BravoTV.com

It's good for the environment and it's a clever way to find a unique gift. From fashion to function, I've put together some awesome ideas to help you bring home more green than just the tree this holiday season. Check out these great green gift ideas for your eco-friendly family and friends:

For the Home:
1. Ready Solar Panels :: Inexpensive prepackaged solar cells are easy to install and save on contractor fees.

2. Porous Chair: What do you get when you combine recycled bottles and power outlets? Apparently and infinite number of possibilities in this super mod power-chair.
http://www.bravotv.com/blog/designblog/2007/11/green_gift_guide.php http://www.bravotv.com/blog/designblog/2007/11/green_gift_guide.php Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:25:12 -0500

Orange flames and grey smoke invaded San Diegans like me. I am among the lucky ones. Some people lost their lives and many others lost their homes. It was amazing to see how everybody pulled together. But there came a time when the smoke got so bad and the air turned so toxic that I retreated to one of my favorite places, Palm Springs. Before leaving I dropped off blankets, food and water for evacuees at their massive Red Cross shelter in San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium. I left keys under the mat so my friends could stay at my home if they were ordered to leave theirs. Then I got the heck out of Dodge in my VW. I was not alone. At my side was my trusty pooch Loup Garou, his fluffy pint-sized white canine friend Boo (we were dogsitting for a co-worker,) and Jenny Son, a friend of mine and super...]]> http://www.bravotv.com/blog/designblog/2007/10/green_houses_1.php http://www.bravotv.com/blog/designblog/2007/10/green_houses_1.php Wed, 31 Oct 2007 11:52:53 -0500 CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO BLOG.

My popcorn was fresh and my convertible was fly. Under twinkling stars fog gently rolled in and I got all snuggly on red leather waiting for the movie to start. Ahhhhh! This old fashioned Drive-In experience could only be happening in.... Manhattan's Lower East Side. You read right. The jam-packed city finally made room for a genuine Drive-In Theater. Well, sort of. There is one screen, one car and technically the whole thing's indoors. It is arty, it is kooky and I love it!

Readers of my Bravo! Design Blog know how much I adore rooting out mind-blowing designs and awesome ideas. This one is Genius. You just gotta see the little Drive-In hiding in plain sight on Norfolk Street.

I got a big kick out of watching people walk by the giant windows of this gallery space and then do double takes when the saw the red...]]> http://www.bravotv.com/blog/designblog/2007/10/drivein_manhattan_style_1.php http://www.bravotv.com/blog/designblog/2007/10/drivein_manhattan_style_1.php Thu, 25 Oct 2007 14:09:18 -0500
My first and only experience with body art was back when I was a hyper six years old. At the time Patti LaBelle had a hit song about her "New Attitude."

I guess I wanted one too. So I got me a new "tatto-tude." I decided on polka-dots, so I could look just like a lady bug. I went in to my mom's purse, found a black marker and for the next hour and a half covered my entire body in little black specks.

When I was done I proudly marched out to the living room, stark naked and speckled from head to toe. By this point my poor mom had already been through a lot with my subversive creativity, but this prank was the last straw. She was not impressed with the art work. She screamed and then she scrubbed.

__MTPAGINATE_PAGE_BREAK__

Boy, was I miserable in that bathtub, all pruny...]]> http://www.bravotv.com/blog/designblog/2007/10/new_tattoos.php http://www.bravotv.com/blog/designblog/2007/10/new_tattoos.php Mon, 01 Oct 2007 11:57:33 -0500 Kids are adrenaline junkies. That's why I get along so well with them. I love the fact that my 5 year old niece Bailey adores amusement parks.

She's just like her Uncle that way. When she was a teensy 3 year old she climbed onto the Legoland Water Trampoline. She jumps up and down, she wipes out, then she just laughs, dusts herself off and did it all over again.

Now she wants the fastest and craziest rides they'll let her on. No Disneyland "Teacups" or "It's a Small World" For Her." We'll be on an honest to goodness rollercoaster and she'll wind up comforting me. It happened on Seaworld on the Atlantis Roller Coaster. When the ride broke mid-cycle leaving us hanging mid-air. Bailey just giggled as we held on and made up songs to pass the time. It was what my Mommalou did with me when she needed...]]> http://www.bravotv.com/blog/designblog/2007/10/live_like_a_kid_1.php http://www.bravotv.com/blog/designblog/2007/10/live_like_a_kid_1.php Mon, 01 Oct 2007 11:57:05 -0500

1. Kithaus : Have you ever seen something so cool it makes you just about lose control of your bladder? Well, as soon as I saw this one, I headed straight for the john...

