3.08.2016

Show + Tell Tuesday {California Love}

Today I am linking up with Andrea for Show + Tell Tuesday.

We are sharing our Hometown....I will be sharing about the San Francisco Bay Area since that is where I was born & raised and that is currently where we live. 
I'm not sharing what town we live in because I don't need the internet to know where we live, but I will say that we live in a suburb of the San Francisco Bay Area :)

We live in the town that Kevin & I both grew up in. I remember as a kid I always thought our town was so boring. I said I would never live here. But after going away to college, I realized how great  our town was and that I was lucky to grow up in such an awesome area.
Our town is a safe place to live.
We have tons of parks, open spaces and walking/running/biking trails.
 There are tons of trees & hills...it is so gorgeous this time of year in the Spring, everything is green!
We have a cute downtown area with lots of shops & restaurants that are locally owned. We also have a cute shopping area that also has fun shops & restaurants.
I love that there are NOT a lot of chain stores/restaurants. A lot of our town is small business based & locally owned.

We have a weekly Farmers market & our Farmers Market is open all year round, so we have locally grown & organic foods at our disposal!
 We have concerts in the park in the summer, amazing schools & it's a family friendly town.
I feel so fortunate to raise our kids here!

One of my favorite things about living in the Bay Area is how close we are to a lot of fun places.

We are 30 minutes from San Francisco, so it's a quick trip if we want to head into the city. 
In February, I was in San Francisco 3 out of 4 weekends....to check out Super Bowl City, Rodan + Fields Leadership Center & for my sister in laws Birthday!

Another fun thing about being so close to San Francisco is being able to go to SF Giants baseball games....I know I am biased, but I think we have the best stadium in baseball!
  I heart San Francisco.
 We are less than 1 hour from Napa & Sonoma Wine Country:
Napa is the most beautiful in Spring when all the yellow mustard is in bloom.

But I also love it in the Fall, when we get fall color in the vineyards:
 We are 1 hour from Santa Cruz/Capitola/Seascape which is awesome if you want to go to the beach for a beach trip

We are 1.5 hours from Carmel/Monterey/Pebble Beach:
 Lake Tahoe is under 3 hours away. 

My happy place. Anytime of year.
Winter...
 
Or Summer:
I love Tahoe year round!

This past weekend we had a wedding in Pismo Beach which was also just a 3 hour drive to the Central Coast of California.
Next month we are headed to Yosemite for the weekend...just 3 hours away.
Our kids haven't been...the girls are so excited. Yosemite is so majestic.

I love that living in the Bay Area, you can drive a little bit in any direction & you will have a variety of places you can go...beach, wine country, the mountains, farmland or the desert.

I love that we don't have humidity or bugs :)

I will always call California my home....but Boulder, Colorado holds a special place in my heart.

My senior year of high school I was deciding where to go to college & my final 2 choices for college & playing soccer in college were University of Colorado or Cal Berkeley.One of the reasons that I chose Colorado is because Cal was close to home and I had lived in the SF Bay Area my entire life and I wanted to experience a new town & new state.

For 4 years in college I lived in the amazing town of Boulder, Colorado.
Going to school there was one of the best decisions of my life. 
Boulder is such a fun town & incredibly beautiful.

One of my favorite things about living in Colorado is that for the first time in my life, I got to experience seasons! 
I loved living where there were 4 seasons. I really loved living where it snowed. I LOVE snow!
We don't really have seasons here in the Bay Area, so I loved that part of Colorado.
If our families weren't also in the SF Bay Area, I would move to Colorado in a heartbeat.
Plus, the cost of living is a lot less.
We pay a pretty penny to live here in the Bay Area, but it is worth it to us to be near our families.
 Plus, we don't have humidity, bugs or drastic temperatures.
California Lovin' for sure!
The only other place I wish I lived is Stars Hollow ;)
That town has my name written all over it!

