West Coast Roots, East Coast Soul

A couple of weeks ago, we headed back to Southern California to visit family and friends. It was so good to be back on the West Coast, even just for a visit. My connection to California is strong, but my roots have always been firmly planted in the Northeast. I grew in the suburbs of New York and New Jersey, never far from the city, but I was always a coastal girl at heart. My childhood summers were spent out east on Long Island or down the shore in New Jersey.

In my mid-20s, I decided to chase that “magical summer energy” year-round and followed my brother out to Southern California, Los Angeles specifically. Coming from a background in fashion and beauty PR in Manhattan, my first stop was Beverly Hills. Looking back, it makes me laugh! I was a 25-year-old on a meager PR salary living in Beverly Hills. It was a studio (a cute one!), but it still was Beverly Hills! I quickly realized I wasn’t exactly the “Beverly Hills profile,” so I moved to Santa Monica, which was much more my speed.

Those years were idyllic. I lived just blocks from the sand, spent my mornings running by the ocean, and my weekends riding bikes down the boardwalk. It was during this time that I met my husband. We eventually married in Santa Barbara (still my favorite place in all of California), had our two girls, and moved to Manhattan Beach.

It was in our rented house in Manhattan Beach, in the wild uncertainty of April 2020, that I launched Cailíní Coastal with five baker’s racks in my garage. I’ll share the full garage startup story for a later post!

We eventually bought our first home in Palos Verdes. We lived a block from the cliffs, watched the sunset over the ocean from our bedroom, and shared our streets with wild roaming peacocks. It was truly magical. I loved that house and that community, but my intuition kept telling me this wasn’t our forever.

I’ve learned that when I don’t follow my intuition, I usually regret it. So, after a lot of heart-to-heart discussions, we made the move back to the East Coast and settled in Westport, Connecticut. Also by the coast, but the sound is quite different than the ocean. Being back here year-round feels right; this is where we are meant to raise our family. But with 10 pivotal years of my life in California (and nearly 20 for my husband), California will always be a part of us.

We started our visit in our old stomping grounds of Santa Monica, right by Shutters on the Beach. I am endlessly inspired by the design of that hotel. It was actually a massive influence on Cailíní Coastal. It captures that approachable coastal luxury, that feels both elevated and livable. That’s exactly what we strive to offer at CC!

I wrote a deep dive on the Shutters aesthetic and how to get the look here

We spent a few days catching up with my brother and nephews, the kids so enjoyed an afternoon at the Santa Monica Pier. It’s funny how when you live somewhere, you tend to avoid the tourist spots at all costs. But now that we were officially tourists ourselves, we gave in and it was so fun, especially for the kids! We even tried our first Waymo. If you haven’t seen them, they are the driverless cars that are all over LA now. It was a wild, futuristic experience, but shockingly less scary than I expected!

After Santa Monica, we drove down to Orange County to stay at the Monarch Beach Resort. We have so many memories there from our “pre-kid” weekend getaways and early years with the girls. I indulged in my fair share of chips and guacamole (and maybe a few margaritas, which is rare for me!). It reminded me how incredibly fresh the produce is in Cali. It truly is so much easier to eat healthy when the ingredients are that good.

We took day trips to Laguna and San Diego to catch up with friends, and I was immediately reminded of why that laid-back lifestyle is so seductive. Even the more “intense” pockets of Southern California are far less of a pressure cooker than New York. It’s a completely different mentality. As a quintessential Type-A New Yorker, I’ll admit I often found the California culture a bit too laissez-faire (especially in the professional world!), but being back reminded me that the change of pace was always so good for my soul.

My heart was so happy to be back, but not in a “longing” way. I didn’t leave wishing we lived there again; I left feeling settled in our choice to be here. However, my husband and I did make a pact that once the girls are grown, we’re going to split our time between Southern California and Nantucket.

A girl can dream, right?

Warmly from the coast,

Meg