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Gala Darling’s unrelenting devotion to positivity & magic has earned her cult celebrity status & rabid fans all over the globe, from India to Sweden.

Category: Fashion_Beauty

Central Park Zoo On A Fine Summer's Day... Posted on Wed, 16 May 2012 15:03:32 GMT The Central Park Zoo is the perfect place to spend a Saturday afternoon, especially when you’re hanging out with your friends from Britain! Last weekend was a scorcher, & after a decadent brunch at Saxon + Parole, Kat, Gareth & I hailed a cab to Central Park for an adventure. We had a horse-drawn carriage ride around the park (our horse’s name was Socks), before braving the zoo, then sat down for a well-deserved ice-cream at Dylan’s Candy Bar. (The ensuing sugar rush was one for the books!) The perfect day, je crois! It was so much fun having Kat in town, & even better to play tourist in my favourite city! I definitely recommend it to anyone feeling dissatisfied or stuck in their own hometown. There’s always something to discover, & a new way of looking at things can be just around the corner! We loved going to the zoo, zoo, zoo… How about you, you, you?! P.S. If you’re reading this in your email, click through to watch the video! Kisses! filed under: video Share this! + Del.icio.us + Facebook + Stumbleupon + Technorati .. Details: http://galadarling.com/article/central-park-zoo-on-a-fine-summers-day
Help! I'm So Homesick! (Well, Actually, I Miss My Boyfriend...) Posted on Tue, 15 May 2012 16:20:16 GMT Wander Postcard Project: No. 26 / Lin Mei. FROM A READER: “I am a 20 year old theatre major studying abroad in Florence, Italy with a group of 15 of my friends and fellow theatre majors. I am lucky enough to be in a beautiful city for a month and I should be having the time of my life, right?! Wrong. Since I left, I have not been able to stop missing my boyfriend Chris… I don’t want to wreck my relationship by clinging and begging Chris to email me every second. Most importantly, I want to enjoy the time I have here! This is an amazing opportunity for me and I want to grow and become a strong, independent young woman. I don’t want to be afraid of doing things by myself, and I would hate to waste my trip feeling miserable. Please let me know if you have any suggestions!” Trust me, I relate! When I was 15 years old, I was fortunate enough to go to Germany for a month with a group from my school. It should have been a dream come true, but it felt more like a nightmare. Why? I had just started dating my first ever boyfriend, & anything that involved me being away from him was like, THE WORST THING EVER. We started dating just before Christmas, & when I went to Australia with my parents for New Year’s Eve, I spent almost all of my time in an internet cafe, chatting to him. My level of obsession didn’t wane at all in the next six months, & in fact, when our plane took off, heading for Germany, I remember sobbing in my seat. Very dramatic! Our romance happened in the days before everyone was super-connected. The host family I stayed with (in Karlsruhe — represent!) didn’t even own a computer; it was like torture for my super-internet-addicted self. The only way we could communicate was when I would take a box of Lucky Strikes to the pay-phone down the street. I would smoke cigarettes while I dialled a million numbers (which, of course, I had memorised) & we would talk. It probably went like this… Me: How’s Wellington? Him: The same. How’s Germany? Me: Totally not like Wellington. Him: Cool… Me: Yeah… God, what a waste of air-time! Everything about the situation was pushing my buttons like mad. I couldn’t be online, I couldn’t see my boyfriend, & I wasn’t super good friends with anyone else on my trip. I didn’t really have anyone to talk to, just a Discman & a notebook for company. I felt totally out of my depth & really uncomfortable, but looking back, this was incredibly formative for me. In fact, it was GREAT. It forced me to participate in what was happening; I had no choice. Instead of obsessing about my boyfriend, I was concerned with lugging my 25kg backpack across a foreign city, or stringing a sentence together in another language. It taught me the importance of good chocolate, & that Germans make some of the best sandwiches in the world! It meant that when our bus pulled up at Schloss Neuschwanstein, with the turrets peaking out of low cloud, it took my breath away. I wasn’t staring at my phone, hoping desperately for a text message from my beloved. It gave me time to browse record stores & buy Dig Me Out by Sleater-Kinney & Richard D. James Album by Aphex Twin. Even today, whenever I hear those albums, it transports me right back to a train in Germany, the soundtrack to an ever-changing view. From Berlin to Baden-Baden & the Black Forest, I was immersed in all things German… & I loved it. My experiences when I was 15 years old cemented Germany’s place as one of my favourite all-time countries, & taught me a different way of seeing the world. Sehr gut! What can you learn from my (mis)adventures in ~~homesickness~~ boyfriend-sickness? As with everything, the very best way to deal with it is to jump right into your present reality & embrace it with everything you’ve got. All the crying & long phone-calls in the world won’t change the cold hard fact that right now, there is an ocean separating you. When you think about it, what do you have to gain from obsessing about your beau? Nothing. What do you have to lose? A thousand fabulous memories from the opportunity of a lifetime. Even if this experience doesn’t strengthen your relationship, it will certainly strengthen you as a person. Travelling is one of the best things we can do for our spirit & our confidence: it shows us what we’re really made of in a way that we can never experience if we just stay in one place. It’s when we’re out of our depth that we learn to swim, & it’s in unfamiliar situations that we really blossom. Don’t forget about him completely, of course — & I know you couldn’t even if you tried. Write him postcards or put together a scrapbook of memories which you can show him when you get back. But don’t spend this month in Italy — one of the MOST beautiful places in the world — wishin’ & hopin’ for something that is out of reach. Try to limit your contact, too. You won’t regret this! Don’t let love-sickness stop you from going out there & experiencing the world! Aim to come back home with a glut of stories to tell, about summertime Vespa rides & great conversation in the Piazza della Repubblica. Return with stories of your favourite gelato place & the espresso you drank which kept you up all night, toes jittering. I once knew a girl who was so excited to leave New Zealand & move to Europe; it was all she talked about. When she got there, though, she decided she missed her boyfriend too much. She came home after less than a week. They broke up, & she never went back to Europe. Yes, this is a cautionary tale. Don’t be that girl! Travelling is sublime: a way of escaping the everyday & launching yourself into a new reality. It teaches us about the world as much as it teaches us about ourselves. It always changes you & provides new perspectives. Sometimes it even provides you with new shoes! Get out there & earn your international playgirl stripes! Has this ever happened to you? What advice would you give to this girl? Let us know! filed under: advice Share this! + Del.icio.us + Facebook + Stumbleupon + Technorati .. Details: http://galadarling.com/article/help-im-so-homesick
Carousel: The Cherry On Top Of A Beautiful Weekend... Posted on Sun, 13 May 2012 22:13:17 GMT Happy Sunday! Better late than never, huh?! Here are some things on the internet this week that made me smile, laugh, or make a pensive face! I hope you enjoy ‘em. That’s why you don’t have any friends… WORD UP. Weirdness is best! Lilly McElroy throws herself at men... Literally! I loved Jane’s five minutes to glowing skin guide, it’s fantastic! (I have to add, though, that I don’t recommend washing your face with hot water. Every esthetician I’ve ever known has stressed that hot water is the enemy of skin, & sucks out all the moisture. Use cold water instead, & try not to put your face under the spray in the shower!.) I really like this: Using Youth and Beauty to Get What You Want. Live life joyously and authentically and, when you turn fifty, you will possess the qualities people automatically ascribe to you now because of your beauty. More importantly, you will have become beautiful by being the kind of person people used to imagine you were. Here are 15 things you can do with your Instagram photos! I loved these flower-arranging tips, with suggestions for every different kind of vase! Kat wrote a post rounding up her adventures in NYC. It also features more pictures of her & I than you can shake a stick at! We have had SUCH a good time together this week! So, Marie Forleo’s Rich, Happy & Hot B-School is just about to launch, & I wanted to let you know about it. Those of you who have been reading for a while know that I rarely, if ever, promote other people’s courses. I’m pretty skeptical about them in general, & I’d never encourage you to do anything that I wouldn’t do myself! But this one is different… My first introduction to Marie was at Selling Your Soul, an event she ran with Danielle LaPorte. IT WAS AMAZING! Seriously, it was insane. I spent a day sitting in an auditorium, completely enraptured, making pages & pages of notes. I’ve never attended an event that taught me SO many great, actionable things about running a business. Since then, I’ve been keeping an eye on her, because this gal is definitely one to watch. Her course, Rich, Happy & Hot B-School, is just about to kick off for the third time. It’s a course for women who want to take their online businesses to the next level. Marie’s business is worth over a million bucks, so you KNOW she knows what she’s doing — & her advice & presentation is SO no bullshit. Her testimonials are off the hook. I love it so much that I’m thinking of signing up for B-School myself! If you want to push your business to the next level — & you’re prepared to do the work — then this is definitely something you should consider. Check it out. Full disclosure: if you decide to sign up for Rich, Happy & Hot B-School, I’ll get a commission — but like I said, I really believe in this course & think you’ll benefit from it in a major way. Otherwise, I wouldn’t recommend it! This article — 15 ways to stay married for 15 years — is brilliant & inspiring & probably not what you’d expect. Dirty Girls & Bad Feminists... I love this piece on internet feminism. Yes, yes, yes! I just discovered Leah Whitehorse’s astrology blog & it’s fantastic! My mate Isaac did an unconventional tour of New York City & if you’re into travel porn, I think you’ll enjoy it! Rabbit was interviewed by VICE about being a sex writer. It’s a cute behind-the-scenes look at sex journalism! ...She also wrote 8 ways to be positive you’re sex-positive for The Frisky, & it is ace. I love Kickstarter for weird projects. I’m proud to say I backed Adult Rappers, & if you’re into hip-hop, you should too. It features interviews with some of my favourite rappers about how they are able to integrate “being an adult” with hip-hop culture, historically something which is very much a youth-oriented movement. To make this documentary happen, the director needs another $6k in 3 days… Can we make it happen?! (Tell people! Let’s do this!) This video is the cutest! Much love, filed under: carousel Share this! + Del.icio.us + Facebook + Stumbleupon + Technorati .. Details: http://galadarling.com/article/carousel-the-cherry-on-top-of-a-beautiful-weekend
