Valley Life

As Arizonans, we all have a healthy respect/jealousy/craving for New York City.So if we find a blog by a former Phoenician who moved to NYC to become a writer. Well, we’re gonna take a peek…

Trish Martin can take a one dollar shirt from Goodwill, and turn into a $70 work of wearable art. The local designer calls what she does “deconstruction,” which basically means she takes old clothes and alters them to the extreme.”The T-shirt is basically my canvas,” says Martin, who has designed…

While we’re busy wishing for snow, Michael Black in Belmar, New Jersey was digging out of it. His 20-second video is the result of taking a photo every 5 minutes for 20 hours. (via @ljthornton)…

Want to know where to see the next solar or lunar eclipse? Interested in seeing images of an alien sunset? Want a free telescope? Then check out dearastronomer.com, a Phoenix-based blog dedicated to all things astronomical. Dearastronomer.com is the brain child of Ray Sanders, who has 15 years experience in…

Another year, another New Year’s Eve celebration that could go very right … or very wrong.We’re here to help you. Read this list to ensure having the best NYE ever. Or, at the very least, read this list to ensure not having the worst NYE ever…

Some people are crafty, some aren’t (i.e. me). It’s the way of the world. But taking a cue from Mantastic Crafter Patrick Murillo, I’m training in the art, and hoping to work my way up to something truly mantastic, all while trying to avoid what Murillo calls a “craftastrophe.” I’m…

The holiday season usually means plenty of time spent around the ones you love … and for that very reason, we’re here to provide a little distraction. Consider it an early present for coming to visit us when we’re not around. Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and seriously, watch this video…

Some people are crafty, some aren’t (i.e. me). It’s the way of the world. But taking a cue from Mantastic Crafter Patrick Murillo, I’m training in the art, and hoping to work my way up to something truly mantastic, all while trying to avoid what Murillo calls a “craftastrophe.” I…

Our neighborhoods? Yeah, we’ve got the requisite strings of lights; the odd bush with a few chili pepper lights; and a plywood, painted snowman or two. But when it comes to true holiday spirit in the form of thousands of twinkling lights and inflatable contraptions, we found a couple that…

Want to know what Subs are?You won’t want to know after reading this post. The “fashion accessory” is designed to help urbanites who sport the saggy-pants look to keep their pants from falling down.It looks like a cross between a ladies garter belt and those awful looking sock suspenders.In fact,…

Thanks to First Fridays, ASU Downtown students, and some funky new businesses — downtown’s offerings are much more attractive than they used to be, but are people really going to haul downtown for a day of shopping? There have been mall-like attempts in the past (Arizona Center, anyone?) which didn’t…

Ouch. But so arty. And part of the whole whittling deal, which the Bleeding Thumb Whittling Club takes in stride and then some…

When you mix hundreds of Santas, a few more Mrs. Clauses and some scandalous elves, you’re bound for entertainment. Over the weekend, we followed the Arizona Cacophony Society’s annual Santarchy bar crawl in Scottsdale and took a few notes. The Good’s above, the Bad and the Ugly are after the…

Sometimes it’s more fun to give people presents they’ll never (and should never) use. Marketed on television, sold online, and rarely found in anywhere other than the discounted section of any store, these gifts are so wrong, we wind up buying them anyway. So here are a few gift ideas…

We’ve decided to camp out until Bunky Boutique sets up for its Holiday Trunk Show. (Thankfully we only have a couple hours and the coffee next door is pretty good.)At 7 p.m., the boutique where we often find holiday gifts for ourselves favorite friends is hosting Melissa Zaki Jewelry, against…

Our hipster friends may be the hardest to shop for, mostly because we’ve never heard of anything they like (and they’d like to keep it that way). But there are a few things every hipster secretly wants and will be impressed that you found. Here are our local finds that…

Downtown Phoenix is developing quite a little vintage scene. On December 1st, a new line of  clothing, Hailey’s Hand Me Downs joined the growing list of indie cool finds (First Butter Toast, recently GROWop) as the newest purveyor of vintage goods.Hailey Andresen, a recent FIDM grad, is the Hailey behind…

Pajama City, an online pajama store based in Maryland, specializes in one thing: Adult footed pajamas. The store’s website says the company actually ships the pajamas daily from its warehouse, which means two things: a) People order adult footed pajamas on a daily basis and b) In the northeastern United…

Some people are crafty, some aren’t (i.e. me). It’s the way of the world. But taking a cue from Mantastic Crafter Patrick Murillo, I’m training in the art, and hoping to work my way up to something truly mantastic, all while trying to avoid what Murillo calls a “craftastrophe.” My…

When it comes time for the holidays, our artist friends can be a little, well, hard to please. Hey, they know what they like. Luckily we happen to know a couple who gave us a few of their own gift tips. Here are a few locally found gift ideas that…

Robert Black is a household name in Phoenix.The Ford/Robert Black Modeling Agency is responsible for booking the best models in town. And the guy owns the Fashion by Robert Black store in Scottsdale.Working with beautiful women in beautiful settings with beautiful clothing? Yeah, we’d say he’s got a kickass job…

So Sudan, a new indie shop in the AZ Lost Boys Center in Phoenix, will host a grand opening this weekend. The center was established in 2003 to provide a safe and community-based space for war affected Sudanese refugees living in Phoenix. Store founders Amguma Deng, Nyakour Kagook, and Alal…