Asymmetry can be such a relief, “breaking” the obvious perfection of a designed space. We’ve long been a fan of mismatched chairs…but hadn’t thought of mismatched pendant lights. A simple, unexpected visual surprise. via French by Design Related posts: wabi sabi, the perfection of imperfection thanksgiving logistics: makeshift tables + chairs we’re back (breaking our…
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With the holidays fast approaching, everyone we know is starting their annual scramble to find great gifts. We’ve always felt that books make the best children’s presents. Over the years we’ve posted some of our favorites, all of which encourage creative thinking. From surprising cookbooks to clever craft projects, we highly recommend these six books…
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Our friend Jacque Burke is the Communications Director for The Dutch and Locanda Verde, lynchpins of chef Andrew Carmellini‘s growing restaurant empire. She sent us a photo of this astonishing to-do list with some thoughtful commentary, and inadvertently became a guest blogger: “I had some work waiting for me at Locanda Verde, and when I went…
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(Video link here.) The weekend is here. Time to take a road trip cross country with this little desk toy, using a toy car and Google Maps Street View. A little beauty of homemade animation by Tom Jenkins. via Open Culture Related posts: ‘the world is full of interesting things’ on the massively creative internet and…
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“A wide field meteor camera at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center recorded this spectacular meteor breaking up in Earth’s atmosphere on Sept. 30, 2011, 8:37 p.m. EDT. Also visible is a star-like object moving slowly toward the upper middle of the field of view — the upper stage of the Zenit booster that launched the…
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When we did our 2-minute survey, we discovered that A LOT of our readers love that there are no ads on ‘the improvised life’, that we are not trying to sell them something. Not having advertising is easier-said-than done: ads provide revenue that pays for the production costs of content. No ads = no $$.…
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We have a lot of respect for writer Michael Pollan’s writing about the food industry, and heard that his 2009 book Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual presented a sane approach to eating. But we’ve been so bombarded over the years with”scientifically proven” strictures about what to cook and eat that were later proven WRONG, that our…
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The streets of Tangier in North Africa are a mix of the ancient and the contemporary but some traditions still hold fast. Outdoor cafes are populated with men who seem to sit for hours on end, drinking strong coffee or Moroccan ‘whiskey’ – gunpowder green tea with loads of fresh mint and sugar. Passing the…
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