From never shopping with PMT, resisting the urge to look at your ass from behind in change room mirrors (nothing good can come from this), not being the larger size when it fits (they just make small sizes), to mind numbing exchanges with sales assistants about the weather, Gaynor Alder gives you her ten commandments of shopping.

Depression had invaded every part of me, its weight heavy on my heart. A sorrow so great it should have instantly identified itself, instead of hiding in the shadows and dishing out its pain by slowly seeping through the cracks of my confusion. A sorrow that once its tears formed puddles at my feet, dropped me to my knees with its piercing and persistent pain.

Do you have an anxiety disorder? A reader opens up to us about her anxiety and how it affects her life, her coping mechanisms, experience with medication, how she feels it’s percepted in society and what help she would like to see more of to support people suffering with it.

Magshop are running a most fabulous Mother’s Day competition, with anyone who purchases a magazine subscription until 28th May 2013, going into the running to win 1 of 4 seven-day $30,000 health retreats at The Golden Door. Talk about a marvelous Mothers Day gift that keeps on giving.

When asked if I’d like to review Blake Daniel’s virtual PA services, I said yes quicker than you can say, “Can you check my diary & see if I’m free for lunch with Carrie Bradshaw?” Having loved the service so much, and a penchant for inspirational entrepreneurs, I chatted with the brains behind this fabulous business – someone who’s always been one to go their own way.

Each month we’re rewarding two of our readers with the chance to review beauty products. This month you have the opportunity to get your manicured hands on five fabulous beauty products each, including Dermalogica’s Microfoliant and Age Smart Power Recovery Masque. You can also read our March readers’ review of Clarins, OPI, REN and Jane Iredale.

Perhaps only beaten by the power of a good hair day, stepping out the house with ridiculously sexy underwear always injects a I-can-take-on-the-world-today confidence in your step. Here’s our pick of lingerie that will not only help you romance your everyday, but ensure your trusty well worn cotton briefs never destroy an unexpected moment between the sheets again.

We walk out onto the back deck to a picturesque seascape of blue. The sky is beginning to take on the hues resembling my peach lychee martini as the sun begins kissing the horizon. We have only been aboard the Pacific Dawn for one day and already, as I sip on my third martini for the afternoon, I find myself beginning to surrender into a state of complete relaxation.

Can’t you just see yourself sipping your earl grey from these darling cups, and hosting a high tea with macaroons and fancy sandwiches? Belinda Janes is giving one lucky reader the chance to put some more romance into their everyday, by gifting them with a Maxwell & Williams Cashmere & Aviary collection. They are also gifting another 2 readers with a 3 tier cake stand.

Kylie Triggell chats with former veterinarian turned fashion blogger and stylist Cecylia Kee, and discovers how she made her career transition, her style icons, what every woman should have in her wardrobe, her inspiration for blogging and why ‘everyday is worth dressing up for’.

Katie Reddin-Clancy is performing her fabulous ‘Kate Middleton Show Queen’ at this year’s Melbourne Comedy Festival. Gaynor Alder chats with Katie, and finds out what it’s like to be Kate Middleton’s double.

Practicing positive scanning will reinforce and strengthen our neural pathways for success and happiness, and help us to keep going in the face of adversity. In part 2 of this series, stress therapist Chris G’Froerer discusses how positive scanning and gratitude can overcome stress and anxiety.

It would be a sin not to covet these beauty and lifestyle lust-haves! What’s even better? We’re giving one of these covet-worthy products away to a lucky reader!

Stress in our modern world has become a global epidemic and exacts an extreme psychological, emotional and physical price. Stress Therapist Chris G’Froerer discusses the causes of anxiety, how our brain doesn’t know the difference between reality and imagination and why negative scanning is a greased skid to anxiety and depression.

At the start of this year I told you to raise your middle finger to new years resolutions. Actually, I think I told you to tell them to go and get fucked. Anyway, the point being, this year instead of making futile promises again, I decided to create a theme. ’2013. A Luxurious Journey.’ Did you create a theme for your year? Are you feeling connected or disconnected from it?

‘Love with a Chance of Drowning’ will have you ask questions about your life, your fears, your ambitions and your spirit. But at its heart, this memoir is a page turning love story about an Argentinian named Ivan who’s obsessed with the idea of voyaging across the Pacific, and Torre who has a morbid fear of water and a severe problem with seasickness. Will she risk it all?

A prequel? To the all time classic, much loved Wizard of Oz, 74 years later? Surely this has got to be some purely dangerous territory! Done wrong and the dreams and memories built upon generations could be absolutely crushed; yet director Sam Raimi has taken the risk and instead creates a visually rhapsodic fantasy full of nostalgic bliss.

We have so many clothes, shoes, belts, hats and scarves jam-packed into our wardrobes that it’s sometimes hard to get a handle on how much of it we’re actually wearing. How do we figure out what’s on high rotation and what almost never sees the light of day? Peta Stephenson has a nifty coat hanger trick to help you make the most of your wardrobe.

Lauren Wallace investigates the curious case of the great coverup, at Benefit’s FakeUp launch in their Paddington boutique. With an apple martini in one hand, and product in the other, she discovers what separates FakeUp from your average concealer and reveals why it’s become an essential part of her makeup routine.

From “I’m never getting married” to having a ring slipped on her finger while rocking haphazardly on a rowboat in eastern Europe, Kylie Triggell found herself knee deep in wedding planning and lost in the details. Now she’s thrown her lists in the bin, determined to joyously revel in the lead up to her wedding.

If like me you don’t know one end of a gardening rake from another, the fabulous Lindemans Outdoor Garden is reason enough to attend this years Melbourne International Garden & Flower Show. Enjoy wine tastings from Lindeman’s Early Harvest collection, along with demonstrations from celebrity chef Dominique Rizzo and create edible blooms you can take home for free.