Palm Springs and Joshua Tree

We are slowly making our way through the USA bucket list and Palm Springs had been on there for quite a while. So on Memorial weekend I managed to book a last minute hotel and we set off for a mini “banchaaaaa” (adventure) as Summer kept repeating in an excited voice.

A couple of things first though, I thought Palm Springs was a LOT further than it actually is so was expecting long drives with nothing but sand around – it’s not it took us just under 2 hours, and second, everyone kept saying “be careful, it’s hot there” and I was like, okay…but really….but it is actually scorching there!! If I lived there I think I would just have to live in a swimming pool. We welcomed that sunshine with open arms.

 

 

So the first day we went look around Palm Canyon Drive and was loving the small boutiques and hat shops. Made me want to buy a hat of course (I didn’t) and fell in love with all the art deco books and postcard and art work they had to offer. I already love the style and look of The Incredibles so it was kind of looking into real life version on this.

We were recommended to go eat at Tylers restaurant for lunch and it was so so good! Food felt really fresh and good size portion and catered for kids well. Then after food it was more walking around. FYI they have the most swankiest Starbucks I have ever seen on that street.

Then a check in to the hotel . To be honest our hotel was nothing special as we literally just needed a place to stay for one night but it was super great it did have a pool and Summer got to splash around and let out all the energy.  She also loved the huge bed and the fact I let her jump around as much as she wanted on it. Mark had it in his head that it would be super fun for us to all stay in one big bed, and yes it was fun- except he forgot that his daughter is one of the most wriggliest sleepers in the world and he ended up waking up with her foot around his neck!

 

The next day we went to explore the Indian Canyons and did a bit of research and found the Andreas loop was best suited for us. It’s a one mile round loop around a really awesome oasis in the middle of the canyons. We did the hike pretty early in the morning as we were worried we were going to get frazzled. It’s honestly one of the best hikes i’ve ever done. Even Summer loved it, pointing out all the lizards and Chips and Dales (chipmunks) she could find. It’s a good one with toddler as she could walk most of it. There are a few rocks here and there you have to step up which Mark just carried her.

It honestly felt like we were on a movie set.

Next was to a little town that we had been told about called Pioneer Town. Now, this is no normal town, this was a western movie set made in 1940’s that soon became an actual place to live! It’s pretty cool, like you’ve just walked onto the set of Westworld or you expect a piece of Tumbleweed to just roll on past you.

Our final destination was the infamous Joshua Tree National Park. I could look at those strange shaped trees all day and would love to camp by them in the near future, but that weekend we just did a quick drive around to the Hidden Valley Trail. 

The trail was a perfect mix of HUGE rocks, crazy trees, landscapes for days and easy walking marked paths that Summer could enjoy on her own. I know she had a good time because the whole way around (about an hour) she did not stop talking and pointing at every single thing she could see.

 

It was a super nice break and felt way longer than 2 days, I guess its because its the memories you get from it makes it feel like so much happened.  Our journey back was interesting. We decided (well, the sat nav decided for us) to kind of go the back route back to LA and it literally felt like we were in the middle of nowhere for a good hour or so. No other cars on the road, the roads had potholes and just vast land as far as we could see.. it was the kind of scene that you imagine on a proper across America road trip with your arm out the window blasting songs, it was kind of like that apart from we had Peppa Pig blasting out the Ipad.

And to end this post, here’s a pic of me and Summer on a rock 😀

Malibu Cafe & Escondido Falls

There’s this place that had been spoken of but I had not seen it with my own two eyes. There is talk of a waterfall hidden in the Santa Monica Mountains. This was my version of The Beach, I needed to see it. Its called Escondido Falls and it’s a 50ft waterfall that has a 3.8 mile round trip hike to go with it.

So one Saturday we thought we would make a day of it. I had also heard of a place called Malibu Cafe that seemed like it was pretty near and was eager to check out. BUT whether I would recommend to others to do these two places on the same day i’m not too sure.
Both are beautiful in their own special way but both totally different experiences.

