Once again we are Valentine’s Day as an excuse to run our annual sex syurvy! Our goal: to satisfy our own voyeuristic streak to provide a safe and serious place to discuss sexual issues of great import, such as Ottawa’s best makeout spot. While some of the questions in this year’s survey are new, for the most part we are sticking to the questions designed by Nadine Thornhill, a sexual health educator and blogger at Adorkable Undies. Thanks again to Venus Envy’s Shelly Taylor for her input. With two years... | Continue reading article

Game Summit is in full swing over the river at the Palais de Congres in Gatineau, and apt613 is hitting the floor to play some… some games of giant Catan? Kafkaesque? Yes. Fun? Also yes! I discovered some brand new board games that now hold a special place in my cold heart. So, now I’ll shut up and dim the lights. The photo blog is below! Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Here at Apartment613, we like our digital media. Heck, for all you know we could be computers, sent from the future to enslave all humans with our blog posts. But as enamoured as we are with the world of ones and zeroes, it still doesn’t eclipse our love for clunky, physical board games. Nothing beats the joy of setting out a brand new board game, learning the rules, and crushing your friends with epic dice rolls. Multiply that joy by 100, and you have something of an idea of why... | Continue reading article

Downtown Ottawa will soon have a 3,000-square-feet location exclusively dedicated to creative projects. Called IdeaSpace, the site at 131 Bank Street is scheduled to open on February 1. The brainchild of the inventive folks at MediaStyle, a local digital public affairs agency, the site is meant to allow local residents to implement imaginative ideas. Possibilities could include, but are not limited to, month-long art shows, computer hacker nights, weeklong seminars, private parties, pop up restaurants, interesting weddings or a location for movie shoots. “What we have in store for the... | Continue reading article

It seems like Vanier residents are already way beyond debates of whether the neighbourhood could possibly be “the next Westboro.” While the debate continues, some Vanierans (for lack of a better demonym) are instead choosing to direct their energy toward projects that actually make Vanier a cool place to live. Enter C’est Chill, an appropriately named winter celebration of all things Vanier that kicks off this weekend. The event will begin at noon on Saturday when a symphony of bells will ring from every church in the neighbourhood. A parade... | Continue reading article

The vibrancy of city life is highly contingent on the services available and the things we do to fill our time. When we think of the places and spaces we frequent, or when we think of the restaurants we enjoy, we are confronted with the immense role that entrepreneurs have in our quality of living. In our second Apartment613 Talks event we’re going to look at entrepreneurship from three different angles – as employment, as creativity and as critical to our standard of living. You will hear first-hand from locals... | Continue reading article

Things came together pretty quickly for Hub Ottawa. So fast, in fact, that they forgot to actually celebrate their opening. This week, they are putting things right with a grand opening celebration tonight. The Mayor was at the Hub for a ribbon cutting this morning and they are opening their doors for an open house from 6-9pm. They will have some fun food, a cash bar and music by Rob Reid of World Famous Music. For anyone who hasn’t been, the Hub is pretty cool spot. They have assembled a... | Continue reading article

We’re celebrating local business all month with our second annual Support Local Month. Last month’s Creative Mornings lecture with Katie and Regine from Victoire Boutique captured so much of our motivation for this project that we asked the team at Creative Morning if we could share the video here. Katie and Regine are amazing local business leaders and we have so much respect for what they do. If you’re interested in what it takes to succeed as a shop owner here in Ottawa, take a few minutes to let them... | Continue reading article

The ongoing construction on Bronson Avenue has hit many businesses in the area quite hard. Whether it’s a decrease in retail sales, or dealing with the daily hassle of having their neighbourhood turned upside down, the impact has been significant. Instead of buckling under the pressure, however, seven food establishments decided to offer a special joint promotion to attract new customers, and in the process turn a construction-based lemon of a situation into innovative lemonade. As part of Support Local month, the eateries have launched the Bronson Food Passport throughout... | Continue reading article

Post by Julia Bustos New in town, I still experience a bit of a culture shock when I’m running around. For starters and despite preconceived notions, Ottawa has a fair share of cultural happenings for folks wanting to get involved. Secondly, events tend to be all inclusive; kids, dogs, parents and grandparents are all in attendance, all keen. So it shouldn’t have been a surprise when I walked into the Five Cents tattoo studio for the Self Propelled art show and, like, everyone was there. The combination of an awesome location, delish... | Continue reading article