Tag Archives: Staycation

Day 61: Summer

Posted in family, food, Gratitude, happily ever after, Happiness, intention, joy, Mindfulness, motherhood, parenting, positive living, simple living, spark joy, work life balance, working mom by

A week from today, the kids will be back in school. Summer is winding down. While I’ve mostly enjoyed the unstructured afternoons, I’m looking forward to a more normal and expected schedule that the school year provides for our family. As I practice living in the moment and being thankful for what is, here are three events that filled me with joy today. 

I enjoyed a lunch break with Jeff and Juliana between our work schedules. We chose to get falafels and schwarma wraps for lunch and it was all delicious. We wondered if my parents might like this food and wanted to share it with them when they come to visit soon. 

After work, Jeff and I enjoyed going for a walk and doing a kettle bell workout together. 

As we waited for the rice to finish cooking as part of our dinner, Jeff and I sat on our comfy outdoor couch with a drink and listened to the water fountain, while we relaxed and chatted about parenting teens. We are growing up!

What three things brought you joy today? 

Day 60: Summer

Posted in connection, family, fear, Friends, happily ever after, simple living, work life balance, working mom by

My eyes are red. I was going to post a picture but it was too freaky. They are red because I am over tired, but not because I was crying or sad. I am writing earlier than usual tonight and plan to go to sleep earlier too, to clear the red out, I hope.

People are starting to go back to school, which means summer is almost over. I’m not sure how I feel about that, but probably feeling a bit of the yin and yang. Has it really been 60 days already? I think I’m ready for another change again?!?

My sister was supposed to come visit today but she was sick and had to postpone her trip. This does make me sad as I was looking forward to her company and hope she feels better. We were hoping for one last hurrah before the structured days set in again. Now we will have to wait. 

How was your day? Did things go as planned or did you have to adapt too?

Wishing you peace, wherever you are! xoxo Adriana

Day 59: Summer

Posted in Beach, best friends, connection, Friends, Gratitude, happily ever after, Happiness, work life balance, working mom by

Tonight I’m thankful for our camping friends who invited us to come join them for the day. This is glamping, staycation style and I loved it and brought the smell of the campfire home with me. How did I get so lucky? 


Thank you friends!! We had a great, windy, cold, fun time with you. 

xo

Day 58: Summer

Posted in joy, simple living by

Are you enjoying the Olympics?


I am enjoying catching bits and pieces here and there. My favorite sports to watch are gymnastics and beach volleyball and swimming.

What are your favorite events?

I felt so bad for the Dutch woman who crashed on her bike today and felt so proud of her Dutch colleague who won first place. It must have been bittersweet!  And the poor American woman who was so close to gold and lost in the fina moments. There was the yin and yang between the agony of defeat and the triumph of victory. 

I am amazed by the dedication and determination and focus of the athletes and am enjoying watching them perform, especially the Americans!! Go USA!!!

It’s been another great day to be on Staycation and enjoying the Olympics from my living room.

Life is good.

Day 57: Summer

Posted in Cooking, family, Gratitude, happily ever after, Happiness, positive living, simple living by

What made you happy today?

I love the little things. 

Today Jeff helped me to fix my fountain. My fountain tends to get clogged and hasn’t been working forever. I asked Jeff to fix it with me today and he did. We got the shopvac out and vacuumed out the dirt and leaves. We washed the filter screen and reassembled the parts and then filled the fountain with water to test it. The best part was that Jeff stayed calm throughout the process, which was a miracle!! He hates hassles and he didn’t complain, which made me as happy as the fountain working.


This made me so happy! I love that my fountain is working again and the sound of water fills my yard. 

We enjoyed the rest of our steakation, sitting on our outdoor sectional couch and planning to go to the new Whole Foods to get delicious, juicy steaks to grill out for dinner.

We had to try the Mochi ice creams before dinner, because it’s summer time and we can have dessert before a late dinner.


Life is good! 

I hope you’re enjoying your weekend!

Love,

Adriana

Day 55: Summer

Posted in fear, Gratitude, Happiness, intention, joy, Love, memories, motherhood, parenting, positive living, simple living, space, spark joy, work life balance, working mom by

here I am, happily taking the back seat.


With her dad in the front seat by her side, I was definitely the back seat driver and had a hard time keeping my mouth shut. 

Today was another new moment and I could see my baby girl growing up and doing things her way. 

While we were out teaching her to drive, Charie cooked dinner for us after I started the rice in the rice cooker. We came home and all enjoyed a delicious dinner out on the patio togetherZ

When I forget whether I enjoyed this summer Staycation at the end of summer, remind me of this moment, and the time and space we shared slowing down and enjoying whatever came our way.

Life is good.

xo

Day 51: Summer

Posted in family, happily ever after, Happiness, memories, motherhood, parenting, positive living, simple living by

Today is July 31st and on the 31st of every month this year, Baskin Robbins is offering scoops of ice cream for $1.31 each.

Juliana wanted to go there tonight and I resisted. I had been gone all day and had decided (today) that I’m going to start being good with what I choose to eat beginning tomorrow and I was practicing today already. She reminded me that we hadn’t been together all day and we’re trying to make the most of our Staycation and that we really should go!! She’s very convincing even though my arguments were very convincing too. In the end, I decided I’d rather play and have fun and share the experience than not.

We all loaded in the car to go and once we got there, the line was out the door with a party of 17 in front of us with more people joining from the parking lot. Luckily the family decided we should go with plan B and chose Thrifty’s ice cream from Rite Aid, which is my favorite.


