The BUCKET

10 09 2010

Going through all of the photos we’ve taken in the last month I’m beginning to realize that we do a lot of stuff.  I guess it’s all in your mind set, taking things in stride with a certain perspective that sees opportunity and adventure instead of obstacles and aggravations.

Like you could say,

“Argh, we have access to all of this fresh seafood at Granville Island but our condo sucks and we don’t have the right cooking utensils to make anything!”

Or…you could look at all of the fresh seafood and say,

“Who needs to cook the seafood?  Instead of paying $2.50 an oyster, let’s buy a dozen oysters and a shucker from The Lobster Man and make our OWN oysters on the half shell”.

By the way, with a little tutorial from our server, we are now Professional Oyster Shuckers.

Then there’s the fact that I can’t swim and motion/sea sickness is not out of the realm of possibility.  Do we look at the 3 foot swells and our little Zodiac boat and say,

“It’s a little rough out there in the Pacific.  I don’t want to get sick all over the boat.  Bleh.  I’m starting to feel sick already.  We can always go whale watching next time.”

Or do you say,

“If I’m going to go whale watching, the closer to the water the better!  Schedule the whales – I want to see a show!  But, just to make sure, I better take some gravel pills.”

It was definitely worth the trip.  And it’s a good thing that I did take some medicine because I can happily say that I didn’t get seasick, although I can’t say the same for others on our boat….or deny the fact that we had to go in early because they got sick on the boat. Bleh.

And there are all sorts of things to complain about when you’re coming off of a 2 week vacation high and you have to go back to work,

“We are in the middle of nowhere for this stupid tour.  This is a waste of our time, there’s not even any cell reception.  Let’s just get this over with and get out of here!”

But when you take a break and look around,

“What’s that across from us? Oh my gosh!!  There’s a baby lion cub named King!  And you can get your photo taken with him.  Before I leave this place, I MUST hold a baby lion cub.”

And with the soundtrack of the Lion King in my head, I got my photo taken with King.  It was pretty cute, he kept putting his paws in my hair.  And, for the first time (and maybe the only time) in my life, later on that day I looked down and said, “I have lion cub fur on my shirt“.  It was pretty exciting.

Then there’s always the time when you rely on others to do a task that you KNOW you can do better and they SCREW IT UP!  Like being promised that you have a spot to park your exhibit for the biggest concert of the year: Jay Z & Eminem and finding out the day before that ‘they decided to go in a different direction’.

“I’m about to throw the world’s biggest hissy fit!  Why the hell did they even tell us they had a spot, we could have been working on this for weeks now.  Well, we might as well call up our client now and let them know we don’t have a spot because everything has to be blocked off and taken now.  And we don’t have time to get permits…”

Or just suck it up and get the work done,

“Better start making some calls – (Jay’s manager, Live Nation, Comerica Park, and the City of Detroit).  Let’s just push until we can’t push anymore. We have 12 hours to get something together.”

And wouldn’t you know that 12 hours was just enough time to get a PERFECT spot to park right in front of Comerica Park WITH all of our proper permits.  It may have been my proudest moment.

So, with my rose-coloured glasses on, and a world perspective that seeks out opportunities, adventures and all around cool experiences, I don’t think that I have a ‘BUCKET LIST’ (things to do in your life before you ‘kick the bucket’) but I do have a BUCKET and I’m just going to keep on filling it.



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Categories : Detroit, Vancouver

There’s No Place Like Home

29 08 2010

It’s always fun to take a look around your hometown and discover it in a whole new light.  I think that everyone can relate to the feeling that at one point in time they have taken their hometown, and all of its wonders, for granted.  And I think everyone can also agree that it takes actually leaving your home to realize what a great place you have.

It’s been 3 1/2 years since I moved away from Vancouver (9 years since Vancouver Island) and I have heard 4 different responses when I tell people where I’m from:

1.  “What?  You left Vancouver to come here?  Why?  Usually it’s the other way around.” – Toronto

2.  “Vancouver?  Oh I love Vancouver.  It’s so beautiful, I can’t wait to go back.” – A little bit of everywhere

3.  “One day I want to go to Vancouver.  It’s definitely on my ‘Bucket List’.” – Detroit

4.  “Vancouver, Canada?  Where is that?  Did you like it in Canada?  Isn’t it really cold?” – Small town America

So, needless to say, that while everyone was questioning why I left (with the exception of those who I couldn’t take seriously), I’ve started to question why I left as well.  Sometimes I say, “Oh Vancouver”, with a long drawn out sigh.  All those people who have since moved away from Vancouver or those Vancouverites in the middle of summer patio weather, know exactly how I feel, and have probably made that same longing sigh.

