What California has taught me (so far)
To chill out. In every aspect of life, really. I have learned to speak more slowly, not fuss about small things, and not try to multitask with everything.
Not to worry about trying to fit a week's worth of outdoor activities in a day just because it's 80 degrees and sunny. Because, every day is pretty much like that, so it's okay if the day mostly consists of a late waking up, brunch, and then watching movies in pajamas and three iced coffees in a row, followed by an hour at the pool. In fact, that is more than okay.
That my hair doesn't always have to be perfect. I live by the beach, after all. Especially since I'm growing it long again, I like letting it just be wavy.
I also wear zero foundation/cover up on my skin, instead dusting a little bronzer on my cheeks. I also wear SPF every single day. Because, even in the car, the sun is shining on me.
That Jack Johnson's music finally makes sense, now.
To save water whenever possible. I've talked about that already, though.
That getting up early is awesome. While some days are best spent sleeping in a bit, being up early to enjoy the morning sun and the ocean breeze coming through your windows is nothing short of a gift. I never was/never will be a surfer, but I know that's their time, too.
Costco is king. People looooooove their Costco, here. I've yet to go, but I plan to. Mostly because of peer pressure.
That we personally don't need to venture far in order to have the perfect weekend. A couple times, we've hopped in the car thinking we'll drive to San Diego and spend a few hours and drive home - but traffic was horrifying. So, we turned around at Carlsbad and drove back home - realizing that we wasted so much time in the car, and could've just enjoyed the beach or downtown San Clemente, or something else closer to home. However, I would love to go north and see the Giant Redwood trees. That's always been on my bucket list.
That because of the three-hour time difference, I should probably at some point change my cell phone number. I still have a 518 area code, and for some reason, I get a lot of wrong number calls and texts. And, it's really annoying to get them at 5 a.m.
You can wear white all year-round. I see white shorts/pants in January, and it's weird. I'm trying to embrace it, but we still have seasons, here. So, while wearing shorts in 'winter' is normal...somehow - wearing white shorts feels wrong.
California's state motto is: "Eureka!" - which means, "I have found it!" in Greek. This is the state motto because of the discovery of gold in California, due to Greek mathematician Archimedes exclaiming "Eureka!" when he finally figured out how to determine the purity of gold. Cool, right?
Even more cool if you take my home state of New York's state motto, "Excelsior", which means "forever upward" - and put it before my new home state of beautiful California's.
Eureka. I have found it, indeed.