Dear Reader,

April 2008

As the northern hemisphere greens with Spring how appropriate that luxury is as well. April represents floral landscapes and vibrant rolling hills bursting with the hope of new life and growth; what better time to celebrate sustainability in Luxury than during the month which reminds us all that every day is Earth Day.

The harvesting of renewable resources and recycling of existing materials has become significant across innumerable markets from baby clothes (check out TheLittleSeed.com or Rachael Pearson’s Speesees.com) to bedding to alternative fuels to designing a home or office environment that breathes with you.

Recycling is no longer a term or practice limited to your newspapers and water bottles, rather programs have expanded significantly to include the repurposing of materials which would have otherwise been considered waste or debris from our home and work environments. Even the design of home installation practices and the use of more energy efficient products from non-mercury LED lights to water filtration and purification systems can significantly reduce our bearing on our environment while enabling us to maintain our high standards of quality living. Finding balance between our affinity for luxury and our responsibility to preserving our precious Earth should not be mutually exclusive endeavors.

Live the good (green) life!

Paula Gould
Editor, LuxuryLifestyle.com

About Our Sponsor

You have the power of choice over how you travel. You can choose the many benefits of private business travel. Away from the typical hassles and delays of flying. You can also choose the fractional jet ownership program that offers you more advantages and more opportunities to customize your travel experience.

The choice is clear. Bombardier Flexjet outperforms the competition in all areas that matter. So if you are ready to dramatically improve your travel experience, turn to the performance leader in fractional aircraft ownership - Bombardier Flexjet. We transform air travel as you know it, flying you direct to your destination on your schedule, in a more refined level of comfort and luxury.

Green Living

Green living goes beyond recycling; it also means sustainability. This year’s AltBuild expo in Santa Monica, CA takes place from April 25-27, 2008 at the Santa Monica Civic Center and lends tangible insight to the many ways we can live eco-conscientiously. For example, donations of deconstructed housing materials such as those instituted by the Re-Use People, who will be exhibiting samples at AltBuild, demonstrate the scale to which we can repurpose existing housing materials to create new breathtaking living and work oases. AltBuild will also feature several engaging panels including the “Green Schools” Panel and “Out-of-the-Box Housing & Living Alternatives,” moderated by KCRW’s “DnA” host and DWELL Los Angeles Editor Frances Anderton.

Living Homes, which designs and installs highest-quality energy-efficient luxurious modular homes, offers means to help better determine ways in which you may minimize your “ecological footprint” by presenting a sustainability scorecard for each of their home models. Steve Glenn, CEO of LivingHomes says, “Through the course of a home’s life, it will use 40-50 times more energy than that used in the production of the home. It is important to find ways to reduce this energy demand through better installation and design.”

photo courtesy of Living Homes

Green on the Surface

Products such as American Clay wall plaster offer non-off-gassing, non-toxic, non-chemical alternatives to gypsum-based plasters lending a depth and texture to your home naturally and without the added need for paint. The clay is temperature moderating, inhibits mold without toxic fungicides, produces dirt-repelling negative ions and is easily reparable and cleaned, making it the perfect surface for any room, including the bathroom or a child’s room. Their products can contribute toward up to 7 LEED credits (5 in most areas) on LEED certification projects. American Clay is available in 43 standard colors as well as hundreds of matchable custom colors.

Consultants like Orit Yanai, LEED AP (www.orityanai.com), an expert and master artisan/applicator of premium green wall surfaces, is hired often by builders, architects, and homeowners to learn “The Shades (i.e. levels) of Green” for interior wall surfaces. Orit provides workshops at her studio as well as many conferences including AltBuild. Fortunately for all of us, experts and consultancy firms are available to help navigate the ever-growing industry of eco-conscious living and help us explore the many options to accommodate our individual desires to live greener.

