Category Archives: Happiness

Day 40: Summer

Posted in exercise, family, Gratitude, happily ever after, Happiness, intention, Love, motherhood, positive living, simple living, work life balance, working mom by

Summer days are really long, especially when you get up before the crack of dawn and go to bed at midnight!! I have 14 minutes left in the day and hope to be in bed in 7, so I’ll make this quick.


This was the highlight of my day: getting out of the house for a run and dragging Charlie along on his bike. 

The run part was very hard and my legs felt like lead and it was hot!!

Today was a day of resistance and digging down deep to find gratitude when I wanted to cry and scream. I did come untethered and almost cried but was too tired to care to cry. 

In the middle of feeling like shit, I tried to remember all the important things you need to know when you feel down.  The problem with practicing what you’re supposed to do when you don’t want to is that it takes a lot of will power and energy when you don’t have a lot of will power and energy.  I did it anyway and could feel the shift. I know it works when we practice, but man, fighting that resistance is a challenge.

Today was a challenge.  And tomorrow is another day for peace, with hopefully a little more sleep, a little more food, more water and more down time.

nAhhhhhhhhMaste…..

Day 38: Summer

Posted in Beach, connection, family, Friends, happily ever after, Happiness, Love, memories, motherhood, parenting, positive living, rooted, simple living, spark joy, work life balance, working mom by

I choose to wake up bright and early every day. I have figured out a work schedule that allows me to get most of my work done while my teens and tween sleep in. Once they wake up and get moving and finish their chores, there is plenty of time for us to enjoy each other and our staycation.

Last night before going to bed, Charlie told me that when he woke up that he was going to make me eggs for breakfast. I loved the excitement of the anticipation that he was going to cook for me. I love the little things in life the most.

He woke up maybe two hours after I had been working already. The first thing he asked was if I was ready for breakfast. He hadn’t forgotten his promise. I love his thoughtfulness and his breakfast hit the spot.


I really appreciated his gesture and I think he was proud of himself. He asked to sit with me for two minutes, and how could I resist?

I think he was also excited for our beach day that we had planned and I love that he wanted to give back.  While I worked, the kids got stuff ready to go to the beach and when I clocked out, we were almost ready to go.

We loaded the car and drove over the hill and were set up on the beach for our picnic by 1pm.  We enjoyed the warmth of the sun and the cool ocean breeze and didn’t leave until after dinner time. The kids and their friends and the moms all had a good time and didn’t want to leave. 


When we finally left, we kept with our new tradition and stopped for ice cream at Marianne’s before heading back over the hill to arrive home again.  Who says you can’t have ice cream for dinner and dinner for dessert? 

I absolutely loved our fun-filled, long summer day. And now I am ready to rest.

Life is good. How was your Monday?

xo Adriana

Day 37: Summer

Posted in connection, family, fear, Gratitude, happily ever after, Happiness, intention, joy, Love, love and light, memories, Mindfulness, motherhood, one love, positive living, simple living, space by

This month we have been bombarded with hateful acts, instilling fear and sadness and awareness. 

I use social media to highlight the good everyday, despite the chaos and conflict and negativity.

I choose love. One love. Are you with me? I am with you.

nAMaste

Day 36: Summer

Posted in connection, family, Friends, Gratitude, happily ever after, Happiness, intention, memories, Mindfulness, motherhood, parenting, positive living, simple living, space, work life balance by

Who would have thought I would enjoy being “home” this summer?

By being home and not being “busy,” I’ve created space for magic to happen and I am loving it.

I’m enjoying my kids and my friends and my home and my work and my husband. I’m enjoying the flexibility and the lack of stress and rushed feeling. I’m enjoying the opportunity to say yes and to create experiences on the fly without being too busy.  

Today I finished our puzzle with Juliana and felt a sense of mindless accomplishment!


I love that the kids have come and sat by me and we have worked together on our puzzle throughout this past week, sharing conversation while we created patterns and filled the gaps. Thank you Nate and Becky for our gift!

I also love that Julie texted me first thing this morning to see what I was doing and to see if I wanted to head over to Santana Row for an hour just because. I wanted to sit in my jammies and drink coffee, but I can never say no to Julie and am always thankful for her spunk and drive and shared curiousity. She keeps me moving and exploring and I adore her!


