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The Audley Pub and Mount St. Restaurant & Rooms – London, England

We’re BACK, darlings! Are we all feeling refreshed and revived? Ready to face the world anew? No? Neither are we. Let’s sit here all day and waste our time a little. Happy new year! Let’s hope it’s full of frivolities and other forms of procrastination for all.

Trailblazing Journalist Barbara Walters Has Died
The pioneering TV news anchor and The View creator was 93 years old.
Barbara Walters, the pioneering journalist and first woman to anchor a network evening news program, has passed away at the age of 93. The news icon died last night at her home in Manhattan, per ABC News.
“Barbara Walters passed away peacefully in her home surrounded by loved ones,” her representative Cindi Berger said in a statement confirming the news. “She lived her life with no regrets. She was a trailblazer not only for female journalists, but for all women.”

The Glossy, Glorious Return of Adult Contemporary Pop Music in 2022
With 2000s nostalgia running rampant, Rina Sawayama, Maggie Rogers, and MUNA revitalized sounds of the past to make their most liberating work yet.
If 2021 saw the mainstream revival of pop-punk with albums from artists like Olivia Rodrigo and Willow, then 2022 marked the glossy, glorious return of adult contemporary. That’s exactly the music I remember from my own childhood, sitting driver’s side in the very back bench seat of my mom’s ‘96 Town and Country, the voices of Sheryl Crow, Faith Hill, and Shania Twain belting the chorus again and again, building on it, vocal flourishes swooping out of the overdubs. This was deceptive music, its acoustic guitar and piano-driven pop the basis for strong voices to drive that feeling of venturing into new beginnings (“I’m going to tell everyone to lighten up”), second-guessing your good luck in love (“Baby, isn’t that the way that love’s supposed to be?”), or giving yourself over to it completely (“And for your love, I’d give my last breath”) to the fully saturated brink.

‘We Can’t Abandon Them’: Gugu Mbatha-Raw on How Gender-Based Violence Threatens Displaced Women
In an exclusive op-ed, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Mbatha-Raw shares a dispatch from a recent trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Globally, it’s estimated that one in three women will experience sexual or physical violence in their lifetime. Following a recent trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo, actor and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Goodwill Ambassador Gugu Mbatha-Raw writes about the devastating impacts of gender-based violence on displaced women and girls in the area. Warning: This story contains a discussion about sexual assault. Names have been changed for their protection.

Icon, Pioneer And Mother Of Punk
Dame Vivienne Westwood dies at 81
Dame Vivienne Westwood has passed away, aged 81 years old. In a statement released to the press, her husband and creative partner Andreas Kronthaler shared these sweet words: ‘I will continue with Vivienne in my heart. We have been working until the end and she has given me plenty of things to get on with. Thank you darling.’ The report continues that she died peacefully, surrounded by her family, at her home in South London.

Bridgerton Is Getting a Prequel Series About Young Queen Charlotte
It will center around the early lives of the queen, Lady Danbury, and Violet Bridgerton.
After a popular Season 2, it is our pleasure to announce that the Bridgerton craze continues.
Netflix has officially announced the cast members set to play the younger versions of starring characters in Shonda Rhimes’s anticipated Bridgerton prequel. Actress India Amarteifio is confirmed to lead as the young Queen Charlotte in the spin-off centered around the monarch (officially titled Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story), the streamer confirmed. The actress stars alongside Golda Rosheuvel, who reprises her role as the older queen from the original series.

Oprah Winfrey, Katie Couric, Dan Rather, and More Celebrate the Life and Legacy of Barbara Walters
Barbara Walters, the legendary newswoman known for her work on the Today show, 20/20, The View, and as a longtime correspondent for ABC News, died at her home in New York on Friday, according to reports. She was 93 years old.
“She lived her life with no regrets,” Walters’s publicist Cindi Berger said in a statement. “She was a trailblazer not only for female journalists, but for all women.” Walters is survived by a daughter, Jacqueline Dena Guber.

The Best Wedding Cakes in Vogue
In need of wedding cake ideas? We’ve got a few. The ceremonious confection has, after all, been a tradition for millennia: its roots trace back to ancient Rome, where grooms would break a barley cake over their bride’s head to officialize their union. Thousands of years later, Queen Victoria served a royal icing cake to her bridal party for her marriage to Prince Albert—the earliest precedent of the all-white style that’s still commonplace today—whereas her son, Prince Leopold, is often credited with being the first person to serve a completely edible tiered cake on his wedding day in 1882. (A photograph of the historic cake, which is on display in Kensington Palace, shows it was decorated with putti figures holding bows and arrows.)

