Girls Write Out
Friday, December 22, 2006


La La Land -- I'm back from Disneyland with my four kids (dad was working!) and their friends. I'm telling you, I'm a lifelong Californian, but I don't really get the southern part of my state. I loved the weather, never saw a cloud the entire time I was there, but it's really like one big people mover down there. The traffic is horrendous, even in the "commuter" lane. People are flushed into restaurants, Disneyland, parking lots, freeways and flushed out. It's not like you have many choices down there. You just sort of go with the flow or get run over. Not that my rented, big red Hummer would let that happen, but I don't know, life is so automated down there. I feel like I don't have any choices. Have you ever seen an anchovy swim in big, coordinated silver flashes? That's life in L.A. Everyone has a shiny exterior (nice car) like sparkly, silver anchovies too, but don't you dare dance to the beat of your own drum. I think that's why everyone wears stupid hats in Disneyland. It shows your independence in a world of sameness.
Kristin  
posted at 2:53 PM  
  Comments (17)
 
 
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17 Comments:
At 6:00 PM, Blogger Southern-fried Fiction said...

Funny you say that, Kristin. I was a life long native of So. Cal and I couldn't wait to get out of there. We moved to Georgia in 1990.

An opportunity came to move back 4 years later. I told my dh if he wanted to go back there, he'd have to do it without me. LOL

I wouldn't have gone that far, but fortunately, he didn't really want to go back either.

Yeah the weather is great, but it's so boring!

 
At 6:09 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Until I left SoCal for Arizona, I never thought I'd leave that place, but now when I go visit, I can't wait to get home. It's so stinking crowded everywhere.

The only thing I miss is the beach and popping into Disneyland on weeknights. But even those places you have to go during off times or they're totally crowded.

 
At 6:25 PM, Blogger Rhonda/WA state said...

I use to get so annoyed with my husband for putting down California. (So. Cal. especially)He's from Montana and they hate us Cali folks. Now that we've been away and living in WA for 10 years, I have to side with him a little.

I don't want to put it down since I was born and raised there, but I'm very happy to be living here. I wouldn't move back for all the "white choc. mochas" from Starbucks! (venti and x/hot!)

So Kristin, I can relate. I didn't see all the craziness when I lived there. I had to move away to see it.

 
At 11:43 PM, Blogger Julie Carobini said...

Hey Kristin--If you rented a big, red Hummer, then you're more SoCal than you think. LOL It's all about the car down here, baby!

 
At 1:13 AM, Blogger Kristin said...

The car was for the kids, Julie. Trust me on that. And I am a car chick, but that doesn't go for Hummers. LOL

 
At 8:21 AM, Blogger Pamela S. Meyers said...

LOL, I can just see you driving a hummer Kristin!
I lived in LA for seven years many, many moons ago.

The only time I get hankering for it is when I watch the landscaping shows on HGTV and think about how they can put out plants all year round.

When I left, the air was full of brown smog, the freeways were clogged, and we were in the middle of a draught.

I moved back to the Midwest as winter was starting. I admit for a while I thought I'd taken leave of my senses. It was the snowiest winter in Chicago history. LOL.

Oh, the other thing I miss is the Pacific Ocean. I last lived out there in Playa del Rey and loved being so close to the coast. But, I didn't love the airplanes taking off from LAX, a very short distance to the south of me.

Now, I think Chicagoland is getting as crowded and busy as LA. Maybe it's the same all over now. Especially in large metro areas.

Merry Christmas!

 
At 10:35 AM, Blogger Kristin said...

Pam, I think you're right. I'm in a suburb of San Jose and I'll tell you, when I go into San Jose, it's a different place. The lights are like five minutes long, I get cut off by BMW's constantly, it's not fun. Luckily, I learned to drive San Francisco, and I know that no one will let you over. You get over. Being pushy pays off in the city sadly.

 
At 11:07 AM, Blogger Jaime Wright said...

The woods of Montana sound friendlier and friendlier to me. I would turn into a backwoods introvert by the sounds of it if I were to visit So.Cal.!! Scary. :)

 
At 11:16 AM, Blogger Sally said...

The rivalry between SoCal and NorCal is so funny to me. I grew up smack dab in the middle of the two (central valley), but tend to side with the SoCal lifestyle.

My cousins grew up in NorCal and we are forever arguing about which part of the state is "better". We would say NorCal was snobby, they said SoCal was crowded...we were all right.

This coming from a life long CA native who recently moved to the heartland - the plains of Kansas!

I will always have fond memories of CA, but I'm glad to be gone. The politics, bad air, high prices, and lack of the English language were grating on us...I LOVE the midwest! But, my roots are in Cali, and that will never change!

