Congratulations to Stanford on their win tonight against Iowa!
And happy birthday to my baby girl!
Life is so much sweeter with you on this planet for the past fifteen years! Your positive energy and love are gifts you share with this world. Keep shining, my beloved.
nAMaste
Today is my husband’s birthday and I loved celebrating him all day and night.
I decorated the kitchen the night before and had his cards and presents ready for him when he woke up.
I made our traditional cinnamon coffee cake and while we were waiting for it to come out of the oven, I made a bacon and egg scramble with sour dough toast, sausage and fruit. The kids came to the table and we sang, “happy birthday” all before school and work.
We met for lunch in downtown Palo Alto and went to experience Sushirito for the first time together and it was really delicious! It was so nice to have time together in the middle of the day, just the two of us.
Finally, we went to play bocce ball with his friends from work as they were having their company holiday party tonight. I loved watching him really enjoy himself, playing a fierce game of bocce ball and enjoying his wonderful life. One of his coworkers made him cheesecake and they all sang happy birthday. This was such a thoughtful gift.
My favorite part of observing his birthday tonight was watching him get out on the dance floor, dancing with his friends to live music. He never dances and seeing him free and in the moment and living it up was just awesome to watch. His beautiful soul was shining and I loved being a part of his special day.
Happy birthday, Jeff!! I adore you.
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
I am still in celebration mode with the end of the school year wrapping up and have more good times to share. We’re tired and we are arguing a bit more than usual, and yet we keep on going, of course!
We came to celebrate Charlie today for being recognized for his math skills.
After his award assembly, we had another celebratory party to recognize the Future Scientists and Engineers of America. They had their last class today and celebrated with cake and chips and fruit and drinks.
We found the bench at the elementary school, which is dedicated in memory of Lynn Rose, who served as a mentor and giver to our community, and who Juliana was given a memorial award to in her honor last night. We ran into teachers who congratulated her and told her that she was well deserving.
And one last celebration was being able to all join Christian for his swim team awards. He’s come along way and has been dedicated to practicing every day even with his injuries.
I am proud of my kids and am glad that they have found activities that they love.
What are you celebrating this week?
Life is good – celebrate!!
xoxo
It’s that time of year.
Time for new dresses and nice outfits and more work and stress and anticipation and anxiety and excitement. Don’t cha love it??
The end of the school year is upon us and we are busy preparing and getting ready for all the fun and living it up.
It is definitely a busy season building up to the crescendo and then we can relax with the beginning of summer. Juliana is counting down the days.
Tonight we celebrated Charlie by attending his classroom open house and seeing his work.
This was the forced shot just for me…he didn’t understand why I was taking pictures. This is the FB worthy photo when actually he looked and felt more like this:
I think he just wanted to eat his celebratory cookie and have me leave him alone.
After the classroom visit was his concert with 149 other classmates. I can’t believe one person can lead that many people so gracefully and calmly. I watched him tune probably 50 violins and violas before the performance. He was able to do that while still maintaining order. I was so impressed. I was also impressed with our kids’ talents. I was thankful that Charlie stuck with it this year and practiced and learned how to play a new instrument.
We have a great, multicultural and supportive community.
Life is worth celebrating!
nAMaste
We all have so many gifts and the best part is when we know what they actually are.
If I asked you off the top of your head without much filtering and overthinking, what are the 5 gifts you bring to this world, what would your response be?
What are you good at? And not just your work, but what makes you smile and others around you happy?
Hmm… what would mine be? I’ll try…
1. I’m loving. I love who I am and I love who I am with and I have lots of love to give.
2. I’m funny. I don’t take life too seriously, not that it isn’t serious but I love to laugh and to be silly.
3. I have a childlike sense of curiosity and wonder and love to play.
4. I love people and want to know their story. I’m genuinely curious about everyone and want to know why you think the way you do and what makes you, you.
5. I am quick to forgive. I don’t hold grudges because I’d rather have a connection than a conflict any day.
Your turn.
This morning I received a gift from my friend Jen. She reads my blog and sometimes sends me emails when something resonates with her. I love when you guys do that. She invited me to attend a conference with her and sent me an image she thought I would like. I loved it so much that I want to share it with you too. Thank you Jen! You made my day.
In case you can’t read it, it says:
“I honor the place in you in which the entire universe dwells. I honor the place in you which is of love, of truth, of light, and of peace. When you are in that place in you, I am in that place in me. We are one.”
Namaste BeLoveRs. Now go think about your gifts and celebrate wonderful you! xo
Tonight we celebrated the Bat Mitzvah of the daughter of my college friends. I was honored to be invited to this celebration of life and recognition of becoming a young adult in the Jewish faith.
