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Expert Bathroom Cleaning Tips and Tricks

The kitchen might be the heart of every home, but it’s the bathroom that’s the true workhorse. So it’s no surprise it gets really dirty, really quickly. It’s a shame bathrooms don’t get the love (or elbow grease) they deserve considering how much we depend on them every single day.

Fact: Nobody likes cleaning a bathroom. But, a truly clean bathroom is a joy and surprisingly easy to maintain once you’ve mastered a few game-changing techniques.

Follow these tips and tricks to help make cleaning your bathroom less of a chore.

Make a Bathroom Cleaning Schedule and Checklist

A clean bathroom is easier to maintain than a dirty one, so make it a regular habit. Facing an entire bathroom and all its moving, scummy parts is daunting, so parcel out the duties so you don’t have to do everything all at once.

For example:

Every day – Wipe down outside of toilet; wipe down inside of shower/bath; wipe down counters/sink; clean drain traps.

Every Sunday – Scrub inside of toilet; empty trash can; wipe mirrors.

First Sunday of every month – Put toothbrush holder in dishwasher, put shower curtain in laundry, deep clean drains.

After a month when you’ve gone through every task on your checklist at least once, you’ll see how much faster and easier maintaining a clean bathroom can be.

Simplify Your Bathroom

De-cluttering your space will not only make your bathroom look tidier, but will also make cleaning it a lot easier.

Who wants to spend 10 minutes taking everything off the counters and another 10 wrestling with half a dozen cleaning bottles under the counter just to spend one minute wiping down the surface?

Most bathrooms are small so everything in them should have a purpose and a home. Do you really need all those individual spay cleaners when once would suffice?

An all-in-one hero product like Nellie’s One Soap can be used as a hand soap, tub/shower cleaner, dish soap, and even on your dog.

Use the Right Cleaning Tools

The flip side to de-cluttering is stocking up on the right tools to get every job done well. If your toilet brush doesn’t get all the right angles, your toilet bowl will never really be clean. And if your glass cleaner leaves streaks and promotes fogging, well, what’s the point?

If you don’t feel that your efforts produce sparkling clean results, you’ll be less motivated to continue cleaning, so you might have to experiment a little to find the right tools. You might need two toilet brushes and you might find some great anti-fogging solutions in the automotive department.

Use Age-appropriate Accessories in Your Bathroom

If you have kids, adapt your bathroom so it stands a better chance of staying clean. Kids are cute, but they’re messy, which means water and dirt are going to get everywhere. Bring in a stool so they can properly reach the sink. And instead of expecting them to use a hand towel, keep a stack of colourful washcloths folded within easy reach.

Better yet, use this as an opportunity to teach them how to use the cloth to wipe up any wet spots on the counter before tossing it into the hamper.

Reward Yourself for a Cleaning Job Well Done

They say the reward itself is in a job well done, but you might need a little extra incentive to get through your checklist. Find something meaningful to reward yourself with each month – a new book, a new coffee machine, etc. – and use that as your carrot as you clean away.

Shop our selection of cleaning supplies for other resources that may help you keep your bathroom spic and span.

Beyond Avocado Toast: 6 Healthy Toast Combos That Will Please Your Palate

Is there a more perfect food than freshly buttered toast? That warm, buttery goodness that melts in your mouth can’t be matched. Or can it? Last year avocado proved it was also a perfect toast topper, making avocado toast one of the biggest food trends of the year. Now, a bevy of other toppings are vying for top spot. Freshen up your toast routine with these palate-pleasing combinations that are both healthy and delicious.

Strawberries and Sunbutter Toast

Photo from Women’s Health

A modern take on the classic PB & J, this toast, topped with strawberries, sunbutter, and a sprinkling of sunflower seeds, is the perfect combo for today’s peanut-sensitive environments. It’s quick to whip up on busy mornings, and makes for a refreshing, healthy, and protein-packed mid-day snack too.
Get the recipe.

Cottage Cheese and Honey

Photo from Eat This Much

Simple. Classic. If you haven’t tried this timeless comfort combo, now’s the time. With just the right balance of savoury and sweet, it will leave your tastebuds singing for more. Get the recipe.

