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Her boyfriend had just proposed and they bought and were designing a condo, and planning their wedding. And then one day, she got cancer. She was 24. When she told me, I cried for the entire afternoon. Even writing this now, I’m tearing up because I love her so much. I was so scared for her.

And I’m sure she was scared too, but she never let on. She kept planning her wedding and renovating her new condo, and going to her treatments several times a week. This is what she looked like on her wedding day. This is what cancer looks like when you don’t let it stop you from living. When you alter your mother’s gorgeous wedding dress and put on a wig and focus on the really important things. Like living.

In the March issue of Flare, she tells her story.

I’m so proud of her, not only for sharing her experience, for being published in one of her favourite magazines, but for beating the cancer and for all her success in every other aspect of her life, only a few short years later.

Not…”I forgot it was Valentine’s Day so I grabbed this bouquet of half-dead orange carnations at the gas station because it’s the only thing I could find on the way home.”

But being creative and thoughtful can be stressful, especially if you’re busy and admittedly not creative and have left things to the last minute. And yes, Valentine’s Day is commercial and it’s much more romantic to do something on a random day for someone you love. But I think the sentiment is there, that it’s still nice to take a moment to tell someone you care about how you feel about him/her.

Which is not always actually achievable with a half-dead bouquet of electric-blue roses. Or a fuzzy red heart-shaped pillow. Unless she likes dyed-blue roses. Or he really likes pillows. Especially fuzzy red heart-shaped ones. Or vice versa! Then it’s perfect. And that’s the key.

Stop yourself from falling into the trap of something red and heart-shaped and generic and impersonal and do something personal. Think about the person you like (or love!) and then think about what they like (or love!) and get a gift that’s only appropriate for that person. It doesn’t have to be cheesy or stereotypically “romantic” to actually be romantic.

On The Marilyn Denis Show this week, we pulled together two segments of ideas that say “Hi. I like you. And I saw this and thought of you.”

Gift ideas for him…

Gift ideas for her…

For the full rundown on the items shown and where to buy them, head to marilyn.ca.

PS This is inside of the above card. It’s from simplyhonest on etsy – her cards are all kinds of awesome. I would totally take this card over any expensive gift, any day.

Another tip for being kind to your hair:

* If you’re trying to be gentle on your hair because it’s overprocessed or you colour it, sulfate-free shampoos are ideal. But only if you use them the right way. The two biggest mistakes people make is treating them like typical shampoo — and using too much product and only lathering up once. The trick to using them is to use just a dime size amount. Lather, rinse and repeat. Yes, repeat. For sulfate-free shampoos to work, you can’t use too much shampoo, and you have to wash twice to cleanse and remove the residue left by the shampoo. If you’ve tried sulfate-free shampoos and didn’t love them, you might want to give them another chance.

I had my own thoughts, but then I thought, why not go straight to someone working on the other side of the tip jar — so I asked Greg May, owner of Greg May Hair Architects, who’s worked his way up through every job in the salon over the past 20+ years. He gives his opinion over at my blog at The Kit.

What do you think about tipping at the salon? Have your say in The Kit comments. Which I quite enjoy leaving just for the I-am-not-a-robot-verification-icons like movie popcorn and ice cream.

There really is no higher honour. Thank you, Stephen Elliott. I may not know you but I love you even more. And I already loved Letters in the Mail, but now I love it even more.

Sometimes, hair trends are so right. And sometimes, they’re just very, very wrong. Unless you’re five. Or maybe it’s just me.

What do you think? Would you wear it?

OK. I’m being a bit dramatic. I wasn’t totally angry. But I was totally hungry. For three days straight. Here’s why:

A few months ago, Wellness Kit editor Ceri Marsh said she wanted to do a feature on juice cleanses in her section of the magazine. She wanted to compare a few different companies, but didn’t want to do them all herself and asked if I wanted to do one. Yessssss. I’ve always wanted to do a cleanse, but I have the worst willpower. And also, I hate being told what not to do. Tell me I can’t have chocolate and suddenly I can’t even think of a single food item that’s not chocolate. What do people eat for breakfast? No clue. Chocolate corn flakes with chocolate milk and chocolate covered raisins on top? Of course.

I figured committing to a cleanse so I could honestly report back on it would be the incentive I needed to hold me accountable. Apparently, I don’t know myself very well.

During the phone consult with the creator of the cleanse I was assigned, she told me there were 1, 3 and 5-day cleanses. She asked if I’d like to start with the 1-day cleanse.

“No. I’ll do the 5 day,” I told her.

“Are you sure?” she asked, then reminded me that if I’ve never done a cleanse before, it could be a shock to my system. I assured her I could handle it. If I was going to do a cleanse, I was going to do. a. cleanse. I wanted results!

She agreed, but said I should do the modified cleanse. You have a few juices during the day, but then you also get a salad and a snack for the evening. I told her I wanted the all-juice cleanse. All juices, all the time. What’s the point of modifying? Modifying is for wimps.

There’s a reason she’s the creator of the cleanse. She probably knows her clients better than we know ourselves. Or she could sense my crazy. She said I could do the all-juice cleanse, but only the 3 day. And that she wanted to ease me into it, so she was first going to drop off 3 days’ worth of juices, salads and snacks, so I could do those first, then on the 4th day go hardcore on the juices.

I should’ve just gone with the modified version, because by the time I started the cleanse, I’d already done three days on the modified version and while I pretty much stuck to it (it wasn’t hard, the salads were pretty gourmet, with interesting toppings and dressings and the snacks felt like I was cheating), I still thought I was ready to go hardcore.

I think, in retrospect, what I was ready for, was to bite into a sandwich.

Here’s the rundown of my three days on the all-juice part of the cleanse.

I actually feel mildly embarrassed that I couldn’t stick to it for three days. Logically it doesn’t even make sense since the total calories of the cleanses are probably higher than I’d normally consume in a day (or maybe not? Maybe I eat a lot and have a high metabolism? I have no clue, I never diet because whenever I try, I end up gaining weight, see reasons, above), and since you have six juices to get through, you’re drinking something every few hours. But I was starving all the time. Or so I thought. Anyway, thank goodness I wasn’t the only one who cheated.  Though I’m not sure Vanessa’s celery sticks really count as cheating. If she’s being totally honest (I know she is) then I should probably admit that I didn’t just have one glass of wine, I had two.

All in all, I think these cleanses are great for getting your energy back. And I don’t hold the company at all responsible for my lack of willpower or commitment. They actually know what they’re doing when they do the consult. I should’ve listened. Maybe next time.