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Monday, October 31, 2016

7 Not So Junky Junk Foods to Grab and Go

Road trips, gas stops, no time for lunch; we’ve all found ourselves at the convenience store for a fast bite on the go. While a bag of chips or chocolate bar may be an option we later regret; there are fast bites that can actually offer some health benefits. Dr. Christopher Calapai, a board certified expert in osteopathic medicine specializing in longevity, offers some junk food options to consider the next time there’s no time for an actual meal.


1. Blue M&M’s and Blue Gatorade

Don’t get the blues about all food dyes. From candy to sports drinks, the unnatural colors of foods today can make you cringe at the thought of what’s making them colored. But, not all colored dyes are as bad as you may think. Research done by scientists at the University of Rochester found that Brilliant Blue G (BBG), found in blue M & M’s and blue Gatorade, could help reduce damage from spine injuries. When BBG was injected into lab rats with spinal cord injuries, it sped up their recovery time and ability to walk.

2. Cheeze Whiz?? No way!!

Fat isn’t always a bad word. The FDA has stated that not only are all trans fats not bad, some are actually good for you. Conjugated Linoleic Acids (CLAs), although high in calories can help fight cancer, weight gain, diabetes and arthritis. It’s hard to believe, but CLAs are found in Cheese Whiz.

3. Pork Rinds

Just the words pork rinds sound like instant heart attack. However did you know they are a fantastic source of protein? A one-ounce serving of this fried snack has seventeen grams of protein, seven times the amount of found in a serving of potato chips. Plus, 43% of the fat found in pork rinds come from oleic acid, the same healthy fat found in olive oil.

4. Beer

Some studies have found that beer can actually help increase bone mineral density because it contains silicon, making bones stronger and less likely to fracture. A Harvard University study found that beer could prevent blood clots and reduce the risk of stroke. Italian researchers found that beer can raise HDL, the good cholesterol in your body. Opt for a light beer with fewer calories to avoid that full feeling.

5. Graham Crackers

They are the next best things to cookies if you’re trying to keep your health in mind. Graham crackers contain much less sugar than regular cookies and are still sweet enough to satisfy a craving. Plus, they are made with flour that undergoes a special milling process, preserving more of the whole wheat than in usual milling.

6. Popcorn

This is a snack that gets two thumbs up. Popcorn is packed with fiber and polyphenols, which are antioxidants that help to protect us from heart disease and certain cancers. Surprisingly, popcorn has more iron than eggs and spinach! It is also gluten-free, which makes it an option for those with Celiac Disease and other gluten allergies. Lastly, popcorn is mostly air. This means it fills you up, helping to stave off hunger cravings.

7. Beef Jerky

Forget about the leather-tasting jerky of years past, today’s gourmet jerky is delicious and can be healthy. Beef Jerky, just like its non-dried version of meat, is high in protein, iron and zinc. It, also, contains heart-healthy monounsaturated fats. Be sure to look for natural beef jerky as the newer gourmet styles that are packed with flavor and free of nitrates.



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Jackie Evancho "Someday at Christmas" - New Album Out 10/28

Platinum-selling, 16-year-old vocal sensation Jackie Evancho just released her latest holiday album, Someday at Christmas (Portrait Records) on October 28. The album features well-known Pop and Opera stars including Italian vocal trio Il Volo, legendary Placido Domingo, YouTube star Peter Hollens, and tenor Vittorio Grigolo. Someday at Christmas is filled with classic Christmas and popular holiday songs, some previously recorded and not widely released, plus two newly recorded songs, “Someday at Christmas” and “The Little Drummer Boy” (with Il Volo).

Jackie Evancho dazzled American television audiences at age ten gaining global recognition with her stunning debut on NBC’s America’s Got Talent. Since then, she has released a string of platinum and gold albums, with sales of over 2.5 million in the U.S., acted in Robert Redford’s The Company You Keep alongside Susan Sarandon and performed for President and Mrs. Obama at the National Christmas Tree Lighting in Washington D.C. Her broad successes lead Billboard Magazine to include Jackie on their list of “music movers-and-shakers under the age of 21” in 2011 and again in 2012.

