Ranking 35 things for my 35th Birthday

One of the most impactful books I read leading up to my 35th year of life was called “An Anthropocene Reviewed” by the author John Green, one of my favorite authors, internet pioneers, and thinkers. In this poetic & poignant collection of essays about the condition of being a human on our shared planet, he reviews everything from the QWERTY keyboard, the Notes App, and the Internet to Sunsets, a pre-WWI painting, and the plague on a 0-5 scale. I picked up a signed copy (!) during Covid, started it, then never finished the book. 4 years later, I serendipitously was gifted the same book by my husband David for Christmas. I read it all through out the last month of my pregnancy with May, and even a few hours leading up to labor with her (!) It’s a special and beautiful experience I will forever treasure.

So this year, for my (3 months late!) annual birthday reflection, I ranked 35 things that mattered to me last year on a scale from 0-10, as a tribute to John Green, and to my husband ❤️

1-Making a podcast with my daughter Norah: 9.5/10

I became increasingly anti-social media and anti-early phone usage early last year. I shuddered at the somber research showing a direct correlation between social media and teen-girls’ body image & self esteem, and studies showing similar relationship between pornography and young men’s mental health. 5 years after covid, it’s finally clear just how detrimental lockdown & online learning really were to children’s learning, sense of belonging and mattering. Books like the Anxious Generation and Stolen Focus offered us parents in tech a clearer playbook on how to expose our kids to tech: we are to provide the kids with a lot more physical freedom in the real world while restricting and delaying their access in the online world. FYI, here are some of our house rules, applicable to all kids but especially Norah who is old enough:

No TV/screen time during week days, and never during any mealtimes or bed times, except when we travel on an airplane;
Technology should be used mostly for creation and not for consumption. E.g.: drawing tutorials are okay, ipad shows are not; math games are okay, tiktoks are not;
Always consume tech (watch a movie or show) with someone else, unless it’s music or podcasts. Norah listens to Circle Round (folktales around the world voiced by celebrities against orchestral music) Highly recommend.

All of our rules follow this underlying assumption: technology is a tool and not the point. Our kids will learn to foster & prioritize critical thoughts, skill acquisitions & above all human connections over trends, societal pressure, & convenience.

Thus, enters Norah & Mama Time. It checks all the boxes of our tech rules. And, it brought us closer. And, dare I say, we’re quite good at it. We hope you check it out.

2-Bedside phone chargers: 2/10

Speaking of technology, I’ve been leaving my phones charged in a different room for 2+ years now, and make it a point to not check it within 30 mins of bedtime/waketime or during nighttime breastfeedings or bathroom breaks, and it’s been one of the best decisions I’ve made for my sleep & mental health. Charging phones by the bed means letting the whole world into your mind the first thing when you wake up, and going to bed with the entirety of its weight on your shoulders. That’s what a lot of us do every night and morning without even thinking. So, I gave it up, and have never looked back. As for time and alarm clock, you could easily solve it with old-timey solutions. You don’t need phones for that. (Exception: in a hotel room we we travel and have an early flight)

3-Thảo Điền, HCMC: 8/10

The summer of 2025 marked the year we finally found a family location in Vietnam that makes total sense for our ever growing family! It was David’s 10th trip to Vietnam, Norah’s 5th, Ira’s 4th, and May’s 1st trip. Each trip to Vietnam, we learned something more about our collective & individual preferences and made better choices. David & I are avid walkers, and Thao Dien has lots of greens & charm for casual strolling. This was similar in some ways to Hanoi’s Old Quarter where I grew up. However, its July scorching sun made it almost impossible for us to explore the city in the summer. Saigon, on the other hand, was a lot milder, cooler, more windy. Norah even said it was not as hot as Denver, which is a win!

I put together a list of my favorite Thao Dien spots (mostly cafes 😂 ) here, if you’re interested. Literally, there’s nothing that you might enjoy doing in Asia that Thao Dien doesn’t have. Except maybe affordable head massages. Oops. (For that - Hanoi is still number 1)

4-Software updates, or any “updates” in general: 4/10

I used Google Map religiously in Vietnam this trip to experience & rank different cafes, restaurants, spas and various other establishments in Thao Dien recommended to me by friends or the internet (as seen above). However, towards the end of our Saigon trip, Google did an annoying update where you can no longer add emojis to each place, which prevents me from sorting places I wanna check out by categories, rendering the list a lot less usable for me to add new recommendations.