Parksville Community Beach

Sproat Lake

Third Beach – Stanley Park

False Creek Marina – Yaletown

Now that you’ve seen the photos I just know that you’re making that same longing sigh…

During our two week trip to Vancouver, with 3 days on Vancouver Island, I reintroduced myself to my city.  It’s almost like meeting up with a friend that you haven’t seen in a while – you have a history together, but there are all of the little day to day details that you haven’t kept up with.  And then there are all of the new discoveries – when your good old childhood friend shares new stories, life philosophies and wisdom, which makes you think, ‘man, we should get together more often.”

This is the experience that I had.  A place so familiar and comforting; it was on its best behaviour and showed off its beauty, its energy, (its good weather), and it shared some old memories with me and gave me a lot of new ones.

Old Memories:

Goats on a roof, Mountainviews & Sand Castles

New Memories:

Wild bear sightings & boogie boarding in the Pacific Ocean.  Pretty much everything about Tofino, BC was a new discovery.


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Categories : Vancouver

Westcoast Flavours

27 08 2010

If you’ve been to the Westcoast you know that it has a certain flavour.  Not only do the people have a laidback attitude and a sense of joie de vivre, but the food has a certain flair to it.  In a place where sushi restaurants are as common as coffee shops, wild salmon is the norm, and dim sum is one of the most popular Sunday family events, we definitely tried out a variety of culinary delights in Vancouver.

Steamed Mussels in Thai Curry Sauce

Fresh College Bay Oysters with lemon, fresh horseradish, and cocktail sauce

Har Gow (Shrimp Dumplings)

Local cheese and homemade fruit jams

Takoyaki with Bonito Flakes (deep fried octopus ball with dried fish flakes…I swear it was delicious)

Renkon Chips (some would say they’re better than potato chips!)

Assorted Sushi (note the deep red of the wild salmon sashimi – that’s what Salmon’s supposed to look like)

Terimayo Japadogs!!! (A Vancouver phenomenon – japanese style hot dogs complete with japanese mayo and seaweed flakes)


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Vacation Withdrawal

23 08 2010

Vacations are interesting things.   Sometimes one of the most exciting parts of them is the build up, that anticipation that you feel during those first few hours.   You’re officially on vacation and off of work, but you haven’t reached your vacation destination yet.  Those moments, when you feel all of that potential, have such a revitalizing effect.

I read in a magazine once that taking several long weekend holidays were more beneficial than taking a two week holiday because the anticipation of a holiday is just as important as the actual holiday.  I can believe that.

When you’re away for two weeks, it’s just enough time to adjust to a different way of life, before you realize that you have to go back to work again.  And then, those last few days go by achingly fast and you almost feel desperate to hold onto your vacation.  As you drive down the same roads that you did at the beginning of your trip you remember all of the excitement and adrenaline you felt that first time down the road when your vacation was nothing but a ‘To Do’ list, and you realize that the clock has kept ticking and your time is almost up.

You can probably guess that I’m feeling a bit of vacation withdrawal.  It’s hard to leave the Westcoast in general, but after a couple of weeks in Vancouver and Vancouver Island, I admit that it was a little emotional having to cross over the border, leaving Canada and returning to the US.  And even though it’s only been a week, the vacation is becoming a distant memory.  But as I flip through the photos and look at everything we ‘checked off our list’, I get those warm fuzzy feelings that you can only get from a fantastic vacation.


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Categories : Vancouver

Seattle Wildlife

4 08 2010

Just a random day on the Westcoast (some may say the BestCoast)


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48 Hours with the Seattlites

1 08 2010

It’s great to be back in the Pacific Northwest, and I can’t help but keep thinking that I’m in Vancouver, and Canada in general because I associate the mild weather, ferry rides, salty sea air and abundance of seafood with Vancouver.

But, Seattle’s looking pretty good to me.  Ferry rides, Pike’s Public Market, Mt. Rainier, and seafood.  I think we’ve made a pretty good stab at seeing some of the Seattle highlights in our 48 hours.  I even had my own Grey’s Anatomy (Seattle Grace experience).

