I love watermelons. Watermelon is my favorite fruit, my favorite flavor, and although hard to find, my favorite fresh juice.  I will travel blocks and blocks out of my way to get my favorite watermelon juice.

My favorite fresh watermelon juice spots are, in this order, Rice and La Esquina.

As much as I love trooping to Rice for the superior juice, and to La Esquina for the superior social scene, it seems like the days of these treks may be coming to a close.

The other day I discovered  Watermelon Chill by Naked Juices.

Hello nurse! Where have you been my whole life?

This juice is amazing, refreshing, and with a hint of lime, gives any of the other watermelon juices a serious for for their money.

Available at Starbucks, better bodegas, or anywhere Naked Juice products are sold.

Naked Juice

Remember that on this day, Monday August 25, 2008, I said that this band was gonna be the new hipster-superstar, cool-guy band that white people like and put in W Magazine and do Opening Ceremony collaborations with.

Give it a year. Maybe less.

Remember I said this.

Note: Some super-hipster readers may be saying, “Dude, I’ve been totally knowing about this band for like two years now.” I know you are saying this. The thing is, now that I have said it, it will happen.

This is great.

(I think I’m all of them)

Buy one of these right now from our boy Steve Powers.

“The Doors? Jim Morrison? He’s a drunken buffoon posing as a poet. Give me The Guess Who. They got the courage to be drunken buffoons, which makes them poetic.”

Burton Cummings is way too slept on.

The Guess Who

As all who know me can attest, one of my greatest pleasures in life is “making things pretty.” No other artist has had a career in “making pretty” that I both admire and envy more than Art Deco diety Erté.

To decorator junkies Erté (né Roman Petrovich Tyrtov) needs no introduction. The Russian born French artist, who went by the French pronunciation of his initials R.T, created some of the most recognizable theatrical and fashion imagery of the early 20th century and continues to influence fashion until this day.

Erté designed his first costume at at the age of five and moved to Paris as a young man to pursue fashion illustration. He soon got a twenty-two year appointment to Harper’s Bazaar and went on to create some of the most spectacular stage sets and costumes for Paris’ Folies-Bergère, the Paris Opera, and New York’s Zeigfield Follies.

Erté was a true early century renaissance man, excelling in all things visual, from drawing to sculpture, to costuming, to environmental design.  During his fashion career alone, Erté produced over 250 covers for Bazaar, innumerable drawings for the magazine’s pages, and fashion designs for some of the world’s most glamorous women. Personally, I would give my left leg to have his complete Alphabet Suite of A-Z rendered in his trademark style.

Erté died in 1990 at the age of ninety-seven, ending an era of brilliance in theatrical design.  Find books on Erté HERE.

Much to Matt’s dismay I’ve been on a crazy Jane Austen tear lately. With fall around the corner, Austen’s achingly melancholy novels are perfect for getting in the mood for tweed, tassels, and lace.

I just devoured Persuasion and am wrapping up Sense and Sensibility. It’s amazing how you can fall in love with words when you read such perfectly constructed sentences dripping with grace. You can physically feel a different part of your brain working than the one you use when you read Us Weekly. It’s crazy. I’ll come across a sentence and read it two or three times just because it’s so beautifully and artfully composed.

Not all people feel the same was about Miss Austen. Matt would rather have his eyelashes pulled out one by one than read a chapter of Mansfield Park. Funny, somehow men don’t seem to cozy up to her - even Austen herself died an old maid.

I don’t care what they say, Pride and Prejudice here I come.

Francoise Hardy. What a perfect creature.

The sixties chanteuse recently showed up in one of Matt’s late-night vintage video watching episodes and transfixed me.

Below is a clip of the hauntingly beautiful Mon Ami La Rose that focuses intensely on her caramel voice and gorgeous teeth for two entirely too short minutes. I just watched her twenty times in a row. I think this is the sound I want to hear every night before I fall asleep.

I love this song.

Archie Bell & The Drells

Why can’t Americans ever come up with stuff like this? The entire building is a big automated parking machine. You just drive your car into the bay, and the bay rotates through the building to find the next open spot and maximize usage of space. Your parking ticket retrieves your car to the bottom bay and onto the rotating circle. The circle turns your car back around so you can drive straight out.

Not only would this save ridiculous amounts of time spent waking sleeping New York City parking attendants, but it would do away with all human contact, eliminating frustrated husband - attendant altercations that result in permanent banning from the lot for eternity. Ahem. Not that Matt and I would know anything about that.

The Olympics have given way to another contest in my brain. Who has the most amazing flag? And why do the most obscure countries have the best art direction?

Above, my pick, the flag of the Seychelles.

Honorable mentions below.

Marshall Islands

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Macedonia

St. Lucia

Bonaire

Antigua

Eritrea

ESPO and I have been into these guys for the last few weeks.

