California Then & Now

I moved to California straight out of college. In fact, I ended my summer internship in Michigan early in order to transfer to San Diego. 

I crashed with my cousin for a few weeks before finding an apartment down the street from him. I had found a roommate on Craigslist and we got an apartment together. Turns out, the whole situation didn't end up being ideal. 

I lived 5 miles, a 15 minute drive from the beach. I would drive to the beach every day after work to run and well, see the ocean. It is after all why I had moved to San Diego in the first place. 

Four short months later, I decided to move out of the apartment I was in. I had found a little studio right on the beach. I had practically begged the landlord to let me have the place. My income barely paid the rent, but given the location, the rent was actually pretty decent. It was the first place I ever lived alone. It was mine. 

I moved out of the apartment and in to the studio on Christmas Eve. Best Christmas present ever. I called that little studio my home for the next three years. 

This was the view from my apartment. I loved every second of living there and I miss that place to this day. 

View from my bathroom window.

The alley outside my apartment, after a storm.

Boardwalk right outside my apartment.

Before M and I got together, he moved to a little beach home a short two minute walk down the alley. He lived there for two years.

My little home was perfect. 

Now

I'm living three miles down that same boardwalk.

I went from South Mission to North Pacific Beach.

I live with M and we have a cozy little one bedroom on the beach with a partial ocean view and a balcony. 

This is our view from outside the entrance to our apartment. 

There are a lot of differences in just three miles up the coast. 

I wouldn't trade those three years I lived in my studio for anything. Its the best place I've lived. 

Although its only three miles away, I really miss South Mission Beach somedays.