This speaks to a wider point I see as a person in tech, and in life in general. New is not always better. Updates are not inherently good. Remember the disastrous HBO’s rebranding to Max which was subsequently re-re-branded back as HBO? Yes, people should take bets and try things, and companies should certainly renovate and not stagnate. But it’s foolish to assume changes automatically result in benefits and no consequences. Tradeoffs should always be factored in. You never know what you treasure until you lose it. I’m speaking from work experience as well since we are going through a major (and painful) website restructuring now for our company due to what we thought was a simple “design update”.

5-Canh Chu Sườn Sụn: 10/10

Need I say more? I’m convinced this meal made by mom is the peak of all meals. I’ll be taking no further questions at this time.

6-Severance: 9.5/10

One thing about me is that it’s so hard for me to get into a new movie or TV show. On the scale of maximalist to minimalist (or, explore vs. exploit), I’m a total minimalist who exploits since I value my time, energy, and peace of mind. My happy place hence doesn’t have a lot of “things” in it, and my love language is quality time spent together (gifts rank last).

But this year, I’ve ventured out of my comfort zone a little bit with books, TV shows, and music (more on this later), and I’m so glad I did! If you are looking for a dark humor-ed, visually stunning, weird AF, frustratingly-paced in the best way possible show featuring some of television’s most talented actors, look no further. You simply have to watch Episode 4 Season 2 of Severance. (and yes, the rest of the show too so that episode makes sense). It’s like The Office (yes I know 🙄 ) meets Black Mirror meets Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Perfection. Deeply Concerning. No notes.

7-Researching extensively: 7.3/10

How much you research beforehand when you travel or shop says a lot about you as a person. I personally don’t do much research but I really appreciate it when other people do it 😆 I’m talking reading tons of reviews, comparing prices up and down, learning everything possible about a thing or a place. I let the pieces fall into place after doing some amount of research. I later learned that my approach is echoed in this Veritasium video about number 37: that is, for both practical reason as well as peace of mind reason, most people are happiest with their choices after having explored about 37% of total available options. That sounds about right for me. When making decisions, I don’t want to know 0 thing, but I usually call it after exploring just about that much, sometimes less. The payoff of having made a decision matters to me more than wherever or not I’m absolutely right.

8-Heavy Blankets: 9/10

If you are currently struggling with insomnia, here would be my recommendation tried & true from my episode of insomnia back in 2019/2020 and also briefly in 2021:

skip alcohol, especially at night. alcohol might seem like it’s great at putting you to sleep but that’s a lie. It knocks you out right away but then you will have less restful sleep, and wake up soon after the first 1-2 cycles, all groggy. For me as a non-alcohol consumer this happens too when I try similar things like NyQuil,
go to bed at around the same time every day, and try to sync it with the sun if you can,
heavy blankets! For me this was a gem suggestion from my friend, and it makes total sense. Having swaddled 3 babies, I should know already how warm & secure we need to feel to fall asleep. To the point I would ship it all the way across the world to Vietnam in its own suitcase 😂

9-Poetry Reading Day: 10/10

For Mother’s Day this year, Norah surprised me with a poem about how her 5th birthday and I will never forget it. I wrote about it here.

*the best poem Norah has ever written for me*

10-Skipping Breakfast: 8/10

Since 2023 I’ve been caring and researching a lot more about health related topics, right on cue for a 30-something who’s aware of how short life is! I learned about mitochondria (most chronic illnesses of the modern life such as dementia, diabetes or depression can be attributed to mitochondria dysfunctions), metabolic health & the brain-gut barrier (“gut feeling” has a scientific foundation to it - we can sense when something/somebody is ofF), the importance bone density & endurance training (women lose the most bone density during our breastfeeding years!).. and much more. I have always been hyper-aware of what I feed into my body since an early age, such as eating whole foods, saying no to alcohol & highly processed foods, but with this newfound knowledge, I’ve started also implementing intermitten fasting in my daily routines. I learn that eating is not just at an energy-consuming activity (in the caloric sense), but an energy-costing activity (at the cellular level). To preserve my health (gut, teeth, brain, everything), I need to condense my eating window in as short amount of time, so my body has sufficient time to recover and replenish. Skipping breakfast and not snacking after dinner/before bedtime did wonder for my goal. It gives me the highest amount of energy with relatively low effort. Slight minus point that is not that easy to do now for me considering that I’m still breastfeeding, but before May was born I found it very doable to fast for 16 hours a day with this approach.

