Women

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

I love women.

I love how women take care of each other.

I love how we care for kids and build community.

I love women who love their families.

I love how empathetic we are to each other and how we can really feel each other’s joys and pains.

I love how smart we are.

I love our beauty and how we admire each other.

I love our strength and how we endure pain.

I love how we help one another.

I love how we offer to bring meals, to pray, to visit, to call and text, when one of us is suffering.

I love when women are filled with grace, especially when we are hurt and we give up our need for control and accept what is.

I love that we love.

I love women, especially the women in my life who embody these truths.

Thank you for being wonderful you.

Carry on BeLoveD Warrior Women!

Namaste.

16Aug2014

Live. Love. Laugh.

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

I like these L words.

I love to live in the moment.

I love to love – everyone I meet.

I love to laugh out loud, especially at stupid stuff like funny pranks, funny faces and funny home videos.

This moment today represents all the Ls.

Have a great weekend, living, loving and laughing!

xoxo

14Aug2014

Being Part

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

We are parts of various communities. We have so much to give and so much to gain by sharing our gifts and talents and love.

We get to show up. We get to be together. We get to help one another and build friendships and bonds with those who are like us, doing what we’re doing, believing what we’re believing, playing what we’re playing, studying what we’re studying, etc.

The more we choose to show up, the more joy we create. Isn’t this a good thing?

Think about where you belong and what part you play. Are you being an active participant and contributing to the group’s benefit? We get out what we put in. Just sayin’

Whether you belong to a family, a school, a church or synagogue, a sporting team, or another group of two or more, the more you show up and participate, the more gratitude you will feel and the more happiness you will create.

I believe this to be true in most cases.

Today I felt a strong connection to our school community. There were more than 13 adults, and a handful of kids sorting and stacking all the relevant school papers for all the new and returning students this year and putting them into Manila envelopes. We had quite the assembly line. We worked together, while sharing stories of our summer vacations, about our kids and our excitement for school to be beginning again. Summer is a full time job for stay at home parents. It was nice to be back with my peers again.

I Am content to be part of such a healthy community of diverse friends, working together to support our kids and our school and learning environment.

I love this online community and the connections and stories and inspiration that comes from sharing every day, even in just this small way.

For the community of Ferguson, stand strong and work together with love and kindness. I wish you peace. We can change the world, one community at a time.

For the community of friends who loved Robin Williams and are feeling such a big gap and sadness, I wish you peace and understanding and love. Life is complicated and messy. Follow the light.

Namaste

12Aug2014

Working Mom

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

I’m a working mom.

I had to give up a business trip to San Diego this week because I was too busy and didn’t have anyone to take over my workload. It’s ok because I love my job and I have the best clients.

Today started with a coaching session at 6:30 am, after closing last night at 1:30 am. Morning came too soon.

At 7:45, I began chauffeuring another one of my clients to his practice, only to return 90 minutes later to give him a ride back to the office.

I had a community networking meeting at 10 am, on the tennis court. This was one of the highlights of my day.

At 11:45, I managed the repair process for one of our machines, also known as a vacuum cleaner. I quickly moved on to my next appointment at the paint shop, consulting new colors and picking up samples for one of my client’s remodeling projects.

I had to hurry back to the office for a lunch meeting with colleagues from Amsterdam. We chose to eat out lunch outdoors on the back veranda to enjoy the California weather and sunshine, which is always such a gift.

This meeting was productive and was a win win. :-). We enjoyed the team building activities with our youngest clients too.

I had to leave my lunch early to chauffeur my client again. I think he appreciated the service, but complained of his drop off location. He was late on his return, so I think they call that balance.

My client asked my to stop for refreshments, and of course I obliged. I want them to be happy you know.

On the way back to my home office, I had to make another office visit. A lot of my work is done out in the field.

I stopped by another client’s office to discuss work plans for tomorrow. We brainstormed on best practices to achieve high client success and I believe came up with a good strategy.

I offered to take my client’s client out for a few hours, for some entertainment and a break.

Life is good. I love this job.

I decided to share my chef skills with my clients and invited them to partake in my sushi making class, free of charge. We enjoyed the process of creating and eating homemade sushi together. This was a fun and simple course, providing great team building opportunities and leadership. I think I will offer this class again in the future.

Before the evening ended, my clients decided to throw an impromptu dance party. These people know how to party!!

After they left, I cleaned up the kitchen and was invited to a snuggle party, which is why I have to leave you so soon.

It’s been a very productive day and I think I’m up for a raise soon.

Hope your work day was wonderful too.

Namaste.

3Aug2014

Michigan

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I love Michigan! I am so happy to be visiting our friends Megan and Joe and their family for a long weekend.

We enjoyed the great weather outdoors and explored Saugatuck today. We didn’t really care what we did, as we just wanted to do something together and see a bit of the state and walk around.

The highlights for me were seeing the kids splash around in Lake Michigan and catching fireflies.

Our friends Kris and Pat always vacation in this town and I was curious to see what it was like. It was very quaint and I could see why they like coming here with their family. I just wish we had more time to spend on the water.

After exploring a bit of the town and having a bite to eat, we traveled along to West County Park on the Lake Michigan Shore. Here we skipped rocks, played in the water, and built rock sculptures, seeing who could pile the most together before they toppled over.

