Winter is coming and the steam room at my gym is broken

Saw this impeccably designed humidifier on Swiss Miss.

There are few household items uglier than the modern humidifier. I simply refuse to have one in my little 18 century home. But this one, by the Japanese firm Middle Colors is timeless and lovely. Designed by Takashi Hiroshi Tsuboi, it is capable of producing steam for up to ten hours and if you read Japanese, you can buy it here. These colors are luscious.

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Boo!

Happy Halloween!

The little Ghosts are my favorites. From Burdick Chocolates in Walpole, NH and Cambridge, MA. The photo below was taken at my friend Kathie's. She's having a tag sale tomorrow and has a ton of vintage fabric and textiles. Neither of us sew, but we both think that had we ever lived previous lives it would have been as textile designers.

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Gilt Groupe goes in for HUGE sale

Starting today there's a giant sale at Gilt Groupe.

Gilt Groupe, the by invitation only, sample sale site is having a huge sale today. If you want an invitation, send me an email at jilnelson{at}sbcglobal{dot}net. I love GG, but take issue with some of its business practices. For example shipping is $10 per item. Pretty steep I think. So if you buy two pair of shoes on the same day, they charge 20 bucks and send them in two different boxes. Also, unlike the best shopping sites such as Zappos, Figleaves and Amazon, they expect you to pay return shipping. The aforementioned sites also often have free shipping. GG has never made any offers. That said, I admit to being a huge fan. The sales all begin at noon and items sell out in minutes. So it's sort of like a game. Tomorrow is accessories ans shoes blow out sale.

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Sol LeWitt at Mass MoCA

I am looking forward to the (pre) opening of the Sol LeWitt retrospective on November 15.

Sol LeWitt: A Wall Drawing Retrospective, is a collaboration of Mass MoCA, the Yale University Art Gallery and Williams College Museum of Art. It is going to be huge. The aforementioned websites have tons of information on the exhibit. In fact there is a video timeline of the process of an installation at Andover on the Mass MoCA website that is very cool (see images below). The installation will remain on view for twenty-five years, occupying a 27,000-square-foot historic mill building in the heart of MASS MoCA’s campus. so there's no hurry to get there.
If you want to stay nearby, I would suggest the Porches Inn across the street. It's a hoot.

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Cleaning the DWR Way

Put on your apron. Your Fog apron that is.

I was about to recycle the large DWR catalog this afternoon, decided to look through it. Wow! There are all sorts of cool items for the home. Obviously with the economy going to hell in a hand basket, shopping is . . . perhaps ill-advised. Nevertheless, there are great ideas for the home and super ideas for gifts. The Fog Linen apron, by Japanese designer Yumiko Sekine is a good place to start. The complete collection, which can be seen on the DWR website, is made from linen from Lithuania is said to get softer and more absorbent over time.

I also found this useful little item. The table brush, part of the collection by Swedish designer Iris Hantwerk, is impressive in that it's almost, but not cute. It is so compact. I love things that are perfectly contained. Gotta love the business model too. According to DWR, "they hire and support visually impaired craftspeople" to make these wonderful everyday objects.
So Stop. Do not send this one out to recycle. Take another look.

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Table or Tray?

My friend John Simoudis pointed out the German contemporary furniture firm e15.

Sure I like contemporary, but often find it difficult to incorporate it in my tiny18th century house. More about that another time. . . . So I was quite delighted to find this dynamite coffee table, the Habibi, that doubles as a tray. Or is it vice versa?
Handmade, it is available in polished brass and stainless steel and each tray is spun and polished. Designed by Philipp Mainzer, they come untreated by chemicals (another plus) and will age accordingly, but of course you could polish it and keep it as is. I'll update on the price and availability.

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Try it For a CHANGE

I'm going to my first Tweet-up of CT-Rhode Island Twitter people tonight and thought I'd bring a prize for the organizer, Joe Cascio.

My friend Carol from Ashlawn Farm has created the Obama and the McCain Blends. The former fly out of the shop. You can order the latter from the website, but there aren't any on the shelves because it's not a big seller. The Obama blend is described as:

A sweet, balanced blend of dark and light roasted coffees from Kenya, Java and the Americas. Try it for a change.

The McCain blend as:

A light-roasted, highly caffeinated coffee. This edgy, strong, and reliable single origin, is grown in the hills of Vietnam.

I know that Carol tried to find beans from Panama because that's where McCain was born, but there was some snag.

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