Letting go can be a beautiful process.
Creating space by letting go of the old to enjoy the new.
Namaste BeLoveRs.
Letting Go
Category Archives: memories
Thankful
This was the highlight of my day. My kids came out for a hike with me, even though some thought this was a horrible idea. I wanted us to get out for some fresh air, to move our bodies and to share conversation along the way, away from other distractions. There was some complaining and whining at the beginning and I kept focused on being grateful and patient, thankful that we were all together enjoying the crisp, fresh air and muddy puddles. I loved watching them taking pictures, bird watching and deer and squirrel watching too. They laughed and danced and ran up and down the hills, teasing each other too.
This was a great way to end our Thanksgiving holiday break. I am thankful for my family, near and far, for traveling and being together sharing meals and conversation and chaos, and for being back home again.
I hope you all enjoyed your holiday, making memories and celebrating with those you love and like!
nAMaste
October
I’ve been hearing that October is coming for weeks now. Someone has been very excited and has been making plans for decorating our house for Halloween. He would probably start in September, but he knows I like to wait until the beginning of the month to begin celebrating any given holiday. He was well prepared and kept asking me when we could go up into the attic to get down the Halloween boxes and when we could go to the Spirit Halloween store. He knew that this weekend was THE weekend and he had a plan.
I told him that we could go into the attic in the morning, after we had our coffee. Of course, as soon as his eyes had opened, he was asking if we had had our coffee yet. Have I told you that someone in our family is quite determined and a little planner?
Luckily he waited for us, however he couldn’t sit still and kept tapping the stick that pulls down the attic door. He was so excited that he was bouncing off the walls.
When we finally got up from the table and Jeff was ready to open the attic, he was asking if he could go up in the attic too. Jeff had the typical dad answer, which was “no,” until Charlie worked his magic. He informed us that he could do it now and that he was no longer 5. He was now big and wanted to explore and to see what was up there and he had us convinced. I loved watching him carefully climb up the ladder and grow up in that moment. He definitely is no longer 5 and I could literally see him growing up, right there. And the smile on his face showed all his success.
My no longer five year old, still loves the holidays and for this I am thankful. I received joy by watching him love the experience, tearing open the boxes once again with wonder and decorating our home.
I love that he is growing up before my eyes and that he still is my little boy.
Happy Fall, everyone! I hope you enjoy October.
xoxo
Enjoy Every Moment
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
Day 55: Summer
here I am, happily taking the back seat.
With her dad in the front seat by her side, I was definitely the back seat driver and had a hard time keeping my mouth shut.
Today was another new moment and I could see my baby girl growing up and doing things her way.
While we were out teaching her to drive, Charie cooked dinner for us after I started the rice in the rice cooker. We came home and all enjoyed a delicious dinner out on the patio togetherZ
When I forget whether I enjoyed this summer Staycation at the end of summer, remind me of this moment, and the time and space we shared slowing down and enjoying whatever came our way.
Life is good.
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
Day 47: Summer
Forget the shoulds.
This was the highlight of my day. My old BFF and I went for a hike together first thing this morning and this was one of the little nuggets we unveiled.
We shared stories and ideas about life and parenting and adulting. We shared our vulnerabilities, and our joys and we listened to each other, while we enjoyed two hours moving up and down the hills together.
We talked about life and where we are now and what we dreamed of becoming and how far we have come. We decided that one of the best ways to enjoy this one life and to create our happily ever after and our Norman Rockwell moments was to live life in the moment, not wanting for or wishing to be anywhere else and to accept where we are right now. We decided that we had to stop thinking of all the things we should be doing or should have done and to be okay with what is and what we have chosen to do. We know we need to enjoy the present moment and not to compare our present moment with anyone else’s. Pretty basic thoughts, but we so often forget, especially as social media tells us stories and we create stories in our head of what we should be doing to vacation, to exercise, to be beautiful, to be a good mom, and to be whatever. Let’s stop the shoulds and the stories in our head and create our happily ever after in this moment, right now, enjoying what is and making the best out of our one, wonderful, imperfectly perfect life.
So simple, right? Wanna try? Are you ready to practice with me? Let go of the shoulds. You’re doing great just being where you are right now, doing your best.
Tonight I chose to eat ice cream with my family, even though I “should” be watching my calories. There is always tomorrow.
nAMaste
Day 44: Summer
Today we celebrated Charlie’s birthday at Hurricane Harbor in Valencia with his cousins. We were worried about the air quality as the Santa Clarita fires are burning out of control and were only 10% contained this morning.
We were lucky that the park and freeways were open and we were able to arrive before the park opened for the day.
As soon as we entered the park, we went to find lounge chairs in the shaded area first. Once we were settled, everyone began exploring and cooling off, as it was already so hot first thing in the morning.
We all had a good time, floating down the lazy river, splashing in the kid areas, bobbing up and down in the wave pool and riding a handful of rides.
Happy birthday, Charlie! Today it was fun to play in the water and in the sun with our family.
Life is good.
Day 42: Summer
I am happy that we got to celebrate Charlie’s birthday today with family, doing what he loves and feeling his joy of being an almost teenager.
We enjoyed donuts for breakfast, bowled in the afternoon, made pizzas for dinner and ate red velvet cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes for dessert.
Life is sweet! Today was good. Sending blessings of peace to you and your family, and especially to those in Munich today.
Happy Birthday, Charlie. You are loved! xo
Day 38: Summer
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
here i am 