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I’ve made it a minor project to try to reconnect with old friends this summer. Fortunately, some of them are better at it than I and I got a major gift in this direction: A regular invitation to a Friday-night wine-and-chat with local friends. You know you’re living the good life when you have a chance to hang out with people who really get some of your daily struggles. And a bottle of Pinot Grigio doesn’t hurt!

On that theme I’d like to invite you to comment with one tip about either wine (buying, storing, serving) or friendship (making, nurturing, evaluating), and I’ll select 3 lucky winners at random from the comments to receive a bottle of Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio, valued at $16.95 (and sweetened with victory as well). You must comment before noon on Wednesday August 18.

As with all our blog giveaways: One entry per person please, and sadly we cannot offer this to our Quebec or non-Canadian readers. By entering you agree to accept the prize as awarded and we reserve the right to substitute a prize of equal value. You must be of legal drinking age in your province and of the age of majority. We accept no liability about what happens when you drink the wine.

And if you don’t win, or if you can’t wait to find out and are heading out to buy the wine - here’s extra incentive to try the Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio: From July 18th to August 14th, 50 cents from the sale of each bottle of this popular wine will be donated to the Scotiabank AIDS Walk for Life.

This giveaway is now closed and winners will be contacted shortly!

Update: The winner for the giveaway was comment #19 (Cindy). This giveaway is now closed.

I think my reaction after seeing Sex and the City 2 can pretty well be summed up in a larger artistic question which is: When is enough enough?

I love to slip back into the world that Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte inhabit: Great clothes, nice restaurants and conversation with friends who know and love you. Oh, and some good-looking men. (I’m not claiming that it satisfies my taste for realism.)

However this latest movie left me breathless at points, and it wasn’t because I was laughing. First the good: It is great eye candy. There’s a scene where Miranda and Charlotte discuss motherhood that cracked me up. And John Corbett is great.

But for most of the film I felt like I was watching a completely different franchise, along the lines of National Lampoon. For a franchise which I thought portrayed some interesting micro-cultural clashes — Steve and Miranda’s relationship; Carrie and Aidan up at his cottage — I found it amazingly tone deaf in its approach to the Middle East. For me that took me out of the film. I kept thinking: seriously? Seriously???

I also thought the jokes surrounding Kim Cattrall’s character Samantha and menopause were past funny to annoying. And hey, here at More.ca, we are always into a good menopause joke. But it was just too over the top.

I’m dying to know what you think.

And I even have some incentive for you: Comment on this post before noon on Friday, June 4 with any thoughts about Sex and the City - either film or the show - and you could win this fab SJP NYC prize pack.

Details: The SJP NYC cosmetic bag (available exclusively at the Bay in May as a gift with purchase), the SJP NYC bangles (available exclusively at Sears in May as a gift with purchase), the SJP NYC sparkling solid perfume bracelet ($39 suggested retail price, available in June at select Sears and Bay department stores across Canada), and a 60 mL bottle of the SJP NYC eau de toilette ($59 suggested retail price.)

As usual I’ll select a winner randomly from the comments. One entry per person please, and sadly we cannot offer this to our Quebec or non-Canadian readers. By entering you agree to accept the prize as awarded and we reserve the right to substitute a prize of equal value.

In our Haute Flash newsletter I told the story of getting caught in the rain on the way to an interview and only realizing afterwards that I looked like a cubist nightmare. (Avoid this.)

But I have to admit I’m used to beauty disasters. My mom, who was a little bit too old to be a hippy but still leaned that way, raised me on Free to Be You and Me and with the concept that it’s what’s inside that counts. So - I ended up experimenting the hard way. Among some of my “fondest” (ha) recollections:

- Starting to shave my legs at camp — unfortunately for me, in the cold morning air lakeside, which resulted in shaving off the goosebumps and sporting scabs and stubble for the next week and a half.
- The same summer, my friend and I decided to style our hair. Neither one of us had hair gel, so we used Vaseline.
- For my wedding in 1994 I decided to get a perm so that I could sport loose waves. It was only the second one I’d had ever and did not realize that my hair would take the curl really, really well. Let’s just say we could have danced to “On the Good Ship Lollipop.” Shirley Temples for all!

