I am very thankful for the gift of motherhood. Thanks to Charlie and Luke for giving me the gift of being a mother. Thanks to my mom for being the best role model. I’ve always wanted to be a mom because of her. I try not to take the role and title for granted as I know that bringing a life into this world is both a blessing and a miracle. I love my role as Luke’s mom and as his mom, I try my best to celebrate each of us everyday.

I used to put pressure on myself to celebrate certain holidays like how I saw others celebrating them or how society (i.e., commercials, social media) tells you how to celebrate but would always feel let down during the actual holiday because it would not turn out as I had expected.

This year, I’ve thrown all those expectations and the pressure out the door, especially for Mother’s Day. With the exception of calling my mom on Mother’s Day morning and sending flowers to Charlie’s mom (because I know that makes them happy), I decided to celebrate it in a way that makes me happy and not let what others say or think affect it.

I didn’t spend my Mother’s Day morning with breakfast in bed or going to a nice brunch (there’s nothing wrong with that by the way) Nope. I woke up early, took a nice shower, put on make-up (including eye make-up), wore my new green J.Crew eyelet shirt dress and met my friend Diana at Millennium Park and other parts of the city to take some pictures.

I wanted to celebrate my Mother’s Day morning with no guilt. No guilt that we should all be together on Mother’s Day morning. No guilt that I didn’t want to be showered with gifts. No guilt that I wasn’t home when Luke wakes up. No guilt that I wanted to go and take pictures with my friend. No guilt that I spent my morning with a good friend. No guilt to do something unconventional and something for me on Mother’s Day morning.

A few weeks ago, Diana and I had talked about taking pictures together and texted each other our photo inspiration. We talked about when we should meet. We decided on Mother’s Day morning since we did a photo shoot with smoke bombs last Mother’s Day at North Avenue Beach. We figured it was tradition to meet up and take some pictures together this year.

To say we had a great time is an understatement. We really didn’t have a plan. I just wanted to take pictures with a lot of flowers. I think I may have overdid it with the flowers but I’m a firm believer of “go big or go home.” Diana somehow took a video of our morning and turned into a vlog! She posted more pictures on her blog including the video if you want to see more. We ended our morning at La Fournette in Old Town…just like we did last year with lots of French pastries and coffee.

I went home after my photo adventures with Diana to see Luke and Charlie lounging around. They had me open my gifts (all French related, of course). I ended up cooking a late breakfast for us (bacon and eggs sandwiches). Charlie asked me what I wanted to do afterwards. I told him to just get in the car and drive so we can find a place to explore.

Located in Pilsen at Chicago General Art Department

We ended up at the Renegade Pop Up Art Fair in Pilsen. It was serendipitous that we  found this mural during the art walk, which was the perfect end to a nontraditional Mother’s Day celebration. The day was like any other day, except I felt less guilty for doing what I wanted to do in the morning. What I’ve learned about celebrating holidays and milestones…do not set expectations. Those types of days seems to be the most memorable.