Category Archives: family

Pattern and Design

Posted in connection, family, Gratitude, happily ever after, Happiness, joy, motherhood, simple living, spark joy, working mom by


I received my first Stitch Fix order in the mail today, 3 days ahead of schedule. 

I loved seeing the box arrive and was excited to open it to see what was inside. I waited until my husband and daughter and son were ready to watch me unwrap my Mother’s Day gift.

The labeling and the tape and the way things were laid inside the box were all well thought out. I loved the colors and the sticker and the tissue before I even enjoyed what was inside the wrappings. Everything was aesthetically pleasing even before knowing what was actually inside.

I loved the anticipation and was hoping I would love every piece and I did!  What a pleasant surprise.

I love that someone else went shopping for me and knew how to pick what would look good on my body. They did a better job than I ever could because I don’t have the patience or the interest to spend time looking for and hunting and gathering new pieces for my wardrobe. This was actually a very rewarding experience and my husband even asked if there was service like this for men as he hates shopping even more than I do.

After I was done trying on all my gifts, I told my husband that I knew what I wanted for my birthday now. He was thrilled that he was off the hook for thinking and shopping and wrapping and found the perfect gift! It’s a win-win!


Life is good!

Yesterday

Posted in connection, family, Gratitude, happily ever after, Happiness, intention, joy, nature, positive living, rooted, simple living, work life balance by

Silicon Valley

Yesterday, I enjoyed this beautiful view with my BFF. We saw a snake too, and that was a little bit scary.

Yesterday a friend texted me, sharing a connection from a post I shared long ago about roses and thorns. This really made me smile. 

The day before yesterday, a friend brought me a gift and surprised me, because it’s not my birthday. She liked the tree poster I posted awhile back and found us a replica. I am honored.


Today. I enjoyed today because I had a special lunch date and my kids had friends over and later, when we went to the Food Trucks for dinner, we ran into more friends. 

Community, connections and nature. I’d say it’s been a pretty good week so far, despite the thorns. Thank you, friends!

How’s your week going? It’s almost time for a long weekend. 

Be well.

xo

Chili

Posted in family, food, happily ever after, Happiness, joy, motherhood, simple living by

I asked Jeff what we should make for dinner tonight. I’m out of ideas and everything sounds boring. He picked chili, as it was cold, cloudy and rainy today.  So we went to the grocery store after Charlie’s soccer game to pick up all the ingredients. It was fun shopping together.

I asked Juliana to help me chop the peppers, while Charlie helped to declutter the kitchen table and I began browning the meat and onions. Jeff and Christian were working on other projects. 

I loved having my creative girl in the kitchen with me again.


She sees love like I do… everywhere…even in peppers!

Just another day in the life, living happily ever after one day at a time. How was your day?

nAMaste

Taste of Summer

Posted in best friends, family, food, Gratitude, happily ever after, Happiness, joy, Love, motherhood, parenting, positive living, simple living, spark joy by

I tricked her. I went in her room while she was studying and said, 

“Come out here and be with me, …and unload the dishwasher.”

Luckily she wants to spend time with me. She didn’t however like the idea of doing the dishes, but she did it anyway. I was getting ready to prepare dinner and wanted her company.

She retorted, “Let’s empty it together.”

Deal.

She unloaded and handed them to me while I put them in their place. Then we switched without exchanging words because she was closer to the place the dishes belonged.  We danced and flowed from dishes to conversations about our day, while we began to cut up fruit and prep dinner.

She cut. I boiled. She stirred. I chopped. She drained the noodles. I spiralized the zucchini and carrots. We go well together.


Afterwards, I sat down to relax. She followed me. We read and worked side by side. 

She got up and decided she wanted to bake. I followed her back into the kitchen.

She baked. I admired. She shared. I tasted.


We all gathered in the small space together and I called for a group hug. They thought I was crazy. I know they are growing up but they’re still all my babies. So we hugged. In that moment. For a second, because they know their mom is crazy!


Summer is almost here. I can almost taste it.

Can’t wait!

🙂 

Salud!