Thrifty’s ice cream was only $1.99 for one scoop and $2.69 for two scoops and we didn’t have to wait in line!  Since there wasn’t anywhere to sit, we wandered around the store and played a game. We each walked around and looked for the strangest thing we could find and took a picture of it to share with the group. This made “shopping” fun. We all laughed at our treasure hunt finds.


Who knew an ice cream shop could be so fun? Thanks Juliana for inspiring me to go out and play! 

Happy Sunday! Have a great week. 

xo

Day 50: Summer

Posted in connection, Cooking, exercise, family, food, Friends, Gratitude, happily ever after, Happiness, one love, positive living, simple living, work life balance by

Today was much better than yesterday. And it’s day 50 of my summer staycation. I still woke up very early, and Charlie was up early too, so I just snuggled with him on the couch while the morning was still and everyone else was still asleep. It was nice to do “nothing” together.

After having coffee and reading the paper, I prepped the ingredients to make fresh spring rolls for this evening, which took more than 2 hours. After straightening up the house and decluttering, including washing all the dishes, I squeezed in a quick workout before showering and preparing for my lunch date.

Juliana invited her friend and her mom over for a double date with us. We served fresh fruit and baby carrots, and made grilled paninis, while they brought cookies and chips to share. Afterwards, we went to get luxurious pedicures together that felt so good!  I loved the girl time together.

We got home in time to relax for a bit. Actually, Charlie asked Juliana to bake him a strawberry cake and she was busy making the frosting while I relaxed. There is a perk to having big kids!  I loved that she did this for him.

Soon after we progressed on to the first stop of our progressive dinner. We enjoyed potstickers and sushi, shrimp chips, fruit and rice balls. 

It felt really strange to show up empty handed. Everything was amazing!

After an hour we progressed to the next house, where we enjoyed an Hawaiian theme, with pulled pork sandwiches, mango coleslaw, and pineapple.  Everything was so good and I was having such a great time, that I forgot to take a picture before we progressed to our house for the 3rd stop.


We made fresh spring rolls with dipping sauces. By the time we got to our house, we were all so full and we still had to save room for homemade strawberry birthday cake.  

I was happy being organized and prepared early this morning, getting all my work done, to be able to enjoy the entire rest of the day and night. I guess that’s a bonus to waking up early. It was another fun day to be on a staycation.

I hope you’re enjoying your end of the week.

hugs

Day 38: Summer

Posted in Beach, connection, family, Friends, happily ever after, Happiness, Love, memories, motherhood, parenting, positive living, rooted, simple living, spark joy, work life balance, working mom by

I choose to wake up bright and early every day. I have figured out a work schedule that allows me to get most of my work done while my teens and tween sleep in. Once they wake up and get moving and finish their chores, there is plenty of time for us to enjoy each other and our staycation.

Last night before going to bed, Charlie told me that when he woke up that he was going to make me eggs for breakfast. I loved the excitement of the anticipation that he was going to cook for me. I love the little things in life the most.

He woke up maybe two hours after I had been working already. The first thing he asked was if I was ready for breakfast. He hadn’t forgotten his promise. I love his thoughtfulness and his breakfast hit the spot.


I really appreciated his gesture and I think he was proud of himself. He asked to sit with me for two minutes, and how could I resist?

I think he was also excited for our beach day that we had planned and I love that he wanted to give back.  While I worked, the kids got stuff ready to go to the beach and when I clocked out, we were almost ready to go.

We loaded the car and drove over the hill and were set up on the beach for our picnic by 1pm.  We enjoyed the warmth of the sun and the cool ocean breeze and didn’t leave until after dinner time. The kids and their friends and the moms all had a good time and didn’t want to leave. 


When we finally left, we kept with our new tradition and stopped for ice cream at Marianne’s before heading back over the hill to arrive home again.  Who says you can’t have ice cream for dinner and dinner for dessert? 

I absolutely loved our fun-filled, long summer day. And now I am ready to rest.

Life is good. How was your Monday?

xo Adriana

Day 36: Summer

Posted in connection, family, Friends, Gratitude, happily ever after, Happiness, intention, memories, Mindfulness, motherhood, parenting, positive living, simple living, space, work life balance by

Who would have thought I would enjoy being “home” this summer?

By being home and not being “busy,” I’ve created space for magic to happen and I am loving it.

I’m enjoying my kids and my friends and my home and my work and my husband. I’m enjoying the flexibility and the lack of stress and rushed feeling. I’m enjoying the opportunity to say yes and to create experiences on the fly without being too busy.  

Today I finished our puzzle with Juliana and felt a sense of mindless accomplishment!


I love that the kids have come and sat by me and we have worked together on our puzzle throughout this past week, sharing conversation while we created patterns and filled the gaps. Thank you Nate and Becky for our gift!

I also love that Julie texted me first thing this morning to see what I was doing and to see if I wanted to head over to Santana Row for an hour just because. I wanted to sit in my jammies and drink coffee, but I can never say no to Julie and am always thankful for her spunk and drive and shared curiousity. She keeps me moving and exploring and I adore her!


I made her stop for a selfie because I loved the surroundings and pretending we were on holiday because we are! Thanks, Jewels!! 

Later in the day, Juliana and I went out to celebrate her getting her driver’s permit yesterday by getting bubble teas and shopping together. I can’t believe we have another permitted driver in our house. 

And for dinner tonight we took the advice of one of Juliana’s snapchat friends, and made Mac and Cheese and added BBQ chicken with melted cheese. We had a late, fun, family dinner at home and it was perfect.

I am going to bed early tonight as I was up really late last night and haven’t been able to shake the tired feeling all day today. 

Nevertheless, today was good. 

How was your Saturday?