you know you live in sf when basic black is your winter color and navy blue is for summer, my boots sit next to my flip flops, don't worry much about traffic since i don't need a car, any neighborhood has a distinct climate and personality and is in walking distance, you love it!

i was born in santa barbara and it is my vacation destination. it's just a comute from sf and amtrack is great

You're a public school teacher & earn more waitressing part-time even though you've earned two masters, have 20 years experience & speak two languages & know you'll never earn enough to even rent one of the palatial homes you job by on the beach.

jog (spell check auto pilot at work)

Kayfox..AND YOU'RE FREAKING WORKING ON SATURDAY!!
Here's hoping one of those techie 27 yr old parents feels grateful enough for all you do, and surprises you with a beach house!
It could happen!
ONLY IN CALIFORNIA!
In the meantime .. A big THANKS!
(And I don't even have kids..can barely afford the vet bills in CA)LOL!!!

Thanks lisadoll. And weekends & summers are spent working too. We TEACH 8 - 3 but we WORK 24/7. It's people like you that keep me going when the going gets tough. That & those faces I see in my classroom every day. You got to love it or you'll go nuts! Thanks for making my day.

When you see a perfectly beautiful home sell for 6 figures just to be demolished to make way for another equally beautiful home.

That's not earth sustainable.

...you boycott any restaurant that doesn't serve kale.

3 days of sun is a heat wave

It's this hot on May 1.

When you get notification of questionable comments that do not show up in the discussion . . . wait a minute, I'm in Michigan??!?!?

... you've moved from Missouri and the Cali natives ask with wide eyes "Aren't you cold???" when you take your coat off to snow ski in 55 degree weather in Big Bear! (They had to make snow for Christmas.)

also...people have the nerve to steal your koi fish out of your pond and sago palms out of your front lawn!!!

I live a beautiful, mostly crime free, little town town outside San Antonio and we too had a rash of sago palm thievery a few years ago. Many people here say they are going to THE Walmart, wow, I thought it was a hick thing. Apparently South Texas and Southern California have more in common than I knew.

....your children outgrow their rain boots before they have a chance to wear them

.....your 2 year old understands the word drought

.....your neighbors keep pet chickens because its trendy

.....you have no idea what your local city bus route is (los Angeles)

....you refer to your commuter train as either the street car (muni) or Bart (San Francisco- where I grew up)

....the hills are so steep some have steps cut into them for pedestrians (SF)

....you stop in your tracks and ask what city they are talking about when you watch HGTV House Hunters and someone says the budget for their starter home is 150k

.....when knowledge of the Spanish language is really helpful on your construction/landscaping project (LA)

.....when you've never actually taken a day of Spanish class but can have a solid vocabulary and can actually understand some basics (LA) just from reading billboards and watching local TV

....some of the cities least expensive homes can be found closest to the Pacific Ocean (outer sunset district SF where the wind/fog can be intense)

And yes having lived in both Southern and Northern California I agree that they are very different places culturally. But I can't seem to live anywhere else!

Those are ALL great, megcblu! There are times when I watch House Hunters in total shock.

Your kids set your air conditioning on 50 degrees on the first really hot day of the year.

Emily, I can relate and today is one of those days!

feeny, that happens in Sisters, Oregon, too!

I just wish the quail families would march by my kitchen window in northern Ohio, kmkane. I miss them!

You're paying a nickel extra for every bottle purchased at the grocery store.
(That is the only grip I have. Love it in every other way!)

Gas prices are inching towards $5 a gallon

You know you live in Colorado when you look outside and it's raining cats and dogs and then you turn around for about 5 minutes and turn back around to look outside and you can't see because of the blinding sunlight!!!

If Colorado was a girl she would be bipolar

You know you're in Northern California when many of the neighborhoods have a 'The' with a capital 'T' sand the freeways don't.

The Mission, The Haight, The Castro, The Western Addition and The Filmore. The Marina, The Sunset and The Richmond. The Excelsior, The Bayview. The Financial District and The Tenderloin.

,,,you keep looking for a better place to live and can't find one. We've lived at the beach (Carmel), mountains (near Idylwild), tech central (Sunnyvale et al), and now in our favorite place, just north of San Diego County line. Been in California since childhood and as frustrating as the traffic, the yuppie attitudes and the prices are...nope, can't think of anywhere better.

when...Your stress melts as soon as you step foot outside of the San Diego airport and you begin to question the idiotic decision you made to move to flat, humid, mosquito- infested, Houston. (Pray for me!!!)

I grew up in Escondido, lived in Valencia, Santa Barbara, Pine Mountain and really enjoyed it. But now the whole state is an overcrowded, over-taxed, over expensive disaster. Try being young, buying a house, maybe starting a family? The old ski in morning, surf in afternoon is a joke. You would take up most of the day driving in traffic and trying to find a parking spot. You can bag on other places all you want but life is easier and more beneficial is places Californians just make fun of....

waco, there's some truth to that, but I'm not leaving. :-)

You know you're in the California dessert when there is at least one jerk that thinks he and his fellow corporate farmers have a right to pump a distant water source bone dry in order to get the water needed to irrigate (even in a wasteful way) his farmland in order to grow overpriced food on his over valued and over taxed property?

Your response: Select Hardwood Floor Co.