Zig Zag Wanderers! Posted on Fri, 11 May 2012 16:34:09 GMT What a week! Kat has been in town & she has been distracting me (in the best way possible)! I’ve barely even been home! Yesterday we got prettied up by Regan Rabanal (my favourite — & first ever! — make-up artist in NYC!), then met with Christina, Marielle & Alie from Made U Look Photography. From shooting on rooftops, to stumbling around the West Village, to ending up on the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset, it was a perfect day. Christina, Marielle & Alie all had about 5 cameras around their necks at all times, shooting in a variety of formats & experimenting with lots of different film… It was so exciting & we can’t wait to see the final results! On the subject of iPhone apps, by the way, I used 8mm to film a few clips yesterday & made them into a little video! Hooray! Here’s to a glorious weekend… filed under: daily outfit, video Share this! + Del.icio.us + Facebook + Stumbleupon + Technorati .. Details: http://galadarling.com/article/zig-zag-wanderers
10 Ways To Make Your Instagram Photos Pop! Posted on Mon, 07 May 2012 14:20:04 GMT God, I love my iPhone. I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I never understood the hype until I spent a week with my parents last year. My mother & father both have iPhones, & my father — who is slightly app-obsessed — was fiddling with his constantly. I thought I loved my Android, but after using his phone for a little while, I realised I was missing out. I bought myself an iPhone the very next week, & ever since then, I have been a total evangelist. One of my favourite things about the iPhone is Instagram. Instagram is an app that records your visual life in the same way that Twitter captures it via text. There’s good news for non-iPhone users, though: Instagram has recently released for the Android phone! When I was in Las Vegas, I noticed Nubby taking pictures directly through the Instagram app, which is not how I’ve ever done it. I think the very best way to make the most of your photos is to take your snaps using the Camera, & shoot a few of them. Then you can pick your favourites, edit them using an app or two, & add them to Instagram when you’re done. (In Instagram, the icon on the bottom left with two boxes will allow you to import a photo from your library.) Instagram comes with a few built-in filters, & that’s what most people use. But you can alter your pictures a LOT even before you add them to Instagram. While the photos that come out of the iPhone are pretty good by themselves, there are a few great apps I’ve discovered which can really pump up the volume. In fact, I often run my photos through 2 or 3 apps before I upload them to Instagram. Maybe that’s weird & obsessive, but the results speak for themselves! 1. MoreBeaute I discovered MoreBeaute just recently & I was so thrilled! This is perfect for self-portraits or pictures of people, because it has this tremendous skin filter which makes everyone look flawless! It’s totally adjustable, too, so you can make yourself look like a total Barbie, or just give yourself a little improvement here & there. MoreBeaute is extremely simple in design. You either take a photo or select one from your library, & then you can choose from Brightness, Smoothing, Detail & Tone. The changes appear minute on-screen, but a quick flick back to the Before tab will show you just how much the image has changed! You can see from my examples at the top that you can get extremely overzealous with this app, but this shows you exactly how much you can smooth & blur someone’s skin tone. The answer: a lot! P.S. If you want to take a self-portrait which makes you look flawless, get as close to a diffused natural light source as possible. Standing next to a window — especially on a cloudy day — is perfect! 2. Take a picture of a picture! It’s great to vary your shots, & photographing a photo is an excellent way to do it. One of my favourite things to do is snap a few Instax pictures, then spread them out & shoot them with my iPhone. I always end up doing this when I’m on holiday, because it gives you a visual summary in just one frame! I’m almost always carrying around an Instax camera, so I suppose this suggestion relies on having another camera on-hand… But if you do collect Instax, Polaroids or photobooth strips, this is a great way to document a segment of time! 3. Camera+ Camera+ is always the first app I use to edit a photo. Once you’ve selected the photo you want to alter, you’re given five options: Scenes, Adjust, Crops, Effects & Borders. In Scenes, you can adjust the lighting of the photo. Choose from a huge variety of settings like Clarity, Auto, Flash, Backlit, Shade, Portrait, & so on. Camera+ has the best lighting adjustments I’ve seen of any app, & sometimes all a photo needs is a little brightness to make it pop! The Effects tab has four groups: Color, Retro, Special & I Analog. Each of these groups has 9 different effects, all of which are pretty fantastic. The I Analog group is a paid section, but it has a couple of my favourite filters in it: XPRO C-41, Diana & Silver Gelatin. Silver Gelatin is the filter I added to the sample photo above! Once you’ve purchased access to this section, you can use it forever… & I think you will! 4. Use your phone to document the street art you see! Some of my favourite Instagram photos are not of anything I made or created, or even of someone I know. Often they’re simply pictures of art on the street. NYC is a great place to do that: there’s art practically everywhere you look, from stickers on lampposts to huge murals on the sides of buildings. Everyone here has something to say & a lot of those people are excellent at expressing themselves visually, so it seems like a mistake not to capture your favourite examples! Shooting the art you see is a fantastic way of documenting the way your city changes over time. Murals get tagged up, stickers get pulled down, advertisings goes up where posters once stood, & nothing remains the same. So snap your favourite art, because it might not be there tomorrow! 5. Camera Awesome! First things first: Camera Awesome has an “Awesomize” slider, which increases brightness, contrast & vibrancy all at once. If you want to keep things really simple, just use that. It does a great job! The Presets & Filters tabs are fantastic on here, & there are a LOT of options. Camera Awesome is another one of those apps where some of the features are free, but a lot of them are paid. It’s 99c to purchase 9 filters, & just like with Camera+ you get to use them forever. Camera Awesome has some really dramatic effects, as well as textures & frames. This app doesn’t have the most intuitive design, but you’ll get the hang of it! It’s definitely worth experimenting with! 6. Mix it up! As much as we all love to shoot endless self-portraits, there’s something refreshing about an Instagram feed which is diverse & full of surprises! You could even use your Instagram account as extra incentive to go out & explore your city. I always end up snapping the best pictures when I’m somewhere a little unknown, & seeing with new eyes. For example, last week I went out exploring with Kat & Gareth. We ventured into a store called Georgetown Cupcakes — which I’d never been into before — & we discovered this pink bedazzled KitchenAid! OH MY! I asked if I could take a photo, they said yes, & what resulted is my most-favourited photo on Instagram… ever. It’s not just about accumulating “likes” & “followers” though: if you shoot what you love, even if no one else follows you, you’ll still get a lot of pleasure out of Instagram. 7. Picfx Picfx has a lot of options, including Vintage, Cross Process & Premixed filters, but where it really shines is in its selection of Light filters. Oh yes, if you’re looking for bokeh, this is the app to use! I used Picfx to add those little bubbles of light to this photo of pink champagne, & I think it definitely adds to the image! (I also used Camera+ & Camera Awesome to brighten & intensify the colours!) 8. LensLight Truth time: LensLight is a little bit cheesy. The design is not wonderful. But if you’re looking for starbursts, heart-shaped bokeh (oh yes!) or sparkle spectrums, you’ll be ALL about it! This photo taken at the YogaRave was CLEARLY begging for purple heart-shaped bokeh! Right?! I used LensLight to add the rainbow effect to this building covered in ivy, too. So pretty. 9. PictureFrames There are a lot of apps which allow you to combine several pictures, but PictureFrames is my favourite. You can add rounded corners to your frames, change the border colours & thickness, & also resize the frames. Brilliant! It’s a great app for showing details or a few sides of one object! For this image, I processed each photo with Camera+ before importing them into PictureFrames. I changed the brightness of the image in Scenes & then added some colouring in Effects. I also added some bokeh to the top picture using LensLight! You can see how just one app can be a gateway drug! 10. Shoot what you love! Looking at my Instagram profile makes me smile, because essentially, it boils down to a collection of photos of things that I love. Some people don’t “get” Instagram, but if you think of it as a kind of digital scrapbook, it starts to make more sense. It doesn’t have to stay digital & intangible, either: there are a handful of companies who will turn your Instagram photos into little books, stickers, or even print pillows with a selection of your favourite pictures! Don’t fall victim to Instagram anxiety, or the need to get 1000 likes in under a minute. Only post when you feel genuinely inspired to share something, & you’ll quickly become as obsessed as I am! If you want to follow me on Instagram, my username is galadarling... & I’d love to see what you end up shooting! Let me know if you use any of the apps I suggested, too. I love them! Click click, flash flash! filed under: how to, inspiration Share this! + Del.icio.us + Facebook + Stumbleupon + Technorati .. Details: http://galadarling.com/article/10-ways-to-make-your-instagram-photos-pop
