fresh start

Everyday that passes, our new house feels more like home and we are loving it. Our king sized bed is pretty much the size of our old home and the master bathroom's bathtub and shower is a complete dream especially since we are used to walking a few minutes to the bathroom in the RV parks we stayed in whenever we wanted to shower. Having a dishwasher and a washer and dryer here has been nuts! We are so used to waiting until we have a few loads worth of laundry and having to get quarters and spend all day at the RV park's laundry rooms. Needless to say, we've been doing lots of small loads of laundry and taking way too many baths and showers over here. I've also been using the oven to cook all the amazing food that I've wanted to make over the past year but couldn't since we never used Easterlin's oven. Another crazy addition to our new life is wifi! We never had Internet in Easterlin the whole time we lived in her so we always had to pack up and head to a hotspot to get work done online. Funny how these little things still feel foreign and luxurious.

 I am so grateful for this beautiful place we will grow into but it would be a lie to say this adjustment process has been a breeze. I stopped so many bad habits during my time living tiny and I can already see that living in a big house brings back an urge to start those bad habits over again. I will stay strong though and remember to live all the lessons and better habits I developed over the course of the past year until they become second nature here just like they were in our tiny home. I look forward to combining the better habits with more solid, organized life routines as a result of living in a permanent home now! I will always be a traveler and I can finally implement things I like about other countries into my own home and routines now.

Moving from Easterlin, the tiny camper we lived in for a year to this 3 bedroom home has been a wild ride. Our days off have been filled with furniture stores, searching online for furniture and of course sprinkled with blissful beach moments. I love the ocean with every fiber of my being. I melt into the water and feel one with the sea and think so clearly at the ocean. I love our natural, protected beach! After spending May and June in San Diego I have fallen madly in love with my new home city. There are many reasons why I would rather live here now over California but probably the biggest one is that San Diego was way too cold for me. I love the warm Florida nights and how the ocean is the perfect temperature. 

I can't spend too much time floating around at the ocean though because we will be very busy for months to come with the updating of our home. I've eaten many meals on the floor due to the fact we had no furniture at all moving here. We don't want to rush and buy any furniture we don't love and won't last a long time. This process of moving very slow with buying furniture is helping to ensure we don't end up with a big house filled with junk we don't adore. I'm also a very true Libra and very indecisive so making tons of huge decisions with such big purchases is a challenge. I feel a lot of fear and anxiety but I'm working through it. I feel unworthy of this awesome experience of getting able to set up a home a mile to the ocean in this dream city. This epic time is a lot to process and take in. I know this sounds so cheesy but I can't believe my wildest dreams are  actually coming true!

The hardest adjustment moving into a space 10,000 times bigger than what I have been living in is remembering what I walked across the house to do and remembering to put things away. I haven't yet developed a flow when moving through the kitchen because I have to constantly remember where things are. Everything in Easterlin was within an arms reach. Here, I have to walk across the kitchen to grab something after pausing to remember where everything I need is hidden. In fact, when I walk anywhere to do anything in another room here I normally get so side tracked along the way that I forget why I first came to the other side of the house to begin with! I also feel mentally scatterbrained but that's also probably due to the fact that we have a thousand things to do with the complete update and the purchasing of all the furniture. 

In time, this beautiful house will be in order and I'll have it all organized but for now, this wild journey from living in a camper into a house is going to be such a memorable time and really is pretty fun. At this moment, life is just filled with opportunity. I hope to look back and feel I made the best of this crazy time.

Photos in this post are from the evening of July 9th. 

One of our first beach walks when we were still living in the camper!

Looking forward...

I'm currently writing this after just completing my morning journaling, meditation, ocean swim and beach yoga session. Laying in the sand and typing this in my phone notes, I just want to make a permanent reminder that no one but myself is keeping me from doing the things that make me feel my best. The things that keep my mind in check and make me glad to be alive. I know what I need to do to feel happy and good and no one else will do them for me. Action is required. Just do it, no matter how I feel before starting. 

It's a wild time of transition right now and I want to remember it. We sold Easterlin yesterday and I spent all of last night pretty torn up because I cannot believe that after a year of living in this space she will no longer be. This camper is so, so dear to my heart and I will miss it terribly. I can say that I made the best of the Easterlin phase of my life! I will cherish this past year. It's time to create a new life. A life very different than what I'm used to but one filled with fresh opportunity. A clean slate. A fresh start. Room to grow into my ideal self. Let go of the old, open to the bright, full, exciting NEW.

