LD Picks: Fabulous Fall Recipes

When fall arrives, we can’t help but crave hearty, home-cooked meals. 

Roasted Beet Kale Salad with Maple Candied Walnuts

favourite fall recipes 2015

Kale, walnust, maple syrup, roasted beets, and Boursin cheese – basically, we’re talking the perfect fall salad. It’s healthy, hearty, delicious, and keeps for a few days in the fridge. What’s not to love? Just don’t forget to massage the kale to soften it up before mixing the salad.

[Recipe at The Endless Meal]

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4 Scenic Reasons to Visit Saskatchewan

As popular as our #beautifulcanada photo series is, we can’t help but notice that some of the favourite posts are from our interior provinces. We’re talking to you, Saskatchewan. We may only have four London Drugs stores there but there’s no denying the wonder of Saskatchewan scenery. Here, four reasons you should probably make a trip out to the underrated province. Bonus: The people are as lovely as the scenery. Check out a small-town diner for a real Corner Gas effect.

1. The Northern Lights

A photo posted by Dean Kertai (@dkertai) on

This wonder of the world is visible all over the province, but some of the best views have been from the TransCanada Highway outside of Saskatoon. People travel from around the world to see the Aurora Borealis, so if you’re Canadian and you’ve never been, take advantage. You might have to travel to get there, but the show’s free.

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LD Picks: 23 Killer Jack-O-Lantern Ideas

OK, so we might have gone a little pumpkin crazy. But once you start looking at all of the amazing jack o’ lantern ideas out there, you just can’t stop! Here we’ve collected 23 of our very favourite inspirations for turning your plain pumpkin into a work of Halloween art. We hope they help and inspire — after all, Halloween will be here before we know it!

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1. Skeleton Pumpkins

Someone’s reaching out to you … but who?? Try this two-part pumpkin carving idea for maximum scare value.

Skeleton Pumpkins

Photo courtesy of Country Living

[How-to at Country Living]

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2. Sparkly Pumpkins

Who says New Year’s Eve should be the holiday with all the glitz? Try making these pumpkins sparkle to add a bit of glam to this year’s ghoulish gala.

Sparkly Pumpkin

Photo courtesy of The Farmer’s Daughter

[How-to at The Farmer’s Daughter]

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3. Constellation Pumpkins

A little chalkboard spray paint and a string of fairy lights are the secrets behind this night sky-themed jack o’ lantern. Find out all the steps here (slide 28).

Constellation Pumpkin

Image courtesy of Country Living

[How-to at Country Living]

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4. Mummy Pumpkins

They just might be the cutest mummies ever. These googly-eyed pumpkins are fun and easy to whip up with the little ones, too.

How to make a mummy pumpkin

Photo courtesy of Hands On As We Grow

[How-to at Hands On As We Grow]

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5. Black Cat Pumpkins

Cat o’ lanterns, anyone? The bonus here is that there’s no need to hollow out the body of the pumpkin. Clean hands–aaah!–and sleek felines guarding your door.

Black cat pumpkins

Photo courtesy of Sunset magazine

[How-to at Sunset]

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October Book of the Month

book_of_the_month_blog

Chance-HarborChance Harbor by Holly Robinson
Catherine and Zoe are sisters, but even their mother, Eve admits her daughters are nothing alike. Catherine is calm and responsible. Zoe is passionate and rebellious. Nobody is surprised when Zoe gets pregnant, drops out of college, and spirals into drug addiction.
One Night Catherine gets a call from Zoe’s terrified daughter, Willow, saying her mother has abandoned her in a bus station and disappeared. Eve blames herself, while Catherine, unable to have children, is delighted to raise Willow as her own.
Now, five years later, Eve is grieving her husband’s death and making reluctant plans to sell the family’s beloved summer home on Prince Edward Island. But a series of unexpected revelations will upend the family and rock three generations of women.

Reviews
“An intriguing story about 3 generations of women and their relationship challenges – with each other and the men in their lives. Catherine, the older, responsible sister seems to have the perfect life – good job, great husband and Zoe, the irresponsible, younger sister has had difficulty with addiction and an unplanned pregnancy. The book is full of surprises and a great, easy read. Loved it!” – Review by Janice

Book of the Month
Every month we will be featuring a new 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 book as well. Post your comments and let us know.

Chance Harbor is available at London Drugs along with many other great titles and is on sale for the month of October.

4 Healthy Getaways for Fall

Sometimes, you need to recharge. It can be hard to do in a busy life – work, family, kids, friends, hobbies, chores, errands…. So why not get away for a bit? Even a few days is enough time to rest, breathe, and get back at it. We’ve gathered a few therapeutic retreat options that might be just what you need.

lake louise wellness retreat

Image courtesy of Flickr user Stephen Liu

Yoga in Banff

yoga retreat alberta british columbia

Image courtesy of Flickr user Matthew Ragan

If you want to get away for some self-reflection but wilderness isn’t really your thing, this yoga retreat at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise is for you. The retreat includes two nights’ luxury accommodation at the hotel, gourmet meals, and a selection of yoga & meditation classes as well as a few nature walks around beautiful Lake Louise. Worried about a retreat being too rigid? The schedule is entirely optional – attendees are free to join activities as they wish (meaning you can sneak away for a mid-afternoon savasana). Namaste.

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5 On-Trend Costumes Ideas for Halloween 2015

Inside Out

Inside Out Halloween Costume

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Pikawil

Pixar is brilliant at creating adorable characters than children want to emulate. But Inside Out is going to be great fun for adults too! Get a crew together to represent Joy, Sadness, and Disgust (and Anger and Fear too!). There are makeup tutorials available here.

Taylor Swift with her squad

Taylor Swift and her Squad

Image via Flickr user marcen27

Being the year of Taylor Swift, it’s inevitable that there will be countless Taylor Swift costumes out there. But this one is extra fun. Once you’ve got your sparkly dress and high heels and red lipstick, attach a bunch of dolls to your belt to represent your squad (you can even add a Ken-doll Calvin Harris!).

#thedress

#thedress Halloween Costume

Photo courtesy of Yandy.com

It’s been a while since the internet was swept with #thedress, but it won’t take much for people to be reminded. Was it black and blue or white and gold? Find two dresses and sew them together (half and half!) or make it a partner costume, each representing one version. You can also go all-out and order this one online.

Emojis

Emoji Halloween Costume
Emojis have been a popular Halloween costume for awhile, but with the new keyboard being released on iOS this year, there are plenty more to impersonate! Get a group of girls with multiple colours of hair & skin to wear pink shirts and represent the sassy girl emoji, or rep the costume classics – the salsa dancer and the twinning girls.

Donald Trump

donald trump halloween costume

Image via Flickr user iprimages

This is an easy one. All you need is a suit, a red tie, and some really bad hair.

4 Fantastic Weekend Roadtrips for Vancouverites

Vancouverites tend to stick around the city more than people from other major Canadian centres. Perhaps this is due to the diverse options for entertainment – restaurants and microbreweries, shopping and shows, hiking and sailing. Maybe it’s because many locals don’t own cars (being spoiled with excellent public transit and car sharing services). However, it’s always nice to get away, so we’re saying pack up your Evo and hit the road in search of new horizons. We’ve got four great recommendations here.

Ross Lake, British Columbia (Driving distance: 210 km)

A photo posted by Madeline (@madelinejones_) on

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