Adventure in LA

It's been 9 months since we've been back in Indy from our unexpected 6 month stay in sunny LA. We never intended to be gone that long, but we are so thankful for the opportunity to stay longer than the 30 days we had planned for. In case you are out of the loop, I'll do my best to get you caught up!

My husband owns a clothing brand called Vardagen, and we have dreamed of bringing it to the west coast for a few years. He had gone out to LA in the spring and found a location he thought would be perfect for the brand. He kept his eye on that ever-so-popular shopping stretch of Abbot Kinney and finally a space became available for a 30-day lease! We had 10 days to pack up all our belongings and move our family of six to Southern California! Needless to say, it was a whirlwind of packing and preparing, and   we were so excited to make the 32 hour trek across the country, trailer in tow!

We stayed in an 800 square foot, one bedroom apartment, which sounds unpleasant for a family of our size, but it was actually so much fun. Our family had never experienced closeness like that... both physically and emotionally. We were sharing a small living space and only one vehicle, so we just naturally began doing everything together. I learned so much about how the business functions, and Jared learned so much about how our family operates on a day to day basis. It was fun and challenging and we were very intentional about exploring our new surroundings!

Our business was thriving in LA. We weren't expecting it to do as well as it did, and we started making so many great connections, meeting the locals, and falling in love with California. We were offered by our landlord to stay another month, so we gladly accepted. The only problem was our little apartment in West Hollywood was quite a drive from where the store was in Venice. When we chose that living situation, we were under the impression that 10 miles meant roughly 10 minutes away. In LA, 10 miles means it will most likely take a couple hours, depending on traffic!! So we decided to look for another place to live, hoping to get a space within walking distance from the store.

The day before we had to be out of our apartment, we found a cute little beach house only a couple blocks from Venice Beach. It couldn't have been a more perfect place for our family. It had two bedrooms, which at that point felt like a mansion and was fully stocked! It even came with boogie boards and a surfboard! We all bought wetsuits and decided if we were going to live in California, we better learn how to surf. Most of us picked it up fairly quickly, especially the kids. They were riding green waves in no time and it was such a fun learning experience for all of us. Our new family rhythm developed quickly... we would get up around 8:00, surf till 10:00, eat a big breakfast (surfer's breakfast), and then Jared would skate to work around 11:00. Skateboards became our new mode of transportation. We could all ride one decently enough (the little guys were on scooters), but our time in LA caused us to rely on them so much they became just as comfortable to us as walking! We would ride to the store a couple times a day, just to visit daddy and to make connections with people coming to shop. Mostly everyone who came in had a cool story, came from an interesting place, and loved our brand. We made friends with the locals, and the surrounding stores on Abbot Kinney knew our family by name. It was no surprise then that when the space was offered to us through the rest of the year, we said yes!

The next few months were a little different. We fell into a better rhythm, and we were starting to make real friendships with people around the area. We got a membership to the Natural History Museum, we were visiting all the local donut and coffee shops, we went on a whale watching excursion, got to meet/see lots of celebrities, hiked the Los Angeles Mountains, and the brand was continuing to grow. Things felt really right in LA, but I also experienced times of homesickness. I missed the slower paced life of Indy, friends, family, etc. But anytime I felt that way, it seemed like God provided just exactly what I needed. (phone calls, care packages, visits from friends, etc) Even our next door neighbors went out of their way to show us kindness and make us feel welcome. Our neighbor, Joan (an elderly woman who had no grandchildren of her own) offered to give the kids a pottery lesson every Saturday! It was just what we needed to feel connected and to help the kids grow in a skill they hadn't been exposed to yet. They made so many incredible ceramic creations, and it was such a blessing during that time of our weird homeschool transition.

For the most part I didn't do any formal education. I always say "Living is Learning," so I was really forced to live that out. I did cary guilt sometimes that maybe I wasn't doing enough, but I also know there are season for everything, and that was just a season of learning in a different way than we were used to. I had to remind myself that my kids were not falling behind and they were learning about so many things that they wouldn't normally get to experience.

People keep wanting to know what is next for us. As of now, we decided to keep the store open in LA. We have some friends who are running it for us out there, and Jared keeps flying out about once a month to check in. If the store continues to do well, our family may go out again sometime. We have no plans to move there, and as much as we loved it... we really love Indy too. Being out there has actually given me a greater appreciation for Indy, and the midwest in general. (Although I could definitely do without the freezing temps!!)  It also made me so grateful for my home, church, friends, etc. Not that I wasn't grateful for them before, but just gives fresh perspective and a new fire to be more intentional with friends and investing in people.

I think about LA every day, and who knows what the future holds, but I'm so thankful for the opportunity we had to be out there for those 6 months and hoping the brand continues to grow and prosper! Thanks for following our journey! Your prayers, messages, comments, texts meant so much to us. Love you all!