Category Archives: positive living

Day 50: Summer

Posted in connection, Cooking, exercise, family, food, Friends, Gratitude, happily ever after, Happiness, one love, positive living, simple living, work life balance by

Today was much better than yesterday. And it’s day 50 of my summer staycation. I still woke up very early, and Charlie was up early too, so I just snuggled with him on the couch while the morning was still and everyone else was still asleep. It was nice to do “nothing” together.

After having coffee and reading the paper, I prepped the ingredients to make fresh spring rolls for this evening, which took more than 2 hours. After straightening up the house and decluttering, including washing all the dishes, I squeezed in a quick workout before showering and preparing for my lunch date.

Juliana invited her friend and her mom over for a double date with us. We served fresh fruit and baby carrots, and made grilled paninis, while they brought cookies and chips to share. Afterwards, we went to get luxurious pedicures together that felt so good!  I loved the girl time together.

We got home in time to relax for a bit. Actually, Charlie asked Juliana to bake him a strawberry cake and she was busy making the frosting while I relaxed. There is a perk to having big kids!  I loved that she did this for him.

Soon after we progressed on to the first stop of our progressive dinner. We enjoyed potstickers and sushi, shrimp chips, fruit and rice balls. 

It felt really strange to show up empty handed. Everything was amazing!

After an hour we progressed to the next house, where we enjoyed an Hawaiian theme, with pulled pork sandwiches, mango coleslaw, and pineapple.  Everything was so good and I was having such a great time, that I forgot to take a picture before we progressed to our house for the 3rd stop.


We made fresh spring rolls with dipping sauces. By the time we got to our house, we were all so full and we still had to save room for homemade strawberry birthday cake.  

I was happy being organized and prepared early this morning, getting all my work done, to be able to enjoy the entire rest of the day and night. I guess that’s a bonus to waking up early. It was another fun day to be on a staycation.

I hope you’re enjoying your end of the week.

hugs

Day 48: Summer

Posted in best friends, connection, Friends, Gratitude, happily ever after, Happiness, one love, positive living, simple living, work life balance by

Tonight I am thankful for my BFF who always has good ideas and inspires me and picks me up and makes life great.

I am happy even when we are just in the same room, sitting on the beach or shopping on Santana Row.  It doesn’t matter what we do, I just love her energy.

Everyone needs a good friend like her! I am thankful for my sunshine! 

Be well, my friends. And be a good friend!! 

nAMaste

Day 47: Summer

Posted in love and light, memories, motherhood, parenting, positive living, rooted, simple living, space, work life balance, working mom by

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 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 42: Summer

Posted in connection, Cooking, family, food, Gratitude, happily ever after, Happiness, joy, Love, memories, motherhood, parenting, positive living, simple living, work life balance by

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 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?