Someday at Christmas tracklisting:

1. Someday at Christmas
2. Do You Hear What I Hear?
3. Guardian Angels (with Placido Domingo)
4. Little Drummer Boy
5. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
6. Pie Jesu from Requiem (with Placido Domingo)
7. Christmas Waltz
8. Hallelujah (with Peter Hollens)
9. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)
10. O Holy Night (with Vittorio Grigolo)
11. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
12. Little Drummer Boy (with Il Volo)


Buy Someday at Christmas here:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2f9X14c
iTunes: http://smarturl.it/EvanchoChristmas
Google Play: http://smarturl.it/EvanchoChristmas-gp

You can stay up-to-date with Jackie via her social media below:





Disclosure: I did not receive any products nor was paid for this post. I was given info and streaming links at no charge from Sony Music Masterworks. Any expressed opinions are my own and personal thoughts. No other compensation was given.


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Infographic: Doctor Strange Trivia


Infographic courtesy of morphsuits.com.

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Thursday, October 27, 2016

Fan Expo Vancouver is November 11-13, 2016


Fan Expo Vancouver returns with a 3-day pop culture, star-studded celebration happening at the Vancouver Convention Centre from November 11-13. We are super excited! Are you? Fans of all ages are welcome to attend Vancouver's largest pop culture event.  This fantastic event features a mix of comic, sci-fi, anime, and gaming genres.

I will definitely be there as photographer (along with my photographer assistant) and will be capturing every moment of it. We will also be doing photoshoots with cosplayers in the area near the Vancouver Convention Centre. Let us know if you are going. Maybe we can arrange something.

Ticket Prices:
Premium Package $109
Deluxe Weekend Pass $79
Friday Pass $30 / Saturday Pass $40 / Sunday Pass $35
Child Pass (6-12 years) $12
Child Pass (5 & under) FREE


Photo Ops are on sale today! This will be your chance to have your photo taken with your favourite celebrity! See the Photo Op Schedule below:


Tip: If you purchase your Photo Ops online, you will not have to line up for your barcode and timeslot. You will only need to lineup when it’s that Media Guest’s timeslot.


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Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Mental Workouts To Strengthen Your Brain

A BEAUTIFUL MIND
Mental Workouts To Strengthen Your Brain

Have you ever walked into a room and forgot what you went in there for? Perhaps you lost your train of thought mid conversation after being distracted by a noise. Maybe you forgot a name or a number or to buy milk. We’re human! We forget things. However, the more we multitask, the less we focus and the verdict is out on how this affects our brains long term.

So how do we strengthen our brains? Dr. Sanam Hafeez PsyD a New York City based licensed neuropsychologist and teaching faculty member at the prestigious Columbia University Teacher’s College, shares how we can exercise our minds and master our memory.

How do brain activities play a role in strengthening the brain?

Dr. Hafeez explains that just like physical exercise, brain exercises strengthen and keep the mind agile and active. “You have a cognitive reserve, a finite amount of memory, problem solving and visual motor even verbal reasoning skills that declines over time. The more you engage your brain, the longer you can hold on to your cognitive reserve,” explains Dr. Hafeez.

What are some brain-boosting activities someone could do before work?

There are a lot of activities one can do to boost your brain. Research shows that any stimulating activity will "boost" circulation and activate areas of the brain. According to Dr. Hafeez things like writing with your left hand, trying to remember phone numbers, doing mental math calculations, the daily crossword, or looking up a new word in the dictionary on a daily basis, helps your mind stretch in ways you can't see but certainly feel. “The frustration that you feel when doing something that’s mentally taxing is when you know your brain is getting a workout. It's good for you,” she says.

How do brain-boosting exercises help when it comes to work life?

There are a lot of websites and computer generated programs that offer memory training and visual spatial exercises. Dr. Hafeez suggests looking for puzzles, numerical sequences, and recall activities that can help boost processing speed, attention and memory. Just like your body, the more you do, the more your brain can stretch and accommodate.