We haven’t stopped eating since we got here, and I’m starting to realize that the Westcoast is a photographer’s “happy place”.

Are you hungry yet?


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Zero Sleeps to Disney

27 07 2010

It seems crazy to think that it’s been twenty years since I went to Disneyland.  How am I that old?

Regardless of how old I am the magic of Disneyland is still alive and well.  Staying at the Hilton that overlooks the park, seeing everyone come back with their mickey ears and stuffed animals, and watching the fireworks every night at 9:30pm sharp, would get anyone in the Disney mood.  So, when the day finally came, when we walked through that park entryway and the path opened up into the perfectly manicured Main Street, needless to say it all came flooding back.  As soon as we walked into the park I saw Goofy. Oh my gosh – now I remember.  I need to get an autograph – I need to chase all of the characters and get a photo taken with them after they sign my autograph book.

Whoa, slow down there.  We’re not 6 anymore.  I will admit that I was tempted when I saw Winnie the Pooh, and I actually went over to get a photo with Eeyore (but he had to get ready for the parade…)

The excitement of everything lasted until the reality of the “Disney line ups” sank in.  We’d been in the park for an hour and a half and succeeded in picking up a fastpass for Space Mountain, watching the Captain EO 3D show and standing in line for the park train ride.  We haven’t done anything!

After a 90 minute wait for the Indiana Jones Ride (which hadn’t been there when I was little) things picked up and we knocked off the Winnie the Pooh Ride, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, and Pinnochio’s Daring Ride.  Okay, so they’re not exactly the hot ticket rides, but they were still fun.  I got to show off my crazy driving skills off in Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.   We did take on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which was my favourite then and it may be my favourite now.   And now let’s talk about the Matterhorn.  I may have blocked out that childhood memory entirely but now that I’m grown I think I may be a little too big for the ride.  It was a struggle to keep from knocking my knees into the seat in front of me and whipping my head back to hit Nathan in the face and this ride was fast.

I was sad to hear that there was no longer a light parade, but they do have a light show and of course, the nightly fireworks.  We took advantage of everyone’s distraction by running through the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and Space Mountain.

And with a final look at the Magic Kingdom we started the trek out of the park.

But, wait a minute.  What’s a trip to Disneyland if you don’t get lost.  Dodging through the crowds of tired families and strollers, I managed to dodge so well I got myself lost.  All of my childhood “what to do if you get lost” skills came back.  Stop. Move to the Side.  Scan the Crowd.  Stand in the highest elevation with the most light.  That didn’t work though, so as I let the crowd move me toward the final gates, I peered through the fence, hesitant to leave the park area, until I heard my name.  I’m Found!


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Categories : California

California’s Bread Basket

24 07 2010

Driving through all of the windy roads (away from the coast) in California really opened my eyes up to the different terrain in sunny California.  Here I thought it was all palm trees, sandy beaches and celebrity sightings.   Turns out there’s not much of anything shiny and sparkly away from the water.

But, I do have to admit, I spent a good amount of time with my nose pressed up to the window looking at the scenery.  I’m thinking back to one particular time when a truck with 2 trailers of lemons passed by.  Only in California.  That was the first of many trucks full of lemons, garlic, and onions.  And then there were the trucks full of some sort of red produce.  We watched as truck after truck passed by us.  First we thought cherries. Then strawberries.  Then red onion.  We finally decided that they were ‘not yet ripe tomatoes’.  That’s our final answer.

Then there was the time I was looking at the farm animals:  bulls, cows, horses, mini horses…or baby horses….or ponies, and then all of a sudden, GOOOOOAAAAAATTTTT.  Don’t ask me why I was so excited.  I don’t even think I was, it just came out in this mournful, longing tone.

I was pretty impressed with the variety of scenery.  We saw the infamous California Sand Dunes – it was a quick stop though since it was 112 degrees outside.

And then on our drive through the California breadbasket we saw all of the crops, fruit trees, grape vines, etc.  And all of a sudden it started smelling very savoury, like it was dinner time.  I opened the window and the smell of garlic hit me in the face.  We were in the midst of the garlic fields and the home of Gilroy Garlic.

And where there are fruit trees there are fruit stands.  We just so happened to stop at the most elaborate one there – Casa de Fruta it’s seriously a little village now:  complete with restaurant, winery and deli, fresh fruit, dried fruit, nut and chocolate stand.