Fig and Ricotta Toast

Photo from Eating Well

In the mood for something a little more exotic on your toast? Try this Mediterranean-inspired combo with fresh figs and ricotta. Hungry yet? Get the recipe.

Tomato and Goat Cheese Toast

Photo from Cookie and Kate

Looking for ways to sneak more veggies into your diet? Look no further than this healthy tomato and goat cheese toast. With a brush of garlic and olive oil, and a quick oven bake (even quicker in a toaster oven), this toast is definitely worthy of serving at brunch or as a hearty side-dish at dinner. Get the recipe.

Poached Eggs and Rainbow Chard Toast

Photo from Brooklyn Supper

Perfect for weekend brunch, or a quick and easy weeknight dinner, this egg-and-chard toast is a light meal that’s dense in nutrients. Get the recipe.

Avocado Pomegranate Toast

Photo from Live, Eat, Learn

Okay, okay, if you’re still enamoured with avocado toast that’s cool. But why not up your avo-toast game with a layer of mozzarella and a sprinkle of pomegranate seeds. The antioxidant boost alone makes it worth the effort, and the seasonal colour combo makes it a solid choice for a holiday brunch. Get the recipe.

Need to up your toaster game too ? Check out our selection of toasters from brands like T-Fal, Sunbeam, KitchenAid, and more.

5 Tips for Designing Your Own Holiday Greeting Cards

No you’re not reading this post wrong – it’s October and yes we’re talking about the holidays already! But take our word for it, now is the perfect time to start working on your holiday greeting cards. Especially if you’re planning to send cards to elsewhere in the world, you’ll want to get an early start so that they arrive on time. And getting them done early also allows you to spend a bit of time personalizing your cards to make them extra special!

Sending personalized greeting cards to family and friends is great way to spread some holiday cheer, and update everyone on what you’ve been up to over the past year. And while we love the internet, we think it’s better to skip the e-cards and go for traditional mailed cards for the most thoughtful and personal holiday message. Our LDExperts have rounded up their top tips for designing your own holiday greetings cards, to help get you started:

1. Be conscientious of your recipients’ traditions

As you’re going through your list of people you’d like to send greeting cards to this season, make notes of what type of holiday card should go to each person. Our Photolab has a variety of personalized greeting card options with Christmas, Hanukkah and general Winter-themed templates, so no matter what their family traditions, you can find a beautiful card to customize for them.

2. Pick a favourite photo (or two!) to personalize your card

Once upon a time, we would slide a print photo or two into a generic holiday card, as a way to keep our family and friends updated on how things have changed over the last year. After all, a lot can change in a year – whether it be a fast-growing newborn, a furry new addition to the family, or you and your better half celebrating your first Christmas together. Holiday cards are the perfect opportunity to share those important moments from that year with the people you love.

With our personalized greeting cards, you can take that all to the next level! Just choose a photo, or two, and add them to any of our greeting cards, through our Photolab site, in-store kiosks or through our London Drugs Photolab App. We have specially crafted holiday templates so you can simply drag and drop your photos, creating a perfectly personalized design in seconds. You know your mother-in-law will be impressed.

Some options for photos are:

A photo of your family from earlier this year
A photo from last year’s holiday celebrations
A styled photo from your own holiday photo shoot!

3. Share a special message from the heart

The key to a truly special holiday greeting card is a heartfelt message. Are they celebrating their first Christmas as a couple? Is their little one celebrating their first Christmas? Or maybe they’re away from home during the holidays? With our personalized greeting cards, you can add your own message for the recipient that is 100% unique, and touches on an aspect of their life. Create one individually for each person on your list – it’s guaranteed to make their mailbox a little merrier.

If you’re strapped for time, or aren’t one for words, even a simple message wishing them a wonderful holiday will go a long way. And you can easily order multiple copies to pop in the mail for all your family and friends.

4. Give your greeting cards a professional finish

Choosing a higher quality paper material won’t just wow your recipient, it will also be more durable, so they’re less likely to be damaged when sent by mail or when they’re opened.

