I may have fixed my own problem. Other mac users take note. I could get the game to launch from an alternate account on my same computer (i created a second account on my mac / opened the EA app from that account/ logged into my EA account there and tested the game and it worked.
I was preparing to uninstall the game and i took my saves, downloads and mods folders on to the desktop and then i tried to start the game again and it worked. I remember this happening before. it has something to do with the launcher and the sims 3 store which is buggy on the mac version. now i'm reinstalling all my items.