photo courtesy of American Clay

Green Escape

photo courtesy of Kor Hotel Group

Completely submerse yourself in Green Luxury at one of the most revered eco-resorts, Tides Riviera Maya Resort & Spa. Located in the small village of Playa Xcalacoco just beyond Playa del Carmen on the white sands of Mexico’s tropical forest-lined Riviera Maya, the Tides will drench you in a natural opulence inspired by Maya aesthetic while you indulge in the sanctuary of the resort’s spa, featuring luxurious natural curatives and indigenous herbs from Mexico’s extensive tropical expanse.

photo courtesy of Kor Hotel Group

LuxuryLifestyle.com offers several options to accommodate your individual “Green Escape” desires: http://www.luxurylifestyle.com/company/ecoresorts http://www.luxurylifestyle.com/company/ecores

Partner News

LuxuryLifestyle.com is thrilled to announce our newest partner Lux5 Events. Lux5 will launch the 2008 nationwide DEEP FLIGHT LUX5 Luxury Lifestyle Tour Presented by Marquis Platinum Vitality Drink on Saturday, May 10th at Santa Monica’s celebrated Barker Hangar. The tour will travel to Chicago, Illinois in June; San Jose, California in July; and Las Vegas, Nevada in August. The events will showcase such extraordinary attractions as Hawkes Ocean Technologies’ DEEP FLIGHT I Submersible personal winged submarine and Fisker Automotive’s eco-chic Karma automobile powered by Q Drive hybrid technology. Both world-renowned engineer, Graham Hawkes, creator of the DEEP FLIGHT series of winged submersibles and Henrik Fisker, CEO of Fisker Automotive and former BMW and Aston Martin designer, will be on hand for the one-day event in Santa Monica. Additionally, the event highlights will include four New York-Style Runway fashion shows, music by “Hollywood Disc Jockey to the Stars,” DJ Splyce, 250 personally owned luxury show cars, yachts and helicopters and several VIP Luxury Lounges sponsored by Marquis Platinum Vitality Drink, Moët & Chandon, Petrossian Paris, De-Fi Mobile, the Ritz Carlton Club and LuxuryLifestyle.com.
Doors open Noon-9pm, Saturday May 10, 2008. Advance tickets for the Deep Flight LUX5 LuxuryLifeStyle.com Tour are $30 and available at www.lux5events.com.

Lux5 will host an invitation-only VIP Preview Gala on May 9, 2008 presented by Marquis Platinum Vitality Drink aboard FantaSea One, Los Angeles’s largest charter yacht. The VIP Gala event will feature a live auction including exclusive items such as a DEEP FLIGHT Dive valued at $10,000. Amenities aboard the yacht will include The Ritz Carlton Club Couture Lounge produced by Celebrity stylist Victor Vargas as well as a fashion show with Vitamin A swimwear accented by the Luxuriator Collection’s A-lister preferred sunglasses. The Ritz Carlton Club will be furnishing VIP guests with exquisite gift bag goodies. A portion of the proceeds from the VIP Gala event will benefit the Make A Wish Foundation of Greater Los Angeles.

New Companies – Welcome to LuxuryLifestyle.com

Hampton Island Preserve is a place to luxuriate in a quality of life that has simply disappeared for most. It is a place to make home, where families can estabilsh and continue traditions. Where days are filled with extraordinary experiences - encouraging preservation of nature, culture, history, family and self.

The 300 pristine homesites range from expansive horse farms to one-acre parcels with stunning natural views of the golf course, lakes, marsh, pasture or woods. The homesites offer a collection of historic tree species including oaks, water oaks, guns and loblolly pines. Homesites Range from $650,000 to $4 million.

FantaSea Yachts and Yacht Club was founded so that our Southern California neighbors could host parties, celebrations, weddings, mitzvahs and corporate events aboard our world-class fleet of luxury yachts in beautiful Marina del Rey, California. We offer three exquisite charter vessels and the FantaSea Yacht Club, our waterside banquet facility, to choose from.

We are 100% committed to providing you, our guest of honor, with the very best experience and the most professional service that one could ever wish for. That's why, from the second you contact us to the moment you step out of our doors at the conclusion of your event, our focus will be entirely on you. Once we commit to your event, you can leave all the planning and execution details to us. All you have do is arrive and enjoy the experience!