"Guess what?!"
My sister had never called me with such enthusiasm before. Something was on the verge....
"WE have been invited by my good friend Bianka to attend an amazing pool party at some rich guy's mansion in Toronto!! Tickets are $500 a piece, but we're getting in for free! And not only that, but we're gonna be in the VIP section the whole time. AND.....get this...the one and only, DJ Steve Aoki is playing at the party! Apparently they paid him something like $80,000 to perform for the afternoon. Can you believe this?? Isn't this insane? BUT WAIT......there's more....it gets better...."
It couldn't get better, I thought to myself. A Toronto mansion?! A VIP pool party? Steve Aoki?? There's NO WAY this party could get ANY better.
But my sister continued...
"After the pool party...........are you ready..........we're going to another Toronto mansion.........just wait.......where we're going to see a private performance by.........you'll die.............THE TRAGICALLY HIP!!"
And just like that folks, it got better.
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Living in the small-ish town of Barrie, Ontario, Canada, you become sort of accustomed to a different life. The pace is slower, you're surrounded by farms, and going grocery shopping in your pj's is not out of the ordinary. Now, having said that, I spent many years growing up in and around Toronto. So I have yet to "conform" to Barrie's way of life....and I probably never will. So I guess I'm somewhere in between. A city girl at heart living a quiet family life in the suburbs.
But as I've said before, the call to party lives strong in this one. I guess I'm always looking for a place to happen. And an opportunity like this, could never be passed up.
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"Which house is it??" said Bianka calmly while applying her third coat of perfect pale glossy lipstick in the passenger side rear-view mirror.
"It's coming up" replied the cab driver unenthusiastically.
And then we heard it. The deafening base that could only be DJ Aoki.
The streets were flooded with the luxury of million dollar homes and hundred-thousand dollar cars.
We pulled up in front of the most beautiful home I've ever seen in my life.
We..... had arrived :)
Mike, the party planner, an extravagant gay man with crazy round glasses and a tight white tank top and tight striped shorts jumped down the long driveway towards the cab when he saw us.
"You're here!" he shrieked as he hugged each of us.
"Come! Follow me!" he grabbed Bianka's hand and skipped away.
My sister looked back at me with the most excited expression ever. She grabbed my hand and ran after Bianka.
This was just nuts.
Mike whisked us threw the crowd, past the bouncers, the security and the guest list and led us to a private section snuggled in between the pool, the cabana and the bar. Within minutes, we were drinking Grey Goose and dancing on the pristine white patio furniture. This was a far cry from your typical cottage party in Bobcaygeon.
A girl approached me immediately and exclaimed "I just LOVE your top! Is that where you're from?" pointing at the words Los Angeles at the bottom of my flowy shirt.
"No! I'm from Barrie!" I laughed.
As soon as she left, my sister pinched my arm.
"Stop saying you're from Barrie!" she whispered, "You're from TORONTO!"
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I laughed it off, but as everything does...it made me stop and think.
Did it really matter where I lived? Would people look at me differently knowing that I lived in a small town with my 2 little girls? Were we that jaded? Or, if I was truly a "Toronto girl" at heart, then blending in at this fabulous party would be a breeze, right? I wasn't quite sure.
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I stopped to scan the party. Girls in bikinis were dancing everywhere. DJ Aoki had started throwing people into the pool from his spinning deck, and spraying them with Dom Perignon. House music was blaring so loud that we could barely hear our personal waiter who was asking if we needed more drinks. I looked at our table which was filled to the brim with the finest champagnes, liquors and caviar.
"We're good. Thanks!" I laughed.
It was one of the hottest days of the summer. The temperature was hot, the party was hot, and we were hot! We danced til we could dance no more. We drank til we could drink no more.
"Ladies! Isn't this just incredible?" Mike yelled while fixing his hair in his iPhone.
"Mike. This is insane!" I replied shaking my head and sitting down to catch my breath.
"It's not over darling. This is just the beginning. You're not in Kansas anymore!"
He was right. I wasn't. I was in a magical world of Oz that was so opposite from my simple kind of life. And it was just beyond.
"Ladies, grab your ruby slippers! We're headed to the next party!"
I didn't have any ruby slippers, but I did have the next best thing.
I squeezed my face next to Mike's and applied my ruby red lipstick in the reflection of his phone.
"You're fabulous darling!" he squealed.
Maybe I wasn't a Toronto girl anymore......but I still knew how to have fun. I grabbed my purse, my 2 girls, and skipped down the yellow brick road to our next destination.
Fully, completely.
....to be continued.......
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