Kelowna makes list of most scenic towns in North America
Kelowna is keeping company with the likes of Paia, Hawaii, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Santa Cruz, Calif., Banff and Quebec City, according to an online list of the 33 most scenic towns in North America.
The catalogue of pretty places was compiled by CarRentals.com, the rental car website of giant online travel company Expedia, and the accompanying story is posted to the website’s blog.
While it’s not a hard sell, the goal is obviously to have to visit some of these destinations, which also include Santiago, Cuba, Sitka, Alaska, Yellowknife, Lethbridge, Fredericton, St. John’s and Port Hope, Ont., and rent a car through CarRentals.com to check out the local attractions and vistas. The entry on Kelowna positively glows. “When it comes to epic wine regions, California has Napa, Western Australia has Margaret River and British Columbia has Kelowna. As you’re cruising through the vines of Mission Hill Winery and Quails’ Gate, you’ll be able to take in unobstructed views of Okanagan Lake. But this town isn’t just jammed with some of the best wineries in Canada, there are two fabulous ski resorts nearby — Big White and Silver Star — in case you decide to take a vacay during the winter months. Please send us a postcard.”
Sleeping through the night
When Kelowna-based celebrity Jillian Harris couldn’t get her adorable little baby, Leo, to sleep through the night, who did she call?
Sleep coach Janey Reilly, the founder of WeeSleep, that’s who.
“Jillian and Leo experienced what our customized, guaranteed process promises, and four-month-old Leo was sleeping through the night in three days,” said Reilly.
“It’s really more about training the parents than the baby,” added Reilly with a laugh. “We set up a routine of wake and sleep times that’s all about consistency so babies become strong independent sleepers.”
First-time-mom Harris, 37, who shot to fame as ABC TV’s Bachelorette in 2009 and has followed it up as the star interior designer on W Network’s and HGTV’s Love It Or List It Vancouver, splits her time between homes in Kelowna and Vancouver.
“Leo’s sleep habits are improving more and more every day. Last night he slept 11 hours. This momma is feeling rested,” said Harris in a shout out to Reilly and WeeSleep.
The public can also see some of Harris’ most high-profile interior design work at Cactus Club and Browns Socialhouse restaurants, which Kelowna has two and one of, respectively.
Reilly did her sleep coach training while living in Kelowna, but has since moved to Toronto. But she has other sleep coaches across the country, including Sabrina Banadyga, who covers the Okanagan.
WeeSleep offers in-person and online sleep coaching packages for parents with babies and toddlers starting from $249.
Check out WeeSleep.ca.
Don’t throw out that food
Canadians trash or composted an astounding, embarrassing and wasteful $31 billion dollars worth of food every year.
A group of Okanagan College and UBC Okanagan students wants to start changing that with a think global, act local initiative called Refresh. College students Cameron Starchesk, Cooper Simpson and Darren Gillespie were joined by university students Jaren Larsen and Pablo during the 24-hour Invent-athon competition at the university and took top prize. Their idea is to send out a refrigerated truck to grocery stores, cafeterias and restaurants to pick up quality food that’s slated for the garbage or composting. The food could be redistributed to those that need it via a food bank.
The college students are part of Enactus, the group that fosters business with a social conscience.
Data Nerds
Kelowna’s Josh Fraser wants you to know everything about a home before you buy it, from property and neighbourhood details to the local real estate market and crime rate.
Fraser’s Data Nerds is working on software to build the world's most comprehensive and powerful database for real estate and property record information. Data Nerds has finished Accelerate Okanagan's REVUp program to get mentoring and business commercialization advice.
The next step is to head to Boulder, Colo., for the intense, three-month Techstars program for more mentoring and help in turning the idea into a profit-making venture.
Size matters
Most of us in the Okanagan live in a house bigger than 1,800 square feet. Yet, almost half of us don’t think that’s large enough.
Point2Homes.com, a Canada-based international real estate search portal, polled people in nine Canadian cities, including Kelowna, to find out what size home they live in and if they desire bigger.
Despite a lot of people in the city living in condominiums and apartments, only nine per cent of people are in homes under 1,000 square feet. Yet, only four per cent of people want to live in a space that small. The trend continues up the line. Thirty per cent of city residents live in a home 1,000 to 1,500 square feet, yet 24 per cent want that.
The sweet spot seems to be 1,501 to 2,000 square feet. An even percentage of people, 22 per cent, live in that size home and 22 per cent also feel that’s the ideal-sized home.
Seems like the more you have, the more you want.
The 14 and 26 per cent of the population living in homes 2,001 to 2,500-square-feet and over 2,501 square feet, respectively, are 20 per cent and 32 per cent likely to want to move into a bigger abode.
Steve MacNaull is a business reporter and columnist with The Okanagan Saturday. You can contact him by email at: steve.macnaull@ok.bc.ca.