From Anthony Giglio: “Was in Atlantic City this weekend having dinner at Buddakhan. They gave us chopsticks but nowhere to rest them! Then I saw my friend had used the paper wrapper to make an improv one. Thought of you. Not earth shattering… but fun.” We have a friend who makes elaborately folded origami-like chopstick…
Read Morefor sale: fab mid-century modern folding desk (nyc)
For many years, I’ve enjoyed this amazingly-designed mid-century folding desk. The desk unit looks like a normal small wardrobe but when you open it, closed cabinet swings open on both sides to reveal pull-out desk. It has many any moveable shelves, a large drawer with pencil/pen holder, large slide out shelf and a even a moveable…
Read MoreChic, Not Shabby, Dropcloth-draped Sofa
On a recent Selby visit, we spotted this fabric-draped sofa in the wonderful home of Hitoshi Uchida-san – owner of J’Antiques Tokyo (check out the full story). The beauty of it is that the sofa is covered with a really big swath of fabric that can bunch and drape luxuriously. The fabric is wide enough to go from…
Read Morelines ballet’s alonso king: waking up our internal teacher
(Video link here.) When Amy Schoening told us about her friend and teacher Alonso King, founder of Lines Ballet, we went right to a video she made about him. King is clearly a transformative teacher, the kind of person we’d love to have as a mentor. His teachings about dance and movement are really teachings about life…its…
Read Morekeep flying!
As you may have noticed, we have a thing for images of people flying and leaping, free falling and sailing through the air – to where? – with no constraints. (Because it’s what we want to do). Today we found a delicious trove on John Foster’s Accidental Mysteries column on Design Observer… Related posts: fly! (merce…
Read Morechic rusty steel paperweight, via ‘the selby’
We have a fondness for rusted and/or corroded bits of steel, aged into a patina that no artist could produce (well…maybe Richard Serra). We find them lying in the street, along railroad trestles, near construction sites. They are sculptures unto themselves that often have great uses, like this stunning vintage nail – a railroad tie perhaps…
Read Moreslowing down and counting blessings
(Video link here; start at 4:50) We had a non-stop day, working on a big project, then racing back to write a post many hours late…wondering if we might write about lateness, or busyness or not-living-up-to-our-obligationness, which so many people we know are trying to figure out. We were poking around the files, half-written posts,…
Read Moresurviving a power outage in style
The northeast had a surprise snowstorm in late October which left a lot of people without power. Our good friend Pamela Hovland sent us pictures of her family’s improvised living arrangements: mattresses arranged around the fire place with an array of colorful quilts and pillows made for cozy, impressively stylish indoor camping. But best of all…
Read Moremaking art out of a ‘wasteland’ via vik muniz
(Video link here.) On TV last week, we caught a compelling video made by The Guardian about artist Vik Muniz’s recent work. Over three years he traveled to his native Brazil to photograph “catadores” – pickers of recyclable materials – who comb daily through Jardim Gramacho, the world’s largest garbage dump, located on the outskirts of Rio…
Read Morebob dylan’s blessing (+ our thanksgiving wish for you)
(Video link here.) At Apple’s recent celebration of Steve Jobs’ life, Norah Jones sang Bob Dylan’s classic Forever Young, which he wrote in the early ’70’s. Although we’ve heard the song many times over the years, we never really focused on the lyrics until we watched the video of Jones’ performance and looked them up. We…
Read Morerole model: david smith
What the sculptor David Smith could do with with simple squares and rectangles… …. …his studio is as inspiring…
Read Moreresources for fixers
A clear sign of our economic times, the Wall Street Journal recently published an article about the growing trend of folks who attempt home repairs before throwing out a broken appliance. The article cites notable increases in customer service calls for help with do-it-yourself home repairs, and increases in the sales of replacement parts. We…
Read Moremessages from the future, written in the past
In October, 2010 I had just started graduate school and was in a bit of a panic about my choice. I was setting myself up for somewhat limited career options and would graduate with a sizeable chunk of student debt. So when I was asked, at a conference I attended that fall, to write myself…
Read Moreinsta-meditation: a history of the sky + moby
(Video link here.) When our mind starts running hot like a machine overworking – fast and full of ideas and writing and deadlines – we welcome ways to slow down. This little film does the work of meditating, chilling us out while connecting us to a broader view of the life we are living. (The…
Read Morethanksgiving logistics: makeshift tables + chairs
Last week, we posted our best recipes for how to brine a turkey, make side dishes and freeform tarts, and some suggestions for wines to serve at the feast. If you’re having a crowd, now’s the time to figure out what to serve all this on, and where the guests will sit… We went back…
Read Moreholstee’s inspiring video manifesto
(Video link here.) We LOVE manifestos – in fact have one of our own (click “about” in the right sidebar), so were delighted by the very cool, fun Holstee video manifesto to live your life by. Here’s a version you can put on your wall:
Read More6 thanksgiving wines to toast the turkey
If ever a meal were improvised it’s Thanksgiving, where cooks from tested to terrified face off with one common ingredient and end up with something completely different than practically everyone else’s. That’s because turkey challenges our sensibilities and confidence, from its oversize anatomy that cooks at different speeds, to its flavor spectrum that ranges from…
Read Morefoolproof roast turkey recipe + brining strategies
I know of very few people who don’t get anxious at the prospect of roasting a turkey. Because the breast cooks more quickly than the dark meat thigh, it is often dry and overcooked by the time the bird comes out of the oven. Nobody seems to be certain of what, exactly, the best roasting…
Read Morea wondrous ipad app for kids and adults
Yesterday, we downloaded several iPad apps, hoping to check in with what the latest technology was doing. We tried apps for viewing art, reading magazine articles, listening to music that promised to present a ‘multi-dimensional experience.’ Among the most compelling was an multi-dimensional app designed for children, that charmed and resonated with our grownup selves.…
Read Morethe scar project
We can’t stop thinking about The Scar Project, a series of photographs by fashion photographer David Jay of women under 40 who have survived breast cancer; they openly reveal the dramatic scars left by surgery. The photos are completely arresting: very beautiful and at times difficult to look at. But it’s that difficulty that makes them…
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