

H also mentioned that they originally weren't going to give him bread and butter (how dare they!), but when he asked, they were very obliging and gave him two large buns to go, with lots of whipped butter packets. This pile of pasta was probably possible to make at home for less than half the price. On the menu, it costs $20 a plate, before tax and tip, which sounds like a lot, but the flavour, the convenience and the volume makes up for it. Although the quantity is slightly smaller when you do take out, we could only finish one bun and maybe 2/3 of the pasta between the two of us. 

The leftovers were saved for the next day, and it was even tastier after the pasta had marinated overnight in the tangy tomato sauce.   

I could probably have finished the whole thing by myself if it wasn't for the first dinner. 

P brought over cheesecake tarts from Castella Cheesecake, Inc.:  

This was really not my jam - the filling was too salty, and the crust was too thick. You know that feeling in your mouth when everything clumps together, and makes your mouth dry? On top of the texture, the flavours didn't blend well together. At first, I thought it's just the way this should be, and it was my own personal preference. Then, H confirmed that my taste buds weren't delusional, and that it was indeed not good. 

There really isn't enough time or energy to spend on bad desserts.

Time is a very limited resource, and I've lately been very focused on being more efficient with my productive time so that I will have more availability to lie around and do nothing at all. Because of this, I've also been wondering about how I spend time with the people in my life. The question that has been on my mind lately is why am I still friends with this or that person, even though most of our values are so different?

I asked this question to one of my best friends. and their answer was that even though people change and values change, we have lots of history with them, and fate brought us together, so now we are stuck together. 

My response to that was, "What about our other friends who we no longer keep in touch with? Fate brought us together, we also have lots of fond memories, and similar interests."

Friend - "We drifted. I think people remain friends if they are happy while spending time together. Also, somebody initiates, so we hang out."

Is it is as simple as one person initiating? What about shared interests, beliefs, mutual benefits, sense of humor, sense of adventure? Sometimes, it just feels so easy, like fate was involved to align all the stars to allow us to meet again and again. 

I'm still left wondering about how I can be more intentional with my time with people, so that I can spend more time with the friends and family I truly want to. Don't even get me started on spending time with coworkers.  

I recently read Crying in H Mart, which put me in the mood for Korean food. I can always rely on P to follow up with my cravings, so she set up our group to dine in at Kook, with a group of 6 + my baby. Check out the spread of just the banchan! 

We ordered the Combo for 4, which comes with an assortment of marinated beef, pork, and chicken, deep fried gyoza with options for beef or pork, a bowl of tofu soup (either seafood or beef option), and a plate of japchae. I have not yet been to a Korean restaurant where they have given out 15 different side dishes, and maybe you think I'm inexperienced in the world of Korean cuisine, and you'd probably be right. I've never been to Korea! I've been to K-Town once only! 

The seafood soondubu was savory, but did not burn my mouth with the salt content. It came out bubbling hot, and yet, the tofu was still soft and fluffy.  

I didn't actually try the japchae because I was already too full at this point, and sometimes potato noodles give me indigestion. It looked really nice though: 

I'm very excited to return here, so that I can revisit the melt in your mouth soondubu and all the grilled meat. I'm also looking forward to asking for refills of the banchan, which I did not ask for this time. Actually, you'll probably find me here next weekend. 

Why does it feel like things tend to happen in groups?

 

July started slowly, with the worst heat wave in the history of Canada, and now, the worst wildfire season, as well as another heat wave on the way.  It's really time for all of us to start doing more to prevent or at least mitigate the effects of climate change. I hope I can do my part with the latest life change.

Actually, the latest two life changes. Stick around for the next updates.  

Last weekend, we went met up with my cousin and her kids at Trout Lake for the farmer's market, in search of food trucks and fresh produce. At first glance, I was not too interested in any of the food options, mostly because the heat had drained my appetite, but as I ran around and played with my cousin's kids, I realized I needed sugar to keep up with them. Luckily, The Brownie Bakers were right there, and they had a cheesecake and latte combo for $9.70:    

I chose the cheesecake brownie flavor, one of their latest inventions, which I thought H would really enjoy since he is a lover of cheesecake. After paying with the tap option and waiting just a few short seconds for the latte to be made, I had my iced latte in one hand, and a small paperbag with the brownie in the other, and I happily walked back to my picnic blanket and pop up sunshade (amazingly convenient and portable tool for picnics with kids). 

Sat down, opened the paper bag, and was disappointed to find a thin little brownie inside... I guess my expectation of a brownie was something like this: 

(PC - The Kitchen Magpie)

But it came out to be maybe 1/3 of that thickness, and did not look like the mouthwatering dense brownie I had in mind. Oh well, I had already paid for it, so what else could I do except take a big bite? 

It was a delightful brownie, and it paired so well with the latte! 

Definitely recommend. If you're going to buy a fancy coffee and baked good in Vancouver, this is definitely the same value as any other established coffee shop. I will be keeping an eye out for this one next time we come to the farmers' market.   

Now that the temperature has cooled off to less than 30

°

C, life feels more manageable. There's a slight breeze coming through my open window, and I'm going to enjoy it before the wildfire smoke gets here. 

H is the sentimental type. He loves writing thoughtful messages on cards, printing photos to frame, creating sappy social media posts, so I'm surprised it took us over a year to have our family photo taken. We visited Lavenderland in Richmond, along Steveston Highway, and asked some of his closest friends, D and T, to help us take photos. It was surprisingly fun, wandering and frolicking through the lavender bushes. 

