The Real California

A couple of days ago Stone asked, "When are we going back to the real California?" :)

We like this California, but it still feels like we're on vacation. 

It's getting better though! Still many ups and downs each week and even each day, but we had some wonderful moments during the past two weeks. In no particular order:

 -We are feeling more at home inside our walls now that we now have a kitchen table and peacock-blue kitchen chairs (!) and a couch! It's actually a beautiful opportunity to appreciate each small comfort... if it had all arrived at once, we wouldn't notice the contribution of each piece of furniture. 

-We are feeling more comfortable on our streets - Lindsay, Erik and I rode our bikes to Lindsay's school last week (FLEW down the steep hills and then groaned our way back up), and exploring the streets on bike helped us feel like it's our neighborhood. Stone and I like to ride around during the day as well, and our across-the-street neighbor has a dirt hill front yard, which Stone loves to go crazy on with his bike. ("Did you see me on that sick hill, Mom?" Where did he learn that???)

-We got Disneyland Season Passes! Calling all friends and family: if you come visit on an off-season day, we will go with you! (If you come on a crowded day, you're on your own.) :)

-Lindsay invited over two friends for "Just Dance 4," hot tub, pizza and a movie. They are the nicest girls - it was so fun for our whole family!! And a big step to have a late friend night at our house.

-Lucy just said tonight: "In life you can't really have everything, but what I always wanted was to live by family, have lots of nature to run around in, and be in a neighborhood with kids. And that's what we got!!!" She is in Heaven.

-We attended a dance concert at Lucy's dance studio and I was impressed by the girls' analysis afterward. First, I appreciated the positive spin they put on their comments: "Some of the girls were really awesome!" and "Now we can really appreciate our old dance studio! We didn't realize that the dancers were so good at DAU (their old school), and we got to perform in huge concert halls instead of just in the Ballet room at the school." :) I agreed with their assessment, and we had a conversation about this being a smaller city, and generally the really fantastic Arts programs are found in bigger cities, which we had access to before. I did point out that many of the best dancers on So You Think You Can Dance come from small towns - they just worked their tails off and made sure they got the best teachers they could find. A smaller studio suits Lucy's personality better too. She LOVES dancing now, so I would say we're very happy with the different package of pros and cons.

-I met my friend Amber for dinner in Encinitas, and talking to her was like breathing again after holding my breath. She is so wise and funny and empathetic and such a good listener, and we have similar feelings about our beloved Bay Area ("stop talking about it, my chest is caving in" - they were at Stanford and Bing Nursery School with us) but are choosing to live down here in this wonderful place and love so much about it down here too. Seeing her and talking with her helped me so much. 

-My sister Whitney came to visit!!!! She was the first member of my family I've seen since we came back from Spain, and my heart exploded when I saw her at the airport. Stone called her "Whit Whit" and followed her around constantly - he sent her home with a party favor of his cough, fever and body aches (he and Erik were on their death beds last week), but we had so much fun with her. We went to Disneyland with Ed and Elayne (who have known her since she was a little girl)and the beach, which were SO much fun. And also just taking her to my local grocery store and doing the kids' carpools with her made me so happy. Also, she made me laugh harder than I have laughed in... how long, I wonder. Well, since the last time I was with my siblings. We both laughed so hard we couldn't breathe and were wiping tears. There is nothing better!!!

-On Friday Lindsay and I drove up to Santa Barbara to meet our friends Christie and Hazel for the weekend. I had never been to Santa Barbara, and I couldn't believe the beauty. The quaint little town, the huge trees, the green hills, the silver ocean sliding out to misty islands... I am so moved by California coastal landscape. And as we drove even that far North, we started seeing eucalyptus and redwoods again, which made me get teary so I had to not think about them too much. Christie thinks that I helped God create trees before this life. I think she must be right - my spirit wants to be a tree. And how much fun can two moms and two almost-12-year-old girls have in two days? Shopping, eating, running, hiking, watching wedding TV shows.... and PARAGLIDING. Seriously!! I was so scared I almost wet my pants but I did it, and was so proud of myself! Lindsay and I were starting to get really sad on our drive home, but we decided to frame it for ourselves this way:

We don't live by our McPhie side of the family, but we are very very close to them! So you don't need to live right next to someone in order to have them be a part of your life. You just need to plan and make it a priority to see them. We are not losing Northern California, we will stay connected and those people and those trees and that envigorating energy will always be a part of us. Here we get to live by our Allebest family and get to know and love these people and these trees and this relaxed energy. We will learn from both. We live in the real California, which is all of California. We love it all.

Decorating the house is fun. Our friend Tarah hooked us up with her friend, who is a RAD designer. Now that we are Southern Californians we are trying to incorporate RAD into our vocabulary. These are some samples for our family room - the house is pretty neutral so I am having fun adding lots of happy color.

And these are the front room samples. I want pillows and drapes from the middle fabric. And a chair and a dress and a hat and a scarf and a carpet that rolls out in front of me as I walk so I can see it every moment. 

At the top of the hill in Santa Barbara before our flying lessons began. That misty blue in the back is the ocean. We did all the paragliding training but then didn't have the right wind conditions to take off, so we just sat at the top of that hill waiting for awhile. It was so peaceful and beautiful I could have sat there forever. I really do need trees and grass and mountains in my daily life. I feel myself withering inside when I'm in society too long.

Hiking in the beautiful mountains with my beautiful girls

Lindsay and I hit the LA Fabric district on our way home from Santa Barbara to pick up some Amy Butler fabric for a dress she's sewing with Erik's mom. I do like having access to big cities, and maybe I will start to love LA like I loved San Francisco. I did enjoy hearing more Spanish than English - people spoke to me in Spanish and I just answered like it was normal. :)

Allebests are citizens of the World. We heart California and all of its diversity of people and plants and foods and colors and backgrounds and climates.