Lets start with Malibu Cafe

 

Now this place is Instagram heaven. Literally everywhere you look, every angle you turn it’s ready to be snapped up like it’s all been planned. This is down to the layout and the choice of decorations. But not only does it look all ready for Pinterest photoshoots, its actually pretty cool what they have to offer. It’s kind of like going to a mini festival without having to camp. They have designated areas for certain cocktails, an array of food options (hello BBQ sampler plate) and a super chilled restaurant that you can people watch to your hearts content. All of these urrounding the grass areas filled with open tables and oversized chess pieces and and Jenga. Personally I think it’s great as you can kind of let your kids run free without fear of them escaping too far all whilst sipping on that pink cocktail you saw someone else taking photos of.

There’s also a bit at the back of a small lake/pond complete with decking and huge chandelier which i’m sure they’ve hosted a few weddings or two back there. Perfect scenery.

The reason why i’m hesitant to say to do it on the same day is because it’s very trendy. I felt completely out of place rocking up in my gym shoes, workout leggings and not-so-fitted-don’t-care-if-i-sweat top. I know that nobody would even care and there’s no signs on dress code but I just didn’t feel comfortable. It was like showing up to a birthday party where everyone had made an effort and you turn up in pyjamas. I had my huge sunglasses with me that day though so with those I thought I could get away with looking slightly cool as well as hiding my no make up face. But, we still had a great time and would definitely go back some day with a group of friends.

After we had stuffed our faces and taken in the vibe we went off to search for the waterfall

Escondido Falls 

When we first started the hike I was a little taken aback as we were walking past these HUGE Malibu mansions, totally felt like we were going the wrong way, but with the groups of enthusiastic hikers marching past you, you know you’re on the right track (literally), slowly the mansions fade away and you’re on the dirt and surrounded by an abundance of tall trees with mud beneath your feet. Apart from Baldwin Hills, this was the only other hike we have done in L.A and I really did enjoy it.

Even Summer enjoyed it. She loved the fact we let her walk quite a bit of it (which no doubt added a fair chunk of time on our round trip) she was so excited finding all the different types of sticks, jumping in puddles, listening to the birds and even the frogs! There’s also areas where you literally have to step on stones to cross paths of water which makes it feel a bit more adventurous.

We made it to the lower tier but if you’re feeling all Tarzan like then there is another waterfall that is 100ft bigger than this one, it’s meant to be stunning – Google images showed me it is! and apparently not too far from this one. But for us, it was a really nice change of scenery and great way to spend our weekend. Next one we will tackle is the one to the Hollywood Sign!

 

 

 

 

Laguna Beach

The other weekend we managed to adventure out of LA and visit Laguna Beach down in the OC. Now, my only knowledge about this place was from MTV show  – Laguna Beach so I was expecting big houses, long beaches with golden sun and the ladies with over sized sunglasses and little dogs hanging out their designer bags. I was not expecting an abundance of little boutiques and art galleries! – I welcomed the pleasant surprise with a nice boba drink and big smile on my face.

It was our first trip to the ocean this year and we picked a nice day for it. Even had a little picnic on the only piece of grass we found. I love people watching and we seemed to have picked a perfect spot for it.
I think Summer was pleased to be re acquainted with the sand

All in all it was a great day trip and change of scenery of Los Angeles. It was on my bucket lists of places to go whilst we lived out on this side. And yeah, I was humming the tune to OC most of the way!

 

Natural History Museum

In between a week of everyone taking it in turns of getting sick in the family, and many hours still playing with the Cake Mountain Play-doh set, it was time to actually make a date with friends and go to the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles 
Thanks to a nifty Groupon deal we are proud members and got all of us in for free! So there we were, Catalina and I and Summer and Joaquin all ready to see some bones.

