Football and Tailgating Season Begins

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Tonight began our tailgating and football season with an 8 pm game at Stanford vs. San Jose State University.

We all love this tradition we started about 4 years ago and were glad to be kicking off the season again after our year away. In a way, I feel like we are camping with half the amount of work and stuff, and no uncomfortable sleeping arrangements.

April and I plan a menu, shop together and help prepare dinner for our family and friends. The boys bring a portable Weber barbecue and we set up bar height tables and chairs and set out a spread of delicious food and drinks. The kids like to draw and make signs for the game and toss the football around the parking lot and get all dusty before the game.

Tonight we had tri-tip on torta rolls, coleslaw, watermelon, strawberries, cucumbers, broccoli salad, and cilantro shrimp. We also had several appetizers to share and munch while relaxing with good friends before the game as well as several desserts!

It was an especially warm night and we didn’t need any sweatshirts until the end of the night. The game was excellent and it was great to be in the stands again.

One highlight of the game was seeing Ms. Maehara in the crowd. She is a teacher from our school who has taught all our kids and is one of the most passionate teachers I’ve ever met. Tonight at half time they honored educators who graduated from Stanford, and she came and brought our kids with her out onto the field with her. What a treat!! I think they all enjoyed the experience and we’re thankful for our amazing and dedicated teacher.

We also loved watching the Stanford band and the new female drum major, dressed as Dorothy from Wizard Of Oz, with Toto on her baton that she waived through the air as she lead the band through the night.

It’s a late night but was so much fun. Stanford beat San Jose 34-13. I’m glad we got to share it with my parents, Leland and his family and April and Steve and their family too.

Hope you have a great rest of the weekend!!

7Sep2013

Struggling and Adapting

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Today I felt anxiety and I didn’t know why. I felt frustrated and angry and like I didn’t know how to make a decision. It didn’t make sense to me, but I knew I didn’t feel good at all.

I decided to go meet Julie at the TRX class because my new goal is to get strong and fit and this class supposedly will kick my a double s. On the way to the gym, I just started to cry. I felt such a longing to be back in Holland and not where I was at that moment.

I didn’t know why exactly I was crying, but it was a big release. And as I cried I realized this was one of those moments of accepting what is and being aware of the hidden feelings I wasn’t acknowledging out loud and now they were coming out wet. Ahhh…. Social media is a great thing to help keep us connected, and this week I was feeling the sense of loss as and change and adapting and resettling and chaos and being fat all at once! That’s a lot to carry! Not really, but it was my instability at that moment and its ok and it’s real.

I miss my girlfriends in Holland. I miss seeing everyone in the cafeteria. I missed the dance party in Vondel Park. I miss chatting with Barbara and doing yoga with Jen and biking with Patti Beth and sleepovers with Joseine’s kids, and meeting up for ice cream with Jen and Carolyn and Patty and holding Amy’s baby and waiting for the bus with Lauren and Karina and Jen and PB and on and on and on. And I miss the white swans in my canal, and I realized that when Christine acknowledged the differences in pelicans and swans and feeling out of place when she commented on my picture on Facebook. That was the trigger, along with the pictures and status updates from my friends in Amsterdam.

Christine acknowledged what I wasn’t saying. She was aware of my sense of loss and place and belonging to two worlds now and that it is ok. I’m just adapting and today was a struggle. She saw that I accept the beauty and gifts that surround me now but that doesn’t negate that I feel a bit lost in the transition.

Lenka also helped me feel and acknowledge this yesterday when I ran into her at Costco. Se said I’ll probably feel this way for a long time and that I might always feel a sense of loss. I think she might be right and that’s ok too. I am so thankful for the experience and it has changed me. I just don’t know how to process all the changes just yet. In time I will. I’m just in it right now. And when you’re in the process of change, you have to keep looking forward and dream new dreams. Like getting fit!

So I wiped off my tears and accepted a hug from Julie who also understands what it is like to be from two places and went on with my butt kicking TRX class followed by a good stretching and balancing and breathing yoga class.

And all was well again. I felt strong and balanced and relaxed and ready to go again and ready to feel and be alive and happy in this moment, despite the chaos and uncertainty. I chatted with my sister on the way home and made a lunch and shopping date with my mama who is still in town. I am thankful for the gift of time with her, right here, right now.

Namaste.

Downtown Mountain View with my Mama.

6Sep2013

Being Outside

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The best part of being home again is being outside and seeing my friends. I’m still not settled being back home after a month+ and long to be back in Holland.

This morning I played tennis with friends for a couple hours in the glorious sunshine. I loved having time with the girls and exercising outdoors at the same time.

And this afternoon I sat on the grass during Charlie’s soccer practice, just feeling thankful.

Life is full. Life is good!

Namaste.

