Oscar Ready: Ruby Red Carpet Cocktail

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Glamour and glitter, fashion and fame! (Thank you, Jem.) It's the OSCARS—the perfect excuse to gild everything you can in gold, drink champagne and fancy cocktails, and wear obnoxious jewelry that weighs you down… unless you're a guy, in which case a bow tie will suffice. :-)

So who's with me? Who's pumped? I may not know much about the nominees, but I do know that I have my predictions filled out and I'm more than excited to hear what Joan Rivers will have to say on Fashion Police tomorrow. Even better, I have an arsenal of schmancy ingredients (sort of) to indulge in a few glamorous cocktails.

Champagne (or sparkling wine) is a must, but I'm planning on kicking off festivities with this exquisite gem: the Ruby Red Carpet Cocktail. It's delicious and incredibly simple. What more could you want?

Ruby Red Carpet Cocktail

• 2-3 ice cubes

• 1 ounce gin

• 1 ounce Campari

• Top off with ruby red grapefruit juice (approx 2-3 ounces)

Pour ingredients in a cocktail shaker, shake it like you mean it for about 10 seconds, and pour into your most fabulous glass. See? Easy. And no, the photo does not display my most fabulous glass, but it is the easiest to photograph. ;-)

I'm always a sucker for Campari, a sweet, herbal, citrus-y appertif with a gorgeous red color. And then there's gin—I'm a gin girl 100%. The gin and Campari complement each other beautifully, then the sour, fruity grapefruit juice just blends right in (in a good way, of course!). If you're not a gin fan like I am, you can use vodka. It would also be delicious with cognac, but the flavor of cognac may get lost when paired with Campari's strong presence. Just depends on what you're going for.

If you want to take the cocktail one step further, switch out the grapefruit for one ounce of sweet vermouth—you'll have my absolute favorite drink, the classic Italian Negroni.

So tell me—anyone else have Oscar plans? Fun drinks on the menu? Appetizers, perhaps? Or just a fun party theme? I'd love to hear about it—I'm always looking for ways to inject a little fabulousity into my every day life and the Oscars are just the time to do it.