Doris Gee

Staying in shape throughout the holiday season is doubly challenging because not only does your normal schedule get disrupted, but offerings of fattening food also become much too hard to resist.   This is the routine that I am going to use over the holiday season.  You may even want to start using this routine if you aren't working out now, it would be a good prelude to starting a full blown workout routine in January.  A holiday routine

The good news is that after ten years of researching strength training, I can tell you that your hard-earned muscle gains from the rest of the year will not disappear during a few weeks

Steps to a healthier lifestyle for 2007

We’ve all heard and read about the tips we should follow to create a healthier lifestyle … how to manage stress to reduce the risk of heart attack; how to become a smart shopper to avoid trans fat or limit foods and beverages that are high in calories but low in nutrients; how more exercise and avoiding tobacco smoke contribute significantly to health. It’s clear that a healthy lifestyle can lead to both well being and longevity.

But for many of us, it’s not as easy as these “tips” may lead us to believe. There’s so much to learn! Canada’s Food Guide provides valuable information about the basic food groups

With office parties, home parties and special events coming up,  extra calories lurk around every corner -- frosted cookies at the office, eggnog at your neighbor's, jelly doughnuts for Hanukkah or chocolates in your stocking. All these extras add up, and if you're like most Canadians, you'll put on a pound or two by New Year's Day.So what's the harm in a little holiday weight gain, especially if it's just a pound? According to researchers at the National Institutes of Health, most Canadians never lose the weight they gain during the winter holidays. The pounds add up year after year, making holiday weight gain an important factor in adult

Things have been a little quiet around the office this August. But that’s okay. It gives us time to catch up on the year. You should see the office now. We’re going through all of our files for the year to make sure that eveything is in order. We’ve been updating our client database, organizing and closing files for the year. Doing these little chores now puts us in a good position come September when things start to heat up again.

We don’t have any big holidays planned for the remainder of the summer. I think we’ll probably take an afternoon off here and there just to get the kids out of the house. I’m sure that a day at the PNE is

Last week, we managed to zip off to Harrison Hot Springs for a mini vacation with the kids. Our oldest has a friend from Swift Current staying with us so there were six of us in total. We don’t mind. The more the merrier is what we always say. We enjoy Harrison because we get to do things on the lake with the kids. They love boating, tubing, water skiing, and anything else water-related. The best thing about Harrison is that it never gets really crowded. It’s surprising because it’s a beautiful place to vacation. We used to go to Osooyoos or Kelowna, but the lakes are so busy there we found somewhere else to enjoy the sun. Since it’s not as crowded

This weather has been amazing. Last weekend members of my family took advantage of the weather and went camping at Beaver Lake Resort. We stayed home and took advantage of activities around time. From what I’ve heard and judging by the pictures I’ve seen, they had a fantastic time. They stayed in a cabin on the lake. They fished, hiked, barbequed, had bonfires and relaxed. We’ll definitely have to book a weekend for next year (since they’re fully booked for the remainder of the summer).

We’ve had an enjoyable summer so far. We’ve been to Playland, watched the fireworks, visited with extended family, and took generally tried to take advantage

One of the highlights of summer for us is outdoor dining. With a large patio and a barbeque always ready to, it’s easy to enjoy the great outdoors in the comfort of our own backyard. Sometimes, however, we like a change of scenery. That’s when we venture out and enjoy one of the many spectacular restaurant patios in the Lower Mainland. One of our favourite places is Bridges in Granville Island. If you haven’t been to Bridges in a while (or have never tried it at all), now is the perfect time since the restaurant has recently been renovated. If you’re looking for casual dining, check out the downstairs portion of the restaurant, where you can

With the sun out in full force, the phones are a little quieter than ususal. We took this opportunity to spend some fun in the sun with the kids. The question was, what should we do? We could walk the sea wall, but since the kids are not big on walking, it would be a really short walk. We thought about going to the beach, but nobody was really into swimming or lazing around the beach today. We finally decided on Playland. Actually, it was a good choice for the kids. They went on a few rides, spent time outside, and had a good time overall. Just a couple hours at Playland was enough to satisfy the kids’ appetite for fun and give us a little break as well.

Wow, last weekend’s weather was certainly long overdue! We celebrated our first full weekend of sun by having a family beach barbeque at Spanish Banks. My sister Jenn planned the barbeque and it was a hit. Imagine a hot, sunny afternoon at the beach with four dogs, three kids, a whole slew of adults and a cooler full of goodies. We had a feast. Jenn made tadoori chicken (which turned out fantastic on the barbeque), her famous potato salad, and a summer succotash salad. She topped off the meal with her home-made carrot. She’s a regular Martha Stewart (except for the prison part!).

It was so nice to take advantage of the weather. And judging

Well, school is officially out and the kids are off for summer holidays. We’ve had a pretty full house the last couple of days since the kids wanted to spend as much time with their friends before everyone took off for the summer. Some might say I’m crazy, but I actually enjoy a bustling house. I think it’s partly because I grew up in a house filled with kids (there are six kids in total in my family). The neighbourhood kids always got together and congregated at someone’s house. Often, it was our house or at the park across the street. So I suppose seeing a house full of rugrats reminds me of my childhood. Plus, I’ve learned that our kids aren’t