11-Months as names: 9.5/10

I don’t know what it is about names that are also months, but I think they are some of the most endearing. August, April, June, and of course, May. I have a smile on my face whenever somebody asks what’s the baby’s name, and I answered “May, as in the month.”

12-Millenial Dads: 9.5/10

We’ve been doing this parenting thing for almost a decade now. Some things that I’ve observed is just how sweet & involved most dads our age are in the kids’ lives, compared to (no offense but) the generation of dads before, like my dad’s generation or David’s dad’s generation. Here’s to the ones that show up to school’s functions and pickups/dropoffs, taking up their fair shares of house work, and in general being so very present in their kids’ lives. At first, I thought it was only my husband and I must have lucked out. Turns out, it’s this generation. I’ve seen amazing dads all around. We millennial moms are so very blessed.

13-Always “win”: 5/10

If you have a certain type of personality that’s different from mine, you might have already figured out that “winning” is so overrated. But it did take me going through the longest, most enduring and forever relationship of my life (aka, with my husband!) to understand what that means. Don’t miss the forest for the tree. Pick your battles. You can always “win” your battles but lose the war. Having recently celebrated David and my 10th anniversary together, I’ve come to deeply understand these truisms. In practice, that means I will not automatically assume that my pov is correct, I will try to be the first to resolve a situation (& even apologize first), and not having to always have “the last words”.

This could also be extended to other areas of life too. Winning is also overrated in general because the pendulum can always swing back. When good lucks come, I’ve learned to appreciate them but not expect them to last forever. And when misfortune replaces, I’ve also learned to not feel so down on them. Call it karma, balance, or simply, “life”.

14-Sunrise/Sunset: 10/10

Some rankings need no words and this is one of them. All I can say is I’m so grateful we exist in a world where there are sunrises and sunsets. Especially, since we get to see them (almost) every day!

*A beautiful sunset stroll with our family of 4, when I was very newly pregnant with May*

15-Unplanned Dilly-Dallying: 8.5/10

Most of our daily tasks are routine and comforting, which to be honest our brain loves and craves. However, we could also easily fall into the trap of living on autopilot. So, when I do walk a path not usually taken, I’m replenished, rejuvenated, and simply reminded of just how lucky I am to be alive. Picture below is such an unplanned path, taken exactly on my 35th birthday after I woke up at 5am, made some unexpected turns in an unfamiliar town and ended up watching sunrise and napping in the most perfect secret hideout spot.

*one of the first pix I took upon turning 35 during my unplanned dilly-dallying 😊*

16-The Life of a Showgirl: 9.5/10

2025 marks the year that I turned into a Swiftie… yes, I cannot believe I said that 🙈🙈🙈 (poor David - he did not particularly love the newfound obsession)

And it all started with her 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl, released October 3rd this year. I listened to it after a cancelled pilates class (thank goodness!) since the one person who showed up there that day was working out anyway listening to the album. I figured as I had nothing else to do and wanted something to walk around listening to, so I gave it a shot. The moment I heard the first few notes of the Fate of Ophelia, I was absolutely hooked. Opalite changed structure in the middle of the song right after the first verse, and magically created spring in my steps. By the second chorus I was smiling wide. By the bridge I was sold. This is the best song I’ve heard for a long time. And that feeling did not go away until the very last song, the titular track ft. Sabrina Carpenter.

One thing led to another, I ended up listening 20+ hours nonstop to the album, and then decided to re-examine my bias against Taylor Swift, questioning my forever lukewarm feelings about her as an artist despite liking some of her songs (Love Story, Blank Space, August), knowing her general lore & business acumen (her owning masters story despite the Scooter Braun & Scott Borchetta of it all, which changed the music industry forever, as well as her feud w/ Kayne West leading to Reputation), and enjoying the documentary Miss Americana and her honorary PhD Speech at NYU. Surely, I cannot be the only one who feels like she has “meh” music and celebrated for being mediocre.

Boy, how I was so wrong. After digging deeper and truly listening to her repertoire of 280+ songs in her 18 year career, I got it. I understand the appeal now. Yes, it is true that her vocals are not the strongest. Yes, it is true that some absolute crowd’s favorites will never be mine (Bad Blood, Style, Wildest Dreams, Cruel Summer, Shake it off, You need to calm down, We are never ever getting back together, to name a few). And yes, it is true that I don’t in general identify with some her more insecure and torturous songs. But… what I cannot deny is the mastery of her storytelling, the sharpness and versatility of her words, and her natural knack for flipping the narratives via songs. She really is a league of her own. Count me a fan now. Here’s a list of some of my favorite TS songs, especially “new” ones I’ve only recently discovered if you are interested. There’s zero song from The Tortured Poet Department - I found that album insufferable.

