Posts Tagged ‘OC’

We have been living in LA for almost 16 months now. 16 months that on the one hand felt incredibly short, but on the other hand I also feel so home here that it scares me sometimes. In a little more than two months we will move away from LA to live in Long Beach and closer to Flo’s new work. And now it really hits us that we will be leaving a city that we have surprisingly fallen in love with so deeply.

All of you that have been following this blog over the years know that I never wanted to move to LA. I always found this city incredibly busy, unattractive, and never expected it to have so many aspects and little hidden gems. Within the last 14 months we have explored so many beautiful, delicious, and convinient sides of LA that I will miss very much once we moved away. It’s a weird feeling to now be sad to leave a city I never wanted to live in. And I am also very scared to not find all the things we love about living in this big city in the way smaller Long Beach.

But also I am very excited for that move, because since I started dreaming about living in the US I always wanted to live in or near the OC. And what makes me even more excited: Our American Dream has been going so well that after a year we move further down and not back.

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.

Believe it or not, every now and then (probably more often) I actually forget that I live in LA. It sounds crazy, because this is a huge, famous and amazing city, but while living here you kind of forget where you are. You work, eat, meet or hang out – the same way you would do in every other city. And that’s what makes you forget to really cherish the city and the opportunity to live here.

I have these moments, when it really hits me that I am in LA now. On Friday we went to a concert. And when the singer greated the crowd with the words “Hello, Los Angeles”, I felt like “hell yeah, I freaking live in Los Angeles”. I don’t know why it feels so normal to me to live here. Maybe because I never really wanted to live in LA. Maybe, because LA has treated us so good. Or maybe just, because I just feel home.

I know that this city is not for everyone. And that living here can be hard, expensive and frustrating. But right now: I love living in LA. And I begin to like the idea of staying here rather than moving to the OC. It’s strange to say this of a city I sometimes don’t even pay enough attention to. But maybe it is exactly because of that! I feel home in LA. I love LA. And I definitely need to be more thankful for that!