Wine Touring in Spain: Get to Know Rueda

In May I went on a press trip to Spain hosted by D.O. Rueda (Denomination of Origin Rueda) wine region and Glo Communications. We drank heaps of wine, explored Spanish cuisine, ate lots of tapas, met great people and explored a few historic sites. It was my first time visiting Spain and I was lucky to travel with a great group including Jen Kirsch, Jess Glover, wine expert Konrad Ejbich, and wine podcaster Matthew Cauz. I loved learning more about wine, touring vineyards, meeting winemakers, and learning how their wines are made. I’m not a wine expert but I definitely know more than when I left and sampled my fair share along the way! We went to 13 wineries and countless restaurants over the course of the week and I’m sure I’ll be sharing stories about the trip for a lifetime. In this post, you’ll find some of my favorite moments including beautiful wineries and unforgettable experiences. On the first night, we met for a great dinner at Lobo 8 in Madrid and tasted wines from the D.O. Rueda that paired with our meal. We stayed at Hotel Ibis Styles, a cute boutique hotel in the heart of Madrid that…

View Post

Podcast: Altavie + The Business of Cannabis

I was recently on a panel at House of VR hosted by AltaVie, a recreational cannabis brand by MedReleaf. It was broadcast live on The 4:19, a daily show by Jay Rosenthal & The Business of Cannabis. We had a great chat about how we use cannabis in our lives and how is changing the world and becoming accessible to those who need it, for example, from somewhere like this shop weed online. That was not all though. Cannabis is being transformed into other forms like oils which can be used for people with health problems and not to smoke, you can visit Yours Nutrition to get your hands on some CBD oil. I actually know quite a few people who use cannabis for both medicinal and recreational purposes so I was fascinated by this opportunity to explore cannabis in more detail. For example, a friend of mine has recently started to use the purple space cookies strain to manage her stress levels. I will definitely be telling her to check out this talk. Scroll down to listen and watch a few snippets on video. Listen to ‘Cannabis Everyday on the 4:19 The panel starts around the 3-minute mark and…

View Post

Sassoon Toronto Celebrates 50 Years in Yorkville

Last week Sassoon celebrated its 50th year in Toronto. Imagine how much the city has changed in that time!? Yorkville transformed from a small eclectic bohemian village to a leading luxury destination. In celebration of Sassoon Toronto, I had a chat with Ian Wookey, son of Richard Wookey, the developer behind Yorkville who was friends with Vidal Sassoon and ultimately brought his salon to our city.  An Interview w/ Sassoon Toronto’s Ian Wookey Richard Wookey is known as the grandfather of Yorkville and in the 1950’s bought a lot of property in the area. Hazelton Lanes wasn’t always the luxurious residences you see today, those buildings were rooming houses for hippies and motorcycle gangs, surrounded by coffee houses playing live music with the likes of Joni Mitchell. Ian Wookey tol me there were eclectic fashion shops, strip clubs, and paraphernalia stores.  His father spent a lot of time in London, UK in the 60’s Beatles era where he met Vidal Sassoon. They partied together, took summer trips to the Mediterranean, and Wookey mentioned he was doing a big development in Toronto. This was around the same time Vidal Sassoon gave Mia Farrow the iconic pixie haircut. (Not far from mine today!) Wookey said ‘I can build you…

View Post

Be happy where you are, this is once where you wanted to be.

I was sitting here feeling a bit of Monday blerghs and then I looked at my computer and around me and said: “WTF, stop it!”. Actually out loud to myself. I’m working from home and I’m drinking a coffee I made downstairs with the patio door open and my plants are in the sun while I look at my little space and suddenly think I will eventually need a sliding door repair for my patio as the latch is becoming stuck more often than not, but that’s a different days job. I spent most of yesterday updating my speaker’s agency profile information sitting in my room watching Netflix. THIS IS ONCE WHAT I DREAMED OF. Ok, it’s not all roses and rainbows but I wanted to be here. I worked hard for this. I put in hours and days and years of work to get here and I have nothing to be so damn salty about. Sometimes all you need to do is remind yourself this is right where you wanted to be and fully be IN that moment.The sun is out and I am feeling good. It’s easy to get down or distracted and feel like your neverending list…

View Post