17-Stomach Pain: 1/10

One of my “weird flex but okay”s is that I really, really do not mind childbirth pain. All things considered, I think the labor pain is very manageable, even the worst one I experienced during Norah’s birth which I went through without any epidural. My rather high pain tolerance was built early from when I was around 6 years old going through my first cruel, inexplicable and all-consuming stomach pain. Over the years, it has come and gone but never truly left me. When the mysterious pain’s back (as recently as 2-3 times this year), it usually comes back with a vengeance. I would not be able to think of anything else, wishing or even hoping the pain would just consume me into a hole so I could no longer be. When in such pain, I would choose to give up 10 years of my life, easily. At the same time, I’ve since gone through childbirth, colonoscopy and incision under armpit without much fuss or painkiller, to some doctors’ astonishment. So I guess even though it feels purposeless when I’m in the middle of it, the pain hardens and strengthens me, fortunately or unfortunately.

18-Epidural: 10/10

With that said, don’t get me wrong, I would never go through childbirth without epidural ever again. Yes I have high pain tolerance. But I’m not a sadist. Why go through the pain when you can just.. not? Plus, the drug makes you a lot more present in the birth of your child, which trust me you will feel grateful about later.

19-Teeth-cleaning: 8/10

I’d say dentists are overly feared! Yes it is not pleasant to get your teeth done, but the more frequent you do it the better and easy it is to tolerate the discomfort. Plus, I like the feeling between my teeth after a thorough cleaning.

*Norah learning all about dental hygiene at a regular dental check up*

20- Vietopia: 4/10

Loved the concept but it was poorly executed. I just can’t in good conscience highly rank a kid career fair when it has 3 soda factories in it, even if it was better lit and not indoors.

21- San Juan, Puerto Rico: 5/10

I actually love Puerto Rico a lot less than I thought I would. I didn’t realize the island has next to zero fresh produce because it’s geographically constrained and politically bounded by its complicated relationship with the US (islanders pay tax, but cannot vote). The beach was cute, but nothing spectacular. All in all, I would choose anywhere in Vietnam or Hawaii over Puerto Rico. One thing that I really appreciated was the artistic spirit of the people there though. The island is culturally rich. So, our evening we went to old San Juan to attend an open mic at this gem of a spot called the Poet Passage was our absolute highlight of the whole trip. You can watch Norah’s poetry reading that night here.

22- Swimming in the rain: 9/10

Did you know that the pool water feels wonderfully warm during tropical rainstorms? I used to do this a lot when I was 17, living in India. My high school had an outdoor pool that was almost always deserted during Indian monsoon. I remember spending many afternoons swimming alone in that vast pool looking over the Indian mountains. Swimming in the Mui Ne resort this summer for my birthday reminded me of that. This time, luckily I had my brother with me. It was a special time.

23- Having a lot of friends: 6/10

One of my insecurities growing up is not blending in - as many teenagers can probably relate. So I was always a person who hung out with a lot of friends. I remember feeling very proud to have many friends I consider good or even best friends during middle school. I had a core group of 6, then also was close to at least 3-4 other groups, singletons, and even boys. I feel like I was friends with everyone!

The feeling that I needed to have a lot of friends slowly changed as I grew older, especially since I became a mom. My life priorities changed and it’s okay. At times, I do feel melancholic about something that was lost when I traded investing in friends for moments with my children.

Recently I reached out to a friend who used to be so important in my life and with whom I have lost touch over the years, asking for her updates. She deactivated most of her socials so I literally had to google her. When I finally found her (work) email and reached out, she was happy about it, but the catch up call never happened. She was moving. She recently went through a breakup. She had a lot of things going on in her life. So, it was me who eventually canceled the catch up calls after 3 unsuccessful attempts.

It was neither of our faults. But I can’t pretend that I wasn’t sad about it. Being a mother and a family person was and is my choice. I wouldn’t do it any different. But I would be fooling myself if I said it didn’t come with a hefty price. In my case, my relationships with some friends, who once I held the most dear.

24- Dry flowers: 8/10

I was never the type to expect flowers on important occasions. Among my love languages, as mentioned above, gifts rank pretty much last. But my husband does not rank gifts so low. So he occasionally surprises us with very unexpected flowers. Sometimes for no reason at all. Our house is full of dried up flowers from his many small moments he thinks of me, of our home, of us. And I adore them all.

