My 100th and Final Post

OK. So, here is the deal. I'm sick of the outages on blogger, so I am no moving to WordPress, another free blogging site. I moved every single post over to the new site. The new address is: anamericanintoronto.wordpress.com You got that? Here it is again. anamericanintoronto.wordpress.com I posted today's pictures over there with slightly different text. I hope this means that I can actually post more often with more pictures. I will keep this blog up for a month or so and then I will take it down. But, as I said all the posts that are here will not be on WordPress. One more time... anamericanintoronto.wordpress.com I hope to see you over there soon!

Hallowon't NOW WITH PICTURES!

Because of stupid Blogger, I couldn't put pictures up on the blog yesterday. But here they are now: I'm giving you all fair warning, too. I'm looking for a new place to park the blog, so don't be surprised if I move this to a new domain address. Just a heads up.

Hallowon't

So, that happened. Let's just say that The Boy's First Trick or Treating didn't go quite as well as planned. We got all dressed up. We were so excited. We jumped up and down. We practiced our pirate "aaaarrrgh!" We grabbed out ghost bag to collect our treats. And then we headed out with all the best intentions. We walked down the street and at the first house that with the light on, I asked The Boy if he wanted to Trick or Treat. Well, you'd thought that I asked him to run into a grizzly bear pit with a steak hanging from his neck. He started to panic and yell, "Nooooo! Nooooo!" The friendly homeowner brought us The Boy's entire Halloween haul, a single fun size Coffee Crisp. I tried to get The Boy to go to another house, but nothing doing. He was even a little hesitant to go to his own house. After he got home, he had half of his fun size Coffee Crisp. While I was putting him to bed, we got all kinds of visitors, more than we ever got in California. I was kinda bummed, because I do like seeing kids in costumes and all that. But I even missed out on that. Sigh.

Halloween Spooks, Outside My Window...

BOOOOOO! Happy Halloween Everyone! This is the first year that The Boy will be going trick or treating and I couldn't be more excited. He doesn't care all that much. But he does enjoy knocking on doors, so that will be the highlight of his evening. Unfortunately, DH is working late until 8pm tonight. So he won't be able to participate, which is too bad. But there are plenty of future Halloween's for both The Boy and DH. A little housekeeping... Happy Belated Birthday to The Boy's Uncle Steve who had a birthday yesterday. I hope he got the card we sent. Speaking of cards, thanks from The Boy to both Memere and Grandma who both sent him cute little Halloween cards. Tomorrow, I'll post a picture of The Boy in his costume, but until then here is a flashback from last year's famous lobster costume. A CANADIAN FACT! About 72% of Canadians will participate in some Halloween-themed event this year, according to a survey by the Retail Council of Canada. On average, about $60 per household has been earmarked for pumpkins, costumes, candy and decorations -- up from $57 last year -- bringing the nationwide tab to an estimated $1.15-billion in retail sales.

The Boy + Dora!

I'd like you to meet The Boy's girlfriend. She's very talented, smart and is quite hard-working. She might be an older woman, but that doesn't bother The Boy. They are meant to be! The Boy only has eyes for one Dora Rodriguez, aka, Dora the Explorer. When The Boy sees her he jumps up and down and chants her name repeatedly, like a crazy person. He really thinks she is a superstar. He also likes Dora's friend Benny the Bull, which is like saying that your favorite character on Happy Days is Potsie, but I digress. So, I bring this all up because this weekend is the Baby and Toddler Show here in Toronto. And today, who is going to be making an appearance, but none other than Dora herself. I debated bringing The Boy to see Dora and possibly get a picture taken with her, but then I realized that he would be in an unfamiliar place, with lots of other people and then to see this come lumbering over. I think he might just have a massive coronary. I sometimes forget that The Boy is still not 2 years old yet. He's still pretty young and can be easily spooked. Speaking of which, only a few more days until Halloween and I'm so excited to be taking him out for Trick or Treating. He has no idea what that is, but I can barely contain myself! BOO! A DORA FACT! Dora the Explorer became the first Latina balloon character in the 79th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday, November 24th, 2005. Which is coming up in a few weeks. I love the Macy's Parade. I'm so excited! Halloween and then Thanksgiving! I need to take a breather. Phew. PS: Here is a great 15 minute video of the Charles Phoenix's Disneyland Tour of Downtown Los Angeles, which DH and I did a few years ago. It was lots of fun and this is a really accurate document of the experience.