Starbucks Frappuccino Signature Style Series! Posted on Fri, 04 May 2012 21:05:22 GMT A couple of Fridays ago, I schlepped a huge suitcase full of shoes across the East Village to the Style Coalition lounge, where I was filming a little video for Starbucks Frappuccino! They invited me to showcase my signature style, & well, I couldn’t say no! When I’m putting together an outfit, my first instinct is to pick items that make me smile. Bright pink leopard-print booties? Yes! Star-covered track jackets & sequinned tanks? Yes! Cat’s eye glasses covered in rhinestones? YES! YES! YES! I think personal style should be fun, & a reflection of who you are. To try on shoes, I wore… Nanette Lepore Class Flirt dress ...& a whole bunch of shoes! The pink leopard-print booties are by Senso, crystal-covered stilettos are by Chinese Laundry, magenta platform heels are by Steve Madden, pink glitter ankle boots from ASOS, & the dalmatian spot booties are from TopShop! To work out, I wore… Adidas Originals x Jeremy Scott track jacket Sequinned tank from Victoria’s Secret Pink (I buy a lot of my workout gear from Pink… It’s so cute & durable!) Pants by the Gap Body (they do the best stuff) Adidas Originals Dragon sneakers For dinner, I wore… Glasses by Mercura Skater dress with contrast piping from ASOS — I love this dress! (I also love to wear it with a bowler hat. Very Cabaret!) Betsey Johnson Starburst pollys (so comfortable, you would not believe it!) My Zoe Karssen t-shirt is officially the best thing ever. My friends Dianna & Zephyr were also invited to show off their signature style, & the results are so cute! Click on their names to see their posts. Oh, & of course it’s not all work & no play! You could win a hand-picked accessory from one of our signature styles when you enter the Starbucks Frappuccino sweepstakes! (Go on… I dare you!) Lots of love from an East Village rooftop, Disclosure: This is a sponsored post in conjunction with Style Coalition & Hearst Digital Media. Opinions expressed within are entirely my own! .. Details: http://galadarling.com/article/starbucks-frappuccino-signature-style-series
Things I Love Thursday: Peonies & Psychedelia! Posted on Thu, 03 May 2012 15:41:54 GMT On my desk: glitter candles, rhinestone bracelets, amethyst, rose quartz, citrine & aqua aura quartz, fortunes, & earrings… There are also magenta peonies in a milk jug & a cookie jar stuffed full of white fairy lights! The highlight of my weekend was spending time at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens with Mike, Asami & Fumi! The purple field of Turkish Hazel was absolutely divine & there were seriously HOT PINK flowers blooming everywhere! Spring is the best! Also, I loved the flower crowns on these two girls, though I didn’t get their names, unfortunately! Flowers & vines, so gorgeous. These are the magenta peonies I mentioned earlier (& a better view of the psychedelic tray from the 1960s everything else is now sitting on!). A stack of passports, international playgirl style… & a taxi portrait. L-O-V-E L-I-F-E... I never expected a bowl of cherries, I’m just a Virgo looking for my own version of the Virgin Mary… Dinner with KAT tonight! Oh my goodness. Tulips & peonies & crystals on my desk Awesome meetings & exciting new developments Hank & Dolly both curled up on the floor next to my desk while I work Good mail days! (Thank you Sophie & Lisa & Megan!) The extreme Virgoness of Wholefoods (it’s seriously one of my favourite places on the planet) The news that Jazzi is moving back to NYC, OH MY GOODNESS! Reconnecting with old friends Brother Ali Going out to our favourite Chinese restaurant where they play Johnny Cash songs & serve the best food in the world Spiked cowboy boots... GET OUTTA TOWN! Sitting outside, writing in a magical mirror garden That feeling of satisfaction when you put in a lot of hard work & see yourself living up to your potential! Daydreaming about pink cars Finding old photos from when Nubby & I first met! Talking about forming girl gangs Next week is the third anniversary of the first date Mike & I ever went on! Enthusiasm!!!!! & exclamation points! Finally giving in to the need for a backpack, & of course, I bought one covered in sequins… ! A reminder: The reason I do these lists every week is to remind me of the positive! They are one of my essential happiness practices: they keep me focussed on what is good in my world, & stop me from dwelling on the flaws or difficult moments. If you’re struggling with happiness right now, you should start writing these lists, too! If you’re not struggling, making a habit of counting your blessings will rocket you to another dimension of bliss! Guaranteed! Brunettes have more fun… ! filed under: things i love thursday Share this! + Del.icio.us + Facebook + Stumbleupon + Technorati .. Details: http://galadarling.com/article/things-i-love-thursday-peonies-psychedelia
Style Tips: Mimosas In The Bathtub! Posted on Tue, 01 May 2012 17:02:11 GMT Make a regular date to meet your lover in the bathtub… with mimosas. I love this idea so much, though I can’t take credit for it! When I had dinner with Shae last week, she told me that it was her favourite way to end the day! She & her husband have a standing date where they meet in the bathtub with mimosas & discuss the events of the day. They do this every evening! Isn’t that perfect? I can’t think of a better meeting place. Photo by Pamela Hanson. Bring back the phonecall! Do you remember back in the ’90s when all you ever wanted to do was talk on the phone? Do you remember how everyone in your class at school envied that girl who had a private telephone line installed in her room? Do you remember dangling upside down on your bed, talking & talking & talking until your ear got sweaty & your elbow cramped up? ME TOO, & I miss it! I phoned my friend the other day & she didn’t answer, then texted back saying, “Did you butt dial me?” No, I didn’t butt dial you! I wanted to talk to you on the PHONE, as opposed to trying to convey every single emotion, thought & feeling via text message. Frankly, my thumbs are over it, & the rest of me is too! We all have this major phone phobia thing going on right now & I want to do my part to call an end to it! So… Call your friend instead of texting them. They might be surprised, stunned, a little shell-shocked at first, but you’ll enjoy yourselves way more than the exchange of a few text messages, I promise! Use tea tins as vases… or really, anything you like! The days of being restricted to using a glass vase are long gone. I love the way buds look in Harney & Sons tea tins! See?! Gorgeous! You can also use a big glass cookie jar, a teapot, a skull goblet, or even an old boot! (Just hide a vase inside it!) Once you start thinking about it, you’ll realise that the possibilities are truly endless! Be inspired by Sonia Rykiel, & glue faux-pearls to your sunglasses! I love these sunglasses but the truth is that Sonia Rykiel’s designs don’t come cheap. The good news is this would be a 15 minute DIY if you’re handy with a tube of glue! Just find a pair of cheap frames that you love, then hit up a craft store. Be sure to pick pearls (or other embellishments!) which fit the width of the frames… & don’t feel like you have to use pearls, either! Crystals, studs or beads would make just as much of an impact! Images from MariaFrancescaPepe A/W ’12 Look Book. Celebrate Beltane! Yes! It’s Beltane TODAY! Beltane is the last of the 3 spring fertility festivals. It’s a celebration of fire, fertility & abundance. Fertility isn’t just about getting pregnant, by the way: it’s also about new projects, fresh starts, & reaping what you sow. It’s about celebrating life. It’s also a time when the veil between the worlds is said to be at its thinnest. How can you welcome Beltane? Wear flowers in your hair, & bright colours! Gather your friends: eat, drink & be merry! Fire is a major part of Beltane, so light candles & think about what you want to come to fruition over the next few months… You can read more about Beltane here! Love, always! filed under: style tips Share this! + Del.icio.us + Facebook + Stumbleupon + Technorati .. Details: http://galadarling.com/article/style-tips-mimosas-in-the-bathtub
Travel Porn: 5 Destinations For International Playgirls To Drool Over... Posted on Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:59:09 GMT Photo by Steven Chee. Call it my restless spirit or just chalk it up to my Sagittarius Moon: whichever way you slice it, travel has been — & always will be — an essential part of my life. I abhor the idea of staying anywhere too long, & after about a month & a half of any one location, I’m itching to move on. That’s when I get all feverish & start investigating the possibilities. Where should I go next, & what should I do there? What I wouldn’t give for a private plane & a packed suitcase! Oh! My idea of a good holiday has a lot of eye candy, plenty of glamour, a hint of mystery & a good whiff of madness. All of my favourite places — New York City, Paris, Las Vegas & Los Angeles — have these things in spades. However, as much as I love to go back & re-experience the tried & true, there’s nothing quite like visiting a city or country for the first time. It really is one of my favourite things. If you’re similarly lusting for a change of scenery, join me in a fit of imagination! Here are a few places I’m currently fantasizing about… The Saguaro, Palm Springs The Saguaro is a rainbow-hued hotel in Palm Springs, California. Palm Springs is home to the Coachella Valley, which is, of course, where Coachella goes down every year. It’s not all feather hair extensions & shredded denim shorts, though! The area really started to boom in the 1920s when Hollywood movie stars would visit seeking rest & rejuvenation. It got even more popular in the fifties & sixties: Steve McQueen, Cary Grant & Judy Garland (among hundreds of other stars) all had homes in the area. The reputation of Palm Springs isn’t much different these days. It’s still seen as a playground for the rich & famous, with some of the most amazing spas in the country, as well as fantastic architecture & art. The Saguaro sounds like a wonderful place to spend a long weekend. They offer daily yoga & have an Olympic-sized swimming pool surrounded by cabanas. There are hot tubs, poolside bar & food service (YES!), a fabulous spa & wifi. The rooms are bright, colourful & spacious. Really, is there much more that you need?! I’d say it’s the perfect getaway. You can read about a Palm Springs yoga retreat here, & see some more pictures of The Saguaro here. P.S. I hear the vintage shopping in Palm Springs is a- to the mazing! Just another reason to add this destination to your travel wishlist… Panic Room at Au Vieux