Our love story: Moving Day!

Our move to Los Angeles is finished, but not without some great stories for you sweetie. Right now I’m sitting in my new family room that has a serene shady feel from the ocean breeze. Mission complete! Our move began with a goodbye party where my extended family and friends made us feel like we’ll be missed in San Francisco. Nick's Crispy Taco's hosted us with great food, red walls and full on chandeliers. That restaurant couldn't be anymore city funky.

I spent the next two days packing and preparing for our Saturday and Sunday move. Our U-haul was packed by 1:00PM and then we spent the rest of the day spackling the holes in the walls, meeting our landlord for a final walk through, handing in our cable box etc. But then the unfair thing happened! You see, it looked like the San Francisco parking attendants also didn't want us to move away. We parked our U-haul in the driveway while I was upstairs with a couple of boxes when Honey's family ran up to tell me we were getting a ticket.

You can get a ticket on a U-haul parked in a driveway I had no idea! I felt like I was in a movie.

Our moving movie continued when we drove the U-haul at 5:30AM from San Francisco to L.A. I had a blast while Honey drove. I got to play DJ, set the right temperature in the truck and encourage Honey to stay in the moment.

I could feel our chapter turning as we got closer and closer to L.A. I was excited and nervous for him to see our new home as I had found it a couple of weeks before. We pulled into our driveway and I felt peaceful.

So forgive me as I stop writing and go outside to experience more. I can’t wait to tell you about our L.A. adventure. Do you enjoy moving and is it OK that I’m still tired?

Moving from Canada to America: How do you surf?

We had been living in Newport Beach, Ca from Toronto for about six months when I was asked to go surfing. Uh surfing was not something that this Canadian girl had ever thought of, let alone tried to do. If I had been asked to go downhill or cross country skiing then I would have been totally ready. Instead, I smiled sweetly at my new friend and asked her "How do you surf?"

She gasped at me and wondered how anyone had ever lived without surfing in the Pacific Ocean. (I am pretty sure at this point, I also only had one piece bathing suits and no flip flops. Oh the horror.) 

When I went home to ask my parent's if I could go surfing with her family they asked me why? Wasn't surfing only for boys? Would I get hurt? Please could I put on a lot of sunscreen? Actually the sunscreen was a great point as my pale white Canadian skin was screaming to be burned. (Yes, we all get burned first before we tan, but I freckle and turn bright red first and then the brown comes.)

My parent's told me that if I go then I had to be very careful and get people to look out for me. I really had no idea what was in store for me. My friends parents picked me up in their convertible Mercedes (seriously) and they all (including her father) wore pony tails, flip flops, shorts and had their surf boards sticking out of the back of the car. Their dog was sitting with his head out of the window.

I was wearing my one piece bathing suit, with sandals, a lot of sunscreen and carried my towel. Her family let me know that I could 'borrow' one of their boards. We drove down to Corona del Mar beach and I was completely out of my element. Her family had probably been to this beach a million times. I was still trying to get my skin use to the new sun and keep the sand out of my bathing suit :)

Her family gave me a short lesson of surfing with the board on the beach. Words like surfing is simple, you'll be fine, you'll never know if you like it once you try, were all used. All I needed was a good 'don't be chicken' and I was ready to go.

I swam into the ocean with my new friend and paddled out to the waves. We were gossiping all the way so I thought 'surfing isn't that bad'. I was enjoying surfing so far. And then she grabbed her wave and rode it into the beach. She stood up on the board, hardly wiggled and smiled all the way. I swear to you that I saw a golden retriever swim by surfing on it's board.

My first time surfing was a little different and I truly learned what wipe out meant.

I saw my wave, paddled to it and then tried to stand on my 'pink' board. I slipped off right away and then flew hard into the ocean. This was pretty much how the rest of my day went. By the end of the day I was exhausted, had a lot of salt in my eyes and lungs and was starting to complain.

My friend's mother saved me when she then introduced me to a bodyboard/boogieboard. All you have to do is lay down on this board, not stand up and boogie your way in. I was officially an Orange County girl.  Have you ever tried to surf? Had an experience like this?

Moving From Canada to America: The New Canadian Girl

After a lot of tearful goodbyes to our friends and family, we sold our house (within weeks), stored our furniture, took our dog and flew to California. Saying that the O.C. was a culture from growing up in Toronto, Ontario was a shock to us would be an understatement. We went from watching Degrassi Junior High to Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Health insurance to paid insurance and Bayview Village mall to Fashion Island.

At least my brother and I had each other. We entered the school and found the front office to let them know that we were new student's. I'm sure I ended my every sentence in eh! as I noticed that they kept ending their sentences in dude! My bro was taken to his new 7th grade class and I was escorted by a girl 'Jenny' who was the same age as me, but looked like she was going on thirty. Jenny asked me where was I transferring from. I told her Toronto. "Where?" she asked. "Um, Toronto" I responded. "Wait your Canadian?"
"Yes, we're Canadian eh!" I said.

Jenny then exclaimed "So your the new Canadian girl!"
I smiled from ear to ear and said "I guess I am."