I actually think the kids were just as excited to be going on the train as much as seeing dinosaurs. What is it about getting on them that makes them SO worked up that they have to repeat the word “train” about 100 times? By the time we got to the actual museum they loved how much space there was so just had to run. everywhere.

and they wanted to touch everything.

which I guess is fine as that is kind of what you do in museums anyway, right? oh, there was also a LOT of pointing and dinosaur noises

So my experience of going there with two toddlers to NHM (Summer is 22 months and Joaquin is 20 months) is prepare yourself for them to be more interested in the space around and the environment rather than the actual objects that are on display.
Summer is going through a dinosaur obsession right now (yes, that is Arlo from Good Dinosaur she is traipsing around with her) so she was really into seeing them, and Joaquin loves a good mode of transport so he spotted a few vehicles around which got him excited. There are the rooms with taxidermy animals in them which look like they’re from The Night at the Museum movie which I loved, but for the kids I think they got slightly scared as they are pretty dark rooms. Plus, we weren’t too good on timings and ended up sharing the rooms with about 50 school kids on a field trip. Not gonna lie, was a bit scared to put Summer down when she wanted to run incase I lost her and couldn’t see her in the dark room.
Outside there is a great space for eating and the Nature Gardens are amazing. These alone are worth the trip if you didn’t want to go inside. They have the get dirty zone where you can run around in the mud or splash in the water features and by pure accident trying to find the exit we stumbled across the edible garden where they grow many things that smell delicious.

We only managed to do the first floor as it does get a bit overwhelming and we were getting hungry – no one can concentrate when their bellies are rumbling, but I want to go back to explore more.

I managed to catch the Tattoo exhibition on a different visit and I highly recommend it. I don’t even have any tats myself but still found the exhibition fascinating.

 

Overall, I think it was a successful trip and even just walking through Exposition Park I know there’s plenty more for us to explore.

Reflecting

And now it’s 2018. It’s always nice to write reflection posts as it makes you realize what you have achieved from the last year. Usually I find I have accomplished more than it ever feels like,  so these type of posts make me feel good and actually like I have been living my life and not stuck in some auto pilot timeless circle.

Here are a few highlights from 2017

Making new friends

This was a big one for me. I like to think I’m an outgoing person and easy to talk to, but realistically I’m an awkward mumbling mess who is never really sure I’m making enough eye contact and smiling at the right moments. On top of this i’m now the one with the accent so trying super hard to make sure people actually understand me.
So for me to make new friends was a terrifying thing but also a little bit exciting. I knew I just had to throw myself into it and with Summer being my passport to many clubs/events/classes I thought there must be likeminded people out there. In the first month of 2017 I went and joined a mommy and me class, a fitness class and a local moms group on Facebook.
But actually the two closest friends I have made have both been by pure accident. The best type of accidents that could happen. Now I consider these guys almost family, they’re the ones I turn to when I have a million questions about places to go, food recommendations, help with Summer, questions about living in US and many other random questions.  But the biggest part is we are all there for each other and making each other laugh and smile.
I am fortunate that I actually have family here already and also some friends from UK are here too, so have a great support group around me, but making new friends was a big thing for me and I’ve found some for life, and Summer has too!

All the visitors

When you tell people you’re moving to LA of course you’re gonna have friends visit. And I am all about this! Also with a lot of friends working in the film industry we were bound to have people passing through who want to stop by and say hi. We have been super blessed to see so many familiar faces over the year and show them all the great things this beautiful place has to offer.

Some of the best bits have been:
– my parents coming and showing them the life we have out here.
– finding some great restaurants and reasons to eat at them (it’s easier with a child to not go to these places so it’s a great excuse to get dolled up and make effort!)
– knowing you can have 3 kids and 4 adults all living pretty well under a 2 bedroom apartment for a week – and nobody wanted to kill each other!
– the many beach days we could take them to around the coast.
– the amazing funny memories that i’ll have forever from great people coming to stay with us.