How does doing these exercises before work enhance our performance?

“Doing something stimulating and challenging, before work, gets your brain geared up for the day. If you run two miles in the morning, walking seems like a stroll. Similarly, if you perform math calculations as you're driving or insist on spelling words backwards for the fun of it will make the stuff you do at work every day seem like a breeze. It'll make you more aware and vigilant not to mention focused and almost raring to keep moving from one task to the next,” Dr. Hafeez explains.

Can it enhance our performance in other areas of our lives? If so, which areas and why/how?

Mental health practitioners agree that over time, brain boosters such as learning a new language, a sport, a musical instrument, or painting, sewing, arts and crafts, boost the brain in bigger, more long-term ways. “It may even reduce or delay the onset on Alzheimer's and other mental decline, again by strengthening the cognitive reserve. Brain exercises are good for one's overall daily health and may actually protect one from more serious ailments. Daily smaller brain boosters can help with mental agility, daily memory, an active work and even social life, by helping increase attention, focus and creative, problem solving skills,” adds Dr. Hafeez.


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Blogger Opp: Bath and Body Works Event {Sign Ups}

Bath and Body Works Event Blogger Opp

Blogger Giveaway Event Sign Up:
$100 Bath and Body Works Gift Card Giveaway Event


Attention bloggers:  This is a free/paid blogger event hosted by Lil' Blog & More. Link is free when you promote the giveaway on your blog or social media and a thank-you for participating in the event.

PARTICIPATION DETAILS

* Prize:  Bath and Body Works $100 Gift Card

* Event dates: November 17, 2016 - December 10, 2016

* Eligibility: Contest is open to US & Canada

* Option 1: 1 FREE LINK (Pinterest/Twitter/Instagram/Facebook Visit)
* Option 2: 2 FREE LINKS (Pinterest/Twitter/Instagram/Facebook Visit) with announcement post.

* CO-HOSTS ($8) get up to 6 links! You get your free option #1 or #2, PLUS 4 additional links of your choosing (excluding Google+).

* EXCLUSIVE HOST ($20) gets you up to 7 links. You get your free option #1 or #2, PLUS 5 additional links of your choosing (excluding Google+).

* Agree to post the giveaway HTML on the date the event begins and promote at least 3x a week







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Monday, October 24, 2016

Create Customized Holiday Photo Cards with Basic Invite

Christmas is approaching soon. So this season, create and send beautifully customized holiday photo cards with Basic Invite. They make cards for almost every major life moment including weddings, showers, birth announcements, first birthdays, and more.

I was recently introduced to the company, offering high quality stationery service. You can choose from over 100 designs and customize with over 150 font styles. The website allows instant previews so you know what your design will look like before it goes to print.

As I was designing my own personalized holiday card, I realized we don't have many photos of our family together (my husband, my son, and I). So I'm using the last family photo I have from our summer vacation. I used the Rustic Snowflake Holiday Card template as shown below.


What I love about sending greeting cards during the winter holiday is that you can send any photo and it doesn't have to be Christmas themed. You could even use photos from your wedding, summer vacation, or any other photograph you think would be great for sharing. Basic Invite will provide the text and designs for you. There's so many to choose from that I just can't decide. Here are just some of my other favorite designs:


Basic Invite is offering 30% off their holiday cards. 
Use coupon code: HOLI30


Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. My opinions are my own and may differ from those of other consumers.


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Sunday, October 23, 2016

The 5th Annual Apple Pressfest [Photos & Recap]

Last Sunday was the 5th Annual East Vancouver Apple Pressfest held at the back of Vancouver Technical Secondary School. Despite the horrible rainy day, it was a good turnout at the event when I arrived. We've brought our mugs/jars and had a cup of some yummy apple cider. The great thing about this event is that we get to do hands-on stuff, we've met new friends and had a conversation. The staff and volunteers were also friendly. I'm looking forward to next year's event.






