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It seems as though CA is coming up a lot lately in other people's conversations when I'm around and this just makes me miss home all the more. A co-worker was going to go to Laguna Nigel for Thanksgiving but opted not to, which prompted a whole discussion during a staff meeting on the OC area which in turn lead to another co-worker mentioning that the only time she'd been to CA was to visit Santa Barbara...which, of course, is where I'm from. Small world!

Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying Indiana: the seasons, the cool temperatures, the new experiences, the lower cost of living (especially important since we are entering into what we're calling "the lean years") and new friends. But CA will always be home. My family is there. Most of our friends are there. So much of who I am is CA, whether it's the people or the memories I've made in my lifetime.



Kobe enjoying the beach in early 2010



I miss the ocean: seeing it, smelling it, hearing the waves crash down upon the sand, walking along its shoreline in search of shells and sea glass, watching our Kobe chase sea gulls with carefree enthusiasm. I miss knowing where everything is and not having to look up an address every time we want to go somewhere. I miss being in the same timezone as nearly everyone in our life: phone calls now require advanced planning much of the time. And during this holiday season, I miss my family. Big time. We can't afford to fly home for Thanksgiving or Christmas this year and neither of our families can come out to Indiana this time around so it'll be just us. On the plus side, it will give us a chance to establish some of our own traditions. We both love going to the movies so we may treat ourselves to a movie on Christmas day, or maybe we can find a place to go sledding if there's snow, or take a walk and enjoy the outdoors with the dog in one of the nearby state parks. Whatever we do, it'll be fun. I just wish our family could be here to experience it with us.



Hendry's Beach, July 2012



I've never skipped a holiday with my family before. The year before last, we couldn't make it home for the actual day of Christmas but we celebrated the following weekend since it was just a 3-hour's drive away. Now, we're a 5-hour plane flight away and the next time we are planning to fly home is in July, as Jason will be a groomsman in a friend's wedding, which means it will have been almost a full year since last setting foot in CA. Crazy. Hopefully, someone from home will visit us between then and now but plane tickets are expensive and lives get busy so we shall see.

In the mean time, this CA girl and guy will experience an Indiana Thanksgiving and Christmas-time. I'm crossing my fingers for a white Christmas this year and look forward to the weather actually reflecting the date on the calendar. I am obsessed with taking pictures and I can't wait to document the changes in the landscape once we get our first "real" snow of the season. (We did have flurries, however, on Monday and I was in heaven! See below pic) At any rate, Christmas is all about love so you can bet we'll be sending plenty of it California-way this holiday season - after all, if you can't find Christmas in your heart, you certainly won't find it under a tree ;)



Flurries!! Right outside my office building, 11/12/12