They've also partnered up with Blackball to create lavender flavored bubbletea options, which they were selling at the park entrance: 

H and I shared the lavender yogurt with coconut jelly, while D and T both had the lavender milk tea. $7 for a very refreshing beverage, with a creative recipe using their locally grown lavender, which is worth trying at least once.  

We gave Baby S a tiny sip, and she liked it too. 

We got home around 5PM, had dinner, put the baby to bed, and were settling in to watch a movie, when my parents showed up at our doorstep unannounced. The drop by is frankly a bit rude these days! Back in the day without internet or a phone, it would make sense for people to knock on your door to say hello and physically check in on your well-being. 

It's not even that I ignore them when they message or call, because I always reply or call back if I miss their call. I value my privacy at home, and I would appreciate the heads up. Not that I have anything to hide, and they are my parents, so I don't care if they judge me for whatever I'm doing at home, but it does feel extremely intrusive. This is why we didn't want to live in the same house, and it seems that being 10 minutes away is no longer cutting it.  

I didn't let them in.

We survived the hottest day in the history of Vancouver!

H and I took baby S to take refuge at BS's place, where they have centralized air conditioning at home. It's much more efficient than us going out to buy a new AC unit, which probably wouldn't even dent the heat in our house. I needed a break in the middle of the day to get a coffee, and originally planned to drop by JJ Bean for a nice cold shiver (it's like a Tim Hortons ice cap, but with real coffee, thus better). Instead, they suggested we visit The Mighty Oak: 

They were out of cold brew, and we ended up getting iced beverages instead. The total for our iced latte and iced americano came to just around $10. 

I liked it, but inside the shop, it was missing a bit of character, so I probably wouldn't go back to hang out. The inside seemed quite clean, with shiny countertops, but it felt like the materials were cheaply chosen and just was missing that hint of classy hipster coffee shop vibe. The coffee was good though, so I wouldn't mind going for a pick me up during the day, if I happen to be in the neighborhood. 

Baby S was so drained that she fell asleep in less than 5 minutes while we were out with her in the stroller. Now that the heat wave is over, I think I'll finally get a good night's rest. 

Today was the hottest day of the year, as of today. It is supposed to be over 40°C on Monday, and it's only the beginning of summer. Although there is an end in sight, because the forecast shows the temperatures leveling off, I'm getting anxiety attacks from worrying about going through this type of heat dome again and again in the future. Climate change is real and it's here to stay. 

If I was not a mother and did not have a child, I would probably have ignored the heat, because I would've just hung out inside playing video games and eating ice cream all day.

However, baby S is a sweaty monster and even though babies are resilient, babies are still very sensitive to the heat.  

Her room actually faces south, and is upstairs in what I believe used to be an attic space that was renovated into a room. When I walked up there with her after dinner tonight to start her bedtime routine it must have been the same temperature and humidity as the rooms in Bikram. I could feel the exact spot where the temperature changes, while ascending from the main floor - the point where the main floor ceiling starts is where I felt like I was walking into an oven. The floors were burning, water droplets would have sizzled on the metal door knobs, the bedsheets were radiating heat because they had soaked up the hot air throughout the day. H and I couldn't let her sleep in that because it would basically cook her. 

I'm sure other parents in Vancouver are going through the same thought process. The easy out would be to go pick up an air conditioning unit for her room, but I feel like that is just avoiding the actual problem. I want to be able to enjoy the outdoors with my curious child, go on walks and explore the world with her, instead of worrying about heat stroke. What's the point of getting air conditioning for inside my house, when I want it for the streets outside? 

Not to mention, air conditioning is a significant contributor to global warming, and every time I hear both of my neighbor's AC units running, I judge them. They're otherwise very nice people and I quite enjoy living next to them. 

Am I going to boycott air conditioning altogether? No, because sometimes, it might be necessary and I'm not an extremist. I am going to strongly argue against getting an AC unit installed for our house. 

Should we have more children? Probably not, because babies are also a significant contributor to climate change, and it frightens me to think of what type of world will be left behind for my baby girl. 

Should I change my shopping habits because of climate change? Probably, but I really want to get a rug and a few more pieces of furniture for baby S's room, as well as the rest of the house, mostly because we are frequently at home now, after the pandemic started and now the heat wave. 

That's it for tonight. I hope my bed sheets have cooled sufficiently for me to lie down in bed now. If not, I'll be sleeping on the floor tonight. 

Took H to Denny's for his birthday grand slam. I had the vegetable omelet: 

I was actually very impressed with the quality and quantity of the omelette. Stuffed with spinach, peppers, mushrooms, and cheese, no regrets with ordering this. For $15 though, it better be good, because I could probably make this at home for much less. The hashbrowns extremely crispy, and was a bit saltier than I'm used to, which didn't stop me from cleaning off the plate. There was a lot of toast, so we packed that home, along with one of the pancakes.

H's grand slam was not bad as well, and really, cannot complain about a free breakfast!

But I will complain about how dinky the sausage was - look at it compared to the size of H's pointer finger! I didn't even know they made breakfast sausages that skinny. 

I think this will turn into a birthday tradition for us. We didn't go last year because baby S had just joined us, and I wasn't allowed out of the house for 30 days (exceptions were made for visits to the doctor; it really sounds worse than it actually was!).

H and I have grown a lot over the past year, and baby S has helped us learn so much. I'm really looking forward to how the next year unfolds.