That's cool Chlo, It is hard to leave if your established and have family close. CA was the best place to grow up. We sent our kids to college out in TX and they stayed out here, and we have land and my wifes relatives out here. I would imagine everyone in Ca would think Waco is a dump, but I am really happy here. My son now lives in Georgia and is very happy. That is a nice place to live, I am really impressed when I visit.

and btw, my grandpa was a avocado and citrus rancher and I grew up in an avocado orchard. Very close to the SD Wild Animal Park. And my parents built a real adobe home, which was very unique.

My husband's a native, and I moved here as a kid in the 60's. Was your grandpa's place in Fallbrook by any chance?

You're spot on regarding over-taxed and expensive! Kind of crazy when you see some gorgeous home in the Midwest for what your garage might cost here. :-O

Lived all my life not far from the beach in San Diego. Moved to Arizona a couple of years ago. While the cost of living is cheaper and the traffic isn't so crazy, when I head back to San Diego to visit my daughter I feel like I'm home. The first smell of the Ocean air is like no other.

... you can't tell the difference between January and July. I do NOT miss the monotony of Bay Area weather. There are two seasons: "warm" and "slightly less warm". I'll deal with three months of snow if I get vibrant fall color and pretty spring flowers.

You know you’re in Southern California when it’s common to see TV and movie stars in Gelson’s or Von’s buying groceries, in your favorite restaurant, and driving along the 405 in a great car with vanity plates. Or you leave work early because they just announced a brush fire that might reach your house on the hillside and you want to be prepared with a hose. Or you wake up to the bed shaking, and it’s a 6.7 earthquake. The rest of the day you stand stock still every time you feel an aftershock. But it’s also fun to go swimming in Palm Springs then take a gondola ride up the mountain and throw snowballs, all in the space of a couple hours!

I live at the beach in So California, love that we have springlike weather year around. Every time I visit relatives in the East I’m sooo glad to be back home. There, it seems like Its either freezing ( even in October) or sweltering with high humidity with mosquitoes the size of horseflies. No thanks, I don’t miss the seasons one bit.

you know you live here when,,," a 0430 shaker wakes you from a sound sleep,,you do a quick look around to see all is still standing, and fall back to sleep"

I too have lived here all my life. growing up in the 60's/70's,,,watching how the traffic has just gotten unbearable. would you believe I remember when you drive on THE 5 fwy all the way from downtown to OC in under 45 mins? yep. as long as you got on the 5 before, oh 3 or 4, you were fine. and after 9 AM, it was clear enough to do at least 50mph. I remember when you could drive any freeway on the weekends and it was clear sailing. and Sundays? sigh,,,absolute joy to drive anywhere. Now? hah! even at 1 in the morning there's traffic. forget getting on any freeway after 1230 PM and not hitting traffic. doesn't matter where you're going,,there will be traffic somewhere. Living in so cal means planning your days around traffic. but I do love my avocado, citrus trees and beautiful weather, all the time. sometimes it's so monotonous,,"what? another sunny day? dammit". Storm watch is a joke. 1/3" of rain and all freeways come to a complete halt because no one knows how to drive in inclement weather. inclement meaning, 'a slight rain storm'. Lived through 20+ earthquakes,,,and am just waiting for 'the big one' that I known is coming soon. If it wasn't for the outrageous prices, the weirdo crowds of people and the traffic, this would be one awesome place to live

Chloe, Grandparents place was in Escondido on San Pasqual Valley Road, we lived across the street next to the "Teepee". I looked up the area on google maps yesterday and it was terrible. All the avocado and citrus trees have long been left to die and the land is now barren and ugly, there is no water. The humidity is something you just get used to and it not a big deal and after awhile you just don't notice it, at least I don't. And if you can't take it you can turn the AC on and your bill is still 1/4 the cost of what it is in CA. I was in Valencia during the Northridge quake, when I grabbed my kids and ran out the door a power transformer blew up and I though we were under attack.......

Chris Warren

You budget 85 minutes for a 21 mile commute.

- Why we left. That and the fires.

Waco - we lived in Escondido and San Marcos. We now live north of Boston.

You can visit every type of terrain in the span of a day! (or in the amount of time it takes for us to retrofit your windows ;) )

waco, so sad about the trees. Ugh...the earthquakes completely freak me out.

We lived in Thousand Oaks, between LA and Santa Barbara. When we moved out there, our East coast friends said “With the wildfires, mudslides, and earthquakes?!” When we decided to move back East to Cape Cod, our California friends said “With the hurricanes, snowstorms, and blizzards?!” Ha!

Hurricanes, snowstorms, and blizzards come with a few days advance warning so you can stock your fridge, gas up your snowblower and buy a generator. Earthquakes and mudslides cause damage before you even realize they've happened.

I do miss the Farmer's Markets and all the vegetarian/vegan options for eating, though.

Yep, the produce is way better.

Even the food in restaurants is better ... while traveling through New England recently I was disappointed in the quality of food overall. I know there’s exceptions, however, I found even highly recommended ( by locals ) restaurants lacking. Maybe it is the produce issue, salads were especially poor.

...when the non-native Californians refer to California as “Cali.” Ugghhh

.....when you can water your garden or wash your car only on odd or even days.