When ordering double-sided cards, folded cards, or postcards from our Photolab, you can choose from either traditional card stock or one of our 6 specialty papers, which will give your cards that extra special touch – literally. Our specialty papers come in linen natural white, linen white, matte soft white, matte white, shimmer silver, and shimmer soft gold

5. Add your personal signature

Add a final personal touch by signing each card by hand. It might seem like a small detail, but it can really make your card stand out. Just make sure to give it a few seconds for the ink to dry, before closing your card and putting it in the envelope. You don’t want to smudge things, right at the very end!

Once your personalized greeting cards are ready to go, make sure to get them in the mail early! Ideally, you want your greeting cards to reach their recipients by early to mid-December, and the further they need to go, the sooner they should be put in the mail. Luckily, we offer Canada Post services at many of our London Drugs locations, you so can drop them off the next time you’re in the store!

Tricks & Tips for Taking Better Halloween Photos

From costumes to jack-o’-lanterns, Halloween presents some really fun photo ops for you to capture great family memories. So dust the cobwebs off your camera, and follow these tricks and tips from our LDExperts to help you snap Halloween photos that won’t come back to haunt you!

Tips for Better Halloween Costume Photos

Kids grow up so fast, and if we’re being honest, some of our favourite photos to look back on are the Halloween photos. Their cute costumes immediately show us what their favourite movie character was at the time, what their childhood idol was, or even what they wanted to be when they grew up. Point being: capturing your kids’ Halloween costumes means you’ll have lots of great memories to look back on! For the best costume photos, follow these handy photography tips from our LDExperts:

Shoot with natural light

Natural day-time lighting will be the most flattering for your photos, so avoid taking them on Halloween night once the sun’s gone down. If Halloween lands on a weekday (as it does this year), most kids will have the chance to dress up in their Halloween costumes and wear them to school. That’s your best chance to snap some daylight photos of them all dressed up. That, and because they’re not actually going out trick-or-treating yet, they may not be bundled up with jackets and hats like they will be when going door-to-door. If before-school photos aren’t an option, then why not do a costume test-run with them a few days prior to Halloween, and take the photos then?

Take a knee

For the best photos of your kids, you should be taking the photos in line with their eye level, or just above it. That might mean taking a knee so that you’re on their level. This way, you’ll be able to show off them in their costume head-on, as opposed to having a more obscured view from above.

Don’t use flash

Ideally, you can follow Tip #1 and shoot in the daylight, but if you decide you want to shoot some photos of your little ones in their element while trick-or-treating, there a couple of things to keep in mind. First, is to avoid using flash. If you already have some nice spooky lighting to work with, a flash likely won’t do it any favours. Instead, work with that ambient lighting and simply use a high ISO or your camera’s Night Mode. The high ISO will allow you to snap your photos with less light available. Some DSLRs will be able to go up to an ISO of 3400 and let in plenty of light while not creating too much image noise. However, as a general rule of thumb, keep your ISO as low as you can go without the photo blurring, and set your camera on shutter priority mode. If you’re photographing your kids in action while trick-or-treating, we recommend a shutter speed of at least 1/200.

Limit your movements

For the best results when shooting photos at lower light with these settings, you’ll want to stand as still as you can while taking the photos. It’s best if your subjects aren’t moving around too much either. Ideally, use a tripod if you can, as this will help make your photos as sharp as possible.

If you’re chasing your little trick-or-treaters from house-to-house, and staying still just isn’t possible, embrace the blurriness and have some fun creating ghostly images!

Once you’ve got the perfect Halloween costume photos, it’s time to choose a favourite or two and create something fun with them! Our Photolab has Halloween-themed templates available for a bunch of different customizable products, from photo mugs and cards to photo books and even aluminum metal panels.

