Disclosure: I received a free review copy of the Mother Daughter Letter Book reviewed in this blog post.

As I have gotten older, I have realized that I would like a more meaningful connection with my mother. I had a fairly typical growing-up experience, and while my mother told me plenty of stories, I didn’t always hear the stories to tell me what she is really like and what she likes, underneath all the ‘mom’ stuff.

A few weeks ago, I was approached by Uncommon Goods (visit their website here: www.uncommongoods.com), a Brooklyn-based catalog retailer, to write a review for them. I have been receiving their catalogs for some time, and admiring the quirky and unusual items they carry, half of which are handcrafted and a third include recycled/upcycled materials.

Imagine my surprise and pleasure at finding in their catalog this Mother Daughter Letter Book (see it here: http://www.uncommongoods.com/product/mother-daughter-letter-book) amongst all the gifts for women and mothers (http://www.uncommongoods.com/occasions/mothers-day-gifts/mothers-day-gifts). I knew right away that I wanted it to share with my mom, and it has definitely met all my expectations.

The back half is one big pull-out box (with a red satin ribbon for pulling it out) full of question cards and envelopes to send the cards in (if mother and daughter don’t live close). Once the cards & envelopes are gone, keepsakes can be stored in the box. The journal itself has plenty of places to write, and lots of places to stick question cards. I love the thick ivory pages decorated with faux-scrapbook illustrations, giving the whole thing a vintage yet modern feel. There is a lovely wide red satin book mark to match the keepsake box pull-out.

My only complaint is that the instructions say that the mother should keep the book and send cards to her daughter — it works better the other way for my mom & me, and I would rather we weren’t being instructed on every page to do it differently, but that is a minor complaint. Overall, I love this book, and I am so glad to have the chance to get to know my mom better.

If you are looking for Mother’s Day gifts for your mom, you can find more gifts on Uncommon Goods for women (http://www.uncommongoods.com/gifts/by-recipient/gifts-for-women) and moms (http://www.uncommongoods.com/for-her/gifts-for-her/gifts-for-mom).