*one of many dry flower pots in our house*

25- The Notes App: 8/10

I learned recently that Taylor Swift wrote most of her recent songs on the notes app (because she’s at heart a lyricist/writer/storyteller) - of course she does! John Green ranks it 3.5/5 in the Anthropocene Review. For me, I love a simple product. When it comes to jotting down half-formed thoughts and lists quickly, there’s nothing like the Notes App. You could search for keywords fast, and tag entries with different hashtags to easily organize your thoughts. It provides chic UX/UI, easy access, simplicity, and just enough features for a note-taker like me. I use it almost daily.

26- Muted Colors: 4/10

If you ask me to rank muted colors before July of 2025, I would place them extremely highly, like an 8 or a 9. My house is full of muted colors as I think textures that remind us of nature such as wood, rattan or linen are superior to artificial ones from plastic or other man-made materials. But I did a personal color analysis recently and it turns out I have a very high contrast palette (based on my dark hair/lighter skin, smaller body relative to head size, and other high-contrast features). Aka, I would personally look best (not tired or “pale”) with the brightest and sparkliest colors, and not vibe at all with muted colors. Below’s side by side comparison between the 2 different palettes on me. So, one of my goals this year is to get rid of clothes that don’t quite vibe with my personal color, and incorporate a bit more brightness and “bling bling” in my closet. Wish me luck!

27- Convenience: 5/10

The convenience of modern life is a double-edged sword. Everything invented to save us time and effort comes with a hidden cost. Take grocery-store packaged food for example: it has fed our world more equitably, freed women from hours and hours of housework so she can focus on her career, and contributed to lifting many countries out of poverty. Yet, these types of food also make our population sicker, sadder, and less connected to nature. Or, take a more recent modern invention such as AI. As a general purpose tool, it speeds up virtually any task and accelerates growth & innovation rates for us as a species. At the same time, we are to deal with the proliferation of AI slops and shrinkage of our own brains, not to mention a non zero probability of total human extinction. You can see more of my professional thoughts on AI here and here.

28- Big emotions and deep feelings: 7.5/10

Out of our 3 kids, Ira is certainly the one with the strongest, loudest, biggest feelings. If he were a dog, he would be a golden retriever. His joy & excitement are infectious (he gives the world’s best hugs no competitions). But so are his anger and sadness. He particularly has trouble with transitions and state changes. For example, when we first came back to America from our 1 month in Vietnam wherein dada generally took care of him more, he refused to let mama put him to bed or bring him to school for a couple of weeks. I’m talking full tantrum, yelling, throwing himself on the floor. In those times, it could be hard as parents to lose our cool and assume the worst. But, my perspective is this: Ira has big, loud, wonderful emotions, some of them are positive, but some of them are not. Our job is not to control his emotions, but to create a safe place for them to come out in a healthy way, so they won’t hurt him or others around him. The feeling is not usually the problem, it’s our triggered reactions which lead to even worse re-reactions that are/will be the problem.

29- Expensive things for kids: 6.5/10

We stayed at a relatively more “modest” resort in Vietnam this summer in Mui Ne compared to 2 years ago in Quy Nhon; and the kids love it 10x more than the expensive resort. Perhaps it was the accessibility of the pool (they walked/ran to the small pool instead of having to wait for a golf cart to get to one), the fewer options of what to do (no FOMO! we can only walk around, have brunch or use the small pool), or the small but mighty buffets (good at both places, but the modest resort actually has better pho). This goes with other things we spend on kids too. Most of the time, kids give zero shit about the price tag of something. Just because things are more expensive doesn’t mean they will appreciate it more. In fact, quite the opposite, they find your expectation that they appreciate expensive things more to be more limiting to their being able to appreciate them in the first place. So I guess, don’t spend a lot on kids? 😆 Or at least, admit to yourself that the spend really is for you, and not for them.

30- Setting boundaries: 9.5/10

Being “nice” and “polite” is overrated. Being kind is not (you should always be kind). However, society tends to over-reward performative politeness over kind candidness. Consider this scenario: a friend you like asks you to go to dinner at a place you don’t enjoy going. If you prioritize politeness over kindness, you might say something like “sure! i’d love to” and end up resenting your friend and even yourself for being such a “pushover”. However, if you are honest and set a healthy boundary, you might say something like “ah - I actually don’t enjoy that cuisine. Can we go to this place we both like instead?”