 

Trip back to UK 

As mentioned in a previous blog post  our trip back to UK was a special 3 weeks. Not only was it obviously nice to see everyone and attend my brother in laws wedding, but it was great for everyone to see how much Summer had grown and see her personality shine through. Every time I think of the moments she was bonding with her grandparents it makes my heart burst, and seeing how well she got on with her cousins and my friends is something I had longed for to happen. Everyone commented on how happy a child she is and its actually something i’m super proud of. It can get very tough for me sometimes being so far away from everyone and Summer is a handful at times, so to know people who I care about really think i’m doing a good job it makes it a bit less painful for me to be so far away.

Starting Photography 

Also another one I have written about recently, but since then I have squeezed in 8 photoshoots! I can’t actually believe it when I think about it, how something I’ve always thought about doing just actually went and happened. We even went to the City Hall and I got all the right documents in order to make it all legit! I’m loving the idea of capturing peoples memories and the look of their faces when I show them the back of my camera at what I can see makes it all worth it. The plan is to make the money from this and buy myself better equipment so then I can keep taking even better photos and possibly take up some courses too. For weeks I was watching live Webinars on the internet for information and knowing what to expect on shoots. These have been like gold dust to me and the knowledge I took home from them are invaluable.
I have an Instagram account too for the Studio Sunny Side Up if you want to have a looksy.

And there you have it, 2017 all wrapped up into a few neatly preserved paragraphs. The year of course went a lot deeper than this and had some crusty moments where I wondered if we had made the right decision moving to the other side of the world. It’s been challenging and testing but the good moments have certainly outweighed these, and that’s what life is about, right? it’s about experiences. They help you grow as a person whether they’re good or bad and you learn from them.

So here’s to 2018 and more experiences and everything it has to offer.
Bring. It. On

 

 

Happy Birthday To Me!

I had the birthday that every 5 year old child would dream of. I had breakfast with the characters at Disneyland and oh boy (hah!) it was fun. So one of my most favorite things in the world is hotel breakfast and this is exactly what happened, and much more to this it was a buffet one! We played peekaboo with Plutos ears, got some bear hugs from Koda  From Brother bear and lots dancing with Chip and Dale. We might have eaten our body weight in pancakes and THAT caramel sauce but it was all definitely worth it. We have Rich and Leanne staying with us with their two lil kids, Florence who is 3 and also our goddaughter and little Lyssa who is the most happy and chilled out 9 month old you could ever meet. So with them and of course Mark and Summer next to me I was the happiest girl in the world.

I can’t believe how fast this year has gone. Last year I celebrated in Brighton on the i360 and we still weren’t 100% sure if we were actually gonna be moving to LA or not, and now here we are still in shorts and and posing for photos and giving Mickey Mouse high fives.

Marks parents asked me how does it feel to be a year older and I replied saying it’s tiring. They told me it gets worse from here! But I am determined to still try and do as much as I want (within reason) and age doesn’t stop me.

Recently I’ve made more friends out here and they are creative people too and it’s only making me more driven to try out more things. I want to expand my photography skills, I want to learn languages, develop apps, learn coding, explore more, perfect the ukulele and I want to write even more stories! All this while being a good wife and the best mama to Summer I can be. Is this a lot to ask? Or sign of a midlife crisis? Either way I’m excited to see what this year holds for me and my little family.

Here’s a selection of pics from recent things we’ve been up to. We have had friends visit, we’ve found new beaches to explore, we’ve travelled to Temecula, we’ve watched sunsets and made some beautiful memories.

Mother’s Day and Au Fudge Restaurant

I remember when I was younger asking my mum what she wanted for Mother’s Day, or what she wanted to do, she replied the same thing when it’s her birthday or Christmas – she wants something I have made or just be there for the day. I always thought this was strange but now I completely get it. Mother’s day and its meaning has a whole new sentimental feeling now i’m a mum. It’s a day where you realise that, wow! what you have achieved is actually something quite spectacular. To raise a baby (including animal babies) is hard work! that’s a lot of responsibility for anyone and the fact you have a day to appreciate that must mean its a big deal!
So for my first ever one Mark so very thoughtfully made it a day to remember.

