Letters For Lucas

Wonders, Mishaps, Blunders and Joy.. commentary on my life as a mom in the form of letters to my son

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Vision Board

Posted on June 10, 2011 Written by Tonya

You know from my vlog, My Three Favorite Magazines that I am a magazine junkie.

In the past, I have subscribed to just about everything on the newsstand and nowadays I collect my magazines from a variety of places (I’ll never reveal my sources!). I devour them from cover to cover, save articles that I want to re-read, share with others or might need some day. My might need someday pile is ridiculous!

Ever since I was in high school, I have used magazines to make collages. I would painstakingly remove the ring from my notebooks and cover the covers in photos I liked (think Guess ads and cute and furry puppies) and then used contact paper to protect them and then put the rings back on. It was quite the process, but it was a lot of fun for me. I covered notebooks for all my friends. And, of course, I saved my favorites:As a teenager the walls of my bedroom were always plastered in Tiger Beat pull out posters and advertisements from magazines. This was my room circa 1990:Surprisingly, the one thing I never made was a vision board.

What’s a vision board you ask?

A vision board is typically a poster-size board on which you paste or collage images that you’ve cut out of magazines. Right up my alley…

The idea behind a vision board is that when you surround yourself with images of who you want to become, what you want to have, where you want to live, or where you want to vacation and your life changes to match those images and those desires. Worth a shot, right?

In my women’s group this week, we all sat around a table covered with glue sticks, scissors and heaps of magazines and let our subconscious minds take over.

Here’s what I ended up with:

I still have some blank space but there are lots of inspiring words (calm, breathe, dream), peaceful images (hammock on the beach, cocktails poolside), photos of places I’d like to visit (Greece) or return to someday (Paris and New York) and people I hope to meet (Dave Matthews). What?! It could happen. All of it!

I’ll keep you updated on the progress and hope you’ll consider making one for yourself. Or if you have already created a vision board, maybe it’s time to update it?

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Filed Under: DMB, me time, photos, TDA bio

A Birthday Bonanza

Posted on June 7, 2011 Written by Tonya

We had a super spectacular weekend celebrating Lucas’ second birthday. From a Newport Beach Harbor Duffy boat ride with his grandparents on Friday night to a fun Thomas the train party on Saturday, and then Disneyland on Monday with Mommy and Daddy, it was a birthday bonanza!

I’ll spare you all the details and instead share some favorite photos:I think a highlight for Lucas, apart from the “yummy yummy cupcakes” was meeting his two idols, Tow Mater and Lightning McQueen at California Adventure! Next to Thomas, they are his favorite characters.There was a moment during Lucas’ birthday party, when he looked around and listed everyone and everything present, including the bounce house and all the Thomas balloons and the chocolate cupcake in his hands and had a happy grin from ear to ear. As our friend, Andrew pointed out, he was clearly having a moment of gratitude.

I agree.

Our special weekend wasn’t lost on any of us.

Happy Birthday, precious boy.

This post is for
Wordful Wednesdays and if you want to link up and see some really beautiful photographs, please visit Project Alicia.

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Filed Under: birthdays, disneyland, grandparents, photos, wordful wendesdays

These Are Days

Posted on June 3, 2011 Written by Tonya

Tomorrow we are celebrating Lucas’ second birthday with a small party complete with family, friends, Thomas the Train, cupcakes and a bounce house.

It’s hard to believe my baby is already two! Where does the time go? Everyone said, “it goes by fast” and they were so right.

This little boy is the light of my life and I can’t imagine the last 24 months without him.

He is smart and funny and kind and teaches me more than I’ll ever be able to teach him. He is patient with me and enriches my life in ways I never knew possible.

If you have a couple of minutes to spare, here is a slide show of some of my favorite photos of my sweet boy over the last two years.

Unfortunately YouTube copyright infringement laws prevented me from using the song I wanted: These Are Days by 10,000 Maniacs, so I’ve included the lyrics here:

These are the days
These are days you’ll remember
Never before and never since, I promise
Will the whole world be warm as this
And as you feel it,
You’ll know it’s true
That you are blessed and lucky
It’s true that you
Are touched by something
That will grow and bloom in you

These are days that you’ll remember
When May is rushing over you
With desire to be part of the miracles
You see in every hour
You’ll know it’s true
That you are blessed and lucky
It’s true that you are touched
By something that will grow and bloom in you

These are days
These are the days you might fill
With laughter until you break
These days you might feel
A shaft of light
Make its way across your face
And when you do
Then you’ll know how it was meant to be
See the signs and know their meaning
It’s true
Then you’ll know how it was meant to be
Hear the signs and know they’re speaking
To you, to you

These are definitely the days and I’m grateful for each and every one.

Happy Birthday, Lucas!

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Filed Under: birthdays, lyrics, milestones, photos, video

Project Smile – May

Posted on May 31, 2011 Written by Tonya

Another month has come and gone and while I found many reasons to grumble, it was also a very smile-worthy month!

This month, instead of listing something for each day, I’m going to share just the highlights and lots of photos.

May 1 – A beautiful day for baseball, Dodger dogs, cold beer and catching up with old friends.May 4 – A delightful afternoon with the Dalai Lama.

May 6 – Beach day!May 8 – Mother’s Day. How did I get so lucky to be this boy’s mommy? May 13 – Spending a perfect day with Lucas.May 14 – Birthday celebrations, margaritas and good friends.May 15 – Lucas meets Mickey Mouse for the first time!May 17 – Date night = a movie in the theater. Thanks, Leah!

May 18 – Pancake day.May 20 – A trip to see grandma and grandpa.May 22 – Cousin love.May 24 – Eight years ago today, Todd and I went on our first date.

May 26 – A mommies only dinner.

