Time for a contest! For the first four ladies who respond to this newsletter with a correct answer, (use my kim@sixdl.com email, since I LIVE on it, and I will get the email sooner,) with the answer I'm looking for, you win. You need to tell me just THREE of the vendors, (hint: go to the CRAVE web site and click on look who's coming.) The first four correct responses get to be my princesses at the CRAVE Party and attend for FREE. That means you need to visit the site, see below in this paragraph for the link. It will be a "QUEEN AND HER COURT NIGHT" at CRAVE at Opus, and we will all get the royal treatment and get FREE ENTRY! Afterwards, we can all attend BLEND at 6°, if you want to (and who wouldn't WANT to come to 6°?!) Have you ever heard of a CRAVE Party? Leave it to Michael Taubin, owner of Opus to host something totally unlike any other club has done in Houston before. A CRAVE Party is an exclusive, festive, glam-gal gathering of fun, entertainment, personal pampering, specialty shopping, sipping martinis and just hanging with the girls. Wear your comfy pajamas - everybody does! - and enter the lush world of "Everything You Crave" under one roof. You get to indulge and splurge on spa treatments, massages, manicures & pedicures, fashion shows, henna tattoos by Macy, irresistible boutique shopping, in the heart of downtown, at Opus! To see more about this spectacular event (and get the clue to win,) visit their web site at www.cravepartyhouston.com. The event will take place from 5:00-9:00 on July 31st at Opus, 412 Main. You need to register for the event online. By the way, have you seen, Mike Taubin, Opus's owner? Ladies, the man is EDIBLE. He is SO VERY taken, though and loves his girlfriend (for THAT, I want her autograph. She is a celebrity now!) He will be there and you MUST SEE him. Damn, I thought my boss 6° was a hottie (Gary Murphy, eligible bachelor, and I am conducting interviews for applicants who are interested in him) but this OPUS guy is smokin'!

Scion's Emerging Artists Tour (www.emergingartiststour.com) returns to Houston on Saturday, July 30th for RENT "25". Designed to promote emerging local and national upcoming DJs, this 14-city tour highlights and celebrates the very best each city has to offer. Voted "Best Recurring Club Night" by readers of the Houston Press, the monthly part RENT is now "housed" at the spacious Meridian. Headlining the event will be DJ's Amanda Robinson & Brotha Jibril. DJ Little Martin (RENT co-founder and musical director) will also be performing in the "Barry White Room". The doors for RENT number "25" open at 9PM and admission is $7.00 before and $12.00 after 11pm. Meridian is located on Chartres, just east of the George R Brown Convention Center. Full details, map & party pics located at the RENT website: www.upsidedownhouse.com

But let it not go unsaid that Jaysen Clark of the Social and Belvedere, is also another male specimen that is easy on the eyes and he, among other promoters, will be hosting SUNDOWN at the Social on that same day. So many bars, so little time! View the invite here: http://www.thesocialinfo.com/events.php. Sean Carnahan, Johnny J. and Little Martin will be the DJs that evening. I love all three of those boys!

THIS WEEK AT 6°: Blu Image Graphics and yours truly are hosting a networking happy hour at my favorite place on the planet, 6° Lounge at 911 Franklin, on Thursday July 28th beginning at 6PM. Bring your business cards and plenty of friends with you and you will enjoy complimentary appetizers and happy hour prices until 11PM. Speaking of 6°, have you voted yet? The Chronicle Ultimate Houston Awards polls are open through August 9th. 6° Lounge is nominated in three categories, so please vote for Julian Ritchey as best bartender, and for 6° as best happy hour and as best place to see and be seen. Click here www.chron.com/banners/images/ult_form_2005/form.html.

I need to give a grateful shout-out to Joe at '24 hour locksmith' for being my knight in shining armor and coming to my rescue when pop-a-lock, which is dirt cheap, by the way, just $39.95, but wasn't able to service me because they were flooded out, so they could not come and help me retrieve BOTH sets of my keys that I so brilliantly locked inside my car on the dreadfully rainy day, July 14th. Let my experience be a lesson to you. It's a good idea to have a spare (I now have FIVE spares, one at work and the rest with friends,) however the morale of the story is don't keep your spare in your purse or be talking on the phone and distracted so you throw your set of keys into the purse (in which your spare is also in,) before going in the store to buy energy drinks. Keep Joe's number handy, that's '24 hour locksmiths' 832-201-1090. Big hugs to Joe! You are my hero!

NEWS IN THE BIZ: Music lovers and DJs, check out this site: http://thedjlist.com/. My long-time friend, Ann Lasher, is now the Corporate Sales Manager for Ashton Gardens. Check it out at www.ashtongardens.com. This is an ideal spot for anyone who needs a place for a holiday party or business meeting. RENT is this Saturday night at the Meridian, see www.upsidedownhouse.com for details, info and photos of this monumental monthly party known as RENT. Cool new web site to explore http://www.mycityrocks.com/, because Houston does indeed ROCK! Another newbie site I was sent information to check out it is www.breathemultimedia.com/. See what you think about it. I was impressed with it. Cleverley Stone also has a job and resume bank for the hospitality industry. See www.cleverleysnewsletter.com.

6°, home of the future BEST bartender for the 2005 Ultimate Houston Awards, Doctor of Mixology, Julian Ritchey will host our premiere quarterly MARTINI MIX-OFF Challenge Event on Thursday August 11th, beginning promptly at 9PM. The winner will receive a prize package and their winning creation will be featured on our Fall Martini Menu, including your name and where you work. That should land you a raise or better bar status. Oh, guess what else? SHIRT HAPPENS (no that is not a typo, I did NOT mean s**t happens) at 6° all of the Thursdays in August. You drop your biz card or fill out a form I have here at the bar for you and every Thursday at midnight, we draw to give away a 6° Lounge SHIRT! You must be present to win, so get your booties into 6: on Thursdays to see Julian and me and possibly take home a cool shirt, but DEFINITELY have a great time!

Want to get active? Get outside? Get social? Join Bayou City Outdoors Club at their Member & Guest Summer Social on July 29th at 6:30PM at the Amazon Grill on Kirby. The club is Houston's most active outdoor and social club with events ranging from kayaking, camping, hiking, biking, theatre, dinner, social events and more. Please call the club at 713-524-3567 or sign up online at www.bayoucityoutdoors.com.