 
At 12:55 PM, Blogger Rachel Hauck said...

I don't get South Florida either, though it's not as out there as So. Cal.

But what a great day with the kids and their friends! And they will remember the hats. Always!

Rachel

 
At 12:56 AM, Blogger Kayla said...

Well, I'm from West Virginia, so I absolutely love the bustle and crowds and flashiness of LA. I'm going to Anaheim January 2nd for the Morris Cerullo conference and I CAN'T WAIT! Oh, Jamba Juice!

 
At 11:30 AM, Blogger Corina Bowen said...

I have yet to visit Disneyland!

 
At 5:31 PM, Blogger Kristin said...

My kids love Jamba Juice, there's one right next to my coffee shop and we save all our change to turn it into Jamba Juice cards so they have to dole out their own "money" for it. And Corina you haven't been to Disneyland? Don't go when it's busy, it's no fun then.

 
At 3:34 PM, Blogger Annie said...

i too am a so-cal native, orange county specifically, and i can totally understand the frustration. I moved to MN and IL for college, so i could get away from it all and have some space, and now, as i graduate, I cant wait to get back home. I loved my "midwest adventure" as I call it, but my roots in cali are beckoning. I miss the spring air (when there's no smog), the ocean, the Starbucks on every corner, Disneyland, and the beauty of driving down a street and seeing the mountains on one side and knowing the ocean is only about 30 minutes in the other direction. However, i would love to get a job in central or northern cali. try something different. get away from the LA-hollywood-south orange county, $$$, "me me me me me" kind of lifestyle and see something new. I've never actually been to San Fran and I would love to be in Napa or somewhere pretty like that. It's funny, as much as I love cali and want to come home, I'm also just as in love with other parts of the country. Is it possible to be in love with two places at once? :-) Peace out ladies!

 
At 6:10 PM, Blogger Kristin said...

If you're in love with other parts of the country, learn to love it, it's cheaper!!! I met a man in the coffee shop today and I asked him if he was Italian because he was drinking his espresso like an Italian. Turns out, he'd lived in Paris and Costa Rica and he said, love them both, but California's it. : ) I heartily agree.

 
At 10:01 AM, Blogger Elaina M. Avalos said...

I know I'm a little late but I just have to say that I do miss my Christmas visits to Disneyland. It's so pretty there at Christmas time. And while I'm a So Cal (Orange County to be exact) girl who missed being in So Cal this Christmas, I'm SO glad I don't live there anymore.

It's just way too much for me. The funny thing is, I feel that way about Northern Cal too. I know everyone in the Bay Area considers So Cal to be another world. But for someone like me who has lived in rural, coastal North Carolina, both sections of the state make me dizzy!

Yes, it's true. I do miss Jamba Juice and a Starbucks everywhere I turn. But waking up to a river outside my bedroom window and a trail at the end of the cul de sac leading to national forest is a pretty good trade if you ask me. I'd rather be Jamba Juice free if the trade means I don't have to live in a place where every available morsel of open space is bulldozed, graded and built on.

And . . . although my favorite Baristas in Greenville (almost two hours away) say it's not a "real" Starbucks, we did get one in Target. So hey, we're coming up in the world. Now I only have to drive 45 minutes for Starbuckish coffee.

 
At 5:05 PM, Blogger Amy said...

I moved to So Cal two years ago and am still adjusting and trying to get out! While it can be interesting, I grew up in the midwest, suburban St. Louis mostly and very much miss that part of the country.

 

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The Authors
Kristin Billerbeck
Kristin Billerbeck is a proud Californian, wife, mother of four, and connoisseur of the irrelevant. She writes Christian Chick Lit; where she finds need for most of the useless facts lulling about in her head.

www.KristinBillerbeck.com

Colleen Coble

Colleen Coble writes romantic suspense with a strong atmospheric element. A lovable animal of some kind--usually a dog--always populates her novels. She can be bribed with DeBrand mocha truffles.

www.ColleenCoble.com

Denise Hunter

Denise Hunter writes women's fiction and love stories with a strong emotional element. Her husband says he provides her with all her romantic material, but Denise insists a good imagination helps too.

www.DeniseHunterBooks.com

Diann Hunt

Diann Hunt writes romantic comedy and humorous women's fiction. She has been happily married forever, loves her family, chocolate, her friends, chocolate, her dog, and well, chocolate.

www.DiannHunt.com

Hannah Alexander

Cheryl Hodde writes romantic medical suspense under the pen name of Hannah Alexander, using all the input she can get from her husband, Mel, for the medical expertise. For fun she hikes and reads. Out of guilt, she rescues discarded cats. She and Mel are presently taking orders from four pampered strays.

www.HannahAlexander.com

 
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