During a recent interview on CBS’ The Early Show, there Sarah Jessica Parker was reaching out her hand and lo and behold, there was an acid green, silicone bracelet — probably a gift from her son, James Wilkie — around her wrist. She’s so influential that she made us all feel OK to mix our gifts from our childrens’ new fave obsession, Silly Bandz, with our Timex, Kors, or Cartier watches.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, it’s time to come up under your Pet Rock. Silly Bandz are the new, relatively inexpensive trend our kids are trading, wearing,BBC, and playing with and I’m happy. Haute rubberbands that are in the shape of letters, dinosaurs, religious symbols, you name it. It’s a cheap alternative to Kooky pens, and stars like SJP and even Mary-Kate Olsen are mixing it up with their fine gems as part of a new look! I even got a tweet from the @sillybandz peeps telling me that reason they’re the bomb right now is because “they rock.”

By Sasha Charnin Morrison for UsMagazine.com. To read more of the Recessionista blog, click here.

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To purchase Silly Bandz, call 1.800.921.8661 or visit their Web site for more information.

One of the biggest iconic fashion divas of all time wears the finest jewelry on the planet and Silly Bandz? Yes.

I am partial to the 24 packs of Western shapes bands as well as the Alphabet, the Yankees and Rockbandz. I also like the neon colors for summer. Jump on this now because according to their site. They are retiring certain shaped bands. Spring is gone.

In notifications to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Buffet documented donations to five charitable organizations, including a gift worth 1.6 billion dollars to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

His donation to the organization this year totals some 20.4 million shares in Berkshire Hathaway. The gift is worth around 1.6 billion dollars at the 78.81-dollar-a-share value of company's stock on Thursday, when the SEC notification was filed.

He also informed the SEC of donations of some 713,Coach,000 shares each to the Sherwood Foundation,Levis, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the NoVo Foundation, and a gift of over two million shares to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation.

Buffett, who heads investment firm Berkshire Hathaway, pledged in 2006 to donate a portion of 10 billion shares in his company every July to the charity run by former Microsoft chief Bill Gates.

The so-called Oracle of Omaha, whose personal wealth was estimated at 47 billion dollars in 2010, personally pledged that "more than 99 percent of my wealth will go to philanthropy during my lifetime or at my death."

Buffett has publicly called on the wealthy to donate more to charity, and last month urged rich Americans to give at least half of their assets to charity in a commentary co-authored with Bill Gates.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US billionaire Warren Buffett, who has pledged to give away 99 percent of his wealth, has donated 1.93 billion dollars in shares of his company to five charitable groups, financial filings showed.

By Sasha Charnin Morrison for UsMagazine.com. To read more of the Recessionista blog, click here.

To get a similar look, dress up your replica with jeweled diamante bracelets, add a high heel and style your hair slicked up and back into a chignon.

This Giambattista Valli gem was her gown of choice for the June 7 Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Awards in New York City. I espeically love this replica mermaid gown, available from Unique Vintage.

Buy it here.

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I love when Iman steps out on the red carpet. I mean, she’s really a supermodel. An original. And married to rocker David Bowie, which of course makes me dribble.

This Unique Vintage dress is $196,Billabong, and looks like it will be a keeper you can wear over and over.

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On the eve of the first anniversary of their father’s death, Michael Jackson’s three kids enjoyed a break on a Hawaiian beach.

Prince Michael, 13, Paris, 12 and Blanket, 8, were spotted Thursday frolicking in the Pacific Ocean during the trip, which they took with their grandmother (and legal guardian) Katherine Jackson.

“A year has gone by but it is still just as emotional. It’s very hard sometimes,” she recently told Britain’s The Sun. “I am happy that people are celebrating the anniversary because I know the world is missing and remembering him. But every day is a struggle – I miss him immensely.”

PHOTOS: Michael Jackson and his kids through the years

PHOTOS: Michael Jackson’s kids say final farewell to their father

“The children are seemingly as normal as normal can be under pretty extraordinary circumstances,Abercrombie jackets,” he recently told the Associated Press.

