MOM's The Word

Kate Hudson with her son for Ann Taylor Spring '14. Photo via Ann Taylor.

Originally posted in The Fashion Scoop

I have a confession to make: my mission this week has been to find the perfect Mother's Day gifts, but really, what I've actually done is a whole lotta personal shopping. And I don't mean personal shopping for a client but for myself, personally - finding the things that I, as a mom, would really, really love to get as a gift. 

There are very few times of the year when we moms actually focus on ourselves, after all. We go to the mall, fully intending to shop for new clothes for ourselves, but somehow, we leave 3 hours later with bags of little people shoes (they are sooo cute!), and trench coats that our daughters will grow out of in 6 months, and more pairs of pants because the ones you bought 2 weeks ago have already been decimated by the playground...

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A Pandora Bracelet ($350 Value) Giveaway

Originally posted in The LOOK

The one-size-fits-all approach rarely ever turns out well. It stands to reason, then, that there's no perfect gift to please every mom. When I think of the things I've picked up for my mom over the years, I can't believe she didn't burst out laughing more often. From pink sparkly makeup brushes one year to soap-on-a-rope that spelled out MOM (literally) another, my mom was a master at holding it together when we'd give her gifts. 'Oh, thank you!' she'd say. 'That was sooo thoughtful of you!' And my husband has similar stories. I'm pretty sure that green power drill in our basement was once gifted to my poor mother-in-law, all wrapped up in a big bow and promptly 'borrowed' by her questionably-intentioned teenage son.

Though every mom says 'Oh, you don't need to get me anything...' a surprise present is always appreciated. I've put together a list of winning gifts that are stylish, thoughtful and fun, and guaranteed to be met with delight this Mom's Day.  Plus, we're giving away a gooooorgeous Pandora bracelet ($350 value) for one lucky mom. Read on for full contest dets...

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My One-on-One with Sunny Fong

Photo credit: George Pimentel Photography

Ask any fashionable Canadian for a Top 3 of her favourite homegrown designers and she’ll inevitably answer "Sunny Fong." The Toronto-born designer’s edgy aesthetic, signature exquisite detail and pretty-yet-bad-ass designs have fired up red carpets, the small screen (Fong won Season 2 of Project Runway Canada) and Canadian streets since the launch of his label, VAWK, in 2004.

I caught up with VAWK designer, Sunny Fong for iVillage.ca and true to rumour he’s not only nice, but smart, funny and disarmingly down-to-earth (read: Sunny, can we please be friends?)...

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MOM LOVE: A Gift Guide

Model mom, Natalia Vodianova, in a sweet editorial for Vogue. Photo: Vogue.

Originally posted in The CLOSET

When I had my first baby, it took me a some time before I felt like a mom. I mean, I definitely felt like a mother when instead of being at a club at 1 am, I paced the floors with an inconsolable newborn. And I certainly felt the full depths of motherhood when on a grocery run for diapers, I realize I already had one stuck to my leg. While those first months of momdom are as unselfish as they come, I still just wasn't on board with the whole 'all you need is love' mentality, gift-wise. Don't get me wrong; there is nothing more amazing than the love of your children, from the smiles and giggles to those rare quiet moments when your beautiful baby is sleeping. But at first, I didn't understand how my mom could have been so genuinely thrilled when we'd give her scraps of scribbled-on paper for her birthday. Now my kids are 3 and 5 and I have to admit, nothing gets me more excited than when my kids come home from school with a homemade card that they've thought up just for me. The tears flow, I get all snivelly (just like I thought I never would) and I cannot possibly imagine a more perfect gift.

Except for those times when you've had months of sub-par sleep, zero breaks from the toddler tyrants who take, take, take ALL. THE. TIME. and then, despite all that glorious love you feel for your little ones, then you want stuff. Like, pretty, impractical, no-kids-allowed stuff that make you feel more like a woman than a mom. Ahem. Just me?

SEE THE GIFT GUIDE HERE...

Lupita Named Most Beautiful.

Photos via People.

It is officially the year of Lupita. People has just named Lupita Nyong'o the world's Most Beautiful Woman and though I'm not surprised, I am so thrilled. You get the sense that she really is just one of those genuinely beautiful people. I really hope I don't find out that she's a homewrecker or kicks puppies because right now, I believe that she's talented and kind and that if I ran into her, she and I would sit down with a glass of wine and have a really great chat and proceed to solve all of the world's problems. And then we'd go shoe shopping because when you hang with the World's Most Beautiful Woman, there is always shoe shopping involved.