But before we’re going to delve into that I wanted to just talk about the much hyped Au Fudge restaurant. We went there the day before to celebrate Summer’s BFF’s birthday, little Yuna turned one and we needed to make this a big deal so we went to a celebrity owned “kid friendly” Au Fudge restaurant in Beverly Hills. This celebrity happened to be Jessica Biel..and also Justin Timberlake’s wife.

The cafe area – love the colour scheme here 

My honest opinion though, is that I thought it would be more kid friendly. I mean, the tables and chairs are pretty close together and no strollers are allowed in the actual restaurant. They had a pretty good selection of high chairs but the food options were minimal for the kids (especially for one year olds and under). We opted for the mac and cheese which was pretty tasty and went down well with the babies. What I wasn’t too impressed with though was when they put the food down they told us “be careful the plate is very hot” and then proceeded to put it down RIGHT in reach of Yuna. Luckily Joe spotted this and was there with his protective dad arm to move it completely away. Overall the staff just didn’t seem to like children! maybe its because they’re surrounded by them all day – but we had our reservation for 4.30pm so it wasn’t too busy at all.
The selling point of this place is they have their own “creative space” which is super nice, well decorated, beautiful airy room that kids can play – but, you have to pay to go in! So from the outside it looked pretty nice! I saw they had “au pairs” that work in there that can look after your child whilst you eat – this is a super great idea but think it would be more beneficial for kids 2 and up.
Overall though, the food was delicious – I wanted to take more pics of the food and our seats but the actual restaurant where we ate was pretty dark. Maybe we wouldn’t have noticed it as much if the other rooms weren’t so airy and light, but you can see what I mean in this picture.

This was taken from in the cafe area- the dark part in the back is where we ate… 

But they do have a fun photobooth and the interior of the place is pretty cool! 

My advice is if you go to ask for seating in the patio area – it’s bright and colourful in there and looks like it had comfy cushions too! After saying all this though, I would probably still go again, the wine we had was pretty yum and I think as Summer gets older it will be more fun as she can play whilst us guys can get on with adulting!

Mothering Sunday
So the big day arrived and I came downstairs to Summer giving me a card that she had scribbled all over herself. I could already feel myself welling up but just didn’t want to show it, and then Mark with a bunch of flowers telling me we’re getting my present later – I get presents!!

I came down to this little happy face 🙂 

That present was a trip to the ceramic cafe Color Me Mine in Santa Monica where I got to paint something of my choice! This was creative and sentimental! way to go Dad! we ended up painting an “I love you” mug which is complete with a *really* messy baby hand print. I had free for all with what to do and my mind got a bit carried away and ended up with the most random and most sentimental piece of clay i’ll ever own. I can’t wait to pick it up in a weeks time.

Next stop was Universal Studios! we have an annual SoCal Pass so its a nice feeling knowing we can kind of go there whenever we want (except for black out dates which we once realised as we pulled into the carpark…) we know we couldn’t really do any of the rides today, but we could just enjoy being there and look around and watch a show. We ended up eating our lunch whilst watching the Transformers “Meet and Greet” (apparently Summer cheered when Megatron came out – everyone else boo’d….) We played in the Minions Super Silly Fun land and we watched the Animal Actors show – which is very entertaining! I didn’t think Summer would be able to follow all the animals, but she was so, so excited every time a dog came onstage or everyone applauded. Much to my surprise and amusement she was right there cheering along with them all.

Super Silly Fun Land – you get very wet 

Overall I had a super great day with my little family. Just what I needed really as it can sometimes be quite all overwhelming this mothering stuff! Hope you all had a great mothers day too! let me know how you all celebrated 🙂

When the parents are here…

So my parents left today and suddenly the feeling of when we left them 5 months before all came flooding back and obviously I got a bit emotional.  3 weeks went super fast and it’s so much to write in a blog post as so here’s some highlights and summaries- get comfy.