Panier, Marseille, France Yes, this is one hotel room: not two photographs stuck together! Isn’t it fantastic?! It makes my brain go crazy with photo possibilities. This one-of-a-kind gem is tucked inside Au Vieux Panier in Marseilles, France. Au Vieux Panier is an extremely unique hotel featuring five rooms which are painted by artists, & re-done every year. The hotel puts out an annual call for submissions, then closes the hotel for a month while the new rooms are executed. This particular room is by artist Tilt, & it costs 135 Euros a night to stay. You can see more pictures & learn the story behind the room here. I’ve never been to Marseilles, but it’s in the south of France — beautiful beautiful beautiful — & apparently, the area has been inhabited by humans for almost 30,000 years! Holy Ship Holy Ship is a three-day cruise to the Bahamas for, well, the rambunctious & the young at heart! Far from sedately cruising around the islands, this is the only boat that could cause a tidal wave with its sub-woofers! Yes, this is dance-dance-party-party type of cruise. The line-up for 2013 hasn’t been announced yet, but this year the January cruise featured Diplo, Fatboy Slim, Skrillex & Steve Aoki, among others. Oh, did I mention Dita Von Teese was there, spinning around in a huge martini glass… ?! This is definitely not your grandparents’ cruise ship. That photo above is of Fatboy Slim playing to a crowd on an island in the Bahamas, while a helicopter flies overhead… There are silly outfits galore & mini-golf, & the price of your ticket includes your room, entertainment & food for three days. (It sounds like the price runs between $800 & $1500, depending on the quality of your lodgings.) SPIN magazine’s photographs are pretty neat, & as you might expect, FHM’s coverage is interesting but heavy on lecherous photography. Sure, after three days, you might want to stab everyone onboard, & sure, the ship hit a massive reef this year & had to be rescued by a fleet of tug-boats. Apparently, though, everyone onboard was having so much fun they didn’t even notice! Whatever! I’m still game! Are you?! Capri, Italy I’ve never been to Italy, & — embarrassingly — I didn’t know where exactly Capri was until I googled it. I was inspired to look it up after reading Jonathan Adler’s praise for the place. He says, I’m not a very adventurous traveler. You won’t find me stalking rhinos in Uganda. Maybe I’m just an old fart, but if I go somewhere & have a fab time, then I go back. My cautious Jewish gene has made me a creature of habit. One place where I have had a fab time — again & again & again — is Capri. The island is so totally ’50s. It looks & feels exactly the way it did in The Talented Mr Ripley & Godard’s Contempt... Whenever in Capri, I stay at La Scalinatella. Sublime & surprising, La Scalinatella is heaven on earth! The lobby — with its tile floors, clover-shaped windows & surreal objects — perfectly captures the dreamy quality of Capri. Some awesomeness: 1. The crooked lanes of Capri were designed to confuse marauding pirates (!!!) which is honestly reason enough to visit, don’t you think?! 2. During the sunrise, the sky turns from deep violet to pink to orange to gold. 3. Additionally, you can take a boat through the Blue Grotto (Grotta Azzurra) or swim in the Green Grotto, which “looks like an enormous liquid emerald”. SOLD! This makes me want to visit Italy pretty badly! India India is still at the very tip-top of my list when it comes to places I want to visit, but it’s also the most intimidating. I keep putting it off because honestly, I don’t know where to begin. I mean, just look at the WikiTravel entry! I also know that India is going to change my life. (I felt the same way about NYC & lo & behold, I was right!) I want to spend a month there, exploring the pink city of Jaipur & the beaches of Goa, getting immersed in the way of life in Kolkata & luxuriating at The Lake Palace Hotel. I’d love to experience Diwali & watch a Bollywood movie in a theatre in Mumbai. Yes, I want to take many long train rides! I don’t think I’ll be bathing in the Ganges, though… Over 60,000 people come down to the waters edge every day to take a dip in the sacred waters of the Ganges. Try not to think too much about the dozens of sewage pipes and sunken corpses in the waters around you and you’ll find it’s not nearly as bad as you expect once you’re actually in it. (Source) I know I’ve said it already, but I am so, so excited about *The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, a movie about a bunch of British senior citizens who go to India to live out their twilight years. It comes out on May 4th (soon!), & I think that seeing it is going to reinvigorate my desire to take flight… The good news is that my husband & my father want to visit India too, so maybe we’ll go as a group one day! ...Back to reality, I guess. SIGH! SIGH!* Do you want to visit any of these places now? What’s your ultimate travel destination? Let us know! Dreaming of first class flatbeds, P.S. I know last week’s posts were a little heavy! This week, the content will be decidedly frothier ;D I hope you enjoy it! P.P.S. If you enjoy this post, hit the LIKE button below! That way I’ll know to make Travel Porn into a regular series. I have a huge list of crazy hotels (themed! Built into caves! Underwater! In treehouses!) that I would love to write about for you! Yay! .. Details: http://galadarling.com/article/travel-porn
Carousel: Kanye, Girls & Advice To Our 18 Year Old Selves... Posted on Fri, 27 Apr 2012 19:07:53 GMT Art by Alessandro Pautasso. I loved this (long) article on Kanye: American Mozart. The comments, predictably, are rubbish. (What else is new?) Someone asked Molly Crabapple what advice she’d give to her 18 year old self. I regret every moment I spent trying to make the adorable and tiny when I could have been plotting things large and deep. Did you watch Girls? I broke my TV ban to do it. I feel conflicted about it, especially given Lesley Arfin’s comments. Here are some interesting articles: Why We Need to Keep Talking About the White Girls on Girls, Why Girls Is My New Favorite TV Show, & HBO’s Girls Is So Zeitgeisty It Hurts To Watch. You don’t realize how common your experience is until someone else goes and makes an HBO series about it… This show falls squarely under the umbrella of First-World Problems. These are the problems of people without real problems. You worry that you aren’t the voice of your generation but rather a voice of a generation. Your parents stopped paying for your dry cleaning. Your Klout score fell back into the low 50s. You wish there were a TV series about your life, but then Lena Dunham went ahead and nabbed it first. Jen Dziura is engaged. Yay! Her article on what she learned from 20 years of dating should be compulsory reading. Honestly. There is some really good stuff in there about how remaining single until you are established in your career is motivating, how being a married woman who starts a business means everyone will assume your husband is bankrolling you, etc. It is GOOD GOOD GOOD. Read it. Okay? Like, now. This made me laugh a lot. Write like a motherfcker: for any of you with a book inside you. These photos are insane. I barely even know what I’m looking at, & I love it! I just discovered The Sex Myth, blog of Dr. Brooke Magnanti — aka the writer of the Belle De Jour blog & books! This piece, On Scars, feels relevant. Confidence doesn’t come overnight. It also doesn’t happen in a vacuum; it requires nurturing. As with anything else worth having it’s work. But let me tell you, it is so worth the work… Corollary 5a: Confidence happens when you let it happen. No one gives it to you, which is great, because it also means they can’t take it from you. Jordan’s apartment in Paris is — of course — pretty damn cute. Nubby wrote about making a house a home. I still haven’t been to Portland but I can’t wait to visit… & take some photos in her all-white living room! I just discovered Dial A Human which tells you the secret prompts to actually speak to a PERSON on a phone. Automated telephone systems are the bane of my existence! Well, them & bananas. Yuck! Can you heal through BDSM? An exploration of the psychological underpinnings of submission & domination. Inspiration for international playgirls: Fathom is the ultimate travel site! This video about the making of Real Dolls is fascinating, but definitely not safe for work! I am totally creeped out by misstravel.com. This article sums it all up pretty nicely. Couchsurfing is the site for people who want to stay on other people’s couches; Airbnb is the site for people who want to stay in other people’s empty apartments; and MissTravel.com is the site for women who want to stay in beds of completely strange rich men who will pay them to fly from wherever they are in the world to do so. I liked these photos of Coney Island from the Kate Spade blog. Should I check my email? A flowchart for… everyone. Crazy Talk: The Do-What-You-Love Guide by Leo Babauta. This is excellent. Read it! There was a Titanic tea party in Washington! Oh, & Scouting NY did a Titanic Guide to NYC. Here’s part two! I like the floating church best. I love the retro ads in Newsweek’s Mad Men issue! Fathom put together a list of their favourite travel blogs & sites. P.S. Their site is pretty great, too! I love the titles of these extremely honest Pinterest boards! There’s also PicturelessPinterest — so, so funny — & Text-Only Instagram. Look, if we can’t make fun of ourselves… I love that Luxirare takes her laptop to Hooters sometimes. It’s so funny to see where people work when they can choose to work anywhere! Daniel messed with his credenza & it’s such an improvement. He inspires me to do what I really WANT when it comes to interiors, & I love that! You should know: I had such an incredible time at TEDxCMU. I wanted to share all the other presentations I saw that day — & was honoured to be among such smart company! (I was the only woman speaking, though. Change the ratio!) Threefifty Duo with Jennifer Stock – Post-Classical Compositions for Two Guitars Jay Whitacre – Reinterpreting the Process of Innovation Stephen Neely – What Moves You? Sean Ogle – The Future of the American Dream Razi Imam – Engineering Luck John Riccitiello – What Can Teachers Learn From Game Designers? Gil Taran – The Impact of Educational Strategy Ardon Shorr – Unlocking Music with Neuroscience Zach Weiner – The Fall & Rise of the American Comic Strip Matthew Manos – Reinterpreting the Role of the Designer The Dark Shadows* trailer is life-enhancing! Can’t wait to see it. I loved Sean’s interview with Jenny Blake! Have a brilliant weekend! Bisoux, filed under: carousel Share this! + Del.icio.us + Facebook + Stumbleupon + Technorati .. Details: http://galadarling.com/article/carousel-kanye-girls-advice-to-our-18-year-old-selves

