Pattern and Design

Posted in connection, family, Gratitude, happily ever after, Happiness, joy, motherhood, simple living, spark joy, working mom by adrianahartley

I received my first Stitch Fix order in the mail today, 3 days ahead of schedule.

I loved seeing the box arrive and was excited to open it to see what was inside. I waited until my husband and daughter and son were ready to watch me unwrap my Mother’s Day gift.

The labeling and the tape and the way things were laid inside the box were all well thought out. I loved the colors and the sticker and the tissue before I even enjoyed what was inside the wrappings. Everything was aesthetically pleasing even before knowing what was actually inside.

I loved the anticipation and was hoping I would love every piece and I did! What a pleasant surprise.

I love that someone else went shopping for me and knew how to pick what would look good on my body. They did a better job than I ever could because I don’t have the patience or the interest to spend time looking for and hunting and gathering new pieces for my wardrobe. This was actually a very rewarding experience and my husband even asked if there was service like this for men as he hates shopping even more than I do.

After I was done trying on all my gifts, I told my husband that I knew what I wanted for my birthday now. He was thrilled that he was off the hook for thinking and shopping and wrapping and found the perfect gift! It’s a win-win!

Life is good!

7May2016

Mother’s Day

Posted in family, Gratitude, Happiness, Love, motherhood, parenting by adrianahartley

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mamas in the world!

I think this is a day to celebrate unconditional love and to recognize womens’ work!

I am thankful for my mom, my sisters, my girlfriends, my husband’s mom and our grandmothers. I am grateful for my kids, who made me a mother and for my husband who played a part in the creation process and who loves and supports me and our kids, unconditionally.

I love being part of the motherhood and sharing this day with y’all. Happy Mother’s Day!

nAMaste Mama Lovers!!

10May2015

Happy Mama 2015

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

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

9May2015

Mother’s Day Eve

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

I am thankful for these three who made me their mama!

I am thankful for my mama too who taught me unconditional love.

I am thankful for all the mamas and women who have shared and share their love and wisdom and friendship with me.

Happy Mother’s Day tomorrow!

I hope everyone takes a moment to share some love and memories with the important women in our lives – mothers, sisters, daughters, aunts, grandmothers, cousins and friends.

mamaste.

12May2014

The Real Mother’s Day

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

Mother’s Day was fabulous of course – but everyone was home and together, which is fabulous too, but noisy and chaotic and messy. Let’s just keep things real.

We all know the real Mother’s Day is Monday – the day AFTER when everyone goes back to school again, and we’re so thankful for the peace and quiet and lack of clutter and arguments and messes.

My floor was soooo dirty! And the laundry piled up – even though I was the one doing the washing yesterday!

Wasn’t I supposed to have the day off? Hmmm… I kept washing, and today sorted, making piles in baskets for each of the monkeys to fold and put away themselves. They are big enough now to do that on their own. I still choose to fold mine and Jeff’s and all the towels and socks and linens. I actually stayed home for an hour today to clean up a bit, since I am a “stay at home” kinda mom who doesn’t really stay home. Seriously.

Today I was busy exercising and burning off all the extra calories I consumed in my celebratory state. And then I spent the day in misery – shopping for a bathing suit. No woman really likes to shop for a bathing suit. It’s depressing. I went everywhere – trying to find one that looks half way decent. You’re not going to believe this, but the last place I went, was a walk by, grab and go, without even trying it on WIN!! I literally had five minutes left of shopping time before picking up Juliana, that I just grabbed it off the rack, went up to the check stand and asked if I could return it if it didn’t fit, if the tags were still on. SInce they said yes, I took my purchase and shoved it in my purse (because they don’t give out bags anymore!) and raced out the door, so I could be 3 minutes late to pick up my daughter. I came home and tried it on with my full dinner belly, and actually didn’t cringe. It looked ok – it’ll do. And my misery is over. Just like that. 5 minutes. After hours and miles and a gazillion shops and try ons that didn’t work. Oh, I wish it could be this simple all the time, and next time, before I put in the hours of work.

How was your Real Mother’s Day?? You get me, right? tee hee hee…. xo

I leave you with this, that I found on Momastery –

Mamaste

“My soul honors your soul.

I honor the space where

Motherhood resides in you.

I honor the love, hard work, frustration and exhaustion within you,

because it is also within me.

In sharing these things, we are one, we belong to each other, and

I hope you survive the day. ” – by Channa B.

Namaste, Sisters!! xo

11May2014

Happy Mother’s Day 2014

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

We were in Sunnyvale today. Just me and my little family and no guests.

It was a great day to be home and at the club, playing tennis and watching the kids swim.

The kids all made home made cards and decorated the kitchen to celebrate ME!! I love being spoiled with attention and love that they took the time to think of me.

They joined me for coffee in bed and then Jeff made me a healthy egg white scramble with chicken, kale, garlic, tomatoes and goat cheese that was fabulous!

After breakfast, Jeff and I worked on sorting through our digital photos for hours, even though we need months to make sense of them all. At least we touched them again and made a little progress. Every time I work on the backlog, I feel so frustrated because it’s overwhelming and is such a slow process.

After working around the house, we headed over to the club to play tennis as a family and to swim. The weather was perfect and we enjoyed the late afternoon sunshine.

