Hi friends! I haven’t done a life update post in a while so I thought I’d share a few updates that have happened and just catch up with you all!
We have lived in our new house for about two months now and are loving being back in California. I get a lot of questions asking if we regret our choice to move to Charleston and 10000% no. It has taught us so much about life, what we want out of it, and how we see ourselves in the future. If we hadn’t of tried something new and gone out of our comfort zone, we wouldn’t truly know what our priorities are and have clear goals for our future. We now live in Orange County, CA. A place near and dear to our hearts as it’s where we met each other back in college in 2011.
As many of you now know from the last vlog, we didn’t buy this house and that’s because we are saving to invest in a rental property in the future. Buying homes in SoCal isn’t easy, especially a multiunit complex so we have a ways to go! It’s something we’ve only recently realized we wanted to do and we wouldn’t have known this without the move to Charleston – so I’m happy for that!
Annabelle loves it here and so does baby Scarlett! The weather is perfection and our friends and families are here and it’s been so nice. We do miss Charleston/ the South a lot though. I really didn’t realize I would miss it this much, but the people out there were just so so sincere. It makes me emotional thinking about it because it’s a night and day difference from our SoCal neighborhood!:( I wish I could find that somewhere here. The charm of Charleston is hard to beat as well.
^Annabelle with her “Gigi” aka Doug’s Mom!
As much as we love it here, we aren’t fully settled. I like to be as real as possible with you guys. Many of you have followed me since before I was even married so I feel more comfortable sharing this on my blog. “Influencers” always appear to have this perfect, staged life where their toddlers don’t cry, they aren’t total hot messes wearing PJs at 4pm, and their house is completely spotless and organized with acrylic boxes in each drawer;) I want to be different. I honestly hold a lot back for fear that if I share too much “realness” people wouldn’t be inspired to be better themselves. It’s a hard balance sometimes yet here I am, airing it out again.
I’m not sure where we are headed next. Recently we’ve had a few changes in our personal lives (nothing marriage related) so that means we are reevaluating what we really want out of life, where we want to go, how we want to live, etc. I feel like there are people who watch my life and tell me to stay put or ask why we are unsure of where to live or what do, but I’d rather be constantly moving and progressing than staying stagnant in life, at least that’s how Doug and I are.
This isn’t our forever home so we’re still searching for the best place to live and settle down. Do we take a year and travel? Will that be too stressful? OR is it an opportunity to grow and truly experience life?
Do we stay and live like everyone around us for our kids?
Life is so strange sometimes because at least for us, it’s ever changing. This season of life has its struggles, but I can honestly say with so much uncertainty in being our own bosses and trying to grow our businesses with two little ones at home that through the constant chaos, it’s the happiest we have ever been.
Thank you for every email, comment, like, DM, etc. You guys mean the world to me! xx
Thank you for the update. 🙂 You’re right that life is never perfect, but it sure is beautiful. Enjoy these days, Johnson family! 🙂
Thanks for sharing your life! You guys are motivational, and as weird as it is it feels like we’ve been friends for years even though you’re just an internet stranger lol. I would love to hear more about what it takes to have a complex as rental property.
Whether you go on the road and travel or stay put, the babies will always be happy, crying and a challenge and not because oh where you are, it’s just a phase in their life. So why not deal with it all somewhere pretty, somewhere exciting and somewhere different. Their new constant will be anything you make for them. They already have your love as their main constant and they’ll adjust accordingly to where you are. I always think it’s harder to do these things when the kids are at school age; look at the “Wild Thornberrys”, one kid thinks they can talk to animals why the other is pure mood lol. Just a fun example but older kids don’t like leaving their friends or schools and family. They notice it a lot more in my opinion x
Come try out Seattle!!!
If you move a little north of Seattle you’ll find so many cul de sacs, or even land with farms etc. it is so perfect! And doesn’t rain as much as people think 😉
I say go for it go travel. You guys are young and cope well to all situations. I live on a sailboat and love changing where we live every 6 to 12 months mostly based on the weather. But i see lots of young families traveling now and cant help but think thats pretty awesome. My hubby tried to get us to give up everything and move to a boat which took him forever to convince me but it was the best thing we ever did. I know your not thinking about cruising on a boat but traveling would be fun.
So I am new to following your blog and let me start by saying I appreciate the honesty you share over here! It’s like reading a letter to a best friend love it. As far as traveling, do it! Just live your best life. Your girls are still young and have plenty of time to establish regularity (school, friends, home,etc).
You write beautifully