Central Park Zoo On A Fine Summer's Day...

Posted on Wed, 16 May 2012 15:03:32 GMT

The Central Park Zoo is the perfect place to spend a Saturday afternoon, especially when you’re hanging out with your friends from Britain!

Last weekend was a scorcher, & after a decadent brunch at Saxon + Parole, Kat, Gareth & I hailed a cab to Central Park for an adventure. We had a horse-drawn carriage ride around the park (our horse’s name was Socks), before braving the zoo, then sat down for a well-deserved ice-cream at Dylan’s Candy Bar. (The ensuing sugar rush was one for the books!) The perfect day, je crois!

It was so much fun having Kat in town, & even better to play tourist in my favourite city! I definitely recommend it to anyone feeling dissatisfied or stuck in their own hometown. There’s always something to discover, & a new way of looking at things can be just around the corner!

We loved going to the zoo, zoo, zoo… How about you, you, you?!

P.S. If you’re reading this in your email, click through to watch the video! Kisses!

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Help! I'm So Homesick! (Well, Actually, I Miss My Boyfriend...)

Posted on Tue, 15 May 2012 16:20:16 GMT

Wander Postcard Project: No. 26 / Lin Mei.

FROM A READER:

“I am a 20 year old theatre major studying abroad in Florence, Italy with a group of 15 of my friends and fellow theatre majors. I am lucky enough to be in a beautiful city for a month and I should be having the time of my life, right?! Wrong. Since I left, I have not been able to stop missing my boyfriend Chris… I don’t want to wreck my relationship by clinging and begging Chris to email me every second. Most importantly, I want to enjoy the time I have here! This is an amazing opportunity for me and I want to grow and become a strong, independent young woman. I don’t want to be afraid of doing things by myself, and I would hate to waste my trip feeling miserable. Please let me know if you have any suggestions!”

Trust me, I relate! When I was 15 years old, I was fortunate enough to go to Germany for a month with a group from my school. It should have been a dream come true, but it felt more like a nightmare. Why? I had just started dating my first ever boyfriend, & anything that involved me being away from him was like, THE WORST THING EVER.

We started dating just before Christmas, & when I went to Australia with my parents for New Year’s Eve, I spent almost all of my time in an internet cafe, chatting to him. My level of obsession didn’t wane at all in the next six months, & in fact, when our plane took off, heading for Germany, I remember sobbing in my seat. Very dramatic!

Our romance happened in the days before everyone was super-connected. The host family I stayed with (in Karlsruhe — represent!) didn’t even own a computer; it was like torture for my super-internet-addicted self. The only way we could communicate was when I would take a box of Lucky Strikes to the pay-phone down the street. I would smoke cigarettes while I dialled a million numbers (which, of course, I had memorised) & we would talk.

It probably went like this…

Me: How’s Wellington?
Him: The same. How’s Germany?
Me: Totally not like Wellington.
Him: Cool…
Me: Yeah…

God, what a waste of air-time!

Everything about the situation was pushing my buttons like mad. I couldn’t be online, I couldn’t see my boyfriend, & I wasn’t super good friends with anyone else on my trip. I didn’t really have anyone to talk to, just a Discman & a notebook for company. I felt totally out of my depth & really uncomfortable, but looking back, this was incredibly formative for me. In fact, it was GREAT. It forced me to participate in what was happening; I had no choice.

Instead of obsessing about my boyfriend, I was concerned with lugging my 25kg backpack across a foreign city, or stringing a sentence together in another language. It taught me the importance of good chocolate, & that Germans make some of the best sandwiches in the world!

It meant that when our bus pulled up at Schloss Neuschwanstein, with the turrets peaking out of low cloud, it took my breath away. I wasn’t staring at my phone, hoping desperately for a text message from my beloved.

It gave me time to browse record stores & buy Dig Me Out by Sleater-Kinney & Richard D. James Album by Aphex Twin. Even today, whenever I hear those albums, it transports me right back to a train in Germany, the soundtrack to an ever-changing view.

From Berlin to Baden-Baden & the Black Forest, I was immersed in all things German… & I loved it. My experiences when I was 15 years old cemented Germany’s place as one of my favourite all-time countries, & taught me a different way of seeing the world. Sehr gut!

What can you learn from my (mis)adventures in ~~homesickness~~ boyfriend-sickness? As with everything, the very best way to deal with it is to jump right into your present reality & embrace it with everything you’ve got. All the crying & long phone-calls in the world won’t change the cold hard fact that right now, there is an ocean separating you.

When you think about it, what do you have to gain from obsessing about your beau? Nothing. What do you have to lose? A thousand fabulous memories from the opportunity of a lifetime.

Even if this experience doesn’t strengthen your relationship, it will certainly strengthen you as a person. Travelling is one of the best things we can do for our spirit & our confidence: it shows us what we’re really made of in a way that we can never experience if we just stay in one place. It’s when we’re out of our depth that we learn to swim, & it’s in unfamiliar situations that we really blossom.

Don’t forget about him completely, of course — & I know you couldn’t even if you tried. Write him postcards or put together a scrapbook of memories which you can show him when you get back. But don’t spend this month in Italy — one of the MOST beautiful places in the world — wishin’ & hopin’ for something that is out of reach. Try to limit your contact, too. You won’t regret this!

Don’t let love-sickness stop you from going out there & experiencing the world! Aim to come back home with a glut of stories to tell, about summertime Vespa rides & great conversation in the Piazza della Repubblica. Return with stories of your favourite gelato place & the espresso you drank which kept you up all night, toes jittering.

I once knew a girl who was so excited to leave New Zealand & move to Europe; it was all she talked about. When she got there, though, she decided she missed her boyfriend too much. She came home after less than a week. They broke up, & she never went back to Europe. Yes, this is a cautionary tale. Don’t be that girl!

Travelling is sublime: a way of escaping the everyday & launching yourself into a new reality. It teaches us about the world as much as it teaches us about ourselves. It always changes you & provides new perspectives. Sometimes it even provides you with new shoes!

Get out there & earn your international playgirl stripes!

Has this ever happened to you? What advice would you give to this girl? Let us know!

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Carousel: The Cherry On Top Of A Beautiful Weekend...

Posted on Sun, 13 May 2012 22:13:17 GMT

Happy Sunday! Better late than never, huh?! Here are some things on the internet this week that made me smile, laugh, or make a pensive face! I hope you enjoy ‘em.

That’s why you don’t have any friends… WORD UP. Weirdness is best!

Lilly McElroy throws herself at men... Literally!

I loved Jane’s five minutes to glowing skin guide, it’s fantastic! (I have to add, though, that I don’t recommend washing your face with hot water. Every esthetician I’ve ever known has stressed that hot water is the enemy of skin, & sucks out all the moisture. Use cold water instead, & try not to put your face under the spray in the shower!.)

I really like this: Using Youth and Beauty to Get What You Want.

Live life joyously and authentically and, when you turn fifty, you will possess the qualities people automatically ascribe to you now because of your beauty. More importantly, you will have become beautiful by being the kind of person people used to imagine you were.

Here are 15 things you can do with your Instagram photos!

I loved these flower-arranging tips, with suggestions for every different kind of vase!

Kat wrote a post rounding up her adventures in NYC. It also features more pictures of her & I than you can shake a stick at! We have had SUCH a good time together this week!

So, Marie Forleo’s Rich, Happy & Hot B-School is just about to launch, & I wanted to let you know about it. Those of you who have been reading for a while know that I rarely, if ever, promote other people’s courses. I’m pretty skeptical about them in general, & I’d never encourage you to do anything that I wouldn’t do myself! But this one is different…

My first introduction to Marie was at Selling Your Soul, an event she ran with Danielle LaPorte. IT WAS AMAZING! Seriously, it was insane. I spent a day sitting in an auditorium, completely enraptured, making pages & pages of notes. I’ve never attended an event that taught me SO many great, actionable things about running a business. Since then, I’ve been keeping an eye on her, because this gal is definitely one to watch.

Her course, Rich, Happy & Hot B-School, is just about to kick off for the third time. It’s a course for women who want to take their online businesses to the next level. Marie’s business is worth over a million bucks, so you KNOW she knows what she’s doing — & her advice & presentation is SO no bullshit. Her testimonials are off the hook. I love it so much that I’m thinking of signing up for B-School myself!

If you want to push your business to the next level — & you’re prepared to do the work — then this is definitely something you should consider. Check it out.

Full disclosure: if you decide to sign up for Rich, Happy & Hot B-School, I’ll get a commission — but like I said, I really believe in this course & think you’ll benefit from it in a major way. Otherwise, I wouldn’t recommend it!

This article — 15 ways to stay married for 15 years — is brilliant & inspiring & probably not what you’d expect.

Dirty Girls & Bad Feminists... I love this piece on internet feminism. Yes, yes, yes!

I just discovered Leah Whitehorse’s astrology blog & it’s fantastic!

My mate Isaac did an unconventional tour of New York City & if you’re into travel porn, I think you’ll enjoy it!

