It’s Friday, and it’s supposed to reach ninety-two degrees here in NYC. That has me thinking, even with my monumental hangover, about icy cold cocktails. Not like the martinis I drank last night that ensured me feeling like junk today, but something you’d drink on a tropical vacation…or if you happen to have me as your bartender. One of the perks of the downtown bar I worked in previously was that I was intensely involved in rehauling the cocktail menu, and on it still lies my signature, the Thaihito: cilantro and mint muddled with lime, jalapeno and sugar, shaken with ice and Malibu rum and topped off with soda. You’re thinking that I’ve lost it, right? Trust me, the spicy-sweet palate combines perfectly with balmy (or beyond balmy) weather.

That got me a little hyperfocused on cocktails, and maybe infusing my repertoire with something a little fresh and new. There’s no better place get inspired than on Talk Shop Fridays. So tell me guys, what’s in your signature cocktail?

I’m an enthusiastic user of Moleskine notebooks because they’re high quality, but now that everyone and their mother has one now, I’m always getting paranoid about my roommates mistaking mine for theirs if I ever accidentally leave it laying around the house. So when I came across the similar-looking notebooks at Atelier Machado in Sao Paulo, I had to really hold back from buying all of them. The studio, which specializes in binding and restoration, as well as producing paper products like photo albums and writing pads, unabashedly call their versions “replicas”, but placed in comparison with Ernest Hemingway’s notebook of choice, Atelier Machado’s versions are actually anything but the pieces that inspired them. The huge difference is in the color: the sides of each notebook have each been swiped in a variety of shades, with a matching elastic closure. Atelier Machado has taken it a step further though, by offering a choice of shiny metallic covers paired with contrasting colors. For the avid notetaker who believes his thoughts are worth a million bucks, there’s also a leather-bound line with matching pens. Sizes vary, and price out between $10 to $36.

I was recently gifted with a beautiful necklace from Kimberly Baker, an up-and-coming Seattle jeweler known for her “tough and tender” designs. Now that I’ve slobbered over it, slept with it, and taken it with me to very intimate and romantic locations (yes, we are in Las Vegas, together, right now), I think I’m ready to spread the love about this gifted and glistening artist. Equally graceful and rebellious, Kimberly’s line of punk and rock-inspired ornaments are blessed with a dual personality that makes them easy to wear casually or formally. Some, like my Kiera necklace, are delicate enough to easily wear with anything, while other pieces, like the Gwendolen (pictured), are so awesomely distinct that the rest of your outfit may as well just disappear once it charms up your neckline. One of my favorite things about Kimberly Baker is the pricing she has adopted; you can expect to pay about the same price for her designs as you would for the mid to lower-end Tiffany (ew, I know, sorry to bring that up) items, a price that is all the more enjoyable once you add in the “I don’t see anyone else in this room wearing my necklace” factor. You can find some of her pieces at stores like Bettina Duncan (at Fred Segal in L.A.) and Cog (in Brooklyn), but I think it may be best to just buy direct from Kimberly’s own website, where you can peep her current and past collections.