On a whim at the natural foods store last week I bought a bottle of Aura Cacia's Sweet Almond Oil for under $7. I'd read once that Lady Gaga swears by it for her perfect complexion.

I haven't gone as far as to apply straight oil to my face, but I've been using it as a leg moisturizer and it's fabulous. It absorbs far faster than other oil based moisturizers I've used, and my skin stays supple far longer than when I've used Bliss' moisturizing line or the Body Shop's body butters. It's naturally reduced razor burn, and it smells faintly of almonds. Lovely.

You could likely find at least one brand of it at any natural foods store with a decent personal care section, and if not, the Aura Cacia Skin Care Almond Oil is available in Canada at well.ca.

Shana Ready sounds like an incredibly cool lady, beyond the chunky fun bracelets and necklaces she makes out of nautical hardware for her line, The Ropes Maine. Her bio on the site reads that she "spends her weekends at sea, lobstering on the family boat and exploring different islands down the coast", and she told The Talented, a very cool blog in its own right, that her son's imagination is her inspiration.

Sea soaked, child's imagination inspired, made-in-Maine, brightly coloured (or purely white) nautical supply material made bracelets? Yes, please!

My mother loves outerwear – her coats and jackets are housed in no fewer than three closets in our home – but among them my favourites are her floor length silver fox fur coat, and her deep plum Linda Lundstrom. Those two were the coats my mother wore over her black evening outfits ahead of concerts, that she was either performing in, leading her choir, or both.

The two best most addictive ideas from Gwyneth Paltrow's healthful cookbook, "It's All Good", barely qualify as recipes - they're more suggestions. They're suggestions I've taken her up on every week since I bought the book a month ago - Slow Roasted Tomatoes and Avocado Toast with Veganaise. 

Nothing much to say beyond high pitched girly noises! 

As children, Lindsay and I gave our mother the greatest gifts she could ask for every Mother's Day: a "bed" of crafted Dalmatians made out of a spotted gardening glove and tuna can, broaches made out of felted cutouts of our handprints, and gloriously coloured cards that were more interpretative than poetically expressive.

As adults, we've grown to embrace the gifting trend of Mother's Day: decadence. This is not the holiday to give the important mother in your life socks (unless they're cashmer) or kitchen tools (unless they're All Clad). Whatever it is you gift, fill the gap in her self-care routine: what is it that would make her day just a bit more luxurious?

Last year we went to the Mother's Day high tea at the Windsor Arms, a classic high tea in Toronto available year round if you can't get a Mother's Day reservation, but this year the parcel is going to have to go in the post...

If you know me personally, or have a sense of me through my writing, it may surprise you to know that for a time I attended the Mormon church, The Church of Latter Day Saints. I was only ten at the time, and perhaps less than trying to find God in a way that resonated with me, I was so attracted to their strong sense of community. Truthfully, I think I wanted more friends who lived close by. 

It's the kind of yoga that everyone can do, and everyone should do.

Every once in awhile, I click on just the right video to listen, and voila! Everything has changed: my day, my walk home, my life, is different because I've heard an amazing song.

Is it fair to say someone can be too perfect? Gwyneth Paltrow takes a lot of flack from the internet for being irritatingly excellent, and she's shown up in my newspaper twice in the last month for various criticisms. Personally I think the world is just jealous. Gwyneth Paltrow is just too good at being gorgeous, talented, and graceful.