Here I am.
There you are.
I am so happy that you chose to spend the weekend with me and that we got to be together.
I loved being together with friends and family.
These are the best of times.
Enjoy every moment.
Have another wonderful week!
nAMaste
Category Archives: family
Day 65: Summer
Seriously? Has it been 65 days already? By counting the days, I’m fully aware of time passing and how long summer vacation actually is. I will be ready for the school year to begin again this week. This was a transition summer for our family, with me working from home, and with the two teenagers starting their first summer jobs as lifeguards and practicing with their sports’ teams. This summer, we stayed closer to home and did more afternoon and day trips around our more complex schedules. The kids slept in while I worked, and we enjoyed our friends and hanging out together during the afternoons.
I realized that we had a “free” day with no commitments today and wanted to do something all together as a family. After much discussion and debate, we decided to visit the Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz and packed a picnic lunch to take with us. Have you ever been to the iconic Mystery Spot before?
We enjoyed the mystery of the optical illusions and the feelings of anti-gravity and like we just got off a rollercoaster.
Our tour guide was funny and entertaining and we enjoyed the experience of doing something new together and laughing at the craziness of it all.
The Mystery Spot is located in the Santa Cruz Mountains. After we finished our tour, we left the redwood trees and took our picnic to the beach, where we enjoyed watching the surfers and locals walk by as we ate. It was a gorgeous day to be by the beach. I loved today, and being with my crazy family. I am thankful that we made it happen.
Life is good.
Day 61: Summer
A week from today, the kids will be back in school. Summer is winding down. While I’ve mostly enjoyed the unstructured afternoons, I’m looking forward to a more normal and expected schedule that the school year provides for our family. As I practice living in the moment and being thankful for what is, here are three events that filled me with joy today.
I enjoyed a lunch break with Jeff and Juliana between our work schedules. We chose to get falafels and schwarma wraps for lunch and it was all delicious. We wondered if my parents might like this food and wanted to share it with them when they come to visit soon.
After work, Jeff and I enjoyed going for a walk and doing a kettle bell workout together.
As we waited for the rice to finish cooking as part of our dinner, Jeff and I sat on our comfy outdoor couch with a drink and listened to the water fountain, while we relaxed and chatted about parenting teens. We are growing up!
What three things brought you joy today?
Day 60: Summer
My eyes are red. I was going to post a picture but it was too freaky. They are red because I am over tired, but not because I was crying or sad. I am writing earlier than usual tonight and plan to go to sleep earlier too, to clear the red out, I hope.
People are starting to go back to school, which means summer is almost over. I’m not sure how I feel about that, but probably feeling a bit of the yin and yang. Has it really been 60 days already? I think I’m ready for another change again?!?
My sister was supposed to come visit today but she was sick and had to postpone her trip. This does make me sad as I was looking forward to her company and hope she feels better. We were hoping for one last hurrah before the structured days set in again. Now we will have to wait.
How was your day? Did things go as planned or did you have to adapt too?
Wishing you peace, wherever you are! xoxo Adriana
Day 57: Summer
What made you happy today?
I love the little things.
Today Jeff helped me to fix my fountain. My fountain tends to get clogged and hasn’t been working forever. I asked Jeff to fix it with me today and he did. We got the shopvac out and vacuumed out the dirt and leaves. We washed the filter screen and reassembled the parts and then filled the fountain with water to test it. The best part was that Jeff stayed calm throughout the process, which was a miracle!! He hates hassles and he didn’t complain, which made me as happy as the fountain working.
This made me so happy! I love that my fountain is working again and the sound of water fills my yard.
We enjoyed the rest of our steakation, sitting on our outdoor sectional couch and planning to go to the new Whole Foods to get delicious, juicy steaks to grill out for dinner.
We had to try the Mochi ice creams before dinner, because it’s summer time and we can have dessert before a late dinner.
Life is good!
I hope you’re enjoying your weekend!
Love,
Adriana
Day 56: Summer
How often do you try something new?
Tonight I tried grilled teriyaki squid and even though it looked intimidating and weird, it was chewy and delicious!
We enjoyed a potluck at our pool club with friends and noticed that the weather is beginning to cool down. Fall feels like it might be coming early.
Have a great weekend!
Day 54: Summer
Bad Moms!!!
This was us pretending to be the stars of the movie in the poster behind us.
We laughed so hard and saw ourselves in the women on the screen.
The moral of the story is we all have our struggles, we’re all doing our best and we love our kids no matter what. We are perfectly imperfect and we have each others’ backs.
One Love.
Carry on, warrior mamas! We are all amazing! Just don’t expect me to ever be your PTA president. 🙂
xo
Day 53: Summer
Jeff took Juliana out to practice her driving tonight, which made me happy. I love that she had time alone with her daddy and I know she appreciates his attention. I love when my family is content and together.
I sat down for a few minutes this evening, as I’m super tired today. As soon as I sat down to relax, my little partner came up and forced his way between my hands and my eyes, as I was looking at my phone, of course, catching up on social media. He wanted my attention.
Do you see his paw? That’s where it usually is. And if I stop petting him, he nuzzles a little closer. He makes me smile and helps me to relax.
But I can never sit for very long. I soon got up to tidy up, as having a clean kitchen always makes me happy. As I loaded the dishwasher and swiped down the counters, I looked up to find my buddies watching me again.
Maybe they were telling me something, like they wanted some food? Or maybe they wanted me to go relax again. I chose both options.
I’m thankful for my furry friends today. But Juliana is now asking for a dog…uh oh.
How was your summer day? What made you smile?
xo stay loved
Day 52: Summer
If a picture could be a receipt, this picture would be my receipt for another happy summer Staycation day. It captures a moment in time and I can see my babies growing up and still loving and admiring one another. Charlie adores his sister and loved that she was the lifeguard on duty at the pool today. I loved that he was happy swimming alone in the deep end, having her undivided attention.
When we arrived at the pool, Juliana was on a break because there weren’t any kids in the pool. She didn’t mind at all to put her book down and to come watch her brother. They make a great team and watching them made my heart content.
My BFF and her daughter came to join us and we enjoyed the afternoon hours together, catching up and relaxing and sharing stories
Life is good. I’m loving this staycation thing! Happy 1st day of August. I hope you’re off to a good, new beginning, whatever that may be.
xo
Day 51: Summer
Today is July 31st and on the 31st of every month this year, Baskin Robbins is offering scoops of ice cream for $1.31 each.
Juliana wanted to go there tonight and I resisted. I had been gone all day and had decided (today) that I’m going to start being good with what I choose to eat beginning tomorrow and I was practicing today already. She reminded me that we hadn’t been together all day and we’re trying to make the most of our Staycation and that we really should go!! She’s very convincing even though my arguments were very convincing too. In the end, I decided I’d rather play and have fun and share the experience than not.
We all loaded in the car to go and once we got there, the line was out the door with a party of 17 in front of us with more people joining from the parking lot. Luckily the family decided we should go with plan B and chose Thrifty’s ice cream from Rite Aid, which is my favorite.
Thrifty’s ice cream was only $1.99 for one scoop and $2.69 for two scoops and we didn’t have to wait in line! Since there wasn’t anywhere to sit, we wandered around the store and played a game. We each walked around and looked for the strangest thing we could find and took a picture of it to share with the group. This made “shopping” fun. We all laughed at our treasure hunt finds.
Who knew an ice cream shop could be so fun? Thanks Juliana for inspiring me to go out and play!
Happy Sunday! Have a great week.
xo
here i am 