Good Morning Wellington! This was taken a couple mornings ago from our deck overlooking the city and Bay
Well, where to start! I guess the thing that has been bringing us most joy this past week (aside from the sun coming out) has been our new home. We moved from a cold, damp, older flat to a new, warm, dry home with amazing views and a huge deck for the BBQ (and Zeph)...The view is quite amazing...on a sunny day it looks unmistakeably like the Mediterranean or French Riviera, except with some beautiful snow-capped mountains in the background!
In the distance are some snow-capped mountains that happened last night as a result of it getting quite chilly out!
While the weather has taken some getting used to, it hasn't been all bad. The longest it has rained for (yet) has been 4 days, then the sun comes out and dries everything out. When the sun does come out, it has been the most calm/still days where we just want to go jump in the water and go for a swim. Brrrr! But, still warmer than the water off California, believe it or not! And, pristine, clean water!
That is heaven on a plate! Tim's infamous homemade girl scout cookies! Shortbread dipped in chocolate with a homemade coconut carmel, then drizzled with dark chocolate. Could it get any better?! YES! They were gluten free and dairy free!! BRILLIANT!!
They were worthy of two pictures!
Last night we were really fortunate to get invited over to new friends, Tim and Tracy's house for dinner. They are both here from San Francisco and are quite a fun/lovely couple to hang out with. Tim is working at WETA for their current film projects and Tracy is launching her presence into her yoga teachings. Anyhow, they roasted chicken and veggies for dinner and when we thought it couldn't get any better, Tim whipped up some dessert for us. Now, by whipped up, I mean he made some fresh coconut ice cream (dairy-less, made with coconut milk) and some heavenly, heavenly gluten-free, dairy-less Girl Scout Cookies. Unbelievable. Little bits of heaven that took you to your happy place all over again. To top the night off, we watched a great movie called Paper Hearts. A documentary of sorts about Love. Highly recommend it for some light, feel good fun.
While we did not take this picture, it was recently taken here in sheep country and it might put new meaning to counting sheep!
Work for both of us has been great. We are so lucky to be working with Peter as he is a great person and a great mentor for both of us. Zeph got his license about a week ago and mine should be here in the next couple of days which will be quite exciting. For the record, he does have an advantage for getting the commission check though! He has been working the industrial side of commercial real estate and I have been working the retail leasing/sales side of commercial real estate. It is fun being at work together, learning together, and commuting together! Quite a treat and we both feel so fortunate to be in such an amazing spot while thoroughly enjoying what we do. We also have been working with a growing number of businesses who are expanding and we are helping them find their new locations, which is quite a lot of fun learning about their business models to better understand what locations work for them.
The last piece of the puzzle has been getting back into a workout routine as this brings us a lot of happiness and balance. We purchased a pair of lights so Sarah was able to go for a night ride with a lovely group of girl mountain bikers a few days ago. She left at 6pm and rode for a couple hours with the girls and the highlight being the clear night and the view from the top (as well as a couple of the girls bringing tasty treats that were passed around). We have also been tossing around the idea of getting a couple wetsuits so we can work on our open water swimming here in the Bay. There is an area set up for swimmers so it seems more appealing, especially when the water is calm! We have been also thinking about getting a pair of rollers (to ride indoors when it is wet/windy/cold/dark) and to possibly work on the (trail) running skills a bit as well. All ideas that we'll probably figure out (hopefully before it turns to summer)!
That is all for now. This week looks to be quite busy with work, which is a good thing! Sarah is fortunate to be going back to Rotorua with the girls on Friday for a girls' weekend getaway on the mountain bikes. If there was a way she could tuck Zeph into her pack, she would! Hope all is well with you and we'll be in touch! Hugs, Sarah & Zeph
