January 2019

This year started off with me joining in on a lot of new traditions. After having celebrated Christmas with my family, we came back to Toronto to celebrate New Year’s with my boyfriend’s. New Year’s is a big deal in his family, so we went to a dinner/party on the 31^st, then spent most of the 1^st at his parents’, where friends came over to ring in the New Year.

It was a short stay in Toronto before we went back to Montreal for Rikki and Jonathan’s wedding. We decorated the hall and had a little party on Friday before a sleepover, then Saturday was all about hair and makeup and getting everyone ready for the ceremony. They had a photographer that they’d met in Italy who took pictures of us getting ready, during the ceremony and all night long. We may or may not have started crying long before Rikki got anywhere near the aisle.

My brother officiated, and there were very few dry eyes by the time he was done his introduction. Because Jonathan is French and Rikki is English, it was a bilingual ceremony, but Rikki said her vows in French, letting Jonathan say his in English. It was beautiful.

The night was a blast from beginning to end. Delicious food, amazing company, personal serenades and heartfelt speeches. I also had the very best date for the night, who stayed by my side on the dance floor because he knew I wanted to dance, even though I’m very sure he didn’t. We had a brunch on Sunday before driving back to Toronto.

We got back to training at 4 points and welcomed back our coaches from their holidays. Ayisha, knowing my slightly obsessive planning, got me a migoals planner, which I spent the better part of 3 days using to figure out my next five years. It’s always a challenge to balance dreaming and reality, but I am so excited to make everything I wrote down come true.

Eventually, I had to go back to Montreal to work at the Auto Show. I had 2 days of training, then one day to figure out my taxes (always fun) before a 10 day run in the Buick Café. The job was pretty easy, because most people like you when you’re handing out free coffee, but my favorite part was the people I worked with, who taught me the very basics of being a barista when we weren’t busy. I don’t exactly like coffee, but I did enjoy making it.

I was working during almost all of my usual Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu classes, but I did manage to barter my way to be able to go to 3 classes at 3 different gyms. At BTT headquarters an awesome purple belt tightened up my moves before we learnt some half guard stuff. At the St-Hubert branch I was first considered a newbie, then once I proved myself with the first few moves, my training partner decided to teach me some of the blue belt curriculum. And at the Beloeil gym, I taught some curriculum to a fellow white belt before getting in some intense rolls.

A storm delayed my coming home to Toronto, so I got to do a day of UDA background work, which was great because I got to catch up with a friend from McGill.

When I finally got to drive back to Toronto, I stopped on my way for a quick interview with Danny MAlin for the Yes Lets Make a Movie film festival. This guy works so hard for the Montreal acting community and hustles like you have no idea. It was an absolute pleasure and I can’t wait for the festival in September.

My first month of the year was a bit of a whirlwind and over before I got to do most of the things I wanted to. Time to make a game plan for February.

What about you? How was your January?

“So I just want to say to the people that are at home and not working as frequently as they want, you’re just one job away. You’re plenty talented. Hang in there.”

-Jason Bateman in his SAG acceptance speech