We love kids and kids are the future!  So, this summer season, we have chosen to support programs aimed at the advancement and support of children at home and abroad.  We are proud to support the following three programs:

Our very own McBlooms team member, Don, canoed from Ashbridges Bay in Toronto to the Humber River and back to raise funds for sending children to summer camp. Amici is a charitable organization that raises funds to help send financially challenged boys and girls to summer camps.  Amici believes in the tremendously positive effects that a camping experience can provide to children.

Through our local church, Kingsway Lambton, the mission of El Hogar Projects is to provide a loving home and education in a Christian environment for abandoned, orphaned and hopelessly poor children, enabling them to fulfill their ultimate potential as productive human beings in Honduras.

Through one of our local golf clubs we have supported a fundraiser gala to raise money for Sleeping Children Around the World. Sleeping Children Around the World believes that it is the basic right of every child to have a comfortable night's sleep. Through free-will donations and in partnership with our volunteers, S.C.A.W gives bedkits to needy children in developing countries, thus helping them to face the challenges of the coming day.

…if you have a moment, I think you’d find it interesting to click and find out more about these great projects. We’re happy to be associated with them. 

After a long Canadian winter, it’s time to take off our boots and treat our hard-working feet to a little pampering.   Our feet are an essential, if not often neglected, part of our bodies.  They carry us where we want to go, and are the grounding support to our entire body weight.  Pedicures and proper foot care encompasses far more than a simple coat of colour on toenails.  Rather, a pedicure can revive, renew, and refresh tired, overworked soles. 

Women’s Health Magazine has a wonderful, step-by-step version to do at home.  Try it Here!

And it doesn’t stop there! Healthy feet start with proper shoes.  It is simply not enough to live in flip-flops with perfectly polished toes all summer long.  Dr. Oz shows us an interesting video and simulation of the damaging effects of wearing non-supportive flip flops for extended periods of time. Check out his video here!

No pedicure would be complete without our very own McBlooms Nourishing Foot Cream.  Designed to soothe and condition cracked heals, while refreshing feet with essential oils of eucalyptus and peppermint.  We have even heard feedback from sufferers of Athlete’s Foot who love our product for the natural antibacterial properties of the essential oils.

May your feet take you somewhere fabulous this summer!

We’re closing up our workshop early this Friday -- leaving inside and heading out ... and following that great Canadian tradition of heading up to the cottage for the Victoria Day Long Weekend.  Whether your getaway is to your cottage, or to visit with friends in the country, or to set up camp in a tent or cabin in the woods...  how sweet it is to leave behind the hustle and bustle and smog of  the city and take in that fresh country air! 

And while this weekend would surely be incomplete without a few cold ones on the dock, let’s not forget the annual "rolling-up-our-sleeves and opening up the cottage" work that inevitably must be done for the approaching summer season. Sweep the pathways! Patio furniture out! Screens onto the windows! New propane tank for the BBQ! Chop and stack firewood!  We are loving the printable checklists put together by the good people over at Cottage Life Magazine right now for helping us organize and simplify.

…Now all we’ll need, along with a little warmth and sunshine, is some bug spray, sunscreen and some of our favourite Extremely Rich Cream to look after all of our hardworking hands—guys included!

Then it's time for some great music, good friends, and good food and drinks as we sit out on the dock and savour May 2-4... the first long weekend of our sweet Canadian summer.

Cheers to a safe, relaxing and joyous long weekend to you all!

If you are in the Toronto area, you must come to our annual Spring Open House Sale. There will great specials and refreshments. We would love to see you, and bring a friend too!  Wednesday May 5, 10am to 4pm & Thursday May 6, 10am-7pm.
We are located at 4195 Dundas Street West, Suite G11 (just east of Royal York near the Jones New York Factory Outlet)

Earth Day is next week, and naturally, this has me thinking all things green!  With this great weather we’re having here in Southern Ontario, it is a perfect time to start sprucing up our garden for spring.  We have a bunch of shady pockets in our yard that need to be planted up with some shade-loving beauties.  As a general rule, leafy green plants will thrive in shaded areas.  Ferns, ivys, hostas, and mosses will all do well in shade.  This year, I am going to keep things simple, clean and fresh with colour blocks of green and white.  For the green, there are the aforementioned plants, and for some pretty white petals, I will block in some shade-loving impatiens and begonias. 

