Looking Forward: Our Hopes for 2017

We have travel plans brewing for this coming year. Not only are we doing some fun California things but we're also trying out the Home Exchange idea with sights set on Italy in August during Joel's sabbatical he's taking from work this year. We've always stayed in people's homes when we travel either through VRBO or Air BnB but haven't yet done a home swap. We're using homeexchange.com and are still in the beginning stages of learning how it all works. More to come as we move forward with this adventure. 

Joel has a few house projects on the go. He's putting the finishing touches on the home theatre with a projector and screen that will be discreetly tucked into the ceiling when not in use. That's been a bit of an obsession. 

I'm having some fun decorating the boys room and trying to figure out a future bathroom renovation project though I'm perfectly happy to not have any renos on the go just at the moment. The kitchen reno was far more involved than we ever imagined it and we've promised ourselves that no matter how dated it becomes in 30 years we will never do that again. 

I'm hopefully back to work in January after taking a Canadian style mat leave from running my design business. Time to hire a nanny again and renew my business license. Austen is in his second year of preschool and as soon as Caelen hits 18 months he can go there too. It will be pretty neat to send them off to Summer camp day programs together. Caelen is a little more attached to me than Austen was at this age so he might not love this plan as much as I do. 

Joel's work has been exciting of late. This week he's just flying back from Switzerland and Germany where he's been in meetings and taking in a few sights along the way. He's still really enjoying being on the software side of the entertainment industry and not missing the craziness of working on feature films. I also prefer this life to the one we spent in hotels and temporary digs. Fewer celebrities but a much more stable life for our family. 

We wish all of our family and friends and blog followers a very happy everything you celebrate at this time of year and all the best for the new year. 

November 8

November 8th we put the kids to bed and sat down to watch the election coverage. Expecting a sweep of blue -- like the last Canadian election -- we instead saw red. We switched from CNN to PBS -- the public broadcasting station -- to search for a more intellectual opinion and watched as seasoned political analysts stumbled over their words. Unable to mask their own shock (and horror). Our newly minted confidence in a more progressive America shattered. We held hands and I cried.

I woke on November 9th furious and scared. I knew every visible minority would be at risk of being roughed up by emboldened bigots on this day and the weeks to come. We spoke to friends, checked in with neighbours. We donated to the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood. Our friends asked us, "will you go back to Canada now?" And we said, "No, we stay, we fight. This is our home too."

The anti-Trump sentiment in the San Francisco Bay and Los Angeles areas is loud and proud. People are organizing, donating, debating every aspect of the incoming regime. I feel like people are remembering the political activism of California in the 60s and 70s and drawing not only from the baby boomers years of experience but the ideas of the tech-savvy millennials. I feel hopeful and at least safe and supported here right now.