5Sep2013

Shoreline

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The busyness of life continues.

Luckily, I was able to take a break and bring my parents to Shoreline for a long walk in the sunshine along the San Francisco Bay today. The weather was so warm and comfortable and reminds me how much I love California.

This is a great place to be outdoors, despite the stinky smells from the bay and nearby landfill/dump.

There are several walking trails with people out bird watching, walking, running, skating, painting, and participating in water sports.
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We couldn’t have asked for better weather. We spent a good hour walking and then stopped at the Lakeshore cafe for lunch out on the patio overlooking the lake.

Life is good, especially when you take the time to slow down and enjoy it. How was your day?

4Sep2013

Electricity Appreciation

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Our electricity has been out all evening. A large tree limb broke and fell into the power lines 9 houses away from ours. Luckily my phone still has 64% power left and I’m able to publish my blog tonight.

We were going to have lasagna for dinner to celebrate my dad’s birthday, but the oven wouldn’t work without electricity. Luckily we have a gas stove, and even though the igniter switch wouldn’t work, matches were successful and we were able to boil water to make spaghetti instead to go with my mom’s famous sauce.

Juliana set the table so nicely and we ate by candlelight. I kinda liked not having power. We sat around the table longer and roasted and toasted my dad with our favorite memories and stories of his life these past 65+ years!

We enjoyed strawberry rhubarb pie and ice cream for dessert and waited for the electricity to return, which was expected an hour ago but still no luck.

I’m happy we were able to just flow with the unexpected outage tonight and make the best of things. And it really makes me appreciate the gifts of electricity that we take for granted.

Happy birthday, Pops!

Namaste.

30Aug2013

Challenging Days

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Oops! Yesterday I wrote and forgot to publish my piece as it sat in draft mode all night and day until I looked and discovered my error.

And tonight I began to write after a challenging day, and all I wrote was the title and it accidentally went off into cyberspace before I was ready. Maybe that’s enough said. Maybe when you opened the post you laughed and thought about your own challenging days and wished it was blank like mine.

Believe me. My day was nothing but blank nor quiet nor still. It was a challenging day for several reasons and not one of my best parenting days. I actually sucked at it today and made several mistakes. Luckily I have cool kids who are growing up with me and we are learning together as we figure out this new way of working and living together. I know you have to go through the struggles sometimes in order to grow and become more self aware. That’s the positive spin on it. But when you’re in the thick of it, man is it tough! To all the parents of teenagers, I’m sending you a hug and strength to keep the peace and love alive thru the challenging years in your house.

Now I understand why Kris called the ages of 4-12, the Golden years. Wow, they were good. And as my mama used to say, “little kids, little problems; big kids, big problems.” Well, they’re not that big but definitely more challenging than when they were little.

Here’s to a hopefully more peaceful and less laborious Labor Day weekend! Aahhhh…. Namaste.

28Aug2013

Our Shipment Arrived!

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Today was a big day. Our belongings from Holland traveled over the ocean and to the Port of Oakland, where a truck unloaded our container and brought our belongings back to us. It felt like a chaotic Christmas day, with boxes filled with gifts and wrapping paper everywhere, and everyone excited and a little off schedule.

The movers assembled our couches and bicycles and placed the boxes in the appropriate rooms, even helping to hang up some clothes. They broke down the boxes and took all the trash with them. They also helped us to remove our old couches that we’ve had since we lived in San Francisco and gave them to a new home.

If you have to do an international relocation, I highly recommend hiring Crown Relocation Services to help you with the transition. They are very professional, efficient, have a great, professional staff, and take care of you every step of the way. I was very impressed with their services and highly recommend them.

So now that Christmas is over, I have to try and assimilate all the gifts into their new places. Our house is very small and we don’t have a lot of extra room. This is no easy task! Every room is filled with boxes and stuff now. I think I need a professional organizer to come and help me sort and purge and organize. Luckily, one’s arriving tomorrow. My parents are coming to town and I’m sure they’ll want to help me. Lucky me. My mom is really good at making space and keeping a tidy house. I’m sure she’ll have some best practices to share.

So not only did we have the movers here all morning and my house is now a disaster, and company arriving tomorrow, my washing machine decided to leak. I was getting ready to go to some school and church meetings (still in my grungy clothes from this morning and not glamorous at all) and went in the garage to find a puddle, or should I say a stream of water covering part of the floor. Of course, a stack of our boxes was in the direct way of the river and was wet on the bottom. So in the course of 20 minutes before my meeting, I emptied out the wet box, moved the other boxes, contacted Sears Repair guys who were just out earlier this month, chatted on the phone with a friend and started serving dinner to the little ones who were waiting. We had a house full of friends tonight. I guess we’re just not ready to let go of summer. It didn’t help that it was 80 degrees out and felt like summer, so we just went with it. I kept looking around like I was on a crazy farm, and just kissed Jeff goodbye, telling him to just flow with it all, and walked out to leave for the two separate meetings at different locations while not tripping on any of the bicycles that were covering my yard. Can you visualize it?

