The Most Excellent Beach Read

It's been a while since I've read a book worthy of isolating myself into pure literary bliss. For Christmas, my Mother gifted me with Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald. The book is a novelization primarily focused on Zelda Fitzgerald, the beautiful, zany southern dreamer who falls in love with an aspiring literary king, otherwise known as F. Scott Fitzgerald. As the book illustrates in such a brilliant fashion, the pair fall madly in love, dancing around the world on new quests to fulfill Scott's literary inspirations in the height of the jazz age. From their blossoming young romance to trials in addiction and aspiration, this book is truly the most excellent (beach) read. Purchase via Amazon, here.  

Gardenia! Gardenia!

Thanks to a C Magazine read at SFO, I discovered a lovely company called High Camp Supply. The company, ships an elegantly sorted arrangement of gardenia, greens and Laurent Perrier Brut champagne (how lustful!) to your recipient in a beautiful box (white or black). The “Vine and Bloom” box for example (above), includes a nest of loose blooms surrounded by budding “vine” gardenias on 8-10 inch stems. After initial due diligence, it seems Oprah has included this gift on her annual "Favorite Things" list. Perfection, if I must say! See more here. 

A Gray Malin Christmas

I love giving and receiving....art. Thus, I was pleased as punch to see my favorite aerial photographer Gray Malin release his holiday inspired gift wrap. If you're unfamiliar with Gray's work, get familiar. The idea of bringing his lustrous photography to life in the form of gift wrap is just brilliant - who wouldn't drool over the sight of a gift wrapped in a dreamy scene he captured from his handsome lens. Be sure to follow Gray on Instagram in addition to following his blog. 

xx

From the very first moving-picture kiss in 1896 à la Thomas Edison, to the classic smooches we all adore in early Hollywood films, to Freud's theory of kissing as a "perverse act", this NY Times article highlights the history of kissing in film.

Above: A groundbreaking french kiss in film, actress Natalie Wood and actor Warren Beatty smooch in a parked convertible in the 1961 film "Splendor in the Grass".