This my friends, is the secret to life. Playing and laughing and loving without fear. Not worrying about what your hair looks like or how many wrinkles you have or if your shoulder hurts. Just pure joy and being in the moment and catching some air. 
Let’s grow down instead of up!
nAMaste
You were very interesting when you were born. We all were. We all had people interested in our coming to life and celebrated us. We were very interesting, probably for a very long time. But over the years, some of us become boring. Why is that? Are you boring or are you interesting and what makes you interesting? Hmm… I’m always interested in learning about other people and their interesting interests, even when I don’t share them. I find passionate people very interesting.
What are you passionate about? Are you afraid to share your interests? I think fear gets in the way for some people and they hide away instead of connecting and celebrating and living out loud.
Seth Godin just posed this question here -> Seth’s blog and he made me think of the most interesting person I know, who fascinates me.
This would be my husband. He is one of the most interesting people in the world to me and I love hearing his stories and being a part of his life.
Like right now, he’s making a slab of bacon on the smoker, which has been smoking for 6 hours. The smell of the apple wood chips burning in the smoker is drifting into my kitchen while I write. I’m smelling the sweet smells and hearing the hum of the smoker’s convection fan. He promised his friends at work that one day he’d bring them some home made bacon, but he didn’t tell them when he would bring it in. I bet they are going to be surprised this week.
I bought a pork belly at Costco last week, and it has been sitting in our refrigerator, rubbed in spices and curing, as he turned the slab from side to side every day, awaiting today’s smoking. After it smokes, he will slice it and share it and fry it in a pan. I can’t wait. I know his friends are anxiously waiting too for the day to arrive with bacon in hand. Who doesn’t love bacon?
And this is only one interesting fact about the man I married. He chooses to show up and to share his gifts and talents EVERY day. He is funny and kind, hard working and loving and I love how much others love him too. He sincerely cares about people and is always making this world a better place. I’m so happy he was born and that he chose to share his life with us. He is VERY interesting.
I could go on and on, but I’ll save that for another day.
What makes you interesting? Go out and SHINE!
Who is interesting to you? Share. Connect. Think about it. This is a fun one!
I hope you have a FaBuLoUs and iNteResTing week.
nAMaste BeLoveRs
xoxoxox
I am the luckiest girl in the world.
My mama and pops came to see me again. I think we should make this an annual tradition.
They came for no special reason and just because they love me and because I was home sick and was having parent withdrawals!
We shared a glass of wine before dinner and just chatted and caught up with our busy lives. I kept sitting on my mama and hugging her, and rubbing my toes on her feet, kissing her and soaking all of her in.
I made a big pot of Thai yellow curry, jasmine rice and pickled cucumbers for dinner and served pumpkin pie and ice cream for dessert. After dinner, we watched some baseball and snuggled on the couch. I am so thankful they are here with me to just sit and be.
These are my favorite days.
Life is good.
I’m excited to share with you my journey getting back into the workforce after being out of it for 15 years. Thank you Susanne, for that idea. However, tonight I am exhausted from doing it all and loving every minute along the way, so instead I’d like to share just the balancing piece.
I am working part time and Wednesday’s are my day “off.”
Here are some of the beautiful and fun sites that made me happy today that I’d like to share with you.
Are you smiling yet?
Today was the best day, just like yesterday, and I’m sure tomorrow will be too.
nAMaste and Good night, BeLoveRs. xo
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.
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
I am now the old mom with BIG kids.
When did this happen? I see it. I know it. But it’s still hard to believe and I love this stage and I love my kids and danced around the kitchen in my jammies this morning, singing to them, “All you need is love.” I know they think I’m crazy yet luckily they laughed and thought I was funny and little do they know how much I adore them. I am so in love with my teens and almost tween and love this stage of life. I know they’ll be leaving soon and I am enjoying every minute with them, so be it.
I read the BEST parenting article today by one of my favorite authors, Jen Hatmaker, that made me cry. Check her out here:
You’ll cry too, because she’s funny, real, authentic, and totally gets this parenting thing like no one else. And she loves women too, just like me and wants to lift each other up and support one another and buy each other wine and high five each other at Target when the littles are throwing temper tantrums.I love her and so does everyone else. She gets life and is really funny.
I love being a mom. It’s what I always wanted to be when I grew up. I wanted to be financially independent, knowing I could take care of myself and my family if I had to, and then I wanted to stay at home and raise our babies. Here I am. Living the dream. I love what I do, despite the stress and chaos and craziness that surrounds me some days.
I love being in the car with them and their friends and taking them to and from – most days! Last week, was another story, but today I was good. I took Juliana to her ortho appointment and then we went to get a bubble tea and fried snacks because that sounded like fun to them after school. I didn’t want to be busy. I wanted to soak them in and spoil them while I can. I always struggle with that – not wanting to spoil them and wanting to spoil them at the same time. They were thankful and we had fun together.
When we came home, Juliana was busy tutoring a little girl so Charlie and I went to hide away in his “apartment.” We sat on his couch and ate our snacks and played Mastermind together, which brought back memories for me when my dad and I used to play together. We are usually running around with way too much to do, and yet today we slowed down and just played. Can I even tell you how sweet this was? I am so thankful that Juliana needed a quiet house and that Charlie and I got to hide away together for an hour.
I know I’m writing a lot – but seriously, I really do like and enjoy my kids and today was one of those BIG FEELINGS days. We were at a funeral on Friday, and at a Special Needs Brunch on Sunday and I am still missing Chase every day and am fully aware that life is fleeting and messy so while it’s good, I plan to love on them and live it up every day while I can.