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Kindle Fire Giveaway

I am so excited to team up some awesome bloggers to give a reader an awesome Thanksgiving Day Surprise! Readers have the chance to win an 8 GB  Kindle Fire of their color choice. This giveaway is restricted to the United States only.

Our Co-Hosts for this giveaway:


kindfiregivewayopp

Product Details: 

  • Beautiful 7" IPS display (171 ppi / 1024 x 600) and fast 1.3 GHz quad-core processor.
  • Rear and front-facing cameras. Available in four colors.
    Coming soon: Alexa, a cloud-based voice service that provides quick access to the entertainment you want, including music, games, audiobooks, and more. Alexa also allows you to ask questions, shop, find news, weather, and more - just press the home button and ask.
  • (Coming soon) Amazon Underground, a one-of-a-kind app store experience where thousands of apps, games and even in-app items are 100% free - including extra lives, unlocked levels, unlimited add-on packs and more.
  • Enjoy millions of movies, TV shows, songs, Kindle e-books, apps and games -- including Netflix, Facebook, HBO, Pandora and more
    8 GB of internal storage.
  • Free unlimited cloud storage for all Amazon content and photos taken with Fire devices. Add a microSD card for up to 200 GB of additional storage.
  • Prime members get unlimited access to over a thousand books and magazines, more than a million songs, and thousands of movies and TV episodes - at no additional cost.
  • Up to 7 hours of reading, surfing the web, watching videos, and listening to music


{ GIVEAWAY DETAILS }

ONE (1) lucky winner will win a Kindle Fire Tablet!


Contest is open to US residents, 18+ (ends November 24th, 2016 at 11:59pm EST). All entries unless otherwise noted are optional.  Please enter the giveaway form below. The winner will be emailed and have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. Good luck!
  
Also we all “love it if you like us” on Facebook!  If you like our blogs on social media it helps us bring you only the best giveaways and more of them!

{Please wait while entry form loads...}
 
a Rafflecopter giveaway



Disclosure: Bloggers in this giveaway were not compensated and are not responsible for prize fulfillment.  This giveaway is in no way endorsed, affiliated, or associated with Facebook, Twitter or any other Social Media Networking Site. You are not eligible if you have won a prize from any of the sponsors in the last 12 month. This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.




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Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Dropprice $175 Target Gift Card Giveaway

Dropprice $175 Target Gift Card

Welcome to the Dropprice $175 Target Gift Card Giveaway!

Dropprice is an innovative startup that rewards moms for being social. Essentially, they empower moms to drop prices of kids & baby products with a click. The price continues dropping as more moms click “Drop the price”. Every week new promotions are launched and moms drop prices by sharing them on social media. See the chart below to understand the power moms have and how important it is to share with other moms.

Dropprice $175 Target Gift Card

In today’s promotion for the Copper Pearl Baby Bandana Bibs, it started out at $34.99 and for each mom that clicks, the price drops a bit. The price will continue to drop for each mom that participates.

Dropprice $175 Target Gift Card

You can choose to share on social media to get more moms to click “Drop the price”, or you can “Buy Now” at the current price. Keep in mind that when the price gets low, they usually sell out and you will no longer have the chance to buy that item. As an added bonus every item on Dropprice ships for free!

Do you want to give it a try? This is such a fun and exciting way for moms to save lots of money by collaborating with each other. If you would like to have a chance to win a $175 Target gift card, you can experience dropping the price by following the instructions below.

{ GIVEAWAY DETAILS }

ONE (1) lucky winner will win a $175 Target Gift Card!

All you have to do is help moms drop the price of these Bandana Bibs and you will be entered to win a $175 Target gift card. Just click “Drop the price” on the entry form below for a chance to win. For even more entries, share it on your social media networks via the entry form — every time one of your friends also clicks to drop the price, you’ll automatically receive additional giveaway entries!

Contest is open to US residents, 18+ (ends October 31st, 2016 at 11:59pm EST). All entries unless otherwise noted are optional.  Please enter the giveaway form below. The winner will be emailed and have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. Good luck!
  
