vivabit's scalable site

Posted in web design on July 9th, 2008 by allie / No Comments »

I love Vivabit's website design for one reason: it's perfectly scalable. In other words, it's incredibly well designed. It's also a very "fresh" site, in the sense that the different components work very well together and give breath to the design.

But the absolute beauty of it is it's scalability.

the daily coyote

Posted in blogs on July 8th, 2008 by allie / No Comments »

I recently found The Daily Coyote and it's quickly become one of my favorite photoblogs. The basic description of the site is that a ten-day-old coyote cub was orphaned and moved in with Shreve Stockton and her tomcat in Wyoming. The pictures are evocative and lovely and have made me wish for a coyote of my own.

shawn feeney's bff project

Posted in entertainment, interesting on July 2nd, 2008 by allie / No Comments »

An artist named Shawn Feeney is creating composite facial drawings using the faces of best friends, and eventually he plans to create one drawing that's a combination of all the faces.

The images he's created are incredibly entertaining, and as each new set goes up (he only has 19 now), it heightens my anticipation for the final sketch.

the walker bay rigid dinghy

Posted in entertainment on July 1st, 2008 by allie / No Comments »

I first heard of the Walker Bay boats on Craigslist and promptly fell in love. The 8 series is small enough for me to lift on top of my car, but big enough to hold two people and a dog. The perfect little boat for cruising around the bay near our house.

It's a little expensive, so I mainly cruise boards looking for used ones, but I'm also planning to ask Santa to stick one in my stocking. ;) For now I'm content to have it high on my bookmark list.

fleming's steakhouse mac and cheese

Posted in Uncategorized on June 30th, 2008 by allie / No Comments »

A few months ago my boyfriend and I went to Fleming's Steakhouse for dinner. One of the sides we ordered was their famous Chipotle Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese, which we have decided might be one of the seven wonders of the culinary world. You must go there and try it, it will amaze your mouth (no, seriously, it's like a food orgasm).

I finally broke down and decided to search for the recipe, which I did find, but considering one serving has enough fat and calories to kill you, I haven't made it quite yet. But it's bookmarked, because one day we won't be able to resist!

jack: an occasional restaurant

Posted in food, restaurants on June 25th, 2008 by allie / No Comments »

I love Habeas Brulee—it's one of the best foodie blogs out there—so the fact that they have an "occasional restaurant" instantly intrigued me. It's called Jack, and they're open for one seating on Saturday nights (7PM to 10PM) "once a month or so," with a multi-course tasting menu.

Next time I'm in NYC, I'm making a reservation, because their menus look amazing.

color combo library

Posted in web design, web tools on June 24th, 2008 by allie / No Comments »

When I'm designing a new website for a client, half the time they have their perfect idea in mind and the other half want me to come up with something new and fresh and completely unique. It's always a crapshoot. And while I usually get the structure easily, the colors have been known to cause aggravation.

And that's when I turn to the Color Combo Library, plop the client in front of the computer screen and ask them what they like. They can choose to look through the library, narrow it down to a specific color (which then shows them all the complementary colors) or plug in the URL of a website they love to identify the color scheme. It works every time.

reed seifer's wish piece

Posted in art, gifts, shopping on June 23rd, 2008 by allie / No Comments »

Supermarket HQ (similar to Etsy), is a site that says, "Hi, we’re Supermarket.
We're here to connect you directly with designers and the great things they make." And they do.

Reed Seifer's Wish Piece was the first thing I bookmarked. Six matches, three each marked selfish and unselfish, meant for striking to grant wishes. I can't think of a person I wouldn't give these too as a gift.

splendad.com

Posted in entertainment, interesting on June 19th, 2008 by allie / No Comments »

Several months ago I heard a song on a commercial and looked everywhere online trying to find it. I finally did at SplendAd.com, a website dedicated to music that's on commercials. Didn't know there was such a thing, right? Me neither, but it's a great idea and it saves me hours of searching.

They have several years' worth of information, and it's constantly being updated, so it's a great resource when you really need to know!

amy's candy kitchen caramel apples

Posted in food on June 18th, 2008 by allie / No Comments »

I'm pretty sure I saw this advertised on the Food Network, Amy's Candy Kitchen's amazing caramel apples. With over 20 varieties, including wedding-themed, these caramel apples are rated the best in the business.

My plan is to order an assortment the next time we have a big party… they're not cheap (prices start at $9.99 for one), but according to the WSJ, they're absolutely worth it.