Jenny then took me to my new homeroom class. As I entered the class, I felt all of the students look me up and down and I just about died. I found an empty seat and was glad to have a few moments to sit and catch my breath. I could see Jenny talking in the corner to some other student's and whispering. I wondered if she was talking about me or about my Betty Boop shirt?

Finally, what felt like forever a girl that Jenny was talking to came over and sat next to me. Her name was 'Tamara'. She asked me "Are you the new Canadian girl?" I could see a theme forming "Yes."
"I've never met someone from Canada before can I ask you some questions?"
"Sure eh! (*Please know that within months I never ever said eh again as I couldn't take the strange looks.)

Tamara asked me "What's it like to wear snowshoes, live in an igloo and have you ever felt the warmth of the sun before?"

I thought oh boy, do we have our work cut out for us. I smiled and told Tamara that Toronto is a metropolitan city, a cleaner New York. Filled with the arts, restaurants, sports and freezing in the winter, but hot and humid in the summer. So hot that my friends and I would go to cottages in the summer and swim in the lake.

So throughout my High School experience, I was always known as the friendly Canadian girl. I guess it could have been a lot worse. When I tried out to be on the cheerleading squad or when I tried out for the High School plays they remembered me.

We knew we were in an alternative universe when you walked in the High School parking lot. Why you may ask? Because the students drove nicer cars then the teachers. Imagine how the teachers must have felt when the sixteen year olds drove BMW's and Mercedes as their first cars. This Canadian girl drove a white, convertible Cabriolet Volkswagen which was perfect for taking my cheerleading pompom's and friends surf boards to the beach.

I didn't realize how much I had started to change until picture day. As a squad we took cheerleading pictures to hand out to our family and friends. My picture was of me sitting by a pool, my long hair tied with a white bow, posing and wearing my baby blue cheerleading outfit. I bought extra pictures and decided to send them to my friends in Toronto. I wrote little notes on the back of each note. When my Canadian childhood friends received this picture they had a field day. I looked so much like an American while my friends in Newport kept calling me Canadian.

Now I felt like I didn't really fit in in either Newport Beach or Toronto. And as if being teenager and moving wasn't hard enough :) How do you think you would have handled Tamara's questions? What was your favorite tv show from the '90s?

Moving From Canada to America: The O.C.

Imagine that you are fourteen years old, living in Toronto, Ontario and really excited to start high school with all of your childhood friends in the Fall. Your parent's sit you and your brother down to tell you that your family is going to be moving away. I thought to myself "OK we're moving neighborhoods again." And then the bomb was dropped. Your family is going to be moving countries. We assumed that it's going to take months to prepare a move like this. We were wrong. My family was moving from metropolitan city Toronto to beach town Newport Beach, California in the next month.

My brother and I knew that my parent's were having marital problems, but we had no idea that they would make the decision for all of us to move Countries. My father was working with his brother at the time on his accounting business software so my father was able to arrange a work visa for himself and try to open up an office in the States. Instead of my parent's separating again they decided that they would give it another try and move us away for a fresh start.

My brother and I were shocked. First we knew were going to miss our childhood friends. Second we couldn't imagine our new home as we had never been to Newport Beach before. We had been to Disneyland and had visited L.A. once, but I had never thought that we would move to California. Third we wondered if our parent's would stay together as they were having many problems. Of course we were willing to try, but we were very scared of the change. My mother told us at least we all have each other.

At the time there were no shows like Laguna Beach or The O.C for us to reference. (Everyone always asks me what was it like going to high school in Newport Beach. And yes it was similar to the shows. Crazy I know.)

After a lot of tearful goodbyes to our friends and family, we sold our house (within weeks), stored our furniture, took our dog and flew to California. Saying that the O.C. was a culture shock to us would be an understatement. We went from Maple Trees to Palm Trees. From boots to sandals and skiing to surfing. I wondered if we would ever fit in.

My family enjoyed a sun filled month on the beach while getting to know our new area. (I know it sounds horrible, but not to worry we managed :) Newport Beach seemed to make their women and teenagers very different to Toronto. They were perfect, with perfect hair and makeup and always wearing workout pants. My mother and I had also noticed that in the magazines there were a lot plastic surgery ads. And this was in 1990.

Our first day of school seemed to come very fast. On my first day of High School, I tried to wear my hippest California outfit which consistent of a Betty Boop top and matching cut off jeans. (Oh the horror!)

Together I remember my brother and I walking up the foreign steps to our new school. This school was completely different to any we had known as it had outside lockers and an Olympic pool for water polo. We took a deep breath and entered the sea of faces that we had never seen before.

I will never forget seeing sandals on the feet of almost all of the students and some of the teachers. To me they looked like Flinestone shoes and they were wearing them with socks. I stopped a student that was younger then me and asked her about the sandals. She told us that they were called Birkenstock's.We had never seen them before so I asked her why would they be worn with shorts and socks. She looked at me like I was crazy and responded " The socks are to keep their feet warm from the sandals. Duh!"

The new Canadians had officially arrived. What was it like when you moved to a new city or Country? Do you think it's harder to move as a child or as an adult? * I took the above photo of Laguna Beach in the midday sun. It's one of my favorites.