New beginnings (Santa Cruz: rent, find a job, movies)

[elisaa]

Think I might be learning to use the site! Thanks for links...yes I've been checking out apartments and homes. It is very pricey and discouraging. I have a friend who knows people in California and will ask her if she can make some connections for me just to get started. I know someone in Victoria Ville and he says San Diego is a really great place...I just want the sun the water and friendly, happy nonjudgemental souls around me. Oh yeah and can't stand political correctness! Life is life and for 3 million people you have 3 million views. We can't all be the same but if we can love and accept ourselves we can accept the differences of others. So there's me!

[coyoteskye]

Originally Posted by elisaa

Think I might be learning to use the site! Thanks for links...yes I've been checking out apartments and homes. It is very pricey and discouraging. I have a friend who knows people in California and will ask her if she can make some connections for me just to get started. I know someone in Victoria Ville and he says San Diego is a really great place...I just want the sun the water and friendly, happy nonjudgemental souls around me. Oh yeah and can't stand political correctness! Life is life and for 3 million people you have 3 million views. We can't all be the same but if we can love and accept ourselves we can accept the differences of others. So there's me!

Yep ... pricey and it can definitely be discouraging although i figure if you find the place where you feel you truly belong, you'll find the right dwelling.
It just may take some time, patience and flexibility before you finally settle.
And yes, non-judgmental folks ... that's why i'm in S.C. county which doesn't mean that there aren't p.c. people here and there (they don't cross my path) but they're everywhere ... and they're tolerable too.

[elisaa]

Are there a lot of singles in S.C. and what are the chances of a mature woman meeting a decent mature male? lol Couldn't help myself! I am truly leaving the past behind.

[coyoteskye]

Originally Posted by elisaa

Are there a lot of singles in S.C. and what are the chances of a mature woman meeting a decent mature male? lol Couldn't help myself! I am truly leaving the past behind.

I don't know the stats ... there are some fine men around but i don't tend to check for a ring or ask for their license to see how old they are.

I don't know what your chances are .... i figure it only takes one, right? and that chaos theory (i'm using that term very loosely and as somewhat of a dummy but maybe you get the gist) trumps statistics .

It is a place however where you, as a "mature woman", will feel free to be yourself and don't need to feel marginalized / odd for being a single and older female.
It's an open and tolerant area where no-one looks twice at anyone for being who they are.

You may like S.C. although it's a bit cooler and wetter in the winter than San Diego and the ocean temps are cooler too.
It's the central coast on the top part of the Monterey Bay ... just a bit south of San Francisco (less than a 2 hour drive) which, to me, is a big plus as i love that city.
And Big Sur, a most magical place with powerful nature, is about an hour and a half to the south.

From (roughly) May - October the weather is warm and sunny with fog that rolls in and out along the coast (not all the time however) with much of the county getting little to no fog and/or just some morning and evening fog.
In the winter is does rain although there are days between the rains that are relatively warm and sometimes warm enough to walk on the beach with just a sweatshirt ... and sometimes just a t-shirt.
It's redwoods (lots of good hiking and mountain biking trails) and ocean and the county is very bike and bus friendly ... easy to get around ... the county is quite connected and towns in the county flow easily into each other.
Wow ... too much info?
Perhaps a visit to CA is in order ... to get a sense of the entire coast.

[coyoteskye]

And just to add to the above post ... for what it's worth to you .... in S.C. county there isn't that pressure to be thin, buff, young, beautiful, perfect .... etc., etc. although there's freedom to do or be that as well.
It is rare to see (i never see) boob jobs, face lifts, etc. and it's a female friendly place in that women are comfortable being who they are and in their bodies (fat, thin and anywhere in between) and the men, generally speaking, aren't of the culturally brain washed variety ... programmed only to notice and care for the "barbies" ... not that there's anything wrong with that.

[elisaa]

Ohhhhhh...it sounds exactly as my vision. When I close my eyes I envision myself walking along the beach or sitting out at the end of a Jetti just watching the water. And having enough energy to actually do my craft with a clear mind. I have been thinking about this since last year. I went to visit Italy. and stayed for two months. I was never more alive in heart. I was even picking up the language. But talk about expensive! You can go through 4,000 euro a month there just for rent and other normal expenses. So I thought when I returned. What would be a similar equivelant? And just speaking to others and browsing the net I thought California sounded good. So I'm here chatting. Are you one of the moderators

[elisaa]

Well, if anyone has an office job open and a one bdrm apt. available, count me in!

[Steve97415]

Originally Posted by elisaa

I really like the warm weather and actually need to live somewhere with a lot of sunshine. I enjoy being able to access the beach as well looking out on the water calms my soul. So Where is the best place to live in California?

Don't know how familiar you are with the climatology of the West Coast, but "warm weather" and the coast don't necessarily go together. Proximity to the coast generally brings a good deal of fog and repressed temperatures. Read this post. //www.city-data.com/forum/san-d...abaly-not.html

The Mojave Desert and the Central Valley probably offer the greatest probability of warm sunny weather on any day...precisely because they're NOT near the coast. If you wan't the best compromise between warmth and proximity to the ocean, you'd probably be best staying south of Pt. Conception at 10-50 miles inland of the coast.

[coyoteskye]

Originally Posted by Steve97415

Don't know how familiar you are with the climatology of the West Coast, but "warm weather" and the coast don't necessarily go together. Proximity to the coast generally brings a good deal of fog and repressed temperatures. Read this post. //www.city-data.com/forum/san-d...abaly-not.html

The Mojave Desert and the Central Valley probably offer the greatest probability of warm sunny weather on any day...precisely because they're NOT near the coast. If you wan't the best compromise between warmth and proximity to the ocean, you'd probably be best staying south of Pt. Conception at 10-50 miles inland of the coast.

I don't know whether or not you live on the coast or are just looking at weather stats but what you're saying is somewhat misleading.
The weather in Santa Cruz county(which is almost northern CA) from roughly May (later April) - October is very sunny and quite warm with temps ranging from the 70's - 80's and sometimes temps reach the low 90's although that's unusual.
The fog rolls in and out (but some days there is no fog) and very often much of the county is free of fog or has just a bit in the morning and evenings.
It's a land of micro-climates and, for example, you can be right on the coast with some fog and drive 4 (or less) miles inland and it's fog free and warm - hot.
And fog is a lovely thing ... natural air conditioning and the coastal fog provides nice relief from the summer heat.
If i'm living 5 miles inland and it's 89 degrees, i enjoy getting into the fog getting some nice damp coolness.
And for many, living in the central valley is akin to living in hell and if someone wants to live on the ocean, the Mojave desert probably isn't what they want to do.

[coyoteskye]

Originally Posted by elisaa

Ohhhhhh...it sounds exactly as my vision. When I close my eyes I envision myself walking along the beach or sitting out at the end of a Jetti just watching the water. And having enough energy to actually do my craft with a clear mind. I have been thinking about this since last year. I went to visit Italy. and stayed for two months. I was never more alive in heart. I was even picking up the language. But talk about expensive! You can go through 4,000 euro a month there just for rent and other normal expenses. So I thought when I returned. What would be a similar equivelant? And just speaking to others and browsing the net I thought California sounded good. So I'm here chatting. Are you one of the moderators

Me? Moderator? No way.
If i had to read every post on a particular forum, i'd go nuts ... don't know how they do it.
Btw, S.C. is Mediterranean climate ... maybe more like Italy than some other parts of the CA coast.
Time for a coastal road trip perhaps to see what (or rather where) moves you.