Simone Paget

I met my ex in college. After a few months together, he ghosted me.
I couldn't get over him — and eventually, years later, we started dating again.
I found out he lied to me about cheating so I'd break up with him. It was what I needed to move on.
For a long time, my ex-boyfriend from college, Shawn, was "the one that got away" for me. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get over him.
Then we got back together.
When I met Shawn, I was in my early 20s. He was handsome and had an infectious ...

In 2009, my sister Melissa Paget, a Vancouver-based visual and sound artist, was handed a mysterious briefcase. Found by a friend of a friend while dumpster diving in East Vancouver, the attaché case had a worn black-pleather exterior and a yellowed lining that smelled like an ashtray. Inside was tucked a collection of photos and ephemera belonging to a man named Chad who appears to have worked as an exotic dancer throughout the Lower Mainland in the 1980s.

The photos⁠—a mix of snapshots and ...

On a warm spring evening in 2018, I board a bus in New York City headed for the foothills of Pennsylvania. I’ve signed up for Camp Meets Bagel⁠—a three-day sleep-away camp for single adults. The plan is simple: spend a long weekend with 150 strangers and relive the camp experience I never had as a teenager: bunk beds, crushes, dodgeball games, and all.

Despite growing up on Vancouver Island, where babies exit the womb with a kayak and a membership to MEC, I rarely set foot in the woods. I was...

My first morning on Curaçao, I wove through the streets of historic Willemstad to the studio of artist Francis Sling. His Art Cave, as he lovingly calls it, blooms with colour and creativity in an intimate yet soaring white space. Born and raised on Curaçao, Sling draws inspiration from the island and the people around him. As he explains while showing us around, “Life in Curaçao, it’s like theatre.” From the way people express themselves and their personal style to how they cook, Sling says,...

The first thing I noticed about James was his teeth. Impeccably straight and reality TV star white. That’s why I didn’t flinch when he told me he was a director and film producer who had recently moved back to Vancouver after years of living in Los Angeles. James may have been born and bred in Canada, but those teeth were the product of a Beverly Hills dentist’s chair.

It was May 2020, but I prefer to think of it as Pandemic: Season One. I’d signed up to attend a Zoom speed dating event for V...

When faced with the challenge of decorating their home, I doubt most people would think, “Hmmm, you know what would make this space pop? A doll bed.” But I am not most people and the miniature bed that resides in my bedroom is one of my most treasured items in my home.

As a full-time food, travel and lifestyle writer, I rarely go anywhere without my “intern” Joe—the shirtless, muscly G.I. Joe doll that I photograph for Instagram. Before COVID-19, I spent the last two and half years traveling ...

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When I first heard of a cruise described as “Fifty Shades of Grey on a boat,” my curiosity was immediately piqued. An offshoot of the popular Temptation Resort in Cancun, the Temptation Caribbean Cruise is an adults-only adventure that features topless-optional sunbathing, themed “fantasy parties” and even a “red room.”

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Set to make its inaugural voyage this February, I knew I had to be aboard — if anything, for research purposes. Having been to the resort on se...

They say the way to the heart is through the stomach. That's why food engagement gifts are always a sure bet. These delicious presents work on several levels. If you don't know the couple very well but still want to show that you care, a nice bottle of wine or champagne is always a great option for celebratory lovebirds. The same goes for luxe gift baskets and upgraded pantry staples that are perfect for an engaged couple setting up their first home together. On the other hand, if you're shop...

On Sunday, I made my way down to the pebbly shores of Ross Bay Beach in Victoria, B.C. to watch history made as Dianne Whelan became the first person to finish both land and water stretches of the Trans Canada Trail. Surrounded by her friends, family and a small documentary crew, we walked the final kilometre of the 28,000 kilometre journey together. The air was hazy but refreshingly cool. The mood was jubilant. It was a fitting ending to Whelan’s six year ecological pilgrimage.

The Trans Can...

Although I grew up in Victoria, BC, I spent every summer visiting my paternal grandparents in East Vancouver. As a result, many of my first food memories are tied to those visits⁠—eating dim sum around a lazy susan with my extended family, slurping canned guava juice from Chinatown and later, enjoying hot-sauce topped cheese and bean filled Pupusas on Commercial Drive with my first high school boyfriend.
From the rustic elegance of L’Abattoir and Brix & Mortar to the leafy beauty of Chambar’s...

If you want to cook Caribbean food at home, stock up on these chef-approved pantry staples.

From celebrities and chefs to local food banks and grassroots organizations, people everywhere have been pitching in to help mitigate the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on our communities. Here’s how Global Cafe in Memphis is helping healthcare workers in a city that’s both food-insecure and extremely charitable.
Memphis has been a long-time hub for the civil rights movement and more recently, food activism. Global Cafe is no exception.
Located in Crosstown Concourse—a former Sears distr...

Stepping into the airy lobby of the JW Marriott Parq feels like being whisked away to another universe.

It was my first night in Mexico. I was leaning up against the bar nursing my third pina colada of the day. As the chorus of Jay-Z and Alicia Key’s Empire State of Mind filled the warm night air, I watched in mild horror and fascination as a man bent his wife over a patio chair and proceeded to spank her bare butt with a plastic pitchfork, much to the shrieking delight of onlookers.
She was dressed as a naughty schoolgirl and he was wearing a pair of tight red thong briefs and ...

It’s 2:30 p.m. on a quiet afternoon in Negril, Jamaica. I’m lounging poolside when I hear a ruckus coming from the path below. I watch as a pack of women run towards the beach. They’re fully nude; the only thing adorning their perfect bodies are neon coloured balaclavas. They scream, “all hail the nude ninjas!” before rounding the bend.
To my left, a naked 70-year old man plays a game of ping pong with his female companion. He keeps dropping the ball. I cover my eyes with a ma...