This Village Has a European Flair

I'm a 40-year-old mother of a darling little girl who's almost 3, working 32 hours a week in Costa Mesa but enjoying every minute back in Rancho Santa Margarita. Love the fact that everything is within walking distance just like a European setup. Yes, that's where I'm from, originally. My husband has been living in RSM for almost 20 years but it seemed he only came home to sleep; he is just now getting to know our town, and  I'm astonished to find out he doesn't know there were certain places and things available in RSM. He has been working  as a copier technician and it takes him all over Orange County.

In 1997 I moved to the U.S., to be more exact, Orange, CA from a tiny village in Switzerland called Wilen where there isn't even a post office or a store. We do have a train station where it'll stop upon request (you have to press a button; it'll signal the station prior that someone would like to hop on). A mere 10- to 15-minute walk gets you to the next town where everything is indeed available.

In 2006 I was introduced to Rancho Santa Margarita, a city I thought had more of a town-like feeling, and with it I called it a place "off the earth." Needless to say, at first it really bothered me that it was a 20 minute drive off the freeway and an even longer drive to work but my very positive attitude left me to learn to like this place.

Once I get home my car gets parked, I grab the stroller, the bike with trailer, or sometimes just my daughter and head out. I might just find a reason to walk to the grocery store across the street, sometimes we just go for an ice cream or we meet up with other moms for a brisk walk around the little over a mile long lake path. We're not always having a plan—sometimes we just take off and if my daughter decides she wants to pick flowers instead of walking around the lake, so be it.

My favorite place to shop at is at . It definitely gives me the feel of being back in Lachen (another town in Switzerland I spent most of my young adulthood). I walk into the store and the employees share a smile, say hello and honestly want to know how you're doing plus, the best of it, you run into the same people a lot of times. That is more the way I remember it from a "town like living" aspect.

I'd like to think that we spend a lot of time outdoors because we do live in a very tiny place with no backyard for our daughter to play in. But we do enjoy our neighbors a lot and either hang out by the community pool, let the kids play together after dinner or are there for each other when in need. All the little things that make this place called home in my eyes. I'm proud to live in Rancho Santa Margarita. If you take your time and check online or read SAMLARC's Magazine this place has a lot to offer. The only activity missing  to make our list complete and Rancho Santa Margarita the perfect place is a bowling alley.