Listening to the words and feeling the energy and pride from the family and friends of this beautiful girl was very moving. Knowing that she spent the last year preparing for this day and memorizing chants and blessings and creating speeches to honor and praise her loved ones was amazing and gives me hope for the future.
At the age of 12, a young Jewish girl can choose to become a Bat Mitzvah and assume responsibility for her actions. How amazing is that?
What if all kids spent a year seriously thinking about their commitments to their family, their faith and their community and chose to act responsibly and to give back and to find purpose and meaning in their life, while being acknowledged by their peers and loved ones? Would the world be more peaceful? I think so.
And even though I am Christian, I can and do appreciate the celebration and witness of this this young girl as she dedicated her life to something bigger than herself. Listening to her share how she’s volunteered and is tithing part of the money she earns from her Bat Mitzvah tonight to charity was inspiring. Hearing her call up the people who influenced her life thus far and praising their role and asking them to light a candle in her honor was another moving moment.
The room was filled with love and joy and we enjoyed a great party in honor of Makenna. Thanks Beth and Hal for inviting us to be a part of your family celebration. We love you.
Namaste.
Do you find it interesting that humans choose to celebrate different holidays differently?
When we were in Holland, we celebrated the arrival of Sinterklaas on December 5th with his sidekick Zwarte Piet. Everyone was in the streets celebrating and waiting for the arrival and parade and giving of gifts and pepernoten. Of course, I’m oversimplifying.
In America, this holiday isn’t celebrated and would be viewed as racist, which isn’t how the Dutch see their tradition at all0. In Holland, this holiday was bigger than Christmas and the birth of Jesus and is part of Dutch culture. I find it fascinating that two Western countries share such different celebrations and that many other countries and religions don’t recognize either of these celebrations, and that there are several others that we hardly hear about.
I’m only sharing a bit of my context and connection as I was reading about the celebration of Eid in the Muslim countries that ends Friday (already today there) and realizing how little I know or understand of this significant celebration in another part of the world.
We all have so many different cultural and religious ways of celebrating life.
I’m always curious about how others choose to live, love, and celebrate.
‘Eid Mubarak’ which means Blessed Feast.
From reading about a couple people’s descriptions of how they celebrate Eid, it sounds like Eid is a celebration with friends and loved ones, with a grand feast and gifts shared after a month of fasting. It is a cultural celebration.
Sounds like a great practice of mindfulness and connectedness.
What celebrations do you most enjoy?
I love Halloween and Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day to name a few. Heck, I love them all!
Namaste.
Happy 4th of July! I love the red, white, and blue. And fireworks and friends and freedom! And BBQs and guacamole and drinks and fun times shared together.
I worked with the kids all day today, cleaning out all the kitchen cupboards and preparing for our big move in 4 more days. And then I spent a few minutes freshening up, preparing hamburgers and salads to bring to the Fourth of July party at Bob and Danielle’s today. Juliana made April’s best chocolate cake to celebrate all the birthdays this month and last, and off we went to enjoy our friends and Independence Day. I was so busy today, that I didn’t have much time to feel homesick, even though I missed singing Firework with Jessie on top of our lungs this year, out in the field in Cupertino!! It was jacket weather- cold in Holland today, and it didn’t get dark until after 10:30 pm…just a bit different from California!! All is good…
I’m thankful for our friends, our time in Holland and for our freedom. Hope you’re enjoying the holiday wherever you are!!
I am so happy to be living in Holland right now. The sun is shining again, the weather is warming up, and there is excitement in the air.
We get to be part of something big! Everyone is making plans and preparing for Queens Day and the coronation of (our) new king. It’s strange to say “our”, since even though we are legal residents of the Netherlands, it feels like theirs and not ours. Nevertheless, we get to enjoy and celebrate along with the locals and I am excited.
The stores are filled with orange decorations and paraphernalia everywhere you go. People are sharing ideas of how and where and when to celebrate and telling us what we need to do. On Monday, our school will have celebrations in honor of the new king and the school will be closed on Tuesday to celebrate Queens Day.
Today during our Dutch class, the teacher told us to look out the window and look at what was happening down in the court yard.
The people had been working on a brick mosaic in the city center honoring the new king. This year the Queen was supposed to come to our city of Amstelveen to celebrate her special day. Instead, the coronation of her son will be happening in Dam square in Amsterdam. Today there were photos of several people vacuuming the Dam Square, preparing for the royal family’s arrival. The buildings are decorated with banners in the colors of the Dutch flag and orange is everywhere. I can’t wait!! The anticipation is building.
I love Holland!
here i am 