I'm so thankful she's going to an adorable and sweet young couple who will be doing the tiny home living in her as well. They have some awesome ideas for remodeling her even more and I couldn't be more pleased with knowing she's going to good people who will keep her good vibes alive. 

I am so happy to know that this new couple who will be living in her will learn all the life changing lessons she taught me. Their intentions for living tiny are so pure and beautiful and her new name will be "little foot" because they are so environment conscious about leaving behind a small footprint and being good to the earth. They are even going to be doing solar panels! 

Next week, we will go from living in our 23 foot camper to a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house a mile to the beach that we are completely updating. It is a total DREAM that lies ahead but letting go of Easterlin is still a challenge. I keep telling myself, Katelynn, you gotta let go of the old to allow the even better new. With a permanent house as a home I will have many awesome opportunities. I keep thinking that change is inevitable but growth is not. I want to use this transition into an actual house to become my best self and to finally set roots in this city I adore. I will use the space of our new home for good.

Easterlin taught me so much and I loved coming home to such a darling little space. I loved being so near the few things I cherished and needed. It's been a life changing and truly beautiful experience living in her. I love that I was blessed to have such a unique experience and it will remain a beautiful memory.

This next phase of my life is an important one, just as each and every phase is. I want to open to all the GOOD coming my way and unapologetically accept it with open arms. I want to say YES without fear to the new life ahead. I choose to live in acceptance and joy. Let the wild life of living in a house we get to renovate exactly to our liking near the most beautiful ocean begin!

 Letting go of the past doesn't have to hurt so much. I can choose to look ahead and feel excited instead. I want to hold the past in it's beautiful cherished space but be so excited for the epic future that I do not hold on to the old with a longing or grasping for what has past.

Here's to being open to create a beautiful, bright future!

What we ate in NYC.

Dave decided to join me in NYC for a 30 hour work layover super last minute. When I say, "last minute" I mean it. I was about to head to the gate for my delayed flight and he had just landed from another flight so we happened to both be at the airport at the same time by luck. My flight was so delayed we didn't get to the hotel until the middle of the night so we were super tired walking around the city the next day.

 We decided on the top 2 places we wanted to check out and took the train, uber and walked all over the place to find them! Here is my little reviews of the 2 restaurants in Manhattan we checked out.

by CHLOE.  
A cute 100% vegan junk food restaurant perfect for a casual lunch with your veg girlfriends. The guac burger with a subbed potato bun was delicious once we added more of the aioli. The air baked sweet potato fries were so-so. Loved the color of hot pink beet ketchup but the taste left me wanting the real stuff.

 Ivan Ramen

We were super excited to check out Ivan Ramen because one of the only shows we ever watch together is Chef's Table and Ivan Ramen was one of our fave episodes. The restaraunt is in a very low key building that gives the impression that you have to kind of have plans on going there to find it. It is not the type of location you would walk by and realize it is a restaurant and just stop in. In fact, the font on the front door that says "Ivan Ramen" is so small and hard to see that we almost missed it!

 We loved how low key and affordable this place was and the food was delish. Unlike many of the other famous chef's on Chef's Table, Ivan is so down to earth and easy to relate to and the vibes of his restaurant really reflect his personality. The wall when you walk in is covered by cut out comics which was pretty cool. The staff were all super kind and wore T-shirts. It was such a relaxing and cozy environment. We split the Vegetarian Ramen and the Coney Island tofu dish which tasted and looked like it was covered in meat but was actually completely vegan! For sure watch the Ivan Ramen episode of Chef's Table and check out this place next time you are in NYC.

 All in all, it was such a fun day even though we were both very tired. The energy of the city is so awesome to experience once in a while. What a wild place unlike anywhere else! I can't imagine what living here would be like. I don't think I could deal with how busy it is 24/7 but it is such a dope place to visit. Until next time, peace out NYC.

Vegas and LA sister's getaway!

My beautiful sister Emma came to the West Coast during a winter snow storm in WI for a fun trip away. The first night we stayed in Las Vegas with Dave in our camper and we hit up the strip. The next morning, just us girls flew to LA and spent two nights in an Airbnb in Hermosa Beach. Here is a collective of both of our photos from this special trip.

Now, for the LA portion of the trip! We spent time in Hermosa beach, Manhattan beach and Redondo.