Just as we were getting ready to post another lovely recipe from The Cuban Table, our friend Ellen Silverman‘s brainchild created in league with Ana Sofia Pelaez, we heard the news that relations were getting warmer between Cuba and the US, that some of the embargo that’s hurt the country so terribly may be easing at last.…
Read MoreLOL: Eddie Izzard does Christmas
With all the Jingle Bells, frantic shopping and general freneticism, we need something LOL funny, and this is it.
Read MoreHandler’s Chic Multi-Purpose Vial for Tiny Essentials
Once, necessary functional objects were quiet tokens of personal style. Wrist watches, cigarette lighters, address books and compacts brought glamour and pleasure to everyday rituals. But they are fading away. To fill the void, Laura Handler designed something personal, portable and beautiful, that can’t be replaced by a cell phone or a plastic disposable. The…
Read More1 Minute Antidote to the Holiday Rush
Longtime reader and friend Sybille Palmer sent us this poem found in Writer’s Almanac, along with a photo of the newly fallen snow in Taos, New Mexico where she lives. It’s a fine example of Arthur C. Brooks principles for antidoting the holiday rush: embrace experience rather than things…stop for a minute and take in something…
Read MoreLooking for Holiday Gift Ideas? We’ve Got ‘Em
Lately, readers have been giving subscriptions to Improvised Life as gifts for friends and family. Just go to our subscribe page and select a year’s subscription to give 650 or so illuminating reads per year. We also recommend checking out Improvised Life’s Shop for a personally curated selection of compelling books, tools, housewares, and toys that…
Read MoreHoliday Wrapping Paper: Found, Made, Bought
One of our favorite times in the holidays is wrapping gifts, usually done last-minute before flying out to a party, with whatever is on hand. We have some closet space dedicated to found papers, ribbons, fat hunks of rope and interesting colored twines, a vast variety of colored tapes, salvaged boxes as well as Dollar Store shopping…
Read MoreHoliday Strategy?: Abundance Without Attachment
For those wondering how to navigate the lavishness and commercialization of Christmas, we recommend “Abundance without Attachment”, Arthur C. Brooks’ New York Times’ op-ed in which he tells of the three principles he’s learned for handling the painful contradictions of the season and of our aspirational era.
Read MoreHoliday Hair Do’s
Human invention and creativity applied to holiday hair-do’s. Pure wonder! via Chris Eldredge
Read MoreAn Intro to ‘Bird by Bird”s Brilliant Instructions on Life
A while ago, Brain Pickings posted on Anne LaMott’s Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, for our money one of all time BEST books about the creative process. Although we’ve written about the book ourselves — including our crazy-favorite quote about being “flanged” — Brain Pickings offers a trove of excerpts that make a fine introduction if you’re…
Read MoreLEGO Gifts for Inventions Both Utilitarian & Playful
Chinese design studio KBme2 believes that there are simple ways to create housewares that could truly belong to the user. They tested their idea our using LEGO, the timeless building tool beloved by both children and adults.
Read MoreFour Principles for Generating Good Luck
Psychologist Richard Wiseman completed a ten-year study to figure out why some people, even smart ones, are luckier than others. He explains how and what he found in illuminating detail in “Be Lucky —It’s an Easy Skill to Learn” in the Telegraph. The gist: people who generate good luck practice four essential principles.
Read MoreSally on Splendid Table: Gifts, Table Decorations + Recipes
Check out Public Radio’s The Splendid Table interview with Sally about her favorite gift ideas for cooks and eaters. Most are inexpensive but give a big bang for the buck. To find more about the gifts on Improvised Life, click here for a roundup. You can also hear her favorite holiday tabletop decorations (some of which made great…
Read MoreWooden Board Bed Table
We have used wooden boards as a giant wooden trivet…cool oddly-shaped cutting boards…a bathtub desk… low tables and shelves… We hadn’t thought to use one as a bed table… GREAT. via Aasaber’s Instagram via SF Girl By Bay
Read MoreSong for Any Day: Hallelujah (K.D. Lang + Leonard Cohen)
(Video link Here.) Suzanne Shaker sent us this wondrous video of K.D. Lang singing Hallelujah. We love many things about it: beyond the astonishing rich and forthright voice, and a song of pure joy is Lang singing barefoot before thousands. And when they regale her with praise, she bows long, deeply-moved, expressing the Hallelujah she just sang. According to…
Read MoreWeekend Cocktail: The Cuban Table’s Mojito
As we start the run up to the weekend— we thought we’d feature the Mojito recipe from our new favorite cookbook, The Cuban Table: A Celebration of Food, Flavors, and History by Ellen Silverman and Ana Sofia Pelaez. Pelaez tells the story behind the delish cocktail that is made right in the glass:
Read MoreMesmerizing Guerilla Action: Balls on Escalator
(Video link HERE.) We have a soft spot in our heart for slightly subversive guerilla actions that shifts people’s views in public spaces, or provide a bit of art or science to illuminate. Colored balls set loose on an escalator make for a wonderful, anonymous “static loop of kinetic energy, redefining location“. No other info given.…
Read MoreFreestanding Painting Room Screen from The Glass House
In Remodelista’s recent 14 Lessons in Minimalism from the Glass House, we found many good ideas (in addition to a gratifyingly voyeuristic house tour). We especially love Philip Johnson’s inspired idea to mount a large painting on a stand to make an artful room partition.
Read MoreYour History of Distruptive Ideas
One of the best end-of-the-year “lists” we’ve come across is Businessweek’s The 85 Most Disruptive Ideas in Our History. We’ve loaded it onto our phone to read in spare moments about the influence of the Polaroid, whiteboards, contact lenses, smartphones, the sharing economy, bottled water, Power Point, Parkinson’s Law, Open Source, and Motown, to name a few.…
Read MoreChristmas Light Cars and Trucks
After Holton Rower emailed this photo of a car festooned with christmas lights, we wondered if we’d find more iterations of this unusual holiday decoration. Sure enough, we found all manner of vehicles decorated for the holiday,
Read MorePlywood Love: Bauhausian Kitchen Storage
This kitchen refurb by Hearth used plywood as cabinet storage in an elemental Bauhausian way. We love geometry of the squares and rectangles, the the grain showing through the washed finish and the holes instead of handles. …and are reminded once again the appeal of sliding panels… via Desire to Inspire
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