A Year In San Diego

My husband Chad and I spent exactly a year in San Diego from July 24th 2014 to July 24, 2015.

We are about to go visit San Diego (from Asheville, where we live now) so I figured I would write the story of our move and why we moved away.

On July 25, 2014), we packed up everything we owned into our tiny Prius. We signed the papers to sell our house in Pennsylvania. We made some pit stops (North Carolina and Florida), then drove across the country to our new home in San Diego to Point Loma to be exact.

Chad and our old bestie Ziggy (RIP):

We stayed in Point Loma from mid-August to mid-October...in a brand new yacht club condo just steps to the bay. It was beautiful, peaceful...

and did I mention our condo was only 270 square feet (super tiny)? And Chad and I both work from home?

So we moved to Nimitz Point apartments in Ocean Beach in Mid-October into a much roomier (but nosier and older and much more expensive) apartment.

First, the good points about Ocean Beach:

Ocean Beach has shops, restaurants, a dog-friendly beach and park all within walking distance.

It's a stone's throw away from friends' houses, Target, and Trader Joe's.

Our apartment had 2 bathrooms!

It only rained 6 times in a year! Actually that's not great for the environment but I quite enjoyed the sunshine!

Ocean Beach has free hoop jams once week on the beach!

Free things to do all the time (beach, bonfires, meetups, etc).

Despite all the beauty, Ocean Beach feels like a "party town" that reminded me of...how shall I put this... tropical Philadelphia.

I had trouble putting my finger on why I was unhappy in such a beautiful place... living just a 20 minute walk to the beach...

This is sooooo not Hawaii...

And it took me a few months to realize that I came to San Diego expecting an "upgrade", (I was comparing it to Hawaii), but instead I was surrounded by constant noise, people, and a feeling of being unsettled.

The airplanes flying over our apartment every 5 minutes made me feel like I was in the Donnie Darko movie, and not in a good way.

When we opened the windows in our (un-airconditioned) apartment to let some air in, cigarette smoke from the neighbors wafted in...and our neighbors have a collicy baby who makes me think demonic possession is real...I love working with children but I have never head a newborn with lungs like that!

I don't mean to sound ungrateful...of course I am THRILLED that I got to live somewhere with such great weather--I just wish it came with air conditioning... and a washer and dryer! And a yard of our own!

Even the gyms in San Diego don't use air conditioning...so I stopped going.

And although I did some face painting at a few parties when we first moved, I initially and naively was surprised that I was not immediately rolling in gigs like I was in Philly.

I was really feeling the pressure (financially) and absorbing the feelings of Chad, who was pretty jaded about the housing market in San Diego.

Chad wanted a house with a huge yard pretty badly...and it was not going to happen in San Diego (unless if we wanted to work for the rest of our lives to pay it off--we don't).

So in November I got hired by a new princess party company. I played Tinkerbell, Belle, Anna, Alice and Snow White.

Me as Alice:

But it seemed like the owner just wanted me to model the characters and after a few months of "no gigs" I realized she didn't really know how to market the business, so I left.

Here's an excerpt from my journal about the experience:

"On Saturday morning I had a Tinkerbell photoshoot for Darleen’s website. It was 43 degrees. In San Diego.

Do you know how skimpy Tinkerbell’s costume is?! I don’t even own a jacket.

I foolishly gave away most of my clothes before we moved thinking I would never need wear a sweater again. 43 degrees is unusual for San Diego, but it still happened. I caved and bought a jacket at Ross yesterday."

I also freelanced as a face painter with another company. Here's a page from my journal about the last gig I did:

"Today I’m at a Festival, face painting in San Diego. In Pennsylvania, I quickly discovered that festivals were not a good use of my time.

But my desperation to “make enough to get by” in San Diego and my lack of passion for my day job, makes me jump at the chance to paint at this festival.

I’m a total idiot.

It’s Saturday and I’m up at the crack of dawn. It’s raining and cold. Are we still in San Diego or was it all just a dream?

At the Waterfront Park, I wander around aimlessly, looking for “the only white tent” according to Vanessa. And there are dozens of white tents.

When I finally find the tent, everything under it is soaking wet. I set up the table, and unroll the soggy poster of face painting designs, using my water bottle and tip jar as a paperweight so it won’t blow away.

It’s windy and cold. My nose is running and I don’t have a tissue. There are no potential customers here right now. I’m annoyed because I rushed to get here.

Vanessa told me to charge $5 per cheek design and $8 for a full face. I think it’s pretty pricy (San Diegons are surprisingly frugal on kids entertainment) but I keep my mouth shut because she probably knows what she’s doing.

Hours go by and I haven’t made a single dime. I did, however, pay $10 to park. I’m sick and tired of pretending I’m happy to be here when I’d rather be at home, in bed. I stop smiling and waving and sit in the chair, painting my own hand.

Pro Tip

I watch the other booths, and learn something that makes this wasted day worthwhile.