COMPLETE MICHAEL JACKSON COVERAGE: One year after his death

Katherine, 80, is unviled a monument in honor of the King of Pop on Friday in the family’s hometown of Gary, Ind.

For the most part, Jackson’s children are coping well, said Adam Streisand,Affliction, Katherine’s lawyer.

PHOTOS: Couples who found love on movie and TV sets

PHOTOS: Vienna and Jake, the way they were

Vienna Girardi is getting deep about her split from Bachelor Jake Pavelka.

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Early Wednesday morning, she Twittered: “Relationships are like glass. Sometimes it is better to leave them broken than try to hurt yourself putting it back together.” Anonymous

Speaking to photographers Tuesday, the forlorn reality star blurted, “I’m saddened by the whole thing.”

Pavelka seems devastated by the end of their relationship.

The new Us Weekly (on newsstands now) reports that Girardi,Burberry, a 24-year-old ex-Hooters waitress, dumped Pavelka, 32, over the phone after planting tiny kisses on Greek actor Gregory Michaels at PacSun’s Summer Solstice Beach Ballyhoo June 20 in Santa Monica. An eyewitness at the event tells Us Weekly: “They were all over each other.” (In a Twitter post Tuesday,Rock Republic, she denied cheating on Pavelka.)

The Miami company said net income totaled $39.7 million, or 21 cents per share, in the period ended May 31. That compares to a loss of $125.2 million, or 76 cents a share, the same quarter last year.

Chief Executive Stuart Miller said new home orders got progressively weaker in the March-May quarter once the government incentives expired at the end of April. But he noted demand appears to be improving this month and he stressed the company should remain profitable this year.

Revenue fell 9 percent to $814.5 million.

The big question builders face is when will demand pick up again now that that there is no government stimulus creating a sense of urgency for buyers.

“As we’ve gone through May and into June, we feel demand is starting to make a modest recovery,” Miller said.

New home orders fell 10 percent to 3,207,ugg, with the entire decline coming in May. Completed home sales slipped 8 percent from a year ago to 2,912 homes.

The company cut corporate, general and administrative expenses by 22 percent during the quarter.

Low mortgage interest rates and homebuyer tax credits helped support sales and home orders for Lennar and other builders this spring. But the tax credits — $8,Roca Wear,000 for first-time home buyers and up to $6,500 for current homeowners — ended in April, pulling sales that would normally have taken place in May or June ahead to March and April.

Still, Miller said demand is improving.

Lennar shares edged up a penny to $14.75 in afternoon trading after falling as low as $14.33 earlier in the sesison.

“We continue to be inclined to believe that the current pullback in demand is temporary and the void left by the expiration of the tax credit will be filled in the upcoming months by purchasers looking to take advantage of historically low interest rates supporting the purchase of extremely well priced homes,” Miller said.

Even if demand for new homes lifts in coming months, the housing market will remain “rocky and sloppy” in the face of a sluggish economy, high unemployment and foreclosures, he added.

Results were boosted by an income tax benefit of $11 million.

Lennar has operations in 17 states and sells homes for entry level and move-up buyers as well as retirees. Its Rialto Investments unit buys distressed real estate investments.

___

Online:

Lennar Corp: http://www.lennar.com/

LOS ANGELES – Lennar Corp. said Thursday it bounced back from a year-ago loss in its fiscal second quarter, but the end of federal homebuyer tax credits hurt the homebuilder’s new home orders and contributed to a 9 percent drop in revenue.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting the Miami company to break even on roughly $835.5 million in revenue.

Nationally, sales of new homes collapsed in May, sinking 33 percent to the lowest level on record.

The builder reported a 10 percent drop in new home orders for the latest quarter, and said orders this month are running as much as 25 percent below a year ago.

GUIDANCE: Rite Aid still expects to lose 41 cents to 65 cents per share this year,Adidas, as sales are slipping.

