“GROWING” in a relationship!

For me, “growing” in a relationship means the following:

• Your partner begins to see you more positively than you see yourself. You might be insecure about a feature or two about you, but they find you attractive always. They encourage you to be yourself.
• Your partner's good habits rub off on you—including health, finance, lifestyle, or psychological habits.
• Your relationship provides practical and emotional support that allows you to pursue your personal goals.
• You begin to persist hard things & difficult situations in life together - as two mature people. Such things grow you together and not apart.
• Your relationship helps you learn to trust that another person is dependable and emotionally available to you.
• When tiny things don’t hurt and resentments don’t creep up on you both - when there are no unspoken, unconscious issues present or overlooked in your relationship.
• When you have the best communication, you speak and listen to one another with intense presence, honesty, patience, and compassion.
• When there’s no comparison of what jobs people have, their homes, their clothes. When you don’t look to see what the grass looks like on the other side. You’re happy with the view out your own front door and you cherish that.
• One of the most important sentiments of human love is intimacy, that means, "in-to-me-see." Desire serves as the connection between love and sex that gets liveliness and spontaneity in your lives and in the relationship. Love is the best aphrodisiac.
• When playfulness, creativity, and commitment help you maintain your freedom that lets you breathe while also remaining deeply connected to your partner.
• When you do not let small anger accumulate & sort things before you call it a day.
• When you work together for a better life and repeat how grateful you’re for having each other around.
• When you share curiosity for same things & sometimes take an interest in what interests the other person too.
• When you go the extra mile for them, relationships cannot be 50–50 all the time. It has to be unconditional at times.

Dating & Relationship Insights From Mom!

It’s a delicate subject, but in my times of conflict, I have always turned to my mom for a second opinion as to whether I am is correct in my assumptions about a relationship or not. Without taking my side, she has always called spade a spade. Top 5 valuable lessons that I learned from her :

1. Respect him/her. Offer it while expecting it in return. Good relationships are forged more on how a couple handles the bad times than the good ones. Fight fair. Don’t get into name-calling, or fits of rage.

2. Never change for someone until you no longer recognize yourself. Falling deeply, madly in love should not get you “lost”. Change aspects of yourself only because YOU recognize where your flaws exist and YOU want to become a better person.

3. “Don’t marry for money. You’ll have nothing when it’s gone.” Prioritize love. The biggest lesson I learned from her is to prioritize love. Real love. To trust my heart and not force something to work just because it's a good story or he's 'perfect on paper.’

4. Never Settle. Since forever, my mom has taught me to never settle, to keep my standards as high as I want them, and that it's better to be alone than wishing you were alone!

5. Find the one who ‘supports’ you. 'Having it all' is impossible (or very, very difficult) without support. She attributes her success, work-life balance and happiness in large part to the fact that my dad has been an incredibly awesome, involved, and equal partner.

So, there you have it: Whether it's the little things or the big picture about life and love, a mother knows best.

When My Soul Sister Got Married!

“A soulmate is someone who has locks that fit our keys, and keys to fit our locks. When we feel safe enough to open the locks, our truest selves step out and we can be completely and honestly who we are; we can be loved for who we are and not for who we’re pretending to be. Each unveils the best part of the other. No matter what else goes wrong around us, with that one person we’re safe in our own paradise. Our soulmate is someone who shares our deepest longings, our sense of direction. When we’re two balloons, and together our direction is up, chances are we’ve found the right person. Our soulmate is the one who makes life come to life. ” — Richard Bach

Stefi, she means the world to me. She is a sister I never had.

As you start this new chapter of your life, as you unite with timeless love and friendship, I just want to tell you how emotional it is to see you as a bride-to-be! You mean so much to me! My first friend, my first confidant.

She had the most elegant bridal shower one day before her wedding :)

Her close family and friends dressed her up in all white. The white gown  hugged her perfectly. The most hip bride with sneakers under her ever so beautiful gown - my beautiful friend!

Today was the day she was getting married. She had to start a new journey and had to travel an unknown path that she had never traversed before.

While she arose and gracefully walked to begin her new journey, she looked the most beautiful!

More importantly though, the tradition, the love, and the pure happiness in that space as family & friends all gathered in celebration for our dear Stefi was truly undeniable.

“What do you do when you go to a friend’s wedding?” is one of the questions I get asked most.  It is utter joy to attend a close friend's wedding,  to enjoy their big day with them and embrace the spirit of their celebration!

It is an unparalleled feeling. Celebrating one of the biggest moments in my best friend’s life was absolutely priceless. There’s nothing like seeing your friends with that magical glow about them. Amiright?! The joy is such, that I never danced, but I did! And I did it HAPPILY, without getting conscious!

The small details become the big picture, Stefi & Jimmy did an incredible job incorporating meaningful details into every part of their wedding. They carefully planned the tiny details and elements of their wedding - something that made it look like everything was given so much thought!

The caricature on the card was beautiful. The wedding hashtag was lovely - #ElevatorLove - since they both stay in same building, just different floors! Such cuties!

I enjoyed the wedding to bits!

Congratulations to you both. :* Wishing you and Jimmy a lifetime of love and happiness. Let this adventure begin. Love you!

Watch their First Dance on this beautiful song J