So, there you have it...a little bit about where I live & have lived...which is only 2 places.
I have not moved around very much AT ALL...basically only living in 2 places in my whole life.
You could say I am sheltered ;)

If you are interested in things to do in any of the places that I have listed (San Francisco, Napa, Sonoma, Pebble Beach, Carmel, Capitola, Seascape, Lake Tahoe, etc) You can search my blog on the side bar & check out my posts about those places! Or send me an email & I will give you my favorite things to do, see & places to eat!

Northern California is a really beautiful place. It is totally different than Southern California. I am definitely more partial to Nor Cal...So Cal has tons of traffic & smog...no fun!
But, I do  love seeing & visiting parts of our country.
On my bucket list is to visit all 50 states.
Here is a map of the states I have been to (in red)
I have gone to 34 out of 50 states (plus I have gone to Washington DC)
Only 16 states left to visit!

I can't wait to read about where you live!

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If you are new to my blog, thanks for stopping by!
Feel free to follow along! 
You can find me on Bloglovin, Facebook & Instagram

33 comments:

  1. What is this "no humidity" and "no bugs" that you speak of? I've only ever lived in the South (Florida, Georgia, South Carolina) and I've never experienced no humidity or no bugs! Now I see why everyone loves California :)

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  2. I've visited SF a few times and it is such a fun place. When I was in college, I thought I'd live there someday but haven't had the chance yet! No bugs...I wish that was the case when I live!

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  3. Beautiful! I've been to LA and San Diego, but never the San Francisco area. I'm going to have to fix that.

    harrisonemily.blogspot.com

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  4. I haven't been to visit SF yet, but hope to later this year. The no bugs and no humidity sounds glorious. Houston is filled with those two things all year long. :)

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  5. I always used to watch the HGTV real estate shows and be blown away by the high prices in California. I thought "Why would anyone pay that much for a house to live there?!" Then I visited a few times and understood why. It is so beautiful and one of my favorite places to travel to. Have been to Carmel, Monterrey, SF, Sonoma, and San Diego. You are lucky to live there!!

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  6. Hi Mel! I live in the general SF Bay Area too! Born and raised here. When you plan your trip to visit Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, plan for the fall (October) and see the fall foliage. Absolutely breathtaking. don't forget maple syrup and cheese from Vermont and granite from New Hampshire. I would love to return there for a vacation.

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  7. You're hometown sounds like a dream! I wanna live there!!!!! (I've read 5 of these posts, and want to live in 3 of them already! Ha!)

    You haven't been to KY yet, so you need to read my post and see how small-town KY is.
    www.melanieks10.blogspot.com

    From another Mel! :)

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  8. Lawd, I don't know what I would do with myself if we had no humidity. I'm in Georgia, so humidity is prevalent 24/7/365 and it sucks!! I do still love my home state, though!

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  9. My husband and I have visiting all 50 states are on bucket list! So awesome that you can already check 34 states off your list. All of your pictures are beautiful- makes me question why I don't live in the SF Bay Area. :)

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  10. Hi! Been following your blog for awhile now but first time commenting bc I LOVE this post!! Respecting your privacy so won't use any specifics but I recognize where you live and I live about 2 towns away (close to a big shopping plaza if you get my hint lol). I agree, living here is expensive but the best!! I'm a born and raised NorCal girlie too! Cali love for sure!! ;)

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  11. My husband grew up in the Bay Area. North of the bay area actually and loved it there. I love San Francisco and the surrounding areas. So much to do and eat.

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  12. Your hometown is beautiful! I think I may have to make my way to the West Coast soon! :)

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  13. Your post makes me want to move! What a beautiful place you live. And no humidity? Coming from super dry Utah, no humidity is definitely mandatory in my book. And I'd love to live somewhere without chain restaurants. That is all we have here.

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  14. Ummm...holy cow! Only 16 States left? I have been to barely any!

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  15. I am a headed to the Yosemite in June!!!! What are some must sees and good places to eat? Thank you!

