It’s 9 a.m. and I’m still yawning and wishing for a little more sleep. I usually run pretty well on little sleep (I’m terrible at sleeping, it’s true), but this morning I just can’t shake it. Last night Scott and I spent an evening in Tempe seeing Anthony Green. It was both of our first time seeing him on a solo tour, and we were definitely not disappointed. He played all of my favorites, and put on a real show (he had SO much energy!).
Now that I’ve gotten some coffee in me (Starbucks blonde roast, mmm), I think I’m ready to get a good start on today. I have a lot I know I need to get accomplished (looming school papers), and a few things I would like to work on just for fun. I can’t believe Valentines Day is a week away! Scott and I have been talking about what we want to do since Tuesdays are usually tough school/busy schedules days for us, but I think we thought of something just perfect for us to do to celebrate the sweet holiday. I swear, I love love!
I’m really loving this Springing Forward scarf from Le Mode Accessories! I feel like it’s the perfect mix of fall/winter colors, but with a fresh, spring twist on it. I’m a scarf girl for life, and definitely think I need more of these lightweight scarves for Spring.
Today I plan on finishing up paper that is due tonight, sipping copious amounts of coffee, and taking in this glorious, gloomy Phoenix day (my favorite kind of day!).
And like that, the weekend is over. It really was a lovely one though! I got to spend some quality time with my friend Sarah, sip yummy coffee, chow down on a delicious veggie dog, AND see one of my favorite musicians live. I most definitely squeezed school work into every moment in between, but overall it was a lovely, and much needed great weekend.
Scott and I spent Friday evening in downtown Phoenix attending the “Where’s The Band” tour. Beforehand we might have spent some time driving around trying to find my reciprocal parking spot for ASU (which ended up being much further away than another ASU parking lot right next to the venue that we were allowed to park in), and it made me realize even more how much I enjoy the city at night.
On the bill for the night was Ace Enders of The Early November, Chris Conley of Saves the Day, Anthony Raneri of Bayside, Matt Pryor of The Get Up Kids, and Evan Weiss of Into It. Over It. Although I am a huge Get Up Kids fan, I was there to see Ace. For years his music meant so much to me, and it was ever so sweet to see him perform again (knowing of my favorite bands growing up was finally getting back together). Jenn, Ace’s wife, is one of the sweetest ladies and I’m so lucky to be able to call her a friend. She has two adorable kids, and runs a very sweet blog called Tour Tot! Hopefully the next time Ace goes on tour we can meet up and have a coffee date!
This is what I wore to the show at The Crescent Ballroom! I was going for the comfortable, yet chic look. Either way, I was comfy and cool in that warm venue!
This morning Scott went into work at 3:45 a.m. I feel just awful for him and will be encouraging a nap and lots of coffee today. Tonight we have plans to go see Anthony Green at The Clubhouse in Tempe. We rarely go to shows anymore, so it’s crazy that two amazing shows come are way in a few day span. We are so excited to for tonight though, and can’t wait to see Anthony live once again!
What are you up to today? What did you do this weekend? XO
Two of my favorite local shops, Frances and Smeeks, recently launched their joint blog, and I have to say, it’s just darling! The team over at both shops are honestly the sweetest people, and I’m more than thankful to be able to call them friends. Their creative hearts have inspired me in so many ways over the past few years, and their blog is a daily reminder of their immense creativity and sweetness. If you haven’t check out their blog yet, I highly suggest doing so!
I’m off to a coffee date this morning! Afterward I might just stop by Target to see the new Jason Wu line, and then I plan spending the rest of the day catching up on life (school work, emails, blogs, etc.). Have I ever mentioned how thankful I am for this busy, and at times very chaotic life of mine? Well, I really am.
Yesterday I had the best girl date with Sarah. We went to Lola Coffee and I had the most delicious iced coffee and amazing cranberry shortbread cookie. We talked about health, photography, and Phoenix (a few of my favorite things).
Afterward we ended up at The Phoenix Public Market for the Friday Food Trucks. After walking around for a few minutes we decided that we probably needed to get lunch at Short Leash Hot Dogs. It was Sarah’s first time eating at the Phoenix food trucks, and I was so excited that I was able to show her around.
My veggie dog was delicious (complete with relish, mushrooms, ketchup, and a pickle to top it off)!
Sarah really enjoyed her hot dog as well, and is already planning to bring her husband, Josh, back to experience his first Phoenix food truck. It really was so great to spend the afternoon with Sarah. She is honestly the sweetest lady, and I’m so thankful that we met!
I borrowed the last two photos from Sarah’s personal blog (hope she doesn’t mind!). If you haven’t checked out Apache & Honeysuckle yet, I highly suggest doing so. I always love seeing into the personal lives of such creative, and inspirational people.
When it comes to style, I’ve always felt like I’ve ran to the beat of my own drum. I’ve always been drawn to classic colors and silhouettes, and occasionally a fun pattern or two. Recently though I was completely inspired by Miss Elsie with her layered lace outfit she posted and instantly wanted to put my own spin on the look.
I have this creme lace vest that Scott so sweetly bought me last summer while I was away in Colorado. Since short sleeves have been far and few between lately, I thought it might be fun to layer the lace with a more winter (Arizona winter that is) style look.
