Category Archives: intention

Day 43: Summer

Posted in connection, family, happily ever after, intention, one love, parenting, positive living, rooted, simple living by

What was your favorite part of the day?

My favorite part of the day was when all 10 of us were in the pool at the same time. All the cousins and aunties and uncle were together in the water and this made me happy.

I didn’t take a single picture today and that is rare for me, especially with so many fun moments.

By not taking pictures and not being on my phone, I felt more fully present. 

At dinner tonight, we all agreed to leave our phones down and it made a big difference to the experience. I know this should be obvious, but it’s not in my family, and I enjoyed us all being in the moment together with limited interruptions.

Life is good. Keep on loving each other and lifting each other up. I hope you had a good day.

Namaste

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 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 27: Summer

Posted in family, food, Friends, Gratitude, happily ever after, intention, joy, motherhood, moving, parenting, simple living, spark joy, work life balance, working mom by

I write daily to share the little joys of living this one life we’re each given, sharing highlights from my little world, hopefully resulting in a smile, inspiration, and connection for you and me. This is my way to make the world a better place, at least in this cyberspace.

I am sad to hear about the protest in Dallas and the police officers who were killed. I am sad for the black families who lost a loved one and have lost hope of equal treatment. What can I do to make a difference? What can you do to make a difference?

I say hello when I see people and make eye contact, especially with people who don’t look like me. I want to connect to our One Love spirit, even though we might look different to each ther. I want to say, “I see you. I love you.” But that might be weird. I’m not sure what to do, except to be loving, kind, inclusive and friendly.

Today I enjoyed cooking with Jeff and preparing a spaghetti dinner for our friends. The house smelled so good and brought back memories! We enjoyed our friends and were thankful they could join us and for the delicious dessert they brought to share. 

Life is good. Be kind. Stay loving. Share.

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!

Day 21: Summer

Posted in exercise, family, intention, motherhood, positive living, rooted, simple living, spark joy, work life balance, working mom by

Today was beautiful. Seriously. In so many ways.

I brought the kids and their friends out paddle boarding and kayaking and packed a picnic lunch.  Of course, this is after I already worked 4 hours bright and early this morning so I could enjoy the day “off.”  I struck a balance this week and it felt really good.

I loved that the kids wanted to go with me and had a good time. I loved that I got to paddle too! And the sunshine and weather was just right. 

Life is good!  Happy 4th weekend everyone. Be well.

xoxoxox 


Day 20: Summer

Posted in family, happily ever after, Happiness, intention, Mindfulness, motherhood, positive living, rooted, simple living, work life balance by

This staycation keeps getting better!  Who says you need to travel far to enjoy summer vacation?  I still want to go away, but not just yet. 


These two sawed pieces of scrap wood and practiced writing with their new wood burning tool, while I worked from home. I had to come see their work and play a little too. This was fun!!  Charlie painted a sign for his room and Juliana did the lettering for him.

Charlie was craving Vietnamese pho for dinner and Christian wanted Korean BBQ. I told my international kids we could cook together instead of going out and save some money. I had them chopping and dicing and we prepared a bit of both, and stopped at the Korean market to buy a few side dishes to go with our homemade meal, that we enjoyed out on our patio. 


The cool thing about this staycation thing is that the days and nights are long!! We are not in a rush and the crazy thing is that when you’re not rushing, time slows down and we seem to have more time to do all the things we wish to do. It’s really ironic what you can learn when you slow down.

What did you enjoy today? How is your summer going and are you enjoying your moment?

Life is good.