Saving Account is a go!

When you get married, there are lots of things to consider. One of those things are how do we handle our Finance together. Let it be how much we spend on a TV, how much we save for a trip, should we go to watch the JT concert, should we go to this amazing resort, etc.

I always have my own bank accounts. And being a female, I should say my saving ability is limited. These days we were often talking about what kind of a lifestyle we want to live in. We talked about what kind of lifestyle we want our kids to be born with. One thing leads to another, I started to feel the pressure.

I have to face my true-self that I am an spoiled only child in my family, who has been fortunately supported by my parents until now and probably will be forever. But, the baby is flowing to the surface, I wanna create an account that can be helpful for future.

So~~~ after three pay cheques went to things I love, now it's time to get back in track. I opened my first saving account and I am so excited to see it grow every month.

Funny thing is I nick named my Saving account : Yuuki. At least, we know Yuuki is well covered if he ever need Med service.

The Summer Farm's Market

The Summer Farm's Market

Last week, I was giving a lesson on the food chain. As I was teaching children about producer and consumer. I had an idea that I should do a field trip to the farm's market, so they can see all the producers and who are producing the producers.

Today is the first Summer Farm's Market in Steveston. Curtis and I love to support local farmers. I always like to go to the Farm's market to see what they offer.

Growing up in China, I used to go to the public market with my mom all the time. I have seen how to kill a live chicken in such a young age.  I am not trying to gross you out, but I have seen a farmer piled off the entire snake skin in front of me in less than 30 seconds. I was no more than 10 years old.  Our family used to eat fresh produce everyday. I am very proud that my mom still goes to public market everyday to get food for today's meals. There are costco, walmart and all kinds of super market in China now. I often joke to my mom that she can just buy a whole week of food and cook on different days. My parents said it just taste different.

My taste buds are spoiled by my parents. However, I can't afford to go to grocery shopping everyday, nor do I believe everything is fresh daily in Save on Food. When the farm's market open, it's my opportunity to eat fresh.

I got all these fresh, picked this morning vegetables for less than $5.

This summer, I am trying to grow my own balcony garden. I have Sweet basil, Peppermint, and cherry tomato in my garden now. To be honest, I have no idea how to grow anything. My plants often died when I was trying to add some flower plants in my room.

As we see the definition in producer: "Plants are called producers. This is because they produce their own food! They do by using light energy from the Sun, carbon dioxide from the air and water from the soil to produce food in the form of glucouse."


I will let the sun, air and water do their magic to keep my plants alive.

Kale, Bok Choy, Spinach

Peppermint, Basil, Cherry Tomato plants

Yuuki is 8 month now.

Time is flying. Yuuki is 8 month old. I can't believe we have been raising him for more than 6 months already.

For Curtis and I, raising Yuuki is a test before we decide to be parents. I don't see Yuuki as a dog, but a baby with four legs. Curtis had more doubt when we got him, but these days, he kept telling Yuuki that he loves him so much.

I often joked that I am gonna raise a Montessori dog. The concept was easy. Teaching Yuuki to play with one toy at a time, and place the toy back in his toy box when he finished. He is still learning and it's an on going process. We often found that our apartment is out of order because of his toys in every corner.

However, I am proud that Yuuki is grown to be a confident, calm, and well behaviour dog. He is very affectioned and loves to give kisses.

My boys

I have two boys live with me. One is my hubby, the other is my dog. Both of them have same interest, such as sleeping pass 9am, feeling hungry all the time, and searching through fridge.

I am sure you have met my dog, since I talked about him all the time.

Have you met my hubby yet? Here he is.

I love black and white photos, so today's photo are all about black and white.

I took the photo while he was driving.

I love the smile.

Yuuki was bored this morning.

New camera on Yuuki

Yuuki loves to post on camera. However, whenever the flash light is on, he blinks his eyes. We have several photos taken for him, unfortunately, they all came out like these. See below~~~

Super cute, but his ability to be a dog model is limited. 