Setting boundaries comes naturally for some people and not others. What it requires from both the boundaries setter and receiver is the ability to handle slight discomfort. This is particularly difficult for people pleasers, including recovering ones. If you happen to be one, I’d practice saying no to people who you trust first, before extending it to the rest of the world. And don’t expect it to feel comfortable or easy. It’s a new language. A muscle you haven’t built before. It takes time to feel “natural”.

31- Making my own coffee: 9/10

I’ve been making my own coffee on and off since 2021 but this year is the first one that more than 90% of all the coffee I consumed are homemade, and I drink one daily! It took a couple of trials & errors to find the best beans, espresso machine, milk, as well as techniques, but I can confidently say that my homemade double-shot oat milk latte is the best in town, better than any coffee I could buy from even a specialty coffee place (in my opinion). My tips are:

I use Casabrew espresso machine instead of the expensive and clunky Breville. I don’t care about varieties of coffee, just a really good deep double shot espresso. The casabrew is compact and does the job so very well, with an excellent price point.
I have a grinder for beans (my favorite is dark roast Pablo’s coffee from Denver), but this year I’ve been gravitating towawrds this pre-ground Medaglia D'Oro Italian Roast Espresso, even though I’m generally in favor of grinding your own beans over pre-ground beans. I stumbled upon this brand while in Hawaii. It was so good as an instant coffee, and the pre-ground one is just as good as Pablo’s beans that I grind myself. So I save myself the trouble and ordering 12 of these in bulk, so far, I have gone through 6 in 6 months 😂
I use this simple frother for my foam. I found that with the fancy breville espresso machine or similar brands, the frother doesn’t work really all that well. And I love my froth. So I invested in one.
Lastly, I loveeeeee oat milk (almond milk, on the other hand, is detestable imho). It creates the most creamy foam of all, works perfect for lactose-intolerant or lactose-sensitive folks, and is lower in calories. I would rather eat my calories than drink it. However, finding the right oat milk is tricky, which brings me to my next point…

32- Oatly Oat Milk: 6/10

Give credit where credit’s due - Oatly is the yummiest oat milk out there if you don’t care about nutrition value and only about taste. However, I figured 2-3 years into consuming this brand religiously that almost every single variety of Oatly oat milk has 7 grams of added sugar (😔) - no wonder why it tastes so good! So, lately I’ve been switching to Planet Oat No Sugar (after trying out at least 5 other oat milk brands, including making my own). The foam it produces is only second to Oatly, and it only has 40 calories and zero added sugar per serving, a win!

33- Little kids’ mispronunciations: 10/10

Babies truly don’t keep. Norah no longer mispronounces things (she used to say “skabetty” for “spaghetti”, “is that?” instead of “who is that” or “what is that”; and “book shatter” for “book chatter”). I’m counting the days when Ira will no longer say “gills” instead of “girls”, “matilda” instead of “hilda”, and “farted-ed” instead of “farted”. Thinking about their little mispronunciations breaks my heart every time. I should start writing them down so I don’t forget.

34- Waking up early: 9/10

In an ideal world, I would wake up between 5:30 to 6 everyday to take a sunrise walk before coming back to a house full of sleepy heads. I cherish the chill cold air and the first glimpse of the sun over the horizon. There truly is nothing like it. I was able to do that almost every day for the first half of this year before May was born. However, my ideal wakeup time has been disrupted a bit since she’s still breastfeeding nightly even though it’s been 9 months, and I need those early hours to sleep. We will revise this once May weans off night feedings.

*will never get tired of this sunrise view from our neighborhood bench*

35- Falling asleep with a book: 8/10

I do not condone scrolling yourself to sleep (I found the blue light very disruptive for sleep) but I love reading a couple of pages before bedtime. For a while I lost my kindle somewhere and I couldn’t really read before bed with a physical book, as the bedside lamp is still too bright for both the baby and David. I found it again 2 weeks ago and it’s been amazing! Currently, I’m catching up on Suzanne Collins’ Sunrise on the Reaping, and Bonnie Garmus’s Lessons in Chemistry, both highly enjoyable reads. The reason the kindle light doesn’t bother my sleep the same way blue light from the phone does is that it has no glare and it feels just like a normal book. Highly recommend! I fall asleep soundly this way each time!

And that concludes my 35 things that I feel like ranking this past year. Phew. That was a lot of words. I hope you enjoy the read. I’m most definitely not going to do this again because 35 is a lot of things to rank, and it has taken me 3 months to write them.