Southern California Livin’

We’ve now been in our apartment for almost two weeks and I already feel like a local. The landscape has already changed and we both can already feel our blood thinning with the sunshine. Having time to spend together, investigate our new surroundings while seeing just about everything as a new adventure is precious. Just going for a walk in the morning has become something to which we both look forward. We’ve shopped at the local stores, hit state parks for hiking and have become regulars at our closest farmers market.

San Diego is a slower pace than New York. It’s a Long Beach summer mixed with bits of urban living. There’s a ‘holiday everyday’ type of feel and it seems that transplants are ever present. I can’t tell you how nice it is to be in a place where people come to because they want to. This is a land where ‘work/life balance’ is king and people seem to embrace the idea of working to live and not living to work. Explaining a desire to go to the gym, breathe the fresh air, spend time in the sun or travel wherever is familiar, not a detriment and rather a necessary life entity. Here the ocean and beach are daily playgrounds as people figure out how to weave lifestyle and work together in a way that suits their individual needs. Whether you walk, take the bus, hop a trolley or drive, there’s adventure everywhere. Just the other day we drove to La Jolla Cove to have a picnic lunch with the seals-really, can this be real?

I find myself saying that a lot. Is this possible? Is having that ‘every day’s a holiday’ feel all year ‘round, really attainable? It’s Long Beach in the summer all year long. San Diego has the ease of a boardwalk walk, the feel of sand between your toes, the crash of white capped filled waves and ice cream all the time mixed with outdoor heaters and fire pits and life that happens outdoors twelve months a year. Finding our feet isn’t new for us, but doing it in the US in flip-flops in January is. We’re doing our best to find some money-making ventures and fill our days with sunshine and smiles. There have been rooftop barbecues, ocean-front hikes, marina sunsets, morning walks and ice cream in our last two weeks. We’ve visited Ikea more times than I can count, been able to cook our own meals (after eating out for a month on the road) and relished sleeping on our aero-bed in our new left coast abode.

When the husband looked at me this afternoon after a wander on the beaches of Coronado Island and said, ‘I couldn’t be luckier that this is the life I get to live’, I knew this time in San Diego was right. Writing, interviewing, connecting, hiking, experiencing, meeting, enjoying, living have all been verbs bantered around in the past few days. There’s meet ups to find, volunteer opportunities to seek, air to be breathed, work to be done and fun to be had and we’re going to do our best to find and enjoy each one over the next few months. If you’re interested in coming along for the ride…you’re always welcome!

We’re learning the ropes around California living and San Diego’s lifestyle. Here’s what I’ve learned so far:

Rights on red are allowed

Flip flops are worn in January (not just by me)

Walks are vital

People are friendly

Life is lived outdoors

Those who have made the move can offer insight

Yoga is ever present

Fish tacos are necessary

Work-life balance is normal

No one’s in a rush

There’s a simple ease to every day living

The abundance of vitamin D makes my heart, mind and skin happy