Today's giveway is a treat for the nose. When I opened the padded mailer sent to me by Neil Morris Fragrances, I knew I was going to love his scents. There was none of that chemical tang associated with some scents, just a subtle whiff of light flowers, the sort of olfactory tease that you might catch walking down a street on a warm spring day, an amuse bouche for the nose. Morris, who is based in Boston, has a passion for fragrances, creating scents that capture a mood or a moment in single spray. Want the smell of a cafe in Paris, the cool interior of a cathedral redolent with incense, or the scent of a crisp fall day in New England? You may want to visit the The Vault, a collection of rare Neil Morris fragrances that are only available online and sell for $125 a bottle. Morris also believes that florals are not the exclusive province of women, in The Vault you can find scents from his "Flowers for Men" series that includes lilac and gardenia scents that are beefed up with notes of citrus and wood.

He also creates bespoke fragrances, meeting one on one with a client to discover what he call their "scent heritage." He asks clients about their most cherished memories, such as, "What is their favorite time of day?" "If you could snap your fingers and be anywhere in the world right now, where would that be?" or "Where did their fiancé propose?" The details help him create a unique scent from his collection of more than 700 essential oils. He maintains a record of all his custom scents so clients may re-order with ease or even tweak the original scent. A one-on-one session starts at $500 and lasts about 90 minutes. Clients receive a two-ounce bottle of their bespoke parfum customized with their name on it.

Today for you, I have a two-ounce bottle of Zephyr from the Neil Morris Fragrance Signature Collection for giveaway. The scent was inspired by the relief of a cooling breeze on a hot August day and has top notes of tangerine and papaya, a heart of honeysuckle and Casablanca lily, notes of white tea, and a base of sandalwood, amber and oceanic musk. It's a little fruity but not in that overly faux playful way that some more commercial scents can be. It is supposed to be unisex but it may be a bit on the floral side for some men. Which brings me to today's giveaway comment starter: are there some scents men should not wear? Are florals for women only? How about unisex fragrances? Let me know your opinion in the comments and one winner will be picked at random.Some other important details:

* To enter, leave a confirmed comment below.
* The comment must be left and confirmed before Friday, October 17, 2008 at 5:00PM Eastern Time.
* You may only enter once.
* One winner will be selected in a random drawing.
* One winner will receive the Neil Morris Zephyr fragrance valued at $95.
* Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.

See complete contest rules here.

For years it has seemed like golden boy quarterback Tom Brady couldn't fail. Championships, check, endorsement deals, check, gorgeous girlfriend; check, great real estate deals, check and maybe recheck. Brady did well in Boston when it comes to real estate, converting a townhouse into condos he sold at a profit but he can't seem to unload his ultra fancy New York pad in the Time Warner Center. It's not for lack of trying. As the New York Post's Gimme Shelter column reports it was listed for $16.5 million back in February 2007 with the Corcoran Group. Then, as my colleague Jared Paul Stern mentioned, it popped back on the market this July for $18.29 million listed with new broker, Prudential Douglas Elliman. Now at its current listing price of $17.75 million it still seems overpriced. Certainly other celebrities and non-celebrities have sold at a profit there. Ricky Martin bought it in 2004 for $6.8 million and sold it in September 2006 for $9.75 million. Brady's apartment was listed at $14.5 million when he bought in 2006 which may have been closer to the market's peak.

Brady's apartment is a three-bedroom, three-bath home on one of the highest floors of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and Condominium at Time Warner Center. It's full of well designed furniture and has details such as black lacquered doors, ebony finished walnut wood floors, Venetian plastering and of course it boasts beautiful views of the city. Given the current real estate climate though, Brady may want to price it in the $15 million range and get out now while he still can.

We just ended an Olympic summer but tickets are already on sale for the next Olympics, the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. A company called CoSport is selling hospitality packages that include guaranteed access to tickets and hotels. Getting in early will cost you, the cheapest package for two people is $3,800 Canadian and you could pay far more depending on your choice of hotel, transportation and add-ons to round out your Olympic experience. Ordering a hospitality package gets you entrance to the events you want to see rather than going through a potential lottery process. Phase 1 of the individual ticket sales process began October 3 and ends November 7. Residents of Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Sweden, United States, countries within the European Union and European Economic Zone will be able to purchase tickets for use during the Games through CoSport but high demand events may fill up necessitating a random selection process. The 1300 packages however are first-come, first-serve. Jean-Paul Modde, the president of CoSport, told the Canadian Press that sales are excellent so far and that they will sell out.