RESULTS: Rite Aid Corp. shares rose Wednesday after the company posted a smaller-than-expected first-quarter loss.

ECONOMY: Retiring CEO Mary Sammons said the company is coping with the weak U.S. economy, which “doesn’t appear to be headed for a solid recovery any time soon.”

COST CONTROL: The drugstore chain credited results to lower employee medical expenses,Prada, less distribution spending, a later Memorial Day holiday, and continued store closings.

And did I mention that its sized from an extra-small all the way up to 3X?! And the other good news? This style is so chic and timeless,Inflatable Obstacles, you can wear it over and over again,Ed hardy hoodies, and it will never go out of style.

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I love this style of faux-fox from QVC. The vest is priced well at $79.80, and the greatest thing is that this silhouette is also available in red faux-fox and in chinchilla. Wear it with a pair of jeans, a nice knit and a slouchy hobo bag.

I have never seen a trend take off like this. Leave it to Rachel Zoe — who lives in sunny California, I might add — to find something that has captured everyone’s attention: the fur vest.

Buy it here.

Tony Award-nominated actor Lin-Manuel Miranda — the creator, star and songwriter of Broadway's hit musical In the Heights — will appear Aug. 5 in a Manhattan engagement of Freestyle Love Supreme, the comedy troupe he co-founded. The fusion of hip-hop, improv comedy and musical theatre will play the Gramercy Theatre.

Miranda created Freestyle with theatre pals (including Heights director Thomas Kail, Tony-winning orchestrator Bill Sherman and actor Christopher Jackson) before In the Heights exploded on the scene,Hollister, and he occasionally steps into bookings of the show when his schedule allows. The players on Aug. 5 are drawn from FLS's core performer pool.

The Gramercy Theatre is at 127 E. 23rd Street in Manhattan. Freestyle Love Supreme tickets for the general public go on sale 10 AM June 18 at ticketmaster.com. Tickets prices are $17 (advance),NBA, $19 (day of show). VIP seats are available at $35. For tickets and more information, visit livenation.com or www.freestylelovesupreme.com.

Director Kail (in addition to directing In the Heights, and earning a Tony nomination for it) staged Broke-ology at Williamstown Theatre Festival and Lincoln Center Theater and will direct the new Broadway play Lombardi this fall.

Starting June 22, Miranda will play Usnavi, the role he created in In the Heights, in the Los Angeles engagement of the national tour. The Broadway company continues at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. He will also star in the upcoming film version of the musical.

The show, directed by Kail, is billed as a "fusion of hip hop, melody and story telling" in which "six versatile performers provide non-stop action throughout [a] whirlwind of music, comedy and freestyle rap." Audience suggestions fuel the evenings, which are never alike.

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Of course, this original is shoe is sold out, though an older version is possibly on eBay for well over a grand. Good news is that you don’t have to spend the million bucks to look it!

Buy it here.

Hot mama Heidi Klum wore this glorious chain and diamante shoe when she walked the red carpet at an L.A. event recently. Now you can own what looks like the same for just $49!

I can wear this shoe with anything: jeans,Lacoste, a hot dress, black leggings. Or just like Heidi, free and easy with a sexy little black dress for evening.

I went cruising online one night to see what Frederick’s of Hollywood was up to, as it is one of my favorite sites. The home to the Glamour Girl Marabou slipper in six colors, I seem to always find something I need or want at the store: A new shoe, a very sturdy yet sexy bra…something fun! I got to the Web site’s shoe section and lo and behold there was the magnificent replica of theat insane sparkly platform high heel worn by Heidi (hers Giuseppe Zanotti for well over the $900 mark) I mean, hello? Perfection.

By Sasha Charnin Morrison for UsMagazine.com. To read more of the Recessionista blog, click here.

Brilliantly sized from a 5 1/2 to an 11, the heel is offered in two colors: a royal blue and a slick black. It’s accented with charcoal stone detailing and knotted accents and has a 1½” mirrored platform and 5¾” heel. Rock it!