Rabbit was interviewed by VICE about being a sex writer. It’s a cute behind-the-scenes look at sex journalism!

...She also wrote 8 ways to be positive you’re sex-positive for The Frisky, & it is ace.

I love Kickstarter for weird projects. I’m proud to say I backed Adult Rappers, & if you’re into hip-hop, you should too. It features interviews with some of my favourite rappers about how they are able to integrate “being an adult” with hip-hop culture, historically something which is very much a youth-oriented movement. To make this documentary happen, the director needs another $6k in 3 days… Can we make it happen?! (Tell people! Let’s do this!)

This video is the cutest!

Much love,

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Zig Zag Wanderers!

Posted on Fri, 11 May 2012 16:34:09 GMT

What a week! Kat has been in town & she has been distracting me (in the best way possible)! I’ve barely even been home!

Yesterday we got prettied up by Regan Rabanal (my favourite — & first ever! — make-up artist in NYC!), then met with Christina, Marielle & Alie from Made U Look Photography. From shooting on rooftops, to stumbling around the West Village, to ending up on the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset, it was a perfect day. Christina, Marielle & Alie all had about 5 cameras around their necks at all times, shooting in a variety of formats & experimenting with lots of different film… It was so exciting & we can’t wait to see the final results!

On the subject of iPhone apps, by the way, I used 8mm to film a few clips yesterday & made them into a little video!

Hooray! Here’s to a glorious weekend…

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10 Ways To Make Your Instagram Photos Pop!

Posted on Mon, 07 May 2012 14:20:04 GMT

God, I love my iPhone. I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I never understood the hype until I spent a week with my parents last year. My mother & father both have iPhones, & my father — who is slightly app-obsessed — was fiddling with his constantly. I thought I loved my Android, but after using his phone for a little while, I realised I was missing out. I bought myself an iPhone the very next week, & ever since then, I have been a total evangelist.

One of my favourite things about the iPhone is Instagram. Instagram is an app that records your visual life in the same way that Twitter captures it via text.

There’s good news for non-iPhone users, though: Instagram has recently released for the Android phone!

When I was in Las Vegas, I noticed Nubby taking pictures directly through the Instagram app, which is not how I’ve ever done it. I think the very best way to make the most of your photos is to take your snaps using the Camera, & shoot a few of them. Then you can pick your favourites, edit them using an app or two, & add them to Instagram when you’re done. (In Instagram, the icon on the bottom left with two boxes will allow you to import a photo from your library.)

Instagram comes with a few built-in filters, & that’s what most people use. But you can alter your pictures a LOT even before you add them to Instagram. While the photos that come out of the iPhone are pretty good by themselves, there are a few great apps I’ve discovered which can really pump up the volume. In fact, I often run my photos through 2 or 3 apps before I upload them to Instagram. Maybe that’s weird & obsessive, but the results speak for themselves!

1. MoreBeaute

I discovered MoreBeaute just recently & I was so thrilled! This is perfect for self-portraits or pictures of people, because it has this tremendous skin filter which makes everyone look flawless! It’s totally adjustable, too, so you can make yourself look like a total Barbie, or just give yourself a little improvement here & there.

MoreBeaute is extremely simple in design. You either take a photo or select one from your library, & then you can choose from Brightness, Smoothing, Detail & Tone. The changes appear minute on-screen, but a quick flick back to the Before tab will show you just how much the image has changed!

You can see from my examples at the top that you can get extremely overzealous with this app, but this shows you exactly how much you can smooth & blur someone’s skin tone. The answer: a lot!

P.S. If you want to take a self-portrait which makes you look flawless, get as close to a diffused natural light source as possible. Standing next to a window — especially on a cloudy day — is perfect!

2. Take a picture of a picture!

It’s great to vary your shots, & photographing a photo is an excellent way to do it. One of my favourite things to do is snap a few Instax pictures, then spread them out & shoot them with my iPhone. I always end up doing this when I’m on holiday, because it gives you a visual summary in just one frame!

I’m almost always carrying around an Instax camera, so I suppose this suggestion relies on having another camera on-hand… But if you do collect Instax, Polaroids or photobooth strips, this is a great way to document a segment of time!

3. Camera+

Camera+ is always the first app I use to edit a photo. Once you’ve selected the photo you want to alter, you’re given five options: Scenes, Adjust, Crops, Effects & Borders. In Scenes, you can adjust the lighting of the photo. Choose from a huge variety of settings like Clarity, Auto, Flash, Backlit, Shade, Portrait, & so on. Camera+ has the best lighting adjustments I’ve seen of any app, & sometimes all a photo needs is a little brightness to make it pop!

The Effects tab has four groups: Color, Retro, Special & I Analog. Each of these groups has 9 different effects, all of which are pretty fantastic.

The I Analog group is a paid section, but it has a couple of my favourite filters in it: XPRO C-41, Diana & Silver Gelatin. Silver Gelatin is the filter I added to the sample photo above! Once you’ve purchased access to this section, you can use it forever… & I think you will!

4. Use your phone to document the street art you see!

Some of my favourite Instagram photos are not of anything I made or created, or even of someone I know. Often they’re simply pictures of art on the street.

NYC is a great place to do that: there’s art practically everywhere you look, from stickers on lampposts to huge murals on the sides of buildings. Everyone here has something to say & a lot of those people are excellent at expressing themselves visually, so it seems like a mistake not to capture your favourite examples!

Shooting the art you see is a fantastic way of documenting the way your city changes over time. Murals get tagged up, stickers get pulled down, advertisings goes up where posters once stood, & nothing remains the same. So snap your favourite art, because it might not be there tomorrow!

5. Camera Awesome!

First things first: Camera Awesome has an “Awesomize” slider, which increases brightness, contrast & vibrancy all at once. If you want to keep things really simple, just use that. It does a great job!

The Presets & Filters tabs are fantastic on here, & there are a LOT of options. Camera Awesome is another one of those apps where some of the features are free, but a lot of them are paid. It’s 99c to purchase 9 filters, & just like with Camera+ you get to use them forever. Camera Awesome has some really dramatic effects, as well as textures & frames.

This app doesn’t have the most intuitive design, but you’ll get the hang of it! It’s definitely worth experimenting with!

6. Mix it up!

As much as we all love to shoot endless self-portraits, there’s something refreshing about an Instagram feed which is diverse & full of surprises!

You could even use your Instagram account as extra incentive to go out & explore your city. I always end up snapping the best pictures when I’m somewhere a little unknown, & seeing with new eyes. For example, last week I went out exploring with Kat & Gareth. We ventured into a store called Georgetown Cupcakes — which I’d never been into before — & we discovered this pink bedazzled KitchenAid! OH MY! I asked if I could take a photo, they said yes, & what resulted is my most-favourited photo on Instagram… ever.

It’s not just about accumulating “likes” & “followers” though: if you shoot what you love, even if no one else follows you, you’ll still get a lot of pleasure out of Instagram.

7. Picfx

Picfx has a lot of options, including Vintage, Cross Process & Premixed filters, but where it really shines is in its selection of Light filters. Oh yes, if you’re looking for bokeh, this is the app to use!

I used Picfx to add those little bubbles of light to this photo of pink champagne, & I think it definitely adds to the image! (I also used Camera+ & Camera Awesome to brighten & intensify the colours!)

8. LensLight

Truth time: LensLight is a little bit cheesy. The design is not wonderful. But if you’re looking for starbursts, heart-shaped bokeh (oh yes!) or sparkle spectrums, you’ll be ALL about it!

This photo taken at the YogaRave was CLEARLY begging for purple heart-shaped bokeh! Right?!

I used LensLight to add the rainbow effect to this building covered in ivy, too. So pretty.

9. PictureFrames

There are a lot of apps which allow you to combine several pictures, but PictureFrames is my favourite. You can add rounded corners to your frames, change the border colours & thickness, & also resize the frames. Brilliant! It’s a great app for showing details or a few sides of one object!

For this image, I processed each photo with Camera+ before importing them into PictureFrames. I changed the brightness of the image in Scenes & then added some colouring in Effects. I also added some bokeh to the top picture using LensLight! You can see how just one app can be a gateway drug!

10. Shoot what you love!

Looking at my Instagram profile makes me smile, because essentially, it boils down to a collection of photos of things that I love. Some people don’t “get” Instagram, but if you think of it as a kind of digital scrapbook, it starts to make more sense. It doesn’t have to stay digital & intangible, either: there are a handful of companies who will turn your Instagram photos into little books, stickers, or even print pillows with a selection of your favourite pictures!

Don’t fall victim to Instagram anxiety, or the need to get 1000 likes in under a minute. Only post when you feel genuinely inspired to share something, & you’ll quickly become as obsessed as I am!

If you want to follow me on Instagram, my username is galadarling... & I’d love to see what you end up shooting! Let me know if you use any of the apps I suggested, too. I love them!

Click click, flash flash!

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Details: http://galadarling.com/article/10-ways-to-make-your-instagram-photos-pop

Starbucks Frappuccino Signature Style Series!

Posted on Fri, 04 May 2012 21:05:22 GMT

A couple of Fridays ago, I schlepped a huge suitcase full of shoes across the East Village to the Style Coalition lounge, where I was filming a little video for Starbucks Frappuccino! They invited me to showcase my signature style, & well, I couldn’t say no!

When I’m putting together an outfit, my first instinct is to pick items that make me smile. Bright pink leopard-print booties? Yes! Star-covered track jackets & sequinned tanks? Yes! Cat’s eye glasses covered in rhinestones? YES! YES! YES! I think personal style should be fun, & a reflection of who you are.

