Give Yourselves A Cheer!

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

I just want to thank you for sharing this wonderful life together. I hope your day brought you a smile or two.

I want to thank you for smiling when you read Here I Am and for sharing your thoughts and comments and letting me know you get something out of it.

Sometimes I wonder why I continue to share the highlights of my one life story every day. Then one of you BeLoveRs call or text or comment or like one of my posts and you let me know that something touched your heart or you changed something that you’re doing and you share your happiness and journey with me. I love this. We’re connected. You keep me motivated to write and I thank you for this gift.

So cheers, my friends! Continue to let your light shine and make this world a better place, one moment at a time. xo

24Sep2014

It’s Never Too Late to Be hApPy

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

I like to think of happiness like wanting to be skinny or let’s be real, and maybe just 5-10 pounds lighter.

It’s a journey and a process and takes work and mindfulness and dedication. Kind of like belonging to Weight Watchers. Wouldn’t it be cool if we could measure our happiness and we learned best practices to help us increase our happiness quota? What if we could join a group and share stories and have measurable goals to increase our happiness?

The cool thing about Weight Watchers is that it is a mind set, a way of thinking about what we eat and why we eat and developing life skills and portion control to enjoy all that is good and to attain healthy weight goals.

What if we could do that with happiness? What if we could set goals and measure and be ok with where we are on our personal journeys? Wouldn’t that be cool? I’d sign up!! I’d love to join a group that was talking about our happiness goals and sharing our stories and what worked for us and learning from each other, but maybe that would be weird? Just a thought.

What I’ve learned from participating in Weight Watchers, is that we get to choose our goals. We get to choose when we decide to follow the plan and when we decide to cheat and the good news is we can always start again. I also like doing WW with friends and having a leader that guides me and gives out stars for success and measures me each week. What if we could do that with happiness? Hmm…

I like to think that it’s ok for us to not always be happy. We might be chugging along and doing ok and happy with who we are and what we’re doing, and then some days we’re not. That’s ok and doesn’t mean we have to give up. I think we just have to give ourselves permission to start again and to do the things we know that create happiness for us. Just like with weight loss. Some days are good and some days we binge and then we get to begin again.

Every day is a new day to start over. And just because we got mad or are unhappy doesn’t mean we have to stay in that state of mind. We can begin again just as soon as we are ready. I love that. I think we just sometimes need a reminder to let go of the negative and to embrace the positive and do the work that helps create happiness for us. And as we practice, we become successful and happy again.

Believe me, I am not always happy… just ask my kids or my husband! But I always strive for happiness and finding ways to increase the general happiness of my family and to start over to create joy whenever and as often as possible. I’m still learning and make PLENTY of mistakes.

Luckily it’s never too late to be happy and I choose happiness. How about you?

“Surround yourself with people who make you happy. People who make you laugh, who help you when you’re in need. People who genuinely care. They are the ones worth keeping in your life. Everyone else is just passing through. ” Karl Marx (thanks LB)

Be happy, BeLovers! It’s better than the alternative. xo

23Sep2014

Smart Girls and Great Mentors

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

I was at a dinner tonight and listening to so many different conversations.

My favorite conversations were those of the women who were sharing stories about their smart daughters, not that they used those words, but that’s what I heard.

One friend’s daughter is studying chemistry at a California University and wants to go on to graduate and further her studies to become a pharmacist. She had a great science teacher in high school who inspired her to become who she is today. She also has 6 pharmacists in her family whom I’m sure have also inspired her.

Another mom was talking about her daughter who is studying for her PhD also in chemistry and was studying nanotechnology and how to use it to administer cancer treatment in a very focused manner. I love hearing about young women who find and are pursuing their passions.

And the last 20-something that captured my attention had her degree from USC and came home to help her family and respectfully gave up an opportunity to provide community service abroad. I wonder if she knows how awesome she is to be of service right here in her own community. I bet it doesn’t feel like that right now, but one day I’m sure she’ll know she made the right and best decision.

My own daughter dreams of becoming a doctor one day and one of my BFFs is her mentor. I wonder if by the time she gets to college, if this dream will become a reality. For now, I’m happy that she’s thinking about her future and how she’d like to spend her days as a grown up.

We have some cool, super smart, future women leaders among us!! Maybe it’s because they have some cool, super smart Mom mentors too?!?

Someone asked me what my dream job would be and for some reason I replied being a talk show host like Oprah Winfrey. I think I would love talking to people and hearing their stories and making connections. I’m fascinated by the differences and connections we all share and the struggles and celebrations that come in so many different forms. This made me smile. Maybe I’ll be a talk show host when I grow up. What will you be when you grow up?

