Moving In: The McMillian Family

James McMillian is a more recent transplant to New Eden, unlike most of the residents of the neighborhood, he didn't move here from Eden. He's originally from Apple Valley. He became acquainted with the area when his brother began dating (and later married) an Eden native, Suzanna Carr. Employed in the architecture and construction field, James was naturally interested in the move to New Eden and the building and city planning process. After exchanging a few e-mails with Robin Young about the types of building materials being used and what grade of asphalt was being used on the streets, he was offered a job by the neighborhood to access the construction work that had been done so far and oversee any future projects.

Taking his job seriously and wanting to make sure his choices were what the sims of New Eden wanted, James set to networking immediately after moving to New Eden. When their time came in the rotation for the first few sim days, every household knew to expect a phone call survey from James about what they liked about New Eden so far and about what improvements they would like to see made. As you would expect, some sims were more eager to share their opinions than others.

James' efforts towards networking weren't only for professional reasons, but also for personal reasons. As a newcomer to New Eden and one of the only sims here who wasn't already familiar with the neighbors he was interested in becoming acquainted, making new friends, and as a single sim, he was also keeping an eye out for a potential date. Unfortunately many of the sims he met were already married . . .

 Or married and pregnant . . . 

Or had no interest in construction (any woman who wants to be with James has to accept that construction isn't just his career, it's one of his passions)

But sometimes someone who seems to take interest in his building surveys on the phone . . .

turns out to be rather obnoxious in person.

James doesn't mind that true love hasn't come to him as quickly and easily as it did with Bradford and Suzanna.  He's enjoying his life and work in New Eden.  Making friends with the neighbors, redesigning and remodeling his own bachelor pad and keeping busy with his work, redesigning the local art museum and boarding school for the junior and senior high school kids.

Moving In: The Havers-Rossi Family

 Alexis Havers was once a well known actress, appearing on not one, but two, international soap operas, Arrendale Heights and Pahala Shore.  Her career seemed to be going well until a widespread writers' strike put her out of work and practically put an end to international soaps as she knew them.

Part of the reason she decided to move to New Eden was as a last ditch effort to jump start her career and to keep her name and face in the public eye.  She had hoped that living near her agent, Winston Crabtree, would help her with that goal.  Winston had been honest with her before she had decided to make the move and told her up front that her chances of finding the kind of international work she was used to was slim to none and that she should probably focus more on smaller, local projects if she wanted to continue in the business. 

These days, according to Winston, the real fame and money to be made was in music, as evidenced by the widespread popularity of the band Aerial Bionic.  Even though she refuses to give up on her own stardom, totally, Alexis has decided to turn her attention to the career of her teenage daughter, Geneva, a member of the girl group, Glitter.

Alexis also decided to make the move to New Eden to have a fresh start.  When her relationship with her long time boyfriend had ended, the tabloids had a hay day with the story, so she decided to move with their two children, twins Geneva and Owen, to New Eden to start afresh and hopefully find better opportunities for them all.

When it came to opportunities for improving her love life, New Eden did not seem to be the place to be for Alexis.  There weren't many single men here, period, let alone many to her liking.  And the feeling was mutual.  Most of the sims Alexis met were immediately put off by her often blunt and snobbish personality and it was difficult for her to even make friends.  Lack of a decent social life made her wonder if New Eden was the right place for her, but she had no doubt her kids would have more opportunities and a better time fitting in here and that was enough to make her want to give New Eden another chance.

The one exception to her floundering social life was a former co-star of hers, Neil Hayes, who she was more than pleased to pursue a flirtation with and luckily for her, the feeling was mutual.

Alexis may not have been known as the most devoted mom.  It's no secret that motherhood came as a surprise to her.  It certainly wasn't something she'd planned on when she discovered she was pregnant, with twins no less.  Even though her career kept her traveling away from home when her kids were small, she did have a good relationship with both her daughter and son.

She was the kind of mom that wanted to be one of her kids' best friends.  It meant that they were close and had fun together, but it also meant that she didn't mind letting her kids do as they pleased most of the time.  Her career in local theater had her working mostly evenings and nights, which meant the kids were often home alone after school and have no qualms about taking full advantage of their freedom and it doesn't take long for the Havers-Rossi household to get a reputation for being a little unruly.