I had a friend who told me recently she was "burned out" from taking care of her baby boy. I think we all get "burned out" from time to time, whether it's taking care of our kids, our elderly parents, going to school, going to work or dealing with life, we all get tired sometimes!

"Burned out" is an idiom, meaning feeling tired from overwork. It can be physical or emotional exhaustion. It comes from the verb, "burn." To burn something means to put it on fire, when there's no fire left, we say it's "out".

Think of a gas stove, when we use it a lot we use more and more fuel, soon there will be no more fuel left to make the stove work, so it's "out". The same thing with our bodies, when we have no more fuel or energy left, we also struggle to keep going, we're tired! If you're burned out, please take a break!

Are you burned out from work this week?Do you know who else is burned out this week? Our dog, Maggie.

As you might have heard before, Seattle can sometimes get gloomy and rainy, so as soon as the sun comes out, everyone gets really happy! I definitely treasure the summertime a lot more now because the sun is so rare.

But to prepare for the summer weather, we also have to prepare for summer clothing! What's your summer clothing IQ? Do you know all of these?

Hope you're enjoying your summer wherever you are!

A lot of the times when we speak, we use the short form of certain words to make our speech smoother and faster. These are known as CONTRACTIONS.

For example, instead of saying: "I am excited for summer", we could say, "I'm excited for summer."  We shorten two words ( I am) into one word (I'm).

We do this by replacing the missing letter by an apostrophe
I am = I'm
As you can see, we substitute the 'a' with apostrophe mark. You'll notice the same thing from all the contractions below, all the missing letters are replaced with an apostrophe.

Contractions are definitely more informal and is used more commonly in speaking. However, I've started to see it more and more in writing since we've now become a more informal culture, don't you agree?

(Did you notice how many contractions I used in the last sentence?)

Summer is finally here, a popular time for families, students, and teachers to travel. I'll be staying in Seattle this summer as I'll be busy with lots of family visiting me here. The good thing is, I really enjoy summers here, the weather is perfect for me. I definitely recommend visiting Seattle in the summertime.

But for many of you who travel frequently or will be going somewhere this summer, it's important to recognize some airport vocabularies. You must be prepared! Listen to how each of the words are said and keep practicing!

Passport: an official document or book given to you by your government of your country to confirm your identity and citizenship

Boarding pass: a "pass" given to a passenger after he/she has purchased the ticket. It may be an electronic boarding pass or printed for the passenger after check-in at the airport

Trolley: a cart used at the airport for people to put their items on (suitcases, purses, boxes)

Transfer: when a person switches from one flight to another. In many cases, to reach a finaly destination requires a passenger to take one flight for a few hours, then get off the flight at another location, wait a few hours then board another flight. Sometimes it may take one or two transfers.

Check-in: the act of registering with an airline at the airport that the passenger has arrived and confirm information about his/her travel or "check-in" luggage. These days a passenger may also do online check-in before arriving to the airport. A "check-in counter" is where a passenger would "check-in" at the airport.

Metal detector: a electronic device that a passenger usually walks through at the airport to detect any metal or harmful objects a person may be carrying on his/her body.

Pat down: If a passenger triggers the alarm through the metal detector, an officer at the airport suspects you might be carrying something that is not permitted and will perform a pat down. This is when an officer will run a hand-held device over your body to check for any dangerous or forbidden items.

X-ray: a machine that you must put your hand-carry items through to check for forbidden or dangerous items

Immigration: area of the airport where officers will check for your identity by checking your passport, visas, and sometimes ask a few questions about your travel

Baggage claim: the area of the airport where you would pick up your check-in luggage, usually located before you exit the airport

Pilot: the trained person who flies the airplane

Flight attendant: an employee of the airline who takes care of you on the flight

It's the weekend! Do you have any plans?

If you're "broke" (idiom: little or no money) but want to do something fun with your loved one this weekend, you could always consider a frugal date.

What does the word "frugal" mean?
A frugal person is someone who is not wasteful, very careful about money, and make decisions based on economic gain or loss. Being frugal means to spend money the best way it can be spent.

A frugal date therefore means an economical date, not spending hundreds of dollars on a 4-course meal but being smart about how to spend the money the "best" way possible (maybe you can save that money used on one date to use on several frugal dates).

Are you a frugal person? Would you rather sacrifice now by saving and then enjoy it in the future? Or would you rather just enjoy everything now and worry about the future when it comes?

A very common question that I get is, what's the difference between "see," "look" and "watch?" All three of them require us to use our eyes but there are some small differences that you should remember.

See:
When we see something, we do it naturally and automatically. We don't have to move our head or body to see something, it just happens.
For example: "When I open my front door every morning, I always see the newspaper in front of me."
I don't plan to see the newspaper but can't avoid it because it's in front of my door.

Just like the young girl in the picture above, she didn't choose to see the burglar but she saw him naturally when riding her bike.

Look:
When we look at something it usually requires some action and physical movement. It means to see but with some intention and plan for a short time.
For example: "Look at the camera!"
You're telling someone to physically turn their body or their head to the camera for a picture.

In the picture above, the man is trying to get his friend to pay attention, turn his head to see the burglar.

Watch:
To watch something is the same as to look but for a longer period of time, with much more concentration.
For example: "Let's watch a movie together"
It means we plan on seeing something for a longer period of time.


A good way to remember the difference between the three is to think of the two O's in LOOK. One is on the left and the other on the right. So, when we LOOK at something, we requires movement, left, right, up, down etc.

By the way, I hope someone reported the burglary to the cops!