FRIDAY PLANNER

Adda, reunions and catching up…

Working or studying throughout the weekdays can definitely be a tiring procedure. With three days to go till Friday, Star Lifestyle brings to you the perfect solution in planning something new to do, in this well-deserved upcoming weekend. Whether it's spending time at home or getting out of the city, there are plenty of activities that can be pursued and planned beforehand. Every week we shall dig in and try to bring you guys out there something new to do for the weekends. So read on and check out what CAN be done this Friday…

With all the torrential downpour and the soaring floods in the country, we would not advise you to go outdoors this week. Eating out can be a havoc for the stomach with all the diarrhea cases around. So this week plan something to do at home. Invite close friends and plan watching a movie and a good adda session. You could even spice up the adda by inviting an old friend, and doing some catching up. It would be more favourable if it was a childhood friend and you could reflect on all the juvenile activities of yesteryears.

Once you have everyone together, adda topics can range from the long awaited opening of Bashundhara Mall to even the ridiculous decisions of the 'beautiful' Bangladesh governments, both past and present. Catching up with social contacts can definitely add up to be a pleasing experience. If you have a tightly knit friend circle then plan getting together for a movie, and be sure to pick a movie that suits everyone's taste. Now you wouldn't want to have too serious a movie to kill all the 'festive Friday spirits'.

Food has to be a top priority, and this could be a top time to show off those culinary skills to friends and loved ones. Don't try to cook something randomly out of the cookbook, unless you are that talented a chef, and make sure you always have a backup plan, such as the number of a good catering service in case of dire-circumstances. If your cooking experiment goes hay-wire and the soup you just made went blue, feel free to give them a call, and serve the meals telling everyone you innovated and are responsible for the beautiful 'homemade' cuisine.

If movies and adda doesn't work, make sure you have a deck of cards. Adda and catching up over a game of poker or two can surely be better than just sitting around. And do make sure that everyone is participating and is having a good time, as you need the others to think how mighty you are and hence invite you over later for a better get-together.

With all the options open for activities on a weekend, be sure that you relax and get enough rest for the upcoming week. Remember the next holiday is again seven days away…

By Mishel Ali Khan

Check it out

Bata Flex hits the market

Trendy people always look for something new. Carefully attending every small detail, matching the colours of the outfit perfectly to a perfect stylish ornament and perfume. The fact that is some times over looked by many is that a stylish comfortable shoe, sandal, or slipper plays a very important role in fashion. With this important aspect in mind Bata recently introduced a casual wear collection for ladies which they aptly named Bata Flex. Its designs coming from Italy is very simple but attractive.
The sole of this new trendy collection is made of non-slippery super-expanded thermoplastic. It is perfect for those who love flat sandals. The collection is available in all Bata outlets all over the country priced at Tk 230.

-LS Desk

Flash

Bashundhara City

The meaning of the term 'open for public' reaches new heights with the long awaited opening of the Bashundhara City Shopping mall at Panthapath. The largest shopping mall in South-Asia went into operations on the 5th of August, with a promise of bringing a new lease of life into the often mundane Dhaka life. However, the opening left many, if not more, disappointed as the shopping mall showed no signs of going into operation. Not even food stalls were open on the second day (August 6th) leaving some anxious visitors disgruntled.

City dwellers from all over came to witness the marvel of the 19-storey world-class shopping mall. Many left early as others scampered through the giant structure. Surprisingly, the mall that promises so much seemed to be opened hastily. What was the point of opening the mall if none of the shops were open? They could have waited for a better time to truly satisfy the public.

On the other hand, the architecture of the mall is truly breathtaking and does give a sense of being in a foreign land. Bashundhara City promises to offer ample recreational facilities combined with its unimaginable number of shops. A multi-screen movie theatre with digital sound system is expected to screen both local and foreign films. Each of the three parts of the theatre can accommodate 262 people. A bowling and billiard centre and video games will also be there. The mall will introduce ice-skating for the first time in Bangladesh. However, these features are rather disappointingly not in operations yet, but do promise to bring new enjoyable activities to Dhaka dwellers.

The arcade has 1,500 shops including 100 foodcourts, an impressive parking capacity of 1,000 cars, 21 lifts operating round the clock, 65 escalators and central air-conditioning. Besides, there are two gymnasiums, a swimming pool, three movie halls, modern fire-extinguishing equipment, amusement park, bank and moneychanger.