I think I love days like this, chaos and all, although a little less clutter may have eased things up a bit. Oh, and I also made a trip to the orthodontist with Juliana and picked her up from practice. I actually had an hour between dropping her back off at school and picking her up again, and was able to assemble dinner during that time with limited counter space due to all the loot from Christmas covering it! Phew… I’m re-tired just writing it all down! What a day.

My day was full and I’m so thankful and exhausted. I’m happy to have my stuff. I’m glad my kids are involved in sports and are happily settling into their new routines. I’m glad that the neighborhood kids want to hang out at my house as this was always my dream. I’m glad that Jeff was home with me today to handle all of the moving and unpacking and kid patrol, and clean up, as well as that he took time to squeeze in a lunch date at one of our favorite Thai restaurants with the hour we had before early kid pickup. I’m thankful that my kids have the opportunities to be part of this wonderful community we call home. I am happy and tired and ready for bed.

Namaste.

(P.S…this post never posted last month as I found it in my drafts, so I’m posting now!)

28Aug2013

The Best Part of The Day

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What was the best part of your day? Isn’t that a good question? Even if you’re having a crappy day, more than likely something was good. I like to dwell there vs. in the s&$/!!

I had a challenging day and am exhausted. This too shall pass. Growing pains are not always fun, but enough about that.

The best part of my day was doing yoga right after my chores were done. It was a power yoga flow class and I was so glad to be back again. Melissa was teaching and she is great! Michele and Susanne were there so it was nice to see friends and workout too. And I felt strong and able today to get into some new poses. I want to do yoga every day. Is that possible? I feel so energized after completing my work. I have so many interests and I never have enough time to do them all. Maybe 3 days a week would be good!

The other favorite part of my day was being on the playground after school and receiving unsolicited big hugs from my little friends. I love those two girls!!

Life is good, despite the lows. Have a good one!

27Aug2013

The Red Plate

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Everyone should get the red plate that says “You are special today.” A dog looking up at you and sharing some love is an extra special bonus, even for those of us who are not dog owners. And heck, I was pretty lucky to be enjoying a nice coffee klatsch with girlfriends this morning so I must therefore be special. Very important community building was occurring, as I’m sure you can tell. We have a very important job, I might add.

April got the Christmas Cookie plate at dinner last night, which made me smile, but a different kind of smile than the special red plate. I chuckled and laughed and was a slight bit embarrassed and wondered how she got stuck with the holiday plate. It had been hiding for quite awhile and we must have been running low on dishes to get to the bottom of the stack of ordinary dishes to offer the random Christmas tree cookie plate. I wonder if she felt special getting the magical cookie plate without a fortune written on it. I’ll just pretend that she did because she is pretty special too!

Both plates made me smile and I did allow myself to feel special for a little moment, you know because my fortune plate told me so and I’m a rule follower. 🙂

How did you feel special today? Anything exciting happen?

26Aug2013

When I Grow Up…

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What did you want to be when you grew up? Are you living your dream? Have you found your place?

I read Seth Godin’s blog today and he helped to plant the seed for this post. His blog was brief – you can read it here http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2013/08/when-i-grow-up.html

He mentioned how people grow up and dream of changing the world and what this looks like. This made me think of Martin Luther King and the 50th anniversary of his speech and dream. I wondered about what my dream is. Do I have a dream? Do you have a dream? Are you living it?

Some people dream of changing the world or leaving a legacy and making a difference. Do you think like that?

My dream was way more simple than that. I just wanted to be a stay at home mom (and raise responsible and loving, happy, well adjusted members of society.) Oh, and to go on Wheel of Fortune or The Price is Right. I’m still learning and practicing and working on the first one…there’s still time for the other two, and maybe it’s time to dream a little bigger.

I’m dreaming about how to conscientiously make a difference in my little world…with myself, the little people I’m coaching and raising, within my family, my community and maybe beyond. I think if we all make positive little changes within our little spheres that we can make the world a better place. Right?

Seth says in the context of changing the world, “More than ever, that means telling stories, changing minds and building a tribe.”

So my way little way of changing the world right now is to keep joyfully living and telling my story, focusing on seeing the good, and having fun, laughing and loving along the way. I seek joy and ways to continuously create happiness despite the craziness and chaos of life and plan to share the love. Thanks for being a part of my tribe, which really isn’t mine. It’s ours…

And the only way I really want to change minds is to help others to see the good and feel the love that surrounds us and within us. Love is patient. Love is kind. Be good to yourself.

Namaste.