Tips for Better Jack-O’-Lantern Photos

Carving out pumpkins to make jack-o’-lanterns is a time-honoured Halloween tradition, and for many, it’s a family affair! It’s always fun to look back on Halloweens past to see how the kids’ pumpkin carving skills have advanced – and maybe yours too! To capture your jack-o’-lanterns at their spookiest, follow these handy photography tips from our LDExperts:

Choose a dark room

A good jack-o’-lantern photo is all about letting the candlelight shine, creating that spooky, glowing face. We recommend choosing a location that doesn’t have very much light (the less the better). For the spookiest results, use a surface that will reflect some of that ghoulish light – like in the photo above.

Create that spooky glow

Light your candles and pop them into the pumpkins. You’ll want to make sure you have enough light coming through the pumpkin carvings, so if you need to add another candle or two to make the light really pour out, then go for it!

Work in Manual Mode

Just as we discussed above when shooting photos of your kids’ Halloween costumes, in low light, you’ll need to adjust accordingly. Again, stay away from flash here. Keep your ISO as low as the camera is able to (let’s say around 100 ISO), otherwise you may see too much noise in your pictures. In Manual mode on your camera, adjust your aperture to the desired depth-of-field. Be careful not to allow your aperture to be too wide – it will make any bright spots, like the glowing eyes and mouth, take over the rest of your image. Finally, select your shutter speed. You may want to choose a slow shutter speed, although if you are using a tripod, which we recommend, the shutter speed shouldn’t matter as much.

Shoot at Twilight

If you want to shoot your jack-o’-lantern while it’s on display on your porch, the best time is twilight: 20 minutes or so after the sun has gone down. At that time, your glowing jack-o’-lantern will generally produce about the same amount of light as what’s in the night sky. This will make it easier for you to capture the spookiness of your jack-o’-lantern without worrying about losing too much sharpness and detail in the photos.

Once you’ve mastered that spooky jack-o’-lantern shot, just imagine what it’ll look like printed! Our Photolab’s aluminum metal panels have the option of Halloween-themed templates, and the infused dyes will make that fiery pumpkin glow look even more vibrant.

5 Creative Ways to Share Your Smartphone Photos

Let’s be honest, for most of us, our smartphone has also become our primary camera. It makes sense – our phones are always with us, and so we’re naturally more likely to pull them out to capture moments happening around us. That’s why we created the London Drugs Photolab App, to help you easily share those smartphone photos beyond just your Instagram or Facebook!

We’re excited to announce that our Android Photolab App has just been updated to include creative products, so whether you use our iOS or Android version, you will now be able to order not only prints, but everything from photo books and calendars, to pet bowls and canvas gallery wraps.

To give you some inspiration for all the amazing things you can create with your photos using our App, check out these ideas from our LDExperts:

1. ‘Best Eats’ Photo Book

We’ve all done it: before you dive into that delicious looking gourmet burger, you’ve got to take a snapshot of it first with your phone. By now, you might even have a collection of photos of all the best eats you’ve had around town! If so, why not upload them to our App and create your very own ‘Best Eats’ photo book? You can even customize the photo book to include your personal reviews and other notes (ex. ‘best truffle fries I’ve ever had!’). Next time you’re struggling to pick a good restaurant for dinner, you’ll be able to flip through your book, and see which photo makes your mouth water.

2. The Sweetest Birthday Card

Your BFFs birthday is coming up, but rather than scouring through the card aisle, why not make a customized birthday card for them, right from your smartphone? Find a priceless selfie you’ve snapped with your BFF and add it to any of our templated birthday cards. Even add your own personalized birthday message inside! Your card is guaranteed to stand out against the others and will show her just how special she is to you.

3. Customized Your Calendar

If you’ve got a whole bunch of storage on your smartphone, you probably have photos that have been sitting on there for quite a while…maybe there’s photos that have been sitting on there for a year! Do a quick dig and pull one favourite photo from each month, and create your own customized calendar with them. The best part? Our calendars can start on any month, so no need to wait until the New Year. No excuse not to stay organized now.

4. Get Fine Art in a Flash

Have you ever taken an artsy photo with your phone and thought ‘Wow, that’s the money shot!’? We can help you turn that perfect photo into something you can proudly hang on your wall – yes, directly from your smartphone! Choose from our textured canvas gallery wraps or even a high-gloss aluminum metal panel to showcase your incredible shot in all its glory.

