The Modern Materialist

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• Stick Your Click In It

  Ooo, look at that. I wonder what happens when you click on it:   Read More... Posted Sep 29 2008, 06:00 PM by Alex Zalben with | with no comments Filed under: outdoors, toys, geeky, kites

• Give Someone Special a Dutch Tub

  No, not a Dutch Oven (gross), a Dutch Tub: Read More... Posted Sep 23 2008, 01:36 PM by Alex Zalben with | with no comments Filed under: outdoors, tubs

• Make Room for Making Out

  Back when I lived in Chicago, one of my favorite things to do was hit the beach every chance I had from May to September. Luckily, I was just a 15 minute walk from Foster Beach, or a 5 minute bike ride, so getting there was cake. When I started dating my now-boyfriend who flew in once a month from New York, I'd drag city-boy to the beach with me and try to show him what a romantic setting it could be. While I was busying rubbing sunblock on his back and pointing out the cute girls in small bikinis for him to oggle with my blessing, he was busy checking the Yankees score on his cell phone and mumbling about what a crappy season they were having. Hey, you can take the boy out of New York.... Anyway, this picture reminded me of my days back on the beach, but there's one thing amiss with the couple's set-up. Thoses glasses of wine they're holding? Where are they going to put them when they're tired of drinking and ready to make-out?? Once they set them on the sand, they'll just get knocked over and spill and I don't know about them, but I, for one, don't like wasting a drop of my booze. In order to save their wine and to savor every second of their make-out time, they need one of these:  Read More... Posted Jun 05 2008, 10:00 AM by Wendy Atterberry with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: outdoors, beach

• Recession Living Tip #1

  Just cuz you get laid off and kicked out of your apartment, doesn’t mean you can’t throw righteous cookouts anymore. Take that severance check and get yourself a Freedom Grill. Then find a good parking spot for a BBQ and evite/tweet/smoke signal/whatever your buds. What's so special about this Freedom Grill?, you ask. Well, I'll tell you: Read More... Posted Jun 02 2008, 02:45 PM by Brian Marabello with | with no comments Filed under: outdoors, grilling, tailgating, trailer

• Tree Chime

  Maybe if I hang this somewhere on my rooftop, I'll forget that I live in the middle of Manhattan where the only trees that exist outside of Central Park are made of 22 pieces of frosted glass that clink when a breeze blows.  [$59.95, Signals]  [via Rare Bird Finds]  Posted May 16 2008, 03:00 PM by Wendy Atterberry with | with no comments Filed under: home decor, outdoors

• Round Up: Outdoor Accessories

  [$24.95-$47.95, Home Infatuation]  Now that the weather has gotten nice, I've been spending a lot more time on our rooftop. I do a little yoga and various exercises up there in the morning and in the evening, Drew and I enjoy a cocktail as the day winds down. It's really peaceful and relaxing to be so highand away above the busy city street below, but so far, I'm ashamed to say, aside from moving a dinette set up to the roof, we haven't really done anything to make it as much as an oasis as it could be. So, this post is dedicated to those of us who could use a little push in sprucing up our outdoor spaces for the summer. These beautiful rugs pictured above are not only water-proof, they're resistant to color fading and soft enough to walk on barefoot. At less than $50, they're really reasonably prices, too, leaving enough cash for these other great outdoor accessories:   Read More... Posted May 08 2008, 02:30 PM by Wendy Atterberry with | with no comments Filed under: home decor, outdoors, round up

• The Sweet and a Low: Outdoor Shower Mist

  [£427.47 (roughly $850), Made in Design] Hey, remember last week when I posted about that ridiculously expensive outdoor shower that sold for over $850 plus another several hundred for the extra parts to set it up? Well, I found something that works pretty much the same way and costs about the same as a pitcher of Margaritas:   Read More... Posted May 05 2008, 10:00 AM by Wendy Atterberry with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: outdoors, The Sweet and The Low

• Talking Bug Zapper Gross, Annoying

  I hate bugs. I mean, really hate bugs. If they’re big, I’m scared of them, but for the most part I wish bugs would go away, forever. I realize that would destroy the ecosystem or whatever, but come on: bugs are gross, and if you like bugs, you are gross. It’s a fact. That being said, there’s two things I hate more than bugs: Read More... Posted May 01 2008, 03:30 PM by Alex Zalben with | with no comments Filed under: gadgets, outdoors, toys

• Quick Tip: Screw - Outdoor Shower

  Too bad I don't have a money tree in my backyard (or...a backyard, for that matter). I might be able to afford this awesome outdoor shower. You just screw a regular garden hose into it and you've got an instant shower for around the pool (too bad I don't have a pool) or for a luxurious rinse under the night stars. But for the price of the shower, you could probably afford to buy part of that starr night sky: Read More... Posted May 01 2008, 08:30 AM by Wendy Atterberry with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: Quick tip, outdoors