Week 1

• we picked my parents up from the airport and my mum had literally got about 30 different dresses for Summer ranging from fitting her right now until the age of 3! Each dress we pulled out Summer ooooohd and ahhhh’d and examined each dress. It was this point I realised we have a very girly girl
• then Suddenly Summer got very sick and clingy and high temperature and the what’s that noise? Oh, it’s her cough that sounds like a seal. Hello Croup. Nice of you to join us a week before her big party.
• Mark passed his driving test! That was Wednesday, Friday we get a new car and Saturday he’s driving to Santa Monica with a whole car full of things for the party day.
• the big party. 8am and the bbq is already going and our house is brimming with food and all the best smells. By 11am we are by the beach reserving our area and blowing up balloons and inflatables. Everyone starts arriving and big smiles everywhere. My family from all over California start showing up as does the fog and marine lay. The party girl is asleep on her Lola for about 2 hours of it but when she wakes all her baby friends are here and she gets to blow the candle out and eat the biggest slice of cake to herself. She is loving being one.
• then our surprise guest arrives. My cousin Christina surprises us all and has got a flight in (or 3 flights actually) into LA from New Jersey! Everyone is happy, especially her mum who she hasn’t seen for 2 months. Then everyone back to our house – didn’t know we could fit that many people in there but we do and Moana is on for the birthday girl. Drinking and eating carries on late into the night and everyone smiles from a brilliant day.

  

  blowing out the candles with the Birthday Girl

  

  crazy cousins 

  Week 2

• new car and long drive to San Diego to see the family. We all stay at auntie Yollys huge house and make use of their pools. So many family members in and out of the house and so much food to go along with it. It was actually pretty good this time around as we got to explore more with the car and San Diego really is pretty!
• we met up with Jocelyn, my high school best friend, can you believe we both have children now? So crazy! We hung out at Seaport Village – it’s very pretty there with lots of little boutiques and places to eat along the harbour. 

  

  Jocelyn and Harley at Seaport Village, San Diego 

Week 3

• back to LA for some tourist time with the folks.
• Universal Studios was super fun even though I had never seen this much rain fall in one day in LA before. It started out a bit rocky where everything goes wrong (yeah we did leave our bag with EVERYTHING in it at Starbucks right at the beginning) but it turned out to be a great day and the rain worked in our favour as there were no lines at the Harry Potter ride (which is amazing I might add) and we got to see a lot, there is so much to see that we ended up getting the SoCal discount card so we will be back soon!
• my parents tried the metro! We went from Grand Central Market to eat ramen and then to Hollywood boulevard to see the stars. Like everyone says, it’s not as nice as you would expect and it’s only one road that’s good. But they did enjoy it. We got to experience downtown LA too- which not gonna lie, did scare me a bit with an active baby and parents who don’t really walk very fast.
• Getty Villa was the place that everyone told me is very parental friendly and you should go. They’re not wrong – so much to see, mum loved all the pretty flowers and herbs and the gardens. Dad liked the architecture and learning about the Greeks and Romans, Summer loved the fountains and Mark loved the views. And me, I loved just being with all of them there as a family.

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  Grand Central Market food goodness

   

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  Getty Villa Views 

   

  We also went to other places such as the Observatory, Getty Center, Venice canals, Santa Monica pier etc and all along the way taking a million photos and making even more memories. Overall the whole trip went really fast, but it was so nice to have them here. It’s such a joy to see their faces when they’re around Summer and the fact that they could teach her new things such as “thank you” and “no, no, no, no (complete with finger wiggle) are moments that I am going to cherish forever. Now they’re back in UK and I am counting down the days till we see them again, but for now our freezer is fully stocked with all the food a girl could want. Thanks guys, we love you.

So if any of you have parents coming to visit or are going on a holiday out here and need some tips, then I will be happy to help!

 

10 things about living in LA (the good stuff)

I can’t believe it’s only been just over 3 months since we moved here,  and a part of me can’t believe we’ve actually already been here 3 months already. This is one of those moments when time and logic don’t seem to be working side by side for me, everything feels so slow and yet so fast at the same time.

