The Life Of Luxury(Green With Envy)
It is always nice to see how the other half lives, take for
instance there is the Life of Luxury: the George Hamilton way.
This is a TV show which looks at the lives of the Super Rich in
which the first episode looks at the PlayBoy Mansion, a
collection of multi-million dollar homes, hip-hop half-billion
dollar empires and some queens of shopping.
Tom Delay's Life of Luxury over the last six years:
Public documents reviewed by The Associated Press document his
48 visits to golf clubs and resorts; 100 flights aboard private
company planes; 200 stays at hotels, many world-class; and 500
meals at restaurants, some averaging nearly $200 for a dinner
for two. Not all paid for by Tom Delay.
ARCHESTRATUS: THE LIFE OF LUXURY
ARCHESTRATUS was a Sicilian Greek who wrote a poem that was an
actual cookbook describing styles of Greek food in antiquity In
travelling throughout the Greek world - Greece, Southern Italy
and Sicily, the coast of Asia Minor, the Black Sea -
Archestratus shows us how the ancient Greeks were extremely
cosmopolitan.
His influences - ingredients, combinations of flavours,
techniques - are drawn from a wide Mediterranean background,
taking in a diversity of ideas unrestricted by the topography of
the Greek mainland.
The Life of Luxury: Check out the Robb Report: Luxury Homes
The Robb Report features this Beverly Hills house. The owners, a
retired industrialist and his wife, who is a trustee of Los
Angeles' Museum of Contemporary Art, wanted the architect to
maintain a simple palette that would not compete with their art
collection, which includes a beautiful collection of
contemporary art.
The Life of Luxury's Most Expensive ZIP Codes
>From Beverly Hills to TriBeCa, from notorious enclaves of
mansions and lush lawns to little-known niches of wealth, this
is where the most expensive real estate in the country can be
found.
Many of these neighborhoods are rarified places, of course. They
are close to beaches and golf courses and prime yacht
moorings--or at least within spitting distance of the power
centers that are the sources of great wealth.
They have high tax bases, expensive private schools, exclusive
restaurants and they are not all located close to Rodeo Drive.
The Life of Luxury; Some Expensive Must-Have Items:
We must be getting richer. Designer items are becoming more and
more popular, we are no longer happy with a cheap watch but want
an Omega or a Tag Heuer.
According to the Federal Reserve, the net wealth of American
households hit a high at the end of last year, increasing from
$46.59 trillion in the third quarter of 2004 to $48.53 trillion
in the fourth quarter.
Rising real estate and stock prices helped push the country's
household net worth up 4% between the third and fourth quarters.
You can now buy a $67,000 hand-crafted bathtub; Luxury is no
longer confined to the affluent. To enhance people's lives they
are willing to pay more for luxury items like expensive perfumes
and designer handbags.
Sometimes it's hard to justify spending much more on an item
when something considerably less expensive offers the same
functionality.
You can, for instance, buy a watch for $10 and you can buy a
watch for $20,000 that offers the exact same functionality so
where is the rationale for buying the expensive watch?
Still, the expensive watches get sold and people are proud to
own them. The exclusive maker of mattresses for the British
royal family will reject a container of cashmere if it is deemed
to be clumpy or defective in any way, says the director for the
American division.
For each bed, workers cover thousands of springs in calico
cotton; the damask cases are hand-woven in Belgium. If you have
to ask how much these mattresses cost you can't afford them.
Life of Luxury: living on your own Cruise Ship.
The World is the only private luxury community at sea. It is a
Cruise Ship built with apartments and studios for long term
residency rather than vacation cruises.
For sale originally were 106 apartments, 19 studio apartments
and 40 studios, with square footage starting at 675 for studios
and maxing out at 3,242 for a three bedroom apartment with
optional jet pool.
With the exception of studios, which have more limited
amenities, The World's residential accommodations include
fully-equipped kitchens, living room, veranda and all furniture
and audio/video equipment. Studios an Apartments can be had from
1.4 million to 4.8 million dollars and annual maintenance costs
start at $100,000.
This is a 40,000-ton ship which could easily carry 1,500
passengers but the World Residensea carries an average of 285
guests plus a crew of 252.
The passenger distribution is about 40% Americans, 40% Europeans
and 20% from other nations. The price of a "home" on board the
ship includes furniture, appliances, carpet, draperies, linen,
china, cutlery and crystal.
Maintenance charges will cover daily housekeeping service,
repairs and replacement of appliances, fixtures and fittings
supplied by the builder.