GREENWASHING: WHAT is it and WHY You should care!

I previously wrote about "Cause Marketing" and  Pinkwashing and received a lot of great feedback! I wasn't surprised that there were quite a few people who didn't know what Pinkwashing was and how big corporations use cause marketing to manipulate and confuse consumers..

So today I want to introduce you to another strategic marketing term called GREENWASHING, which was coined by environmentalist Jay Westervelt in 1986. His essay was about how the hotel industry places little "info cards" in each of the suite's restroom's promoting the reuse of towels to "save the environment." I'm sure you must have seen one the last time you stayed at a hotel. Anyways, Westervelt noted that in most cases, little or no effort toward reducing waste was being made by the hotels, that in fact  the objective of this "movement" was to increase profit. "Westervelt thus labeled this and other outwardly environmentally conscientious acts with a greater, underlying purpose of profit increase as greenwashing."

Squamish Music Festival

Last weekend Gabriel and I attended the Squamish Valley Music Festival. Gabriel picked me up after work around 6pm and we headed out toward Squamish, it's about an hour drive from Vancouver.

We made it to Squamish around 7, and by the time we found parking and walked over to the festival grounds, we could hear Macklemore and Ryan Lewis doing their thing. So as soon as we got our wristbands on, and were inside the Squamish Valley Music Festival we headed on over to the Stawamus stage to see Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. I really enjoyed how Macklemore got the crowd involved with their performance, he would tell a anecdote about the night before and tie it into one of his songs. His energy and passion for his art was evident, the crowd loved him.

We also checked out the awesome indie rock band Young the Giant. They played some of their new stuff and their old stuff too. They are amazing to see and hear live. We then headed to see another of my favorite American bands, Vampire Weekend. They were great live and Gabriel and I couldn't stop dancing! They even played Horchata, one of my favorite songs! And the last show we caught Friday night was A Tribe Called Red, a Canadian electronic group, who mix hip-hop, reggae and dub-step with elements of traditional First Nations music.

This was our first music festival, and we had a lot of fun!! :) Have you been to any music festivals before? 

Let's Go Places: Toyota Prius V

Toyota was kind enough to lend me this sweet Prius v for a week while I was in LA    attending the Latina Lifestyle Bloggers Conference. Dude, this ride def. saved us a lot of time and money! Did I mention it's a HYBRID and we spent no money on gas the week we had it?!

We had never driven a Hybrid before sitting behind the wheel of this Blue Ribbon Metallic Prius v and we were psyched to explore LA with it!

Some of the first things we noticed while cruising in the new 2013 Prius v is that the trunk in the rear is HUGE, 34.3 cu ft HUGE! We learned that the trunk of this Prius v is larger than that of most small SUVS. Phew, because we had a ton of luggage!!

Like most Toyota cars now a days, the seats in the back are very flexible, adding even MORE space for storage in the back. While we were arranging some of our things in the trunk one day, we noticed that there was an additional storage compartment under the carpet lining...which would be perfect for storing things like a first aid kit or even an extra pair of flats and heels ;)

The Prius v has an awesome panoramic roof that we tried opening for several minutes. Picture me pressing the "open" button for literally ten minutes and just having the shades continuously open and close a bunch of times until realizing the roof wasn't meant to open! It was cool to look up and get a different view.

We also spent a lot of time playing with the technology in Prius v. The 7 inch high resolution touch screen was a whole learning experience of its own hehehe. We had never driven a car with one in it, so we had a lot of fun playing around with all of the cool commands and apps. I think our favorite was the backup camera! It was just a breath of fresh air while trying to park especially in tiny spots! The navigation was a little tricky, but I think that's because we had never used one before.

While driving around in LA we quickly realized that the gas engine would shut off if we would slow down to 19mph or come to a complete stop. Don't worry, the electric motor would takeover right away. I picture the gas and electric motors like a relay team...hahaha. GO HYBRIDS!

We also noticed that there were buttons with ECO, EV and POWER labelled on them and we had no clue what each did. So while we sat in the car, we googled it and Toyota answered "different modes for different types of driving. ECO Mode helps maximize fuel economy. EV Mode runs solely on battery power for up to one half mile under certain conditions and POWER Mode increases gas pedal response for enhanced acceleration."  

We had an absolute blast driving throughout LA and it's neighboring cities in the Toyota Prius v. Honestly got me thinking that a road trip in this car would be so smooth and comfortable!

What do you think of the Prius v?

Disclosure: Latina Lifestyle Bloggers Collective and Toyota offered me a chance to test drive the Prius v for a week. All opinions and photos are my own.

Bowen Island, a sweet escape

Where do you go to get away from the busy city noise?

Bowen Island, British Columbia is relaxing 20 minute ferry ride from the mainland. My husband and I love going to Bowen Island either for daily trips or romantic weekend getaways. We actually had our civil ceremony on a cliff on Bowen Island, last June! :) You can see some pictures of our ceremony here.

Bowen Island has a small town feel; kids roaming around freely, everyone is friendly, and I'm pretty sure the locals all know each other by name! I also think it is pretty cool that there isn't any big franchise, like McDonald's on the island.

Speaking of food, my husband and I love having picnics in Crippen Park, and the grabbing gelato afterwards. If you visit Bowen Island, you should definitely try the Fish n Chips at Doc Morgans, so delicious! Their patio in the summertime is awesome too, a great view of the marina.

If Gabriel and I were to settle down in Canada, we would defintely live in Bowen Island; the scenery, the community; it's just so chill. Seems like a perfect place to raise a family.

You can visit Bowen Island by taking the ferry from Horseshoe Bay or the water taxi from Granville Island or Coal Harbour. We prefer taking the Queen of Capilano over since it only costs $11.15 roundtrip, compared to the whopping $40 roundtrip that the water taxi charges.