Someone is very happy tonight! The reality is almost as exciting as the anticipation was. 
I love how happy he is, celebrating his wonderful life, just the way he planned. I am thankful to be a part of his young and exciting journey and to be his mama.
Happy Birthday, little man!! I love you.
Time Square
M&M Store NY Firefighter
Grand Central Station
How do you show your love?
We are showing our kids love this week by showing them parts of their beautiful world and hopefully inspiring them to explore.
Congratulations to the USA Women’s Soccer Team for winning the 2015 World Cup vs. Japan today.
Life is good!
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
It’s Memorial Day and I am married to a veteran. We take the time to reflect and remember that our freedom to BE is a gift from those families who chose to sacrifice and give of themselves and we are grateful.
Today we celebrated with veterans in Santa Clara and smiled at Denny and his wife Marilynne who shared stories with us as we admired their courage and history in serving our country. I loved this moment and loved their hugs and kisses. There was an instant connection through our gratitude and recognition of their service and I was touched by our spontaneous interaction. I wanted to hear more of their story. Denny teased me and handed me his biography. He was decorated with several honorable medals, including a Purple Heart and a Navy Cross. He was a true gentleman and I admired his pride and character.
We are thankful for our veterans and their families, especially PopPop and MamMam, Algin Hughes and Elaine Hughes.
Life is good and we thank you, veterans. xoxo
I am in love with her. I truly love her soul and her spirit and her mind and her whole entire being. I admire her and enjoy her company and I know this is such a HUGE gift.
It wasn’t always like this and I will treasure this time as I know mothers and daughters don’t always understand one another and our time might come. But for now, our relationship is a-m-a-z-I-n-g and I am soaking it all up, every day.
I love that she wants to be with me and shares stories and time together.
She is helpful and kind and funny and loving and wickedly smart and intuitive. I love her wit and sarcasm and humor and she makes me laugh every day.
Today we folded laundry and made dinner together and danced in the kitchen after school. I cut up watermelon for her and she made the marinade for our dinner. Nothing fancy, just sharing time together and working side by side and I loved her for this and so much more.
We took selfies in the kitchen and sent them to my sister so that we could all connect and be virtually together near and far, sharing this one wonderful life for a moment.
curly girls
her curls
my curls post workout
Life is good. Live it up and love the ones you’re with.
xoxo
It’s really so simple, isn’t it?
Love you.
Love me.
Love you.
Love, Me.
xoxo
How was your Mother’s Day?
Juliana decorated the kitchen for me when I got up and there were flowers and cards and gifts on the table to enjoy. Jeff brought me coffee in bed and Charie came in to snuggle.
I was happy and frustrated and sad today but mostly happy. I say that to keep things real because I share mostly the happy parts of my life but want to be clear that there is work and struggle behind the happiness.
I have a lot of expectations and hopes and dreams and sometimes those are hard to manage and live by. And I wouldn’t change a thing!
I was really sad that I wasn’t in Southern California with my family and my mama who were all gathering for a family early dinner.
I was sad for Laurie who’s celebrating her first Mother’s Day without Chase. This day has got to suck for her.
I was sad and frustrated that my kids didn’t really want to go for a hike with me, and that we had to make them go anyway. In my imagination, we all want to do the same thing and live happily after. I have raised independent and confident teens who have other ideas than mine and sometimes this creates conflict. It’s healthy and normal and presents a struggle that I’m not quite good with just yet. I’m still learning.
Luckily Jeff is good at negotiating or maybe cracking the whip. Thank goodness for him and getting everyone on board because once we all got out and to the hills, we were smiling again.
I loved walking with everyone and enjoying the views and sharing stories. It reminded me of our time exploring in Europe together and us walking everywhere. This made me happy and we got almost 10,000 steps in.
I was happy that we all had breakfast together and sat on the couch to watch a family movie together with popcorn.
I love that we all love Japanese food and that they made a reservation for dinner out tonight.
I loved that we stopped at Philz for a coffee and mochas before heading home and relaxed on the couch together. Christian took a selfie of us, that he never does and shared it on FB. This made me smile because even though we get frustrated with each other, we still love each other and are best friends. We say we are sorry and quickly forgive and forget which is awesome. I love this kid.
Charlie wanted to play cards before bed and beat me almost every hand. I love playing games and loved that he wanted to play with me. It was on my wish list today and he listened.
It was a full day of togetherness and I am content and grateful. I got to text and talk with friends and family and enjoy everyone’s FB Mother’s Day love stories. I hope your day was good and that you felt loved.
Life is good.
nAMaste
I had to take Juliana to an appointment today and as we were leaving I noticed this fun sculpture and asked J if she wanted to play on it.
Her initial reaction was, “right now?” and of course I said, “yes, it’s not like we’re coming back here tomorrow and the moment is now. It’s right in front of us and looks like fun. Are you in?”
She didn’t hesitate for long and humored me for a little minute.
I love this kid in so many ways and love that she’ll still play with me. I loved the sculpture and the trees and the lighting too.
On to another subject, we had our first successful pasta night and I loved it. I loved having all the kids together and all the parents too. I loved that everyone brought something to share, especially fresh tulips. Thank you friends for sharing the night with me and for the wine and goodies. I love this!!
Hope you have a great, relaxing weekend! NamASTE.
I picked up Juliana from school today, curious how she did with her jet lag and how she was feeling. She did surprisingly well, although was a bit quieter and moved a little more slowly. She was definitely tired but made it to all her classes and appointments, after being up for 30+ hours straight. I asked her if she wanted to take a nap, but she said she thought if she napped, she wouldn’t want to get up again. I asked her if she wanted to go get a bubble tea, and her eyes sparkled and she woke up again.
We waited for Charlie and then drove across town for their favorite treat. I love that she loves these and that I could spoil her. I’m trying to watch my calories so she ordered a large boba tea so I could have a sip or two. This was just right for me, as I got to share a drink with her and not have too much.
My mama drove up from Southern California to be with us this week and she arrived this afternoon, right before I picked up the kids. I was so happy that she got here safely, and that we got to spend the day together. I wanted her right by my side, doing everything together. We went to pick up the kids together, read magazines together, cooked dinner together, drove the kids to and from together, went to Target, ate dinner together and watched the end of the Warriors game together too. We laughed and joked and loved on each other and the kids and Jeff when he came home too. She is the most efficient, hardest worker I’ve ever known and I just admire her and all the love she has to give. I’m so thankful she’s here with us for a few days and that we can just BE, her and ME and the rest of the gang too, of course, doing whatever we do.
Love this life. Love my family. Love my mama.
nAMaste
I am thankful that our baby girl returned home safely from Japan today.
We were up until 2am our time, texting back and forth until her plane departed from Tokyo. I finally felt like I could rest but I was too anxious and kept waking up every couple of hours, wondering if she was okay and if her plane was still safe.
I was thankful when her texts returned this morning letting me know she was almost on the ground and when she finally landed. We were all at the airport waiting and anticipating her arrival, along with her friends and classmates. The feeling of homecoming was overwhelming and exciting. At the same time, I felt connected to my sister cousin and felt her pain knowing that her son was not coming home. It’s hard to feel complete joy now when I am aware of such pain. Yin and yang. We are all connected. As I was sharing her pain, she was sharing my joy. This is surreal to me. It’s our shared journey and reality. It’s real and makes me especially appreciate life and all that is good, despite all that is bad, every day.
I am thankful for this one life and plan to continue living it up each day, celebrating and feeling and connecting and sharing and loving, good times and bad.
nAMaste BeLoveRs and welcome home Juliana.
here i am 