Beautiful, Rich Compost

Nutrient-Rich Compost Is Free & Simple To Make

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Nutrient-rich compost is easy to make at home, plus it’s absolutely free.

Beautiful, Rich CompostIn the fall, I envy people who have red, gold and brown leaves carpeting their yards. Seeing them bagged at the curb makes me even more frustrated. With mainly conifers in my garden, I would love a convenient source of leaves to use as weed-suppressing mulch. Dried leaves are also wonderful for composting.

The best deal on earth, literally, may be compost. You throw in garbage and get back rich, black humus to use in the garden. And it’s not just for country folk and gardening fanatics anymore. A friend of mine just bought a compost bin for the roof deck of her downtown penthouse. Read more

Jessica Biel - Just Bitten Lipstain

Lip Stains: The Best Ones At Every Price Point

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Glamorous berry-stained lips are the fashion this fall. Allison Emery picks the top products that deliver the look.

Jessica Biel - Just Bitten LipstainThis fall the trend is smoky, metallic eyes and velvety smooth berry-stained lips. The look is very retro, yet classically cool. One of the great things about this look is that you don’t even need the dramatic eyes to pull off the sexy, colourful lips. In fact, with a very glamorous lip colour, it’s better to keep the eyes soft and simple—neutral shadow, lightly smudged liner and mascara are perfect complements. Smoky eyes can be challenging, but trying a new lip colour is easy—all you need is the right product in a suitable shade. The easiest (and surprisingly affordable) option is lip stain. Read more

Ross Bonetti Velib Biking in Paris

See Paris For Pennies (Yes, Really—It’s True)

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How cool is this: cruising around City Of Light on a bicycle you can rent for a song.

Ross Bonetti Velib Biking in ParisTRAVEL ADVISORY | The next time I visit Paris (in my dreams!), I’m going to ride a bicycle just like the one Ross Bonetti is sitting on in this picture. Ross, who owns LivingSpace Interiors in Vancouver and travels to Paris twice a year to attend the Maison et Objet trade show, has always crisscrossed the city by taxi or metro—until a year ago September when he started renting bicycles. Now he can’t imagine getting around the city on anything but a two-wheeler. Read more

Lacy Cheddar Crisps

Easy Appie #1: Pamela Anderson’s Yummy Cheddar Crisps

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With fall parties on the horizon, here’s Pamela Anderson’s slam-dunk one-ingredient appetizer made in less than 10 minutes. Flat.

Lacy Cheddar CrispsENTERTAIN SMART | Fall is easily the appie (est) time of the year. With house parties and holiday mixers to attend and/or throw, who isn’t on the lookout for easy hors d’oeuvres for hostess gifts or to serve to guests? My rule for homemade appetizers is that they need to be seriously tasty, gorgeous to look at and made in 10 minutes or less. Pamela Anderson’s (not that Pamela Anderson) lacy cheddar crisps will not disappoint. Read more

Coreen and Heike - Martin Tessler

Heike and Coreen Do YVR On The Green Side

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Top casting directors Heike Brandstatter and Coreen Mayrs explore Vancouver (and Bowen Island) on the green side.

Coreen and Heike - Martin TesslerEmmy Award-winning casting directors Coreen Mayrs and Heike Brandstatter spend most of their days casting feature film and television shows, having worked on such past projects as Juno, Battlestar Galactica, Capote and Diary of A Wimpy Kid. Their current projects include This Means War (starring Reese Witherspoon), Hellcats, Smallville and the soon-to-be-released Tron: Legacy. In their spare time they can be found exploring sustainable design, green building and cooking with organic ingredients.

Heike and Coreen’s 5 free, cheap or worth it things to see, do or buy in Vancouver (or beyond) Read more
Joe Fresh Style Store

Move Over H&M: Joe Fresh Style is In Town

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Joe Fresh Style, Joe Mimran’s bright, fun, fashion destination for the cheap-chic crowd, opens today—with great deals for inaugural shoppers.

Joe Fresh Style StoreCheap + Chic | If the French cult clothing labels A.P.C. and agnes b. hooked up and produced a cheap-chic North American love child, the clothing resulting from this sweet fashion union might look like pieces from Canada’s very own Joe Fresh Style line. Read more

Clothes line with colourful pegs

Why You Need A Clothesline In Your Life

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Save your clothes, cash and the environment with an indoor or outdoor clothesline.

Clothes line with colourful pegsWhat is it with us? We can’t wait to air our dirty laundry in public but scorn hanging clean laundry outdoors to dry. Years ago I lived in the heart of Montreal’s Latin Quarter yet had a clothesline running from my back balcony to a post on the lane—and so did everyone else. Here in Vancouver, I can’t remember the last time I saw laundry flapping in the wind. A 2007 StatsCan Environment Survey shows the percentage of B.C. residents drying clothes on a line or rack at just 54 percent; in P.E.I. it was 75 percent. Read more

Brooks Brothers White Shirt

The Perfect White Shirt? We’ve Found It!

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Both on trend and timeless, a classic top-quality white shirt belongs in every woman’s wardrobe. Here’s the best one we’ve found.

Brooks Brothers White ShirtBUY RIGHT | The fashion media everywhere is reporting that “a great white shirt” is a must-have item this fall. This fall? A great white shirt is a fashion basic that always belongs in every woman’s wardrobe. It’s a constant (like a perfect pair of black pumps), a fashion equalizer that does not reflect a particular age or generation. And while it may be “in fashion” right now, it’s definitely not a trend item but a staple.

Which explains why beautiful menswear-inspired white shirts are a perennial with Ralph Lauren, a designer who does not follow trends. In his current collection, Lauren’s elegant black label white shirt Antonia is priced at around $400 (U.S.); his Curt boyfriend shirt, part of the Lauren line, is around $70 (U.S.).

“I have a Ralph Lauren black label white shirt in my closet,” says my fashionable friend Amelia, “but I won’t buy another one. These shirts are fabulous, but they’re an unnecessary extravagance when you can have a of shirt of black label quality—at least I think so—for a quarter of the price.” Read more

Obakki Retail Store In Gastown

Save Big At Obakki’s Killer Warehouse Sale

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When one of Vancouver’s luxury fashion brands has a deep discount warehouse sale, you can bet we’re ready to stand in line.

Obakki Retail Store In GastownSALES WE LOVE | Frugalbits loves fashion at every price point when the clothing offers great value for money spent, but unless an upmarket item grabs us by the carotid, we are likely to wait for higher-end apparel to drop in price. This is why a great luxury brand warehouse sale will always get us pumped: make us rise early, even stand in line for a chance at the pick of the discounted stock. By the time you read this today, we’ll be down at Suite 201, 141 West 7th Avenue in Vancouver, where Obakki’s always-anticipated annual blowout begins at 11 a.m. We’ll be hoping to pick up a few fine pieces from the stylish collection for a fraction of the original price. Read more

Zip.ca Browsepage

Put A Little Zip.ca In Your Movie Night

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With bricks-n-mortar video stores in steady decline, this movies-by-mail company is a solid alternative.

Zip.ca Browsepage SPEND SMART | With Blockbuster gone and Netflix now in Canada but without new releases, what’s the best, most expedient, well-priced yet legal way to get both new releases and back-catalogue movies these days?

Though mom-n-pop video stores are one option, they are getting fewer and farther between. Another is getting movies by mail, and while this service lacks the instant gratification of streaming offered by Netflix, once you set up an account and get into the rhythm of the system, you can have batches of the movies you want to watch coming in and out of your house on a regular basis. Read more