The slice.ca Guide to Cleaning Your Home

What is it about spring that makes us want to fill up buckets of hot soapy water and clean our homes from top to bottom? I love a clean home myself, but finding the time to do a regular weekly clean, let alone a marathon spring clean, is beyond my organizational abilities.

Good Nutrition for a Happy and Healthy Pregnancy

Maybe you have decided to try to get pregnant, or have found out you already are. Congratulations! Your first step is to educate yourself about how to be the healthiest you possibly can be before and during your pregnancy. Your body goes through many changes during pregnancy. To support these changes, you must modify your diets nutrients and energy.

Survive Online Dating

Thanks to Web 2.0, finding dates online no longer carries any stigma. In fact, surfing for potential mates makes good sense, considering how much time we spend on the ‘net, and how much work we put into fine-tuning our online presence. Here’s how to maximize the experience.

Are You Done With Debt?

Gail Vaz-Oxlade, star of ‘Til Debt Do Us Part and author of the forthcoming Debt-Free Forever, has 5 fantastic tips for getting out of the mess you might have made with that credit card burning a hole in your wallet.

Survive a Diet and Lifestyle Re-Vamp

“You are what you eat.” Those famous diet words ring true for Roland Semprie, fitness and nutrition expert on Slice’s Re-Vamped.

Surviving Friendships – The Real Housewives of New Jersey Style

Looking for some new friends to hang out with? Your timing couldn’t have been more perfect! Welcome to the drama-filled world of the Real Housewives of New Jersey. Five expensively coiffed women living the champagne lifestyle – endless shopping on hubby’s tab, palatial palaces they call home, and an attitude to match. Nab yourself an influential spouse, a coveted black Amex credit card and maybe, just maybe… this quintet will take a glance at your application for membership into their condescending clique.

Survive Toronto Fashion Week

There’s no eating, no sleeping, and no time to breathe: Fashion Week (Toronto Fashion Week begins October 19 2009) is the pivotal time of the year and where next season’s looks are revealed (in Fall, Spring and Summer looks are revealed and in Spring, Fall and Winter looks come out).

Survive the Mom-mobile

I recently blogged about the ever-sensitive issue of minivan moms. As in, you're a mom and you've chosen to embrace this style of domestic travel. Or conversely, you're a mother and the mere thought of driving a family van makes you squirm uncomfortably.

Surviving Your Teenage Adventure

A lot of the time, teens don't realize the reasons and influences behind why they do what they do. Here, two teens talk about navigating the wilds of adolescence and making the most out of those complicated years.

Survive a Trip With the Women In Your Life

Women-only trips and girlfriends' getaways are more popular than ever, and many women are choosing their daughters, mothers, aunts or even grandmothers as their travel partners. If you are thinking about planning a trip with the most important women in your life for the sake of girls-only bonding, here are a few tips to help make sure your getaway is a success.

Survive Long-Distance Friendships

It's a fact of life that as we get older, our lives often move in different directions from our loved ones. Maybe your friends are leaving the town where you all grew up, or maybe you're the one that moved, for school, or a job, or a romance. Add the constraints of children, or elder care, plus the actual time difference between the places where you live, and the next thing you know it's been weeks—or months—since you bonded with your girls.

Survive Your Worst Parenting Moments: Part 2

Sometimes our kids make us bust with pride at how well they're turning out, while other times we wonder how we could have gone so far wrong as parents. Family therapist and author Jennifer Kolari has been working with families and children for 20 years. She's also the mother of three children. Her book, Connected Parenting, will be published by Penguin Canada in May 2009.

Survive Your Worst Parenting Moments: Part 1

Sometimes our kids make us bust with pride at how well they're turning out, while other times we wonder how we could have gone so far wrong as parents. Family therapist and author Jennifer Kolarihas been working with families and children for 20 years. She's also the mother of three children. Her book, Connected Parenting, will be published by Penguin Canada in May 2009.