Also we all “love it if you like us” on Facebook!  If you like our blogs on social media it helps us bring you only the best giveaways and more of them!

{Please wait while entry form loads...}
 
Click here if you don’t see the entry form below.




Disclosure: Bloggers in this giveaway were not compensated and are not responsible for prize fulfillment.  This giveaway is in no way endorsed, affiliated, or associated with Facebook, Twitter or any other Social Media Networking Site. You are not eligible if you have won a prize from any of the sponsors in the last 12 month. This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.



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Free Family Movies at Cineplex on Saturday Oct 22 (Canada)


Theatres across Canada will be screening 5 family movies for free in celebration of Cineplex Community Day on Oct. 22, 2016.

The movies showing are listed below:
* The Jungle Book
* Inside Out
* The Finest Hours
* The Good Dinosaur
* Zootopia

 

Popcorn, candy, drinks, as well as change bracelets will be available only on that day for $2.00 each. Check showtimes here: http://www.cineplex.com/Promos/CommunityDay.

Tickets will be available in person at the box office on the morning of Saturday, October 22nd. Just a note that lineups are expected and the theatre will be very busy.


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GAME ON: First Produce to Partner with Canucks

Holy Guacamole! Avocados from Mexico partners with the Canucks

[Vancouver, BC] Bring on the guac-game! Avocados from Mexico joins Vancouver Canucks Fans in cheering on Canucks as a preferred partner of the Vancouver Canucks for the 2016-2017 season.

As the first produce to partner with Vancouver Canucks, Avocados from Mexico brings innovation and adds a healthy twist for fans' classic game-day grabs at Rogers Arena. New avocado-inspired menu items available to attendees during Canucks' home games at Rogers Arena include:

  • Avocados from Mexico hot dog with guacamole (available at Steamers' locations on the 100 stadium level for $7.75 each)
  •  
  • Irresistible guacamole packets (available November 1 at six quick service sections on the Rogers Arena concourse- 106, 113, 122, 310, 324, 330)


Level up your game-day hot dog with guacamole from Avocados from Mexico.

The versatility, deliciousness and health benefits of avocados make it a hearty addition for game-day snacks. Each serving of avocado is packed with as many as 20 vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. It also contains 20% of daily recommended fibre intake.

Not only are avocados associated with multiple health benefits, they are also easy to incorporate into every meal, starting with guacamole. As a preferred partner of the Vancouver Canucks, Avocados from Mexico aims to connect and introduce even more more sports fans to the deliciousness and nutritiousness of this Avo-Lifestyle, all year round.


Avocados from Mexico partners with Canucks in bringing guacamole to fans' game-day snacks.


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Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Photo of the Day: The Drumheller Hoodoos

The Drumheller Hoodoos are geological wonders that have stood watch at the mouth of Willow Creek Coulee for thousands of years, bearing witness to the people and events that shaped the Red Deer River valley, and Alberta. See more landscape photos in my Facebook Gallery.



My Flickr Album
500px Gallery
My Facebook Page
National Geographic



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Monday, October 17, 2016

Blogger Opp: Kindle Fire Tablet Event {Sign-Ups}

Kindle Fire Giveaway Event Blogger Opp

Blogger Giveaway Event Sign Up:
Kindle Fire Tablet Giveaway Event


Attention bloggers:  This is a free/paid blogger event hosted by Heartfully Heather. Link is free when you promote the giveaway on your blog or social media and a thank-you for participating in the event. Sign-ups close October 18, 2016.

PARTICIPATION DETAILS

* Prizes: Kindle Fire Tablet

* Event dates: October 22, 2016 -

* Eligibility: Contest is open to US residents

* 1 FREE LINK (Pinterest/Twitter/Instagram/BlogLovin/YouTube) with announcement post.

* CO-HOSTS ($7) get 5 links to social media accounts, a secret word page and a daily comment on blog posts.

* Agree to post the giveaway HTML on the date the event begins and promote at least 3x a week







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