Drink of the Week: French 75!

A little history with your buzz...
The French 75 may be a champagne cocktail, but by no means is it only meant to be sipped at wedding receptions and New Year's Eve parties. This is a drink that kicks ass and takes names, thanks to the ingenious addition of gin, its intensity masked by a little lemon and sugar.

The drink was allegedly created by a World War I fighter pilot of French and American origin who found champagne a little lacking in the potency department. The resulting drink was so powerful he said it felt like being on the receiving end of a French 75mm howitzer artillery piece -hence the name.

Hair-on-your-chest factor: 74/100
If a World War I pilot says it's strong, and if Ernest Hemingway and his cronies knocked these back at the Ritz in Paris, then you can be confident in your masculinity while ordering one. Just beware that particular kind of intoxication that comes from the mystical dovetailing of gin and champagne -- not for rookies.

Instructions:
2 oz gin
1 tsp sugar (superfine if possible)
1/2 oz lemon juice
5 oz Brut champagne

In a cocktail shaker, combine the gin, sugar and lemon juice and shake well with cracked ice. Fill a Collins glass partway with ice and strain the gin mixture into it. Top off with champagne.

Wonderwall:

Someone who you find yourself thinking about all the time.

The person who you are completely infatuated with.

Someone who surprisingly has become so important,

you almost feel ashamed that without him you feel like nothing.

Behati Prinsloo & her NYC Pad

From our vantage point, a model's life can often seem nothing short of otherworldly. They jet-set and have the ability to practically transform clothing into art. But really, when you get right down to it, they usually have super messy closets, eccentric book collections, and way too many pairs of ankle boots, just like us. Or at least, the ones we love do.

Twenty-year-old Behati Prinsloo is just such a lady. The Namibia-born beauty, who's graced campaigns for H&M to Marc by Marc Jacobs and has strutted for everyone from Chanel to Louis Vuitton, considers herself a "jeans and T-shirt" kind of girl, but there's more to this budding fashion star than meets the eye.

Her apartment, the local's East Village mixes up vintage wares, a hookah den, a giant Kid Robot sculpture, and various other curiosities reveals another side of this fashion plate... Here's a sneak-peek into Prinsloo's downtown crash-pad, where she shacks up with her pretty kitty Gollum. .

Come Away with Me...

We'll find a place between fact and fiction.

Stranded between heaven and earth.

We'll stay there forever.

Make an inception.

And as long as they don't know we'll be the masters of pretense.

Beautification

Cleansing.

A facial begins with a cleansing with cotton pads or sponges and a product chosen for your skin type (normal, dry, oily, combination, sensitive, mature.)

Skin Analysis.

The esthetician covers your eyes and looks at your skin through a brightly lit magnifying lamp that reveal various skin conditions.

Exfoliation.

Using a mechanical exfoliation, it has a gritty texture and usually happens while a steam vapor is directed at your face.

Extraction of blackheads or whiteheads.

Facial massage.

Using classic strokes like effleurage to both relax you and stimulate your skin and facial muscles.

Facial mask targeted to your skin type and condition.

Application of toners and protective creams.

Aaarrggh!

Can we girls just have an instant magical beauty potion instead?

Prada Crystal Encrusted Clutch

Going on a cruise?

Once you set your eyes upon Prada’s uber-swanky crystal-encrusted clutch from the brand’s 2012 resort collection, you won't be able to resist the temptation to own one to complete your resort look.

This stunning Prada clutch features pink patent leather construction with a crystal-encrusted, silvertone coin-purse closure is sure to turn some heads. This is 5.75 inches high by 12.5 inches wide by 2.5 inches deep that just means that this can hold all the things you need to remain looking and feeling fab all throughout the event. The beige leather lining and a detachable shoulder strap complete this stylish handbag.

Excellent little clutch to tote around and show off to all your cruise ship mates.

My Reality

Stop telling me I can't, I won't, I shouldn't.
Stop telling me how I should feel.

I think I know how this should be,
what normal is supposed to be like.

This my reality, asshole.

The Answer:

Begin to see the fiasco in its true perspective.

It simply wasn't worth feeling bad about.

Intelligent, thinking people could take things like this in their stride,

just as they took the larger absurdities of deadly dull jobs in the city and deadly dull homes in the suburbs.

