The Famed Lady Gaga

I just recently unearthed the genius that is Lady Gaga and she's astounding! Her work is grand like I've never experienced and her Bad Romance video blew my mind. It is one of the most creative and innovated works of art I've ever seen.

Here's the video:

Lady Gaga - Bad Romance (Official Music Video) ...

Ultimate Musik | MySpace Video

Tammy Coe

Oh my, I have found heaven in cakes and luckily, Arizona houses the wonderful Tammy Coe. I was at La Grande Orange this morning for breakfast with some friends and we stumbled up to the display case full of Tammy Coe cakes and drooled for a few minutes. They are cakes of beauty and I want to see if I can learn how to make them. I have some free time during the holidays and with this lovely recession we're having right now, I've decided to save some money and bake desserts for my friends. Most likely I will not succeed in making such a magnificent cake, but one can dream, right?

Here are some of their cakes:

Local Coffee

The love of my life. I am hard pressed to find something I love more than coffee. I am coffee obsessed. And I am pretentious about it, which doesn't help. I started drinking coffee when I was 19, and I hated it. But my friends seemed so happy when they drank it that I knew, that if I just kept trying it, eventually I would see that heavenly light of happiness looking back at me from the bottom of a mug. I now bask in that heavenly light every day, but it took me spending a summer in Brazil to learn how to drink and appreciate coffee.

Now I spend my days drinking coffee and hanging out at my favorite coffee shop, Cartel Coffee Lab with friends and a book. I recently went on a road trip with a close friend and we hit up 10 states, heading from Louisiana in the south, all the way to New York and over to Connecticut. We tried out a different local coffee shop in every city or town we stopped in. It was exciting for us, we are big on local coffee but now we have tasted a plethora of houses across the United States and now feel enriched with a broader array of tastes and sights.

I should probably state that in my pretentious state, I house a strong dislike for, and judgement against Starbucks. If you are looking to pour automated sludge down your throat, look no further, you've found it at your "local" Starbucks. They will kindly oblige and charge you $5 per cup. If however, you find that you actually have taste buds, I encourage you to try a local and original coffee house.

Something I've always enjoyed about hanging around coffee houses all the time is the latte art. I am fascinated with watching baristas pour out their creations and then using milk, draw in your latte. It's captivating.

Edith Piaf

Born in 1915 in Paris, France, Edith Piaf, is one of the most famous and stunning singers this world has seen. Every time I hear her voice, my breath is taken away. She is truly magnificent and full of amour. From the streets of Paris, to the great L'Olympia, La Môme Piaf has captured the heart of man.

In her autobiography, 'The Wheel of Fortune, the famous Jean Cocteau wrote this about her:

"Have you ever heard the nightingale? She strains. She hesitates. She grates. She chokes. Her voice rises and falls again. And then, suddenly, she sings. You are captured."

"Like the nightingale, Edith Piaf explores herself and her audience; quickly, she finds her voice. In the voice is the whole of the woman; it unfolds itself like a wave of black velvet. This wave of warmth submerges us ... wraps itself around us. The illusion is complete. Edith Piaf, like the invisible nightingale on her branch, becomes invisible. We are aware only of her eyes, her pale hands, that waxen forehead which reflects the light, and the voice. The voice swells and climbs and, almost unnoticeably, takes the place of the singer. From this moment, the genius of Mme Edith Piaf is seen and acknowledged by all. She surpasses herself and she surpasses her songs. She surpasses the music and the words .. and us! The soul of the street filters into every room in the town. It is no longer Mme Edith Piaf who sings ... it is the rain that falls ... it is the wind that blows ... it is the moon as she spreads her mantle of light. The 'Shadowy Mouth' - this very phrase seems to have been invented for her oracular mouth."

She was an amazing person and my love for her, her singing and her way of life will never die. I hope you adore her as much as I do.

Video of Edith Piaf singing Hymne L'Amour:

Here is a video of Edith Piaf singing her famous song, La Vie En Rose:

Pure Euphoria

I have fallen in love and her name is Victoire de Castellane. She is a designer who is working with Dior right now and has created many pieces that will take your breath away.

"Who says real should be boring?" asks Victoire de Castellane. After 14 years designing costume jewelry for Chanel, de Castellane moved to Dior in 1998 to create that house's first fine jewelry collection, where her eccentricity, energy and love of fantasy have made her a standout amid the sometimes staid world of haute joaillerie. Inspired by Dior's enchanted world, she has transformed ribbons, feathers, bows and flowers into fantastic bijoux.

She has a book out called Belladone Island where she dreams up Belladone, an imaginary island conducive to the growth of Belladonna, a toxic plant whose essence Renaissance Italian women used to dilate their pupils--dilated pupils being one of the signs of sexual arousal. Each of the pieces in the collection is named after a plant from the island's imaginary ancestral herbarium, including "Reina Magnifica Sangria," "Poisono Misterius Spinella," and "Carnivora Fluora Eternita".

I wish I had 20 grand to invest in her jewelry, I would wear it with such pride and amour. Until that blessed day that I marry rich (yea right), I will just cry myself to sleep every night. Spamber out.