The Silversea Gourmet Cruises have four luxury ships that can take you on exciting tours through the Adriatic, Baltic and Mediterranean Sea. To make it more exciting for passengers on their vessels they have put together off shore culinary excursions.Some of the choices include baking croissants in Cannes or learning how to make pesto at Zeffirino’s in Portofino. Other choices include learning the secrets to making olive oil and wine in destinations like Elba Island and Portoferraio. They are many more shore excursions to choose from.

Mohamed Hadid is a real estate developer that became known for building the Ritz Carlton hotels back in the 1980’s. He is now known for building lavish over the top estates that are bought by the rich and famous.

His property called Le Belvedere is situated on prime land which is 2.2 acres in size. It is located on Nimes Road in Bel Air, California. The Le Belvedere has a garage that is big enough to easily fit two limos in it and has staff quarters above the garage. This monster mansion has 10 bedrooms, 19 fireplaces, and 14.5 bathrooms. Some of the other features of the home include an infinity pool, rose gardens, and a swan pond.

There is an outdoor kitchen that has a pizza oven. The courtyard has several fireplaces and is large enough to seat one hundred guests. The main home has over 48,000 square feet of living space. The rooms include a reception hall, informal and formal dining rooms, a formal living room and a family room that has a bar lounge.

Besides having an elegant music room and library; it also boasts a wine cellar that can accommodate 5,000 bottles of wine complete with a tasting room. Other rooms include a ballroom, screening room, a Moroccan room, gaming room and commercial size kitchen.

The master bedroom suite is massive and includes a powder room, sitting room, and of course his and hers dressing rooms and bathrooms. The lower level is made for grand scale entertaining with its huge wine cellar and grand ballroom that can seat up to two hundred and fifty people. The lower level also has a gym, and home theater.

The property was listed for $85 million when it first came on the market in 2009 and was then reduced to $72 million. It then disappeared for awhile and came back on the market in February for $72 million. It has been reported that an anonymous Indonesian buyer has bought the Mohamed Hadid Property for $50 million. If the reports are true this would be the biggest real estate deal in the United States for this year. This would top the price that Kelcy Warren a Texas energy executive paid for Bootjack Ranch, which was $46,500,000.

If the reported price of $50 million is true, then it is definitely a bargain. That is because Mohamed said it cost $59 million to build the mega mansion so the buyer is getting a $9 million discount. He is now building himself a smaller home which is a 35,000 square foot chateau. He had this to say about his buildings, “Once you finish your creations, you start to have other ideas.”

The real estate listing provides this description, “It’s on Nimes Road, the most prestigious street in Bel Air and offers 280-degree majestic views of the city below the surrounding mountains.” The description goes on to say, “It is embraced by a massive 1,000-foot long by 36 feet high hand-chiseled Jerusalem stone wall, is softened with lush foliage and specimen plantings, a swan pond and an infinity pool reaching toward the endless vistas.”

The Le Belvedere is certainly is property that is out of most people’s league, but it is nice to dream.

The first thing you need to know is you don't need to pay for texting any more. And maybe not for cell phone minutes either.  Or a GPS.  Or satellite radio.  Verizon says that "Droid Does," and they're not kidding.

You know I'm pretty green.  I don't mean in terms of being inexperienced and not getting what's going on, I mean in terms of being environmentally friendly.  My family diverts about 90% of our trash, and that includes the disposable diapers.  (We even tried using compostable diapers.)  So imagine my joy when I discovered this amazing new product.  Just feast your eyes:

They're facial tissues.  Made out of cotton.  "Reusable."  A totally novel new concept.  So wonderfully environmental.  But haven't I seen this somewhere before?  Oh yeah:

It's a pocket handkerchief, guys.  I've been using these instead of disposable kleenex for the better part of a year now.  (The one in my breast pocket is for decoration; the one in my back pocket is for blowing my nose.)

Of course, there are drawbacks to not carrying disposable kleenex.  It's harder to offer my handkerchief to someone else.  It's a germ liability during cold & flu season.  When I get sick, a single handkerchief isn't enough to last me all day.  And I still have to use disposable kleenex at home because what am I going to do, give my guests handkerchiefs and then put them in the laundry when my guests leave?  Besides, disposable kleenex is compostable.  And the mental image of my boogers fertilizing corn is pretty fun, to be honest.

I don't mind our society rediscovering old technology and its utility in modern life.  I'm a huge fan of pocket handkerchiefs and would love to see them make a comeback.  In addition to being better for the environment (and way cheaper in the long run), they're also way cooler.  No one is going to monogram a disposable kleenex.  And more comfortable; my handkerchiefs are 100% cotton and are thick and soft.  Kleenex is made out of wood.  No joke.  Wood.  I'm all for pocket handkerchiefs.

But don't act like you made this shit up.