I made her stop for a selfie because I loved the surroundings and pretending we were on holiday because we are! Thanks, Jewels!! 

Later in the day, Juliana and I went out to celebrate her getting her driver’s permit yesterday by getting bubble teas and shopping together. I can’t believe we have another permitted driver in our house. 

And for dinner tonight we took the advice of one of Juliana’s snapchat friends, and made Mac and Cheese and added BBQ chicken with melted cheese. We had a late, fun, family dinner at home and it was perfect.

I am going to bed early tonight as I was up really late last night and haven’t been able to shake the tired feeling all day today. 

Nevertheless, today was good. 

How was your Saturday?

Day 34: Summer

Posted in best friends, connection, Cooking, family, food, Friends, Gratitude, happily ever after, Happiness, intention, joy, Love, memories, motherhood, positive living, rooted, simple living, work life balance by

This is the life. 

This is my happily ever after right now, in this moment. 

This is the best staycation I never dreamed of.

I love this life. 



Thank you, Sunshine, for inviting us over tonight. We had a blast making pizzas and “shmores” and playing corn hole!! xo

nAMaste

Day 30: Summer

Posted in Happiness, joy, simple living by

Simple joys.

I had to go into Anthropologie just to see the creative art displays.  


This one was made out of balloons and cupcake liners, tied together by string in such an artistic way. I love simple things like this. How about you?  And how do they come up with these crazy and beautiful ideas?  

Tomorrow is a new week. What do you have planned?  I hope you have a great week! 

xo Adriana

 

Day 26: Summer

Posted in family, happily ever after, Happiness, motherhood, parenting, positive living, simple living, space, spark joy, work life balance, working mom by

Okay, this could be the best summer now that I’m getting the hang of relaxing and being at home-not-at-home-and-working.

We have time to be, time to relax, time to work and play and low stress. There is space, sacred space  at home and I’m finally embracing it. Hallelujah!!

So do you want to know what I’ve really loved this week?  I knew you’d ask…I am loving pet sitting for friends with Juliana. I have loved checking on the chickens everyday and filling their water and gathering their eggs with my kids. There was a simple joy in waiting for the eggs each day and awe in how this process even works. I loved watching them peck at the water tube too and hearing the clucking sounds they made.


I loved seeing the cats and their different personalities and appearance and how three different families have three different ways of feeding and raising their fur babies. I used to not be a pet lover and now I’ve changed and that’s pretty cool. I guess old dogs can learn new tricks.

How’s your summer going? What do you love about it?

nAMaste

Day 25: Summer

Posted in family, happily ever after, Happiness, intention, motherhood, nature, parenting, positive living, simple living, work life balance, working mom by

Today I decided to go up to San Francisco for the day. 2 of the 3 kids decided they wanted to join, and the last one came anyway, wishing he had more of a say in the decision. 


Only 25 days into summer and I’ve finally got the hang of this work/life/mothering teens/summer staycation thing (at least in this moment.) It helps that I work with a really cool team and don’t mind waking up super early to get my work done first thing in the morning before the kids get up.  

While being in SF, I liked being in a global city in our own backyard where people gather from all over the world. I loved seeing people walking around with their suitcases trailing behind them, which reminded me of our expat life and monthly travels. I loved seeing the tall Dutch women, exchanging dollar bills and the other traveling tourists and interesting characters. My only objective was to walk around and explore and people watch and the city didn’t disappoint. One of us wanted to seek out a bubble tea shop, while another wanted to see the Japanese tea gardens and a magic shop near Golden Gate park, and another of us wanted to see where the Bison Paddock was.  Having these destination points helped to guide our journey.

April gave me another idea of exploring the painted tile steps, which is something we hadn’t seen before and as we were driving through the West Portal, we realized they were close by and on the way to Golden Gate Park. Some of us wanted to stop, while others wanted to stick with the original plan. We practiced the art of negotiation and being kind to each other as we discussed our strong opinions in a small, confined space. I like to wander and flow with what we discover, as we discover it and not wait for another day. Luckily they all finally agreed to make me happy, which actually made them happy too. 



We also got to visit the desired bubble tea location, saw the Bison roaming, and walked outside the Japanese tea garden, but when we got to the magic shop, it was unfortunately closed this week for the 4th holiday week. Overall, it was a great and cold day to be in the city.

Life is beautiful!