Charlie made me cry tonight when he decided to make dinner for himself and Christian. He wanted special plates to make the meal look fancy. We cooked tempura shrimp and he molded rice in little cups to neatly place on the special plates. He placed the shrimp in a star pattern and used a brush to place the sauce decoratively on the plate. He was so proud of himself and served his brother in his room, while he studied. He was like a little, proud, Master Chef, Jr. I loved this connection and loved that they share this bond together.
This old mom is content. Life is good and IS what you make it to be and I’m okay with things changing and aging. I am living it up today and everyday and loving this one life right now. And you? Are you living it up and loving it out wherever you are right now?
Namaste.
I wanted to see the ocean today and step my feet in the sand. I didn’t really have a plan except to be there, wherever there might be.
We all got up early to work on a service project at our church in honor of Martin Luther King day today. We bought and brought supplies to support our local homeless shelters and our town’s local community services center that provides clothing, school supplies, food, toiletries, towels, gloves and socks to provide warmth and comfort. We were going to help sort and bag the donations but by the time we arrived, 30 minutes after the event began, the work was mostly done. We were able to still write letters to soldiers and veterans which was humbling.
We finished earlier than expected which allowed us to drive over the hill to Santa Cruz. We went on yelp to find a new place to eat. The only suggestion I had from the family was they wanted seafood. We found a Hawaiian poke place that we enjoyed. It was kind of funky and different and probably a place we’ll only visit once, as the food sounded and looked better than it actually tasted.
I kind of liked not having a definite plan and no one to coordinate logistics with as we were able to just wander and see and discover what ever came our way.
Before you think this was a day in paradise, let me just tell you it wasn’t perfect. It was perfectly imperfect as I like to say, with lots of bickering and disagreements, trying to get everyone to agree and not touch one another nor say mean things. We are a modern family with lots of opinions if you know what I mean. We finally found our rhythm, but some days it takes awhile. Just keepin’ it real. And once we do, it’s awesome! Thank God for patience and perseverance!
We walked around downtown Santa Cruz and then headed North to admire the coastal views first along Cliff drive and then heading towards Davenport. We pulled off Highway 1 at one point, to walk along the cliffs. This was breathtakingly beautiful.
We walked down the path to the sandy part and Jeff walked through the arc.
This connects to my perfectly imperfect vision of life. I was so excited to get down to the water and discover the path through the arc and to the water but if you look behind Jeff, there is a dead whale! The smell was so bad, I almost cried! I had to get out of there before throwing up. So much for putting my feet in the water! I had to run!!
We were happy to get back in the car and to admire the coastline from a nicely enclosed space. We drove towards Pescadero and fondly remembered our first trip to Harley Goat Farm with Michele and her kids. We took the time to go say hi to the goats and to pick up some of the most delicious organic goat cheese. I love this place and the sweet memories of visiting here when our kids were little.
Our next stop was Half Moon Bay. We found this cute little shop called Oddyssea, which is an interactive retail shop with an outdoor creative garden. We had fun touching the toys and exploring and the kids made dog tags with hammering tin type letters into the metal tags and then rubbing black shoe polish into the debts to make the letters stand out. They had a lot of fun and it was something we didn’t expect to experience.
The craft project took a little longer than we thought and by the time we were done, the sun was setting and we missed watching it set, which was ok. We decided to drive back over the hill and had dinner at a place that Jeff has been wanting to take us to in Menlo Park, called Refuge. They are known for their pastrami and Belgian beer. It is definitely a guys place and was really loud. I’m glad we finally tried it but it was not my favorite place. I really loved their roasted root vegetable soup though.
We drove back home and all of us were tired and happy, having spent the day together trying and seeing new things. I’m glad that we had time to explore again, just like our days in Holland. I miss our expat days and am thankful to be able to enjoy our California.
Hope you had a good day and enjoyed California with me!!
What are you passionate about? Do you share your passion with others?
This is a great gift!
This weekend my family was invited to go boating and to hang out on the water at Discovery Bay with our good friends.
Being on the water is my favorite thing to do. Sharing it with my family and friends makes me giddy, content, joyous, relaxed and thankful.
This weekend didn’t disappoint.
I loved seeing my kids try new things and learn new skills. I was thankful to Rob and Marcia for sharing their boat with us and teaching my kids how to knee board and to try wake boarding.
I love that Rob shared his jet ski with Jeff and that all of us got to go for a ride with him and share the thrill of speeding on the water and fear of falling while jumping the wakes of boats nearby.
I was so happy when they offered for me to get in the water and to ski again. This used to be my biggest passion before having a family and I popped right up and could still do it. I was smiling from ear to ear. Absolutely 100% so happy!
We brought the paddle boards out too and enjoyed every minute together in the sunshine.
Life is good, especially when doing what you love with those you love.
Love this life!
I’m hoping when I get to Holland, I’ll get a bike like this guys to carry my board with me to the canals. He made me smile.
It was a beautiful day in Capitola today. We had our annual “team meeting” on the beach, playing volleyball followed by a potluck lunch. It’s important for women to come together and have fun and enjoy being outdoors together with no agenda – if the mama ain’t happy, no one’s happy. Or Happy Wife, Happy Life! So true, right?
Still waiting to hear back on the house – maybe tomorrow!
Blooming red roses in my yard today. Life is good. Have a great week!
here i am 