New Year’s Friday {postscript} : Owning the moments

In case you’re nursing a hangover or you’re just plain sick of all the year-end/new-year hubbub, I won’t share any New Year’s resolutions (I don’t believe in them). Nor will I give any advice on goal-setting and intentional living.

I’m an advocate of living smack dab in the moment, and the best advice I ever heard was play whenever you can and laugh a lot in between. To that end, here’s a roundup of some of the past year’s more therapeutic stories.

Cats in kimonos craze sweeps Japan

No, I’m not kidding. I’m not sure what it says about Japan that cat owners dress their pusses in kimonos—a traditional robe usually reserved for special occasions—but I can’t deny its cuteness.

See the full slideshow at Fast Company. And if you want to join the fun, you can now purchase cat (or small dog) kimonos on Amazon:


These pinup-girl cat-lookalikes are pretty cute, too, though some are a tad risqué.

(I meant the girls. If you think the cats are risqué, I have a therapist I can recommend.) See the full array if you dare, also at Fast Company. Sorry, no wardrobe or props available.

Owning the view: Eiffel’s Tower

Is this young man ingenious or what? Of course, I’m already wondering what other views he could pick up once (if!) he tires of the tower and starts playing with mirror adjustments. 

If you try something similar at home with mirrors or a long lens, a la Hitchcock’s Rear Window, just don’t get arrested, or worse yet, murdered!

On the IKEA front, a two-fer

1. How IKEA took over the world 

This Fortune article details the strategy and research the Swedish retailing giant puts into building the world we love to live in, tailored to where and how we live. 

It’s a serious but compelling read and does my heart good to hear about a manufacturer/retailer with this much interest in its customers. 

Where can I sign up for the in-home anthropologist? Move over (and out), WalMart!

2. IKEA Heights

If you prefer a little humor with your IKEA cuppa, subscribe to this new Youtube channel. At last count it included seven episodes of a soap-opera spoof filmed clandestinely in a real California IKEA store. 

Each episode is under five minutes with no commercials, unless you count the IKEA stock that makes up the impromptu “sets.”

WTF?!!

German creative firm Atelier Van Lieshout recently, uh, mounted a massive installation that’s bound to, er, rub some viewers the wrong way. Dubbed "The Domestikator," this giant coital house is part of a series called "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly," unveiled at the annual Ruhrtriennale Festival. Which one do you think this is? Good, bad, ugly or all three? Is there another position--I mean, choice?

One reporter wrote that it reminded him of cyclops having sex. It reminds me of Legos having sex (which seems tantamount to child porn) or computer pixels (which makes me want to wash my hands and swear off blogging). I don’t know what’s weirder: all the gawkers or the rear view. Too bad we don’t get to see inside, but I guess they didn't have the budget for exit showers.

I’m an interior design nut, so I can’t help speculating on how it could be furnished. Something along these lines, I bet…

Panton World

The "living tower" designed by Verner Panton functions as a sofa, sort of. It’s more like a climbing tower/perch. I think it may have been a prop in the movie The Group. Or was it Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice?

More possibilities can be found at Panton World, while Apartment Therapy has rounded up a broader spectrum of the wonderfully weird furniture of the 1970s for your viewing delight.

All this is merely a reminder that there are as many ways to see as there is stuff to see. And just when you think you’ve seen it all, something new turns up. Or bends over. Or thrusts itself upon the scene. Or…well.

10 foods/drinks long-lived people swear by

You’ll be pleasantly surprised to know bacon, chocolate, fried chicken and booze show up consistently in recommendations given by people aged 108 to 127. I don’t want to live that long, but I don’t mind eating for it anyway. Get the full menu at Food 52.

An interesting side note: Two of the six supercentenarians interviewed recommend remaining single, too. I guess it’s easier to hog all the goodies that way.

Cute pets and what they get away with

Check out Apartment Therapy’s Behavior We Accept from Our Pets (that We’d Never Let a Roommate Get Away With). Or a partner, I might add.

My fave? Not respecting your privacy, though Chris has been known to follow me into the bathroom for conversation and not get reprimanded. Much.

Speaking of pets one last time...

Now Serving Boba

Design Sponge put together a slide show of 42 Cute Pet Pics to End 2015, all sent in by its readers. This is #42. Can I just say, he sure looks like he’s leaving 2015 in the dust?

Onward and upward into 2016! Bow-wow!!

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