Gabriel

It's been the most difficult six and a half months of my life.

Gabriel was not healthy for the first few months of his life.

There were hospital stays and ER visits and many, many doctors appointments.

But he is fine now.

He is better than fine. He is awesome, he is wonderful.

He is adored.

Merry Christmas

Wishing you peace, love and joy this holiday season!

Hear ye, hear ye

It is ridiculously conceited of me, of course, to expect that there is anyone out there who still gives a fig what I'm up to these days.

But nonetheless I have some news that I can't resist shouting from the virtual rooftops.

After many, many years and much heartbreak and disappointment, we will be welcoming a new baby boy to our home at the end of the year.

I couldn't be more excited.

Fine. Thank you for asking:)

California dreaming

My boy races the waves at Santa Monica Pier.

Hauling in his catch from the pier.

Hanging at Big Bear.

Chillin' in Palm Springs.

Palm Springs

Big boy at Big Bear

Ready for a girls night out in Hollywood with

last year's Blogher roomie - all the way from Vancouver

Cuteness in Malibu mountains

Mandy in Malibu

Look at me Dad!

Cool

Gold medals in ice hockey aside, I think my favorite Olympic moment this year was watching snowboarder Shaun White win his gold medal for the halfpipe: dude is cool personified.

And balmy weather and career opportunity aside, I think my favorite part of living in Los Angeles is my proximity to Target: store is style epitomized.

So can you just imagine my joy at learning that Shaun White has a line of clothing for little boys available at Target?

Shaun White, Target and a little boy in need of new clothes: a perfect trifecta of my favorite things.

You can't handle the cool.

Hello from La-La Land

Rob headed back to Toronto two weeks ago for work but Grandma has been here in his stead and we've been showing her around.

La Jolla Cove...

Venice (yes, Graham's obsession with balloons now officially spans the continent)...

And La Jolla Cave (conveniently located at La Jolla Cove)

And also, the very day after that last picture was taken?


My baby got a haircut and a great big boy miraculously appeared in his stead.

Crazy

Did I mention Graham loves his preschool here in Los Angeles?

Well he does.

He loves it. LOVES it.

I think the fact that it indulges in "Crazy Hair Day" may be part of the reason.

Also? Apparently most preschool moms consider a colorful barrette or a silly ponytail to be a suitable celebration of said Crazy Hair Day.

Graham and I, we do not.

Well hello there

We are fine.

We are more than fine; we are happy.

That's not to say all of the changes we have gone through the last few months haven't been difficult and scary and enormously stressful.

They have been all of those things. But, for the most part, it's all good.

I had forgotten how beautiful it is in Los Angeles.

I had forgotten that on previous visits I had felt such love and affinity for her wild canyons and roaring surf and towering palms.

I had forgotten, also, how very alive a career challenge can make me feel and how exploring a new city has always sent a thrill through my bones.

I still haven't quite figured out what I will do with this blog. I do know I will not, cannot, maintain it as a forum for discussion and rumination as I have in the past, but I am reluctant to sever a means for far-flung relatives (who haven't mastered Facebook) to keep in touch.

I have been humbled by your lovely words and well wishes over the last few months. Thanks again and please know that we are fine.

We are more than fine; we are happy.

Following my sun: the one where I say goodbye

I know my recent absence from this space has been abrupt in light of the considerable effort I have spent the last two years convincing readers to invest in my life.

I know that radio silence for a month is perhaps even disrespectful, given the fact that I have often drank deeply, nay greedily, from your virtually never-ending well of support and goodwill.

But I hope you will forgive me when I explain that since I have last written, everything I used to assume about the way my life would play out has changed.

At the beginning of the summer I applied for what I can only describe as my dream job: a job that would catapult me several steps up a career ladder on which I already occupied a comfortable middle position. It is a job that represents an enormous challenge, a job that would move me into the inner circles of the film and television industry and allow me to advocate for the people and places I hold dearest in my heart.

I am not normally a humble sort, but suffice to say I firmly believed that my application was a long shot

But I got the job.

I got the job and in just a few days I will fly to Los Angeles, California on a nine-day business trip during which I will find a place for my family to live.

In mid November I will leave Don Mills and Canada and my life here behind to chase my dreams and ambitions in a place where success in my chosen industry represents the very pinnacle of success.

I have been offered what I believe is the opportunity of a lifetime folks and I'm going for it.

It will not be easy. It has not been easy. In the month since I accepted the offer I have plummeted down the rabbit hole into a vortex of details and lawyers and contracts and home listings and visas and export papers and anxiety and studying and disbelief and sleepless nights and joy and uncertainty and heartfelt late night talks.

I will pull up stakes and move south towards the end of November. Rob and Graham will await my return about a month later and after Christmas together we will return to Los Angeles as a family to build our lives anew in a sunny place, far removed we hope from the uncertainty and darkness of the past year.

It was on last New Year's Eve that we learned that cancer cells had been found in Rob's mother's stomach lining. That very day she was released from the hospital to our home where at midnight we raised a hopeful, if tentative glass to the possibilities that 2009 would bring.

We did not know then that we would mourn her death just 11 weeks later: we have learned since that, more often than not, both life and happiness are hard fought.

And so we are fighting. And we are moving. And I am moving on from this space which I believe is incompatible with my new job, at least in its present incarnation.

In just a few weeks I will be taking Don Mills Diva private and providing a password for friends and family who may be interested in photos and basic updates on how we're doing.

If you'd like to keep in touch feel free to request the password via e-mail and if you live in the Los Angeles area especially please touch base.

I will miss Don Mills Diva and I will miss all of you. It is thanks in no small part to my readers, supporters and even dissenters, that I was successful in obtaining this job. Even more than the guerrilla social media and Internet marketing skills I learned from the blogosphere, I learned confidence in the expression of my ideas and confidence in the importance of what I could contribute.

If there is one regret that I have with regards to my withdrawal from the blogging community it is the vague sense that I took so much more from it than I was able to give. During some of the darkest days of my life you gave me a renewed conviction in my personal power and there is no way I will ever be able to repay that.

Thank you each and every one for lifting me up and helping me soar.

Good bye and God bless you.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

There are some life-changing events afoot here at Casa DMD: I hope to be able to tell you what's happening in the next few days.

Thanks for your patience.