In general, a list apart rocks. Once I started doing web design full time, a list apart became an invaluable resource.

In 2004 they ran an article about creating onion-skinned drop shadows using CSS, and it was such a great idea, I made a bookmark. But a list apart has a ton of excellent, well-written articles, so I have the homepage bookmarked as well.

I found this link sometime in late 2006 off of Chirag Mehta's blog. He used cloud tagging to tag presidential speeches since George Washington, and the results are really an excellent study in history.

I wish I'd had access to this in college. One could quite easily craft an outline of a presidential paper using this method.

I love Design*Sponge… a) it's gorgeously designed and b) lists very cool products and design ideas. Sometime last year they updated the design and they did an amazing job. It's unique, full of textures and colors and different mediums… just go check it out.

It's one of the sites I go too when I need inspiration.

In 2005 a Daily Candy email came through about Magpie Rings, and I absolutely fell in love. The rings are gorgeous, made of fine wire, gemstones, glass and beads, and intricately detailed.

I've already purchased two, and I'm planning to get one for my sister at Christmas.

Pete Goldlust is an artist who uses multiple mediums to create incredibly unique pieces. My favorite of these is a collection of intricately hand-carved crayons.

I'm positive a blogger posted about these, but I've no idea which one, as this link has been in my bookmark bar for over a year.

Living in Three Centuries: The Face of Age is an incredible collection of black and white photos of centenarians (people 100 and older). The images are moving and really reflect how different living conditions affect people's bodies. A woman who is 86 looks older than a man who is 112 (who, by the way, drove until he was 106)… each picture has notes, some longer than others, about the life and times of each person.

In his artist statement, the photographer (Mark Story) states: "The experience of talking with a 110 year-old man whose father stood next to Abraham Lincoln during the Gettysburg Address does not easily lend itself to words. A photograph seemed appropriate."

When I was a kid my dad's best friend (who lives in Boston) would send us a box of lobsters for New Year's Eve. We'd cook them up, dunk 'em in butter and ring in the new year totally sated. As I've gotten older (and moved to the East Coast) the novelty of lobster has worn off for me… but not for my mom. If she could eat lobster every week, I think she would.

So last year for her birthday I decided I'd send her lobsters. I shopped around and found a good deal (especially considering the overnight shipping), and I came across this site. It's called Catch a Piece of Maine, and for $2995 you get to own your own Maine lobster trap for a year. Yes, yes, it's insanely expensive (I'll get this for my mom when I earn a six figure salary, lol), but it's also incredibly cool. For the entire year you get all the lobsters that are caught in your trap, your own personal lobsterman, the ability to watch your trap online AND every time you get a shipment, they throw in a ton of other stuff, including mussels, steamers and dessert!

Not only are you directly supporting a Maine lobsterman, you're also supporting the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, as 10% of the proceeds go to them.

I love bananas, but sometimes I forget I have them, a week or two passes and suddenly my bananas are very black. So I started to freeze them, figuring one day I'd learn to make banana bread, something I love, but for which I don't have a family recipe. Eventually I had several bananas crowding my freezer, so I did my research online and chose this recipe.

With a few tweaks (half the sugar and a tablespoon of cinnamon… and sometimes half a cup of pecans), the banana bread this recipe produces is the best I've found. It's incredibly easy to make, unfailingly tasty and always turns out a perfect product.

When I first stumbled upon this website, I thought, "cool, what an awesome idea.. not only can I put this on my wall, I can give it as a gift!"

And then I couldn't figure out what words I wanted to put on my walls and realized if I couldn't figure it out for myself, how on Earth could I figure it out for someone else. Sad, I know. But I saved the URL because I know one day I'll think of something.

The art is "digitally cut, pre-spaced lettering that looks professionally hand-painted"—perfect for a stylish friend who has a favorite quote, saying or word.

My dad is from Texas, so southern, Texan-style cooking is a big deal to him. Aside from brisket, jalapeños-in-everything and barbecue, cornbread is one of my dad's absolute favorite things to eat, and we've always made it using one recipe. The one on the side of the Albers' box, with a couple of extra additions… bacon grease and jalapeños anyone?

Now that I live on the East Coast, I can't find Albers cornmeal, so I'm stuck using whatever they have at the store. I quickly found that the Albers recipe couldn't be beat, and searched long and hard to find this particular link.

It's a good thing, too, as my boyfriend loves cornbread, and prefers it with less sugar. He also doesn't like the addition of peppers and bacon grease, so sadly that recipe only gets made when I visit my parents.