I sat down last night, looked at my laptop, and decided to pop in for a blog update. B and I looked at so many places to live in Santa Monica and we signed a short-term lease on May 1 for a place that felt exactly right…for right now. we’ll look for something more permanent in 6 months or so, hopefully in this same neighborhood.
the beach is our backyard which is a gift. pretty incredible and great for perspective.
times zones are a funny thing. as someone who spent 30 years in the central time zone, and the past year on eastern time, I’m now getting used to pacific time. it’s a whole different world over here on the west coast – 2 hours behind my family in Dallas and 3 hours behind friends in NYC. by the time I get to work in the morning, NYC is eating lunch. I’m reminded of this daily thanks to Instagram.
people keep asking me if I miss NYC and I honestly don’t. of course I miss our friends, but those friendships will continue for a lifetime. while I love Manhattan and will always cherish our time there, Santa Monica feels more like home. and you really can’t beat the weather and natural beauty of Southern California.
I blogged many times during our year in NYC about my love for the city. I still love so many things about Manhattan, but here are some things I’ll never miss:
- cigarette smoke in my face every morning on the way to work, and on my lunch break, and on the walk home, and all the time. seriously people, stop smoking. it’s expensive and it’s killing you.
- being body-checked on the overly crowded streets
- living on top on people – I loved our apartment, but we lived on the 16th floor of a 17-floor building with almost 1,000 individual units. we have more space now…a driveway, a freestanding home with no shared walls, nobody walking above us
- paying twice as much rent for half the space
- riding elevators multiple times a day
- constant sirens and construction
- dog poop and pee all over the sidewalk
- fighting the crowds at Whole Foods with cramped aisles and long lines
on lifestyle…
in Manhattan, Billy and I would set out for a walk and have no idea where the day would take us. we’d stop into different stores, restaurants, markets, wine bars, etc. there is ALWAYS a place to go, something to do, people to see. great memories.
in Santa Monica, we hop on our bikes and ride south to Venice or north to Malibu. we can hop in the car and take weekend road trips to so many amazing nearby places. on our list: San Diego, Santa Barbara, Big Sur, Joshua Tree, and Vegas.
Billy picks me up from work and we’ve gone on several sunset hikes. we already have some favorite restaurants in the neighborhood and love the food trucks and Farmers Market a block away from home on Ocean Park and Main.
Santa Monica suits us for this stage in our life. it’s great to be here.
- does the city you live in really feel like home?
- have you moved recently?
- do you dream of moving to a new city?
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