Amusingly impressive

We love Canadian funny man Dan Aykroyd for his memorable roles in flicks such as Grosse Point Blank and Trading Places. Plus, who can forget him in classics like Ghostbusters, Dragnet and The Blues Brothers? Well funny enough, this comedic actor/screenwriter isn't just a hit on the silver screen--he's got winemaking skills too! A fellow CCG brought a bottle of Dan Aykroyd Cabernet Merlot VQA wine over as a hostess gift, and though we were initially skeptical of how it would taste, any doubt was erased after our first sip. Our palates were amused and delighted by the hints of green bell pepper as well as layers of fruit and spice. Food pairing recommendations include cabbage rolls with thick tomato sauce or ground beef lasagna. We washed down our barbecue chicken sandwiches with this medium-bodied red and discovered this to also be a good pairing. Mr. Aykroyd, we raise a glass to your comedic wit and your winemaking finesse!

$14.95 at lcbo.ca, saq.com, bcliquorstores.com and other liquor retailers across Canada

Golden humour

For today's video feature, we're paying tribute to funny gal Bea Arthur who passed away at age 86 this past Saturday (April 25, 2009). Though Arthur was not Canadian, we're sure many CCGs grew up watching her as the sarcastic and sassy Dorothy on The Golden Girls. Here she is in a hilarous parody of Sex and the City. You'll be missed, Bea, but your humour lives on and shall forever remain an inspiration to women across the country!

He's not dead yet...

Chip Wilson, founder of Lululemon Athletica, and currently the company's Chairman and Head Product Developer, proves you're never too old to be a trend-setter or a trend-spotter. Read In search of the next new thing in which The Globe and Mail columnist Gordon Pitts talks with the yoga-clothing-designing guru to find out what keeps Wilson creatively inspired.

Click here to read the article or copy and paste this link into your web browser:
http://www.globeinvestor.com/servlet/story/GAM.20090413.RATTHETOP13ART1820/GIStory/

"Mane" Attraction

Professional CCGs that we are, we pride ourselves on looking our best everyday--and it all starts with the hair! We adore the Rusk CTC Lite™ Powerful Professional Lightweight Dryer for its megawatt power (1900 watts) as well as for its titanium- and ceramic-infused heat transfer. What does this mean for us? How about a blowdry that leaves us with a perfect coif every time? Make no mistake, ladies, this dryer might feel lightweight but your final 'do will be nothing short of heavyweight hotness.

$199.99 USD at professional hair salons. To find a retailer near you, go to rusk1.com/search/salon-search.asp

Got To Be Real - Cheryl Lynn

No matter what kind of work week you have, or the highs and lows you experience, remember that you've always "got to be real"!

Have a great weekend ladies, and see you on Monday!

Granville Room's Satin Doll Cocktail

This groovy cocktail is just one of many delicious concoctions on the drink menu at Vancouver hot spot Granville Room. We don't all live on the west coast so the next best thing is shaking up this doll-licious drink at home ourselves. West coast or east coast, career gals everywhere will enjoy this drink for its mild rose colour as well as its soft and subtle taste. Cheers!

The Satin Doll Cocktail

1 oz gin
1 oz Gifffard Grapefruit Liqueur
2-3 dash Fee brothers orange bitters
1 oz egg white

Instructions
Combine ingredients in a shaker filled with ice. Shake hard and strain into a chilled martini glass.

"Green" Cubicle

Happy Earth Day to CCGs across the country! Here's a video put together by the folks at Marriott Hotels with tips on how to make you life at work a little greener:

Flex-time talk

Employee retention is a top priority for employers which means companies are constantly looking at what they can do to keep the brightest of their bunch happy. As a valued and hard-working CCG at your workplace, you have the advantage of being able to get the type of benefits you want (within reason of course!). Or at the very least, ask for something you want. If it's flexible work hours you're after, check out How to negotiate flexible work arrangements by Anna Sharratt. A fast read with good advice on how to ask for flex-time--and have a good chance of getting it.

