Three Cups of Tea

I am in the front row, upper deck of the Megabus right now, headed to NYC for the ICFF. I can't decide if my seat of choice is exciting or terrifying. This is my 5th trip on the ole' Megabus and I just have to say, for $9 and unlimited WiFi...you cannot beat it.

I just finished Three Cups of Tea and wanted to share with you what an amazing book I found it to be. I will admit, I have been reading this book off and on for a year. The first 100 pages were not quite gripping for me. But once I got into the meat of the book, I could not put it down. Greg's Mortenson's life was saved by a Balti porter after nearly freezing to death during an unsuccessful attempt to summit K2. After recovering in their village, and being catered to in a way that most locals had never experienced, Greg promised to return the following year and bring with him the means to provide something that the Balti people had never had...a school. That one school, turned into hundreds,which are now lead by the Central Asia Institute. Greg is a truly inspiring individual.

Along with the schools, the Central Asia Institute has also established several Women's Vocational Centers, where women in remote villages can gather to sew and chat. Sounds like my kind of place right? And I know all of you design lovers out there have seen a lot of this lately...

The women in these villages weave ikat and you will see on the Centrail Asia Institute website that this fabric, which is high on the trend radar here in the States, has come to symbolize strength, beauty, and resilience of the Central Asia communities they serve. I will never look at ikat the same.

I may have a guest blogger or two lined up this week while I am busy bathing myself in modern furniture, stay tuned!

and p.s. this is super last minute, obvioulsy, but if any nyc blogger friends would be interested in meeting for dinner tuesday night, shoot me an email: stephanie.sabbe (at) gmail.com