And to end the day, the kids made my night by catching and releasing fireflies that just fascinated me.

It’s the simple things in life that make me happy – like time spent together with good friends.

Life is good!

2Aug2014

Traveling

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

What’s your favorite type of travel?

Do you like to travel by car? By plane? By boat?

When you go on vacation do you travel someplace new or do you tend to go to the same place every time?

Do you seek out something entertaining or educational or relaxing or maybe thrill seeking?

There are so many different types of travel. Sometimes I like to just think about that and all the possibilities.

We have traveled to so many places near and far, new and old.

What I’ve discovered is that I like to travel with my family and with friends or to visit friends where we create shared histories and connections. I love any vacation that includes time in the water, whether it be a pool, a lake, or the ocean. These are the most meaningful vacations to me.

This week we are visiting our family and friends in Chicago and Michigan. Everyone is having fun with the cousins and with the friends we consider family!

Life is good!

31Jul2014

Grandfathers

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

My kids are lucky to still have two grandfathers and one great grandfather still living.

None of their grandparents live close to us and we have to travel to see them, however my father (and mother) often comes to visit us too.

This year we’ve been fortunate to have the time to travel across the United States to spend quality time with these important men in our lives.

In May, we traveled to Colorado to see PopPop, who is Jeff’s grandfather and the kids’ great grandfather. The kids loved hearing his stories and sharing their stories from our European adventure.

I love how they can carry a conversation and have great interest in his life and him in theirs.

We had the opportunity to go camping with Opa, who is my father and their grandfather. I loved watching my dad share his passion for fishing with my boys and how they learned from him.

There was great joy experienced across generational lines. My dad loved helping the kids and I loved watching him with my kids. The boys enjoyed the special attention and just fishing together, especially when Christian caught a fish. Charlie, on the other hand, loved fishing until he caught one and had to touch it to remove it from the line. He refused and that was the end of our fishing joy. Maybe one day he won’t be afraid to get his hands all slimy.

Today we got to spend the day with Gramps, who is Jeff’s dad and someone we don’t get to see very often. At the end of our visit the guitars came out and joy spread across the room. Gramps loves to play the guitar and watching him with my boys, smiling and sharing some tips with them made me happy. They shared a connection.

I am thankful for Grandfathers today, especially PopPop, Opa and Gramps, and for the love they share with my kids.

And I’m thankful for the love I received from my grandfathers who have passed away too – miss you Grandpa, Opa and Great Opa!

Hugs to your grandfathers too!

Namaste

30Jul2014

Water Play

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I love water. Just being near it makes me happy. Today the kids convinced me to actually come in the pool with them and we all had fun together.

I got a GoPro camera for my birthday and the kids took it in the pool to play.

This provided hours of fun for all of us.

Charlie asked me to be the mama whale and he would hold on to my back as we swam together through the water. It took me a little while to figure out exactly how to swim the way he had in mind!

I told the kids I felt like I was five again, holding hands with my friend and playing with the kids. Juliana laughed and said “But you didn’t have an underwater camera back then!” She is too wise!

Today I was thankful for friends and time to play together in the water and the sun.

Namaste. Go out and play!

12Jul2014

Let It Go

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

What are you holding on to that you need to let go to create space? Is it physical or mental?

Letting go isn’t always easy. It’s just something that we choose to do when we are ready, and usually sooner is better because we are set free to start again or start something new.

But usually letting go takes work, again either physically and/or mentally, and lots of times, negative feelings such as fear, sadness, loneliness, etc., are part of letting go, which is why we probably procrastinate and put it off.

Today we let go of our family swing set. This made me sad for a few reasons. Mainly it marks the passing of time and I’m fully aware the kids are growing up.

I woke the kids up to go play on it one more time this morning, before the guys began taking it apart.

The funny thing is that I’ve raised the kids to be comfortable with letting go of stuff and they were completely fine with it. I was the sad one.

Mark said we could come sit on it again in his yard and was so thankful that his little kids would get to enjoy it.

This is the best part of giving things to your friends – the things you love get to be enjoyed by your friends and you get a chance to see them enjoying what you once enjoyed or get invited to play.

So with the sadness comes joy: the joy of giving and seeing others happy; the joy of creating space and dreaming of new teen fun for the backyard – got any ideas? Hot tub? Pool? Trampoline?

And the joy of letting go…my theme for this year…let it go, let it go…

All is well. That wasn’t so bad.

On to new dreams and play spaces.

Life is good.

4Jul2014

Happy 4th of July 2014

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

I love the American spirit and seeing all the photos and well wishes on social media today.

I love all the red, white, and blue. I love the BBQ and spending time with family and friends, and I love the magic and surprise and wonder of fireworks.

I like any form of celebration of life and seeing people come together to share good times and happy memories.

This morning we watched the World Cup and exchanged Facebook messages with Wendy and Rob from the Netherlands. We learned they were in San Francisco and we figured out a way for us to get together today. We didn’t have any definite plans and were just taking the day as it came.

Today was an example of being thankful for being unscheduled and creating space for life to just flow, and it did. They were able to join us for an afternoon BBQ and to see the fireworks together.

We had a great time sitting on the back patio in the sunshine, enjoying conversation, drinks and appetizers before dinner.

Hope you had fun with family and friends, celebrating our freedom.

Love and light.