The nice thing is that mom was right - it really is the confidence inside that counts. But I have to admit that the older I get, the more that confidence actually inspires me to learn about clothes and beauty products that work for me and not against me.

What’s your tale of beauty disaster? Share yours in the comments before Friday at noon (eastern time!) and you could win a 50 mL bottle of Shiseido’s Future Solution LX Total Regenerating Cream.

Edit: This giveaway is now closed; thanks for entering! Read the comments for some hillarious stories that will make you laugh out loud. The winner is #13: #

I went to high school one day having borrowed my mother’s very orangey estee lauder blush. None of my friends wore makeup, but true to 80’s form, I applied it as if it were war paint. One of the boys asked if I had something on my face, because it looked kind of funny. I didn’t need any help blushing after that! - Jacquelyn

Congrats to last week’s giveaway winner on how to beat the blues: Lucky #8! “To beat the winter blues, I simply catch up on all the films I didn’t see the previous year. I rent a pile of DVDs, make some ‘virtuous’ air-popped popcorn, and curl up on the couch with a gigantic mug of green tea. Works like magic! - Heather R.”

Now, onto some health-related links that are making me feel like I won something:
Beer may help fight osteoporosis. (National Post) Who knew?
Your bra does not give you breast cancer (and let your daughter know). (New York Times)
Vitamin D is especially important if you’re darker-skinned. (CBC.ca)
Where do you stand on provincial funding for in-vitro fertilization?

With Valentine’s Day coming up here’s another quickie blog giveaway. You can win this Sugar Cookie hand soap and hand lotion set from Baléa. (We here at the office are envious, because the sugar cookie scent is lovely.) My question to you is: What’s the best date you’ve ever been on (or that you can imagine)?

The rules are the same as last time: To enter, leave a comment before noon (ET) on Friday January 29. You must include your email address (which will not be visible on the site) in order to win.

I was really glad to see Meryl Streep win at the Golden Globes (here’s a clip of her in the press room, where I find her answers smart and classy as usual); I have to admit that Julie & Julia was the surprise movie of the year for me - I really enjoyed it and found it inspirational. Go passionate women!

What did you think of the awards?

Also, I wanted to be sure to announce our winner of the giveaway contest. The comments were all so good that I picked a random number and that’s the comment that won: #23: “My husband and I don’t argue very often and if we do have a serious discussion we try to remain calm and under control. We very seldom yell at each other and try to reason with each other if we disagree-so compromise is always our best strategy. We have been married for 43 years and so far we are still madly in love with each other!!” - Sheila.

Stay tuned for a post around some of your comments; they were really great. Thanks for participating and keep reading for more giveaways and opportunities to share your wisdom!

“We just don’t have anything in common any more.” That’s what one of my long-lost (read: found on Facebook) friends says about her marriage of over ten years, which is now over. I wish I could be smug about it and think that will never happen to me - but I’ve been around long enough to know that’s not the case. So one of my resolutions is to put a bit more time and effort into keeping in touch - really in touch; not just scheduling and parenting - with my spouse.

But I’m intensely curious to know how people really do it. And I happen to have a 50 ml bottom of Calvin Klein’s euphoria for men (eau de toilette spray) on my desk to give away. So I’m asking you to share your tip in the comments (before midnight, eastern standard time, January 16 2010) and include your email address in the appropriate field (it will not appear on the blog!). I’ll pick a winner at random. So post your tip! Remember that the blog comments are on moderation, so it may take a day for your comment to appear - but it is not lost.

Comments are now closed and the winner is - by random selection - comment #23! Thank you all so much for the fantastic tips; I’ll be turning them into a blog post soon - Jenn

Attention all amaryllis (and other winter greenery) lovers: I have a pair of two-day passes to give to the Evergreen Fair taking place in Toronto’s Distillery District next week (November 18 & 19) from 11 am to 8 pm. Details are right here! These are offered courtesy of the Budding Gardener.

To enter, just comment on this post with your tip for a lush holiday season, whether that’s plant and decor related, relationship-related, or a great gift find. I’ll be selecting the winner on Friday so be sure to comment before noon (eastern daylight savings time) on November 13!

Comments are moderated due to the amount of spam comments we’ve been getting, but be patient and you’ll see yours appear.

This contest is now closed, but we will be doing more blog giveaways, so subscribe to our blog or visit often!