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've been busy with lots of house work, indoors and outdoors, so I've sort of neglected posting for the past few weeks... I hope I'll have time to post extra in the coming weeks, but the list of projects continues to lengthen. Will I reach my goal of posting once a week this year?!

More coffee will definitely help with checking off the to do list. We snuck in a visit to a coffee shop that we've been planning to try for a while - In the moment coffee. They use beans roasted by Pallet, which I am never disappointed by. I had the lavender latte, and H wanted a drip coffee, but they actually only offer espressos! He had to settle for a latte with a pretty heart drawn into the fluffy foam. We quite enjoyed the hot bev, but did not enjoy the $6 price tag. When did coffees become so unaffordable?  

On top of all the house work, there's also the responsibilities of car ownership. Our car broke down the other day when H was out by himself running an errand. Luckily, he was able to get it to the side of the road, not blocking any major intersections before it stalled completely. He stood on the sidewalk by the car, losing his sh**, because his phone was out of battery and he couldn't call for help. Other cars zoomed past him, and nobody cared to ask whether he needed help, but luckily x2, he was able to flag down a biker and borrowed a cellphone to contact me. 

I came out with baby S to save him, and within 5 minutes of baby S arriving on scene, a white Lexus sedan pulled over, and a woman who appeared to be wealthy asked us if we needed help. We politely declined, as we were just waiting for Buster's Towing at that point. 

Another 5 minutes later, a white Infiniti SUV pulled over and a kind man asked us if we needed a ride. Another 2 or 3 minutes later, a small white van pulled over... If we continued to stand there, I'm sure more cars would've stopped for us.  

 

The baby's ability to attract attention was quite powerful. 

Okay, back to work. 

Went out for a coffee and some alone time at The Drive Coffee Bar:

This place wasn’t too busy at around noon today, with 2 baristas. They have good strong coffee. I had the iced lavender latte, sat on their little patio, and researched places to go in Taiwan. I liked that it was quiet and peaceful, despite being on a busy street and I will be back to try other coffees (or maybe a beer). 

  

I’m glad I have these hobbies to keep me busy while H is out of town. Here was coffee number 1 from earlier today, and my new baby plants from the Prickly Pear sale:

Plants from Prickly Pear, around $9.
Terrarium from garage sale, $2.
Coffee from Nespresso, around $0.75. Lol.

I’m trying to budget so I can get my drone this month on Amazon Prime Day.

Got Netflix recently. It’s a bit of an obsession to just easily just click it on and lose myself in hours of scandalous politics. A great friend for an introvert. What an effort it was to drag myself away from it and see real human beings. Coffee usually gets me going out though:

Visited Tuc with the gals. Sorry M, for being an hour late and for making you guys wait in line for us… I had the lavender latte:



That’s it, what else do I need on a rainy Sunday afternoon? Lavender lattes are one of my favorite beverages (I used to sit outside Waves and read with one by my side), and this one did not disappoint. The others had the chicken and waffles, some egg thing with beans, and some other egg and potato thing. Apparently, it was good, but I was still full from breakfast and could really only handle a latte. Too bad the wait times are so horrendous (1 hour today).





OK, back to Scandal. More meaningful posts to come.