"In Scandinavia, Pixies or Nisse is a household spirit that is responsible for the care and prosperity of a farm or family. A Nisse is usually described as a short man or woman (under four feet tall) wearing a red cap. While belief in guardian spirits is a very old tradition in Scandinavia, belief in Nisser was prominent in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Denmark, southern Norway and southern Sweden. Many farms claimed to have their own Nisse. The Nisse took an active interest in the farm by performing chores such as grooming horses, carrying bales of hay, and other farm-related tasks. These chores were usually done much more efficiently and effectively than by their human counterparts.However, Nisser could be temperamental, to say the least. If the household was not careful to keep its Nisse satisfied -- usually in the form of a single bowl of porridge with butter in it left out on Christmas Eve -- the spirit could turn against its masters.In the 1840s the farm's Nisse became the bearer of Christmas presents in Scandinavia, and was then called "Julenisse" and has been associated with Christmas ever since.The Swedish "Jultomte", the Norwegian "Julenisse", the Danish "Julemand" and the Finnish "Joulupukki" still has features and traditions that are rooted in the local culture: he doesn't necessarily retreat to the North Pole, but lives in a forest, field or stream nearby, or in Denmark he lives on Greenland, and in Finland he lives in Lapland; he or she does not come down the chimney on Christmas night, but arrives through the front door, delivering the presents directly to his household friends."- fjorn.com
Mix My Granola lets your customize various granola bases with your choice of a wide variety of dried fruit, nuts and seeds; you can even design the label for the bag.
Aside from being an incredibly simple but helpful tool, the thing that really endeared me to the Grandpa Witmer Natural Peanut Butter Hand Mixer was the R.N. Witmer Company website. Their slogan is "Turning Ideas into Products" and they sell four other products; a retractable clothesline, a sand auger for beach umbrellas, a vinyl flap called the "paperguard" for protecting newspapers from the elements and the peanut butter mixer.
Tom Junod's Esquire article , "What's Wrong with the Cover Song?" describes covers as being "gifts and thefts at the same time, shouts of flattery and whispers of ambition — the court jester's plot against the king. They are evolutionary episodes in song. They are the sound of the world spinning; they tell you what the world is going to sound like when you're not around to hear it. They reveal the strategy by which youth plans to take over."
I don't wear Chanel No. 5, in fact, I don't really like the way it smells however, I love its history. A few weeks ago, I felt the urge to drop everything I was doing and make an enormous bottle of Chanel No. 5 out of papier mache. As I was looking for images of the iconic bottle, I came across this NotCot post which points out how the bottle's proportions mimic Place Vendome.
"The list is the origin of culture. It's part of the history of art and literature. What does culture want? To make infinity comprehensible. It also wants to create order--not always, but often. And how, as a human being, does one face infinity? How does one attempt to grasp the incomprehensible? Through lists, through collections in museums and through encyclopedias and dictionaries." -Umberto Eco
It's the most wonderful time of the year!
Molo's Love Letter Light shows it fondness for Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni by re-appropriating the left over marble cylinder that is cut out from the base of the brothers' classic Arco Lamp.
The Shaker Workshops website gives you the option of buying their furniture fully assembled or as a kit at a discounted price. 
How 'bout that game last night? Here's how to pitch a 4-seam fastball, a 2-seam fastball, a cut fastball, a split finger fastball, a changeup, a curveball, and a slider. 
Apple season is in full swing. Here's a reference chart that details the use, harvest season, texture and taste of dozens of apple varieties. 
Benjamin Thompson's now-defunct store/studio, Design Research, is legendary for bringing unusual international (mostly Scandinavian) products to the States. In honor of its 40th anniversary, a collection of items sold at this Cambridge store in the 1970s, including Marimekko dresses, have been reassembled at the shop and can be viewed through the store's exterior windows. 
"Colorful Images" sounds like it should be a post-modern art criticism journal but in fact, it's a catalog specializing in "unique personlaized products, stationery, home decor, & gifts." I would describe it as the Oriental Trading of the personalized products world. In my opinion, 95% of the products offered by Colorful Images do not need to exist (see Santa's Pants Treat Holders below) however, they do have a variety inexpensive personlized address labels and notepads. Also, their website allows you to shop by theme which I appreciate.
