The Holidays Just Got Better

My holiday gift list can get crazy, I give gifts to family, friends, my darling son (he gets a bit more than the average gift amount), teachers, co-workers and more as I sometimes find items that are perfect for the students I teach or clients I help. Sometimes these gifts can be simple stocking stuffers and other times they are bigger items meant for the home, kitchen and beyond. With the big days approaching quickly I’m turning to the Staples Canada Holiday Lookbook for my 2018 gifts and I’ve put together 6 Gift Ideas that you need in your life this holiday season. Continue reading “The Holidays Just Got Better”

Cancun Is Great, But Where Do The Locals Go?

Some may think that after a few years living in the Mexican Caribbean, it may get a bit steady and monotonous as most of the things to do here are “for tourists” How do we locals manage to have a “normal life” in a touristic spot?

Well, it’s pretty easy actually. I mean, everything here is as normal as you may guess; people get up early in the morning to work out, have breakfast and rush to their jobs. (Most of us do). The difference is that we happen to live next to the Caribbean sea, and surrounded by jungle, which means, it’s always hot, so we have to adapt to the weather and instead of wearing suits, we wear shorts. That’s about it. Continue reading “Cancun Is Great, But Where Do The Locals Go?”

Enough Is Enough

The end of November has for the last few years been a difficult time for me personally. With the anniversary of losing my Dad in 2016, I find myself in a state of heightened self-awareness and willingness to be more compassionate. Not that I’m not those things during the rest of the year, but it is a bit more important because that moment in my life changed me forever. Over the last ten years (specifically as a gay man) I have come to meet some spectacular people who have revealed to me their stories about living with HIV/AIDS. Where is the correlation you ask? Well, for a long time finding out you were positive was a moment that meant your life as you knew it was over. Over the aforementioned decade, the medical advances made in the treatment of those living with HIV/AIDS has allowed it to become similar to living with diabetes. Leading up to World AIDS Day on December 1st, I found out that a recent survey revealed that “almost half of (the) people in North America say they would not be comfortable sharing skin-to-skin touch with someone who is HIV+.”

I normally do my best to keep my language in check here on the blog, so please understand the severity of the following statement. 

That is not fucking okay. 

Continue reading “Enough Is Enough”

A Truly Canadian Christmas

For those of you who follow along on our #DoTheDaniel adventures on our Instagram stories (and if you don’t – what are you waiting for?! We have loads of fun over there!) you’ll have seen that I was recently invited to Canadian Tire’s Christmas House party. With seven rooms devoted to seven CANVAS colours: red, gold, silver, blue, white, brights and serene rose (my personal favourite) it was like stepping inside Christmas itself. With garlands and tinsel and sparkles (oh my!) I was lucky enough to view their entire Holiday line-up. I was able to get ideas for my wishlist to Santa started nice and early, but I also came to realize that Canadian Tire is incredibly versatile when it comes to helping us create beautiful memories for the holidays and beautiful spaces in our homes. Above and beyond the ribbon and wrapping, there were several furniture items I now need to see if Santa can fit in his sleigh for me!

Continue reading “A Truly Canadian Christmas”