English yacht company, Sealine, is the latest to be hit by hard times. It is closing down two of its three sites and is set to lose 297 jobs (it employs around 630 people). The firm, which is based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, is entering into a 90-day consultation process with its staff to reduce redundancies among its office and production workers. Sealine has been in business since 1972 and manufactures around 300 boats a year ranging from 25 to 60 feet. All their boats are constructed entirely in house. A spokesperson for the company has said that the current economic conditions are the reason for the downsizing.

Earlier this year, my colleague Rigel Celeste, mentioned the Aston Martin One-77, the most expensive road car in the world. In these perilous economic times is there room for 77 luxury cars costing £1.2 million? Seems like it. The Telegraph reports that more than 100 people have applied to buy the car. The car was partially revealed at the Paris Motor Show (see Autoblog for the tease shots) but few details have been made known. It is said to have a 7.0 litre V12 engine, a carbon fiber chassis and an aluminum body. Buyers have to plunk down a £200,000 deposit and should get their cars some time next fall.

Back in March I reported on the fact that it seems that shuttle flights between cities on the East Coast like New York, Boston, and Washington haven't been faring too well in recent years. Joe Brancatelli who writes the Seat 2B column for Portfolio says that the recent news that Delta will add first-class cabins to its shuttle flights between New York, Boston, and Washington isn't a positive sign; it proves that the shuttles may well be on their way out. The shuttles have become less profitable and the shuttle aircraft which are equipped with standard first- and coach-class cabins can now be used on any flight path. In the 1980s large shuttles used to run every hour and promised no reservations needed. Now the remaining shuttles use smaller aircraft and fly less frequently especially on weekends and non-peak times.

Is this the last gasp of the shuttle flight? It certainly seems like it, the rise of technology, the high-speed Acela train, private jet charter services and even luxury bus lines have made shuttle flying less and less attractive. Like Joe Brancatelli, I'm a little nostalgic for the shuttles of my youth but in these days when it seems that hardly any flights go smoothly and airlines are struggling to stay afloat it seems like the shuttle is an idea whose time is long gone.

Today's home belongs to the one and only Joss Whedon, creator of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Firefly" and the summer's internet sensation, Dr. Horrible. Ann Brenoff of the LA Times Hot Properties column reveals that Whedon is selling his English County style home in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles. The home is on a double lot and has four bedrooms. Clearly a home for someone who works, and plays, at home, it's got two offices, a media room and music studio. There is a two-story guest house and park-like grounds but no pool. It doesn't look like Whedon has enlisted the help of a decorator but the home is full of books and art and cozy places to sit and think. It is listed at $3.695 million.

Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living large with celebrity homes galleries at AOL Real Estate.

I saw the video of Dan Aykyroyd talking about Crystal Head vodka a week or so ago but I wasn't sure it was a real thing but turns out it is Aykroyd's newest venture in the world of liquor. Aykroyd's wines are currently the top selling celebrity brand in Canada and he recently announced they would be available in the U.S.

The selling point for Crystal Head vodka is is that it is quadrupled distilled and filtered three times through charcoal followed by triple filtration over Herkimer crystals. It also comes in that nifty skull bottle designed by John Alexander and manufactured by master artisans in Milano's Bruni Glass Company. The Infinium Spirits division of Wilson Daniels is marketing Crystal Head Vodka in the U.S. and it will be available initially in California, Texas, Nevada, Louisiana and Florida. It retails for $49.95.

As for the legend of the crystal skulls, I tend to side with the comprehensive article in Archaeology Magazine that came out earlier this year when the crystal skull craze began over the latest Indiana Jones movie.

From the LA Times Hot Properties:
--Actor Christopher Lloyd has put his smaller house in Montecito, shown above, for sale for $3.6 million. The elegant home has two bedrooms, bamboo floors and a raised bamboo pergola overlooking the pool and spa. His other home in the area which was listed in 2007 for $11.27 million and was an estate of the day, has been taken off the market.
--Mark Wahlberg has listed his house in Beverly Hills at $15.9 million. The listing is here.
--Basketball player Elton Brand has sold his Hollywood Hills home for $4.55 million.
--Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon has listed his home in Brentwood. it's our estate of the day later today.
Another "Buffy" and "Angel" veteran, writer David Greenwalt, recently sold his house in the Pacific Palisades for $2.958 million.