Posted in family, food, happily ever after, Happiness, joy, Love, simple living, spark joy by


As I’m practicing what I like to call “adulting,” I am missing my grandparents. I want to know them and to love them and share stories and my kids with them now that I’m an official adult. I keep missing them and our traditions.

I am thankful for my mama who learned how to cook the family recipe and to my husband who meticulously watched and took notes to capture how she made the liquid gold, because she doesn’t follow a recipe.  He watched as she cooked and created a Google doc that we could share, find and reuse.

Following the recipe this morning made me think of my mama and our family and the love we’ve shared over spaghetti dinners. I loved the process and the smell in the house and was excited for my family to come home to enjoy it with me.  I loved having it cooking on the stove all day, as I worked from home, getting up every so often to give it a stir, sniff and taste.

Everyone came home at different times tonight, and even though we didn’t get to sit together and share a meal at the same time, I got to see their faces and empty bowls and seeing them go back for late night snacks. 

Do you have a favorite family meal that brings back good memories? 

Salud! To your health!! 

Mangia!! Mangia!

nAMaste.

Mother’s Day

Posted in family, Gratitude, Happiness, Love, motherhood, parenting by

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mamas in the world!

  
I think this is a day to celebrate unconditional love and to recognize womens’ work!

I am thankful for my mom, my sisters, my girlfriends, my husband’s mom and our grandmothers. I am grateful for my kids, who made me a mother and for my husband who played a part in the creation process and who loves and supports me and our kids, unconditionally.

I love being part of the motherhood and sharing this day with y’all. Happy Mother’s Day!

nAMaste Mama Lovers!! 

Lockdown

Posted in family, fear, one love, parenting by

“we’re in lockdown”

These are not words you want to receive from your daughter and son.

“i’m scared”

Me too.

The lockdown didn’t last long. Just long enough for adrenaline to rush through my veins and to leave me shaken again. Vulnerable. Afraid. Helpless. Nervous. Scared. Angry.

“we’re on the ground”

Stay calm. Breathe. Do what they tell you and cooperate. Fight if you have to.

What the hell are these words?

I hated this afternoon. I hated the feelings that some teenager walking with a toy gun created for our family, our friends and our community.

Luckily they were freed and everyone was safe and physically unharmed. Emotionally, I still don’t feel good, even though the situation didn’t last very long. I felt helpless and mad that my kids had to experience this fear and had to lie on the ground without knowing if they were safe or not, while I helplessly waited for their homecoming.

When they came home, I cried and hugged them and cleared my schedule. I was thankful that the local police had the situation under control immediately and the kids were freed to come home to their worried mama, who was texting and calling and searching for answers while I anxiously waited.

When they came home, we all sat on the couch and watched Gilmore Girls on Netflix. We didn’t stress about dinner or homework. Afterwards, Juliana and I went to relax and got pedicures together, on a Monday at dinner time, instead. This made me happy.

Hug your kids and loved ones and enjoy the shared moments.

nAMaste BeLoveRs. Carry on. All is well.

 

 

 

 

 

Gifts Not Gaps, Connection vs. Conflict

Posted in family, Happiness, Mindfulness, one love, parenting, positive living, rooted, simple living by

These are the words that I repeat daily in my mind and out loud with my family. 

Today my husband said the words, as if they were his original thoughts. This is a huge compliment. They stuck and mean something to him too and I loved this moment.

I sometimes have a tendency to focus on the gaps, the little things that frustrate me, instead of the gifts that my family bring to my life. I want to stay in the space of creating connections and happiness and seeing the gifted moments and living happily ever after, day by day. When I focus on the gaps, I get stuck in a negative place and I don’t like that. So this is a daily practice to overlook the gaps, to let go, and to get back to joy as quickly as possible.

When my kids are arguing with each other, I ask them if they are creating connections or conflict with one another and if they don’t answer with connections, I ask them what they can do to create a connection instead of a conflict. It empowers them to choose and to take ownership of their actions and to focus on creating peace, just as soon as possible. Our goal is to create happiness and to take care of each other, all the time. 

This is how we find and create happiness day by day.

  
Choose peace.

Choose love.

Choose gifts.

Choose connections.

We get to choose every day!!

What will you choose tomorrow?

nAMaste