I was born to immigrant parents, mom is Portuguese and dad is Greek. When I was a year old we moved to Greece for almost 5 years and came to Canada in 1986. I was a total fresh-off-the-boat-moustache-sporting-non-English-speaking little loud mouth. We moved around a little, Greece to Toronto, Ontario where we lived for a year. Then my dad had an opportunity in BC and so we packed up the New Yorker and a Budget trailer and off we went down the trans-Canada highway! It took us about a week but we finally made it to Vancouver, BC! We moved into the basement suite of our family friends house and mom & dad opened their first restaurant together.
Fast forward to later years. After high school I tried college for a year, thought I was going to go to law school and save the world. Working at the Surrey Courthouse during this time cured me of that! I could not and would not spend my life like that. So now what? Well becoming a make up artist seemed like the obvious choice. Don’t even ask how I came to that. I think it just looked easy and I like make-up so why not? I had no idea that I was going to love it or be good at it….turns out I did and I was! So I spent some time working in film working up my credits and pre-requisites for the film union application. After over 2 years of gruelling film work while simultaneously running my parents restaurant I just didn’t see myself doing this long term.
We lived in Vancouver for 2 years and my parents could afford an home of our own…… and so just before grade 4 we moved to Surrey where I lived most of my life. There are some really great things, tragic things, inspiring things, funny things that I can fill in here but I figure this may give me good material later if I have writers block.
I did not want to go back to college so I thought I will go to hair school! It will get me a 9-5 job probably at Great Snips or Tragic Cuts and figure out my life from there. Turns out I was pretty good at that too! So instead I got hired at a high end salon which will remain nameless as my time there was not the most pleasant. At first it was awesome and I was fortunate to receive a lot of encouragement and advanced training. It made me realized what the hair world was about. After 2 very tough years it was time for another adventure. I left and went to Portugal for a month with my family and came back to work at Michaud’s Salon and Wellness Center.
I had 8 great years there. In the first year I met my husband (no he was not a client! I met him the proper way….at a bar….thru a friend), and also started working for Redken 5th Avenue as an educator. My Michaud’s years were pretty fun. I got to go on some great work trips, took some amazing education, mentored young stylists, developed their make up department and much much more. It was crazy, hectic and loads of fun!
In 2007 my love Andy Morgan and I got hitched. The last 6 years have been a whirlwind. A year after we got married we were in debt, and things were not going to get better. Then my new hubby got an opportunity to work in the North Alberta Oil Sands and it was a huge hooooray! Let’s do this for a year, pay off our debt and move on! Sooooooo that was like 5 years ago and he’s now completing his last and final year up there. I cannot even imagine what life will be like having him home but I know it is time and I am soooooo ready! It has been a real struggle for us to be apart and in this time we have dealt with family members getting seriously sick, our own infertility issues, me changing jobs, our house flooding and a little dog who misses her daddy.
Where am I today? Loving and living my life grateful for my blessings. I have become self employed, and have learned so much about myself I did not know. My husband and I chose to put our fertility treatments on hold for now. The last couple of years have had their fair share of ups & downs. I am learning about what I want out of my future for myself, my marriage, family etc.…. I am waiting on baited breath for my husband to come home to me. I am excited for him to come home to our little house in Langley and do the most boring and mundane things people take for granted day to day.
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