Things I Miss About Toronto

A few weeks ago, I did a post about 10 Things I Miss About London. Tj is gearing up for a work trip and he will be stopping in Toronto for his friend's wedding (so jealous I can't go too!). We were talking about some of the things we miss about living in Toronto, so that's how today's post came about. 

Tj moved to Toronto about two years before I did. When I first moved there I kind of hated it lol. I just never imagined myself living in Toronto. I was working as a flight attendant and finding it stressful being on call and waiting for the phone call (sometimes at 3am) to get to the airport in the next two hours. Tj was working full-time and doing his CMA so that was keeping him pretty busy when I was in town. It wasn't ideal. It took me a lot longer to fall in love with Toronto compared to London, but when it came time to leave Toronto I was really sad! I'm not sure where we will end up after Australia, but Toronto definitely has a lot of potential, especially because we already have friends and family there. 

Here are some of the things I miss about Toronto:

Our apartment

This was the first place I lived that wasn't my mom's house and I loved it. It was an open concept one bedroom apartment in a building right downtown. We had a gym and access to the rooftop bbq with a great view of the city. We had 2 (!) closets and a storage unit and if we lived there now it would feel so huge! The doorman was great and would sign for all my packages and I'd trade him fresh bread for fresh veggies from his garden.

Baking class

I did baking classes every Saturday with one of my girlfriends. It was probably my favourite thing I did living in Toronto and one of the reasons I started loving the city so much. It was such a fun time to catch up with my girlfriend who is usually really busy. I love baking and learning new tricks even though sometimes I sucked. But the baking disasters were fun too! LOL. And the best part was all the treats after class. I'd usually let Tj take some to his work on Monday or freeze some and take them back to Ottawa.

Toronto is so close to Ottawa!

We used to go back to Ottawa about once a month or so for whatever reason. It was great. We even brought Jack the dog to Toronto a few times. London wasn't so far but now in Australia we are about as far away as we can get from Ottawa and it sucks always missing everything. Sure, we got sick of that drive after doing it a million times. But then we got into audiobooks and it wasn't so bad.

Book signings

There were always lots of book signings! I got to meet two of my favourite authors - Sarah Dessen and Harlan Coben. I also saw Ken Follett and Kathy Reichs and others. My girlfriend came with me one time and we lined up so early we had front row seats LOL. Book dorks! I loved going to events like that.

National Geographic Live

These were speaker sessions by National Geographic photographers. They would talk about their photos and their experiences and adventures. I learned a lot about conservation and found them so interesting. Even Tj enjoyed it. Once I went to one I was hooked, and the next year my dad got me tickets to all the events that season! Now I follow all the photographers on Instragram and I feel like we are friends.

Walking everywhere

We lived downtown and I walked to work every day. I walked to the mall or to get groceries. I had a pink polkadot grocery cart that I refused to use but then after I got used to it I refused to do groceries without it. We lived near some great markets and had everything we needed nearby. But being able to walk to work was such a great lifestyle and I really miss it.

Getting lots of visitors

I love visitors! Toronto was great because we'd always have people staying with us. Luckily we had a big couch (we brought it to Melbourne so come on friends and family!)

Honourable mentions:

The Food - Until we lived in Melbourne I thought Toronto had the best food in the world. Now I guess it's second best.

Sports - The city gets really into their sports and it brings a lot of energy to the city. Even if I'm a Sens fan, it's still fun to be in Toronto when their teams are doing well.

Friends - We both made some really great friends in Toronto and I miss them lots!

One thing I noticed while writing this post is that in a lot of my old pics I am completely bundled up! I definitely DO NOT miss the freezing cold weather! I am super wimpy now.

Now I have to make a list of things I want Tj to bring me back from Canada, starting with ketchup chips! haha

Have a great day :)