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  16. What a gorgeous town! I loved this post! Farmers markets are my favorite :) Hope your day was great!!! Xo

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  17. I love living in California! We live in the Central Valley and are so lucky to own a second home in Pismo Beach! I loved that you talked about Pismo! I love that we are 2 hrs to the coast, 3 hrs to LA, 4 hrs to the Bay Area, 1.5 hours to the mountains! And I love that we have finally gotten some rain this year! We are also SF Giants fans! Thanks for sharing!

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  18. I have been to LA once but am dying to visit San Francisco & Napa. Definitely a travel bucket list destination. And no humidity? Maybe I need to move there!! =)

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  19. California is such a dynamic state because it has so many different facets to it! What a cool city to grow up in and build your family in! I need to visit the Bay Area.

    Lauren
    www.postgradinprogress.blogspot.com

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  20. My husband and I dream of living in the Bay Area and your post possibly made me MORE obsessed which I didn't think was possible. But at this stage in our life we are pretty rooted in WI--I LOVE celebrating all 4 seasons and being near our families is important to me. But I would abandon my family in a heartbeat to live in Stars Holliw--haha. Liz at familyoffoley.wordpress.com

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  21. I can't believe you haven't been to South Dakota yet! :) I'm born and raised and if you love CO, you'll love SD (let me clarify, western SD)! Mount Rushmore is the typical stop but there are so many unique things to check out in the Black Hills that we spend nearly every weekend doing a new hike or biking our beautiful trails!

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  22. I've only been to SF once but I totally fell in love! Colorado is also pretty amazing, my husband is constantly trying to convince me to pack up and move there. We set a goal of seeing all 50 states with our kiddos so far we've hit 10 as a family. Only 40 to go!

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  23. It looks so beautiful there! I have never been to California!

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  24. Such beautiful pictures! The Bay Area is absolutely gorgeous. Funny, on my blog you commented that it seems like a cross between Seattle and San Diego. I actually used to live in the Bay Area (before I moved to Seattle...I've moved a lot) and that is exactly how I would describe the Bay Area. Not only is it geographically in between Seattle and SD, it's socially/culturally in between the two. (Or was when I lived there.) I will take exception to your comment about traffic being worse in SoCal than NorCal though! I do think LA has bad traffic but SD traffic is definitely not as either Seattle or where I lived in the Bay Area. I'm sure a lot of the "traffic" issue boils down to your micro location. :)
    Gina || On the Daily Express

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  25. You are so cute!!! And I'm jealous that you have only lived in two places! Your town sounds amazing! We are headed to SF and Napa this summer! I've never been and I'm so excited!

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  26. Your hometown is sooo adorable! I love that area of California! Heck, I just love California in general! Boulder, Co looks incredible as well. Colorado is on my bucket list. Thanks for sharing!
    Kate :: A Little NW Charm

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  27. Great post, Mel! You definitely make living in the Bay area look appealing. We have to relocate every few years for my husband's job. Maybe we'll end up there one day! I'm curious...are you doing 40 Bags in 40 Days this year? I started doing it a couple years ago after reading about it on your blog, but haven't seen any posts about it this year. I have 3 bags ready to take to a donation center this morning!

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  28. Everything about this post is beautiful! My boyfriend has traveled all over the states! This year we're going to Colorado to the cabin where he hunts and I am soooo excited to sightsee on the way out (road trip!!). I want to get one of those scratch off posters so I can start scratching off the places we visit together! I want to go EVERYWHERE. hahahaha.

    Though, I've actually been to Denver/Boulder to visit a friend who lived there. So, that wont really be new for me but all the places in between will! Boulder was so awesome!

    I've never, ever been past Las Vegas, so California is definitely a place I would love to visit! I want to go to every single place you listed above LOL!!

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  29. Love all your pictures. Yes you do live in a wonderful place. We are so close to one another and have some mutual friends...why have we not met before??

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  30. NO BUGS! I didn't know that was a thing. Come to Tennessee and the mosquito's kill you. I've never been to California but it looks wonderful!

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  31. Speaking of Colorado, we woke up to almost four inches of snow today. Not many people miss that, haha.

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