I notice that the really popular booth has very visible signage and even a cool portable sandbox with colorful toys inside for the younger kids to play with.

There are a dozen kids playing happily at the booth. Of course, their moms are there talking to the ladies who own the booth. I walk over out of curiosity. The booth is selling “Home Births.” These women are geniuses!

Their booth is attracting tons of moms and pregnant women because they are putting out free snacks and other “kid bait.” There’s even a bubble machine! I want a bubble machine!

My booth is the equivalent of a website with no freebie or email newsletter. Even though I have a fancy pop up tent and the right equipment, my booth still feels ghetto and incomplete. There are no signs. Everything is wet. I’m not giving away anything, just selling.

When Vanessa gets here, I ask her if we can just face paint for free and tell people we are accepting tips. We needed butts in the chairs, now. She agrees.

I earn $39 in the next hour...more than I made in the last 5 hours combined. It’s almost 2 and I’m starving. I leave. I never hear from Vanessa again.

Well played universe, well played.

Of course as soon as we decide to move, The San Diego Zoo shows interest in hiring me as a face painter. It’s only been 5 months since I applied.

I’m extremely annoyed, until I get the idea to look up Zoos in Asheville. There are none, but I am determined to do the work I love (face painting) again!

In addition to face painting, my passion for makeup artistry and hoop dance was renewed when we moved to San Diego in 2014.

A new challenge. Everything was different. Something else to accomplish. Something new to overcome. Something else to prove to my students/husband.

Four months of constant marketing and finally my phone was ringing. Libraries and circus schools wanted me to teach and perform...but despite living in a very expensive place, they did not pay anywhere close to what I made on the East Coast.

I would have to work over 300 hours to make what I earned working 10 hours in Pennsylvania. That is not a typo. When I first moved to San Diego, I literally could not GIVE a hoop class or assembly away.

So when all my marketing and networking finally paid off and I was offered a prestigious position in January as a hoop dance teacher at a circus school (working with girls who were preparing for Cirque Du Soleil!), I turned it down (sabotaged) and opted for a safer (and boring!) job that had the potential to pay more because I didn't want to feel any more pressure.

Lesson learned! I know I can't take it back, but if I could, I would go back in time and take that job...not so I could stay in San Diego...but because I would have had so much more fun!

Epiphany: How Sarah got her groove back

I've known this whole time makeup and dancing and face painting is still in my heart. But working a "normal job" made me realize it EVEN More.

It's almost like I have some kind of disability where I can't be told what to do...ever. And I need to have fun on a daily basis.

I started painting canvasses obsessively when I wasn't face painting.

Back In January 2015, I went on a job interview with a psychic...

But it doesn't take a psychic to know what's in your heart...here's the interview story from my journal:

This morning was my breakfast interview at the Broken Yolk with Summer McStravick from Flowdreaming.

Summer is nice but it It uncomfortable because I had to act interested...(Now I can add "actress" to my resume) and she could see right through it with her bright blue yes.

Interviewing for a job you don't want is like trying to go on a date and act interested when you are happily married.

I don’t want to be a customer service rep and Summer’s right hand man, and wear 20 hats, and be available all the time, and travel to Encenitas full time. I could be VERY good at it, but I wouldn’t love it.

I don’t want to keep track of boring numbers and listen to people complain (aka customer service).

When I asked Summer if there was anything I said today to make her doubt that I am qualified/a good fit, she looked me in the eye and said,

“There are entrepreneurs and there are employees. You are an
entrepreneur. I can’t see you doing this for more than 3 years. But I
can see you learning how to take a start-up to a multi-million dollar
business and leaving here to do just that with your business.”

Guilty as charged. It was the best thing I heard all day.

She was right. I was squirming after 3 months with a different company! And it's been 7 months...after being an entrepreneur for over 5 years, that's a record for me!

Turns out that face painting and doing makeup for a living is a lot more fun than sitting at computer all day.

Anyway, Chad and I (and Ziggy) moved to Asheville, NC (On July 24th again!) in 2015.

I got to spend almost a year in San Diego, and I have no regrets.

This has been quite an adventure, especially for Chad--he lived in Pennsylvania for most of his life! I'm practically a nomad and have been boomeranging back and forth between the East and West coast for most of my life.

Why Asheville?

Chad and I fell in love with Asheville back in 2011...we took a roadtrip there after we first adopted the Zigmeister.

We loved the culture of the town, the awesome restaurants, the affordability of houses and land, and relatively mild weather.

We went back to visit Asheville several times. We had planned to move there, but first I convinced Chad to move to San Diego...oops!

Some people go to Asheville just to watch the street performers aka Buskers, which are treated like royalty...instead of like bums. I just might be a street performer too!

Chad knows this move to Asheville is not permanent...we plan to live in Hawaii when the time is right. In the meantime, I am enjoying our time in Asheville.

Photos: By Me