Goodnight BeLovers. Sweet Dreams.
xo

19Sep2014

Domestic Goddess Taxi Driver

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

Sometimes my life must sound so glamorous. Haha! Just kidding, but it’s really not. I truly try to make the most of every day and to fit so many things in before I crash onto my pillow at night. I rise at 6:15 am and begin working right away – decluttering and starting laundry and the dishwasher and helping with breakfast and lunches before heading out at 7:15 am with drop offs, unless Jeff does the drop offs and I get to continue cleaning!

I wanted to share what the second half of my day looked like, after cleaning toilets and bedrooms and shopping at Costco. Oh, and being present to see my son’s speech as he was running for President of his school today and WON!!

This was definitely the highlight of my day. Congratulations Charlie and to all his friends who were so brave and prepared such great posters and speeches and took the risk to stand in front of their classmates to share their stories, hopes and dreams to become future council members. They were truly amazing and talented fifth graders! I am so proud of them.

So back to the second half of my day… I am basically a taxi driver with 15 minute – 45 minute gaps in between my driving hours from 2:30 pm until 8:30 pm. Here’s what today looked like, however Jeff was working locally today and was able to help me with our shuttle service.

2:30 Pick up Juliana from school

3:00 Pick up Christian from school

4:00 Drop off Christian to practice

5:00 Drop off Charlie to practice

6:00 Drop off Juliana to practice

6:30 Pick up Charlie from practice

7:00 Pick you Christian from practice

8:00 Pick up Juliana from practice.

Isn’t that so glamorous? Just kiddin’ But I did enjoy feeling the sunset on my face as I waited in the car and seeing the huge, red sun setting as we drove home after Christian’s practice.

Life is good!

I hope your domestic life is beautiful. Have a great weekend, my BeLoveRs. xo

17Sep2014

Shake It Off

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

I fell today.

It totally shocked me, as one of my biggest fears is falling.

I was busy cooking in the kitchen, and doing 6 things at once, when I noticed the pizza appetizer was ready. I turned quickly to turn the oven off, and one of the overstuffed and heavy, lower drawers had opened on it’s own, as it often does when not closed properly. It hit my ankles, right at the right level as to give me a karate chop and made me lose my balance. I tried to move away, backwards and the drawer hung on to my legs and opened further, making me tumble and fall. I didn’t want to fall on top of the drawer and break it, so I think I jumped up and fell even harder on my wrist, hip and bottom. Ugh.

Did I mention I hate falling? Luckily I didn’t hit my head on the hard tile, but I think I knocked the door on the oven. I have a small kitchen and there isn’t that much space to fall gracefully. Ugh.

I am ok. I am sore, and embarrassed and mad at myself and sad too. I wanted to cry, but I think I was in shock and just laid on the floor for a minute to make sure nothing was broken. And then I got up and said I was ok. I wanted to believe I was ok, so I just said I was and I thought I was so that hopefully I really was ok, but I am definitely sore and bruised, including my ego.

I had several errands to run, and my daughter told me to shake it off, and to not be mad, that accidents happen. In that moment, she was me. My words were coming out of her mouth. As we were driving her to her event, and I complained of the aches and pains, she was busy fumbling through the middle console, looking for my medicine bag at the same time I was getting ready to say that I needed something for the pain. She was thinking for me. I loved that. I have another life partner and I thanked her for her thoughtfulness and for being so caring and understanding. I love her. I love that she’s growing up and is so kind and took care of me and my pain without me even asking. I am lucky.

I took her advice and shook it off. Hopefully tomorrow the pain will be gone. There’s always something good in every situation and you just have to shake off the bad stuff and celebrate the good.

Slow down BeLovers. Be safe and take good care of yourselves. And if for some reason you fall, or something else falls, just shake it off.

11Sep2014

Hello BeLovers!

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

Be.

Love.

Be Love.

Be Loved.

Today one of my 305 blog followers and favorite commenters (Kris) commented on my blog and described herself as one of my “bloggies.” I was just thinking about how thankful I am that you read my blog and that some of you read it every day. You follow along with me, sometimes sharing comments, sometimes liking what I write either publicly or privately, and sometimes just silently reading, but you visit and come back again and again and I love it.

One blogger I follow has hundreds of thousands of followers and she calls us followers, her Monkees. We are part of her Monkee community and it’s just an endearing word to group us together.

I thought more about rock stars and their followers and several of their fan clubs have names. For example,

Justin Bieber has Beliebers.

Lady Gaga has Little Monsters.

Katy Perry has KatyCats.

Taylor Swift has Swifties.

I wanted to come up with a name for my followers too, not that I’m a rock star and have a big following, but 300+ is big for me. I want to call you BeLovers – which connects to Here I am by just BEing You. Just Be. Be Love. Be Loved. Be Loving. Be a Lover of all that is good. BeLovers.

What do you think? Is that corny? Cute? Stick with it or find another bloggies name? Help me out BeLovers!! xoxo