7 FREE Summer Outdoor Activities!

Here are some reasons/ excuses to stay outside longer.

1. SLEEP in a TENT

Sometime, I purposely misbehave so I can sleep outside in the "dog house"

I love camping, and if you love to do it often it can get quite expensive, especially, if you don't have a big group of people to go with you every time.  So why not set up a tent in your own backyard? 

2. The BEACH
What to do at the beach besides, sun bathing, picnicking, building sand castle, digging for treasure, burying your boyfriend in the sand (this doesn't sound legal), kick some balls and throw a frisbee?  How about practicing some YOGA? 

3. Find a TRAIL
Take a hike, ride your bike or go for a walk in the woods and become a "forest bather".  

4. READ something
Pick a book, grab a hammock, find 2 trees and relax with your favourite story.

5. Get WET
Find a body of water (Ocean, waterfalls, outside pool, lake or pond), and take a dip or two, or maybe if you are daring enough try skinny-dipping.
*Disclaimer, just make sure that nudity is not prohibited in that area*

6. CONCERTS

my magical musical garden

Do you enjoy listening to live music performances?  I bet you can find free concerts in your neighbourhood.  If you are in Toronto, make sure to tune into these free music venues that are happening around town. 

Toronto Jazz Fest
(No Admission Night)
Fri June 21
Smokey Robinson
8pm, Nathan Phillips Square
For more listing & info.  click here

Music in the Garden
Sun June 30 4pm
Ton Beau Quartet
Harbourfront Centre
For more listing & info. click here

Music in the Park
St. James Park
For listing & info. click here

Botanical Gardens
Edwards Gardens
For listing & info. click here




7. Open-Air CINEMA
On a warm summer night wouldn't you love to stay outside, and watch a FREE movie under the open sky?  Well then, check out the free outdoor movies that are offered in your local community.  If you are in Toronto this summer (2013) these are some of the free outdoors screenings that are available to you.

Sail-In Cinema
Next show:       Aug 15, 16, 17 at Dusk
Location:          Sugar Beach at 25 Dockside Drive

Yonge & Dundas Square -Tuesdays
This year theme: Cult Classics
Next show:          Pee Wee's Big Adventure 
                              June 25 at 9pm-11pm
Location:             1 Dundas St. E, Toronto, ON

Harbourfront Centre: WestJet Stage - Wednesdays
This year theme: Invented Worlds
Next show:           Little Shop of Horrors: The Director's Cut
                               July 3 at 9pm  
Location:              TTC: take 509 streetcar from Union Station
                                or approx. 8 min walk, south on York st 

TIFF in the Park - Wednesdays
This year theme: Romantic Classics
Next show:           Casablanca
                               July 3 at 9:15pm
Location:             David Pecaut Square (beside Roy Thomson   
                             Hall)
                               TTC: get off at St.Andrew Station

The Junction - Fridays
This year theme: classics, silent films, documentaries, and 
                                 independent films
Next show:            Buster Keaton's Steamboat Bill
                                *featuring live musical accompaniment by
                                 Bill O'Meara 
                                 Sat June 22 at 9:30pm
Location:               Junction Train Platform on Dundas St.W
                                 and Pacific Ave (just west of Keele St.

Riverdale Park East - Sundays
Movies will begin at approx. 9pm
July 7: Top Gun
July 24: Goonies
Aug 4: E.T the Extra Terrestrial
Aug 18: Ferris Beuller's Day Off
Location: 550 Broadview Ave, Toronto, ON

Can you think of other FREE outdoors things we can do this summer?

Colour Your Palate with Juices!

Why Juice?

Juicing is one of the best ways to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into your diet.   

It is also one of the quickest ways to feed your body with nutrition.   

Moreover, you will be more successful in getting children and picky eaters to consume a variety of raw vegetables through juicing then to make them eat it whole.   

Most importantly, juicing makes it very easy for you to add more colour of the food rainbow into your diet.  Colour is the key to getting a variety of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, and the actual nutrients a food contains make them their specific colour.

Here’s what adding a little colour to your palate can do for you:

Red pigment in tomatoes, grapefruits, guava and watermelon are rich in Lycopene, which can help reduce risks of prostate cancer, prevent the aging of the skin and can keep it younger looking, it can also protects your skin from sunburn.

Orange pigment in carrots, cantaloupe, squash, and yams are full of Beta- carotene, which is converted into vitamin A in our body.  Vitamin A has many roles within the body.   It is important for healthy vision, especially night vision.  It helps support the function of white blood cells.  Also, it plays a critical function in healing the gastrointestinal tract, lungs, and skin.

Yellow pigment in mango, pineapple, yellow beet, yellow carrot, lemon and star fruit are teeming with vitamin C.  Vitamin C is critical for the production of collagen, the protein that repairs skin, bone, and joints.

Green pigment in asparagus, green beans and especially dark leafy greens (kale, bok choy, watercress, seaweeds and collard greens) are a nutritional powerhouse!   Potassium, dietary fiber, folate, vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin C, vitamin B complex and chlorophyll.  Vitamin B complex helps to nourish your nervous system, increases absorption of omega3 fatty acids, and can balance out your hormones.  This is just a short list of the nutrients that are found in these veggies.

Blue/Purple foods such as grapes, eggplant, figs, blueberries, blackberries, purple onions, lavender, purple basil, purple peppers and purple cabbage are rich in flavonoids and anthocyanin, which can lower your risk of heart disease, help improve your memory and assist with healthy aging.

White pigment foods are nutritious too, and they also packed many health benefits.   Remember that you get the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients provided by each colour group.  White foods such as mushrooms, onions, cauliflower, parsnips, garlic, cucumber and coconut can provide you with vitamin D, calcium, phosphorus, (These vitamins and minerals aid in bone health.) vitamin C, dietary fiber, potassium, healthy fats, antifungal and anticancer properties.

With so many choices of colourful edibles, you can definitely colour your palate with juices daily to improve your wellbeing.

SunSet Juice (Cantaloupe and Carrot)

Did you know?

A sliced carrot resembles the pupil and iris in our eyes. Is Mother Nature trying to tell us something?  Yes, she is telling us to eat carrots, so we can prevent cataracts in our eyes.

Cantaloupe can provides you with beauty boosting benefits.  This beautiful orange colour fruit can protect your skin against damaging UV rays and ozone.  It can helps with preventing wrinkles, clearing up blemishes and preventing acne.  If you want to have flawless skin then cantaloupe is your advocate.  Guess who’s going to eat a lot of cantaloupe from now on?