When you're a kid the simplest things can set your imagination running wild. For me it was big cardboard boxes. Like many kids I was always excited by the arrival of a big new appliance. That's because they always came in a sturdy humongous box. My dad and step-mom would ooh and ahh over their brand purchase and I'd be running off with the big box, plotting its miraculous transformation. Hours later it would become my latest top secret Fort. I was always in charge of construction and decorating it. I was like the designer on one of those TV home remodel shows… But I always went overboard.

When dad brought home a new refrigerator...]]> http://www.bravotv.com/blog/designblog/2007/09/neat_retreats_forts_for_grownups_1.php http://www.bravotv.com/blog/designblog/2007/09/neat_retreats_forts_for_grownups_1.php Thu, 06 Sep 2007 15:18:42 -0500 I fell in love with my partner Dave at 80 mph. Literally. We were speeding down the 5 freeway on one of our first dates, headed south from San Diego on our way to Palm Springs. Giddy with new-relationship electricity, we hit the border of Mexico...and finally realized we had been driving the wrong way! We both laughed and had to admit that neither one of us had any sense of direction. "He's just like me," I thought and that's when it hit me that I'd like spend the rest of my days getting lost with him.

Years later, we're still in love but not nearly as lost. When cell-phone GPS came along, I praised the technology gods and went right out and bought us both the same model; a pink one for me and a grey one for him. Now I'm almost as attached to my pocket-pathfinder as I am to my man...and if we're on a road-trip, maybe...]]> http://www.bravotv.com/blog/designblog/2007/08/lost_in_love.php http://www.bravotv.com/blog/designblog/2007/08/lost_in_love.php Wed, 29 Aug 2007 09:59:47 -0500 I've become a stalker. The object of my obsessive affection is not a blonde, or a brunette, or a redhead, or even bald. Why, it’s not even human! I am in love with a white and pure mid-century, single story house and it’s not even mine.

Curses! It’s not for sale either. Not YET. I want it so badly I keep driving by the premises. I have this crazy compulsion to wait until the owners are gone and then put my car in the driveway and take a photo of it, which I would keep in my wallet. I imagine telling the cops I was only trespassing out of an unbridled love of flawless fifties design.

__MTPAGINATE_PAGE_BREAK__

I know this is like cheating on my current house. I've been lovingly updating, restoring, and improving my little Spanish number.

But can I help it if a...]]> http://www.bravotv.com/blog/designblog/2007/08/do_it_yourself_architect.php http://www.bravotv.com/blog/designblog/2007/08/do_it_yourself_architect.php Wed, 15 Aug 2007 13:03:26 -0500 They whirl, they hum, and they cause my little dog Loup Garou's fur to fly. I'm talking about those cool coolers we call electric fans. If you're living through Southern California's heat wave, like I am, you know this topic is perfectly timed. I am in the market for a new fan and it was Loup Garou who told me so. Once again, my wacky combination Rat Terrier/Shitsu tried to jump in to the refrigerator. He did it last year, and I wrote about it back then.

So in order to cool off my hot dog as well as my hot self, I need an electric fan. You may be thinking fans are b-o-r-i-n-g! I am here to dispel that myth. Think of the fun you can have with them. When I was a kid I poured tiny objects into the spinning blades. I am here to tell you that nothing wakes up a lazy, napping cousin faster...]]> http://www.bravotv.com/blog/designblog/2007/07/fanfanatic.php http://www.bravotv.com/blog/designblog/2007/07/fanfanatic.php Wed, 25 Jul 2007 17:04:29 -0500 A polo pony and rider, a little alligator, or the letters O and P … when I was a kid some form of advertising had better have been on my scrawny chest, butt or feet, or don't even bother going to school. No-name brands of clothing were out of the question, which is why I threw a fit at the tender age of 13 over an ugly pair of jeans. Of course they weren't considered ugly back then. They were the coolest. They were acid-washed, with pleated balloon legs and a waist so high I could be shirtless and you'd never see my belly button. I bet you'll never GUESS? the brand. I HAD to have them but my dad scoffed at the price and said "Absolutely not." I responded with an unattractive in store protest. I dropped to the white linoleum floor of the Marshall's department store in Phoenix, AZ and stared at the ceiling. There I was, flat...]]> http://www.bravotv.com/blog/designblog/2007/07/brand_free.php http://www.bravotv.com/blog/designblog/2007/07/brand_free.php Fri, 20 Jul 2007 14:42:35 -0500