May 29 – It’s Memorial Day weekend and we’re happy Daddy’s got the day off.May 30 – I found a bathing suit.

May 31 – Signed Lucas up for more swim lessons, enrolled him in a summer school program, scanned photos, made calls, ran errands, lunched with a friend, sent three overdue e-mails, wrote three blog posts and played a lot of cars and choo choos. It was a very productive day!

What made you happy this month?

To see what had me smiling in April, click here and to link up and share your own month of joy, please visit Kristi of Live and Love out Loud.

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Filed Under: aunt leah, disneyland, family, holidays, me time, photos, project smile

I Was A Senior Hottie

Posted on May 26, 2011 Written by Tonya

With graduation season upon us, Liz of a belle, a bean & a chicago dog came up with the most awesome idea of revisiting our past by digging up our favorite Senior moments. 🙂

Or, in my case… Senior Sourpuss:
This photo went out with my graduation announcement. Really! What was I thinking/doing?
Love the cheesy cityscape background. By the way, I actually wore the same exact dress to my BFF’s rockin’ 40th birthday party this past February. For more on that (lots of fun 80’s photos), go here).
Graduation day. No cap or gown. I attended a small boarding school in northern Arizona and the tradition was for the girls to wear white dresses and guys wore suits and ties.

Wait a minute…

Could it be… is that a smile?
As a side note: I loved every minute of high school, especially my senior year. I was full of hope and promise, had a great boyfriend, tons of friends and was on my way to college. The world was all mine. So, even if it didn’t show on my face, it was a happy, happy time.

Also? I’m still trying to find my Glamour Shots.
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Filed Under: blog hop, photos, Senior Hottie, TDA bio

Bedtime

Posted on May 18, 2011 Written by Tonya

Another recovered post from last week. Yay!

This little booger was up until after 10:00 last night!
Here he is watching TV with Mom, while Daddy works on his computer.

Hoping NOT to have a repeat tonight.

This post is for Wordless Wednesdays and if you want to link up, or see some really beautiful photographs, please visit Alicia at Project Alicia. This week, she is sharing photos of her beautiful daughter.

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Filed Under: photos, TV, wordless wednesdays

Just Perfect

Posted on May 9, 2011 Written by Tonya

Between the flowers (sunflowers are my favorite),
the waffle breakfast (complete with crispy bacon),
a visit to the spa
and some quality time with family and friends (especially this little guy),my mother’s day was just perfect.

I hope yours was too!

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Filed Under: holidays, love, me time, photos

The Sweet Smell Of Spring

Posted on April 27, 2011 Written by Tonya

I wish I could grow flowers, tomatoes, basil, weeds, cactus… anything! I have the brownest thumb on the planet (I’m assuming that’s the opposite of having a green thumb).

As long as my husband and I have lived together he has always said that he’d like plants in our home. I discourage this every chance I get because I would either water them too much, too little or forget all together.

The only plants in our house are the flowers I purchase every two weeks: Pretty enough, but not the same, right?

I love walking around my neighborhood. I love to feel the cool breeze coming off the ocean not far away, the warm exchange of greetings with the people I pass and the sweet smell of spring, especially all the gorgeous roses in bloom!

I wish I could grow flowers like these:

There must be such satisfaction in having a beautiful vibrant rose garden.

Heck, any garden!

I need to send my husband out for a walk.

What can you grow?

This post was written for Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop, Prompt 4.) Photo Story: Take a walk through your neighborhood this week and share some pictures of what Spring looks like where you live.

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Filed Under: exercise, nature, photos, question

My Legs Are Still Hairy, But…

Posted on April 24, 2011 Written by Tonya

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My toddler-free weekend was equal parts relaxing and busy.

I didn’t make it to a yoga class, finish reading that book, spend time on my computer or shave my legs, but I did watch four movies (one in the theater!), tackled a pile of magazines while walking 10 miles on the treadmill, had fun girl’s night out, enjoyed a long lunch with my besties and their adorable babies (which only made me miss Lucas cuddles) and I ventured into the kitchen and made lasagna roll-ups for our Easter dinner.

I missed my boys, but I relished my time alone.

Todd said Lucas was perfect (of course he was) all weekend, so here’s hoping another Daddy/Lucas trip is in my future. In the meantime, seeing as Daddies deserve time off too, I planned a weekend trip for Lucas and I to visit his grandparents next month.

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Filed Under: cooking, exercise, friends, grandparents, me time, movies, photos

Home Alone

Posted on April 21, 2011 Written by Tonya

I will be staying home alone this weekend while Todd takes Lucas to the Bay Area to visit his parents.

Yes, you read that correctly, an entire toddler-free weekend! Whatever will I do with myself?!

Honestly, I don’t care if I don’t see another living soul for the next 48 hours.

After much consideration and deep deep thought (yeah, right!), here is my Top 10 List of Things to do While my Husband and Toddler are Away, in no particular order:

1. Shave my legs.

2. Read and possibly even finish a book I started nearly three months ago.

3. Walk 10 miles AND take a yoga class.

4. Enjoy a leisurely lunch with girlfriends.

5. Organize my recent mail, e-mail, desktop folders, edit my media kit and update my About Me page on my blog (I don’t have high hopes for any of this one but added it, in case I feel like being productive).

6. Sleep. Nap. Daydream. Cat nap. Sleep some more.

7. Spend some quality time in front of the TV.

8. Plan a weekend for me and Lucas to be out of town.

9. Enjoy having the bathroom all to myself.

10. Make a special Easter dinner for my boys arrival home.

Check back on Monday to see how much I actually accomplish and in the meantime, Happy Easter!

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Filed Under: books, cooking, grandparents, me time, movies, photos, travel, TV

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