Outdoor free play.
Exploring tide pools.
Climbing rocks.
Balancing rocks.
Pescadero Farmer’s Market
Getting ready for a campfire and s’mores.
Life is good outdoors.
nAMaste.
Glamping in California
I grew up camping and I am so thankful my parents decided to come up to visit us again as they begin their summer vacation.
I was able to find a last-minute glamping spot with all the perks, close to the coast and we quickly packed up and got on the road. Charlie is so in love with his grandpa, whom we call, Opa. He decided he would drive with Opa and I drove with Oma in my car and with the other two kids.
We have a beautiful, relaxing spot to do nothing and anything for the next two days. I am beyond content.
I love seeing the kids play and ride bikes and do puzzles and hang out together with my parents with no agenda. I am loving on my parents too and enjoying their company.
Life is so good. Live it up, friends. Now is the time to BE. Here I am.
lichen on the bridge
This Is Summer Too
Sunny days.
Outside play.
Filling the gaps with togetherness.
Together they played and argued and excluded and forgave and apologized and worked things out. Together.
Together they laughed and made up games and had a water fight and chased each other as I watched and encouraged and redirected and smiled. Thankful for this moment.
I love my job. I love summer and this crazy life, even with the chaos.
What does summer look like to you?
Hope you’re enjoying your days.
nAMaste BeLoveRs
This Is What Summer Looks Like
Hanging out.
Playing with the kittens.
Laundry can wait.
Procrastinating.
Thinking about reading, but loving just lounging.
Slowing down.
Life is good.
Love these kids. Love this life.
I love summer!
nAMaste
A Legal Marriage
Our marriage is officially legal – we’re 18 years married happily ever after!
I love this picture because it represents us. I like to take a picture in front of this bush every year on our anniversary and he wants to hurry up and get it over with. It has become a joke. And now the bush is spotty and patchy and kinda funny looking, but today he played with me after getting frustrated, of course, and I got my memory photos. Thank you, honey!! You’re a good sport.
He’s the yin to my yang and I adore him. He makes me feel safe and he adores me and our kids. We enjoy each other’s company and just being together.
So that’s what we did today. We celebrated Father’s Day with the kids this morning with breakfast at home. We played a board game together and just hung out.
Afterwards, we celebrated our anniversary by driving up to the city, just the two of us. We love just driving together and exploring and walking and talking and just being a couple. So that’s what we did. We wandered and explored and discovered the Cellermaker Brewery that Jeff has been wanting to visit and had our first little date.
cool fence door
The sun was shining and it was a gorgeous day to wander and explore.
We found this fun little clothing shop with this cool display of air plants which I love. We were chatting with the sales ladies and talking about my birthday week and Father’s Day and our anniversary and they asked us if we wanted to take photos in their photo booth since they were also celebrating their store’s birthday. Of course we said yes!! I love photo props and playing.
It’s hard to believe the fun continued and we just kept living it up.
We had a romantic dinner at Abisenthe in a cozy little booth and then walked over to see The Book of Mormon at the Orpheum Theater. That was an interesting experience and I’ll leave it at that.
Thanks honey for spending the day with me and our kids. Happy Father’s Day! Happy Anniversary! Happy Life!! I love you!
Happy Father’s Day to all the loving papa’s!! Thank you for loving your kids and their mama’s.
nAMaste
xoxo
Beauty and the Beach
Today we enjoyed the latter part of the day in Santa Cruz, exploring, walking and playing.
I loved watching the light change as the day began to settle. I love this time of day.
I loved playing with Jeff and Charlie, kicking this BIG ball around. If you’re looking for a big beach ball like this, I found this one at Target for $9.99 and its been loads of fun.
Happy Father’s Day tomorrow to all the Papas. Thank you for loving your kids and their mamas and making this world a better place.
Love this life. Life is good.
xo
Practicing One Love
I am so sad about the shootings in South Carolina. I don’t understand hate and I acknowledge it exists. I just don’t understand why we have to hate those that are different from us.