From the NY Post's Gimme Shelter:
--The asking price for the triplex penthouse at artist Julian Schnabel's, pink Palazzo Chupi building in the West Village has been cut by $5.5 million to $24 million. It was our estate of the day earlier in the year.
--Quarterback Tom Brady has cut the price on his Time Warner Center apartment from $18.29 million to $17.75 million. We'll be checking this one tomorrow.
--Cosmetics mogul Adrien Arpel and her husband, Ronald Newman, have paid $5.9 million for a seven-room co-op at 900 Fifth Ave.
--One of the Hamptons' premier properties, Fordune, will be listed for rent next year. This may be the first time since Henry Ford II owned the 42-acre oceanfront Southampton property. it will rent for $600,000 to use it from August through Labor Day next year and has 12 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, a game room, a library, a large formal dining room, staff rooms and a commercial kitchen.

From Berg Properties Big Time Listings:
--Cher has paid $1,400,000 to purchase a two-bedroom, 1,455-square-foot house in West Hollywood,California. It may be a house for her daughter, Chastity.
--Regis Philbin has put his Greenwich, Connecticut home on the market for $5.4 million. It was our estate of the day on Friday.
--Brad Garrett finally has sold his 10,223-square-foot mansion in Hidden Hills, California. The most recent listing price was $8.35 million.
--Little more than a year after he sold it for $2.9 million, the former house of fashion critic Steven Cojocaru in the Hollywood Hills is back on the market, for $3.695 million. The property website is here.

From the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties:
--The home used to film ABC's "Bachelor" shows is for sale and the price has been dropped to $8.75 million, down from just under $13 million. You can see listing pics from when the home was listed at $11.5 million here.
--Last month, philanthropist Carroll Petrie sold a Palm Beach, Fla., house for $3 million, $500,000 less than she paid less than a year earlier, to investor John D. Firestone, of the tire-manufacturing family. In May, she paid $7.45 million for a 6,700-square-foot, five-bedroom home about a mile farther south.

From Newsday's Real LI:
-- A 4.08-acre property on Meadow Lane in Southampton will be listed soon for $38 million. According to public records, the oceanfront mansion was owned by Virginia Salomon, who died last month. She was married to Citigroup's honorary chairman William R. Salomon (and former managing partner at Salomon Brothers, Inc.) for more than 70 years. The 6,000 square foot house, built in 1992, has six bedrooms and eight baths, with a gunite pool and is located just west of designer Calvin Klein's home.
--Hairspray actress Nikki Blonsky may or may not be leaving Great Neck. Her family's home was recently seen on the Multiple Listing Service of Long Island for $649,000.
--Hilary Duff's longtime boyfriend, New York Islanders center Mike Comrie has purchased a condo in Garden City.


From the Real Estalker:
--Former Green Bay Packer quarterback Brett Favre has listed his Wisconsin home for $475,000. It was our estate of the day on Saturday.
--Technology guru Halsey Minor is not only trying to sell his home in Bel Air, he is said to be spending $15 million to renovate Le Petit Trianon in San Francisco, which he bought in 2007. The home was on the market for a while (I first got wind of it in 2005) and is said to be in some disrepair.
--The listing for the $24 million Goldwyn mansion has been temporary pulled from the market so that it can be renovated.
--Baseball player Tom Glavine and his wife Christine have put their home in Alpharetta, Georgia on the market for $3.75 million. We'll be looking at this one as an estate of the day on Monday.
--Cameron Diaz is said to be house shopping in Beverly Hills.
--More Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner real estate rumors, this time it is said that they have put their home in Brentwood on the market for around $8 million.
--Tae-Bo king Billy Blanks is getting a divorce and has put his Hidden Hills home on the market for $11.5 million. The listing is here.

From The Sun:
--Robbie Williams has picked up a seven-bedroom mansion in the Beverly Park community in Los Angeles for over $20 million.

From ONTD:
--Lauren Conrad of The Hills has been spotted house shopping in her home town of Laguna Beach.

