An Artful Eyegasm: Christian Louboutin’s Painted Spring 2014 Campaign

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Jesus, I'm about to have an eyegasm. I already have a perpetual love for shoes, but add the impressionist artwork of Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet and Henri Fantin-Latour, and you have created an eye-paradise for me.

That's what photographer Peter Lippmann did for Christian Louboutin's Spring 2014 campaign. He added the coveted red soled masterpieces to literal iconic impressionist works of art, to create a baroque inspired look book for the French fashion house. The vibrantly colored shoes and accessories were artfully placed in paintings of floral scenery. Take a look at the images above! 

- Angel

Faces of a Revolution: EGYPT - Laura El-Tantawy

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While researching images for the "Witnessing the Evolution of Egypt" post, I came across dope British-Egyptian photographer Laura El-Tantawy's work. She captured sad, yet beautiful images of protestors in Egypt's Lotus Revolution, calling the set, "Faces of a Revolution: EGYPT."

Check them out, then view more of her photos of Egypt at her site. I love seeing women photo journalists from other country's that are brave and artistic in their work. It isn't an easy job to stay objective when capturing real emotion.

- Angel 

Need This - Rihanna Rocks Moncler in Aspen

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Normally, I won't post about who's wearing what and why because simply put, I don't care. :) But when I saw Rih Rih rockin' Moncler, one of my favorite skiwear labels for her Pisces (best sign, clearly) birthday celebration in Aspen, I had to post. 

Moncler, founded by French clothier René Ramillon makes luxury down jackets and sporting accessories. During the Barbadian singer's snowy cabin getaway, she wore a Moncler fur trapper hat, down cardigan, and nylon laque and fur gloves, all in mauve.

For my birthday on the 18th of next month, I rented this dope a*s cabin in Shenandoah Valley for 10 of my girls and I. Trust, I'm not jacking Rih's steeze... I've def been rockin' with the woods long before it was cool to do so. 

Check out the gallery for more info on the clothes. 

- Angel

Their, There, They're - Introducing the Hemingway App

FINALLY! An app that will teach the grammatically challenged (everyone on Twitter) the difference between their, they're and their, your, you're, where, and were... Just kidding. This new literary editing app doesn't do anything as simple as teaching you what you should have learned in the second grade.

"Hemingway makes your writing bold and clear." Declares the app's website. Created by brothers Adam and Ben Long, the Hemingway App does however allow you to copy and paste your soliloquies into a field, then the application assesses your level of writing, and grammatical errors.

For example, if passages are highlighted red, your sentence is unnecessarily long, complex and wordy, which is undoubtedly my perpetual literary mistake. See. If your passage is highlighted yellow, your sentences are again, long and complex but this time with common grammatical errors.

Blue is for those unbidden adverbs, green highlighting means you've lapsed into the past tense which is I guess, by definition, according to this Hemingway App that is, stupid writing. 

I'm sure y'all won't copy and past your text messages into this app unless like me, you're lexicon anal. But thinking about some of Papa's (Ernest Hemingway) most prolific writings, I'm not sure if this app would agree with his tense and verb usage either. Yeah, yeah. He's known for his short, declarative sentences that annoyingly force me to read in a staccato rhythm in my head despite myself, but that was his writing style. 

My verdict? Grammar rules, incorrect vocabulary usage, tense sins, they can be judged and tried. But if my long wordy sentence has correct grammar, and utilizes the right number of commas and semicolons, who gon' check my writing boo? Not some app. 

Style is subjective, and until someone puts A.I. in an app, I'm not sold on anything but human ability to judge it. Nice try though.

Snowed In: Exotic Hot Chocolate Recipes

We're all snowed in on the east coast (and some of the south). Until we can dig ourselves out of this proverbial snow hole, why not enjoy some good a*s chocolate brew? I love to cook, and constantly experiment in the kitchen. Below you'll find some of my favorite hot chocolate recipes that have been tested and tried. Just a note, this is hot chocolate. Hot coco is coco powder mixed with water (yuck) or milk. Hot chocolate is when you take the solid chocolate bars and melt them in milk with a saucepan. If you have the powder kind, it can be substituted. Let me know if you tried any of these!

Tulum Hot Chocolate (Inspired by my trip to the ruins of Tulum, and Riviera Maya, Mexico) 

• 2 cups coconut milk 
• 2 cups 1% milk (use whatever percentage tastes good to you) 
• 1/2 bar of DAGOBA Organic Xocolatl Chocolate (or coco powder, or unsweetened chocolate) chopped
• 2 Tbs. unsweetened cacao powder
• 2/8 tsp. cinnamon
• 2/8 tsp. Ancho chile powder
• 2/8 tsp. ground star anise 
• 2 tsps. vanilla extract (or vanilla bean if you want to be fancy)
• A pinch of cayene pepper (yes, tastes good, promise) 

Bring the coconut milk and 1% milk to a slow boil in a medium sauce pan, slowly stir in (with a whisk I prefer) the shaved chocolate bars, and cacao powder until dissolved. The mixture will be bubbling around the rim as a signal that it's ready for the next step. Then, stir in the cinnamon, Ancho chile powder, ground star anise, vanilla extract and the pinch of cayenne pepper. 

Next step, serve it! This spicy hot chocolate will have you wishing you were on the Caribbean coast of the Riviera Maya, especially in this weather.

Hawaiian Hot Chocolate 

• 2 cups coconut milk 
• 2 cups 1% milk (use whatever percentage tastes good to you) 
• 1/2 bar of DAGOBA Organic Milk Chocolate (or coco powder, or unsweetened chocolate) chopped
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cacao powder
• 1 tablespoon coconut extract 
• 1 Tbsp. wildflower honey
• 2 tsps. vanilla extract 

Bring the coconut milk and 1% milk to a slow boil in a medium sauce pan, slowly stir in the shaved chocolate bars, and cacao powder until dissolved. The mixture will be bubbling around the rim as a signal that it's ready for the next step. Then, stir in the coconut extract, vanilla extract, and wildflower honey until they're all dissolved in the mixture as well. Pour it up, pour it up! 

Irish Whiskey Hot Chocolate (ONLY for my over 21 readers, I insist) 

• 2 cups 1% milk (use whatever percentage tastes good to you) 
• 1 part Bailey's Irish Creme 
• 1 part Jameson Whiskey
• 1/2 bar of DAGOBA Organic Milk Chocolate (or coco powder, or unsweetened chocolate) chopped
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cacao powder
• 2/8 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 tsps. vanilla extract 

Bring the 1% milk to a slow boil in a medium sauce pan, slowly stir in the shaved chocolate bars, and cacao powder until dissolved. The mixture will be bubbling around the rim as a signal that it's ready for the next step. Then, add the cinnamon and vanilla extract to the mix, and turn off the heat. Lift the saucepan from the stove, pour into mugs, THEN, add the Bailey's Irish Cream and Jameson Whiskey. 

This is a strong a*s hot chocolate drink, but it's so good. If you're snowed in with that special boo, add a candy cane or cinnamon stick to the mug for garnish. This is probably my favorite next to the Tulum Hot Chocolate.

Yum.

- Angel