{A Party Sweater}

 sweater: urban outfitters, leggings: nordstrom, scarf: somewhere fabulous in italy

watch: michael kors, belt: banana republic, bracelet: banana republic, ring: forever 21

The idea of getting ready to host a party, especially filled with awesome guests you don't know who are coming to show their support of a project that is pretty important to you, is frightening enough without also having to plan out an outfit knowing that all of the people coming to said party have serious style. Also keeping in mind that you live in Arizona and it's January, which usually means its freezing when you leave the house, sweltering from noon-six, then freezing again until the next day.

Conditions were perfect to send a certain someone into a panic and force them to shop the three out of four nights leading up to the party, only to find the perfect sweater at 9 p.m. the night before. Hallelujah. Weight, lifted. It is the perfect hazy lavender color, intertwined with gold thread flecks that you notice when you're up close. You could even say it has a bit of sparklefarkle.

*Thank you to mr. john scott for taking these pictures, you're a pro! You must have a lot of practice or something.

{Shoe Lust}

Ever since I splurged and bought myself those bright NYE booties, I haven't been able to get impractical shoes out of my head. Normally I'm pretty good in shopping situations that involve impulse purchases and frivolous spending, keeping the goal of buying for my work wardrobe in mind. Alas, my budget is in tact, and my credit card still nestled away in my wallet. But who says I can't peek?

The lust list:

1 Steve Madden // 2 Bandolino Shoes // 3 Steve Madden // 4 Frye // 5 Nine West // 6 Vince Camuto

All of these lovely shoes and boots are available at your nearby Macy's, who approached me to peruse their fabulous shoe offerings. I certainly found more than a few pairs (which I limited to six), that I've decided I already own in my mental dream closet. The boots I'd pair with black skinnies and my favorite silk top for work, and either blue booties with a fun dress for a night on the town. The Bandolino wedges and the drool-worthy leather Steve Madden booties I'd pair with dark matchstick jeans, long sleeve top and fun accessories. 

Looking at this roundup, and the majority of the shoes stashed away in my closet, it's clear to me I have a thing for camel shoes. The rich color matches so well with jeans, black pants, tights & colors, I seem to find endless options to pair with the shoes regardless of season.

I think all of the shoes could be dressed up or dressed down for work/play, given the right outfit. Who wants to gift me each pair so I can test this theory? ...mostly joking. 

{Shopping on Cyber Monday}

I somehow managed to ignore every single one of the e-blasts, TV & radio commercials, mailers, texts to my phone and internal urges pressuring me to go out on Black Friday this year. How? I'm still not sure. I spent most of the morning complaining to my mom about all of the deals we were missing out on, then went to hang out with family and the thought completely vanished. Distracted Katherine = happy wallet.

For everyone out there who is itching to spend a little more money on Cyber Monday, DownEast Basics is offering 20% off your order of $50 dollars or more! Use the promo code CHEER and snag a few pieces for yourself before going into extreme family present buying panic. Even better, DownEast has a new home line with some snazzy holiday accents to decorate your home before all your friends and family start flooding your house.

DownEast Home is going to award one lucky person a $500 shopping spree to spruce up your pad for the holidays! Enter on their Facebook page before Dec. 9 to be eligible. You can check out the expanding line, here. Tell me what you'd buy in the comments below!

DownEast sent over a giftcard for me to try out the new line, and I can't decide if I need this garland, or some of these sparkly pillows! Decisions, decisions.

{Kissing Statues}

As I get older, it is hilarious (and scary) for me to notice all of the similarities between my mom and I. We don't really look alike, we don't sound alike, but boy do we act alike! 

We do kiss statues similarly. 

During our first afternoon tour around Sedona, we received a recommendation to visit the shopping center Tlaquepaque. Which I have no idea how to say out loud.  The buildings are hidden from street view, nestled back in a well shaded area perfect for strolling through the various art galleries and shops open for business.