These Are the Home Décor and Design Trends That Will Take Over in 2023
We asked interior designers to give a trend forecast for the new year.
The new year gives us a chance to contemplate everything that has happened in the last 365 days, but it’s also a moment to look forward and consider what’s to come—and that’s especially true in the world of interior design. In 2023, home décor and design trends are primed to shift into earthy, texture-rich territory via brown and wooden furniture, handmade pieces, neutral color palettes, and bespoke touches that lend warmth and character to a space.
We spoke with a handful of interior designers for a pulse check on the specific home décor trends we can expect, and embrace, in 2023.

12 Food and Drink Trends You’ll Want to Try in 2023
These trends will define how we eat and drink in the coming year.
As we prepare to say goodbye to 2022, we’re also getting ready to say cheers to 2023—and wondering what the new year will bring to the food and beverage landscape. Will this be the year that kelp goes mainstream? Will tinned fish become a staple in your pantry? Will you be making floral cakes or just eating them this year?
We asked trend forecasters within the grocery, restaurant, and hospitality industries about their food and drink predictions—and how they will define how we eat (and sip!) in the coming year.

The Bathroom Paint Color Trends of 2023 Revolve Around Contrast and Tranquility
Decide which end of the spectrum you prefer before you tackle a bathroom paint project.
Repainting most of the rooms in your home as a new year refresh isn’t especially practical: replacing furniture, choosing new fabrics, and turning those spaces into work sites requires a generous investment of time and money. But updating the paint in your bathroom—a smaller room—lets you start and end your day on an invigoratingly new note.
Primary and guest bathrooms also offer endless opportunities for personalization, as you incorporate riskier colors. (Remember: If you hate it, repainting is low-effort and low-cost.) You can and should think beyond your walls, too—the cabinets, ceiling, or floor are all fair game. “Bath panels and vanity units are great places to incorporate color, as is the floor,” says Joa Studholme, color curator at Farrow & Ball. “But never underestimate the power of a different color or finish on the ceiling—the bathroom is the one place you may spend a little more time looking at the ceiling!”
Before you get going (or pick your paint), pause and consider the defining shades of the moment, according to color experts.

Revisit The Late Dame Vivienne Westwood’s Extraordinary Career
Dame Vivienne Westwood died peacefully on 29 December at the age of 81, surrounded by her family and loved ones. As British fashion mourns the loss of its grand dame, revisit some of the legendary designer’s career highlights.
During her remarkable five decades in the industry, Vivienne Westwood accrued accolades and fashion moments worthy of the history books. The British designer redefined the way we dress more than once, earning her immense respect and global recognition, as well as a Damehood.

Bella Hadid, Naomi Campbell, and More Pay Tribute to Vivienne Westwood
Fashion’s biggest stars are honoring the late iconic designer.
The biggest names in fashion and entertainment have taken to social media to honor Vivienne Westwood, after the iconic designer passed away yesterday at the age of 81. While her fellow fashion designers have praised the iconoclast’s brilliance and impact, supermodels and celebrities alike are sharing stories of the designer’s generosity and creativity, along with pics of decades of her groundbreaking designs. Read on to see the emotional tributes.

You can now rent Kate Winslet’s cottage from The Holiday
The perfect staycation for rom-com fans
The cosy cottage which inspired Kate Winslet’s home in the 2006 festive rom-com, The Holiday, is now available to rent on Airbnb.
The charming home is now owned by Jon Bromley, 58, and his wife, Cressida, 52, who moved into the cottage in 2019 after spotting it in a property magazine. Surprisingly, the couple didn’t realise the significance of their new home until they noticed people taking pictures outside.
Once they realised the popularity of the cottage, the pair made the decision to list their home on Airbnb. Guests can now stay for an average price of £295 a night, with bookings already made as far ahead as summer 2023.

