RAFTING ADVENTURE X FIESTA MOVEMENT

Posted by kait / September 23, 2013

Happy Monday, folks! I hope you all had beautiful adventurous weekends. I told you a bit about getting inspired for new adventures last week thanks to good people involved with the Ford Fiesta Movement. I firmly believe that there is room for adventure in every single day – you just have to find the opportunity and go for it! Whether it be trekking across town to the new farmer’s market or going for an epic bike ride – adventures are what you make it. Just make sure you have a big cup of coffee before you head out.

I was inspired to do something new and exciting just as summer was ending. Despite living in Calgary for most of my life, I realized I had never rafted down the Bow River before. After the crazy and devastating flood earlier this summer, I was a teensy bit hesitant about heading out on the waters but once we go started, I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. Byron and I met up with his brother + wife to join us for the day on the water. It is essential that you have two vehicles to make this boat trip a success so that you don’t have to trudge back to the car with raft in tow + soggy wet clothes. Our entire rafting trip was about 2.5 hours so you could imagine how long it would be. Lazyday Raft Rentals makes it super easy though – they will even help you plan your entire trip. We embarked on our journey via Bowness and floated all the way back down to Lazyday headquarters just by downtown.

My favourite part of the rafting trip was just absorbing the beauty that exists around us right in the middle of our big city. It is pretty incredible that we get to witness such gorgeous nature just minutes from home. In fact, I couldn’t believe it took me so long to get to the river for this adventure. Second favourite part of the rafting excursion? Killing ourselves laughing when the ride got a little bit bumpy and the rapids increased. It only lasted a moment but I totally felt like a kid again enjoying a little bit of fear. I made a little video of us spinning through the crystal clear rivers:

A beautiful day, all in all, and an excellent way to celebrate the end of summer. I can’t wait for my next rafting adventure. Next summer, I will be a regular for sure.

I’m already getting so excited for my next adventure. What will I do next? I have a couple more travels lined for the fall – I expect some cycling in my near future. Also inspired by adventure and rafting, I love this Ford Fiesta Movement video by Anthony Hull featuring an ultimate rafting adventure with some cool creatives! Watch + get inspired to take some risks too!

This is a sponsored post and I was compensated for my participation. The photos and opinions expressed are my own unless otherwise stated.

ULTIMATE OKANAGAN DREAM TOUR

Posted by kait / September 22, 2013

Just returned from a beautiful press trip to the Okanagan with Wine BC. Probably the most inspiring press trip I have ever been on, I met some incredible fellow female journalists, learned a ton about Okanagan wines and got a taste of a second summer. I’ve started writing some articles about some of the amazing wines, hotels and creators that I encountered on our journey and I can’t wait to share those with you as soon as they are published! For now, a couple snapshots of my time in the OK.

P.S. Seriously considering moving to Kelowna permanently.

GO DO SOMETHING! x FIESTA MOVEMENT

Posted by kait / September 17, 2013

Hello my lovely pals. Happy Tuesday! I wanted to share a bit about the Fiesta Movement. What is Fiesta Movement? Well, it’s all about getting ramped up for the arrival of the 2014 Ford Fiesta and celebrating the fun adventures that life takes us on. The Ford Fiesta Movement is inspiring me to stop messing around and do something worth talking about! Over the next four months, I’ll be taking on fun projects inspired by the Fiesta Movement, and how I spin it is up to you and me! Yes, you, the reader can help me decide how to make the most of each and everything month!

This month’s theme is ADVENTURE. Hey wait, I am pretty sure this whole year’s theme is adventure – at least for me. I’ve been lucky to do some amazing traveling this summer so I am hoping to make the most of this last month of warm(er) weather before any water freezes over. The photo above was from my recent adventure to the Okanagan and Wine Country. We kayaked up Okanagan Lake and it was stunning. I would love to hear any ideas of an adventure I should go on or partake in this month.

I am particularly inspired by Fiesta Agents Justin + Kyle’s Go Do Something! video. The idea of jampacking a whole day, from sun up to sun down, with adventure and fun sounds like the perfect way to take advantage of the Adventure theme. Maybe I could jampack a day with as much adventure as you can find in Calgary in one single day: Ziplining, rafting, bike riding, bowling, etc…. I’m up for a challenge so please send me your ideas! In the meantime, watch Justin + Kyle’s awesome California adventure here:

This is a sponsored post and I was compensated for my participation by the Ford Fiesta Movement. The photos and opinions expressed are my own unless otherwise stated.

#montanaslim

Posted by kait / September 6, 2013

Still daydreaming about our Labour Day weekend in Montana. An absolutely beautiful trip, we can always rely on Montana being hot, sunny and restful for a late summer visit. We headed down for the Vintage Whites Market – the last one of the summer – to scope out some sweet vintage finds. We actually booked a cabin in the woods this time through Gaynor Ranch & Resort which was a nice change from regular camping and staying in a lodge. It was a bit of a bumpy drive but it was totally worth it being secluded in the beautiful mountains.

The best part of the weekend was floating around Flathead Lake for a few hours basking in the sun and finally getting to be in some water. The whole summer all I wanted to do was jump in some water.

The market did not disappoint, of course. I found the perfect vintage metal cart that I am going to transform into a beautiful bar cart (just you wait and see!) and a tiny wood + metal chair. Top it up with some huckleberry iced tea and a brie + pesto buckwheat crepe and you’ve got a very happy Kait and Byron. So, when can we go back?

MEET STANDARD ISSUE

Posted by kait / September 4, 2013

Oh hey, it’s September. Where has this summer gone, friends? Probably the busiest, most disorienting summer I’ve ever experienced – it surely has been a great one albeit a fast one. Where have I been, you might ask? Hastily working on a ‘new baby’ of sorts with a new collaborator, my friend Mackenzie Clarke. We launched a new Canadian lifestyle site called Standard Issue on the third of June. Over these past three months we have put nearly every inch of ourselves into this new online magazine. It has been tricky with balancing our freelance careers, travel and regular life stuff but we’ve loved every minute of it. And I want to share this with you. This summer was our soft launch but with us averaging 2-3 posts per day of curated and original content, Standard Issue has morphed into something we had always imagined but did not realize would happen so quickly for us. We’ve had the opportunity of working with some incredible local businesses such as Village Ice Cream, Camp Clothing Co. and Seed + Soil. This city is jampacked with some of the most talented photographers and videographers and we are so thankful to get to work with them – thanks to Blair Marie Photography, Heather Saitz, Jessika Hunter and Tom Kucy for helping us create incredible original content. We hosted a Stampede Party + DIY Craft at Anthropologie which was an absolute blast and success – you can check out our video by Tom Kucy here. There is so much more to come from us – pop-up dinner parties, DIY workshops and blogging networking opportunities – we want to you to be there for every minute of it.

I invite you to take a look at Standard Issue when you get a chance. We’ve got everything from travel, style, decor and sweet things for the little people in our lives. We have a big focus on local – so watch for new launches, shop profiles and local spotlights. You can follow us on , , and – we hope you want to be friends.

As for yuppielove, now that things are getting back to normal around here and life is returning to routine, you’ll be seeing a lot more regular posts coming up. I’ve got some exciting new weekly columns I am writing and more projects that I would love to get you involved with. Stay tuned, pals.