Tag Archives: doing what you love

Women vs. Men and Getting Ready

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Do you ever think about how much time you spend getting ready for the day or if you’re a girl, how much time guys spend getting ready compared to you?

I mean how much time do you spend picking out your clothes and shoes and accessories? And how much time do you spend shaving your legs, washing and conditioning your hair, putting on makeup and styling your hair? Probably a lot longer than men do. Men have a time advantage that women choose to give up to be “pretty.”

I tend to not care either way, but I definitely notice a difference in the way I feel and how others see me when I choose to invest time in myself. This is a conundrum to me.

I am perfectly content to go out with no makeup, hair up in a pony tail and work out clothes on. I’m happy to go out with makeup and curly, wild hair. I feel prettiest when I take the time to blow out my hair and straighten it and when I put on makeup and cute clothes and shoes. However, the latter takes me an hour whereas the not caring might take me 15 minutes. 5 out of 7 days I probably choose the quickest way out the door, little makeup and wet hair in a pony tail/bun twist. However, when I do take the time to take care of me, I do feel better, which makes me wonder. Is it worth it?

Today I took the time to get ready and felt really happy about that. Maybe that’s what people saw, or maybe they saw that I took time for myself and was happy on the inside and it shined on the outside. Or maybe I looked more put together than usual.  Who knows? i know that I liked the way it felt to have done the work to look “shined up” and I know that I don’t like the amount of time I spent getting to that state.

What are your thoughts? Do you take the time to get ready every day? Or do you skip a shower, go out with your workout clothes and don’t care?  I’m so curious.  I’m always trying to maximize all the things I can get done in a given day, and blow drying my hair isn’t high on my list. Except for today.

You’re beautiful just the way you are, with makeup or not. Don’t forget. And it’s okay to take time for yourself, if that’s what you wish for yourself.

  
Good night!!

Love this Life – Living it Up – Doing What I Love

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What do you love?

I love to be busy, yet not this busy. I had a productive and satisfying day and I am exhausted. You’ll see why and I’ll probably exhaust you just by reading this crazy list.  Maybe just skim it – it’s kinda long!  Below are some of my different made up titles. I don’t use them every day, just today happened to be on fire.

Alarm Clock Sounder – Roused the kids up bright and early. They have their own alarm clocks, but for some reason they don’t always react to them. And the train has been waking me up every morning at 5:17 am!! What’s up with that?

Breakfast and Lunch Maker – We don’t have time together in the evenings as frequently due to our crazy schedules, so this Fall I’ve started making hot breakfasts for us. It’s my moment to bring us all together and I don’t mind the extra work or dishes because it’s so worth it. Today we had hash browns, scrambled eggs, apple slices and bacon.  I have a weekly rotational schedule and the kids were already reminding me that they’re excited for pancakes tomorrow morning.

Taxi Driver – 2 kids dropped off at high school, 1 husband dropped off at the train, and 1 child dropped off at the middle school, all before 8 am.

House Cleaner – Stopped back at the house to load the dish washer, scrub the pans and to start a load of laundry before heading out to exercise. It feels good to me when the house is in order.

Yogini – Picked up ML on my way to yoga and enjoyed a blissful hour of stretching and toning in a not-so-great-room-with-an-awesome-instructor!

Worker Bee – I got a new part time job!! I had my first “official” business meeting at a coffee shop today and it dawned on me, that I haven’t had a “real” or let’s say “paid” job in over 15 years!! Change is good.

Friend – We celebrated my friend’s birthday over lunch today. It’s great to have a flexible schedule and to have an excuse to stop what you’re doing to spend time with friends over good food.  I also loved seeing my friends throughout the day and sharing moments in person, via text, and on the phone.

Shopper – On the way home from lunch, I stopped by the store to buy perishables for dinner tonight. Google Express is doing all the rest of my shopping and giving me so much time back!! I was in and out in 20 minutes, only having to buy the perishables and everything else was delivered to my door step. Have I mentioned how much I am loving GE? You have to try it if it’s in your area.

  
Chef – While I came home to squeeze in a bit more work, I also started dinner. We had stuffed baked potatoes tonight with proteins, veggies, and other savory toppings.

Life Coach – I spent a lot of time today coaching my kids on some important life lessons that weren’t easy to teach and take some time to practice. Being a parent takes lots of patience and open communication and repetition and more patience and practice and more practice. We’re always learning and failing and trying again, perfectly, imperfectly.

Taxi Driver – Round 3 – Did a 3rd loop around the city chauffering my loved ones back and forth to our nest.

  
House Cleaner – Round 2 – Came back home to clean up the cooking dishes and to sort and fold laundry before heading out again. It’s amazing what one can get done in 30 minutes.

Volunteer – After having very little sleep last night, and by the time 6;00 pm came around, I was exhausted. It took everything in me to rally and go to my event tonight.  Once I got to the parking lot and ran into a friend, I remembered why I love to volunteer. I love my community and sense of belonging that volunteer opportunities bring to my life. I loved seeing my friends and having that time dedicated to working together for a common purpose.

