I Want You to Be Happy.

While we’re busy living and doing all this stuff, let’s not forget our own souls. We are the caretakers of our communities and we have to be strong ourselves in order to keep on giving and loving and nurturing all those in our care. I write daily to share my journey and continually changing pursuit of happiness so that just maybe we’ll connect and share ideas and inspire one another. Maybe one post or idea will make you laugh or smile or feel happy and that’s good enough for me.

I was inspired today by this blog post from Glennon over at Momastery. Click here to read: Glennon’s blog link.

Even though it has a Christian spin on it, it still relates to all souls. We need to find our joy and dance, just because we can and our joy fills our kids with joy. They want us to be happy more than anything else. And sometimes we forget that while we’re trying to do it all.

Carve out time for you, even if you have to hide in the bathroom for five minutes or sneak away to a fun store when you’re “supposed” to be grocery shopping.

Today I found joy by walking with Elizabeth and her baby before the rain came. The dishes and laundry waited. And we got 2000+ more steps in and quality girl time to chat and catch up.

Look at this pretty plant we found on our walk. I’ve never seen anything like it. Isn’t it gorgeous?

I found joy by saying yes to lunch with Kelly, as we have been trying to get together and to be spontaneous and today was the day. My girlfriends make life sweeter.

The papers and piles waited too, and they didn’t make me grumpy.

I smiled and felt joy watching Charlie at his drum lesson today and was so thankful the teacher was patient and kind and good at his job. His first lesson was: Be respectful. The second lesson was: Play bold. Make big mistakes. And the rest of the lesson just flowed too. I only wished I had sticks in my hand too.

I laughed with Juliana at the table before we headed out for our 5th round trip today, running to and from here and there. We laughed so hard, just being silly in between making dinner and finally getting the house back in order.

The laundry got done. The dishes got done. And joy was discovered despite it all. Ha!

How did you get up and dance today? What did you eat? Did you share a meal with someone? Be. Happy.

Live it up. Laugh out loud. Love yourself.

27Mar2014

Love This Life

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This is what is waiting for me as I’ve been busy living it up this week. I decided not to worry about the piles of laundry and emails and papers so that I could enjoy the present moments with the kids and with my friends and Jeff. Now I’m procrastinating, but I swear I’ll catch up by tomorrow before Michele shows up! 🙂

Life is good despite the piles of stuff. Live it up, friends and don’t worry, be happy.

13Mar2014

Live It Up Right Now Because You Can!

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Did you live it up today? What made you smile?

My day was full of smiles.

Today was a day to celebrate – but isn’t every day?

It reached 81 degrees out today and felt like summer!

Jeff’s grandparents celebrated 71 years of marriage today. Isn’t that amazing? I called them from the baseball field and we chatted for 20 minutes which is a very long time!

They grew up in a time where every minute on the phone cost a lot of money, so I appreciated every minute we shared together. They read my blog every day – Hi MamMam and PopPop!! I asked them what their marriage success tips were and they said that they listened to each other and did what each other asked of each other (most of the time). They just choose to get along and to take care of one another. I think this is brilliant advice. PopPop reminded me that I’ve been married for quite awhile now and asked me what I thought made for a successful marriage and I told him that we were going on 18 years already, and that we really liked each other and were each other’s best friend and that we really just liked being together. He said that he thought I then knew the secret too. And we laughed. This made my day. I loved hearing them tell stories and love how they look out for each other. I want to live my life that way too, forever. PopPop will be 94 and MamMam will be 90 very soon. I think they are very wise and had some good advice to share today. Way to live it up!

I wandered around the field collecting trash as I chatted on the phone, which made me feel good and it didn’t take too much time. I probably picked up at least 50 pieces…isn’t that crazy?

MLs birthday was today too. We spontaneously found some time to go get a pedicure together.

We got to enjoy some pampering and chattering and time together celebrating sweet her! I love time with friends and love birthdays for an excuse to get together, not that we really need one. My toes are thankful!!

Debbie’s birthday was today too! Happy Birthday, Debbie. Let’s celebrate tomorrow since I didn’t get a chance to stop by for a visit today.

The kids are getting very busy with their sports and I’m loving seeing them in action.

I love that they are part of teams and are outside running around every day with their friends. Team sports are such an important part of growing up and I’m thankful they have all found a place to practice.

Life is good.

Live it up. Love it Out. and Laugh Out Loud! Namaste

Riding home from school with Charlie today in the bakfiets.

It’s almost Friday – are you smiling yet? 🙂

24Feb2014

Dalai Lama – Visit to Santa Clara University

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The Dalai Lama visited Santa Clara University today and was giving a talk about business and ethics and compassion. There was a live webcast of the event, of which I got to hear a bit while cooking dinner and cleaning up the kitchen.

Mostly what I heard where the local panelists sharing their life experience and work experience and very little spoken by His Holiness, Dalai Lama (HHDL). I most appreciated Jane Carpenter-Cohn’s life story about the four stages of life and how she learned the values of compassion as a child and lived those values as an employee, as well as having created a compassionate working environment when she started her own company.

The Dalai Lama was preaching the importance of compassion in life and in the work force for ourselves and for others. “A compassionate mind creates self confidence and inner strength.” It creates calm and mental comfort and creates happiness.

“Give more happiness to others, you get maximum happiness,” he said. The spirit of giving is what creates peace. We need to take care of others and the joy will return to us. We cannot be self-centered and we need to be giving.

Although I didn’t pay attention to the entire program, what I did see was a lot of laughter and pure happiness. He showed up late to the afternoon presentation, because I think the concept of time is not something he worries about. Everyone else seemed more nervous and on a schedule, but he just seemed jovial and wanted to connect and hear and share. I loved this and wanted to hear and see more.

