Saying goodbye to my previous life

I have been a stay at home mom for 3 years. It felt much much longer than that. I was a software developer in my previous life. Today I gathered the courage to pack the books that have been collecting dust the last 3 years.

Some of them were dated 1994, the year I graduated. Some were utilities books that I referred to almost daily at work. There were purely academic ones, most of them I got when I was working toward a Master degree, which I never complete. There were Java and software design and software process books. It's hard to part with them. Looking at them is like traveling back in time. I remember the projects that I worked on. They also reminded me the personal events and emotional stages during those years. Some of these books traveled with me from Calgary to Toronto and back. Today I am saying goodbye to them. Allen and I are planning to move to another city, and it's time for me to move on. Goodbye books.

Necklace from Carol

She made this necklace for me. Isn't this beautiful? Carol is so talented. You should see the cakes she made.

Here's a new top I bought from Banana Republic yesterday. I think they go pretty well together. I got a silk/cotton blend fabric with big yellow flower pattern last week. I picked a pattern from one of the Japanese sewing book. However, I think the fabric will also work as this top.

Beach Day

We are back from our vacation. The day before we left, we decided to drive to Vancouver instead of camping at Kelowna. It turned out to be a good thing since there were wild fire in the region and some areas were evacuated.

Our trip in Vancouver were relaxing with lots of good food, as always. The highlight of the trip has to be our day at English Bay. We spent 6 hours on the beach, playing and laying on the sand. Ben napped for a few hours in the stroller and therefore missed getting wet.
 
Look at the yummy "clam dish" made by Sarah!

After the beach we went for some real sea food at Raincity Grill. We ordered the 3 course dinner and I had the wine pairing. It was very delicious and considering what we got, very good value.

Seared scallops with scallion risotto and carrot foam

Halibut with garden vegetables

Back from *camping*

We went to Kananaskis for a weekend camping trip with Andy and Andrea. We have our brand new tent and they have their brand new RV.

It's Ben first time camping and he was very excited. In fact, he was so excited that he didn't eat any dinner, instead choosing to play with gravels and Noah's toys. The weather during the day was perfect. However, the supposedly camping trip turned out to be 2 day trips - we drove home at 2:30 am because Ben woke up screaming, probably it was too cold for him. It was cold even for me and I had my down jacket with the hood on. Lucky for us home is only an hour away. My own bed felt so good.

We drove back to K-country after a good night sleep to meet up with Tom and Shell for lunch and dinner. The kids got to play outdoor and they loved it. Even with the little hiccup at 2 in the morning, I thoroughly enjoyed the trip. Now I am looking forward to the week long camping trip in July!