Yes.  Those are chocolates that look like martini green olives.

And…..there was an area to pan for gold!  Did I mention I used to have a rock collection?  Let’s just say I could have stayed there for a lot longer if someone hadn’t pulled me away.  I did find a little crystal point and what I swear is a gold flake.

So although there were no celebrity sightings, it was still a pretty sight to see.


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Bed & BREAKFAST

23 07 2010

We had the REAL B&B experience while we visited Hudson, NY last week.

The Croff House: a cute historical house with 5 suites, we stayed for 2 nights and most importantly, 2 breakfasts.  Mmmmm.

The first morning:  blueberry corn muffins, vanilla yogurt with fresh melon and candied ginger, the smoothest, fluffiest herb scrambled eggs, cajun home fries and bacon.

The second morning:  cheese popovers (my very first), vanilla yogurt with fresh plums and peaches, almond buttermilk pancakes with homemade fruit compote syrup and vanilla whipped cream.

Can you say delicious?  Who ever thought of a 3 course breakfast.  And I don’t even like scrambled eggs or pancakes, but this was fantastic!

We had to leave the B&B for dinners, but that didn’t stop us from finding some tasty treats.  We experienced some authentic swedish cooking with local ingredients – swedish meatballs at Daba.  And we ate dinner at Ca’Mae at their outdoor garden patio:  Charbroiled Wild Boar and Homemade Shrimp Linguine.


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Categories : Upstate NY

Check Chicago off the List

17 07 2010

Have you ever seen someone get attacked by a bird….for no good reason?  Now, I’m not saying it happened to me, but who would have thought that the little black birds would divebomb someone and peck at their head.

Really, it didn’t happen to me, and I didn’t actually even see it (although I WISH that I had, because how ridiculous would that have looked).  But, it did happen to Nathan.  (Cue hysterical laughter).  Now picture it in your head, Nathan minding his own business, looking up at the ferris wheel at Navy Pier in Chicago, trying to take some cool early morning photos, and WHAM.  Pecked in the head.  (Cue more hysterical laughter).

At least he got some good photos.

We headed out to Chicago for a Tourist Weekend.  This was the first time that I had been in Chicago for pleasure, rather than business, and we definitely took advantage of our weekend there.  Up early, we were in the streets before 7am, which was the perfect time to take some photos of the city (without all of those pesky tourists).

My favourite – the infamous Bean.  It’s just so cool.  It seems like it’s made of one seamless piece of material.  And the reflections it gives off are amazing.

It was the last weekend of Taste of Chicago and we wanted to experience this big outdoor food fair.  I don’t know what we were expecting but it turned into a hot mess of battling crowds of hot, sticky people who were running from booth to booth trying to eat as much as they could.  Because you purchase your food with pre-paid tickets, it doesn’t really feel like you’re spending money.  We went around and tried the polish sausage, a slice of pizza, fire-grilled steak tacos, and mango rice pudding before we had had enough and decided to create our own ‘Taste of Chicago’.

After leaving the craziness of the festival crowds, our eating tour started at Flatwater, a cute little bistro on the river, where we had calamari and salads (mixed greens for Nathan, apple and jicama for me).  For dinner we stumbled upon a steak, seafood and pasta place called Phil Stefani’s 437 Rush. So good.  I’ve never had octopus outside of a sushi restaurant, but we ordered a grilled baby octopus appetizer, and it was so tender and delicious.  For entrees, gnocchi with scallops for me, and chilean seabass for Nathan.  On to dessert at The Melting Pot with ying and yang dark chocolate and white chocolate fondue. (you can find the restaurant info on www.eating4sport.wordpress.com)

Sunday morning we found ourselves eating at a little breakfast nook Vines, just down the street from the Garrett Popcorn Shop, which was filling the air with toffee and caramel popcorn scents.   We ended up wandering around the streets until we got to the John Hancock Building.  Instead of paying to go up to the observation deck, we ended up on the 96th floor, drinking bloody mary’s and looking at Chicago from a different angle.

We finished up our Tourist Weekend at Wrigley Field for a Cubs game.  It was a pretty cool experience – sold out game, kettle corn, stadium beer….unfortunately…the Cubs lost…..horribly.

After the game we headed back to Detroit with full bellies and the feeling that we had conquered another city and made the most out of our 48 hours in Chicago.


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