Today we met a girl we hadn’t seen in a while. She made a compliment on my hair and asked what I had changed about it. I told her that I just let it grow and didn’t color it in quite some time and she said that I am pretty well adjusting to the Californian way of life. And I have to tell you I actually feel like I am. I changed quite a bit since we got here. The outer looks might be the obvious and to me the most natural change, because it is probably extremely normal that you adjust to your surrounding first. But I also changed my way of life a lot.

Since we moved here I kinda jumped on that health train the Californians are all crazy about. I try to mostly buy organic food, I try to eat and stay healthy and also super Californian: I am addicted to Coconut water. This weekend Flo and I also took a very Californian lesson. We took our new Longboards (Skateboards) for a spin for the first time. We drove to the beach and longboarded along the promenade between Huntington and Newport Beach. Even if we felt crazily sore the whole weekend, we had a great time and will most likely be down there for our next Longboard spin very soon.

Since we moved here I always felt very homy and comfortable in California. But I didn’t expect to adjust to the Californian lifestyle that fast. Don’t get me wrong: I don’t think I am super Californian after living here for one year. But I am pretty happy about how well I am adjusting to my new surrounding and even more about how happy it makes me!

My parents are in town and we decided to take them for a walk at the Crystal Cove Beach near Newport Beach today. It’s a really quiet and nice beach and the weather was perfect for a long walk. After one hour we met with some friends from Irvine and had a little late lunch break. We sat on a little hill by the beach and enjoyed some ice cream, milk shakes and sandwiches. Shortly after we sat down, we noticed some Whale Watching tour boats near the coast. And since they were adding up, we took a closer look and finally spotted some whales.

The last time my parents were here we took them on a Whale Watching Trip in Dana Point. Sadly we didn’t end up seeing any Whales, but still had tons of fun on the boat and watching the dolphins in the water. Today we didn’t even keep our eyes open for Whales, so this was a very welcomed surprise. And for sure it again made us feel so blessed to live at this beautiful place! I sometimes really need those quiet, basic days at the beach to realize how lucky I really am!

So as a little tip for your next walk on the beach: Keep your eyes open. It’s normally pretty easy to spot some dolphins or seals from the coast or the many piers we have down here in OC. And if you are really lucky you might even spot something bigger than a dolphin – just as we did today.

This weekend was Flo and my’s last weekend before we are going to leave for our german vacation. We wanted to make the best out of it, relax a little and for sure get a little more into the christmas spirit. And I’m glad to say, we accomplished all of that. We started our weekend on Friday Night with a date night at Cafe Med in Hollywood.

On Saturday we slept in, walked to the Hollywood Blvd to do some shopping and have a coffee and relaxed a little. At 6 we met some friends to see the Muppet movie at the El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. If you happen to be a Muppet fan and in LA right now, you should definitely take the chance to see the movie there. Before the movie Kermit and Miss Piggy take the stage and sing Christmas songs with the audience! Even if I kind of forgot about the Muppets, I enjoyed that night a lot!

Today we met our german friends from Irvine. After driving around Newport Beach for a little they took us to Balboa Island to check out the Christmas decorations down there. Some house owners went totally overboard, but it was still amazing to just stroll down the streets and look at the houses! If you live here, drive down there and try to spot the Teddy Bear house. I bet, you will not miss that one!

For everyone who is too far away to visit Balboa or the Muppets: Enjoy the pics and have yourself a very merry pre-christmas time!