Around the Town

Although I've been lax in my posting, I have been taking pictures around Toronto for the blog. The Fambly will be doing a lot of fun things coming up in the next few weeks, but until then here are some of the things that I see on a regular basis and as far as I can tell there are few or no pictures of these things on the Internets. Here is a really crazy building on Gerrard Street. I have no idea what the story is on this place, but there's got to be a good one. Here's another picture for a little more detail. There's clearly something going on about drunk driving, but I haven't the foggiest idea what its about. But I DO love the crazy. Here are some of a dying breed: pay-phone booths. They are actually really common up here and I have actually used them since I've been here. How cute and retro. Here a shot for Michele-with-one-L! Degrassi For-evah! And, I can't forget to show another picture of The Boy: Man, does he love that slide!

Hairspray Pics Part Two

I certainly hope that work slows down a little bit, although it IS nice to be busy. But, then I can't waste my mornings blogging like I was when I first got here. This morning right after I dropped The Boy off at his day care I saw a guy dressed like a Scottish Pimp with a pleather jacket, newspaper boy hat and plaid highwater pants. And he kept loudly repeating "Horse Office! Horse Office!" Man, I love this city. I wish I had video camera with me at all times. I also have some more Hairspray pictures including this little gem: This place is usually a greasy spoon diner called "Gail's Snack Shop" (aka Smack Shop), but for the movie it's the Hardy-Har Hut, a game and magic store. Only in a movie would a magic store be a huge store right on a corner. I really liked the name of this portable toilet company: "It's My Potty!" I'm jealous that someone else came up with that one. The only actual filming I saw was the actress playing the main character, Tracy Turnblad, lip-synching a song in front of the Hardy-Har Hut. It was only a few minutes, but it was pretty cool nonetheless. I believe the song was this little ditty: "Good Morning Baltimore" (click on Track 1 to take a listen). This past weekend The Boy and I met Lori and her son, Logan for coffee (or rather, hot chocolate and hot cider) on the Danforth. I met Lori on the Internets and we had a lovely chat. I was really nice to talk to someone that I'm not related to for a change. I actually found a group of women who moved here to Toronto from Southern California, so I will meet with them in the near future, hopefully. But, before I go, "Horse Office! Horse Office!"

Hairspray Pics Part One

Yesterday was just non-stop rain here in the GTA. Despite the 2 feet (!!!) of snow that Buffalo got last week, we have managed to dodge the weather bullet, at least snow-wise. For now. Speaking of the natural world, my brother, Weethy, lives in Honolulu and he is doing well despite the earthquake that happened over the weekend. I haven't spoken to him yet, but my mother says that he was a little shaken up (no pun intended) over the 45 second quake and his dog was VERY shaken up. In all my years in Southern California, I never felt that long a quake. But they are very scary. So, if you're reading this Weethy, drop me an email or call me tonight. Anyway, after yesterday's near monsoon, this morning was nice a relatively warm. So, when I finally got to my office, there was much ado. Apparently, Hairspray is back to shoot some more scenes and that blocked up traffic a little bit. And a little farther down the street, traffic was REALLY backed up because of a nasty accident in front of the studio. Since Hairspray is back and up to trouble, now is as good time as any to show the pictures of the set direction that was here a few weeks ago. Here are two reproductions of old billboards, for Philips and Dr. Pepper. Do any of these look familiar to anyone out there who might remember the early 60s? I sure do love reproductions of old things. Here is a cute mural that is the only thing left from the shoot. That and a sign that one of the businesses kept even though the phone number on the sign is a "555" number. More tomorrow...