Newly Bookmarked

Here are the latest 5 on my bookmark bar:

design^sprout

portside new york

pia jane bijkerk

etsytools

all things bright and beautiful

pictured above: fish leather bookmarks by Stacy Studios found here

See ya!

Crash Cart

My husband, Peter, returned form an errand on Sat and said "I've just witnessed one of those New York moments." He went on to explain that just down the block there was a large rather muscular man in a red and white stripe speedo* and a shopping cart who had stopped to get directions from a foreign born little old lady. She was animated in her response - waving and pointing. It was a funny juxtaposition that I wish I had seen for myself.
*It was about 35-40 degrees yesterday
This was a little slice of the Idiotarod NYC 2008.

The Iditarod is the famous long-distance race in which yelping dogs tow a sled across Alaska. The IDIOTAROD is pretty much the same thing, except that instead of dogs, it's people, instead of sleds, it's shopping carts, and instead of Alaska it's New York City.

Love the scooby-doo team (pictured below) from this flickr set.

Dear Kelly and Shayne,

I love your letters. It's really sweet to follow your entries writing back and forth to each other about new craft finds. What a great structure for your blog, trans-craft-inental. Kelly and Shayne are friends (one on the East coast and one on the West) with a love for craft in common and they post in turn.

Just about everyday (no kidding) I think of a letter I should write: a thank you note, a little hello. But do I? In a word: no. Well, let's give a girl some room: not yet. So this inspires the letter writer and the craftster in me. (AND my totes were lucky enough to be featured as the Object of Lust here. )

They are members of the Letter Writers Alliance. This place is packed with lots of letter writing, stationary, stamp and postal info: how tos and tutorials, postal goodies, and even personalized stationary for members! Hmmm, maybe I WILL get around to writing that letter today....maybe.
(image from letter writers alliance)

WIP - Custom Hotel Pillows

Just finished a pillow order for the Custom Hotel in LA. All red numbers. They look great in mass. Can't wait to see them on site. An excuse for a trip???

Custom Hotel is a sleek, classically modern, 250-room hotel in West Los Angeles. Fun and whimsical, stylish yet modestly priced, Custom is an international hotel that thrives off the energy and atmosphere of its local environs and provides a uniquely L.A. lifestyle experience.

- Palisades Development Group.

Check out the this truly hip hotel and other work by the Palisades Development Group.

Well, Hello Sailor!

Sail Brooklyn was kind enough to feature Reiter8 totes yesterday. Of course I am happy for the exposure but I am doubly happy to have found such a great resource for local sailing info and perspective. Red Hook community sailing anyone? Photos of the Day and comparing the costs of a Hamptons share vs. keeping a sailboat in NYC are among the interesting posts. I all makes me itch for spring. Pictured above is the Sail Magazine's Best Boat of 2007 designed by Brooklyn Based Wurmfeld Design. Thanks Mr. Salty!

66 Degrees of Separation

In Fahrenheit that is. That was the temperature difference between Brooklyn, NY - a FRIGID 13 degrees - and Honolulu, HI - expected high of 79. That was the temperature difference a Reiter8 Blue 8 tote was embarking on.
One word: envious.

Happy Listening

Over the holidays we drove up to Boston to visit relatives and spent a fair amount of time in the car while in Boston. I usually walk everywhere and hate being in the car alot however, driving actually became enjoyable thanks to good ol' NPR. I loved one particular sound bite - maybe because I've just finished reading Water for Elephants (excellent) or maybe it's just how old fashioned sounding the notable quote is in the story.
Check it out:Recording an Elephant Parade
and this one transported my to a much warmer place than NYC in December: 65 Little Monkeys Chattering in Maui.
Click here for more.
Happy Listening.

What's in a number?

Happy New Year!
With a company name like reiter8 you better believe I'm a little excited about this year. I love all the luck and lore and just plain facts about the number 8. For example:

Eight is a power of two, being 2 to the 3rd power, or two cubed.

The number 8 is a Fibonacci number, being 3 plus 5. For more on Fibonacci numbers check out the kids book Math Curse

A fallen or lying down 8 (∞, the lemniscate) is used to represent infinity in mathematics. This interpretation of 8 may be related to the representation of the caduceus (where two snakes form several figure eights) as stability or balance of opposing forces.

In tarot, card No. 8 is "Strength"

In Hinduism its the number of wealth , abundance. The Goddess Lakshmi has eightfold forms. There are eight nidhis - seats of wealth.

The Noble Eightfold Path in the Buddhist faith has eight steps

Eight (八; accounting 捌; pinyin bā) is considered a lucky number in Chinese culture because it sounds like the word "prosper" or "wealth" (發; Pinyin: fā).

An octave, the interval between two notes with the same letter name (where one has double the frequency of the other), is so called because there are eight notes on a western scale between the two, including the notes themselves

Many (mostly historic) computer architectures are eight-bit, among them the Nintendo Entertainment System

In liquid measurement (U.S. customary units), there are 8 fluid ounces in a cup, 8 pints in a gallon, and 8 tablespoons in a gill

There are 8 furlongs in a mile

The silver piece of eight was coined in the Spanish Empire and moved trade around the world

And don't forget:
8 is one of the "Lost" numbers along with 4, 15, 16, 23, and 42

(Thanks to Wikipedia for the info on 8!)