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Do you like stuff? So do we! Stuff for the mind, for passing time, for sharing, for yourself, for fun. Mariva's Guide brings you interesting, innovative, beautiful, entertaining and useful products, web sites, articles and images -- in other words, this, that and the other thing.
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New Year’s Eve fashions
What to wear to a New Year’s Eve party:
Posted December 30, 2005 by Mariva in entertaining, fashion, holidays, home, social
smell and scents |
When I was conducting research for my post on scented paper, I came across some interesting smell-related sites: |
Posted December 29, 2005 by Mariva in bath & spa, beauty, education, health, home, resources
scented paper?
Does scented paper exist? I’ve been intrigued by the concept since seeing Legally Blonde, in which Reese Witherspoon’s character Elle Woods submitted her resume on paper that was not only pink, but scented as well, to give it that "extra something." After conducting my own exhaustive research, however, I found out that you can’t just purchase a ream of scented paper at, say, Office Depot.
The only products I found that were even close to this mythical scented paper included:
Posted December 28, 2005 by Mariva in bath & spa, business, decor, entertaining, gifts, home, innovations
the ideal Swiss Army knife |
What’s in your ideal Swiss Army knife? Along the lines of the ultimate house, I designed my own ultimate pocket tool. My Swiss Army knife would include the usual: |
as well as some high-tech mini-gadgets:
Posted December 27, 2005 by Mariva in gadgets, gifts, innovations
foot spa bath
A cup of tea, the big newspaper (or a good book) and feet soaking in warm bubbling water — can you imagine a better way to spend Sunday mornings in winter? The only challenge to this cozy scenario is how to keep the water warm in the foot bath. I grew frustrated with having to get up to refill the foot bath in the middle of a relaxing soak because the water had become tepid. Unlike other foot spa baths, the HoMedics JetSpa Ultra Jet Action Pedicure Footbath not only actually keeps the water warm (even hot!), it can heat up cold water via its own safe heating mechanism. The bubbles and jet action are nice, too. It comes with a brush and pumice stone pedicure attachments, but I never use them. The system is great for softening toenails for a spa-quality pedicure. So no more annoying refill interruptions — you can keep your feet in this thing until your soles wrinkle and you’ve gotten through the entire paper.
Available for under $60 here and here.
Posted December 26, 2005 by Mariva in bath & spa, beauty, gifts, health, home
Season’s Greetings |
Courtesy of Wikipedia, please have a happy and well-informed: |
Posted December 23, 2005 by Mariva in education, holidays, resources, social
robin’s egg soaps in apothecary jar
robin’s egg soaps in apothecary jar
These soaps are so beautiful that you’ll have to convince yourself to use them — and you’ll want to. The aquamarine blue soaps contain fragrant chamomile and meadowsweet extracts, and the “speckles” on the eggs are bits of oatmeal and wheat bran for gentle exfoliation. Best of all, these French-milled, high-lather, vegetable-based soaps are "nested" inside an old-fashioned apothecary jar.
Posted December 21, 2005 by Mariva in bath & spa, decor, gifts, home
winter holiday music
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Jethro Tull Christmas Album I’ve never been much of a Deadhead, but as youthful musical obsessions go, I would say I was definitely more of a Tull Skull. As such, this is one of my favorite winter holiday albums. Please don’t ask me what the lyrics mean; I usually don’t have a clue. But the album is delightful nonetheless — very solstitial.  |
Posted December 20, 2005 by Mariva in entertaining, entertainment, gifts, holidays, home, music
Mind-Reading Electronic Question GameDoes it fly? Can it cry? Can you eat it? Is it blue? Can you throw it? The Mind-Reading Electronic Question Game is a cool-looking device that can guess an object that you’re thinking of (although I can’t imagine that it could come up with obscure band names and scientific terms). Good for long trips, waiting rooms, bored kids and party ice-breakers.
Or you could just play 20 Questions online for free.
Posted December 19, 2005 by Mariva in entertaining, entertainment, fun, gadgets, games, gifts, home, innovations, social, travel
the antisocial bagpiper
I often find the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s daily news show As It Happens amusing in a, well, Canadian sort of way. While much of the news comprises standard reports about national or global affairs, some segments focus on stories with a distinctly maple leaf flavor, such as fishing contests, hockey games, hunting adventures and so on. But stories set in other countries have a folksy tone as well. A story on December 9 had me cracking up: Andrew Caulfield, a thirteen-year-old bagpiper, had gotten in trouble with the city council of Paisley, Scotland for playing his bagpipes too loudly and disturbing a neighbor. The council threatened to label the boy as "antisocial." Listen as Caulfield recites a litany of what antisocial really means. (Forward your audio player to 21 minutes, 37 seconds to listen to the 8-minute segment.)
Posted December 16, 2005 by Mariva in entertainment, music, news
