We leased a new electric car!
- ground beef japanese curry with roasted vegetables
- pickled cabbage and carrots
- tofu seaweed miso soup
- iced cinnamon orange tea from Market Spice in Seattle
We love the cinnamon orange tea we bought from Market Spice at Pike Place Market in Seattle. Its natural sweetness comes from the cinnamon—no sugar needed. G and I visited Seattle in June for my nephew’s college graduation and took the opportunity to explore downtown.
I’m grateful for our peaceful, always clean, and clutter-free living room, complete with a 65-inch Samsung Frame TV where I enjoy watching anime. I usually watch one episode a day in the afternoon—each about 20 minutes long. I subscribe to Crunchyroll for $8 a month, which feels like an amazing value.
G is excellent at cleaning, and living in such a neat, minimalist home brings me peace every day. We both dislike displaying knickknacks—anything that takes up visual space must be either useful or aesthetically pleasing.
Recently, I made a ground beef Japanese curry with roasted vegetables, inspired by an anime called Yotsuiro Biyori. It’s a slice-of-life series about four men who run a traditional Japanese café. The show is very relaxing, with little storyline—mostly just cooking and serving customers—which makes it soothing to watch.
Another exciting update: we just leased a new electric Hyundai Ioniq 5 SEL.
Neither G nor I had leased a car before, but with the current rebates and great lease deals, we decided on a three-year lease. The total cost works out to $4,100 per year—less than the annual depreciation on our Lexus gas car.
We both love the Ioniq. It’s quiet, comfortable, packed with safety features, and has a huge screen for navigation. I’m not a car person, but I have to admit this one makes daily driving much more enjoyable.
Of course, material things alone don’t bring happiness—but they can add joy to daily life. I feel thankful and happy every time I get into the car.
Since I enjoy personal finance, I ran the numbers: if we drive 10,000 miles a year, our old Lexus at 24 mpg with California gas prices averaging $4.50/gallon would cost about $1,875 annually in fuel. Our new electric car gets about 3.9 miles per kWh, and since we charge at home during off-peak hours, those same 10,000 miles cost only about $360 a year in electricity.
Not only are we saving money with the Ioniq, but we also both prefer driving it to the Lexus.
I’m so thankful G and I share similar taste and work well together. We researched, found a great deal online, and even made a five-hour round trip to pick up the car.
One evening, while walking around our neighborhood, we came across a big tractor parked with no one else around. With all the new housing being built nearby, it had been left there by the builders. I love that G and I can find fun in the simplest things — we took turns climbing into the tractor and snapping pictures. The sunset light was beautiful, and I have such fond memories of being silly with G that evening.