Smile

Smile Again

Smile Again?

Yuuki, the Yogi

Yuuki 2

Spring is finally came. Yuuki and I take some adventures around Steveston. This post is a thought from what I have seen and felt during today's adventure. 

For people who studied in China, we know that there were many ancient chinese poets. I have studied a lot of poets during my education in China. I won't say that I enjoyed them that time, because all I did was memorizing the poem without completely understanding them.

When I was young, I tried to write poems. I found it's much harder than learning English. Later on, I focused on learning English, since I know I am moving over seas. 

Back to Yuuki. When we went to our adventure today, I let him off leash and enjoy the open field by himself.  I watched him run and sniff that made me think about some poems (see below). I hope Richmond keeps this field as the way it is. It's so nice to step in nature just one block away from home. 

 　

诗人孟浩然的《过故人庄》

绿树村边合，青山郭外斜。

 

天街小雨润如酥，草色遥看近却无.

(韩愈)

              天苍苍，野茫茫，风吹草低见牛羊 (小狗）。　　

诗人陈子昂的《登幽州台歌》

前不见古人， 　　后不见来者。

天似穹庐，笼盖四野。 　　

登鹳雀楼, 作者：王之涣 

      白日依山尽，黄河入海流。 　　

欲穷千里目，更上一层楼。

Movies

Everyone loves movies. Different countries produce movies based on their cultures and life styles.  Everyone has different taste in movies. I enjoy different types of movies on different occasions. When it's holiday, I love to watch "Love Actually". When it's a relax movie night, I will choose to watch an easy laughing comedy movie. But my true love for movies are those classic old fashioned movies.

My parents, especially my dad was kinda brainwashed by Western style living. Back in 60 or 70s, there were not many western films showed in China. The ones that were showed in China are often old classic movies that made in 40 or 50s in Hollywood. When my parents start dating in the 70s, they would often go to movie theatre to watch those films, such as "War and peace", "Gone with the wind", "Casablanca", etc. My mom had a whole collection of books that were written by Leo Tolstoy and Charlotte Bronte till today. They are the true romantics. Till today, my dad loves coffee for breakfast instead of green tea (the chinese way) and enjoy a good medium rare cooked steak.

I started to watch movies when I was about 5 years old. When many children prefer to play toys, I will sit in front of TV with my little black dog when there were movies on. My first memory of western movies is called "Sissi". It was a story of the Empress Elisabeth of Austria in a young age. I have no idea if they were product in U.S.A or in other European Country. All I remembered was the ocean view and beautiful dresses and the prince and princess who lives happily ever after.

We don't own any fancy tape player or cable TV until much later, I would read the TV program Section on newspaper and circle the movies out. I will quickly do my homework and get all the things done, so I can watch the movie without any distraction.

I loved how the movies show the blue sky, the beautiful ocean view and often dreamed I will get to see them in future. I loved how the movies played about true love, the living in the moment. I dreamed that there will be a prince that come and take my away (well, not really away, I love my parents. And I was in teens that time.) My parents believed this is why I am a true romantic just like them.

Those are the old days. When I finally got to see the blue sky and beautiful house here, I got used to it that it wasn't sparkle for me anymore. When I moved to Vancouver, I saw a different view of the blue sky. Maybe because I moved here for love, suddenly it reminds the little girl who wanted to see the blue sky and ocean.

One thing that never changed is my idol. I had many idols when I grow up, but this one is special. This one is just so timeless and has been adopted to different cultures, her name is Audrey Hepburn. Audrey Hepburn is not only a beauty idol of mine, but also how she lived her life. There are so much more that I can talk about how she inspire me. That will be another post.

When I found her book in Thrifty store today, I got very excited.  For $1, I get to bring this beautiful book home. I am lucky that it's not just a dream on reading it at the beach under the sun and blue sky.I get to do it right here right now. Life sure is good.

My dad and I in Toronto

Beautiful ocean view in Kits Beach

The cheap find in Thrifty Store today