The zipper. Avril Lavigne. Degrassi Junior High. All quality Canadian productions (hey, don’t judge)… then shows like “The Guard” come out and give them all a bad name. Sometimes turning on the CBC makes me want to cringe. When it comes to mags though, can we redeem ourselves? The market for women’s health magazines is continuously growing so it was only a matter of time before a Canadian equivalent emerged. First to step up to the plate, none other than Reader’s Digest with its new Best Health mag, specifically catering to health conscious Canadian women. With healthy menu options and new gyms popping up all the time, let’s see what this magazine has to offer. Get the whole story

Reena’s Tips of the Week:

S.O.S pads are dirt cheap, but that doesn’t make having to replace them so often due to rust any less annoying. There’s actually an equally inexpensive solution to this common household problem.

Gotta cut down on the caffeine but the tea addiction kinda gettin’ in the way? Well, there isn’t a solution that will decaffeinate your favourite drink, but we’ve got something that might help ease the nerves.

Stop scrubbing those pots! The green/blue hue that develops at the bottom of your stainless steel pots can be easily avoided.

Click on for the details! Get the whole story

What’s the one thing missing from your favourite neighbourhood restaurant? The one thing that would make it really special?

If you ask residents of Taipei and Hong Kong, it’s the opportunity to eat out of toilet bowls and drink from urinals. Yup, you heard me right. The restaurant chain Modern Toilet prides itself on having its patrons sit on toilets while they eat out of miniature toilet bowls and drink from urinals. And if you’re still hungry after that hot potty pot, you can even order some stylishly shaped ice cream severd up in a bidet. If that doesn’t tickle your gag reflex taste buds, I don’t know what will. Yummy!

According to Canadian company Hansa Resources, the new Klondyke is in Sweden – more precisely Överturingen. They’ve recently signed a $2.8 million deal with two Swedish women for the rights to the gold the women found while on a blueberry picking trip.

Siv Wiik (69) and Harriet Svensson (64) are chefs and label themselves as “hobby geologists.” They’ve been searching for gold for over 40 years but on the 21st of August, 2007, they were out looking for blueberries. “When we couldn’t find any berries, we cracked out the geologist hammers and started chipping away at the bedrock” says Svensson to Dagbladet. After chipping away at an outcropping that had shown signs of gold in the past, they saw something that “shimmered like a fish.” When they took the rock for analysis they found that a third of it was zink and over 23 grams was pure gold. The sample also contained silver and lead.

Now, six months later, the failed blueberry trip has turned into a literal gold mine. Hansa Resources will pay Wiik and Svensson $600,000 over the next 4 years and they also get a 20% share of the profits of the gold sold. But for the two women, what matters the most is the investment and development in the local community. As part of the deal, Hansa Resources will invest $1.7 million in work programs that will be turned into jobs for the locals.

Some stats revealed in a recent survey of 2,000 young people (16 – 24) from around the world:

• 7 out of 10 women believe it is a man’s job to provide contraceptives – while a third of women believe carrying a condom will mark them as being ‘easy.’

• 1 in 6 women carry condoms in their handbags – with many saying that a pen or gum were more essential contents for a good night out.

• 52% of young people list HIV and AIDS as their biggest concern but 34% surveyed had unprotected sex with two or more partners.

• Men are more worried than women about getting AIDS but engage in riskier behaviour. When asked, only 44% of men, compared to 68% of women, would refuse their partner sex if they were not wearing a condom.

Pretty unnerving numbers if you ask me, that reflect the current attitudes toward safe sex amongst today’s youth. For more stats, read on. Get the whole story

I just have one thing to say: WTF?! Click on this TheTyee article for an explanation on a bizarre trend that can only come from Japan. And if this isn’t enough, there’s always more at JapaneseBugFights.com

In a new Dabbler travel mini-series, writer and seasoned globetrotter Valerie McTavish offers Snapshots from her current travels in Cambodia and Vietnam. First stop: Angkor Wat, the 12th century temple in Angkor depicted on the national flag of Cambodia and made famous by Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider.

The rain came as we began our descent. Big drops on a dusty forest trail, welcome after a day of dry thirty-eight degree heat. We join the herd of tourists heading down in the dusk. All the stereotypes are present. Us; independent travellers (not tourists!) be-decked in MEC clothes, fully prepared with flashlight in hand. We’re focused on a mission as we negotiate our way past shuffling slipper-footed girls huddled under umbrellas and pasty-legged retirees struggling with the physical demand challenged by their girth. We move in stealth silence. The quiet might be confused with sacred reverence on this mound at the heart of Cambodia – home to the world’s largest temple. In truth, our mood is more of disappointment. In the final moments of the sunset, blooming clouds destroyed our hopes of seeing the golden temple. Angkor Wat illuminated at sunset is a trophy shot sought by all visitors. Get the whole story

From Telegraph.co.uk: As part of its new natural history series, Miracles of Evolution, the BBC today screened some amazing footage of Adélie penguins on King George Island, some 750 miles south of the Falkland Islands.

The programme is presented by ex-Monty Python star Terry Jones, who said: “We’d been watching the penguins and filming them for days, without a hint of what was to come. “But then the weather took a turn for the worse. It was quite amazing. Rather than getting together in a huddle to protect themselves from the cold, they did something quite unexpected, that no other penguins can do.”

I am extremely low maintenance. I remind my boyfriend of this often when he balks at the minutes it takes me to get ready before we leave the house. You could almost consider me NO maintenance. But this little challenge left me to be “that” girl at the gym with a completely made up face to go and sweat it out – all in the name of journalistic integrity. Can CoverGirl convert me? With the new Outlast All-Day Lipcolor and LashBlast Volume Blasting Mascara in hand, I’m ready to take them on. Lucky for them, I’m a die-hard mascara wearer, but lipstick? Not so much. Kissable lips, luscious lashes, and all of it easy and long lasting? We’ll see. Get the whole story

Cancer hits home for Honey Dew Day Spa owner Kristen Foote, who has decided to do her part:

“Last year, 7 people I know were affected by cancer,” says Kristen. “My host mom in New Zealand died of stomach cancer, my ex-boyfriend’s mom has breast cancer, my uncle died from stage four esophagus cancer, and my great aunt developed a cancer of the abdominal lining and passed away at the end of December.”

Honey Dew staffers have been affected by cancer, too, with a worker’s mom passing away from intestinal cancer and the beloved massage therapist, Tori, coming to grips with her mother’s diagnosis of melanoma.

“My grandpa is constantly battling skin cancer from years of working on the railroads,” said Kristen. “And because Honey Dew Day Spa is a skin centre, I thought a fundraiser for skin cancer was a good fit.”

So take a trip down to The New Bohemian Restaurant & Social Lounge next Wednesday for a great evening. There will be a raffle for some fabulous gift baskets, goodie bags, hand massages by donation and models showing off some of the season’s hottest fashions. You will also be able to stock up on your summer SPF and sunless tanner knowing that the proceeds will be going to The Skin Care Centre. And get there early cause free appies will be served from 6 to 7 PM.

Tickets available at: Honey Dew Day Spa & Ridge Hairstyling, The New Bohemian, HotBox & Riot.

Honey Dew will also be running a Sun Awareness Week from April 7 – 12 where 10% of all sunless tanner sessions and sunscreen sales will go to The Skin Care Centre. Donations will also be collected during this week, with tax receipts available for donations over $25.