New real estate player means new writing gig

An old buddy of mine recently started working for a new luxury real estate brokerage in town, Engel and Volkers. At the same time, I was looking for real estate story ideas for a potential new writing gig. And so, my first piece for The Globe and Mail was born today. Wrote a piece for the new Calgary Real Estate section about why E&V would launch in the midst of an economic slump. Seems the timing is working out well for them branding-wise. Worked out for me writing-wise. Isn't it nice when things all work out?

Nanotech gets a boost at Queen's U

What seems like a million years ago, you know, back when people just started to post editorial content online ONLY, I helped launch a website with the Canadian Foundation for Innovation. It was a cool experience, figuring out the differences between online and print editorial, and showcasing some of the finest research taking place in Canada.

Several incarnations later, innovation.ca continues to provide great online editorial showcasing research in Canada. I've just recently contributed a piece about a new nanotech lab that opened at Queen's University, which will help researchers take their experiments into the real world. Amazing stuff--that nanotechnology!

College Towns, Not Too Cool For School

Photo courtesy of University of Lethbridge

My younger cousin is looking at doing a post-secondary certificate, and it reminded me of this package I contributed to last summer for enRoute magazine about cool college towns. I didn't go away to attend uni, but part of me always wishes that I did. I think it can really play a formative role in "growing up" and becoming an adult. But I guess I turned out okay despite missing out on that experience.

Homes of the West

Photo by Don Molyneaux

I'm just working on another Homes of the West feature for Canadian Cowboy Country magazine, and thought I'd link to the photo galleries of past features. It's a cool bit in CCC mag where we feature a home in the mag that in some way represents a Home of the West. It doesn't have to be western themed or inhabited by cowboys, though they can be, but the defining factor is that the homeowners consider their home a Home of the West whether the connection is through history, decor, location, or lifestyle. The current issue features the home of equine artist Kim Penner while a past story featured the abode of my lovely neighbours and friends Jen and Tom Gordon.

If you have a Home of the West or know of one, drop me a line! I'd love to hear about it and perhaps feature it in the magazine.

Back to Work or More Accurately: Back to Paid Work

Baby Boy is coming up on a year so I find myself making the transition back to paid work. Sure I freelanced a bit here and there, especially since there was no EI for this self-imposed maternity leave, but now I'm going to to attempt to return to some steady work to line the pocketbook and regrow my brain.

Not surprisingly, parenting has been top of mind, and so, I hope to write some parenting pieces in the near future. In the meantime, here are a couple of pieces I did for Today's Parent magazine. One is about colic (thank goodness we didn't have to deal with that!) and the other outlines an interesting study that showed ethnicity may play a role in birth weight.

Second Babies Get the Shaft?

Baby Levi may be second, but not second-rate!

Being a second baby myself, I wanted to make sure my second baby didn't get the shaft just for showing up second. But for a whole bunch of reasons, and despite how hyper-aware I was about trying to keep things equal between my kids, I did and continue to find it a challenge to give my second-born all the attention and fawning I did for my first. This phenomena has been coined second-baby syndrome, a subject I explore for The Calgary Herald.

I have noticed that my son is way more laid-back than my daughter, and seems much more at ease about going with the flow. I can't say for sure that this is because he is the second-born and has had to be shuffled along on his older sister's schedule for most of his eight months of life so far, but I really do think that being a second child helps develop a stronger adaptability. That's the case among my siblings.

I know that many fellow parents feel they've fallen victim to second-baby syndrome, but as you'll see in my story, it's rarely as bad as we make it out to be. Unfortunately, guilt seems to go hand-inhand with parenthood...fodder for a future story.

ps. Clearly my blog has fallen to third baby or more accurately, 10th or maybe 20th. Ha! Hope to stay better updated as I re-enter the working world. No year-long paid mat leaves for this freelancing momma; fodder for a different future story...

From Spaceman to Horseman

Last month, William Shatner AKA Captain Kirk was the Calgary Stampede's Grand Marshal. I was sent to find out what the good ol' captain had to say about the job for Canadian Living magazine. Mr. Shatner did not disappoint; he was chatty and funny, and I felt like sitting on his knee (in a friendly Santa way, not a creepy old man way).