I also wanted to style up the outfit with simple accessories since I would be spending the evening in an uncomfortable grad school chair. I’m really loving these velvet loafers from Wanted Shoes. I’ve been eyeing a pair of loafers for months now, and this pair is quite darling (perfect for walking around campus).
Today I have a lot of catch up work to do. I pretty much spent the school week working finishing up a big paper for one of my classes, and simultaneously ignored my other homework (oops!). Happy Friday everyone! Have any fun plans for the weekend?
Once the sun starting setting our guests started to arrive. It was a beautiful night in Phoenix (chilly, but not too bad), and we were so excited to have everyone there. For the first hour everyone mingled a little bit and enjoyed a few delicious treats. It really was so awesome to meet so many sweet blog readers, and also to see a few familiar faces.
About an hour and half into the party Courtney, myself, Katherine, Kara, and Josh took to the patio and gave a speech about who we are as a collective, what we want to do in the community, and also a little bit about ourselves personally.
I feel like I should tell you that I’m a horrible public speaker. My chest gets really red, and I tend to stumble over my words. Courtney was a real trooper and did most of the talking, but when it came to talking about myself I was quite nervous. Overall, my speech went over well and I was happy that I got to introduce myself.
After we talked everyone had more time to mingle, buy tickets for the raffle, and play around in the photo booth. We had a really awesome photo booth set up in the dressing room of The GrowOP, complete with silly props and chalkboard speech bubbles. Thanks so much Brenda Eden for taking our photos!
Remember how I had mentioned that Brendan did such an amazing job with all of our snacks for the night, well he also made these amazing custom buttons for all of our attendees with their name on them (think chic name tags!). Thank you, Brendan!
It was really great having Kenny there to support our event! Kenny is a co-owner of The GrowOP, and sweetest guy! Thank you Kenny for lettings us have our event in your wonderful space!
I was so excited when I saw the lovely Nadia of Nadia Shea, and Kristine of Kristine or Polly at the event. I swear, these two are the sweetest and I was so happy that they were able to come out! Also, I’m SO exited that Kristine is an official Arizona resident again, and I can’t wait to meet-up with her again.
A little after eight we announced all of the raffle winners. Courtney did a great job at announcing all of our sponsors, the lovely prizes, and the winners. I swear, she has more charisma and spunk than anyone I know (and I love her for that!).
Overall, the night was a complete success and we couldn’t have asked for anything better. Thank you so much again to everyone who came out to support, and to all who were with us in spirit. If you’re interested in keeping up with us, you can check out The Phoenix Style Collective blog, and Facebook page.
This past Saturday was The Phoenix Style Collective launch party. Overall, the event turned out better than any of us could have hoped for (honestly, the support we received was amazing). After going through my photos from the evening I realized that I have so many photos and little stories I want to share, so I’ve decided to break up the whole experience into two posts: the pre-party, and the main event.
It’s amazing to think that a little over a year and a half ago that The Phoenix Style Collective was just an idea that Courtney had about something that we could work on together, and here we are (well, there we were) at our first event. What a dream come true!
The GrowOP was truly the perfect place to have our event at. The vintage/handmade shop is owned and ran by one of the collective’s co-founders, Josh, and all of us knew that our first event had to be (after all, the raffle we had was entirely benefitting the shop!). We also really loved the idea that it would get some of our non-downtown dweller friends out to the area, and maybe even open their eyes to the beauty that surrounds our amazing community down there.
Myself, Katherine, and Kara talking and more than likely tweeting/instagraming right before the party started.
Inside the shop we sold raffle tickets for a slew of amazing prices! We honestly had so many amazing sponsors donate items for the raffle, and it really was such a blessing to have all of them want to support us and The GrowOP. Thank you SO much to all who donated. It would have not been the same without your support and kindness!
We all wanted to have a way to get in touch with everyone who attended, so we thought what better way than to have everyone feel out a card to let us know who they are and how we can get in touch with them (big thanks to Kelsey of Roofresh for designing them for us!).
Our party also wouldn’t have been the same without all of the delicious treats that our amazing friend Brendan made. We had mini cupcakes (peanut butter & jelly, lemon meringue, and vanilla with strawberry), the most delicious popcorn and nut mixes, and also the tiniest, cutest little sandwiches. Brendan really went above and beyond and I feel like we can’t thank him enough! Thank you SO much Brendan for making our evening that much more magical!
What would a party be without homemade iced coffee? Scott and I made this batch the day before and it turned out SO yummy! I really need to make iced coffee at home more often.
We were also very fortunate to have an amazing food truck at the launch party. Luncha Libre is a fairly new food truck to the Phoenix area and we were so excited to have them parked outside of The GrowOP. They served up some delicious mexican food during the party, and they were super sweet to everyone. Thank you so much Luncha Libre, we love you!
Street tacos from Luncha Libre! Throughout the night I sampled a handful of bites from Luncha Libre, but these seemed to be the only ones that I got a picture of. Their churro was by far my favorite dish (ok, I might have a little bias to treats, but still!).
The sun began to set and our guests began to arrive. I will be back with part two of our launch party very soon, and I already can’t wait to share! XO
It’s always neat to see such a fun night from someone else’s perspective. Here are a few photos I’ve been seeing popping around the interweb from our Phoenix Style Collective Launch Party.
