Our Billionaires Crew
Zach and I jumped at the opportunity to work on the catering crew for The Hobbit. It paid well and got us directly involved with the people who made our favorite movies – The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The work was intense with long hours and alternating six day work weeks, but we learned a lot and made good friends along the way. Moving to Wellington also brought us Tommy, who is now a very dear friend of ours. The whole experience now seems a bit surreal, but incredible. We miss Wellington, our friends, and the adventures we had in New Zealand.
Zach and I at the Vail's house in Montana
In early July we said goodbye to Billie and the Billionaires Catering crew and headed back to the US. In a whirlwind we visited my family in Santa Cruz while car hunting, drove my niece to Montana to visit my mom, Eastern Montana, and my dad, Russian relatives and my friends in the Flathead. Then Zach and I and a solid Montana crew spent several nights in the bliss of Hood River to take part in Graham and Marcella’s wedding. After that we came to Portland where, for the first time ever, Zach and all of his siblings had a real siblings’ reunion. We followed that up by celebrating Zach’s parents’ 40th wedding anniversary in Tacoma. We visited some of Zach’s friends and his old stomping grounds before holing up in his brother, Travis’s, house to figure out what our next step would be.
The Farnes Family
Things are tough for everyone right now and I won’t try to claim we aren’t among the people who are struggling. For those few days in August we talked and talked and wrote pro and con lists for various potential living situations. I won’t go into details, but my health hasn’t been that great over the past few years. We thought we’d get help in New Zealand, but it turned out my visa limited the kind of coverage I could get from the government. Moving back health care was our primary concern as well as being near people we loved and trying to start a lifestyle more suited to us. All that and we have a wedding to plan.
In the end we chose Portland. Zach, for various reasons including health benefits for me, took a break from kitchen work to get a job in the meat department of a local high-end market called New Seasons. He is excelling quickly and working hard to learn, as always. I was fortunate enough to have a restaurant within my San Francisco restaurant group in Portland where my old boss is the general manager. He hired me right away and I have been waiting tables at Irving Street Kitchen now for the past few months. A good friend from Blowfish in San Francisco works there as well. After much searching and couch surfing (thank you Tiffani and Travis and Graham and Marcella!) we found a place to live. We also made a couple mini trips to Whitefish to find our wedding venue for next summer. So much to figure out in such a short time period!
My mom, Zach, and his sister, Tiffani being silly outside on Christmas
Though things are stressful for us, we are looking forward to 2012. It will bring some new babies amongst family and friends and our wedding. My hope is it will also bring us improved health via whatever miracle necessary, richness in undefined ways, and happiness.
