Have you been following the royal visit to Canada? ___ Prince William, Catherine visit Northwest Territories on Canadian tour Prince William and his wife Catherine will make the northernmost stops of their Canadian tour Tuesday when they visit sites in the Northwest Territories. The couple will take part in customary aboriginal activities, including traditional drumming, dancing and sports, at Somba K'e Civic Plaza in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, on Tuesday morning. In the afternoon, William and Catherine -- formally known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge -- are scheduled to speak at a session of Youth Parliament. Later Tuesday, the royal couple will meet members of the 1st Canadian Ranger Patrol Group, part-time reservists who patrol Canada's desolate northwest to conduct surveillance and assert the country's sovereignty in the region. The duke and duchess will wrap up the sixth day of their Canadian tour by meeting with aboriginal elders and young adults from the Northwest Territories. The couple have been hitting all the right marks so far, said royal historian Carolyn Harris, a doctoral candidate at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. Read more and see photos: http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/07/05/canada.royal.visit/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

As a full-fledged chocoholic, this is great news for me! :) __ Chocolate lowers heart, stroke risk By Steven Reinberg, HealthDay People who eat chocolate regularly may not only be feeding their sweet tooth, but lowering their risk for heart disease, a new study suggests. Chocolate has been linked to reducing the risk of heart disease before, but in this analysis of recent studies involving more than 100,000 people, researchers find that those who eat the most chocolate on a regular basis reduce their relative risk for heart disease by one-third. "We found a potential link between chocolate consumption and prevention of heart disease," said lead researcher Dr. Oscar H. Franco, from the department of public heath and primary care at the University of Cambridge in the UK. "At this point we are in the early stages of research," he added. There have not been any clinical trials to see if this association is real, Franco noted. Chocolate might be beneficial but people should not consume it with the hope that it will reduce their risk of heart disease, Franco said. And if they do eat it, "because of the fat and sugar content, it should be consumed in moderation." Read more: http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/healthcare/studies/story/2011-08-29/Chocolate-lowers-heart-stroke-risk/50174422/1

I checked out Dance Moms because it takes place at a dance studio in my hometown of Pittsburgh and my kids and I have been hooked ever since. It is definitely a guilty pleasure as this is not a world I would ever want my children experiencing.

Harry Potter theme park coming to LA PopWatch.com - The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando opened its doors just a year and a half ago, but executives are already planning to build a similar Potter-themed wonderland in Los Angeles. Earlier today, Universal officially announced its intention to bring Potter to Universal Studios Hollywood, while also announcing a planned expansion of the Orlando Potter exhibit. The announcement comes at an interesting moment for the franchise since, for the first time in its history, there are no new books or films on the horizon — which is to say, there are no more real Potter events left to celebrate. The big new Potter product — the interactive game/social media website/potential publishing venture Pottermore — remains trapped in beta. Potter has been a a lucrative mega-franchise for a long time, and since the planned Hollywood park won’t open for at least three years, it’s worth asking: Is the Potter franchise big enough to support to separate parks? And can a franchise with a fundamental endpoint ever be as big as the Disney theme park global empire? Universal is plotting this major construction project at a particularly fraught time in California’s economic history. As noted by the Associated Press, Governor Jerry Brown appeared at the announcement just a day after he suggested raising taxes. The park will reportedly generate 1000 jobs, and there is certainly a potential for a wand-induced halo. If the park does help the California economy, it might be a helpful roadmap for some of our troubled brethren in the eurozone. (Elevator pitch: What if Greece rebranded itself as “Harry Potter Land,” and everyone there carried a wand and pretended to speak with an English accent, or they could pretend to be Bulgarian and wear “I HEART VIKTOR KRUM” T-shirts? Instant bull market.)

I just posted my guilty pleasures today on the blog! http://www.morethanmommies.net/2012/02/mommys-guilty-pleasures.html

Hmmm Guilty Pleasures: Reality TV, Travel, Celebrity Gossip, and Reading