Circumstances might force you to live in this environment,

but the important thing is to keep from being contaminated.

The important thing, always, is to remember who you are.

So that you incline your ear to wisdom,

And apply your heart to understanding;

Yes, if you cry out for discernment,

And lift up your voice for understanding,

If you seek her as silver,

And search for her as for hidden treasures;

Then you will find knowledge.

Then you will understand.

Sasha Says...

"I am not interested in money.

I just wanna be wonderful."

Sasha Pivovarova

An Event to Remember

Jerry Sibal is no mere party planner. He’s a world-renowned designer of unforgettable celebrations of every description. Each of Sibal’s projects—whether for a private birthday party or holiday dinner, a lavish wedding or bar/bat mitzvah, a corporate retreat or charity ball—is a distinctive work of art.

An Event to Remember presents a portfolio of some of Sibal’s finest and most visionary work—with dramatic photographs that will make you wish you’d been there. Throughout, Sibal reveals how he coordinates architecture, lighting and audiovisual systems, interior decor, tabletop arrangements, and his trademark floral extravaganzas to create such gloriously spellbinding environments.

Venues from all over the country are featured, from New York City’s Rainbow Room, to Miami Beach’s Setai Hotel, to Atlantic City’s Borgata Casino, to outdoor settings such as the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and a California hillside with breathtaking Pacific Ocean views.

Capital Kitchen

Capital Kitchen is more than a café: it is a union between café style dining and retail provedore. They are are dedicated to specializing in food and homewares that are seasonal, fresh, simple and beautiful.

Capital Kitchen is a uniquely sophisticated dining space within Chadstone's new luxury precinct where shoppers can unwind and enjoy delicious fare and coffee.

At Capital Kitchen we are passionate about providing shoppers with unique homewares for their kitchen, in addition to our own signature homewares range.

Capital Kitchen: simple things, beautifully made.

*Somewhere

Sofia Coppola's new film, Somewhere, stars Stephen Dorff as a burned-out actor named Johnny Marco who lives in a suite at the Chateau Marmont hotel in Los Angeles, wanders around in untied Red Wings, and appears to be drifting through an endless series of premieres, junkets, parties, and his life in general, with little in the way of meaningful relationships.

However, Johnny's own routine, as empty-seeming as it is, gets interrupted when his pre-teen daughter from a previous relationship, Cleo (Elle Fanning), arrives for a weekend stay that unexpectedly turns into a longer one, forcing him to very quickly become the father that she very apparently has never had, and what emerges is a stark and, in many ways, unvarnished portrait of two people searching for something they've been missing, and maybe, possibly, finding it.

Somewhere, which hits theaters in late December, premiered in August and the Venice Film Festival, where it took top honors, winning the Golden Lion. This melancholy film is a place worth visiting.

Cryptic

Sometimes you forgive people, simply because you still want them in your life.

Does that sound reasonable for you?

I'm not OK. You're not OK. That's OK.

From now on, I don't stalk no more. That actually means something.

Mixed signal + second thoughts.

Oh dear, I'm making up scenarios for us again.

Light Up!

Nothing quite like an electric hue to make the month pop like a Warhol color treatment. For a little fashion-meets-art, think these gorgeous shocking colors!

The Louis Vuitton World

If you had the choice, what designer collection would you live in?

Imagining of a refined and outdoorsy look...

What about taking a safari of Africa with such a magnetic scenery as a backdrop. From tents, lion cubs, sunsets and campfires…

And of course the Louis Vuitton collection which is made up of glamorous trunks, cases, watches and eyewear, stands out amongst the beautiful setting.

Spring Sneak Peek

Earlier this week Miranda Kerr headed out to Palm Springs, California for a photoshoot. Yes, stunning Miranda Kerr has modeled David Jones Spring/Summer 2011 collection for catalog as well as walked runway for the brand. The catalog is bright and trendy, outfits are great and summery.

David Jones Spring/Summer 2011 catalog full of bright summery womenswear is featuring Miranda Kerr in all her glamor modeling dresses, skirts, tops, jackets, lingerie and swimwear. All the latest summer trends are here – white, full skirts, bight and bold hues, crochet knit, prints, and maxi length. Safari chic, capri pants and a trench coat are there to make you look fresh and effortless while super bright dresses are both romantic and chic.