Survival Guide: The Calm After the Storm

You’ve laughed, you’ve cried, and you’ve even honeymooned but now it’s time to settle in on this trip called marriage. What happens now? Where do we go from here, you ask.

Survival Guide: Wedding Checklist

When it comes to planning a wedding Rich Bride, Poor Bride planners agree that time is of the essence. The more of it you have, the less stressed you’ll be leading up to your special day.

Plan a Wedding in a Tanking Economy

The Rich Bride Poor Bride planners are finding that wedding trends in 2009 will be heavily influenced by the economy. Their upcoming weddings have scaled back the opulence and are going for more natural, relaxed events with the focus being on friends and family.

The First Year of Being a Parent

The first year caring for an infant ranks right up there with some of the greatest challenges known to humanity. It can even hold its own against other firsts, such as your first year living on the space centre or your first year as president of the United States.

Survive Winter Skin

It’s not officially winter yet but if you save your skin nurturing for when you’re already dry and flaky, it’s too late, ladies. What you need is a perky pre-emptive skin strike!

Survive a Walk Down the Beauty Aisle

I am a beauty product expert and addict (check out my perfume collection featured on HGTV.ca’s decorating blog). And while I love many products, there’s a select group that actually live up to the glamorous promise inherent in cosmetic marketing. Today, I’m going to share my list of must-haves, some of which are literally life changing!

Help! My Friends Are All Having Kids!

After surviving the mega-year of pocket-draining weddings (everyone’s got that one season where the wedding invites just won’t stop coming) comes the next milestone in the lives of your best girlfriends: the baby boom. And though all your girls are beyond proud and beaming with joy, you’re feeling slightly jilted because you’re missing the quality time and daily talks with your BFFs.

Green Your Beauty Routine

Now we all know that going green is better for the planet, but with what seems like a million different certifications and terms like “biodynamic” and “organic” versus “natural”, shopping green beauty products is enough to make any beauty junkie want to ditch her regime and go au naturel.

Money Talks (Part Two)

Gail Vaz-Oxlade shares her common sense path to financial bliss

Money Talks (Part One)

A lady who knows what it's like to be a mom, work in a job she hated and still have a little left over at the end of the month, Gail Vaz-Oxlade didn't just fall into financial success - she created it.

The Job Interview

You’ve landed an interview for your dream job. After putting together a portfolio, you’re ready to meet your potential future boss. But before you head off to that important interview, consider Slice.ca’s tips to leaving a great first impression.

Period Peace

Slice helps you survive that time of the month

Pack It In

While travelling Europe as a young(er) scholar, the first thing I learned was, “You will not look good when you travel.” And, after careful inspection of digital video of me in Germany, I can attest that I did not, in fact, look good. I’ve since changed my travel philosophy to, “Look good, but be smart about it.”

The L Word

After clearing my six-year-old son of lice, my two girls came home with the same problem two weeks later – and we've been waging war ever since. We have the head lamp with the magnifying glass and we use a LiceMeister comb, which is excellent. We've even used one of the lice shampoos (Resultz), which kills the lice but not the nits. This really is where the fight begins and ends.

Hot Summer Hair

Last week, while discreetly gazing at my reflection in the mirrored elevator in my building, I noticed something disturbing: split ends! If you look closely, under the right light, you can actually see dry, split ends in the section of hair I flat iron the most! Horror of horrors!

Eco-Friendly Makeup Tips

Get green and look good.

Surviving The Loss Of A Pet

When a cherished pet dies, it becomes clear that society is not all that comfortable on how to handle such a passing. The death of a human has many rites and traditions, and those around us know how to behave. Sadly, the same cannot be said for when a beloved animal companion dies.

Guide to the Vagina

Because having one doesn’t make you an expert

Guide to the Penis

Okay, so you’ve got the basics down: penis and balls. But there’s obviously more to a man than that. Without getting all medical on your ass, here’s a breakdown of the male anatomy.

