After Sedona, we had our day in Santa Fe! What a cute city. Although the thrifting was not quite as prolific as Phoenix (our first stop is still in the lead for our contest), we did score some of the most amazing finds to date. Namely, a mind-meltingly awesome tooled leather satchel for $10 and a pristine pair of 60s brogue wedges for $1. Exactly the reason we took up this idiocy of 3 weeks of driving through the south in the dead of summer in the first place. Don’t we look smart now?

As some of our adventures can’t all be fashion-related, be sure to keep up with our hijinx on Diana’s excellent new blog: Well Worn Road! She’s got posts on our “fun lessons” in Phoenix, our hiking trip in Sedona, our day trip to the precariously-located mining town of Jerome, AZ, and outtakes of our long-exposure photoshoot. Even I am having fun re-living every moment of this “perfect 10″ trip!
If you crave even more coverage (oh yes, excitement overload!), Rory at AwesomeAllDay is doing a post a day. Enjoy his hilarious reporting of our terrifying encounters with a black widow spider and the Largest Cross in the World! Also do not miss our American Beauty-esque illegal fireworks-inspired photoshoot collaboration!

After a 7 hour drive, fleeing a rather unwelcoming Amarillo, TX a day early, we were relieved to be in the open and charming arms of Jeanette and Will in Fayetteville, AR. They immediately offered us a glass of delicious wine on their firefly-festooned porch and then took us out to a fantastic bar where we danced our faces off at the immortal Michael Jackson tribute night. So much fun!

So! If y’all are anywhere near Fayetteville on Sunday, we’d love to meetcha! This is likely to be our biggest clothing swap yet!

by Diana

i need to play catch-up with my road-trip posting – and not for lack of inspiration, but because every moment has been packed so insanely solid with inspiration and completely wonderful moments, that i don’t even know where to begin. (as if procrastination will make it any easier?!)

i waited for amber to go to bed before writing this, because i didn’t want to risk the chance of her peeking over my shoulder and confiscating my computer. i know she’s going to be thoroughly embarrassed once she reads this, but i’m willing to risk receiving the silent treatment on the 411 mile drive between sedona and santa fe tomorrow, to share Amber As I See It with you guys.

after hitting thrifting pay-dirt in phoenix on friday, (thank you jasmine!!) we drove up to sedona – a.k.a. “the most beautiful place on earth.” we opted out of the saturday-morning prescott thrifting trip we’d been considering, (hey, it was only day two, and we’re already concerned with car space!) and spent the day relaxing with my brothers, practicing new space-saving packing techniques and exploring a small portion of the mind-boggling beauty that is sedona. (really, if you’ve never seen it for yourself, stop what you’re doing right now and pack your bags for the trip.)

late last night after a delicious home-cooked pizza prepared by rory and my brother james, amber and i hauled the tripod into the back yard, dressed up in the phoenix loot, and played one of my most favorite games ever – Long Exposure Photo Shoot:

amber and i have known each other for quite a while through the internet world – we even spent a fantastically fun four (5?) days in nyc together about a month ago. but this is the first time we’ve really spent time being ourselves around each other, and this is the first shoot ever that we collaborated on! (and it was a rather impromptu one at that!)

i just want it on the record that she’s amazing. i’m sure anyone who’s worked with her will tell you that too. this girl can style the shit out of whatever clothes she gets her hands on, and all with the sweetest smile ever. if you ever get the chance to work (play?!) with her, consider yourself lucky.

• Only 3 more days until the Painfully Hip Roadtrip! I can taste the adventure and it tastes like asphalt. Mmm. http://snipr.com/roadtripping #
• Models turn into elusive creatures come release signing time. Ugh! #
• Roadtrip success! Phoenix peeps are the light of my life! Billie Goat Vintage manufactures happiness. Believe. #
• Sedona, AZ hook-up: seared ahi goatcheese salad, swordfish, salmon, sommelier service, tequila creme brulee-$50 for 3. Roadtrip GOLD. #

Day One of our Roadtrip was a bit of a rollercoaster, but we decided not to take the death of the King of Pop on as an omen (unless it was an omen to Diana getting stuck in an awful traffic jam and very nearly ending up in a ditch on her way to collect us from the airport, not to mention the obligatory beauty product in my suitcase explosion) and we’ve been having the most fantastic trip.

We arrived in Phoenix to meet up with the stunning beauties, Jasmine and Tracy of Bille Goat Vintage who were lounging in the idyllic courtyard of the Paisley Violin restaurant, surrounded by tiny pastel houses, munching on deliciousness. We had a few beers and got to know each other, then walked a few feet to their lime green vintage store called Butter Toast Boutique. We were giddy with delight at the wares.

Jasmine and Tracy of Billie Goat Vintage

Paisley Town Courtyard, Phoenix

Diana found the sweetest floral mini and a pair of navy peeptoes which she ended up sporting the rest of the evening as Jasmine and Tracy and their hunky boyfriends showed us exactly how they party in Phoenix.
The next day Jasmine took us on an epic thrifting adventure, and holy cannoli! Phoenix brought it. Do you know that 20 minutes away in Sun City, there is a freaking THRIFT MALL?? Despite the fact that we missed its closing time by mere minutes, we still made a stunning haul of loot.

Today we are in the mind-meltingly beautiful town of Sedona, AZ where I am now tip-tip-typing away on Diana’s two brothers’ (who are as sweet and hilarious as you would imagine) back patio with the following view to inspire me.

EDIT: Diana is now posting more roadtrip details to her travel/style blog Well Worn Road.
Meream, there are some more instructional photos regarding how to party in Phoenix (namely, hang out with Jasmine, Tracy, and Josh).

As Diana loads up the car in Tucson, Rory and I are packing a smidgeon of clothing and heading to San Francisco. Packing 3 weeks into 2.5 square feet of suitcase is quite the feat. Good thing these particular 3 weeks will require minimal clothing on account of maximum heat (30% of my suitcase is swimwear). This is the only kind of math I’m good at. Dressing today will be equally scientific – we’ll be spending the day in San Francisco’s 65 degrees and then hopping a plane into the depths of Phoenix’s 108 degrees. I am having a difficult time wrapping my brain around that one.

All menial tasks aside, we are nothing less than GIDDY to hit the dusty trail. First up, a night out with one of my favorite sponsors, Jasmine of the most excellent Billie Goat Vintage! Then tomorrow she will be schooling us in the fine art of Phoenix thrifting. Blessed are we!

So here we go! We will be posting as often as we can find wifi and oh the things we have planned. Thanks again to all our soon-to-be hosts! We can’t wait to meetcha!!

Bloggers, you know you do it. You get an especially insightful/gushy comment and immediately click their blog link to hone in on just how much weight is behind said opinion. On one such electro-excursion, I unearthed this meekly named site called tiny’s world…

Kaboom! Ocular Orgasm. Her site is like a Pandora station for my eyes. So besides being knocked down by this site’s tail feathers, I also felt slightly more legit.

Tiny’s World is the blog of a french illustrator named Julie Nivert.
Her illustrations remind me of a more geometric version of another Painfully Hip Site of the Week, The Moldy Doily by Kime Buzzelli.- a beautiful mingling of decisive, yet deliciously sketchy form and abstraction with an undeniable undercurrent of her profound grasp on the Hip.

She also posts her inspiration for these sublime mouthfuls of beauty – the most drop dead collection of photography that has ever graced my glance. A more exact interpretation of my taste in every frame than even I could collect on my own.

See more here: Continue reading the most painfully hip site of the week: tiny’s world