Here I Am Another Year Older

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

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

5Jun2015

Promotion Day

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Today was another day full of celebration.

Jeff and I both walked Charlie to school for the last time and enjoyed visiting with friends in front of the flag pole, before saying goodbye.

Juliana had a late start and practiced her promotion speech all morning. She was chosen to share her story at the graduation ceremony and we were so proud! She did an amazing job.

The promotion ceremony was well done and moved quickly. I especially loved the new glee club singing performance, and of course, seeing Juliana speak in front of her peers.

Christian finished his year and was thrilled to have received a B on his Honors chemistry final!!

We enjoyed time with family and friends the rest of the day and night and I am exhausted and content.

Life is good and I am so proud!

Congratulations to all the graduates and their families and to everyone for making the day a joy! xo

27May2015

be still

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

Enjoy the light.

Enjoy the sound of the leaves rustling.

Slow down.

Do nothing and rest for a moment and know that life is good and all is or all will be okay.

nAMaste

26May2015

On Writing

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

I write every day and sometimes this is a challenge. Like today.

I have a ton of things that happened that are somewhat interesting – maybe, but maybe not.

And some things I don’t always want to share. Or at least not right away.

Some things might be controversial, so I try to avoid sharing those or if I have a strong opinion, I prefer to keep quiet and keep the peace. Probably boring… but it works for me.

Today involved boring and non-controversial stuff that is not really even worthy of sharing and doesn’t make for a good story.

I was present, taking the car in to check the tires, shopping, chopping veggies and cleaning fruit and making food ready to eat so everyone can grab and go! That was actually fun. I love to have healthy food prepared and watching my kids gobble it up as I clean and make it readily available.

My mom used to always cut fruit up for us for dessert and it was the only way I really enjoyed it. I think I loved that she prepared it and I got to watch her do it. Isn’t that weird? I still love watching my friends (AL and ML) cut up fruit and veggies and love when they make them for me. They taste so much better when they do it! Maybe that’s what my kids think too.

I think Juliana ate half of what I was preparing for the week, as I washed and chopped and packaged. Probably not really half, but she was so happy enjoying herself eat as I worked and I loved having her in the kitchen with me. It was all worth it.

That was probably the highlight of my day, besides practicing hand stands in yoga. I have a lot to still practice!

There was one other really cool thing I learned about today and that is about Honor Flights. The Honor Flight Network is a non-profit organization created solely to honor America’s Veterans for all their sacrifices. They transport our heroes to Washington D.C. to visit and reflect at their memorials, with all expenses paid. The inaugural Honor Flight tour took place in May 2005. Tonight at my PEO meeting, another PEO who volunteers with this organization, came to share her story about the organization with us. She showed us a slide show and told us about how the organization works. She also brought a star guest, who was a veteran who actually went on one of these flights. Hearing his story and seeing him in tears as he remembered all the people who recognized him and cheered for him at the airports and honored him was so touching. It gives me chills just thinking about his story. He will be 95 next year and still drives. He reminded me of Algin Hughes, our PopPop and Colonel!!

If you’d like to learn more about Honor Flight and wish to make a donation, please visit their website:

Honor Flight Bay Area Foundation: www.honorflightbayarea.org

And then just like that, sometimes writing has a purpose that shows up just by beginning to write. Who knew?

nAMaste and thank you for reading my writing. xo

24May2015

Happy Sun-Day

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

These are a few of my favorite things from today.

flower child

Juliana with Kanan and Zuma

Pacific Catch Yummy Dinner!

Life is good. Loving my family and our new kittens, sunshine and soccer, and good food!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

22May2015

Celebrate Good Times

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

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

18May2015

Play for Teens and InBetweens and Adults Too

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When was the last time you stopped to play? Do you play anymore? I still play nearly every day but for not enough time, that’s for sure. I’m still goofy, but probably not as goofy as I used to be. 😉

Being creative and playing are so important for all of us, yet somehow we forget when we get all grown up and stuff. This life stuff and school stuff puts so many demands on us. Let us never forget to let out the steam and to lighten up.

I got to thinking about this topic while we discussed and I defended the craziness of the Stanford (Marching) Band (SMB) at dinner last night. If you’ve ever seen the SMB, you’ll know what I’m talking about. They are just plain silly and playful and are the mirror opposite of what their school represents. They are the epitome of yin and yang. They don’t follow the normal rules. Actually, they were behaving badly and have been recently banned from performing at away games for this upcoming season for violating school policies. I’m all for fun and games and being silly and lightening up a bit, but I do still believe in being respectful and following the rules. Here are a couple of links to stories about the history of the irreverence of the band and the recent trouble they’ve gotten into:

Scatter Band

Stanford Band Behaving Badly

Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lsjumb_scattering.jpg

Another playful thing that people are talking about are coloring books for adults.

Source: http://www.amazon.com/Jardin-secret-carnet-coloriage-chasse/dp/2501081897

Have you heard about this latest rage? Well, I don’t know if it’s a rage, but “The Secret Garden” is on the Amazon best seller list lately, so there must be a demand for tehse adult coloring pages. We need time to relax and make pretty things just because we can. I love it and even have one, with new markers too, thanks to my sister! I think we need to get off our electronic devices too and play and color again.