We have some wonderful garden centres-like Plant World, Sheridan Nurseries, and West Van Florists, that carry our McBlooms Product line, and these centres have many friendly and knowledgeable staff to help you with your spring planting adventures.

www.plantworld.com

www.sheridannurseries.com

www.westvanflorist.com

Spring! -- it is just around the corner again! Where did the winter go?? With the coming of this new season, it is time to throw open the windows, roll up our sleeves, and prepare our homes ~ and our hearts ~ for the warmer days ahead!

I admit, I have, like so many others, turned to unnecessarily harsh, maybe a little environmentally-unfriendly, commercialized cleaning products at some point or another to give our house a really deep down spring clean.  Just recently, I have seen a  TV commercial from Seventh Generation eco-friendly home products where they mention feeling the need to “hold your breath” whilst cleaning with many of the commercial cleaning products on the market today.  How many of us have felt this way before! Not a very good way to feel.  Check out their line at www.seventhgeneration.com ~ it is truly wonderful -- a much safer, people-friendly and earth-friendly way to clean up this season.

Another fresh way I'll be looking at spring cleaning this year?? My daughter Devon has got me hooked on Real Simple magazine for their easy, inexpensive and completely natural “home remedies”.  Head on over to www.RealSimple.com to discover the many wonders of lemons, vinegar, baking soda, and a whole lot more!

Hurry up Spring -- I can hardly wait to get started!!

Like everyone else, it seems, we had too many late nights -- glued to the TV -- waking up a little more tired each day -- but well worth it! Three BIG impressions... Vancouver looked tremendous; we loved the very colourful, standout athletes -- beyond athleticism, such charisma!... and... we're so proud of the Canadian men's and women's hockey teams for winning GOLD -- but with a special note for next time...  watch out Canada! -- the U.S. men's team really kept us on the edge of our seats in that final game!!

Post Olympics -- last week and this -- here at McBlooms, we are going to Olympian efforts to ship out early Spring orders, all across Canada and the United States.  And just in time, because it sure feels like Spring here in Southern Ontario...  bright blue sky, next to no snow and warming temperatures.

With Spring "in the air" it's time to get out and about and take a drive into the country.  A nice trip for us here in Toronto is to head west of the city and explore the Forks and Headwaters of the Credit River -- and to stop in at some of the historic towns along the way.  One of our favourites is the village of Erin.  If you do stop there, be sure to visit one of our McBlooms retailers, The Weathervane at 74 Main Street (www.theweathervane.ca).  You will really enjoy the wonderful and inspired, ever-changing selection of home and garden accents and "life's little luxuries" that this shop offers.   It's time to treat yourself or a good friend... or your home for Easter!

...it's one of the very best ever winter sports! Great team play. Fun social -- and, even though it's on ice, you get to play it inside! This week, we're watching some fabulous curling at the Scott Tournament of Hearts event.  It brings the best ladies teams together from every province in Canada. Wonderful  to watch their energy and skill on the ice.

Later this month, McBlooms is a sponsor at a Toronto Curling event -- the Toronto Curling Association's Mixed Curling Bonspiel  (www.torontocurling.com).    Each player will be receiving a tube of our best selling Extremely Rich Cream -- with aromatics for the ladies and fragrance free for the guys.  Curlers love this product for soothing and softening dry, chapped skin -- especially their hands, which get so dry when they are exposed to those drying on ice conditions.

We wish the Toronto Curling Association players "Good Curling!" in their annual event -- and may the best team win!

I love to curl when time permits.  A number of years ago, I was given the opportunity to play with one of Canada's best curlers, Sherry Middaugh (www.teammiddaugh.com) but - alas - I had to pass. Priorities!  I had to take my young son to his hockey game!

Inside and out -- Canada's winter with all of our great sports (and this month with the Winter Olympics in Vancouver!!)  -- you've gotta love it!

GO CANADA GO!!!