I love everyone and want to know everyone’s story and culture and history. I want to celebrate our differences and learn from each other. I want to celebrate each others’ rituals and live it up together and lift each other up.
I want us all to learn how to get along and to see our connected humanity. We are one love, BeLoveRs. It’s really not all that complicated.
Today was our family’s last day of volunteering all week at Vacation Bible School. I know we don’t all believe in the same faiths, but what I do know is that we love our communities and what brings us together. We shared a common experience this week and practiced one love and I hope that our practice makes a small difference in our one little world.
nAMaste BeLoveRs
Fake It ‘Til You Make It
Along with the change your mind theme, sometimes you just don’t feel on/right/happy/up/positive/etc. That’s okay! It’s actually normal.
What do you do when you’re having an “off” day?
I woke up with one of those moods for no apparent reason. I was like, uh-oh!! I saw it. I felt it. I wanted to zap it right away. But the feeling was just there and didn’t want to leave.
What did I do?
1. Acknowledged the off feeling.
2. Decided I didn’t want to be off, even though I felt it.
3. Faked it until I made a difference.
4. Went through the motions, even though I felt resistance. I didn’t stop and kept going, even when I wanted to just take a nap.
5. Enjoyed my day anyway, despite the lingering negative feelings. I was happy with my experience even though I was unhappy on the inside and waited patiently for peace to arrive.
6. Made jokes about being mad and laughed at myself. I was pretending I was mad and saying funny things. This made me laugh.
7. Spoiled my daughter.
8. Did my chores.
9. Dressed up and met a friend for dinner and drinks.
10. Went for a long walk with my BFF.
Guess what? Love, laughter and determination wins. I came home happy again and the negative feelings were gone. But it took awhile!!
Finally.
I think the walk and laughter and time with my family and friends made a big difference in my day. I think knowing I didn’t feel good and not acting on that feeling was key too.
How do you handle stress? What makes you feel better?
Change Your Mind
The mind is so powerful and impressionable. It tells us what we like and how we feel and helps guide us to do what we choose to do and so many other things. And once we make up our mind, usually we follow the direction we’ve decided.
For example, I used to not like cats. I told myself I didn’t like cats and therefore I didn’t. I didn’t make any effort to like them or enjoy them and didn’t give them a second glance. I cared very little for their presence. I was happy for people who had them, but I had no desire or interest to share in their joy.
That is until I decided to like them and let them into my mind. I reluctantly granted my children’s wish and agreed to have cats at our house. It was a slow process, but I changed my mind and accepted them.
I decided they were actually cute and fun and allowed myself to enjoy them. I really surprised my husband, my kids and even myself as I find myself sneaking into their room to hold them and let them out. I love watching them play and I love the life they bring to our family. It feels like we have joyful fur babies!!
Who knew I could change my mind and find joy? Have you ever changed your mind for the better when you never thought you would? So curious and very cool!
Aren’t they cute?? Life is good!
Here I Am Another Year Older
I still love birthdays. I think I always will. I love the excitement and anticipation of celebrating life, can you tell?
Today was the first time I had limited expectations of how I wanted the day to unfold and having limited expectations created huge amounts of joy.
I was content and at peace and so very thankful.
I did everything I wanted to do. I enjoyed friends and family in several ways. I loved all the phone calls and texts and cards and gifts and Facebook celebrations.
Each member of my family made a homemade card. They decorated the kitchen and had coffee and breakfast ready for me when I got up along with very thoughtful gifts.
I got to play dodgeball and keep away, enjoyed lunch out with my kids, pedicures with my daughter, happy hour with friends, being spoiled, watching the Warriors win, and having more friends come back for cake!
I am happy and filled with gratitude for this one, beautiful, imperfect life I am living, perfectly imperfectly.
nAMaste BeLoveRs
here i am 