Moving to California!
Not many people know this but 90% of the jobs I applied to after college were in California, a couple in Chicago, and 0 in NYC (which was ODD considering I went to school for Apparel & Textile Design but at the time, I just didn't think NYC was for me).
I ended up getting a job in Chicago which is a FANTASTIC city but after nearly three years, I was given the opportunity to pack it all up and go out to LA.
I had extremely mixed feelings about it at first, half of me saying "this is exactly what you wanted", the other half saying "yea but is it?". After a lot of internal (and external) debate, I decided that you miss 100% of the shots you don't take so why not take the leap? After all, the worst thing that could happen is I decide it's not for me, head back to Chicago and I can at least say I gave it a whirl!
Verdict is still out on whether this will be a forever (or long-term) home but in the meantime I intend to have as many fun California adventures as I can muster.
In conjunction of what I've already done, my intern (who is a California native, shoutout to Aly!) helped me make a list -
Check!
- Stagecoach
- San Diego beach weekend
- Palm Springs pool weekend
- San Francisco weekend
Planned
- Malibu Wines
- Newport Beach weekend
- Disney World California
Need to plan
- Potato Chip Hike in San Diego
- Santa Cruz boardwalk (theme park on boardwalk, Capatola village, pizza by heart)
- Santa Monica (street performers at night, free concerts on Thursdays, ferris wheel at night)
- Venice Beach (street along the beach, few miles walk and back, shops, vendors, etc)
- Dock Weiler for a bonfire (plan and get there early before sunset, bring wood, lighter fluid, etc)
- OC (Huntington beach, beach is great, bars are super fun, running path, Bonzai Bowl, few shops)
- Laguna (thousand steps beach, 200 stairs down, SUPER pretty, not super touristy yet)
- Palls Verdes (hiking, walking not difficult & park for free, very pretty)
- Big Sur (2am private hot springs)
These are literally the notes I have in my phone so they are very jumbled but it helps me remember the conversation we had about them. I would LOVE any other recommendations and I'll keep the blog updated when I'm checking things off the list!
