Back in November my ex and I put everything we owned into storage, drove across the USA in our Honda Civic from Toronto, Canada to Los Angeles, California with only 2 suitcases, my sewing machine + supplies, our laptop and our kitty. It was hard to decide what HAD to come with us, since our car is pretty small. After a bit of bickering over what comes and what stays, we were off on our 5 day adventure.
Somewhere in Arizona on the 5 day drive to LA.
Our route from Toronto to Los Angeles.
We moved into a (way too small) studio apartment in Marina Del Rey. Our bedroom, kitchen and living room are all in the same room. I've never lived in an apartment this small, but the 5min walk to the Pacific Ocean is totally worth it. :)
Sunset over the Washington Pier in Marina Del Rey, CA.
My sewing/craft area took a huge hit on size and is located either on the side table next to the sofa, in about 4 different Rubbermaid bins, partially on the floor, or on the kitchen bar. (I'm not going to take a pic of it because it's sooo embarassing, lol.) A lot of our Canadian friends who are living here and work in the animation industry also live in our apartment complex, so it's nice having a bunch of friends close by. (A lot of Canadians head south to work on big caliber projects because this level of work is not always available back home.)
Animation wrapped up on G-FORCE last week, and the movie hits theatres on July 24th. I can't believe how fast 5 months have flown by! The schedule has been pretty intense with 6 day weeks and 10-12 hr days since January. We haven't bought groceries in months because we're never home to eat anything. Our Sundays ended up being chore day. We'd do the laundry, I'd sew more deer, go for a walk along the beach, try to get some sleep. It was hard only having 1 day off a week, but it's been SO much fun being a part of this production and bringing animated guinea pigs to life. I've made a lot of wonderful friends (who helped make these long hours fun and worthwhile!), learned more animation techniques, but mostly I feel so thankful to have been a part of this movie.
A co-worker and I tin foiled our Animation Lead's desk during the last week of work. :D We tried to cover everything we could using 6 rolls of tin foil.
I got my (unofficial) team shirt and mug the other day. The design was drawn by our Animation Director. Usually when people hear about the upcoming movie G-Force, they assume we're talking about the anime tv show G-Force: Battle of the Planets from the late 70's. So as an inside joke the G-Force characters from our movie are dressed up like the anime G-Force characters. :)
Although I'm happy that the long hours are over and I finally get to sleep and have some time off, I'm also a bit sad that this project is over. But on the positive side, it means I can take the summer off to focus on my plush toys, which I'm really excited about! I have a bunch of new projects, new ideas and new products to launch, so I can't wait to get back into things again! However, my plans will have to wait a bit because I am currently back in Toronto visiting family & friends. :)
The CN Tower viewed from Wellington West & Blue Jays Way.