By Mishel Ali Khan

TIPs

Icing on the cake

Okay, here we go! The guest list is perfect, the decorations are wonderful, the entertainment's amazing, and the food's delicious let's face it…you child's birthday party has surpassed your highest expectations, and you can't help but look smug. The big moment finally arrives, and you send your maid to fetch the cake that you lovingly and painstakingly baked just today afternoon. A hush falls over the table as they look as the cake when it's brought out, and your find your pleasure quickly turn to pain. In your hurry, you'd forgotten the icing on the cake, and instead of looking like a perfect cake; it now resembles a barren desert.

The key to a perfect party isn't really arduous planning and backbreaking hard work. Just following a few careful guidelines can be the priceless secret you're looking for. Firstly start with the planning. Think of a theme you can use…
be it a formal dinner, or a casual buffet. Then take care of your guest list…try to invite a few more people than the number you want present, cause its highly probable that many won't be able to come, or cancel at the last minute. Remember: 'the more, the merrier'. Call your guests early to invite them, and the night before your party to 'remind' them. Secondly, think of the entertainment. Music and dancing are always open options to fall back on, but something unique is guaranteed to spice up your party. Try games for the kids…
pillow passing, statue dancing, i.e. are simple to arrange and will let the adults sit in peace while the kids play away. For the adults, try other variations.

A party I have recently been to had a harmless snake show by professional snake charmers, which added a definite thrill. Try holding a séance, or if you're too wary of that idea, you can always arrange a fortune-teller. Just remember warning the fortune-teller to try and predict nice things for everyone (you don't want to ruin the party mood with bad tidings, do you?). When all the hard work's taken care of, take some time and focus on the little things. Think of yourself as an outsider to anticipate your guests' needs. If you intend to serve a late dinner, include lights snacks (light means 'light'…please don't ruin their appetite for dinner!) and 'finger foods', with lights drinks. Position these on easily accessible tables around the room. Dim the lights and have slow music in the background, loud enough to fill the gaps between conversations, and soft enough so that your guests don't have to scream to make themselves heard! Lastly, sit back and relax. Its your party and you deserve to enjoy it.

By Jennifer Ashraf

Eyes on etiquette
by Farzana Shakil

After office beauty routine
A woman's work, as it has been repeated a million times, is never quite done. For a career woman this includes among other things an after office engagement you cannot get out of. Who would want to understand you feel tired, rushed and generally feeling out of sorts after a hard, long and busy day. Your face is showing all the tell tale signs of drooping spirits, but the onus is still to try and look your best. Here is a half hour restoration routine which will leave you refreshed and looking forward to enjoying the evening.

The first thing you must do is have a warm bath. But prior to that, put rollers in your hair, using cologne or hair spray sparingly. Allow eight or nine minutes for a warm scented bath; you can either soak yourself in a tub or let the shower run full blast on you with warm water. This will relax you and stimulate your body by raising its temperature. Follow it up by drinking a hot cup of coffee or tea, depending what is best for your metabolism. Remember to dry yourself briskly.

Set your alarm clock for seven minutes, and apply a facial mask. A tired face always droops because fatigue slows down the circulation, which inturn makes the areas under the eyes swell and facial lines deepen. The mask improves the circulation and will help smooth the tired lines. To double the effectiveness of this restoration process put eye pads on your eyes and lie flat on the bed with your feet raised so that the blood will run to your head, giving your face the full benefit of the few minutes rest.

When the alarm rings, rinse off your mask. Use the next seven minutes to apply makeup. A pale foundation base will help to lighten any evidence of fatigue. If the circles under the eyes are still pronounced, dab light foundation under the eyes, but use your regular skin colour foundation everywhere else on your face and neck.

White eyeshadow adds life to tired eyes. Don't use mascara on your lower lashes or you may create shadows on your upper cheekbone. And don't darken the inner edges of your eyebrows with your pencil begin a fraction of an inch away from your nose.

You have six minutes left for your hair, so remove the rollers and brush your hair well, remembering to brush up wards, so that the hair can get a fair bit of bounce by getting air into it. Next comb it in place, using clips if your think you need them to mould the hair into shape; put a hair net on and spray copiously. To protect your hair from being messed up, leave the hair net while you dress.

You are now ready to roll, take the net off after you have dressed. Who's to know the rest of the day was anything but easy!