What is it? The Evian Palace bottle. It comes in three pieces. First, a metal base with the embossed Evian logo that sits on a table (at exclusive restaurants only) as a suggestion device prior to the arrival of the waiter. Second, the 750ml bottle itself is made of glass-like PVC and is more slender than its mass-market cousin (the Palace design has an embossed Alps logo around its base and downplays the pink and blue Evian logo at its neck). Lastly, waitstaff add a stainless steel pourer on top after removing the regular cap.

The overall effect: The bottle looks like a carafe, sits on its own coaster, and the pourer is designed to slide a stream of water into your glass with as few bubbles as possible. (The restaurant keeps the metal components and recycles the bottle.) Evian will only allow the bottle in establishments where the waitstaff has been properly trained to use it.

Who is buying it: The rich (and the crazy).

Why this is significant: Evian Palace represents yet another attempt by marketers to turn a mundane, unbranded act that usually occurs free of charge into a ritualized "event" that can command a premium. It's the “elite hydration experience” for the contemporary consumer.

Ready to head out to the gym, travel to the park, or just brave a rough day at work?

Nope. You forgot something: Water! You'll soon be overheated, cranky, and very dehydrated. Then what? More coffee? I think not.

If you haven't already, you need to try Metromint water -- so cool you'll wonder why you haven't tried it sooner. Even the packaging screams 'cool'.

As most of you know, I am a water advocate (if there is such a thing) and water is one beverage in which I am particularly particular. Give me a bottle of Poland Spring and I'm satisfied. But flavored waters? Uggh. They're typically Kool-aid disguised as fad. I dismiss them outright. Basically, I'm against chemicals and artificial sweetners in food products; which most flavored waters are filled with!

However, Metromint is different. Without sounding too much like a commercial, this is the first flavored water that I keep coming back to on a regular basis. It's water infused with mint. Period. No artificial flavoring, no added calories, and no fake sweet taste. It's the perfect bottle of flavored water. To me it tastes like water with a refreshing instant cooling sensation. Come on you've all chewed gum, or ate an altoid and then drank water... you know what I'm talking about! And yes, this is that good.

Even better: They just introduced their newest flavor: Chocolatemint. Don't think milk chocolate, it's more like cocoa ... and it has an amazing cocoa flavor with a cool mint sensation. Like the rest of the Metromint family, Chocolatemint has no sweeteners, preservatives or calories. Not only is it my favorite, it's refreshing, and strangely addictive.

Once upon a time, you wouldn’t be caught dead without a soda in hand. Thankfully, since then, you've grown up. The problem though is you can't stand to have plain water all the time and most flavored water is full of chemicals and/or sugar.

Solution: Drink HINT water. This line of purified water has just a hint (hence the name) of a wide variety of natural flavors - and they're tasty! Did I mention, there are no sweeteners, no preservatives (absolutely nothing artificial) and no calories (nada, zip, zero)? That's my kind of water!

Choose from lime, pomegranate-tangerine, cucumber, mango grapefruit, tropical punch and pear. The cucumber and lime flavors were my favorites - that is, until their recent addition. Yes, my pals over at HINT have outdone themselves. They will soon be making available four new flavors: blackberry, watermelon, honeydew hibiscus and my favorite hibiscus vanilla, quite honestly the most original beverage since the introduction of flavored water. In fact, the essence of vanilla left in your mouth afterwards feels like you just ate dessert (my 5 year old son requested I put a bottle in his lunch box today). I'm not sure when this flavor will be available, but I'm telling you it's great!

You can find HINT in specialty markets, fine spas and luxe hotels in your area. Or simply visit DrinkHint.com and have a couple cases delivered directly to your door.

It's definitely not boring and it’ll keep you from reaching for that soda.

So go ahead (take a chance) and test the waters.

You do your part when it comes to the planet.

Taking ecofriendly taxis. Forgoing the night-light. (How many years of therapy did that take?) And though you may not be ready to ditch the SUV quite yet, hey, at least you’re making an effort.

So next time you drink water, take advice from The Biggest Loser and go green with a Brita Filter and Nalgene 'Filter For Good' water bottle. As you know, the new season of The Biggest Loser has already started and this time people are losing weight in pairs - husbands and wives, best friends, mothers and sons or daughters. Another new thing this season is their ban on bottled water. The Biggest Loser is trying to be more friendly to the planet, and drinking bottled water creates a huge amount of waste. Last year Americans threw out $1 billion worth of plastic.

The good news: You can start reducing waste at home, too. I’ve got three Brita faucet mounts and three reusable Filter For Good bottles that I’m giving away. I’ll randomly pick three of the commenters on this post to receive them - so leave a comment before January 30th and I might pick you.

In the meantime, you can go to the Filter For Good website and do what I did and take a pledge to reduce bottled water waste. And if you don’t win an FFG bottle in my giveaway, you can buy one and the proceeds will go to the Blue Planet Run Foundation, a nonprofit organization working to provide 200 million people with a lifetime’s worth of drinking water by 2027.

Just think: Your new Brita filter and Filter For Good water bottle are sure to spark a conversation. About, say, trading in that SUV for a sleek new hybrid.

You know, for the planet and all.

Related: Bottled Water vs. Tap Water.

Clearly you can see that I'm a sucker for packaging and I only mention this cool find because it has to be the best bottle shape ever.

Let me introduce you to SEI water

While it may take a while to catch on -- the bottle fits easily into your pocket, in your briefcase, or even in your purse. This bottle is not only useful it's fashionable (for both men and women) and like when the new VW Beetle was introduced everyone on the street will be staring you down (at first glance it looks like a flask of vodka!) And yes, to answer your question, the water actually tastes, well, like water!

Now, if only I could find myself a water boy to go get it for me!

If you don't have a water boy, have limited access to a grocery store or you live somewhere in the woods, don't fret as SEI will happily ship you a case from their website. $29.00, plus shipping, gets you a case of 24!