5. Treat Your Furry Friend

If your phone is brimming of photos of your pets why not put some of those adorable snaps to good use? Among the wide range of creative products our Photolab offers is personalized pet bowls! You can order a small or large pet bowl straight from our App, and customize it with a photo of your furry friend. You can even add their name! How cute.

There really are endless ways to share and display your smartphone photos. Just download our London Drugs Photolab App for Android or iOS to explore the full selection of prints and creative photo products we offer!

Beautiful Canada: 10 Stunning Places to Enjoy Fall Leaves

For many, autumn means falling leaves for crunching underfoot or raking into a piles for canon-balling. For us, autumn’s colourful by-products are a full sensory experience. Right now, trees all over the country are exploding in shades of red, orange, and gold. Canada is a beautiful country year round, but the fall leaves bring something special.

Whether you’re in the middle of the city, out in the country, or deep in the mountains, trees are celebrating the change in weather and giving us a spectacular show. And we’re giving them a standing ovation!

Nicely done, Canada. Nicely, done.

Here are 10 stunning places to enjoy autumn – and the fall leaves – in beautiful Canada.

1. Stanley Park, Vancouver, British Columbia

Stanley Park - Beautiful Canada: 10 Stunning Places To Enjoy Fall Leaves

Photo via Fionalucyw

There’s something quintessentially West Coast about wandering around a drizzly Vancouver seawall with a pumpkin-spiced latte in hand, and enjoying the coziness of Stanley Park.

2. Cassidy, British Columbia

Cassidy calibreus - Beautiful Canada: 10 Stunning Places To Enjoy Fall Leaves

Photo via Calibreus

Who wouldn’t want to take a fall adventure down this path in Cassidy, B.C.? It’s the perfect blend of colours, transitioning from summer to fall with rustic elegance, and just a hint of mystery. How exciting!

3. Kelowna, British Columbia

Kelowna - Beautiful Canada: 10 Stunning Places To Enjoy Fall Leaves

Photo via Robyn-Nikx

You, too, can bundle up in Kelowna and enjoy the crunchiness of leaves, warm sunshine, and a rambling stream before the weather turns colder. Just pack up the truck and take a quick drive out to Mission Creek Regional Park to explore!

4. New Denver, British Columbia

New Denver - Beautiful Canada: 10 Stunning Places To Enjoy Fall Leaves

Photo via The Back Country Foodie

If this isn’t the perfect weekend, we don’t know what is. Nothing says fall coziness more than an afternoon in the park with our fur-babies. Who packed the picnic?

5. Princes Island Park, Calgary, Alberta

Princes Island Parrk, Calgary - Beautiful Canada: 10 Stunning Places To Enjoy Fall Leaves

Photo via Hasina.Kassam

Even in the middle of the city, Calgarians enjoy the ambiance of fall nature and people watching in Prince’s Island Park.

6. The Rocky Mountains, Alberta

Photo via The_traveling_life_gast

Want to get away from it all? The Rocky Mountains in Alberta are the perfect fall getaway from… everything. Nothing but rugged wilderness out here!

7. Waskasiu Prince Albert Park, Saskatchewan

Waskasiu Lake, Saskatchewan - Beautiful Canada: 10 Stunning Places To Enjoy Fall Leaves

Photo via Herry.with.an.e

Frost is showing up in some parts of Saskatchewan already – like here, in Waskasiu Prince Albert Park. But that doesn’t stop us! The gold in those trees makes us feel like we’re treasure hunting!

8. Mont Pinacle, Quebec

Mont Pinacle Park - Beautiful Canada: 10 Stunning Places To Enjoy Fall Leaves

Photo by Captured_by_nico

Now that’s a view! While we love the scenery in Mont Pinacle, it’s the cozy rainbow of fall colours the trees are displaying that warms our hearts.

9. Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton, Ontario - Beautiful Canada: 10 Stunning Places To Enjoy Fall Leaves

Photo via Argenel

We think we’ll stop and sit a while. Right here. If you bring the hot cocoa, we’ll meet you there.

10. Nova Scotia (or out your own back door!)

Halifax Canada - Beautiful Canada: 10 Stunning Places To Enjoy Fall Leaves

Photo via Seandmcmullen

Leaves are a brilliant red in Nova Scotia this time of year. It has us all fired up! But chances are, if you look out your own backdoor, they’re just as colourful. We’re sure lucky to live in such a beautiful place.

How are you enjoying our Beautiful Canada this fall?

Share your Beautiful Canada and fall leaf inspiration and tag us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest or YouTube !

October Book of the Month: China Rich Girlfriend

China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan

In China Rich Girlfriend, Kevin Kwan’s glitzy sequel to the New York Times bestseller (and blockbuster movie), Crazy Rich Asians, Kwan once again takes us on a dizzying journey into a world of wealth and privilege that few of us will ever experience first-hand. Kwan’s descriptions of luxury designer brands and excess are jaw-dropping and, as you turn the pages, you may find yourself in turn entranced and horrified by the over-the-top affluence of the world he describes.

At the end of Crazy Rich Asians, Nick Young, the fabulously wealthy, dashing heir to a Singapore fortune, proposed to his modestly-raised American girlfriend Rachel Chu, and fell out with his meddling relatives. China Rich Girlfriend picks up two years later as Nick and Rachel prepare to head to the altar in a comparatively low-key but (of course) luxurious Californian wedding surrounded by Rachel’s relatives.

At the wedding rehearsal dinner, the couple is visited by Nick’s scheming mother Eleanor Young, who has hired a private investigator to track down Bao Gaoliang, a wealthy politician in China who claims to be Rachel’s estranged father. Rachel’s world is thrown into a tailspin as she learns that she has a family she never knew about in China. Gaoliang is now married to Bao Shaoyen and they have a son, Carlton, who is the spitting image of Rachel.

Once the shock wears off, Rachel and Nick decide to honeymoon in China to meet her new extended family. Of course, things don’t go all that smoothly when Rachel turns up. Shaoyen is threatened by her husband’s oldest daughter and she makes her feelings clear, forbidding anyone in her family from associating with the newcomers. Carlton and his girlfriend, Collette Bing, ignore her request and spend time getting to know Rachel and Nick, even travelling to Paris with them. Without giving up too many spoilers, events take a turn for the worse and there are tearful confessions, arrests, someone is poisoned, and more than one of the characters will fall from grace.

Elsewhere we learn that Nick’s beautiful and alluring cousin, Astrid Leong, is struggling as her marriage to Michael is crumbling. Her family’s wealth has always been a bone of contention between her and her self-made husband. As his business has become more successful he has grown increasingly abusive, and in despair Astrid turns to her former fiancé, Charlie Wu, for comfort. Will she succumb to pressure and stay with her husband to avoid disgracing her family or will she break away and finally be with Charlie?

In Crazy Rich Asians we met Kitty Pong, former soap actress. In the sequel we get to know more about Kitty and her desperation to be accepted by Singapore’s elite. Kitty, who is married to the mysteriously absent Bernard Tai, hires Corinna Ko-Tung, a well-connected woman from a respected family to help her make the right connections and make some headway with Singapore’s high society. Kitty’s struggle to fit in and the scandal that seems to follow her wherever she goes makes her one of the more interesting characters in China Rich Girlfriend, and you’ll find yourself rooting for her on her journey of self-discovery.

China Rich Girlfriend will appeal to readers seeking an escapist novel, but the numerous characters and side stories can be confusing at times. You will need to concentrate to remember who is who and how they’re connected. Overall it is an entertaining romp through a world like no other with glamorous stops in Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Paris.

Book of the Month

Every month we will be featuring a book to be showcased in our Book of the Month. Staff members and friends will be reading the book and posting their reviews. We’d love to hear what you thought of these books as well. Post your comments and let us know. China Rich Girlfriend is available at London Drugs along with many other great titles and is on sale for the month of October.