I didn’t want to fight crowds at a restaurant, so we went to a Japanese market and got fixings to make sushi and shrimp and noodles. Our dinner was beyond fabulous and I kept saying Mmm… between every bite!

I wish my extended family was with us to share this delicious dinner. It was so easy to make and assemble and there was no rush and no crowds.

Love this life!

Hope you had a wonderful day celebrating all women and sisters!

10May2014

The Night Before Mother’s Day

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

Tonight I’m thankful that I am a mother. When I grew up, all I wanted to be was a mama, and go on Wheel of Fortune!! I know, big dreams. But my first dream came true three times over and the second dream is just trivial and not something I think of often. Now I think I’d rather be a guest on Ellen. 🙂

Today I got to enjoy my kids. Juliana and I played tennis together and I just smiled looking at her across the court from me, so happy that she chose to learn to play and that we were there together sharing time playing outside in the sunshine.

Afterwards, we went and got some frozen yogurt before heading over to watch Charlie’s baseball game. I love seeing him in his element and cheering him on. He got two great catches and a couple good hits and was content.

We came home and helped Christian get ready for a birthday party. Not that he really needed help, but we thought of a gift idea, prepared some food to share and Jeff dropped him off. I’m so glad that he has a great group of friends with great families. This was my dream for him when we returned from the Netherlands.

Jeff, Juliana and Charlie and I went shopping together and out to dinner tonight, while Christian was away. I was happy that everyone got to see what they wanted to and that we were able to buy some new summer clothes for Juliana.

This is how we spent our day. Jeff and I were going to go on a date, but the kids wanted to join us. I love that they still want to be with us and will not wish that away.

My dream has come true and I am one lucky and happy mama.

As for tomorrow, I’m hoping to have a couple hours in bed with coffee and the newspaper while they clean up and declutter and make breakfast.

Then we’ll hopefully head outdoors for some swim and tennis, or go to the beach to paddle, or maybe just hang outside on our patio. No big plans and that’s just perfect for me. We’ll just go with the flow and see what everyone is in the mood to do.

How will you spend Mother’s Day?

Love this life.

Happy Mother’s Day Eve!

13May2012

Day 73 – A Perfect Day

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

My family came up from Southern California to spend Mother’s Day with me. It was the perfect day – with no big fanfare – just us, and church and April and Steve and S & J. The highlights of my day were many – my 2 year old niece singing Amen and the Our Father and Adele’s Someone Like You and smiling and laughing and just being so happy just being. She was my role model for the day. My kids were so happy to celebrate me with their home made cards and posters and hugs and kisses – loving me as their mama, my favorite role in life. And my dad and Jeff took care of the big kids and made us dinner. Happy Wife, Happy Life and the Mama’s Happy, so Everyone’s Happy!!

These signs were all over the walls in the halls, on the cabinets and on the mantle before he went to bed to surprise me when I woke up! How cute is that? J and C also made thoughtful and artistic cards for me and their Oma and Auntie.

Coffee on the couch with my girls and the Sunday paper, while the men are making us breakfast. Are we lucky or what? Thanks Dad and Jeff!

Letting the baby sleep, the mamas sat on the couch and relaxed and watched a movie together with a cup of coffee and some chocolate, while the guys took the big kids out to keep the house quiet and peaceful. It was so nice to actually relax – what’s that like?

The boys cooked a fabulous BBQ dinner for all of us and we had a Coldstone Ice Cream cake and homemade lemon bars for dessert. The kids had so much fun just running around the yard and watching Tangled. After dinner, we all settled down and enjoyed a quiet evening. We’re going to miss our cousin and Auntie and Oma and Opa when they go home tomorrow. Thanks for the best gift, Papa, Mama and Yaya- the gift of your time and love and just being together.

Happy cousins getting ready for bed.

Happy Mamas. Namaste.

12May2012

Day 74 – I Want You to Know What Love Is

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

(picture taken at Savvy Cellar in Mountain View tonight – great little place to hang out with friends and the weather was gorgeous!)

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day. Good women are the epitome of love. They give love not only to their own children but to all children (and pets in some cases, and their own parents and friends and partners) and they are nurturing and giving and loving and make this world a better place. They support one another and take care of each other and they create community and build relationships. This is peace. This is love.

The new Time Magazine with the young woman breastfeeding her 4 year old child on the cover has a lot of people talking and stirring. The main problem I have with the cover is the question they pose which pits women against one another. “Are you Mom Enough?” – All women are enough because they have a choice – and the choice should be theirs and no one else’s. Whether we choose to work or stay at home, to have kids or not, to breastfeed or not or for how long, to dress up or dress down, to wear makeup or to go natural, to be skinny or not. Just be who YOU want to be. We shouldn’t judge one another by our choices and we should let each other just be happy. We don’t have to approve of each other’s choices but we also don’t have to make others feel insecure or judged by us. Let them be. And be ok being you. That’s love and that’s peace. To me.

So here’s to all the women in my life – that inspire me and love me and challenge me and support me. I love you – thank you for making this world a better place. Happy Mother’s Day to my Sisters, my Wife, my Friends, my Aunts and Cousins, Grandmothers, my Role Models, and my Neighbors and especially to my Beautiful Mama. Enjoy your day tomorrow and celebrate YOU!

My mom and sister are in town to celebrate Mother’s Day together with me tomorrow. So happy they are here, just wish Kimmy was here too! Happy Mother’s Day!! xo