If the recent season finale of “Project Runway” left you jonesing for a fashion fix, look to Scottsdale on May 18.

Tucked in the back of Scottsdale steakhouse Roaring Forks, the group mingled in the dim restaurant just minutes away from their prom's location.

When I was a kid…heck, when all of us were kids, our mothers had a stack of aphorisms for any occasion. When I was 10 years old, I was convinced that all new moms were given a handbook of Snappy Sayings for All Occasions as they were packing their bag in the maternity ward, because all the moms said all the same things.

If any piece of classic American literature should be depicted on film with wildly decadent and boldly inventive style, it's "The Great Gatsby." After all, who was the character of Jay Gatsby himself if not a spinner of grandiose tales and a peddler of lavish dreams?

The Ahwatukee Foothills Chamber of Commerce’s Red, White and Beautiful event on Thursday, May 9 will feature a fashion show, vendors and a chance to be pampered, all from local Ahwatukee businesses.

Preparing for a debut of his short film on Tuesday for friends, family and a panel of local cinematographers, Mountain Pointe High School senior Vincent Cota was putting the finishing touches on the piece after school this week.

The Norwegian directing team of Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg, whose biopic of World War II resistance fighter Max Manus was a huge hit on home turf, have turned to another native hero for "Kon-Tiki." One of the most-vaunted escapades of the 20th century, Thor Heyerdahl's 1947 Peru-to-Polynesia expedition by raft gets glossy big-screen treatment in this efficiently told action-adventure. Delivering visual drama and understated character study, sometimes in disappointingly formulaic fashion, the feature has its incisive moments but falls short as both epic and intimate portrait.

The go-to beverage of Cinco de Mayo is now available in dessert form. Margarita cupcakes are the latest offering from Scottsdale cupcake shop Sprinkles. The tangy little number with key lime-tequila cake capped by key lime frosting and sprinkled with salt is available May 3-5 at the bakery, 4501 N. Scottsdale Road.

On Sunday, the popular PBS restaurant review show, “Check, Please! Arizona,” hosts its first food festival at CityScape in Phoenix. While attendees enjoy a plethora of food and wine samples and live demonstrations from award-winning chefs like Robert McGrath and Chris Bianco, one humble festival booth — Pittsburgh Willy’s Gourmet Hot Dogs — takes the next step in its Cinderella story.

Sonoran Science Academy

With the housing recovery gaining steam, Americans have more incentives to paint up, touch up and otherwise redecorate their homes. But there’s no need to spend willy-nilly.

Longtime guests on “A Prairie Home Companion,” this roots band revives an old-fashioned genre in a new era. They are touring in support of their latest album, “Carry Me Back,” along with special guests, Dale Watson and the Texas Two.

The Ahwatukee Foothills Chamber of Commerce’s Women in Business is the proud host of Red, White and Beautiful and this year it is booming! Red, White and Beautiful is a unique girls’ night out of pampering and shopping just in time for Mother’s Day. Red, White and Beautiful began in June of 2010 as a fundraiser to support the community Red, White and Boom fireworks.

Growing up in Nigeria Victor Jakpor said he didn’t notice the poverty of his village.

A knack for moving things forward may be the most important skill Anne Gill brought with her to the Ahwatukee Foothills Chamber of Commerce when she became president and chief executive officer of the chamber in November 2011.

If you’ve been putting off pampering to pinch pennies, it’s time to gleefully smash that piggy bank to smithereens.

Does your outfit blend into the woodwork?

Ahmed Alsoudani says that America is a dreamland. Yet, his complex paintings of violence and warfare are very much influenced by his upbringing.

Love fashion but can’t exactly jet off to runway shows in New York or Milan? You can see a fashion show right here at home when The East Valley Institute of Technology (EVIT) hosts its parade of 150 outfits created by 53 first- and second-year fashion students.

With all the gizmos, gadgets and electronic media available these days, it can be tough for parents to get kids to sit down with good old-fashioned books. But regular reading, done for fun, is linked to better school performance and can expose kids to a world of knowledge.

It may not be as mainstream a form of expression these days as, say, Instagram, but poetry, that old-fashioned art of arranging language to create an emotional response through meaning, sound and rhythm, is alive and well.

A House panel voted Wednesday to void parts of local anti-discrimination ordinances designed to give protections to transgendered individuals.

Cavemen — they're just like us! — or so "The Croods" seems to be saying with its familiar mix of generational clashes, coming-of-age milestones and generally relatable laughs.