Click here to read the article or copy and paste this link into your web browser:
http://www.canadianliving.com/life/work/how_to_negotiate_flexible_work_arrangements.php

Dreamy Steamer

As career gals who jet-set off to business trips now and then, we certainly can't show up to an important meeting in a wrinkled blouse and dress pants. We recently discovered the ultra-fab Salton® Platinum Series Compact Travel Fabric Steamer and boy, are we glad we did! This nifty little gadget is lightweight and super easy to use for steaming our clothes. Just add water, plug in, and voila! You're good to go. And now whether our trip is for business or pleasure, this fabric steamer is one accessory that's a must on our travel checklist. A great buy!

$29.97 at Walmart

Respect - Aretha Franklin

Come on ladies, you know you want it. And Lord knows we all deserve a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Sing it, Aretha!



Have a great weekend, ladies, and see you all on Monday!

Michael Smith's Homemade Pineapple Vodka

Homemade Pineapple Vodka

This yummy recipe from Chef at Home's Michael Smith is definitely worth a try! Smith himself advises the drink maker to experiment and personalize to your own tastes by adding more or less of ingredients or even making substitutions. Make this recipe your own and enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 x pineapple, trimmed and cut into small pieces
1 1/2 litres vodka
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

Directions:
1. Place pineapple chunks in a large jar or resealable container.
2. Pour in vodka and store in the refrigerator for 7 days.
3. Place the sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil until the sugar has completely dissolved.
4. Set aside to cool and then refrigerate until ready to use.
5. Strain the vodka from the pineapple into a clean jar, pressing down on the fruit to extract every bit of juice.
6. Pour in the syrup and refrigerate for 30 days.

Identifying between urgent & not-so-urgent matters

John Kotter, Professor Emeritus at Harvard Business School and published author, is known in academic circles as the foremost authority on leadership and change. In this 4-minute video, Professor Kotter discusses his book A Sense of Urgency, explaining why managers need urgency, how organizations benefit from it, and also distinguishing between true urgency and having a false sense of one. An interesting and thought-provoking must-see!

Office Politics

Oh, sweet office life in all its glorious, cubicle-dwelling splendour. A word of advice to career gals across the country--get a sense of humour ASAP. Why? Because there are always going to be colleagues, superiors and situations which just annoy the hell out of you. But the career gal who can see the humour in these annoying situations is the one who will be able to clock out at the end of each day and enjoy all the other wonderful things life has to offer.

Here's a great way to get your funny bone going--Office Politics is a photo-romance series created by the folks at Jobboom who, judging from this hilarious montage of monthly photos featuring real-life Jobboom employees, have quite the sense of humour themselves. Click on the above image to enlarge for easier viewing, and go here if you'd like to check out the entire series:
http://career.jobboom.com/office-politics

"ATTITUDE" Adjustment

We pride ourselves on being "green" career gals which means incorporating environmentally-friendly habits into our daily living whenever and wherever possible. We are huge fans of ATTITUDE® eco-friendly certified products by Bio Spectra for helping us keep our home in a clean and pristine condition. Touted as "products that leave no trace on earth or its inhabitants", the EcoLogo-certified ATTITUDE® line consists of laundry detergent, fabric softener, dishwashing liquid, all-purpose cleaner, and more. One of our favourite products is the Natural Air Purifier which eliminates unwanted odour from a room without the use of harsh chemicals. Made of essential oils and activated carbon, we love that we're able to use this air freshener, or any other ATTITUDE® product, with the assurance that the ingredients are not harmful to our nervous systems or earth's eco-systems.

Natural Air Purifier (in passion fruit or lavender & eucalyptus) for $5.99 (227 g) at Shoppers Drug Mart, Walmart Canada & IGA. Visit cleanattitude.com for other retailers.

Bonus! Click here for valuable ATTITUDE® coupons and save money while helping save the environment. (Coupons expire June 1st, 2009).

Desensitize - Karl Wolf

Weekend's here, and it's time to desensitize!



Happy Easter weekend, ladies, and see you Monday!

