More clear plastic

New items from CB2 - the clear acrylic Vapor chair for $180, which would be a bargain for lovers of Lucite when compared with the $400 Philippe Starck Ghost chair or the even cooler and more expensive Z chair at $975.

Personally, I'm happy with my $30 clear chairs from T.J. Maxx. And they all laughed at me when I pulled them from the bottom of the clearance pile.

How to organizer your containers like a Marxist

Well, it's a new year, and everyone is offering personal organization tips. So here's mine.

Organizing the "Tupperware" drawer seems to be a big issue for people. I know it was when I was a wee bromeliad. Mom had many a meltdown while trying to find a matching lid for the container she had just dumped food into. We had a whole drawer just for plastic containers, but sooner or later, half of them would end up on the floor while mom riffled through the pile looking for a match. To this day, I associated plasticware with hopelessness.

I now live in 500 square foot apartment, and I can find a top for my bottom with my eyes closed. That's because I run a communist dictatorship.

Here's the solution for Tupperware and many similar organizational issues: Complete uniformity. All of my containers are absolutely identical. (And, because we are cheap, they also all happen to be reused snack containers. )

This works. Don't knock it.

Or as Karl Marx might put it: From each according to his ability, to each according to his lid.

Reflected light in winter

New York City in winter requires enjoying and appreciating reflected light. Most of us (self included) live in canyons. I stare out at a brick wall. Direct light only enters my apartment from the hours of 9 a.m to 9:30 a.m., from about May to July.

The rest of the time we make do with someone else's light.

I was stuck in my apartment with bronchitis for two weeks in October, and once every day, I received direct reflected light that bounced off a row of windows the next building over. For about 15 minutes, it hit the water fountain on our balcony and cast waves on the ceiling.

Unfortunately, I haven't been home during the correct daylight hours since. While I was busy, the sun moved on. I caught a little reflection this weekend from our balcony.

Back to work

Many folks will be dragging themselves back to work over the long holiday weekend. Here's some workplace inspiration from the January issue of Martha Stewart Living, which I trash picked in Tribeca. (It was still in the plastic wrapper. ) These are photos of the workspaces of Martha Stewart and her staffers.

Above is my favorite, which belongs to editorial director Fritz Karch. It's the kind I couldn't stand to work in but would love to sit in for 15 minutes or so and just look at each and every thing.

Here's Martha's. All I can say is "wow." The cleaning people must love her.

Day in lower Manhattan

We took our friend Mark on a walking tour of lower Manhattan Saturday. We walked more than 50 blocks on a lovely cold sunny day.


So many fun things to do in the city - like bagel soccer in Rockefeller Park.

Why I'm just chipper about the economy

So, enough of toss pillows and dishware for awhile. How about the economy?

Social psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky in a recent New York Times Op-Ed piece explains why I have trouble getting down about the world financial crisis.

"Because the news these days affects everyone, " she writes. "We care more about social comparison, status and rank than about the absolute value of our bank accounts or reputations. . . . In a world in which just about all of us have seen our retirement savings and home values plummet, it’s no wonder that we all feel surprisingly O.K."

Sonja's got my number. In fact, I'm not just OK, I'm downright giddy. I don't even have a retirement savings nor do I own a home. Now I've got all kinds of company down here at the bottom of several socio-economic indicators. We should throw a party. (I'll bring the lentils and off-brand soda.)

On the other hand, Gallup's annual Lifestyle Poll, conducting just a month, ago says our personal satisfaction rating is the lowest it's been since 1992. Lest you think this is because big hair is coming back (the major reason I could think of for life dissatisfaction in 1992), that's the year Gallup started this poll.

For all you newbie broke people out there, speaking as a person who's been broke since Brad met Jennifer, I'll testify that being lower income can be fun.

(Before Jeffery Sachs jumps down my throat, I'd like to take a moment to define being broke versus being poor versus being dirt poor.

• Poor is being forced to live in a high-crime neighborhood because you can't afford rent anywhere else.
• Dirt poor is eating corn kernels blown off trucks, like Zimbaweans are doing right now.
• Broke is not having a cell phone because you refuse to pay for the service. Which is also cheap. (Unless you don't have a cell phone because the service is expensive and you think cell phones cause memory loss, which is frugal and perhaps prudent. Or unless you don't want to pay for cell phone service and you think that when you are away from home you should be attending to your environment, not speaking in a very loud voice to your own head, which is frugerati.) But I digress.)

In her blog post How To Remain Happy When the Financial World Crumbles, Sonja says the happiest people take a bad situation and turn it into a transformative experience. And that's the whole point of this blog. We bromeliads take being broke as a challenge, one that inspires ingenuity and creativity.

And if that doesn't cheer us up, there are always new toss pillows at Target.

Nature-inspired modern pillows at Target

Target has a new assortment of organic modern style pillows, some of which look remarkably Thomas Paul-ine.

Above is a Thomas Paul silk pillow ($70 at velocityartanddesign.com).

Here's the Target pillow, also silk. ($25)

Here is Inhabit's morning glory pillow. ($60 at velocityartanddesign.com)

Here's Target's square floral toss pillow in grey. ($20)

Here's Inhabit's leaf pillow. ($60 at velocityartanddesign.com)


And two bargain basement leaf pillows from Target. ($15 each. Available only in stores.)