From the NY Observer's Manhattan Transfers:
-- Kurt A. Locher, formerly a Lehman Brothers managing director recently bought a $5.25 million apartment at 500 West End Avenue. His old place on Park Avenue is still on the market for $2.495 million. We discussed this one earlier this week.
--According to numbers prepared for The Observer by research site StreetEasy, the days of easy luxury apartment sales are over. As of Monday, Manhattan had 168 super-luxury listings asking at least $15 million each which is nearly twice the number from autumn 2006.
--Former investment banker Jack Grubman has put his New York City townhouse on the market for $32 million. It was our estate of the day on Thursday.
--Sarah Allentuch, a former assistant to Woody Allen, and her husband, Greg Mottola, who directed Superbad recently bought a $2.6 million apartment at the new One York condo.
----An East River mansion, 7 Sutton Square, has sold for $32.5 million, well above its $25 million asking price. The seller is William F. Reilly, a retired magazine mogul and the buyer is listed anonymously, though a billing address is given care of Wildenstein & Co., which suggests that the house now belongs to the art collector Guy Wildenstein.

From the Daily Mail:
--James Bond star Daniel Craig has picked up a £4million apartment near Regent's Park in London.

I'm noticing more and more small lodges and inns up for sale. Small family-owned properties are particularly vulnerable at a time when travel is dropping off. The latest is the Garlands Oak Creek Lodge in beautiful Sedona, Arizona. The property is ten acres surrounded by the beautiful red rocks of Sedona. It includes a main lodge built of hand-hewn timbers, 16 guest cabins, two year-round residences, employee quarters, a fast-drying clay tennis court and a creek side yoga and pilates pavilion. The property includes a restaurant and the owners have even authored a cookbook called "Sharing the Table at Garland's Lodge." Garland's Lodge is listed at $13 million.

Looks like Charlize Theron will be heading to court against watchmaker Raymond Weil. The case, which we first reported on last year, has gone before a New York judge who ruled that the case has enough weight to proceed to a jury trial. Raymond Weil is suing for $20 million in damages saying that Theron violated her endorsement contract, which dictated that she only wear Weil watches, by wearing a Dior watch at a public appearance. She of course has also been the face of Dior's fragrance, J'Adore. Damages will be decided at trial but it seems likely that the opposing sides will settle before then. Charlize Theron has already gone on to a new watch, jewelry and accessories contract with Breil Milano.

The black Versace safety pin dress worn by Elizabeth Hurley at the 1994 premiere of the film Four Weddings and a Funeral has been deemed the best red carpet gown of all time. The Telegraph reports that the a poll of 3,000 women by the Debenhams department store determined that the black dress with gold safety pins that exposed much of Elizabeth Hurley's admirable figure was the most iconic frock. The dress went on sale last year at Harrods as part of their "Timeless Luxury" promotion for £10,690.

Second place went to Audrey Hepburn's white flower patterned Givenchy dress, followed by Julia Roberts in black-and-white vintage Valentino at the 2001 Oscars. Others in the top ten included Jennifer Lopez's plunge-to-the-navel Versace at the 2000 Grammy Awards and Bjork's infamous swan dress at the 2001 Oscars.

The last NBA season is but a memory even for Celtics fans but Kevin Garnett's 2008 NBA Finals $1,000+ limited edition sneakers are still up for sale. Adidas made 56 pairs last year and still has 13 pairs available for $1,017. Boston Sportz points out the Celtics have a big banner on their online store counting down the leftover sneakers but probably won't be dropping the price anytime soon.

A unique wine school has been founded in the Puligny-Montrachet France to help deepen the knowledge of wine professionals as well as devoted amateur wine lovers. The Ecole du Vin et des Terroirs is a non-profit organization created by members of the Burgundy wine world to broaden wine and viticultural knowledge with an ecological, environmental and humanistic approach. The Ecole du Vin et des Terroirs holds seminars (one half-day to two days long) which focus on understanding soils, wine techniques, biodynamics, tasting, botany, and many other topics. The seminars are limited to just 12 people and are taught by a variety of people including an ethnobotanist, a creator of tasting glasses, authors, engineers and of course, winemakers. The seminars are taught primarily in the vineyards and are resuming now that harvest season is ending.

Regent Jet has created a new jet card just for people who spend their winters traveling between New York and Florida. The Palms Jet Pass offers travel between New York and Florida. Passengers book their flights 24 hours ahead and can fly from several airports in the New York City area including Teterboro; Morristown; White Plains; Farmingdale; Islip and East Hampton to various South Florida locations such as West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and Naples. The Palms Jet Pass jet is The Hawker 400XP which has seven seats and can do a non-stop New York to Florida flight in about 2 hours, 30 minutes. Larger jets are also available. The Palms Jet Pass starts at $50,000 for five one-way flights between Metropolitan New York and South Florida on the Hawker 400XP.