Farewell Fairfax

The move became real this week. The relocation company arrived on Wednesday and they started packing up boxes. The temperature soared into the upper 90s which made the manual labour extremely tiring. Joel and I had to settle on what exactly needed to be in the container going to Singapore (which we won't see till October) and what needed to travel with us for the next six weeks in Canada. Then we sent our furniture and fall/winter clothes up the coast in a truck to be stored in Victoria.

Our good-bye visits this week were both wonderful and sad. We feel incredibly fortunate to have had the chance to build this kind of community and to get live here.  We will miss strolling around Fairfax at night, the live music and great places to eat and all the weird and wonderful characters wandering around. We'll miss all our fantastic neighbours and Delila, our cat friend. I will miss my school and having all my talented classmates around to critique work. I might not miss room 521 though.

We'll both miss all the great people we met through Joel's work and the many great impromptu gatherings we had. California has been great but it's time to adventure again! Thanks for all the great memories, we'll be back one day.

-Stacey

The Bucket List

As our weeks here dwindle away we've been working our way through a bucket list of the things we set out to do before leaving. I took our friends Jon and Christine wine tasting in Sonoma on Friday and enjoyed my final trip to our favourite tasting room at Sojourn. We drove around the headlands and up Mt Tam too.

Joel and I have been out to some new restaurants in the area and in fact haven't really cooked at home much in the last while. Our latest finds that we whole heartedly can recommend are:

123 Bolinas which is at that very address in Fairfax. It's a new wine bar with a small tapas menu and a great selection of wines by the glass or half glass and wonderful cheese plates. Cozy atmosphere and choc full all the time.

Picco in Larkspur has been on my list to try for ages. It's a popular night spot in the neighbourhood for casual fine dining. Our dinner there was fantastic, don't miss it if you're in that area.

Next week we set sail for the legendary Chez Panisse...


-Stacey

Bikes and stuff

I finally got my new road bike in April, The Precious is a Cervelo R3SL equipped with Sram Red. I've got my Quarq power meter in my carbon fibre crank set (on my second one since I wore the one I got last year out) and I've still got my Mavic wheels I bought last summer. So that's my gear geekery out of the way.

I've been riding all winter under the supervision of my coach and started this racing season in February as a Category 3 rider - another jump up from last year. I decided to do mostly stage races this year which are 3-5 days of racing several different stages (like they do in the tour de France). In May I raced in the Sram Tour of the Gila, which was literally in the Wild West of New Mexica. And I did two races in Oregon later on, Mt Hood Classic Stage Race and the Cascade Classic Stage Race.  I placed high enough in those races to earn "upgrade points" and made the jump up to category 2 a few weeks ago!

Now I have to try to not die in the last few races of this season.  Category 1 and 2 riders are often lumped in with the pro riders so this is a whole new and much faster group of riders. Pretty excited to get out there and give it my best though.

-Joel

Our last Summer

It's hard to believe that our time in California is coming to an end in a few weeks! We hosted a farewell party for us as well as five of our friends who are also setting off on international voyages for new jobs. It was our best party yet. Over 70 people showed up who were from all the various groups we've been part of here. We had our friend, DJ Source spinning records all night long, I had a South Indian place cater food and Joel's cycling team had their Sponsor send over a full size keg. We danced the night away and even had a visit from the Fairfax police who were pretty cool about the whole thing.

On the move again

A new job opportunity for Joel came up in Singapore. After doing a ton of research on the country and the job we decided it was a really good fit. The company flew us both there for a few days to check it in late June. Everything we'd been told about this city/country was true. It's unbelievably clean and modern. There's every possible nationality living side by side and getting along (like CISV for CEOs). The food is fantastic, everyone speaks English as well as a half dozen other languages and pretty much anything you desire is available in one of the myriad of shops lining the streets. It's the Monaco of Asia, a tax haven and a very expensive place to live.

Joel accepted the job offer(!) and we are set to make the move in the fall after some time at home visiting family.

evening walkabout in Fairfax

evening walkabout, a set on Flickr.

It's hard to imagine leaving here this year. I was out this evening with my neighbour and pro photographer Stacy Ventura just trying to capture the ordinary things along our street and walking trail we take behind our house.

Tea for Two or 25...

I love tea and over the past year I've realized that pretty much everyone we know is a sucker for a fresh scone and a steaming cup. I decided to throw a spring tea party and serve a full English tea spread with finger sandwiches, cakes, Devon cream and of course scones. Nancy and I began searching every Goodwill, Sally Ann and Antique shop we could find for mismatched bone china cups and saucers which eventually yielded an impressive and eclectic set. No two are alike and we're sure they all must have a story. As the day of the tea party neared several neighbours donated teapots, tables and chairs and quite a few friends channeled their inner Julia Child and added wonderful food to the spread. The result was a delicious day of eating and drinking (I think the mimosas might have over-taken the tea). Cheers to a great day in the sun.

Thanksgiving

We've never hosted thanksgiving before and we've never (until this year) done anything on the yankee thanksgiving. We had a few friends around who were unable to make it home for the holidays so we decided to host what we called "the orphans thanksgiving." It was a great night.

A Birthday surprise getaway

I love surprises and every year I hope for something surprising to happen perhaps around my birthday and this is the first time ever anyone has managed to do this. There is a downside to a surprise. You can end up sabotaging people's best intentions with say going out the night before a romantic getaway with a best girlfriend and drinking your weight in German beer. Nancy and I stumbled home from the pub after accomplishing an impressive number of pint glass bicep curls. I woke in the morning feeling like I'd eaten a whole cactus. Joel on the other hand was urging me to pack my bags quickly and get into the car. GET INTO A MOVING VEHICLE? Are you crazy? His look was desperate so I gathered my strength and my blanket and complied. Of course we were pulled over not long after on the side of the 101. Sorry honey, I really do love surprises.

So our drive ended up in Monteray at the aquarium. I had a feeling there was a little more to this surprise since Joel kept scanning the lobby. Sure enough our friends Ben and Jess emerged from the throngs. They'd driven all the way up from LA that morning to meet us. Thank goodness I'd only made Joel pull over once! Apparently we were a little late. Needless to say it was a great day, one that got better as the nausea wore off.

We went out to a fantastic restaurant, drank champagne (cures anything) and played board games all evening long at our B&B. The following day we walked along the water on a beautiful chilly clear day. What a fantastic surprise Joel!

Gothenburg

 

 

We spent 24 hours in Gothenburg. This is a neat city though a little grey and windy this time of year. We checked out some indoor markets and the art museum and enjoyed and visit with friends.