To try on shoes, I wore…
Nanette Lepore Class Flirt dress
...& a whole bunch of shoes! The pink leopard-print booties are by Senso, crystal-covered stilettos are by Chinese Laundry, magenta platform heels are by Steve Madden, pink glitter ankle boots from ASOS, & the dalmatian spot booties are from TopShop!

To work out, I wore…
Adidas Originals x Jeremy Scott track jacket
Sequinned tank from Victoria’s Secret Pink (I buy a lot of my workout gear from Pink… It’s so cute & durable!)
Pants by the Gap Body (they do the best stuff)
Adidas Originals Dragon sneakers

For dinner, I wore…
Glasses by Mercura
Skater dress with contrast piping from ASOS — I love this dress! (I also love to wear it with a bowler hat. Very Cabaret!)
Betsey Johnson Starburst pollys (so comfortable, you would not believe it!)

My Zoe Karssen t-shirt is officially the best thing ever.

My friends Dianna & Zephyr were also invited to show off their signature style, & the results are so cute! Click on their names to see their posts.

Oh, & of course it’s not all work & no play! You could win a hand-picked accessory from one of our signature styles when you enter the Starbucks Frappuccino sweepstakes! (Go on… I dare you!)

Lots of love from an East Village rooftop,

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post in conjunction with Style Coalition & Hearst Digital Media. Opinions expressed within are entirely my own!

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Details: http://galadarling.com/article/starbucks-frappuccino-signature-style-series

Things I Love Thursday: Peonies & Psychedelia!

Posted on Thu, 03 May 2012 15:41:54 GMT

On my desk: glitter candles, rhinestone bracelets, amethyst, rose quartz, citrine & aqua aura quartz, fortunes, & earrings… There are also magenta peonies in a milk jug & a cookie jar stuffed full of white fairy lights!

The highlight of my weekend was spending time at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens with Mike, Asami & Fumi! The purple field of Turkish Hazel was absolutely divine & there were seriously HOT PINK flowers blooming everywhere!

Spring is the best! Also, I loved the flower crowns on these two girls, though I didn’t get their names, unfortunately!

Flowers & vines, so gorgeous. These are the magenta peonies I mentioned earlier (& a better view of the psychedelic tray from the 1960s everything else is now sitting on!). A stack of passports, international playgirl style… & a taxi portrait.

L-O-V-E L-I-F-E... I never expected a bowl of cherries, I’m just a Virgo looking for my own version of the Virgin Mary…

Dinner with KAT tonight! Oh my goodness. Tulips & peonies & crystals on my desk Awesome meetings & exciting new developments Hank & Dolly both curled up on the floor next to my desk while I work Good mail days! (Thank you Sophie & Lisa & Megan!) The extreme Virgoness of Wholefoods (it’s seriously one of my favourite places on the planet) The news that Jazzi is moving back to NYC, OH MY GOODNESS! Reconnecting with old friends Brother Ali Going out to our favourite Chinese restaurant where they play Johnny Cash songs & serve the best food in the world Spiked cowboy boots... GET OUTTA TOWN! Sitting outside, writing in a magical mirror garden That feeling of satisfaction when you put in a lot of hard work & see yourself living up to your potential! Daydreaming about pink cars Finding old photos from when Nubby & I first met! Talking about forming girl gangs Next week is the third anniversary of the first date Mike & I ever went on! Enthusiasm!!!!! & exclamation points! Finally giving in to the need for a backpack, & of course, I bought one covered in sequins… !

A reminder: The reason I do these lists every week is to remind me of the positive! They are one of my essential happiness practices: they keep me focussed on what is good in my world, & stop me from dwelling on the flaws or difficult moments. If you’re struggling with happiness right now, you should start writing these lists, too! If you’re not struggling, making a habit of counting your blessings will rocket you to another dimension of bliss! Guaranteed!

Brunettes have more fun… !

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Details: http://galadarling.com/article/things-i-love-thursday-peonies-psychedelia

Style Tips: Mimosas In The Bathtub!

Posted on Tue, 01 May 2012 17:02:11 GMT

Make a regular date to meet your lover in the bathtub… with mimosas. I love this idea so much, though I can’t take credit for it! When I had dinner with Shae last week, she told me that it was her favourite way to end the day! She & her husband have a standing date where they meet in the bathtub with mimosas & discuss the events of the day. They do this every evening! Isn’t that perfect? I can’t think of a better meeting place.

Photo by Pamela Hanson.

Bring back the phonecall! Do you remember back in the ’90s when all you ever wanted to do was talk on the phone? Do you remember how everyone in your class at school envied that girl who had a private telephone line installed in her room? Do you remember dangling upside down on your bed, talking & talking & talking until your ear got sweaty & your elbow cramped up? ME TOO, & I miss it!

I phoned my friend the other day & she didn’t answer, then texted back saying, “Did you butt dial me?”

No, I didn’t butt dial you! I wanted to talk to you on the PHONE, as opposed to trying to convey every single emotion, thought & feeling via text message. Frankly, my thumbs are over it, & the rest of me is too! We all have this major phone phobia thing going on right now & I want to do my part to call an end to it!

So… Call your friend instead of texting them. They might be surprised, stunned, a little shell-shocked at first, but you’ll enjoy yourselves way more than the exchange of a few text messages, I promise!

Use tea tins as vases… or really, anything you like! The days of being restricted to using a glass vase are long gone. I love the way buds look in Harney & Sons tea tins! See?! Gorgeous!

You can also use a big glass cookie jar, a teapot, a skull goblet, or even an old boot! (Just hide a vase inside it!)

Once you start thinking about it, you’ll realise that the possibilities are truly endless!

Be inspired by Sonia Rykiel, & glue faux-pearls to your sunglasses! I love these sunglasses but the truth is that Sonia Rykiel’s designs don’t come cheap. The good news is this would be a 15 minute DIY if you’re handy with a tube of glue!

Just find a pair of cheap frames that you love, then hit up a craft store. Be sure to pick pearls (or other embellishments!) which fit the width of the frames… & don’t feel like you have to use pearls, either! Crystals, studs or beads would make just as much of an impact!

Images from MariaFrancescaPepe A/W ’12 Look Book.

Celebrate Beltane! Yes! It’s Beltane TODAY! Beltane is the last of the 3 spring fertility festivals. It’s a celebration of fire, fertility & abundance. Fertility isn’t just about getting pregnant, by the way: it’s also about new projects, fresh starts, & reaping what you sow. It’s about celebrating life. It’s also a time when the veil between the worlds is said to be at its thinnest.

How can you welcome Beltane? Wear flowers in your hair, & bright colours! Gather your friends: eat, drink & be merry! Fire is a major part of Beltane, so light candles & think about what you want to come to fruition over the next few months…

You can read more about Beltane here!

Love, always!

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Travel Porn: 5 Destinations For International Playgirls To Drool Over...

Posted on Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:59:09 GMT

Photo by Steven Chee.

Call it my restless spirit or just chalk it up to my Sagittarius Moon: whichever way you slice it, travel has been — & always will be — an essential part of my life. I abhor the idea of staying anywhere too long, & after about a month & a half of any one location, I’m itching to move on.

That’s when I get all feverish & start investigating the possibilities. Where should I go next, & what should I do there? What I wouldn’t give for a private plane & a packed suitcase! Oh!

My idea of a good holiday has a lot of eye candy, plenty of glamour, a hint of mystery & a good whiff of madness. All of my favourite places — New York City, Paris, Las Vegas & Los Angeles — have these things in spades. However, as much as I love to go back & re-experience the tried & true, there’s nothing quite like visiting a city or country for the first time. It really is one of my favourite things.

If you’re similarly lusting for a change of scenery, join me in a fit of imagination! Here are a few places I’m currently fantasizing about…

The Saguaro, Palm Springs

The Saguaro is a rainbow-hued hotel in Palm Springs, California. Palm Springs is home to the Coachella Valley, which is, of course, where Coachella goes down every year. It’s not all feather hair extensions & shredded denim shorts, though! The area really started to boom in the 1920s when Hollywood movie stars would visit seeking rest & rejuvenation. It got even more popular in the fifties & sixties: Steve McQueen, Cary Grant & Judy Garland (among hundreds of other stars) all had homes in the area.

The reputation of Palm Springs isn’t much different these days. It’s still seen as a playground for the rich & famous, with some of the most amazing spas in the country, as well as fantastic architecture & art.

The Saguaro sounds like a wonderful place to spend a long weekend. They offer daily yoga & have an Olympic-sized swimming pool surrounded by cabanas. There are hot tubs, poolside bar & food service (YES!), a fabulous spa & wifi. The rooms are bright, colourful & spacious. Really, is there much more that you need?! I’d say it’s the perfect getaway.

You can read about a Palm Springs yoga retreat here, & see some more pictures of The Saguaro here.

P.S. I hear the vintage shopping in Palm Springs is a- to the mazing! Just another reason to add this destination to your travel wishlist…

Panic Room at Au Vieux Panier, Marseille, France

Yes, this is one hotel room: not two photographs stuck together! Isn’t it fantastic?! It makes my brain go crazy with photo possibilities.

This one-of-a-kind gem is tucked inside Au Vieux Panier in Marseilles, France. Au Vieux Panier is an extremely unique hotel featuring five rooms which are painted by artists, & re-done every year. The hotel puts out an annual call for submissions, then closes the hotel for a month while the new rooms are executed.

