Gift cards are popular this time of year and luxury hotel chain Four Seasons is taking an active role in selling their cards and doing some good at the same time. For every Four Seasons Gift Card sold between December 1 and December 10, 2009, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is committed to donating the cost of one "bedkit" to Canada-based charity Sleeping Children Around the World. The not-for-profit organization was founded on the belief that it is the basic right of every child to have a comfortable night's sleep. It delivers bedkits that included treated mosquito nets for those in areas prone to malaria, along with fundamental necessities such as a mat, sheets, blankets, clothing and more. In 2009, Sleeping Children Around the World delivered its one millionth bedkit.

Four Seasons Gift Cards are available online in any denomination ranging from US $100 to US $5,000 and can be used at any Four Seasons resort worldwide. You can contact Four Seasons hotels and resorts worldwide to order gift cards in any amount up to $100,000.

To raise interest in the campaign Four Seasons has given us ten gift cards to give away over ten days. Leave a comment on this post and at the end of the day one winner will be chosen to win a $100 gift card.
Some other important details:
* To enter, leave a confirmed comment below.
* The comment must be left and confirmed on December 10, 2009 at 5:00PM Eastern Time.
* You may only enter once.
* One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
* One winner will receive a Four Seasons gift card valued at $100.
* Open to legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia.

See complete contest rules here.

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Bvlgari finished off its 125th anniversary year in style at Christie's New York with an auction to benefit Save the Children. To close out its 125th anniversary year, the jeweler hosted a star-studded crowd at the auction house and put 11 incredible jewelry lots and seven timepieces up for sale. Stars in attendance included Morgan Fairchild, Rose Byrne, Jessica Lange and Ricky Martin, who posed with model Esther Canadas. Bvlgari raised a total of $1,546,500 including $270,000 for the diamond Lucea choker seen in the gallery below. The company will be working with Save the Children again next year.

Part of the lure of drinking older vintages is the idea of quaffing history, imagining what was happening when the bottle was first sealed. The 427-year-old La Tour d'Argent restaurant in Paris recently auctioned off some of its drinkable history in an auction that brought in 1.54 million euros in two days. A bottle of 1788 Clos du Griffier cognac was one of the first of around 18,000 bottles auctioned off. French entrepreneur Raphael Zier paid 25,000 euros for it but is quoted by Bloomberg as saying that he paid 10 times the asking price because he was eager to contribute to the charity for children, Association Petits Princes, which would get the proceeds. Ivan Imenitov, a Russian businessman picked up another bottle of the 1788 Clos du Griffier for 15,000 euros. It was priced lower because mold had obscured the label. Imenitvov said he was just happy to get the aged cognac, label or not. Collectors from around the world picked up bottles of aged Bordeaux and Burgundy. The bottles, which were bought directly from vinters and sent straight to the seller, had an impeccable provenance, a concern in these days of wine fraud.

The auction also brought attention back to the historic restaurant which is currently trying to earn back a second Michelin star (at one point it had three but is now down to one). Most of the auction proceeds, except for the charity sale of the cognac bottle, will go toward fleshing out the wine cellar with newer vintages and sprucing up the kitchen.

It could be said that the stalled construction of the Chicago Spire could be a symbol of what has happened in real estate construction in general over the past year or so--an ambitious project full of promise and hope, left lingering in a state of undoneness due to the economic shift. Construction on what would be North America's tallest building has been delayed since last fall when the architect, Santiago Calatrava, filed a lien against Shelbourne Development Group Inc,. the Irish developer of the 2,000-foot condominium tower, for $11.3 million. Perkins+Will, the Spire's architect of record and firm Thornton Tomasetti also filed liens. Now a group of union pension funds are in talks to loan $170 million to Shelbourne to get the project going again.

The loan would pay off the estimated $64 million loan made by Anglo Irish Bank and satisfy the various leans so that the project could be completed. The construction would provide jobs for many union workers but would also represent a bet that the Spire, when completed, will find buyers for its nearly 1,200 condos. Last I heard around 30 percent of the condos were spoken for but condos in general have been a hard sell in the current economic climate. The project would not be complete for several more years but the condos are some of the priciest the city has ever seen, most cost more than a million dollars. The penthouse, which was once priced at $40 million, was bought by Ty Warner, a man who has been facing his own economic woes recently.

Wagner's Ring Cycle has strained many an opera company's budget. Last year the Washinton National Opera postponed its performances of "Der Ring des Nibelungen" due to the economic climate. This year, a $32-million production of Richard Wagner's "Ring" Cycle is being cited as a cause for the financial problems that have befallen the Los Angeles Opera. The opera company recently received a $14-million emergency loan from Los Angeles County designed to keep it going until the middle of next year. The LA Times reports that the opera company is $20 million in debt and needed the money in order to keep going. County supervisors voted to approve the loan partially over a concern that the failure of the L.A. Opera could hurt the county-owned Music Center. The Los Angeles Opera uses the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion for its performances.

