Monthly Archives: July 2012

Family travel trend: hiring a professional photographer

Posted on July 24, 2012 | 2 comments

New trends in travel appear every year. The destination wedding gave birth to the babymoon and, once kids were in the mix, families decided they needed to travel with grandma (multi-generational vacations) for her babysitting services.

Now that the entire clan is jetting off to Maui or the Bahamas every winter, well-heeled (or, ahem, flip-flopped) travellers have realized they need to hire a professional photographer while on holiday, to capture the magic of every sunset moment on a memory card, with the lighting, outfits and facial expressions just right. They want to guarantee they’ll look good for the annual Christmas card or the Facebook photo album that shares their posed beach frolics with the world. This trend is so hot, some resorts are offering sessions with a pro as part of a vacation package.

Now, I’m all for hiring a professional photographer for certain occasions. Weddings, the newborn photo shoot, and the session every several years to capture your kids getting bigger, come to mind. In fact, we hired Jessica Harcombe Fleming Photography to take some snaps of us last fall.

We hired a professional to get pictures of us with our kids (then aged four and six).

But shelling out for those perfect moments miles from home seems a bit over the top. Shouldn’t holidays be spontaneous? You’ve left your structured days back home and you should be able to throw on a sloppy sundress, go without makeup and not worry about everything being just so. Isn’t part of the fun of family holidays the ridiculous photos that come out of it? As one blogger lamented, this trend will put an end to those awkward, kitschy “Griswold” moments typically captured on film.

The “Griswolds” go hiking. Forced nature commune on Canada Day in Fernie.

Proponents of the trend say it takes the pressure off Mom or Dad to be the on-call photographer; that way, they can enjoy the holiday with both eyes instead of worrying about viewing highlights through a lens. A small price to pay, they say. Also, this way they don’t have to rely on random strangers to capture an image of everyone together. (Maybe it’s just me, but I think this random stranger did a pretty good job.)

A “random stranger” does a pretty good job capturing a sunset beach moment of our family in Ixtapa, Mexico. Cost? Priceless.

What do you think? Would you hire a holiday cameraman, or are you content to tote your own point-and-shoot and hope for the best?

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Posted in Travel

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Drink of the Week: Zujito

Posted on July 20, 2012 | 2 comments

What to you get when you take the rum out of a mojito and replace it with Zubrowka Bison Grass Vodka? A Zujito, of course. A bottle of Zubrowka polish vodka (the one with the grass in the bottle) has been sitting in my liquor cabinet for some months now, waiting for me to try it. Ditto the mint growing in a container in the backyard.

Since the folks from Your Brand Integrated Marketing Communications, who represent Zubrowka in Canada, were kind enough to send recipes with the vodka, I quickly zeroed in on the Zujito and mixed one for myself and a friend. Our consensus: two thumbs up.

We agreed it’s the perfect patio drink: refreshing, with a good balance of tart and sweet and just a hint of mint. Perhaps the vodka has something to do with it? It contains bison grass extract, which gives it a pale olive colour and smooth, velvety mouthfeel. I likened the Zujito to “adult limeade” while my friend described it as “mojito meets margarita.”

I took some liberties and adjusted the recipe, which originally called for 3 oz of vodka (holy triple!!!), 1.5 oz of lime juice and no club soda. I think my version is pretty delish and hope you’ll agree.

Zujito

  • 2 oz Zubrowka
  • 1 oz fresh lime juice
  • 3/4 oz simple syrup
  • 8-12 mint leaves
  • Top club soda
  • Garnish with a lemon wedge and sprig of mint

Muddle mint and sugar syrup in a Collins glass over crushed ice. Add Zubrowka and lime juice and churn with a bar spoon. Add more crushed ice then top to taste with club soda. Garnish with a lemon wedge and sprig of mint.

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Posted in Cocktails

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I love you, Fitbit

Posted on July 19, 2012 | 4 comments

A couple months ago my husband’s company outfitted everyone in the office with Fitbits. A Fitbit is a brilliant little device that accurately tracks the number of steps you take in a day, the number of stairs you climb, calories you burn and kilometres (or miles) you walk. Just slip it in your pocket and away you go. The head honchos at Blake’s company evidently wanted to motivate everyone to get moving over the summer — the person who logs the most steps wins bragging rights.

The cutest feature is the little blue flower that “grows” when you’re active. How could you not fall in love?

It didn’t take much for Blake to vault onto the Fitbit bandwagon. He became quite obsessed with his fitness friend over a short period of time and even took to walking up and down the stairs in our house while brushing his teeth in order to gain more flights and steps and thus up his daily tally. I thought it was all rather ridiculous … until Blake decided I should have my own Fitbit.

It automatically syncs with your computer to calculate your daily, weekly and monthly totals. Very cool.

Now I too am hooked on my Fitbit. It’s inspired me to be more active as part of training for our Kilimanjaro climb in September. I am never without it (except when I’m sleeping) and I check it regularly to see my step total (I aim for 10,000 or more per day). Do I go up and down the stairs with it while brushing my teeth? You bet! (I know, nerd alert.) I even had a Fitbit scare a couple weeks ago when it fell out of my pocket in the dressing room at MEC during our Kilimanjaro outfitting shopping spree. Luckily, we were reunited.

Hiking with Fitbit in Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park. We clocked over 7,000 steps and five kilometres.

Mostly though, it’s a little bug in my pocket reminding me to walk farther and climb higher. The fact that Blake has one too means some friendly competition to see who takes the most steps each day. If I make it to the top of Kili I’m sure I’ll have Fitbit to thank.

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Posted in Potpourri

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