Survive Being Fired

Sure, it seems like the end of the world, but being fired just means the beginning of a new stage of your life. Who needs a dumb job, anyway? Okay, you do.

Get Back in the Game

Newly single and perhaps not quite ready to mingle. I’m gonna give it to you straight, being recently singled isn’t the best feeling in the world. There are all sorts of things going on in the mind of someone coming out of a long-term relationship.

Better Left Unblogged

I started blogging in 1999, when most people hadn’t heard of blogs. We called them online journals and we used sites like diaryland.com to get the word out.

Best Friends Vacay

Just because you want to take a romantic jaunt to a tropical paradise, it’s not mandatory for you go with your significant other. It could be even more fun to visit with a small group of your social crowd, or your BFF. Here are some tips to help you arrange a trip that you’ll remember and cherish always.

Decorum on Vacation

You’ve worked hard and earned your vacation but sometimes, even though you’ve planned your precious away-time down to the last detail, it’s ruined by thoughtless yobs that apparently were raised by monkeys.

Take It Like a Woman

We’ve all been there: you made a mistake on the quarterly report, you put cyanide in the coffee, and you shredded an important contract. One of your cube mates ratted you out and the boss wants to have a few words.

Getting through ALL the December holidays

While Christmas is the most widely celebrated in Canada, there is no shortage of other holidays to commemorate in December. If you want to be inclusive, here’s a primer on other religious and non-religious holidays that occur during the month (in chronological order).

Emergency Fashion Fixes

You may think that your well-planned ensembles, high-quality clothes and conscientious laundering make you immune to fashion disasters. Rest assured, clothing malfunctions can happen anytime – and are most likely to occur at the worst possible times, like right before a hot date or job interview.

Shop It Till It’s Hot

For those of us who have jobs, kids, and a bunch of other commitments, staying on top of current trends might be at the bottom of our lists of things to do. That’s why the demand for personal shoppers across Canada has increased significantly over the past few years.

Fashion Sampler

If you’re not familiar with sample sales, you’re missing out on a wonderful world of discounted designer clothes, shoes and accessories. A sample sale is held either by a designer or a clothing distributor. The merchandise sold is either a production sample or last season’s overstock.

Survive the Beginning of a Relationship

Men are strange creatures (we all know this) so it’s surprising that so many women expect relationships with men to be easy or normal—whatever that means. Women, in general, also tend to be very results-oriented so we have trouble enjoying the roller coaster that is love…or like, or lust, for that matter.

Survive a Break Up

You’re a perfectly competent, assertive person living a fairly sane, successful existence and then one day, BAM! The man in your life decides he’d rather not be in it anymore.

Long-Distance Relationships

Trying to have a long-distance relationship can be as easy as trying to maintain an elaborate updo in a windstorm. The reality is that you’re in for a lot of effort so get off on the right foot if you want to keep this relationship standing.

First Year of Marriage

Your wedding was the ultimate dream day and the honeymoon was even better, but now your real marriage is beginning. As every newlywed knows, the struggles during the first few months of marriage bring their own set of challenges.

Kids and Money

Before children can learn to manage money well, they need to be able to get their hands on the stuff. Most people have no problem with that concept. But when it comes to what you should ask of your children in exchange for that allowance, the debate rages.

Survive Online Dating

Everyone keeps telling you that you can meet that nice guy on the internet. Your mother is desperate for you to get married and make her a grandmother. What have you got to lose?

Twenty-Something?

Oh, the quarter-life crisis. We’ve heard a lot about it over the past few years as the age range for the crisis has steadily increased. So, something that was very Reality Bites has become more Thirtysomething.

Surviving a Bad Boss

When I saw The Devil Wears Prada, there were some things I could relate to: I enjoy a good bagel in the morning, I have very little money with which to buy designer duds and I’ve had a boss who left a few things to be desired.