CO

I arrived home from Russia on Saturday evening, and was quite exhausted as it was 4am St. Petersburg time. Ready to crash for at least 12 hours, all I wanted was my bed and peace and quiet. But my roommates quickly informed me that the night before there had been a scare with the carbon monoxide detector in our basement. While normally registering at zero, it sky-rocketed to 30+, which was obviously alarming.

I was extremely exhausted, and most of my friends were out of town for the long weekend so I didn't have any sleepover options. Despite one roomie's thorough research and warnings, I opened my windows and went to bed, figuring (correctly) that I couldn't die from carbon monoxide if I had some fresh air in my room. As I woke up in the night I even tried to test whether or not I was dizzy, as I knew that was a symptom of poisoning. I'm not sure how effective "dizziness testing" is while it's dark and you're lying in bed, but the effort was there. Obviously that would have been a horrible reason to die - pure laziness - so I was more than relieved when I woke up the next day.

An expert checked out our place yesterday and it turns out that something was wrong with the monitor. To add to the issues with the monitor, and unbeknown to us, some household sprays (air freshener, for example) can affect the monitor reading. Let's just say we're breathing much easier today.

Chinatown

Our new place is on the outskirts of Chinatown, which means delicious, cheap restaurants and tons of interesting grocery stores just outside our front door. The first time I went to the grocery store down the street, my eyes went wide and I wandered the aisles aimlessly, trying to find a food item that I recognized. I ended up with some great finds - chow mein noodles that cook in 3 minutes, cheap, fresh veggies, frozen dumplings and aisles of fancy sauces that one day I may be adventurous enough to try. If I can muster enough courage to choose some seafood from the shady back corner of the store, I'll end up with protein back in my diet.

It must be very nice for new Canadians to find their favourite foods from home. I wonder if there are grocery stores in Hong Kong that specialize in North American food - aisles of Kraft Dinner, cheddar cheese, hot dogs and french fries.

The Shore

Saturday night was a gong show night in our house. Friends came over, we had many drinks and headed out in the area. Luckily our cute, fun upstairs neighbours were up for the task of taking us out on the town. Of course they were - there were five great girls ready to follow them anywhere!

After two bars and many more rounds, we headed back to the house, which by this point had become one big house, rather than two separate apartments. I'm sure I gushed for hours about how great it was that we all "lived together" and that we should party like this every week. I was too drunk to notice the eye-rolls from the guys.

We literally had a dance party in the living room, bouncing around, dancing on furniture and listening to all kinds of music. Some of the girls left and then there were two. Well two girls were left with the two guys from upstairs.

In typical Jersey Shore styles I took full advantage of a cute house-mate and available nearby bed, which lead to no bad news behaviour but definitely a lonnnng night of dancing and drinking, with a bit of sleeping. It seems like a perfect situation to me - how can this not work out? Someone to cuddle with at the end of the night, right in my house, no strings attached! Just like Snooki and Vinny.

Oh no...I'm basing my behaviour on Snooki. This is already getting bad...at least the walk of shame the next day was a quick one.

Chores vs. Chatting

Last night I had a really productive night. After returning home from an Indigo store event (yay for meeting JWOWW!), I unpacked the rest of my room, took out some recycling, ate dinner and sent several important emails. While I was doing this my roomie texted, facebook chatted, talked on the phone and skyped with guys. All different guys (I think).

No criticism here - if I had that many guys vying for a chance to talk to me I would not be a sad girl. Luckily at the moment there aren't, so my room is unpacked and livable rather than merely a collection of suitcases.

Who said blondes have more fun...?

Reminiscing

Even though I've been whining about wanting to move to a new place for years, I feel a bit sad that I left my old apartment. So many things happened in that apartment - it was my first place, not only in Toronto, but the first place where I lived on my own. That apartment has seen several visits from boyfriends and dates, many friends stay with me for party weekends or even longer, and one boyfriend who lived with me. There are so many memories in those 500 square feet, it was a surreal moment when I saw it for the last time today.

I'm really excited about the next phase of my life but I can't help but reminisce about my time on Isabella Street. I'm a firm believer that your past experiences really shape who you are, but I guess I didn't realize just what an impact that small apartment had on me.

Moving Day!

I'm waiting for the movers to arrive as I'm leaving my quiet, organized but small apartment to live in a much bigger, no doubt louder and messier place. Several things are going through my head:

• I'm giving up my independence to live with two friends, which I'm surprisingly excited about!
• Dollarama packing tape just doesn't really cut it
• I should have bought more garbage bags
• I have accumulated a lot of stuff over four years
• Guys aren't very reliable but luckily I have great girl friends who are always willing to help out
• In three hours I will be living in a house in downtown TO with two fabulous girls - this promises to be exciting!