I guess it really doesn’t matter if you go on a weekend or a weekday when you think most people will be at work. You will encounter a busy mall full of shoppers and be prepared for parking wars. With everyone wanting the close parking spot next to the entrance, it’s very easy to get frustrated. If only people would walk the extra few meters and use one of the hundreds of other parking spots provided… it would make for a much better start to your shopping experience.

If you’ve been to one mall you’ve pretty much been to them all and this was exactly the case at Vaughan Mills, except this one is a bit more grand and it’s fairly new. Plus you’ll find a lot more designer options and some of their last call or outlet stores. Such as Benetton, Armani Exchange, Banana Republic,French Connection UK (FCUK), LACOSTE, Tommy Bahama, Nine West, Hugo Boss,Tommy Hilfiger and Holt Renfrew to name a few. Read the full story

Without any doubt, there is merit to this claim. At the end of last summer I had the opportunity to finally attend the Burlington Ribfest and to this day I still get mad at myself for taking this long to attend. I won’t get into much details at this point, since I plan on refreshing my mind and taste buds this year, which means a full review for you with pics and videos. Hopefully I can get Caron and one of our girls to give their thoughts as well so you’ll have different perspectives of the event. Until then I’d like to leave you with some pics, more info about the event and my assurance that you DON’T want to miss this year’s event.

The people, the music and the food are all incredible… so lets hope the weather holds out so I can devour some more of that puled pork, bbq ribs and that wonderful southern baked beans. BTW, you’ll never attend a more organized event in Southern Ontario. Read the full story

A stormy weekend packed with one of the best lighting storms I’ve ever witnessed, hail and torrential downpours could not keep us away form this years Festival of Friends at Gage park in Hamilton Ontario. After-all this was the very same festival that I met Caron all those years ago. It was our anniversary and I just had to go relive that amazing day. This time however we went as a family and not two youngsters looking for summer love.

The weather was horrible the entire 3 days of the festival, but as the skies cleared up on the Sunday we made our way down. There was the normal search for parking in the surrounding streets for the “cheapos” like us, but there was also paid parking within the park itself.

The festival, though well organized from the outside (looking in), seemed to have lost something. Maybe it’s because we’re older now and we’re looking at things differently, but it didn’t have that once lively vibe to it. I couldn’t but a handle to it, but it did seem a bit commercial. Read the full story

I’d like to start off by saying thanks to Steven Weir and the media services at the Caribana offices for granting us media accreditation for the Caribana events, even though we were a bit late in applying. As a son of the soil of the Caribbean islands, Caribana and other such events are dear to me. My sister who’s also actively involved in many Caribana events as a food vendor was also there that night, so was I doing double duty as a media rep for OntarioAlive.com and assistant cook for my sister’s food stall.

We’re notorious for never being on time or organized and it was proven again here this night. As I made my way around the stadium (Allan Lamport Stadium) it was clear that none of the security or people wearing the event shirts had any clue where I should go to get my media badge. After a relentless search I was told that last year the media desk was setup at the far end of the stage. Finally I had my badge and briefed as to what the badge gave me access to. Read the full story