florida.

I leave for Marco Island, Florida Tuesday for a little vacation. Every year since I can remember I have gone to Marco Island with my family and my grandparents. My grandparents get a condo for a month every year, and it is a tradition that I always look forward to. This year is going to be a little different. A few weeks ago my grandmother found out she has to have surgery right away, and she had to cancel her trip to Florida. A tumor was found on her pancreas (it is not pancreatic cancer, just a tumor on her pancreas) and it is a long surgery that requires a month or so of recovery. So, this year Sally, my sister, and I are heading down alone. It will be sad, as our grandparents are supposed to accompany us and instead we will be alone. On the bright side, Sally's husband, Charlie, and my boyfriend, Greg will be joining us a few days later. We will have a wonderful time, and we are hoping that my grandparents will be able to make there own little trip down the first week of April. Please say a prayer for my family and hope and pray that her surgery tomorrow goes well.

With all of that being said - here are some fun suits I would love for Florida!

Les Wexner NYC Apartment

In the late 80s, Columbus, OH-based billionaire businessman Leslie Wexner bought a palatial 21,000 square foot townhouse on the Upper East Side of New York City. In 1996 or '07 he sold the East 71st Street townhouse, complete with a secret lead-lined bathroom with closed-circuit television, to the lavish living prostie lovin' financier and philanthropist Jeffrey Epstein whose prurient affinity for very young woman landed him in the clink in 2008.

About the time he was selling his titanic townhouse to Jeffrey Epstein, Mister Wexner reportedly paid a wealthy Italian lady somewhere in the neighborhood of nine million clams for a 16-room fixer-upper duplex at the high-nosed 834 Fifth Avenue. The apartment, with only two rooms that face Central Park, was previously owned by billionaire Rupert Murdoch who hauled his heiny up a few flights when he famously paid a heart-stopping $44,000,000 for the triplex penthouse at 834. Your Mama has been told a number of times by a number of Upper East Side types who tend to know about these things that Mister Wexner and his wife Abigail had their five bedroom crib at 834 worked over by autocratic French architect Thierry Despont.

Shortly after news broke in late December 2009 that the Wexner's had snatched up a 3,480 square foot condo at 15 Central Park West for $13,100,000, the folks at the New York Observer snitched that Mister and Missus Wexner had quietly floated their duplex at 834 Fifth Avenue on the market with a mind-numbing $60,000,000 asking price. In early December of 2010 it was revealed, also in the New York Observer, that the asking price had dropped dramatically to $34,000,000 and sold to an unknown buyer.

A couple weeks late the buyer was identified in the NY Post as commercial real estate magnate Lazarus "Larry" Heyman who, it may surprise the children to know, is not yet forty years old.

This week The Real Deal announced that the Wexner actually sold his duplex digs at 834 for $36,000,000, a number that would indicate that there may have been a second interested party that drove the final sale price up to two million above the reported asking price.

Mister Heyman and his wife Kim, formerly of Sutton Place, now have uppity neighbors who include Bing Crosby's son Harry, philanthropist, haute couture queen and high society doyenne Carroll McDaniel Portago Carey-Hughes Pistell Petrie who once lived on the 5th floor and now lives in Pauline Pitt designed digs on the 10th floor and famously fat living former "King of Wall Street" John Gutfreund and his very social wife Susan whose live primarily in a plush Parisian apartment they put up for sale in 2010 but still maintain an opulent Henri Samuel designed 16-room apartment at 834 Fifth Avenue that measures in at a hefty hefty hefty 12,000 square feet. http://realestalker.blogspot.com/

celeb sales.

Scottie and Larsa Pippen
 Fort Lauderdale, FL
$16,000,000
 9,782 square feet 6 full and 7.5 bathrooms

raccoon.

Word to the wise for all home buyers: Be sure that your inspector checks your chimney for a chimney cap. A chimney cap will prevent any raccoons, or other miscellaneous creatures from invading your home! Last night I went downstairs to do laundry, and things seemed out of sorts. I saw a puddle of urine, and there was lent and debris, and things were out of place. So, I called my dad over to check things out, and upon further inspection, he opened my chimney clean out and came face to face with a raccoon! Critter Control has been to my house to set traps, and they have been very helpful. The raccoon found  way to open my chimney flu and he is now hanging in my fireplace. If you shine a flash light up my fireplace you can see him. I am just thankful that they have no desire to come into the house, because my two precious Chihuahua's would not have stood a chance. Moral of the story- investing in a chimney cap will save you the rechid experience, as well as the $250 it costs to extract the raccoons.

Tips on How to Remove a Raccoon

phoenix.

This past weekend I went to Phoenix, AZ to celebrate my dear friend, Mackenzie's bachelorette. We had a wonderful time relaxing, hanging out in a hot tub, playing games, and just talking. We stayed in an amazing home that accommodated all of us perfectly. It was great to get to meet Mackenzie's friends from college, and as she said "her worlds collided." Below are some photos of the fabulous home we stayed in, and also some photos of all of us girls.

property crush.

This is a special edition of my property crush post, as it is in honor of a great weekend ahead in Phoenix, AZ. This weekend over 20 girls (most of which are my close friends) will be heading out west to celebrate our dear friend, Mackekzie Tesner's final months as a single lady. I will be sure to post many photos upon my return, but in the meantime, here are some homes in the area where we will be staying that are enough to make me want to move there. http://www.sothebysrealty.com/.

paint.

When preparing to sell your home it is very important that you depersonalize and neutralize your home. In this industry we always say, as soon as it goes on the market, you can't think of it as your home. The decor a home for sale should have should not be the same as the decor of a home that is being lived in. When a buyer comes to see your property, they do not want to see pictures of you and your family, they want to be able to invision themselves and their furniture there. The less clutter and photos, and the more neutral, the better. Now- with this being said, you do no want your home to look plain like a hospital room. It is a plus for the property to have life. Here are some great, fresh colors to help sellers, and anyone else who wants a fresh paint update!

Sherwin Williams Colors I love below:

Blue SW6242

Svelte Sage SW6164

Rice Paddy SW6414

Light French Gray SW0055

Queen Anne Lilac SW0021

Empire Gold SW0012

Peppercorn SW7674

Dutch Cocoa SW6032

Upward SW6239

Classic Light Buff SW0050