Vitamin Daily

The best advice sometimes really does come from around the water cooler.

When a co-worker opened a packet of purple powder and slipped it into her water glass at 3 p.m. on a sluggish workday, I took note and went out to track down my own extra energy supply. My Vitality is a vitamin rich pick-me-up that helps to re-energize while reducing stress levels.  Caffeine-free (it relies on natural ingredients) and flavoured with juice concentrates, this mid-afternoon routine is worth scheduing in, especially if it steers us away from an afternoon snack served from a vending machine.

Drink in the energy boost. —Jaelyn Molyneux

$5.99 per three pack at www.drinkintuition.com

If you are going to collect art, you might as well keep it somewhere it can be admired all day, like the outside of your phone.

Society6 collects art from thousands of contributors and prints them onto iPhone cases. Browse the selection from artists including Laura George’s vibrant photography, Yasmine Surovec’s  illustrations that look like they are straight from a children’s book or Jenean Morrison’s pretty patterns. The art can also be purchased as iPod, iPad or laptop skins.

It makes it easy to love the skin your technology is in. —Jaelyn Molyneux

www.society6.com

Soap operas are being cut from the daytime schedule as quickly as talk shows are being added.

While the television sudsers struggle, Calgary's live improvised soap is going strong in its 12th season. Dirty Laundry takes to the stage every Monday evening with the actors winging the storyline, trying to trip each other up to provoke drama and laughter. The characters are the same each week with a bonus guest star and, this season’s ancient Rome theme is consistent, but everything else is up for grabs. Like the daytime serials, you can show up every week or drop in occasionally and quickly catch up to the storyline.

Evil twins, torrid affairs and babies stolen at birth may or may not be included. —Jaelyn Molyneux

Tickets are $14, www.dirtylaundrycalgary.com

Being scared of the dark is no longer an excuse for putting off bedtime.

Meet the Glo Nightlight, a bedside lamp with removable glowing balls that act as portable nightlights. The phosphorescent balls aren’t electronic and don’t get hot, so they are safe to snuggle with when the room goes dark.

The balls’ light will fade 30 minutes after they’ve been removed from the base, and you can select one tone, or have a rotating array of colours. We suggest you choose the colour that will best ward off any monsters lurking in the closet.

Boon Glo Nightlight, $84.99 from Saf & Benjamin, 1081 Marinaside Cres., Vancouver, 778-328-8194 and online at www.safandbenjamin.com  —Alexandra Suhner Isenberg

This weekend the talent comes to the table. Make that the 48 tables and six galleries at Market Collective.

The monthly showcase of local, independent artists and artisans is February 4 and 5. It is already a lovefest with shoppers chatting with the talented creators as they trade cash for everything from artwork to jewellery, but this month it gets a little gushier with the All You Need is Love theme. While you shop listen to a rotating schedule of live bands. Sundays showcase features an all female music line-up.

Shopping local doesn’t get much easier. —Jaelyn Molyneux

Admission is $3 or a food bank donation. 148 10 St. N.W., Calgary, www.marketcollective.ca

The next stop on our international tour of pastry is Eastern Europe.

Chimney cakes (an ancient Transylvanian street food) are made by wrapping yeast leavened dough around a spool like a ribbon and baking it in a special rotisserie oven. The cake comes out piping hot and is rolled in your choice of chocolate, coconut, cinnamon, walnuts, sugar, or, my favourite, cinnamon. Tug on the top edge and the hollow treat unravels like a spring with steam rising through the middle.

Twist our rubber arm. —Jaelyn Molyneux

$5 or $3 for a mini-cake at Twisted Café in the Crossroads Market, 1235 26 Ave. S.E., 403-291-5208, www.crossroadsmarket.ca

May our fingers always be warm and able to operate our touch screen.

Having to choose between texting and frostbite is something we will never have to do again with Echo Touch gloves. The gloves have a special fabric tab in the index finger and thumb that work with touch screens to let you type or scroll. The gloves also look lovely with styles made from knits, boiled wool, cashmere or leather in colours that range from classic black to hot pink.

It’s always a win when fashion and technology work with each other. —Jaelyn Molyneux

$35 to $85 at Purr, Scotia Centre, 700 2 St. S.W., Calgary, 403-266-7587, www.purrclothing.ca

Word on the street is that Scrabble is cool again. Not that it was ever uncool.

Now we can show off our love of the letter with Scrabble mugs by Wild & Wolf. The ceramic mug in simple cream has a black letter on the front and the complete letter distribution chart on the back. Treat it like a monogram and gift a mug to a friend or yourself. Or, if you have open shelving in your kitchen like I do, buy a collection and put your favourite word on display.

High score! —Jaelyn Molyneux

$14 at Steeling Home, 1010 17 Ave. S.W., Calgary, 403-245-0777, www.steelinghomestore.com

Calgary’s +15 walkway system is the largest of its kind in North America. A fun stat that is only useful if you know how to navigate the maze.

I aspire to be one of the downtown regulars who in the dead of winter know the 16 kilometres of indoor walkways so well they can keep their cute ballet flats on at lunch instead of changing into outdoor shoes to brave the elements. My aspiration is made easier by the +15 app that maps the pathway system and pinpoints your location using GPS. It colour codes based on access hours and pinpoints major buildings.

Now I can leave my parka in the car and walk confidently through the hamster cage that is downtown Calgary. —Jaelyn Molyneux

www.calgaryplus15.com

If Suri Cruise taught us anything in 2011, it’s that stylish pre-school attire is just as important as learning to tie your shoes.

Inspired by shopping trips to Paris and, of course, les chic petits enfants, Canada’s Dote Baby was born, a brand-new online baby boutique for fashionable parents with a discerning eye.

The store’s extensive international brand selection (shipping to: everywhere) includes adorable, trendy pieces from Sweden’s Cheap Monday, Bébé by Australia’s Minihaha, as well as the must-have, celebrity-adored Minnetonka Moccasins.

For those who appreciate the finer things in life, for the little ones in your life, yourdoting hours are about to go into overdrive. —Caroline Gault

www.dotebaby.ca