The Buckinghams

No this is not a Parisian shoe salon. It’s Fauchon, a luxury food shop on Paris’ Place de la Madeleine in the 8e arrondissement.

Founded in 1886 by Auguste Fauchon, the pâtisserie / boulangerie serves up delicacies that are as much a treat for the eye as for the palate. Yes, those are gold bakery walls. And yes, the bread is monogrammed.

Of course.

Also check out the magnificent Éclairs in perfect little rows below. This is pink gastronomic perfection. Their New York outpost closed a few years ago.

Of course.

Visit Fauchon HERE.

I am determined to figure out why these six scents have been selling out for over thirty years. I for one, am a lover of obscenely expensive fragrances that have a drugstore, old lady perfume quality. So I think I just might like these…

Enjoli (Because anything mauve is ok in my book)

Giorgio Beverly Hills (Apparently, ‘Beverly Hills in a Bottle” by the very great Fred Hayman.)

Jean Naté (My mother’s favorite. She still uses it before bed.)

Jontue (More mauve)

Jovan Musk (Just what is that little line over the “o”, anyway?)

L’Air du Temps (Cause who doesn’t need to own this bottle?)

I think this is the year my favorite concoction makes its comeback to my cocktail party repertoire…

The Brandy Alexander is for me everything cool about being a grown up. When I was a poor kid growing up in Queens, I’d watch my mom’s super cool hustle-dancing boyfriend order these at the bar of the Hawaiian restaurant we went to while we waited for our flaming PuPu platter and he slipped me coins to toss in their illuminated tiki fountain. He and my mom would share one nutmeg-rimmed glassful and I would think they were the most fabulous sight I’d ever seen.

Now that I’m older and more comfortably situated, a Brandy Alexander is the perfect complement to my fall wardrobe. I can’t imagine anything I’d rather be sipping in my high stack-heeled tassel & kiltie “pumps” (I’ve been dying to use that word!) I suggest you all do the same. So break out your grandma’s classic coupe glasses (no cheesy martini glasses please!) and mix up a pitcher of lusciousness. Some footwear and cocktail coordination is long overdue.

Here’s the recipe:

1 1/2 oz Brandy
1 oz Dark Crème de Cacao
1 oz Half-and-half or Heavy Cream
1/4 tsp grated Nutmeg

In a shaker half-filled with ice cubes, combine the brandy, crème de cacao, and half-and-half. Shake well. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with the nutmeg. Sip while wearing high-heeled oxfords.

Best girl toy ever. My dad got me mine on my seventh birthday.

My aspiring male florist, designer, and decorator friends found their comfort in these…

I’d kill for another chance to play with my old set. Hmmm… maybe someone will surprise me with one in about a month’s time. They seem to be available on ebay now and again…

Matt and I recently took the fam to his favorite summer destination, and (we’re convinced) future “Hipster Hamptons.”

Wildwood - a Jersey Shore gem full of enough mid-century motels to make any design nerd drool. You can get your fashion photographer, vintage freak, and family man alter egos off at the same time - not to mention secretly indulge in the most awesome rides, waterpark slides, skeeball contests, malt vinegar fries, and orangeade the the Garden State has to offer. Go HERE.

Lacoste is the one and only originator of the tennis (or polo) shirt which completely revolutionized athletic and casual clothing almost eighty years ago.  It was created by tennis legend Jean René Lacoste (nicknamed “The Crocodile”) in 1929 and continues to be the world’s premier luxury tennis item, outfitting top tennis players around the world including America’s own Andy Roddick.  This fall, Lacoste is launching their totally redesigned women’s polo, the PF170.   

Class Trip launched this iconic item by pairing it with some of New York City’s female icons-in-the-making and hosted private dinner for these trendsetting women (and the men who love them.)  Guests included killer designers Leah MacSweeney (Married To The MOB) and  Claw Money, brilliant photographers Angela Boatwright and Danille Levitt, Editors Annie Fisher (Villiage Voice) and Claudia Wu (Me Magazin,) hot bloggers Wendy Lam (Nitrolicious) and Jen Wannaruche (Worship Worthy),  filmmaker Jauretsi Saizarbitoria, and publisher Dana Albarella-James of Testify Books.  Their men-in-waiting were the always gracious and ridiculously talented Todd James (REAS,) Rob Cristofaro of ALIFE, Music Producer and DJs Fancy, superstar reggae DJ Max Glazer, On-The-Go Ari, architect Rafael déCardenas, and FreshnessMag editor YuMing Wu.  All guests received their very own personalized PF170 to sport this fall.

Read more…

The best hot dogs in the world, hands down, can be found at Walter’s in Mamaronek, NY. In Manhattan, however, F&B and Crif Dogs are both dope for different reasons. If you’re into hot dogs, you have to check all three of these spots.

Walter’s
F&B
Crif Dogs