This particular room is by artist Tilt, & it costs 135 Euros a night to stay. You can see more pictures & learn the story behind the room here.

I’ve never been to Marseilles, but it’s in the south of France — beautiful beautiful beautiful — & apparently, the area has been inhabited by humans for almost 30,000 years!

Holy Ship

Holy Ship is a three-day cruise to the Bahamas for, well, the rambunctious & the young at heart! Far from sedately cruising around the islands, this is the only boat that could cause a tidal wave with its sub-woofers!

Yes, this is dance-dance-party-party type of cruise. The line-up for 2013 hasn’t been announced yet, but this year the January cruise featured Diplo, Fatboy Slim, Skrillex & Steve Aoki, among others. Oh, did I mention Dita Von Teese was there, spinning around in a huge martini glass… ?!

This is definitely not your grandparents’ cruise ship. That photo above is of Fatboy Slim playing to a crowd on an island in the Bahamas, while a helicopter flies overhead… There are silly outfits galore & mini-golf, & the price of your ticket includes your room, entertainment & food for three days. (It sounds like the price runs between $800 & $1500, depending on the quality of your lodgings.)

SPIN magazine’s photographs are pretty neat, & as you might expect, FHM’s coverage is interesting but heavy on lecherous photography. Sure, after three days, you might want to stab everyone onboard, & sure, the ship hit a massive reef this year & had to be rescued by a fleet of tug-boats. Apparently, though, everyone onboard was having so much fun they didn’t even notice!

Whatever! I’m still game! Are you?!

Capri, Italy

I’ve never been to Italy, & — embarrassingly — I didn’t know where exactly Capri was until I googled it. I was inspired to look it up after reading Jonathan Adler’s praise for the place. He says,

I’m not a very adventurous traveler. You won’t find me stalking rhinos in Uganda. Maybe I’m just an old fart, but if I go somewhere & have a fab time, then I go back. My cautious Jewish gene has made me a creature of habit. One place where I have had a fab time — again & again & again — is Capri. The island is so totally ’50s. It looks & feels exactly the way it did in The Talented Mr Ripley & Godard’s Contempt... Whenever in Capri, I stay at La Scalinatella. Sublime & surprising, La Scalinatella is heaven on earth! The lobby — with its tile floors, clover-shaped windows & surreal objects — perfectly captures the dreamy quality of Capri.

Some awesomeness:

1. The crooked lanes of Capri were designed to confuse marauding pirates (!!!) which is honestly reason enough to visit, don’t you think?!
2. During the sunrise, the sky turns from deep violet to pink to orange to gold.
3. Additionally, you can take a boat through the Blue Grotto (Grotta Azzurra) or swim in the Green Grotto, which “looks like an enormous liquid emerald”. SOLD!

This makes me want to visit Italy pretty badly!

India

India is still at the very tip-top of my list when it comes to places I want to visit, but it’s also the most intimidating. I keep putting it off because honestly, I don’t know where to begin. I mean, just look at the WikiTravel entry! I also know that India is going to change my life. (I felt the same way about NYC & lo & behold, I was right!)

I want to spend a month there, exploring the pink city of Jaipur & the beaches of Goa, getting immersed in the way of life in Kolkata & luxuriating at The Lake Palace Hotel. I’d love to experience Diwali & watch a Bollywood movie in a theatre in Mumbai. Yes, I want to take many long train rides!

I don’t think I’ll be bathing in the Ganges, though…

Over 60,000 people come down to the waters edge every day to take a dip in the sacred waters of the Ganges. Try not to think too much about the dozens of sewage pipes and sunken corpses in the waters around you and you’ll find it’s not nearly as bad as you expect once you’re actually in it. (Source)

I know I’ve said it already, but I am so, so excited about The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, a movie about a bunch of British senior citizens who go to India to live out their twilight years. It comes out on May 4th (soon!), & I think that seeing it is going to reinvigorate my desire to take flight…

The good news is that my husband & my father want to visit India too, so maybe we’ll go as a group one day!

...Back to reality, I guess. SIGH! SIGH! Do you want to visit any of these places now? What’s your ultimate travel destination? Let us know!

Dreaming of first class flatbeds,

P.S. I know last week’s posts were a little heavy! This week, the content will be decidedly frothier ;D I hope you enjoy it!

P.P.S. If you enjoy this post, hit the LIKE button below! That way I’ll know to make Travel Porn into a regular series. I have a huge list of crazy hotels (themed! Built into caves! Underwater! In treehouses!) that I would love to write about for you! Yay!
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Details: http://galadarling.com/article/travel-porn

Carousel: Kanye, Girls & Advice To Our 18 Year Old Selves...

Posted on Fri, 27 Apr 2012 19:07:53 GMT

Art by Alessandro Pautasso.

I loved this (long) article on Kanye: American Mozart. The comments, predictably, are rubbish. (What else is new?)

Someone asked Molly Crabapple what advice she’d give to her 18 year old self.

I regret every moment I spent trying to make the adorable and tiny when I could have been plotting things large and deep.

Did you watch Girls? I broke my TV ban to do it. I feel conflicted about it, especially given Lesley Arfin’s comments. Here are some interesting articles: Why We Need to Keep Talking About the White Girls on Girls, Why Girls Is My New Favorite TV Show, & HBO’s Girls Is So Zeitgeisty It Hurts To Watch.

You don’t realize how common your experience is until someone else goes and makes an HBO series about it… This show falls squarely under the umbrella of First-World Problems. These are the problems of people without real problems. You worry that you aren’t the voice of your generation but rather a voice of a generation. Your parents stopped paying for your dry cleaning. Your Klout score fell back into the low 50s. You wish there were a TV series about your life, but then Lena Dunham went ahead and nabbed it first.

Jen Dziura is engaged. Yay! Her article on what she learned from 20 years of dating should be compulsory reading. Honestly. There is some really good stuff in there about how remaining single until you are established in your career is motivating, how being a married woman who starts a business means everyone will assume your husband is bankrolling you, etc. It is GOOD GOOD GOOD. Read it. Okay? Like, now.

This made me laugh a lot.

Write like a motherf*cker: for any of you with a book inside you.

These photos are insane. I barely even know what I’m looking at, & I love it!

I just discovered The Sex Myth, blog of Dr. Brooke Magnanti — aka the writer of the Belle De Jour blog & books! This piece, On Scars, feels relevant.

Confidence doesn’t come overnight. It also doesn’t happen in a vacuum; it requires nurturing. As with anything else worth having it’s work. But let me tell you, it is so worth the work… Corollary 5a: Confidence happens when you let it happen. No one gives it to you, which is great, because it also means they can’t take it from you.

Jordan’s apartment in Paris is — of course — pretty damn cute.

Nubby wrote about making a house a home. I still haven’t been to Portland but I can’t wait to visit… & take some photos in her all-white living room!

I just discovered Dial A Human which tells you the secret prompts to actually speak to a PERSON on a phone. Automated telephone systems are the bane of my existence! Well, them & bananas. Yuck!

Can you heal through BDSM? An exploration of the psychological underpinnings of submission & domination.

Inspiration for international playgirls: Fathom is the ultimate travel site!

This video about the making of Real Dolls is fascinating, but definitely not safe for work!

I am totally creeped out by misstravel.com. This article sums it all up pretty nicely.

Couchsurfing is the site for people who want to stay on other people’s couches; Airbnb is the site for people who want to stay in other people’s empty apartments; and MissTravel.com is the site for women who want to stay in beds of completely strange rich men who will pay them to fly from wherever they are in the world to do so.

I liked these photos of Coney Island from the Kate Spade blog.

Should I check my email? A flowchart for… everyone.

Crazy Talk: The Do-What-You-Love Guide by Leo Babauta. This is excellent. Read it!

There was a Titanic tea party in Washington!

Oh, & Scouting NY did a Titanic Guide to NYC. Here’s part two! I like the floating church best.

I love the retro ads in Newsweek’s Mad Men issue!

Fathom put together a list of their favourite travel blogs & sites. P.S. Their site is pretty great, too!

I love the titles of these extremely honest Pinterest boards! There’s also PicturelessPinterest — so, so funny — & Text-Only Instagram. Look, if we can’t make fun of ourselves…

I love that Luxirare takes her laptop to Hooters sometimes. It’s so funny to see where people work when they can choose to work anywhere!

Daniel messed with his credenza & it’s such an improvement. He inspires me to do what I really WANT when it comes to interiors, & I love that!

You should know: I had such an incredible time at TEDxCMU. I wanted to share all the other presentations I saw that day — & was honoured to be among such smart company! (I was the only woman speaking, though. Change the ratio!)

Threefifty Duo with Jennifer Stock – Post-Classical Compositions for Two Guitars

Jay Whitacre – Reinterpreting the Process of Innovation

Stephen Neely – What Moves You?

Sean Ogle – The Future of the American Dream

Razi Imam – Engineering Luck

John Riccitiello – What Can Teachers Learn From Game Designers?

Gil Taran – The Impact of Educational Strategy

Ardon Shorr – Unlocking Music with Neuroscience

Zach Weiner – The Fall & Rise of the American Comic Strip

Matthew Manos – Reinterpreting the Role of the Designer

The Dark Shadows trailer is life-enhancing! Can’t wait to see it.

I loved Sean’s interview with Jenny Blake!

Have a brilliant weekend!

Bisoux,

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