Salty Lime and Lychee Margarita

We're often intrigued by fusion recipes so we knew we simply had to give this traditional margarita with an Asian twist a try. It's a sweet and sour cocktail that certainly gets our seal of approval!

Salty Lime and Lychee Margarita

You will need:

Lime salt, for rimming glass
2 oz (60 mL) freshly squeezed lime juice
1 ¾ oz (55 mL) tequila
½ oz (15 mL) triple sec ½ oz (15 mL)
Soho lychee liqueur

Garnish
1 lychee (canned)

1. Rub the rim of a Champagne glass with the lime wedge. Put some lime salt on a saucer and spread out evenly. Turn the glass upside down and place it on the salt to coat the rim.

2. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the lime juice, tequila, triple sec and lychee liqueur. Shake mixture and strain into Champagne glass. Add a lychee to the glass. Makes 1 cocktail.

Lime
Salt 2/3 cup (150 mL) fine sea salt
Freshly grated zest of 4 limes

1. Preheat oven to 325°F (160°C).
2. Combine sea salt and lime zest in a pie plate. Bake salt for 10 minutes. Cool.

Makes 2/3 cup (150 mL)

By Dana Speers (from Food & Drink magazine, Spring 2005 issue, published by LCBO)

Start tweeting already!

Mega corporations such as Burger King, Cisco Systems, and General Motors have long since jumped on the twitter bandwagon. Why? Because social media is not the future--it's here right now! Small business owners and career gals alike can benefit from using twitter too. Watch this video for interesting twitter stats.

Job addiction

No one likes to admit they're an addict of anything, but admitting it is often the first step to healing. If you've been called a "workaholic" by more than one person on more than one occasion, it's time to come to terms with the fact that this just might be true. Check out Heather Camlot's article Are you addicted to work? for the telltale signs of workaholism as well as tips for recovery because even your pals at Canadian Career Gal believe that life shouldn't be all work and no play.

Click here to read the article or copy and paste this link into your web browser:
http://www.canadianliving.com/life/work/are_you_addicted_to_work.php

Time Saver

If there's one gift we're sure every career gal craves, it's the gift of more time. Enter Samantha Ettus, who comes bearing such gifts in spades! Ettus is the creator of The Experts' Guide to Doing Things Faster: 100 Ways to Make Life More Efficient, a book containing short, to-the-point "how-tos from the world's most extraordinary people". Covering virtually every major life aspect (home, work, mind, body, love, pleasure, travel, and the future), this book is the ultimate resource to navigating through life--and saving time while doing it! You'll find one hundred chapters with expert advice on everything from tackling your to-do list by mom extraordinaire Kate Gosselin to choosing an outfit by WNTW's Stacy London to achieving success by analyst and author Richard St. John. We also love the fact the book's size is small enough to fit in our handbag so we can pull it out for a quick read whether we happen to be commuting to and from work or chilling at a coffee shop.

$22.95 at chapters.indigo.ca

Off the Wall - Michael Jackson

The weekend has arrived, and as the King of Pop professes, "tonight, gotta leave that 9 to 5 up on the shelf, and just enjoy yourself"!



Have a great weekend, ladies, and see you Monday!

A Canadian in Manhattan

Kick back and relax NYC style with this smooth creation that blends the smoky sweetness of bourbon with two of Canada's national treasures--maple syrup and icewine!

A Canadian in Manhattan

To a cocktail shaker filled with ice, add 1 oz bourbon, ½ oz maple syrup, ½ oz icewine. Stir and strain into a rocks glass with ice. Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

By Michelle P.E. Hunt and Laura Panter (from Food & Drink magazine, Spring 2008 issue, published by LCBO)

The secret to happiness

In yesterday's recommended article, Wanless made reference to American psychologist Dr. Barry Schwartz and the paradox of choice. Here's a short version of Schwartz' TED Talk in which he reveals the secret to happiness in less than three minutes:



If you're intrigued and like what Dr. Schwartz has to say, watch the full 20-minute version of his TED Talk here: