Keep your head up

Sun rays, ocean waves, 75 degrees in November. Hikes in the mountains, bikes on the beach. It's time to finally cover some of the hard stuff.

Moving to a new place has been exciting, of course. We love it here. But our move was about more than just a change of scenery. It was about taking a leap for Pat's career and altering The Life Plan.

Pat has always wanted to write music. It was a passion that he turned away from more than once, but it always came back knocking. So a few years ago, we dipped our toes in the waters of business. We opened another bank account, invested in equipment and bought a house with space for a studio. It wasn't long before Pat knew he wanted to make a full-time career out of it. And the California dream was born.

This meant taking on some pretty big challenges, and putting other things on hold. The life in the suburbs and the good schools and the "kids before 30" pact we made when we got married sort of went out the window. Don't get me wrong, I was and continue to be completely supportive of this change in life course! In fact, I probably pushed for it more than Pat did, because he would never ask me to make that kind of sacrifice. (And I love him for that.) It would be a crime to waste such a passion and talent and I can't let that happen.

Already, this area is proving to offer more opportunity for him. Even saying you’re located in Los Angeles seems to earn you credibility in the industry. Pat is working nonstop on different projects. It will be a long time before the business supports us financially, but at least there is work to be done. And he’s having a blast.

[Side note: I always wanted to have a business anyway. In 7th grade, our English teacher asked us to take the letters of our names and choose words beginning with those letters to describe you. Well, jeez. Do you know how many E’s are in DEE DEE? Like a hundred or something. I ran out of E words pretty quickly, so I asked the best wordsmith I know, my Dad. He suggested “entrepreneur.” He explained the meaning and I immediately related to it. The babysitting club. The “any service you need done, call your neighborhood 12-year-old” business. The Crestview Carnival for kids on our street. The door-to-door sales of my homemade Rice Krispie treats and chocolate bars. And the meticulous management of every dollar I earned. Yup, I was an entrepreneur. I actually enjoy helping Pat with the business-y things he dislikes – keeping the money straight, the paperwork, managing risk. Fun, fun, fun.]

I’m not going to pretend that I don't long for that other life at the same time. Every kid I see melts my heart and turns me into a puddle. (And I work at a children’s hospital, so this happens a lot.) I want one, or two, or three. I want the house in the suburbs. I want the things that other people my age are starting to enjoy. These things cost money, but launching a business does too, and we just can’t do both at the same time. We made this move knowing full well that it would be a while until we were on our feet and ready to start the next chapter. It is SO hard to wait, and I'm struggling with that right now.

I need to remember that the current chapter of our lives is just as good in its own right. I need to be patient, savor the moment and be grateful for what I already have. Life is pretty darn good and I'm in no rush to get through it.

Title lyrics – Stubborn Love, Lumineers

Jelly Man Kelly

Meet Kelly.

Kelly is Pat’s brother, younger only by 17 months.

Kelly is good at everything: art, computer programming, web design, writing, teaching English, ukelele, singing, accordion, bike polo, fire-breathing, beard-growing.

Kelly is hilarious. He can really make me laugh. 

Me: I was so sad to miss the Bob Dylan concert because I had to have my appendix out.

Kelly: I guess your appendix wasn’t a Dylan fan.

Kelly is a world-traveler. He just spent more than a year living in China. Next year, he plans to move to Taiwan. And then I hear he’s tackling Europe. Hopefully Clark Griswold style.

We had the honor of hosting Kelly on his first visit back to the United States, and he had the honor of being our first house guest. He stayed with us for 10 days and I think we’re both going through some serious Kelly withdrawals.

I’d say we made good use of his time with us. We tried to give him a sampler of southern California, even though we’re still discovering the flavor of it ourselves.

Some of the many adventures:

• We walked the pier and drank milkshakes at Huntington Beach.

• Pat and Kelly took a train to Silver Lake, a small artsy area north of L.A.

• We hiked Griffith Park at sunset, with a view of the big city.

• We got a taste of Venice Beach, both by day and night. ... Interesting place. A crowded boardwalk with a lot of people touching you. Like the guy who wanted to give me his CD demo and he grabbed my hand and kissed it while chewing a toothpick and the toothpick stabbed me and I AM TOTALLY GETTING HEPATITIS. But really, a neat place.

• Pat and Kelly hiked at Crystal Cove.

• We biked 26 miles along the coast from Hermosa to Venice and back. This was by far one of the coolest things we've done in California. Although I still don't know how I was able to walk the next day.

[Now would be a good time to mention that most of the photos you see on this blog are taken by Pat, not me. I only wish I could take credit. He is phenomenal behind the camera and most of the time he doesn't even try.]

• We re-introduced Kelly to the joys of American breakfasts, Mexican food, smoothies and craft beer.

• We took in a concert at Santa Ana’s Constellation Room – Keller Williams and opening act The Melodic both rocked our socks off.

• We found The Pie Society, a secret speakeasy-style joint hidden behind a pizza restaurant in Costa Mesa.

Between the hikes, the bikes and the walks, we hit a lot of beaches. This is proof that visiting us will be the best vacation you'll ever take. "Visit the Jacobs and you'll see ALL the beaches." What travel agent can claim that?

Sad to see Kelly go, and his visit reminded us how good family time can feel. Homesickness is setting in a little and unfortunately not even sun and sand can cure it. Airfare around the holidays is looking to be WAY out of our budget, so we're trying to plan a trip home in the spring. In the meantime, we would love to hear from you all. If you're sending holiday cards, will you add us lonely souls to your list? Email/text/comment/Facebook me if you would like our address, and thanks for keeping us in your lives!

Title lyrics – Jelly Man Kelly, James Taylor

The skies I'm under

I know I will get a lot of rub-it-in-will-ya responses to this post, but I can't have a blog about California without talking about the weather. I apologize in advance to those of you currently wearing three pairs of socks or scraping ice off your car windows. I have been there before.

The sun, oh the sun. It's fall so our bodies are prepared for cooler temperatures. Every day, I expect it to be cold, and the sun catches me by surprise. It's the perfect kind of heat, too. A cozy, sleepy warmth like a caress on your skin. It's not uncomfortable or sticky or searing. I know that will change in the summer and I'll be begging for air conditioning. For now, I have an urge to lie down in every sunny patch of grass I see and take a nap.

Most restaurants here have some kind of outdoor seating because of the weather. A Mexican restaurant we tried the other night didn't even have a front wall. Even though it was a little chilly out, the combination of indoor heating and the outdoor breeze was delightful.

We have gone al fresco at home, too. Pat and I left our dining room table in Missouri and it was our plan to buy one after arriving. Let's be honest, we don't have kids and we like watching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine while we eat, so we hadn't had a reason to go table shopping just yet.

But, we do hope to have guests from time to time, and I just can't bring myself to ask them to eat with us on the couch.

As we talked about buying a table, we thought, wouldn't it be nice to have outdoor dining, too? We couldn't afford two tables, so the decision was made to buy a patio set first. Only in California would you buy a patio table before a dining room table. We plan to eat outside as much as we can, and the social aspect of it is fun, too. What could be better than letting our guests share a cup of morning coffee, play a board game or eat dinner – all outside? We're so excited to make the most of our large porch and the temperate weather. No offense, Midwest, but it's nice to sit outside without contending with mosquitoes, poisonous spiders and 100% humidity.

The climate here also means lots of fresh produce. We can pick our own grapefruit, oranges, lemons and passion fruit at home. And the Orange farmers market has become our favorite Saturday morning tradition. Strawberries in November!

Outdoor activities are pretty different here, too, of course. One day a co-worker asked me what my weekend plans were. I told her that we hoped to go hiking, but I should check the weather first. She gave me the most quizzical look. Check the weather? But ... why? I forgot that you can pretty much count on good weather here, at least at this time of year. The chances of a storm or a cold front ruining our plans were slim.

We made our hiking debut at Crystal Cove. Due to a parking mishap, we had to walk about 3 miles round-trip to the actual trails, so we chose the shortest hike – about 3 miles through the mountainous backcountry of Laguna Beach. The first part was relatively flat, but around the halfway point, we found ourselves practically climbing straight up the side of a mountain. As we topped the crest at around 800 feet, we could see the blue Pacific waters glittering in the distance. I've never had a hiking experience like this before.

Afterward, we made our way to the Beachcomber Cafè, a very popular but quaint restaurant in Crystal Cove's historic district. The wait is almost always an hour or more, but the guests don't mind, because you can sit on the beach while you wait. We ordered a piña colada, kicked off our shoes and buried our tired feet in the sand. Then we stuffed ourselves with the most delicious lunch – me, a tuna salad melt with freshly caught tuna, and Pat, a Kobe beef cheeseburger with locally sourced bacon. Then we headed home and quite literally crashed into bed for a serious nap. Pat and I dubbed it The Best Day Since We Moved Here.

This weekend, Pat's brother Kelly returns to the United States after living in China for over a year, and his first stop is California! We're so excited to have our first house guest. More to come on our adventures with Kelly.

Title lyrics – Hopeless Wanderer, Mumford & Sons