I was born 45 minutes north of Toronto Ontario Canada to an Irish-Canadian father and a Scottish-born mother, when they were 18 & 19 years old. I have younger sister and brother and out of everyone, I’m the only one with red hair. I haven’t strayed far from my origins and my brother and sister are only blocks away from me.
At my sister's wedding-I'm on the right-Brother in the middle
I grew up with a fiery personality which did get me into trouble sometimes, well, let’s be honest, a LOT. I talked too much, I talked out of turn, and sometimes a little too fast and a little TMI (too much information). I once told my grandfather’s wife that my mom thought her pancakes were rubbery, but I guess, what kid hasn’t? But even as a young adult, I found myself inserting my foot into my mouth on numerous occasions, at least by that point had I realized my faults. I can still hold my own amongst my scottish family who are always competing for the floor, but at least now I try to be more appropriate (most of the time). I still have a fiery personality, but I save it for special occasions now.
I once thought I wanted to be a dentist, but after I spent a day shadowing my own dentist for school, I decided it was too boring for me. Then one day I was watching Much Music and the VJ was interviewing Mark McGrath from the band Sugar Ray (who I had a crush on in High School) and decided I wanted to work in Television so that I could get the opportunity to meet famous people. (which never really happened-well no one that mattered to me-I met Darryl Sittler and some other Hockey players and members of Glass Tiger :S) That’s when I started volunteering for the local cable station. I actually REALLY loved it, all the technical stuff-not so much the on-air stuff. At this point in time, my high school friends seemed to be drifting away from me in a way that wasn’t so nice for me, so the extra-curricular activity really helped me get over that. I ended up meeting one of my good friends Lilli-Anne there (who happened to be the granddaughter of the man my High School was named after and who also happened to still be alive). Through Lilli-Anne I found some new self-esteem that had been lost after my school friends had really dumped on it. I also met a man who was was to take up 4 years of my life, even though I can’t really call him a boyfriend, because we(and I mean he) never defined it that way. It was quite a tumultuous relationship, but exciting nonetheless. Most importantly from this juncture in my life, was that my connections from the cable station, led to a job and the local Youth Centre, where I met my (still) best friend (and fake husband) Cory.
Cory goofing off during a photo-shoot LOL
We met on my first day of work, when he was volunteering. It wasn’t until our first aid training (as he had been hired as a camp counsellor for the township that ran the youth centre) that we really bonded. We were paired up for training, and we just ‘clicked’. From that moment on, we were always together, he even proposed to me with a plastic ring with a lion on it. 
For the next couple years, Cory and I managed to work together at 4 different places, once he was my boss. Cory is from Halifax, and at the time was living with his aunt Shelly, who has become like a second mother to me. She is so crazy, I love her so much, but she moved away to Montreal. This was okay for Cory because he met Geoff (his now husband) and moved in with him. We didn’t always talk as often when he moved away (except Tuesdays which was Buffy-night) but it was like no time had passed at all when we did. Eventually he and Geoff married (when same-sex marriage was legalized in Ontario) and they now have an adopted son TJ. You can read their blog here.
My tumultuous relationship led me to my common-law partner who treated me better and was therefore more appealing. But we have had our ups and downs, mainly because he battles depression and mild Bi-polar disorder. He is adopted, and only knows that his parents are Latvian. He is a Flash Developer, but has also worked in After Effects. He is absolutely in Love with Apple/Mac products. His adopted parents are very fair-weather parents, whenever things get tough, like if my hubby is going through a down-period, or there is a disagreement, his mother always chooses to disown him instead of working things out, or letting go of her grudges. (She has also done this to my son-her grandson-as a way to punish me :S ) Well we bought a house in 2005, had our first son in 2007, and our second son in 2009. Both boys were born at home with midwives and caught on video -us being multimedia people and all.
I ended up going to school for Television Broadcasting at Seneca College and held some jobs in that field. One TV station in particular though, left a very bad taste in my mouth. The staff were very deceitful, even the management, and I found myself being harassed when I became pregnant. I received late night anonymous text messages implying that my spouse was not the father. They even went as far as sending a paternity testing kit to him. I did call the police knowing they probably couldn’t prove it, but I was hoping it would at least scare those people into growing up. Needless to say, that experience turned me away from going back to work after my maternity leave and I opted to say home and work part-time for a fitness club, where I could bring my son with me.
Meanwhile, Cory and I decided to start a photography business ‘Juicee Bee Productions’ together. My spouse and I had accumulated some professional equipment with the idea that we would use to start a business, but when his depression set in, that was put on hold. So, me with my camera and Cory with his, we thought “why not make some money on the side?” We have done 2 weddings so far, one for free (for my brother in law’s sister) and one discounted (for our first ‘customer’) and I feel that we have done a pretty good job. The hope is that we will get busy enough that I can buy a newer body for my camera, and maybe a light kit/backdrop, but we really do like keeping it simple and natural. We would also love to be able to travel to some destination weddings, what could be better than that? -Getting paid to go on a ‘vacation’.
Homebirth of my first son-My mom supporting me
On top of all that, while I was pregnant with my second child (not finding out the sex until he was born) I decided, that I wanted to go back to school to become a midwife myself. So to start the process, I started training to become a post-partum Doula and Childbirth Educator. I’m still working on that, but I also started working on the pre-requisite high school courses that I don’t have, but need to get into the Ryerson Midwifery Eductation program. My first course is 12U english and my first unit marks were 97%! I can’t believe it, I wish I had been that committed in high school the first time around.
Well that’s where I stand right now. I won’t be applying to Ryerson until the 2011 year, so in the meantime, I’ll get my pre-requisites, finish my Doula/CBE course and hopefully teach some classes, make some money doing it. And hopefully get some wedding business this summer for my photo company. Also, fingers crossed that my hubby’s freelance business flourishes as has just been laid off from his full time job in the city.
Phew, that was was long. Thanks for reading.
