This year’s big project: we’ve sold our house and are moving away from Fremont, to the foothills.
We lived in our wonderful house in Fremont for around 17 years, and have a lot of memories there. We built our business, Fire Pixie Entertainment, and grew it into a thriving happiness machine. We created art, made videos, got married, and made our own unique and beautiful nest and network in the center of the Bay Area.
After 17 years, Darrell and I are both getting tired of the hustle. It’s getting harder and harder to be an artist in the Bay Area. While real estate prices soared, we watched our friends and entertainers struggle to pay their rent, or move to less-than-ideal neighborhoods in order to find enough space to create art. Even those neighborhoods are getting too expensive. Tech companies keep growing and expanding, and while that gives us lots of clients, it is making it very hard for artists to survive.
We were lucky — we bought our house when prices were low(er), and have been able to sell it at a great price in order to buy our dream house in the foothills. We’re moving to Auburn, which is around 2 hours from the Bay Area — still close enough to drive in for gigs as needed, but far enough away that the pace of life slows down considerably.
The new house has a pool! This Mermaid is over the moon about that. It also has more than twice the square footage of our Fremont house, with a soon-to-be Well Appointed Shop in the basement. I’m going to be able to make larger-scale artwork on my own premises. I’ll still make costumes and necklaces for sure, but soon, if I want to, I can make chandeliers, art cars, and giant hydraulic wings. (and OH do I want to!)
It will also have an amazing view of Lake Folsom. I’m looking forward to discovering how a far-reaching view will change my outlook on the world and my own life situation.
Our Fire Pixie business will continue to run as usual, and we’ll keep doing fire and light shows in the Bay Area, and will be expanding to include Auburn, Roseville, and the Tahoe area as well.
But I’m really looking forward to slowing down a bit, and having more time to make fun projects for Adafruit.com and perhaps also expand into making art and costumes for sale. Auburn is alive with art galleries and I’d love to become involved in teaching intro to electronics classes, or having time to go to cosplay conventions. And of course, keep traveling and making mermaid videos all over the world.
21 Jun