‘Avatar 2’ Production Designers Explain Every Vehicle in ‘The Way of Water,’ From SeaDragons to Skel Suits
“Avatar: The Way of Water” not only expands the scope of Pandora’s ecological systems, it also depicts a renewed, vengeful human military with a bounty of deadly, new tools at its disposal. Between devising the culture of two warring civilizations, production designers Ben Procter and Dylan Cole had their work cut out for them on James Cameron’s science-fiction sequel. The pair worked as concept art directors on the first “Avatar” before moving into their new roles for the film’s follow-ups — all the way back in the fall of 2013.
“It’s good that the movie is out because now my family will actually believe I’ve been working on something instead of working for the CIA,” Procter laughs. “My son’s friends no longer think I’m a drug dealer.”

The Fossil Flowers That Rewrote the History of Life
Some of the world’s first flowers burned in wildfires more than a hundred million years ago. Else Marie Friis rediscovered them.
The centerpiece of the Swedish Museum of Natural History, in Stockholm, is probably the Fossils and Evolution hall, in which an enormous Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton seems to yawn over crowds of starstruck schoolchildren. Nearby, tourists marvel at a triceratops skull and a velociraptor model. These iconic dinosaurs evolved during the late-Cretaceous epoch and went extinct about sixty-six million years ago, around the time that an asteroid smashed into the planet. It is difficult to think of any event in the history of life that has left a bigger mark on the human imagination. “I don’t think you can compete with the dinosaurs,” Else Marie Friis, a paleobotanist and professor emerita at the museum, told me the first time we spoke.

An Arkansas man spent 2 years building a treehouse as a retirement project. He’s listing it for $1.25 million, and it comes with a heated pool and a swinging bridge — check it out.
Mike Fitzgerald spent more than two years and at least $600,000 building a treehouse.
The treehouse is supported by four trees, and it’s connected to a patio on another tree via a swinging bridge.
Now, he’s selling the property — which can be rented on Airbnb — for $1.25 million.
Mike Fitzgerald spent his childhood outdoors, climbing trees and making forts. He always dreamed of having his own treehouse, and now that he’s nearing 60, he decided it was time to make it happen.

Vivienne Westwood, a Lifetime of Looks
The legendary fashion designer’s influence stretches back across decades.
With a mother who worked in a cotton mill and a father who hailed from a family of shoemakers, it might have seemed destined for Vivienne Westwood to pursue a staid career in fashion. Yet, the indelible mark she would eventually scrawl across the business and the broader culture owed instead to what she termed an “in-built perversity,” sparked by a seminal 1965 meeting with Malcolm McLaren. Together, the two went on to frame the visual language of punk. And when their partnership ended, Ms. Westwood continued alone in pursuit of what she once told the historian Jon Savage was her tendency to “react against anything orthodox,” ransacking the history of dress for bondage gear, corsetry (worn as outerwear), dandies’ finery, buccaneer’s raw hides, crinolines and clan tartans to push fashion insistently in the direction of her raw and edgy notions of beauty, her eclectic politics and her lifelong determination to kick out the jams and subvert all norms.

How Should You Be? Try Taking Suggestions.
More than offering prescriptions, suggestions — good or bad — about how we should live broaden our worldview and put us in touch with our desires
Recently, I entered a suggestion-heavy era. A long relationship had ended, and I pondered leaving my job and moving to a different neighborhood. Suddenly, I was in need of input from others on how to find a new laundromat, enroll in health insurance as a freelancer, live alone and navigate online dating.
I wanted practical guidance that I could quickly put into effect in my life. But the immediate value of suggestions, I learned, wasn’t simply doing what others said. They can be a tool for self-discovery, a mirror to reflect on our beliefs and blind spots. Input from others elicits the opportunity to think something over. By determining if it is something we want, and if it matches our desires or values, we’re forced to name what our desires and values are in the first place. As I became more receptive to advice, I stumbled on another person seeking suggestions in a surprising way.

The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time
From Sinatra to SZA, from R&B to salsa to alt-rock
Aretha Franklin described her mission as a singer like this: “Me with my hand outstretched, hoping someone will take it.” That kind of deep, empathetic bond between artist and listener is the most elemental connection in music. And you can think of our list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time as a celebration of that bond. These are the vocalists that have shaped history and defined our lives — from smooth operators to raw shouters, from gospel to punk, from Sinatra to Selena to SZA.

[Photo Credit: theaudleypublichouse.com, mountstrestaurant.com]