I’m not gonna say everything has been a bed of roses and its fair to say that we had a few low points in the first 2 months, there were battles with landlords/banks/shipping/permits etc but I guess that’s normal when moving to the other side of the world – we don’t know. We’ve never done anything like this before!

But since 2017 arrived we seem to be finding our feet a bit better and getting some kind of “routine” down. I’ve made some friends here and we’ve worked out where to get our groceries, best sushi, art materials – you know, the essentials from:)

So I thought now would be a good time to write down my top 10 (no particular order) of things I really like about living in LA. It would be interesting if I still feel the same a year down the line.

1.Green tea matcha frappuccino. The BEST refreshing drink around. It’s not too sweet and its green so it looks like you’re being healthy.

2. Culver City  – everyone says that you need to drive in LA, but with Culver City where we are residing we seem to have a lot on our doorstep. I mean at the bottom of our road is a hospital, Starbucks AND Sony Studios! we decided to live here as we it’s where Mark’s work is based and we thought at the beginning at least it would be good to not have much commute time. Plus we had Alee and our friends already living here which made it very appealing.

3. Our new table. It was one of those things I had envisioned before we arrived here that we would have this big table and we would have family meals there and have sketchbooks laid out ready to just draw when we want. And since it’s made itself into our living room it’s been exactly that, I am loving the games nights we have around it with our friends. right now I have a half -done puzzle waiting for me to finish it. But, we don’t have any chairs yet so we’re sitting on our boxes full of boxes from our shipping.

4. How soft the towels come out of the dryer. So apparently we’re spoilt as we have a washer and dryer in our apartment! In UK this is standard but not so much here, you’re good if you have one in the same building as your apartment, but to have one actually inside is pretty unique. I am LOVING the ways the towels come out so warm and fluffy, makes me feel like we’re staying in a hotel. But it does make sense why there are scenes in Friends and Big Bang Theory where they hang out in laundrettes all the time – ah the joys of learning life through sit coms.

5. Unlimited data on my phone. I know this one is a bit of a first world thing to bring up, but honestly I feel so lucky to have it! To have this in the UK would be super expensive but out here it seems to be the norm. I’ve found this most helpful when we are lost on our random outings and also those occasions where we need to calm Summer in her car seat – queue Bare Necessities on Youtube on repeat!

6. The sunny weather. It’s very cliche to put this in but it’s true. The weather is so glorious, well its supposedly is. We just happened to move here in the wettest winter since forever (right now there’s actually a storm outside) but when the sun does shine its so lovely! The whole place comes alive and everything just feels that much cooler. I like the vibe that goes with it too – so many places to get ice cream, beaches, everyone on skateboards, sunglasses and cold drinks everywhere! and the sunsets are just stunning.

8. Amylee – she’s my cousin, but she’s more than that. Even though we grew up in different countries we always laugh so much when we’re together, since we’ve moved out here she’s helped us out more than we can imagine- even took us (and our millions of bags) in on the night we had nowhere to live! It’s also amazing to see how much Summer already loves her. It’s such a comforting feeling knowing you have family this nearby when you’ve moved so far out of your comfort zone. Thank you Alee, for the continuous help, the Backstreet Boy drives and the many Ramen’s we will eat together.

9. Mina and Yuna – I will make a separate blog post about these two as I have so much to say about them, but they need to go on my list as they’re one of my favourite things that have happened to me since we’ve moved out here. Mina and Yuna are amazing and they like to eat ice cream. Here’s a pic to prove it.

10. Target  – Fun fact, when we first moved to US and were living in the hotel I went to Target everyday. Literally everyday – you would think with no actual home I wouldn’t be able to find things to buy but I really, really did! It’s been our saviour on many occasion and then when Jocelyn introduced me to the Bullseye app it was a game changer. All that choice and the prices pretty low – what’s not to love about that magical place.

That is a Target Face 

So there you have it. There’s my list – materialistic it may be  it’s these things that make a place feel more like a home and less like a holiday. Looking forward to expanding this list with our time here.  What would you add on yours?