Steele Point Estate

I was poking around online looking at private islands for sale (why not?) and found the above. I recognized it immediately. I distinctly remember sailing around Steele Point in the BVI with my family and being enchanted by this home. It reminded me of Swiss Family Robinson with all of the stairs and disjointed structures in the midst of lush greenery. We had a great southerly breeze that day and we ended up anchoring around the leeward side of the island that evening, snorkeling nearby the next morning. To download the electronic edition of the Private Island magazine, visit here.

TGIF

Love this shot of Lauren Hutton photographed for VOGUE US in 1971. May you have a wonderfully active weekend!

Ben's Blog

"The campaign is global - the dollar ain't what it used to beSwitch a franc for a dollar, you get like 1.3" —Ryan Leslie, Swiss Francs

As a blogger, I'm often asked what I read and how I find content for my daily posts. Often, it's merely just a glimpse of something tangible that inspires me, perhaps content that I am utterly fascinated by, or leaves a lasting impression I refuse to forget. With that being said, I do spend considerable time scouring the web for material I connect to. One of my favorite reads is Ben's Blog, written by Ben Horowitz. I've always found the role of a Venture Capitalist fascinating, and Ben is one of my favorite subjects. He's known of course for his post as cofounder and Partner at Andreessen Horowitz (leading notable investments in Twitter and Skype, making 4x its investment) and his active tweeting, spunky style of blogging and engagement in the technology world.

All of Ben's blog posts are accompanied by rap songs and witty lyrics like the above, taken from his January post 'Learning from my Mistakes' with usually a slice of news or insight into recent investments or experiences in the venture capital world. So, read up, get on board, and subscribe to his twitter feed, here.

Taking it to the Cloud: Amazon's AWS

We touched on this in class in b-school, but it will be interesting to see how Amazon fares with their cloud computing business, known as Amazon Web Services (AWS).  It is certainly a strong growth opportunity for the electronic commerce company, a company that is now larger than IBM and Walt Disney in market cap, and on the brink of becoming one of the largest conglomerates. Amazon is now a mega-corp made up of an e-commerce company, a hardware and device maker, a government services provider, a cloud computing and marketing company, a transportation and logistics outfit, a lender, a payment processor, and a warehouse operator. WHEW.  Earnings were released last Thursday, with $1.56 billion in sales the first quarter, up 49% from the year earlier. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has called AWS a "$5 billion business." Industry experts are watching this roll-out like a hawk. Key success factors will be the adoption of the large enterprise business, which will come hand in hand with businesses trusting Amazon to control mass quantities of valuable corporate data, a cultural shift to boot.

Above: CEO Jeff Bezos.

Campaign Stool

I'm increasingly impressed by Serena & Lily's furniture products as of late, and this leather stool does not disappoint. For product specs, visit here.  

On the Market: A Villa in the French Riviera

Panoramic views of the Mediterranean Sea, a rose garden, a vegetable garden, a covered terrace and ocean breezes for days.... this home in the French Riviera is on the market. To view this property and more, visit here.

Sweet Sentiments from Julia Child

I loved this article in the WSJ about a Thank You letter Julia Child sent Legal Sea Foods' President and Executive Roger Berkowitz. While the American chef was teaching us how to 'Mast[er] The Art of French Cooking' she was also a regular at their seafood post, acquiring fresh fish at their fish counter. Julia was known for encouraging Americans to cook and consume more seafood, and had a particular penchant for oysters. For her 92nd birthday, Mr. Berkowitz and his Father sent her a clam bake to her California home, and Julia was smitten. So smitten she wrote them a hand written thank you note (a gal after my own heart), a note that they have held on to all of these years. Read more, here.

Garden Party with YSL

Love this shot from the NYTimes Spring Design Magazine. If this isn't Paris in the '60s, I don't know what is...(Read caption above).  

Belle de Jour

It's been gloomy and cold in San Francisco the past few days, perhaps a prelude to summer. Sunday, I took advantage of the grey skies and watched Belle de Jour, the 1967 French drama staring Catherine Denevue, a housewife who is compelled to work as a prostitute in a famous brothel in Paris. It was an interesting film, a little racier than I imagined for a film in the late '60s, but Catherine Denevue was such a vision, as always. Does anyone have any recommendations for old french films?

Tomales Point Trail

One of my most favorite things about living in San Francisco is the close proximity to a plethora of adventures. As I've mentioned too many times to count, Pt. Reyes National Seashore is one of my favorite destinations.

I discovered one of my new favorite hikes with my family over the Easter holiday. For Easter, we rented a home on the National Seashore and filled our weekend with hiking, reading, cooking (heavy oyster consumption of course), spontaneous dance parties and exploring. The Tomales Point Trail in Pt. Reyes is just spectacular. While we didn't complete the entire 9 mi loop, we drank in breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean, and Tomales Bay, and stopped in our tracks when we saw a huge herd of wild tule elk just feet away from our trail. The landscape was so majestic, peaceful and untouched, it was almost surreal. I've done some pretty exhilarating hikes in the Bay Area, however this particular one takes the crown. After earning our appetite, we stopped at Perry's Deli in Inverness to provision for lunch. A day for the books!