According to the LA Times article a group of opera trustees have pledged $30 million to keep the company going and so the loan will gradually be repaid as the money comes in. The four-part Ring cycle will be staged in its entirety May 29 to June 26 as part of a regional arts festival. So far about a third of the 9,000 four-opera subscriptions for the cycle have been sold. The opera can take around 15 hours to perform and the epic style and heavy tone can some put off some opera neophytes but for dedicated fans the Ring cycle is a must-attend event. Other operas may sell more tickets but for many opera houses the Ring cycle is a defining performance even if it is a budget buster.

Often after a jewelry store robbery the jewels are broken up and disappear into the black market never to be seen again. But police in Lyon, France got lucky. The AP reports that they have recovered nearly 800,000 euros ($1,181,900) worth of jewels stolen which were taken last month from the Cartier jewelry store in the southeastern French city. The jewels were stolen in a smash and grab on November 26 in which thieves rushed in during business hours, used a sledgehammer to break open reinforced glass and then grabbed handfuls of jewelry and watches. Police were searching the apartment of a suspect in another jewelry theft when they came upon the treasure trove of stolen loot. The suspect has not been caught.

Oxidized wine can be a nightmare for any winemaker. Francis Ford Coppola's winery is suing Vinocor, the maker of specialized screw caps and custom bottles for the Coppola's Encyclopedia wine series. The wines were created to showcase varietals that best represent the culture and traditions of different winegrowing regions and have distinctive beaker-like bottles. Coppola's team says that defective bottles and caps ended up ruining 55,000 cases of wine.

Francis Ford Coppola Presents is taking on Vinocor USA, saying that they paid $685,000 for the packaging but that the first shipment had bottles with chipped glass and caps that had uneven threading and were bent. According to Courthouse News Service, Coppola has said that he complained about the first shipment and Vinocor promised it would fix the problem. Coppola says he ordered another 100,000 screw caps and another round of bottles, but they were also defective. The bottles and caps leaked and allowed air in, causing oxidation and tainting the wine. Coppola's winery wants a return of money spent as well as unspecified damages.

We've already covered the late great author Dominick Dunne's Connecticut retreat. That house, which hit the market at $2.1 million, was recently reduced to $1.495 million. The Real Estalker reveals that Dunne's estate has also put his New York City pied-a-terre up for sale. The one bedroom penthouse at 155 E. 49th Street is a little jewel box of a place with a wraparound terrace with room enough for entertaining, a small study and a living room with a wood-burning fireplace. The kitchen is miniscule and overall the rooms are small but it seems to still carry the genteel spirit of its former owner. The celadon-colored living room has French doors which open out onto the terrace. The bedroom has vivid blue wallpaper and on one wall a poster for one of his son Griffin's movies still hangs on the wall. This apartment is listed at $1.45 million.

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Gift cards are popular this time of year and luxury hotel chain Four Seasons is taking an active role in selling their cards and doing some good at the same time. For every Four Seasons Gift Card sold between December 1 and December 10, 2009, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is committed to donating the cost of one "bedkit" to Canada-based charity Sleeping Children Around the World. The not-for-profit organization was founded on the belief that it is the basic right of every child to have a comfortable night's sleep. It delivers bedkits that included treated mosquito nets for those in areas prone to malaria, along with fundamental necessities such as a mat, sheets, blankets, clothing and more. In 2009, Sleeping Children Around the World delivered its one millionth bedkit.

Four Seasons Gift Cards are available online in any denomination ranging from US $100 to US $5,000 and can be used at any Four Seasons resort worldwide. You can contact Four Seasons hotels and resorts worldwide to order gift cards in any amount up to $100,000.

To raise interest in the campaign Four Seasons has given us ten gift cards to give away over ten days. Leave a comment on this post and at the end of the day one winner will be chosen to win a $100 gift card.
Some other important details:
* To enter, leave a confirmed comment below.
* The comment must be left and confirmed on December 9, 2009 at 5:00PM Eastern Time.
* You may only enter once.
* One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
* One winner will receive a Four Seasons gift card valued at $100.
* Open to legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia.

See complete contest rules here.

Read more →

Last year color-defining company Pantone chose sunny Mimosa as the shade for 2009. Their choice for the color of 2010 is PANTONE® 15-5519 Turquoise, a tranquil blue-green hue that recalls tropical waters and clear skies. The choice marks another year of distinctly cheery hues, far less dramatic than 2008's moody blue iris or 2007's fiery chili pepper red. Pantone's color experts say that the turquoise color can be used as an accent both in clothing and in home decor to provide a calming and colorful touch. They are also pushing it as a wedding color, pointing out how well it offsets white. One trendsetter has already embraced turquoise, Michelle Obama wore a bright turquoise dress on December 2 while unveiling the White House holiday decorations.