When TJ + I got engaged nine years ago, we started thinking about where we wanted to live. Having gone to college in San Diego (both of us) we wanted to pick a place that had a vibrant community, access to good restaurants, and places where we could workout easily. We ended up purchasing a condo, in an up and coming area of Orange County (which, in hindsight was much more coming than up….). TJ moved in first, and I followed after we returned from our honeymoon. We’ve spent the past eight years building memories in our little 1,100 square foot condo…. we brought home our first puppy Captain (that was an adventure that led us to eventually pull up all the carpet and install wood flooring)…. and then brought home our little miss. It’s been a great place to call “home” for the past 9 years…. a comfort to come home to after all our travels…. a cozy home in the winter… and perfect in the summer since it received absolutely zero natural light. It has crayon marks on the wall from tiny hands…. and if the walls could talk they’d certainly have plenty of stories to tell. We’ve laughed, cried, and had so many life transitions within it’s small four walls. And, in all honesty, I didn’t think we’d be here for 9 years. We kept saying “it’s time to move” but in actuality it never really felt like the right time (I think with major life decisions you have this instinctual feeling of when the “right” time is….). Yet, now, it really is the right time to move…..

In California, the real estate market is currently in the seller’s favor…. which bodes well for us as we prepare to place our home on the market… but not so well as we look to make the purchase on a new home. Given that, we’ll have to sell our place before we can purchase another (sellers aren’t in the “we’ll wait until you sell your house…” kinda mood right now….). So, over the next six weeks we’ll be spending lots of time cleaning up (aka purging) our current place and looking for another, temporary, living option on a month to month basis. And, as we do so, we have the same criteria in mind that we did when we first bought our place 9 years ago….. and probably a few different ones as well….

We want to be able to love where we live (temporarily + permanently). Have access to restaurants (both healthy + indulgent), stores (Trader Joe’s + Whole Foods please), and workout facilities (trails + clubs). My main criteria is that we must have lots of natural lighting (I affectionately call our current place a “dungeon.”)… and space to entertain our family + friends. And while I know there will need to be compromises along the way (I’ve watched Property Brothers enough to realize that), I also know that with a little creativity + a few cosmetic shifts you can create almost anything (thanks to Flip or Flop for teaching me that one….). Safety is incredibly important, as are good schools (It’s crazy to think we have to keep that in mind now!) and proximity to family and friends.

In that quest for finding temporary housing, my mom + I were able to spend a fun afternoon together checking out Westview Apartment Homes by the Irvine Spectrum. If they offered a month to month lease we’d be all over it (we checked….). They offer everything from a state of the art gym (and a separate studio with classes available just to residents), loads of natural lighting in their spacious homes, a beautiful “work space” area (perfect for TJ, and myself, since we both work from home…), clubhouse for entertaining, and a cabana lined pool scene complete with fire-pits. They’re right across the street from my favorite stores (Nordstrom included… which could end up slightly problematic…) + restaurants (I’d be at Pressed Juicery + Cucina Enoteca all the time…). Now that’s loving where you live….. When I left, I told my mom that this would be the perfect place for a newly married couple or young family. And while we won’t have the privilege of living there, it certainly set the bar!

So, as we head into this new, transitional, phase of our lives I enter into it with excitement and anticipation for what the future holds, as well as nostalgia + some sadness in leaving such a pivotal phase of our lives behind. Also, would love any tips and tricks on the purging, moving, and selling process from anyone who has gone through it!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, see you Monday!! xx
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(Outfit Details || My Cover-Up Pants | Suit (identical) | Slides | Tote | My Workout Leggings | My Workout Tank | Workout Shoes  | My Jumpsuit | My Mom’s Workout Top | My Mom’s Jumpsuit | My Mom’s Jacket | My Mom’s Shoes | My Mom’s Tote | My Mom’s Cover-Up | My Mom’s Hat)

Thank you to The Irvine Company for sponsoring this post.