Toronto

I have arrived in Toronto. First impressions?

People are very friendly. The lady at Customs talked my ear off. She wanted to know who was starring in our movie, what was it about etc. Same thing with the woman at Immigration. Everyone in my buidling has said hello/good morning and held doors open.

Toronto is clean.

It is also very diverse. Just on the flight up here I felt like I was at the U.N. There are a few French channels TV channels and an Italian (!!) one. I saw a commercial for Wal-Mart which looked just like the U.S. version but it was in Italian. Within a few blocks from my apartment I noticed Thai, Indian, Italian, Mexican and French restaurants and a Irish Pub.

I can walk to things! There are two big supermarkets near me and a drug store, dry cleaners, basically all the services you find a major city and don't need a car to get to. (Toronto is the 5th largest city in the Americas). I get my car tomorrow but will be using it mostly to drive to set. I like that the streets are full with people even during a holiday weekend. It feels like a city here.

My building has a gym and a roof deck.

This photo is misleading. The land you see on the other side of the lake is a little island. Lake Ontario goes on for miles. I will try to get a better shot, when the sun glare isn't so strong.




I thought this sailboat looked very majestic.



The internet in my apartment is not working. Hopefully it will be fixed soon. The living room furniture is unfortunate but the apartment gets a ton of light and I have a balcony. I won't be spending a lot of time on it (I am really high up... and it doesn't look that strong.)

Our UPM (unit production manager) gave me a ride to the prodution office today. I had to check my emails. Our director didn't recognize me at first. Last week I spend 6 hours and $$$ to have my hair done. I had twists put in. I am not used to having this much hair on my head. I was dying in L.A. with the heat wave and just wore it up. I am very happy to have such low maintenance hair for the next couple of months.

I think I will only do this a couple times a year. As I paid my hairdresser I thought, I could have bought a sick pair of shoes. Haha. Good thing I called two different friends. One friend has her hair done at the same salon but her stylist starts at $300! add the cost of hair $140, plus tip, you are looking at $500. Plus she is hard to get an appointment with because she works with a bunch of celebs. My stylist starts at $150, she is a recent college and is opening her own salon already. She is going to focus on natural hair care. She night be a little ahead of the curve. I have seen more naturals in Toronto within the last 24-hours than I have during the last 3 years in Los Angeles. LOL.

Tomorrow I will be on a location scout, then watching some of the actors rehearse. The gym opens at 5:30 a.m. (yes) so I will be able to get a work out in before my pick up. I have got to lose some weight. The last three weeks I went to town on the junk food. I don't have any in my apartment now...and it's going to stay that way. Now if I can only stay away from the crafts services table that would be great.