The BIG Move: California to Texas!

Every morning I wake up and still can hardly believe that I live in Austin,Texas!

I was a born California girl, and I suppose I always will be...

but for the last few months I have been attempting to settle in to my new home in Texas.

I do admit that I may have cried the first morning (and on many other occasions) when I actually had to tell the barista my order at the local coffee shop. "At home," my coffee was practically waiting for me every day at my favorite coffee shop. Yes, I know it is ridiculous, but I think that is what made it all sink in...all the way to the ground. 

The last 3 years my life has been topsy-turvy. First we were moving to Northern California, then we were unemployed...and then for one year my hubby lived in Texas without us. Finally we joined him.

During this time, I have found it especially hard to get motivated to blog or to be truly creative or engaging. Honestly I have been zapped - I slept 3 hours a night, lived on coffee and was basically a zombie. Now I never really wrote about any of this in detail because, well I did not want to sound like a whiner - I reserved the whiny for my morning coffee with my friends (I am sure they were thrilled). I am very well aware that while my life may not be going in the direction I planned, my family was healthy and we were OK. I watched as friends and family experienced true hardship and so writing about my little problems (even though they seemed big to me) just did not matter...that much.

I feel like now that things are settling down. I see light at the end of the tunnel. I like Texas - the people are super nice, the city of Austin is amazing, and mostly my kids are doing OK.

But I won't lie, I am terribly homesick. I miss my time with my favorite ladies, I miss the familiarity of my little coastal CA town. I miss the checkers at the grocery store knowing my name. I miss knowing all the teachers and the ins and outs of the schools.

I told my husband I was "too old" to do this again. And, I just got one of those looks.

So, I am doing it again. We made the decision for me to be a (mostly) stay-at-home mom. With that came the knowledge that we might have to move again...and again (although I hoped not)...and so here we are.

I have already learned (and I know there is a lot more):

• that you have to wave at everyone in the neighborhood as you drive by.
• that mostly everyone is really nice...except at the grocery store, and especially on the weekends.
• that you have to say you like football (even if you do not).
• which team colors you can or cannot wear (a shirt is not just a shirt here) on game day.
• what a fire ant hill (or hole) looks like... the hard way, I might add.
• that scorpions are your friends because they eat other icky bugs.
• some days even air conditioning does not help..
• that "y'all" is a contagious word.
• that I may get grumbled at when I say I am from California (but I am going to wear my California-ness loud and proud!)...apparently there are a lot of us here (I already knew that)

Yes I miss California and my 50+ year old ranch on the coast, And, although I never expected or wanted to live in a planned community, we are. I did make sure to ask my realtor to check that we were not on sacred land or a burial ground of any type - because this all felt very "Poltergeist" to me. 

Of course, this new house has a 4 car garage (can you say flea market???) and I get my own crafty space! I have already begun DIYing - I ripped out the carpet in the studio and stained the concrete (my husband is speechless).Which leads me to this...

• I am ready to be creative (well, I never stopped I just did not blog about it).
• I am ready to DIY (this house needs some character - some me!).
• I am ready to enjoy my family and my new friends (until they discover that I am crazy and take photos of everything).
• I am ready to go back to enjoying blogging again, like I did in the beginning.
• To find my true voice again...to inspire and be inspired.
• Mostly I am ready to follow through on some of my dreams - Dreams of creating a product (Shark Tank!) and owning a business again, of creating my own path to the future.

So...those are the plans...and well, they may all go flying out the window...but at least its a start!
This post is written and created at 504 Main by Holly Lefevre