One other thing he mentioned that caught my attention was that he thought if females were the world leaders, we would have less conflict and less violence. Do you think that would be true? I wonder and think it’s possible. Maybe Hilary will run for presidency, not that I’m advocating for her, but do like the idea of a female president.

At the end of the program, he presented white shawls to the co-hosts and acknowledged them by bowing his head and thanking them. I enjoyed watching this ritual.

I think his overall message is a good one –

Be compassionate.

Be loving.

Be kind.

Everyone wants a happy life and everyone deserves the right to be happy.

Be well, my friends.

Namaste.

11Feb2014

Trying New Things

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I gave a presentation tonight about the journey of becoming an expatriate and a repatriate. I had an outline and food and props and shared my story with women who are great friends, which made for a comfortable audience. Most of the women had followed along with me through my blog and knew the highlights and virtually joined me on our one year adventure abroad.

So I decided to share the feelings and stories behind the story, kind of a behind the scenes version of the tour. I think they liked it, as they asked me to share another story, a version 2, another time. This made me very happy, as I am generally uncomfortable presenting to an audience and feel like I talk too much.

I shared what it was like to make the decision to move to another country. I talked about all the gritty details of the transitions and getting us out the door and into a new home in the Netherlands and back again. I shared the sad goodbyes, the anxious arrivals, the settling in, the exploration, and the return to our homeland.

I shared the lessons learned, both positive and negative.

What I learned, is that a year goes by very quickly, faster than you really think. It’s important to try new things and to not let our fears stop us from experiencing life. I think that we can do anything we set our minds to do, and that if we want something, really want something, and set a goal, we can do anything for a month, or maybe even a year or two or three. It’s not forever and we have so much to experience and try, if we trust our heart and not our fears.

And so I challenged the brave ones to come up and try some salty, Dutch licorice powder. This was a heavenly treat for me growing up, and one that I loved and used to prank my friends, just to see their reactions

They were good sports and I had a good laugh!! I don’t think they liked it much, but I was sure proud of them for trying!!

Life is good, my friends! Live it up, love it out and enjoy your precious time on this great, big planet. xo

10Feb2014

My Valentine

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Love yourself.

What does that mean?

What does that look like?

What does loving yourself feel like?

Why is it important?

It took me several years to really learn this lesson. To know it. To feel it. To really do it. And to realize that this process changes and is never done. And it’s ok, more than ok, and we should be celebrating our happiness and creating more happiness. It’s contagious and I want to share it.

If I were to share my valentine gift with you, it would be this:

Figure out what makes you happy and make time to do that. TODAY.

If you don’t know what makes you happy, then sit for 15 minutes and try to make a list. If nothing is coming to you, then focus on just breathing and relaxing and freeing your mind for 15 minutes. Create some space and time so that your creativity can flow. And then tomorrow, pick something from your list and spend 15 minutes doing what makes you smile. Everyone has 15 minutes to squeeze in joy and it’s a huge investment in your daily well being and productivity and the happiness you can give out to the world.

This Valentine’s Day – instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers or chocolate or to be romantic, make time for yourself and do something that you love. Give yourself the freedom from responsibility and duty to live it up and love it out and create joy – even if it’s only 15 minutes. Loving ourselves needs to become a habit, something we practice and become good at. Because the more we love ourselves and see the good that we are, the more love and more goodness we have to share with others. This is the endless circle we want to create. The happiness circle that keeps on growing and growing and fills our earth, filled with love and happiness. Oh, I like that visual… don’t you?

Love me. Love you.

So simple.

Happy Valentine’s Day to YOU! Wonderful YOU!

Bloom.

31Dec2013

Happy New Year!

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I love this life. I love all the memories and stories and the journey. Thank you for being a part of my life and for all the goodness you bring to this world.

I hope 2014 is just as good, filled with happiness, joy, good health and sunshine for us all.

Live it up. Love it out. Enjoy the moments.

I wish you enough, as the sun sets on 2013. You are loved.

Happy New Year, my friends!! xoxo

24Nov2013

GGG – Day 24 – Family

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“Life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful.” ― Annette Funicello

Gratitude Gift Giving Day 24 – I’m almost done with my daily awareness of what I’m thankful for, not that I’ll ever be done, but I’m looking forward to sharing more stories on daily living besides my gratitude challenge this month.

Today I’m thinking of my crazy family.

My philosophy is to live it up, and love it out. I also believe that we are all perfectly imperfect. It’s ok to make mistakes, especially when we are trying and doing great things, like being kids and parenting.

This was one of the highlights of my simple day. Two of my kids came to join me to sit and chat and share stories while I was working on my Christmas strategy. This was one of the gifts I received from not being busy. I had time to sit and snuggle and I am thankful for that.

I love that the little one sat on the couch with me this morning and we shared a blanket and ottoman and had our legs intertwined, as he finished his book and I read the Sunday paper, while drinking my cup of coffee.

I’m thankful that Jeff makes my coffee every day and that we have time together before things get busy, as they normally do.

I love the little things that my family gives and shares with me, despite all the daily struggles of parenting 3 big kids with big voices and opinions. I choose to share the highlights despite the daily tribulations that we face and learn how to navigate as we go through the journey of living together. No life is perfect. We all have our challenges and I choose not to judge and to do my best, despite the chaos that life presents while we’re living it up and loving it out. And if I fail today, tomorrow is less than 24 hours away to begin again and start fresh.

I am grateful for my wonderful crazy, loving, smart and funny family. Life is good.

What do you love about your family?