Here’s a link to a recent story about adult coloring books:

Adult Coloring Books

Another connection I noticed recently is that adults who are needing to and wanting to celebrate life and to go outside and play at places such as the recent Bay to Breakers race in San Francisco. Grown people are dressing up and laughing and playing and talking to strangers, dressed up strangely themselves, and they’re happy and maybe drunk too. But they need to go outside and dress up and run and to laugh with their friends. Here is a link to the wikipedia about the infamous race:

Bay to Breakers

Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bay_to_Breakers_2011_Up.jpg#/media/File:Bay_to_Breakers_2011_Up.jpg

I thought I was done with my list but two more ideas popped up and these are the Muddy Buddy races and Burning Man. Adults are needing to play in the dirt and sunshine with their friends and they want to be out in nature, dressing up and being free to celebrate living with no expectations of who they are supposed to be, for a weekend in the dessert. This is fascinating to me.

Here is a link to a Muddy Buddy Race: Muddy Buddy

photo credit: IMG_1526 via photopin (license)

And here is one to Burning Man: Burning Man

Dillon Bracken attends the Burning Man 2014 “Caravansary” arts and music festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, August 30, 2014. Over 65,000 people from all over the world have gathered at the sold out festival to spend a week in the remote desert cut off from much of the outside world to experience art, music and the unique community that develops. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart (UNITED STATES – Tags: SOCIETY) FOR USE WITH BURNING MAN RELATED REPORTING ONLY. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. NO THIRD PARTY SALES. NOT FOR USE BY REUTERS THIRD PARTY DISTRIBUTORS Source: http://burningman.org/

Have you been to any of these events or colored in a book lately? What do you like to do to play and feel alive?

Play is good.

Life is good.

nAMaste BEloveRs xoxo

14May2015

Rainy Day People

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May showers brought out the umbrellas and joy today! Luckily we closed the skylight and covered the outdoor cushions as we heard rain may be in the forecast this week. I never would have expected it to have rained as hard as it did today. The streets were flooding everywhere and the rain only lasted a couple hours maybe, throughout the day. I think at one time it was actually hailing!!

I love being surprised by the weather and then talking about it and seeing all the Facebook updates because rain is not normal in California, especially right now with the drought. Everyone gets excited by it. Rain is a big deal and we need it so desperately.

I am thankful that we lived in Holland, where I became used to the wet weather and raindrops don’t worry me anymore. I don’t mind getting a little bit wet and I actually enjoy the smell of the rain on the asphalt, the sounds of the drops hitting surfaces and the sight of rain falling and splashing and creating natural, water art formations. The rain brings back great memories.

Today I had fun playing in the rain and the after glow. Here I am…with Juliana, playing and living it up! Goodbye rain, Hello sunshine!

Do you like the rain? What do you like to do when it’s raining?

xo Adriana

13May2015

The Fun Mom

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I love kids and I love candy. Maybe that’s why they called me the Fun Mom today. I don’t think they have any idea that they made my day.

We were waiting for some other kids to join the carpool ride home and I shared my cotton candy treats while we waited. It was a looooonnnng wait today and I got to practice patience. I have been practicing not getting mad at people when they do things that I think are wrong. I am trying to not place my expectations on them knowing that most people are good and just see different shades of our shared reality.

Our friend finally arrived after 30 minutes and I didn’t lose it! I was actually proud of myself for staying calm and enjoying the kids that were in the car with me, waiting together. I actually love driving the carpool and being with all the cool kids, listening to their stories. Thank goodness they aren’t driving yet!

We decided to go get frozen yogurts because it was hot in the car and every one had time to hang out a little longer. Some of my favorite memories from being a kid included the times my friend’s Aunt would take us to 7-11 after school and we could pick whatever we wanted. I loved shaking up our routine and being spoiled and treated to something sweet and fun.

I think the kids had fun and loved being spoiled today. Hopefully it’ll be a memory they will cherish too one day.

7May2015

Preparing for Pasta Night

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Jeff and I love to cook and to entertain together. It’s one hobby that we both share and we especially like trying new things.

When my mama was here while I was out of town, Jeff wanted to learn how to make her spaghetti sauce. She made her sauce for our family and Jeff took detailed notes. Her sauce is like liquid gold and I’ve never done a great job replicating it because I swear as soon as I turn to wash a dish, she turns and sprinkles a little bit of this and that and works her magic.

Christian has been wanting to have his group of friends over for awhile and Juliana was sharing how she likes how my cousin Shellee hosts a pasta night every week for her kids and their friends. I’ve been loving that idea too and then just read an article about a family that cooks an informal pasta meal and invites over those who want to participate in a super casual way. The key is no stress and no worry about a clutter free, clean house – everyone just shows up and brings something to share if they want and then we enjoy good old fashioned family time with our friends.

So you know where this is going… I asked Jeff if he wanted to cook my mom’s sauce together and host a pasta night and he agreed! The plans were set and I got excited to try something new and sent out invites via text right away.

I shopped today for the sausages and meat to make meatballs. After we all came home from our various appointments and had our family dinner, we cleared out the kitchen and had a date at home, cooking together side by side. Did I tell you how much I love this?

I loved that Jeff wanted to cook my mom’s recipe and I loved seeing his handwritten notes. I loved that we spent time together on a “school” night, chopping and rolling and measuring and mixing and stirring. I loved that Juliana got a kick out of us living it up in the kitchen too.

Christian came out of his room to say how good the sauce smelled and that the smell reached his room.