Say what you will about their burgers - though it’s a challenge to think of something they haven’t said about themselves already - but White Castle’s branding and marketing departments deserve an award.

As they have done every year for a while now , White Castle will be serving candlelit dinner from 5-9pm on Valentine’s Day, complete with pink tablecloths, the Cupid Crave Kit, and BYOB bottle service - perfect for you and your totally chill significant other (especially if their name happens to be Kumar).

Photos of happy couples are posted to their website (consentually, of course) the next day. There’s nothing more romantic than a cheap date that makes you laugh. Genius!

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. You’re serious about this one, so drugstore chocolate in a heart-shaped box won’t cut it, but you definitely want to treat your girlfriend like a lady - problem is, you’re something of a tramp in the financial sector. What to do? Easy; whip up a romantic, DIY-style Valentine’s Day dinner with a twist. This little kit is sure to blow her mind and preserve your wallet - and save you the time it would actually take to do it yourself.

Step 1: Make a date for 2/14.

Step 2: Throw together those unbelievable Barefoot Contessa brownies (clockwise, from left) in the All-Edges Pan (yum).

Step 3: Put the Beach House record on repeat.

Step 4: Switch on a little rose-tinted mood lighting - and yes, that is flowers, candles, and a gift in one (plus hot cheap design - didn’t I see the same thing at Moss for $5k?)

Step 5: Soak in praise.

Step 6: You’re welcome.

Sweet Tater Vintage on Mulberry Street in NYC specializes in gorgeous upscale vintage pieces. Every item has been hand-picked by the shop’s two lady owners, from their tours of the East Coast of the US to the side streets of Italy and Greece (with their native aunts as guides). Their adventures in Mediterranean fashion inspired an in-house collection of voluminous dresses, tunics, and tops - all available in three sizes only, designed to flatter all body types (just like in the Old Country).

The Fall/Winter collection this year consists of simple tweed wool and pinstripe suiting, including the outrageously great Duckhunter Dress (above, far left), a fully lined herringbone wool dress with a kangaroo pocket in front and a button-closed “duck pocket” in the back. Because semi-formal duck hunting never goes out of season.

($156, on sale at sweettater.net)

Nothing says the start of a new year like the purchase of a brand new, crisp, clean, completely blank Moleskine weekly planner. Though the Italian company calls itself “The legendary notebook of Hemingway, Picasso, and Chatwin”, it actually opened in 1996, and fashions its notebooks after Chatwin’s descriptions of his beloved notebook (which were produced in France). Nonetheless, with the week on the left and room for notes on the right, a large pocket in the back, a ribbon bookmark for easy access to the current date, and that signature oilcloth cover and elastic closure, it is the closest thing I’ve found to a perfect weekly planner (I turn mine sideways to view the week landscape-style)

($10.45 at MoleskineUS).

For me, 2008 is all about classic, understated luxury, and nothing exemplifies this aesthetic like timeless black with gorgeous gold accents. Evocative of art deco and 30’s New York, as well as 1950’s swing, the look is impeccably tailored and delicately trimmed - the gold should provide a whisper of stately grandeur, not an unstoppable torrent of bling. Think Grace Kelly after the wedding or Dominique Sanda in “Il Conformista” - subtly sexy, mysterious, and unstoppable. And besides - what could look better next to a tall glass of champagne? Don’t wear it out til next December…

See more of my Black Gold list at ThisNext.

For those of us serious about dance - not capital-D Dance in a studio with a bar and a requisite body dysmorphic disorder, but dance! in a space packed with friends, no restraints, no regrets, and no cover - 2 things are essential: amazing music and room to move. Music meaning sick beats that not only make you want to dance, but make you have to dance, and room to move as in hot, free-wheeling joy-clothes and dancing shoes that never hold you back.

See more of my D.A.N.C.E. list at ThisNext.

  
Speakers are usually exiled to the upper reaches of our ceilings and shelves, or tucked into the corners of our rooms, but this pair can stand just as well as a centerpiece - or guard your front door. In keeping with my fascination with creepy-chic (and apparently white porcelain), I love the Woofer Speaker System by Buro Vormkrijgers, available in black or white. The simply engineered coaxial system, combined with the bizarrely beautiful standing dead-dog design, makes this set perfect for the discerning Transylvanian Count and the audiophile with an ex in PETA. ($900 at gnr8.biz)