 
We popped in and out of almost every store, looking at beautiful art, crystals, turquoise jewelry, and cute kid things. We headed back to the hotel early, since we were both tired from the travel day and excited to watch the sunset. 

The next morning we were up early for our nature hike, which was full of many jittery steps, a fear of high altitude, funny photos and laughs. We even took a few videos.

& then kissed some more statues. 

And when I wouldn't kiss the statue, she instead made me stand in approximately 100 different places to take photos of me and the scenery. It's hard to argue with someone who just bought you breakfast (but I certainly tried! :))

The rest of our day was spent strolling the town and enjoying all of the weird new age awesomeness it had to offer. Most importantly, we enjoyed time together. Cheesy as it may be, nothing beats mother daughter time.

Which came to a very delicious close. 

{Touring Melrose}

On 7th Avenue in Phoenix, 

there is a collection of some of the best vintage & antique stores I have ever seen. 

In just a couple of short blocks, there are stores filled to the brim with furniture, art, trinkets, kitchenware and clothing, all at reasonable prices. 

Our first stop was the boutique Sirens and Saints.

Which is attached to my own personal antique heaven, Rust & Roses.

{hello devin!}

This store was to die for. 

The amount of stuff they managed to squeeze into one store is absolutely amazing. 

There are stacks and stacks of vintage luggage, 

old and crumbling furniture, 

an entire room of shabby-chic white vintage furniture, 

chandeliers, antique velvet chairs, side tables, vases, and more!

I'm gushing. Can you tell?

Be still my beating heart. Those black chairs. So beautiful and so out of my price range.

I was devastated. Pit of my stomach lurching devastated. 

Can one find true love in furniture? 

Cause I think I did. 

On to the next one. 

Melrose Vintage is a girly girl's dream store. 

It's misleadingly huge, and filled with any and every shabby-chic style piece of vintage furniture, bedding, decorations, baby clothes and more. 

It even has an entire section dedicated to scrapbooking and crafting!

Melrose Vintage is every man's hell.

A store that makes girls want to run home and throw away everything they have ever decorated with, replacing it with light pink, white, rosebud patterns, lace, crystals, delicate florals and white washed furniture.

It's that good.

There are even more wonderful shops to explore on this street, but one item in Retro Ranch stole my heart. I would show you, but then someone would go out and buy it and I would be forced to hurt you.

{Black Friday & Cyber Monday}

I love shopping. 

Even more, I love deals.

Bright and early at 3:30 a.m. on Friday

I leapt out of bed with the shopping spirit rushing through my veins.

Of course, my shopping partner grumbled, mumbled & refused to get out of bed until 4.

It didn't work. We still stood in the Best Buy line for an hour in the freezing cold.

And by 'we' I mean him.

I needed to check out Target, which opened at 4 a.m. and someone had to save our place.

{the spoils}

I would also like to give a shout out to all the people who were dressed head to toe in the strangest sweat outfits, wolf sweaters, 80's ski jackets and more. 

Just because we live in Arizona, doesn't give you an excuse to not have at least one North Face jacket, or trench coat or something. You can still look stylish at 5 a.m., clearly I did. 

(With my messy hair, no makeup & sneakers)

Any one else luck out and find great deals?

{is it fall yet?}

Boots galore. Frye (from Nordstrom) & Anthropologie have stolen my heart this week. I know that realistically I should be waiting to pick out my new fall shoes purchases, but I really couldn't resist today. This new fall kick just will not go away! I even had to stop myself from buying a can of pumpkin puree from the market. This is getting out of hand. All good staple purchases, these boots are versatile enough to justify the hefty price tag. 

1. Frye 'Jane 14' Pull-On Boot - Nordstrom $297.95

2. Frye 'Jane' Tall Boot - Nordstrom $387.95

3. Frye 'Harlow Stitch' Boot - Nordtrom $497.95

1. Upwards Boot - Anthropologie $358.00

2. Pebbled & Primped Boot - Anthropologie $258.00

3. Martingale Boot - Anthropologie $238.00