Plenty of companies have decided not to open on Black Friday (and a tip of the hat to them for it) but whether you’re shopping the day after Thanksgiving or just some random Tuesday in December, I find actual brick-and-mortar stores to be unbearable around the holidays. Luckily, there’s a way you can avoid those stores…
Read MoreHow to win at Christmas – Gifts for geeks
Although there are some people willing to sleep outside in sub-zero temperatures amongst the other bargain hunters who will eventually attempt to trample them in order to get the last Elsa costume pajama set (insert your own “Let it Go” joke here), I have never been tempted by Black Friday sales. As I explained in my last post,…
Read MoreHow to win at Christmas – Handmade holiday gifts
I don’t celebrate Christmas. This means I don’t really feel the stress of the holiday shopping season (and judging by the looks on other people’s faces, it’s really stressful). That being said, I still do like giving gifts. I don’t reserve my gift-giving just to Christmas. If I see something I know a friend will like,…
Read MoreHow to feed a niche
I have a not-so-secret love for products with only one, very specific use. It takes a fantastic amount of chutzpah to get someone to spend money on something like a piece of plastic to fold shirts just a little bit more neatly. The gold standard of tunnel vision innovation is, without question, Williams-Sonoma. They have…
Read MoreOf cabbages and kings
There was terrible traffic. My alarm didn’t go off. The weather really slowed things up. There was a cabbage and fish sale at the grocery store. As far as morning delays go, this is definitely a new one for me. There’s a grocery store in the basement of the building where I work, and when…
Read MoreHappy Spending Days
Let’s just get this out of the way, right off the bat: I don’t celebrate Christmas. When I lived in China this was inconceivable to people because they thought of Christmas as the quintessential American holiday. This was particularly evident in this classroom display my students prepared when I worked as a teacher. I probably…
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Positively Natalie 