• Sale of the Day: Stainless Steel Weber Grill

  I'm convinced that living without a grill is one of the great tragedies in life. I know there are certain restrictions that one just can't get around — tenant rules, space issues, allergies to good times, but for those of you who are able to own a grill, you know, you understand, just how good the first BBQ of the season tastes. And let's face it, food cooked on a grill never gets boring and it always tastes so much better than dinner cooked in an oven or on a stove top, especially when someone else is doing all the work. After the jump, the Rolls Royce of grills. Read More... Posted Apr 28 2008, 01:00 PM by Wendy Atterberry with | with no comments Filed under: Cooking, outdoors, sale of the day

• Get Your Voyeur On With An Outdoor Shower

  I’ll get this right out of the way: I have no idea of the scale of this thing, only that it looks crazy and cool. Designerzeit has created a series of outdoor showers that mimic the look of their pool compatriots. The one pictured above is called Wave, but there’s also Ocean, Pacific, Rain, and Palm, all with their own metal, futuristic looking design. More info, and pics, after the jump...  Read More... Posted Apr 22 2008, 02:00 PM by Alex Zalben with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: outdoors, shower, pool

• Sale of the Day: Beetle Stunt Kite

  Living in midtown Manhattan can be pretty annoying, especially during tourist season, which is, like, 10 months of the year, but there are also advantages. In fact, there are exactly three advantages: Read More... Posted Apr 21 2008, 11:30 AM by Wendy Atterberry with | with no comments Filed under: outdoors

• The Sweet and the Low: Cafe Folding Chairs

  [$298, Chiasso] Now that it's really spring and I'm pretty sure I can safely pack away my winter coat for next year, all I can think about is maximizing my outdoor fun and comfort for the next 6 months. I'm thinking hula-hooping in the park, bike rides along the river, and picnics, of course. Naturally, thoughts are also turning to happy hour outside — bistros, back patios, and corner cafes that serve up spiked lemonade and big-ass margaritas will be my favorite places to hang out for the next few months. But I'm also eager to create my own little bistro on the rooftop. To do that, I'll need some cute cafe chairs that I can fold up and put away when it starts getting cold again in October. I love these cute chairs from Chiasso, but $298 is a bit more than I want to spend on a few chairs (I'd rather put my money towards margarita and mojito ingredients). But after a quick search online, I found some chairs that are practically identical to these and about 40% cheaper:   Read More... Posted Apr 17 2008, 10:00 AM by Wendy Atterberry with | with no comments Filed under: home goods, outdoors, The Sweet and The Low

• Rotating Gazebo Spins You Right Round, Baby, Right Round

  This is bigger than most New York apartments, am I right, people? Hey-yo! Anyway, Ornate Garden’s Rotating Sphere Lounge looks like something out of the 60s (the earlier part), and, you guessed it, rotates. I assume there’s a way to stop it, and that it doesn’t spin as fast as a Cyclotron, though that would be kind of hilarious. I would constantly be inviting people over for tea parties, giving them cups of hot tea, and then hitting the rotation. "HA HA, I burned you," I would say. Hilarious, right? Should I have stuck with the “bigger than a New York apartment” thing? [$6507, Ornate Garden] [Via Dvice]  Posted Mar 07 2008, 01:30 PM by Alex Zalben with | with no comments Filed under: outdoors

• Ready to Rock. Just Let Me Do a Little Gardening First.

  I've always been partial to elaborate outdoor speaker systems. Well hidden, they make it seem as if the music is just coming from the atmosphere. It also makes your yard feel a bit like Disneyland. My Uncle Tommy had one of these in his yard, except he always played Shania Twain through it, which never felt right. I'm thinking more along the lines of Bjork. Either way, a rock seems as good a disguise as any. Who looks at a rock? The speakers on these ones from Audio Unlimited can grab a 900 MHz wireless signal from up to 150 feet away. [Via Nexus404] [$149.99, Cables Unlimited]  Posted Feb 13 2008, 04:33 PM by Will Doig with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: gadgets, outdoors, rock, speaker system, audio

• Singing in the Rain — Or at Least Staying Dry

  [$37, Nike]  The weather is crap today, and so are my boots. In fact, I recently discovered (about two hours ago), that my boots are not, in fact, waterproof. My umbrella, however, kept the rest of me bone dry. I love it, though fellow pedestrians may not.  Posted Feb 13 2008, 12:40 PM by Steph Auteri with | with no comments Filed under: outdoors