Loulou's views

One of my favourite things about the holiday season is the shopping. I love giving back to local charities and organizations, like CHEO and The Shoebox Project, and I enjoy buying presents for my family (especially my boys!) and my friends. December is the busiest month of all, with work, social events, and hosting parties, so I try to plan ahead as much as I can, and check things off my to-do list daily.  Here are my holiday shopping tips and some great gift ideas to help you get through this hectic season with ease: One-Stop Shopping I can spend countless hours in Chapters-Indigo with my children selecting new books to add to our 'to-read' pile. Chapters-Indigo is the best one-stop shop for holiday gifts, too. They have something for everyone on your list, including technology, like Beats Solo 3 Wireless Headphones, to home decor, journals, toys, accessories, and stylish items like purses, scarves, and hats. Whether you're shopping in-store or online at indi...

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. Now that the new year has started, it's time to get serious about sticking to those resolutions. This year, it's all about eating right, getting your beauty sleep, working out, and taking care of your skin. Here are some tips on how you can be your best self in 2018: Eat Right We all want to eat healthy. I know no one is counting calories in December, but now that January is here, it's time to get back to eating smart. As someone who is always on the go with two busy kids, this is an area I struggle with. Working downtown can make choosing a healthy lunch difficult, but luckily I work close to  Mad Radish. This Ottawa-based restaurant has great plant-based options to make healthy eating simple, delicious, and nutritious. My favourite is their Smoky Caesar salad–with a twist. This salad includes romaine and kale, garlic-marinated chickpeas, and broccoli. Instead of parmesan cheese, it's topped with ...

When I was asked to take part in the #Ceramide2WeekChallenge to put Elizabeth Arden's new Advanced Ceramide Capsules Daily Youth Restoring Serum to the test, I said yes right away–because I'd never tried these capsules before and because I had always heard great things about how well they worked. After a couple of weeks of using these little capsules–morning and night, as part of my daily skin-care routine–they've become a must-have product for me and they're a skin-care product I'd recommend to anyone looking for a serum that works well in giving skin the extra moisture it needs, while at the same time minimizing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. These iconic capsules have been around for a long time, and have always been a cult favourite; now that they're improved and include two kinds of ceramides–a skincare ingredient that protects the skin while trapping moisture in–they work even better than before and have triple the anti-aging power. They...