Archive for the 'Luxury Gifts' Category
Phone-y Luxury
Talk about tiny phones! This petite model might even fit in a jeweled Judith Leiber evening bag or in form-fitting European pockets.
The amazing C3 camera flip phone from Pantech (see photo on left with phone on keyboard) measures just 1.69. by 2.72 inches and weighs in at just 2.5 ounces. Its no fatty, either, measuring just 0.8 inches thick.
Billed as the worlds smallest camera flip phone, the C3 offers a VGA camera, interchangeable face plates, along with email and instant messaging capabilities. Currently, this little wonder is available only through Cingular Wireless with some great pricing incentives.
The Pantech C3 features and reviews are pretty impressive.
read comments (0)Luxe, Luxe Luxury Blogs
by What a terrific idea! The œL List is being developed and will hopefully provide a roundup of the top luxury blogs in the world. Upon its approximate completion, the luxury shopper should be able to find everything from fabulous jewelry, to top shelf travel to ultra luxurious global real estate.
Here is the starter list, along with instructions for adding luxury blogs. Please add any favorite luxury blog sites and pass along.
If youre a luxury blogger, heres what you need to do:
- 1. Write a post
- 2. Copy/paste the link list (and these instructions!) from the post where you discovered the L-List.
- 3. Make sure the links are active and correct.
- 4. If your blog is on the list, remove it its not a self-promotion post. As Tim Fehlman (Z-List) said : œDont worry, because if your name is on mine, its on others and will spread.
- Add your favourite luxury blogs on to the list.
- Add the URL of the blog where youve discovered the L-List as well.
- Publish the post.
Drumroll: Heres the list of nominees and some of my personal favorites!
A Luxury TravelBlog
B Glam
blavish
Blog-Tique
Bornrich
Deluxe Blog.it
Foodaholic
Good Luck Deluxe
GourmetStation
High Chic
Janus Thinking
Living the Luxe Life
Lussorian
Luxist
Luxury Clues
Luxury Housing Trend
Luxury Launches
Luxury Portfolio
Luxury Reviewer
Luxus.fr
Restaurant Girl
Social Diva
Sybarites
Tango Diva
The Delicious Life
The Informed Traveler
The Lobby
Vagablond
Vinography
Wine Goddess
Other great blogrolls:
Gotta-Haves for Luxury Homes
Last night, I had spent a fun evening with an interesting Carlsbad Realtor who probably set a world record in San Diego luxury home upgrade sales in the late 1990s into 2003. Sharas experiences in new luxury home sales will be an article for another time, but I thought it might be important to peer into the current hot items being demanded for new luxury homes.
The list isnt hot off the press, but is certainly worth repeating. Last fall, Forbes reported on the features that were topping the lists for new, high-end luxury homes. An important thread running through this list is the importance of green in home features. Those eco-friendly items are all big energy savers, as well as being non-toxic building materials, earth-friendly woods, and energy efficient technologies that integrate lighting, heating, security and communications controls in the home.
The Forbes short list?
- Spa-like bathrooms with saunas, towel warming drawers, amd heated floors. Serenity is the guiding mood.
- Extensive computer-controlled systems to sensor control panels throughout the home. Light the pool, turn on the tub the spa or outdoor lighting, view surveillance camers scanning the outdoors or check to see if the garage door is closed. The possibilities are limitless.
- Space flexibility. How about floor-to-ceiling bookshelves that slide aside to open up a room? Or a wall of glass doors that move aside to bring the outdoors in? Or the indoors out?
- Outdoor kitchens are still on the must-have list. The compleat outdoor kitchen and entertaining area can cost anywhere from $50,000 to $200,000 or more. In addition to WOW-end outdoor cooking eqipment, the luxe owner might want a cabana, granite surfaces, wine cooler, ice maker , warming drawer, dishwasher and more. And swimming pools are also going over the deep and. Another story in the making.
- Oenophiles rejoice! Custom wine storage made the list. Make it a wine cave, make it a small room, just make it for wine and keep the temperature and humidity under control.
For additional luxury home gadgets and reading, see:
The Snoring Room
The Self Service Spa (Do it at home?)
Long-Lasting Roses
Induction-Cooktop for the Luxury Kitchen
Ultimate Phone for the Luxury Bath
How to Hide the Bedroom TV
Switchable Mirror Glass Windows
SONOS: The Ultimate Sound System
Haute Refrigerators for Cool Kitchens?
The Overflowing Infinity Tub
Wine Storage for Oenophiles
The Illuminated Bathtub
The Self-Service Spa?
In an emerging trend, more and more upscale spas are offering a self service option. Perhaps they are hoping to appeal to the spa-shy or those who might see the spa visit as a social opportunity, where friends or significant others can apply treatments to each other.
Wrap your pampered brain around this scenario reported by The Wall Street Journal: At Manhattans Townhouse Spa, you can receive a massage treatment from a robotic wave capsule machine and at Las Vegas Canyon Ranch, you will soon be able to help yourself at self-serve salt scrub and aloe rub stations. Why, I wonder, would the spa industry be removing its own trained fingers from such a high-touch industry?
WSJ reports that the $9.7 billion spa industry is pressing this do-it-yourself option as a way to not only lure new business, but to save on labor costs as well. Also, the industry has aggressively expanded throughout the country and competition is keen.This expansion spiked labor costs 8 percent in the last year alone, with trained massage facial, massage and treatment specialists earning as much as $50 per hour.
San Diegos La Costa Resort and Spa has been offering a variaton on self-pampering for the last three years. For $60, guests and members gain entry to the Spa and are able to enjoy a day of relaxation by the courtyard pool with its Roman showers and indoor steam rooms, saunas, showers, cleansing products, jetted spas and meditation areas. Fruited waters and teas are complimentary. If a personalized service such as a massage or facial is purchased, the $60 fee is waived and a hotel stay or membership is not required. Luxurious spa products are available for use and purchase and can be used during ones spa experience.
For Those Speechless Moments….
All right. I confess to occasional bouts of bumbling wordlessness when:
- Someone confesses to being diagnosed with cancer.
- When infertile friends share they are considering adoption after years of infertility.
- A family friend shares his Alzheimers diagnosis.
- Our neighbors announce their divorce.
- My brother-in-law loses his job.
- Life surprises.
It appears Hallmark Cards is going to allow me my silence, and instead hand over one of their new Journeys of Life greeting cards that shares the prescripted words I would want to share if only I could. Hallmark has a collection of 176 cards that cover not only lifes trials and tragedies, but its celebrations as well. The four main themes these cards cover are hoping, coping, healing and joy. That covers a lot of life.
Hallmarks best line? Welcome to The New Normal!
Meanwhile, Im still struggling to find normal or something close to it.