House Cleaner – Round 3 – The evening house patrol involved the usual chores and involved all of us and gave us a few minutes to chat and connect. Even the evenings are busy for us.

BeLoveR – I loved kissing my little one good night, brushing my daughter’s hair and complimenting my oldest on his successes today. I loved taking this fun picture of my husband with our new fur baby that won’t leave his side while he works at night.

  
Today was good. I am done. How was your day?  I hope you lived it up, laughed out loud and loved yourself and your one, beautiful and maybe messy life.  N-Ahhhhhhhhh-ma-ste!

This Moment

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Are you living it up? Are you doing exactly what you want to be doing? If not this moment, then when? 

I believe in living in the moment and maximizing doing what I love, every day in addition to the work required to keep things flowing, of course.

I’ve realized that my favorite things to do are spending time with family and friends doing whatever and usually that means eating and traveling and exercising and experiencing new things and helping others. So I guess those are my favorite things…  What are your favorite ways of spending the day?

Today my friends were gathering in the city so I drove up to be with them and to enjoy their presence. I adore them and was so happy to have a few hours together. 

While I was gone, my boys got started painting a room which made me very happy. I came home to help with the finishing touches for day 1 and the first coat before we had dinner together.

I love this moment, this life, right now. And you. And you? 

    

wishing you love and peace.

nAMaste 

Wiped Out

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I have no pictures to share today.

My story is one of “rest,” meaning I didn’t go anywhere or “do” anything of significance to write about. It felt good to just be home.

We packed up my dad’s truck with girl furniture for my niece and sent them on their way home.

I did laundry and sorted some piles of stuff, trying to make more space and getting rid of clutter. It takes soooo long to dwindle.

The kittens were enticing and several friend came by to meet them and to visit, which was a perfect way to spend the day.

Dinner was left overs and pizza and samosas from the freezer while we watched the Warriors lose. The boys cleaned up the kitchen and I got to work on my volunteer project.  

Even though summer vacation officially starts tomorrow, I still have several projects to work on this week.  I think that’s a good thing.  

Keeping busy and doing what I love. Tomorrow we get to sleep in. I hope I don’t wake up with the sun rising!!

nAMaste and I hope you had a good weekend. xo

Cabo Yoga

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This is what it looks like living it up in Cabo with my BFFs, in the sun, doing yoga and loving life.   

My smile says it all.

 

Isn’t she amazing?  It is such a joy to watch her practice and to be with her and all the other awesome women. 

I am so grateful to have been invited on this trip and am thankful that my mama came to look after everyone while I am away.  

I am lucky. 

Thank you thank you thank you!

nAMaste 

Untraditional Traditions

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My family is weird. Our tradition is to not have a tradition. We carry some traditions, but we are not wedded to any. 

We do what we love and we are happy.  Our family does not live close to us, so we don’t feel a sense of obligation to be together. We come together when we want and that’s a pretty cool thing.

Today is Easter and we celebrated at home! Yay, for being home.

Charlie loves the holidays and we were up by 6:30 am to see if the Easter bunny came.

  

 

 We still partook in the Easter tradition of waking up early to see if the baskets were filled and the eggs hidden throughout the house and yard.  The Easter bunny did not disappoint!  

   

 

However, the big kids were wishing to have slept in.

We made bagels with lox and toppings for breakfast and then we headed out to church at 9am. 

  

 It was an early start to the day, but felt good to be out and about early this morning. I loved hearing the message of how Jesus rose from the dead, and how his mother Mary suffered by his grave and weeped. She represents all women, especially those who have lost a child. And she provides hope and love for us all that one day, all will be well.

After church, our family decided to be weird and I loved it. Jeff and the boys went to an Earthquakes soccer game with friends and I prepared an untraditional Easter feast, to be prepared whenever everyone came home again. 

We made yakitori, rice, seaweed salad, broccoli and mini wontons.  Doesn’t that just sound delicious? None of us were in the mood for another ham.

Juliana and I had the time of our lives. We saw on Instagram that Yoga Girl, Rachel Brathen,  was hosting a top secret yoga class and only 40 people would be able to attend. We thought we had no chance, but we emailed the secret contact and were chosen to be the guests!! 

  

We were so happy and hurried up at home so that we could make the late afternoon drive to the East Bay.  I had met the instructor @OGYogini at the end of class yesterday in San Francisco, and when she saw me today, she gave me a big hug and told me she was glad I was there. I love our little world.  I loved seeing Rachel again and sharing yoga with Juliana. We enjoyed the car ride together, just the two of us alone and then the yoga experience.

I loved that the guys got to go out and play and Juliana and I got to be out together too, and then we all came back together again to have a late dinner all together again. 

 It was a perfectly imperfect and weird Easter. We went with the flow and did what we enjoyed and everyone was happy. 

 Life is good. 

 Life is beautiful. 

 Life is what we make it.

Take time to dream and to make time for what you love and take good care of wonderful you! 

 nAMaste BeLoveRs.  You are loved!!

xoxo