Posts Tagged ‘Toronto events’

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January 15th, 2011

Confessions of a Real Estate Junkie (and a giveaway for the National Home Show!)

When I was a kid, I can distinctly remember being in the car on a weekend afternoon, usually in the spring, and asking my parents “What are we doing — why are we driving around like this?”

And the response of “Oh, we’re just looking around at these neighbourhoods” never ceased to perplex me. I’d ask “Are we moving?” But, no, we weren’t moving, we were just looking.

Now, I am following in my parents mother’s (let’s face it, my father was just appeasing her addiction) footsteps and have clearly become a real estate junkie. I confess to:

  • looking at the MLS listing at least once a week (oh, and Grapevine too, of course!)
  • picking up all those free real estate magazines and looking through every page
  • watching “Love it or List it” and endless varieties of HGTV shows
  • buying home renovation, home building and other home-related magazines

But unlike others of my ilk, I have no interest in actually doing these home projects or updating the decor of my house (if I wish hard enough, someone will do it for me, right?). In fact, my husband and I could be classified as neglectful in this regard. (We still have the same couch we bought when we got married 14 years ago!) And yet, this insatiable interest of mine in housing lives on.

So I took an interest in the 2011 National Home Show coming up in February. It’s taking place in Toronto and in addition to the bazillion feasts of the eye, there are some particularly cool highlights such as:

A model home called “A Glass House” built by Concept PolygHome: 

  • This home is a “bioclimatic” home, which unfortunately the company doesn’t seem to define on its website but which I understand to mean the integration of home with the environment. The designs and concepts of PolygHome are, to be understated, awesome.
  • The structure of a PolygHome is made with wood beams that are manufactured from the recovery of engineered wood and are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The interior is created with aluminum, energy-efficient glass for the windows, a soya-based polyurethane foam for the insulation and an  insulated framework for the foundation with cement.
  • Visitors at the National Home Show can visit one of these homes, which has been kitted out with interior designs by Debbie Travis.

What’s your design dilemma?

  • Here, you can attend renovation workshops as well as get one-on-one consultations with interior designers!

HGTV celebs!

  • You can meet & greet with designer celebrities including Debbie Travis, HGTV’s Bryan Baeumler, decor expert Janette Ewen, HGTV’s Colin & Justin, CityTV’s garden specialist Frank Ferragine and Jim Caruk of BIY Workshops.

Family Day

  • On February 21st, children 17 & under are free, there is complimentary daycare, and you can enter to win a family vacation for four.

And much, much more … as you can only imagine. So, wanna go??

I’m going to give away a 4-pack of tickets to 4 lucky readers! All you need to do to enter is this:

  • Be sure you can attend: It’s in Toronto and runs from February 18-27th, 2011 (details on logistics can be found on the National Home Show website).
  • Leave a comment telling us what you love most about your home or what you want to change most about your home.

I will then:

  • Select 4 winners using an computerized randomizer on January 21st, 2011
  • Send each winner a 4-pack via regular post mail

Good luck! :)

Bloggy disclosure: I was given these tickets from Tina Holmes (twitter handle @HomeShowsTO) who is a home show marketer and producer. Of the 20 tickets I was provided, I will be keeping 4 for myself.  


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family
November 12th, 2009

Disney on Ice (4-pack ticket giveaway)

Do you have a daughter? Did you look into her face as a newborn babe and imagine all the things you would share together in the future … chick flicks, shopping, perhaps even doing each other’s hair?

A lot of my friends have daughters. I see their girls wearing pink, experimenting with makeup and nail polish, enjoying dress-up games and taking an interest in toys like dolls, ponies or classic Disney movies that involve a princess or four.

As these same friends and my regular readers know, my daughter never asks for a new dress. She asks for a new Pokemon or Bakugan.

I’m good with this. I do my best to never express any genderized judgements on her passions. To bite my tongue when she comes home with yet another trashed pair of jeans from climbing trees or digging tunnels with the neighbours. And I do my best to listen to her endless — endless! — chatter about Pokemon this and Pokemon that. Oh, she’s a character!

But sometimes, just sometimes, I get a little twang of … hmmm, I’m not sure what to call it?

Like when I see an absolutely adorable outfit in a store and think “awww, that would look so cute on Stella!” and know that to actually buy that outfit would be like tossing money out of a car window.

I loved dressing her up when she was younger! Loved it! So I guess it was more about me than her, really. And so too is it probably more about me that her that I feel a bit disappointed knowing that my daughter would have absolutely no interest in catching a Disney On Ice show with me. Especially one called “Princess Classics.”

However, if your daughter wore something even remotely sparkly for Halloween, then she would no doubt cherish memories from this upcoming Disney On Ice show in Toronto. Especially right before Christmas.

I’ve got a fantastic 4-pack of tickets for opening night, courtesy of a partnership with Mom Central Canada. It’s a great giveaway!

If you’d like a chance to win, please make sure that you are available and able to be in Toronto for Friday, December 18th for a show start at 7:00 pm.

To enter, simply drop me a note in my comments box. On Friday, November 20th, I will use a randomizer and draw a name from the comments at 12 noon. The winner will be able to pick up their tickets directly from the box office on show night.

Also, if you’d like to see this show, I have a special discount code that you can use. It allows you to buy 4 tickets for $44. If I’ve done the math correctly, that equals a savings of anywhere from $16 to $156 from the full- price ticket fees (first come, first serve on the different levels of seating).

The small print on this discount? It is not valid on Rinkside or VIP seating, and it is for Monday- Friday showings. (However, if you want to do a weekend showing, you can still use this discount code and receive $4 off.)

The show runs from December 18th – December 27th at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.  

To take advantage of this discount code:
1. Go to http://www.ticketmaster.ca
2. Enter the code MCC in the box “MC promotion”
3. A minimum of 4 tickets are required. Additional tickets can be purchased at $11 each during the week and $4 off on weekends.
4. Service charges, handling fees and all that junk still apply.

For a lovely show preview, click here! The music alone gives me sweet goosebumps.


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October 5th, 2009

Wordstock rocked

In 1969, hippies travelled from far and wide to attend Woodstock. They came to appreciate the vibe and the amazing music. They drank lots, they drugged lots. It was a good time.

It’s 40 years later, in 2009. Writers travelled from far and wide to attend Wordstock, at Ryerson University. They came to appreciate the wisdom and experience of amazing traditional and new media journalists. They drank lots of coffee. It was a good time.

So that’s where and why I was in Toronto on Saturday. I went to school and learned from the best of the best:

Robb Montgomery gave a two-hour opening seminar to all of us. I couldn’t take down notes fast enough! He had so much to share about new media and the tools to make it happen. Robb’s got a really nice way about him. You just want to catch up with him later and have a beer. If I start going on about Delicious, embedr, and bit.ly, you have him to blame.

Next, there were break-out sessions. I picked one with Don Gibb, a journalism veteran and retired Ryerson prof. He also acts as a writing coach to the Globe & Mail staff. This man was born to teach — he is just so good at getting everyone involved, and we all learned and shared a great deal about how to craft a feature article. A good one, that is.

Kim Pittaway was the presenter at my next chosen break-out session. She was slotted to give guidance on when and how to slip into first-person narrative. Truth be told, I really wasn’t so much interested in the topic as I was the speaker. When Kim was editor of Chatelaine, all sorts of stuff went down (which you can read about here and here), and to me she sounded very cool. So I went to see her. And she was cool.

Wordstock may not have involved rolling around in mud or tripping out on acid, but it sure rocked.
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