Totally Out Of Title Inspiration.

So I am back. And pictures of the painted room will have to wait until the a.m. when it is light. But I just got back from a weirdly mixed/nice family trip. My family flew to Phoenix from our respective cities of residence, and then all got in one car (an Armada, and the back seat is NOT comfortable, I wish I got carsick so I could always get to sit shotgun) and drove to Prescott (say it with me, Pres-KIT), Arizona. It is a cute little town about two hours north of Phoenix and man, was that a long drive. I am the baby and my three sisters and I and my parents, sans partners or children, all went there for my grandfather's memorial.

We stayed in the historic and wacky Hassayampa Inn, and my oldest sister and I ended up getting a suite with a parlor. The parlor had its own door! We walked down the hall and our door was one down from the end of the hall and I looked at the door at the end and said "I wonder who gets the Parlor?" and then we walked into our room and they were connected. So nobody had as nice of a room as we did and we totally rubbed it in. But then everybody hung out there anyways.The memorial was very low-key, we just had a nice room with a slideshow and pictures of him and people stood around and told stories about my grandad. And then we went and hung out at the hotel bar. 

I'd totally stay there again if I could be sure we didn't get one of the even wackier rooms. But it was awesome when people came to get us and we invited them in via the parlor door. Also, my aunt who got to clean out my grandad's house let us look through a whole pile of his mom's jewelry that she didn't know what to do with, so I wore one of her necklaces to the memorial. It was a very odd vibe but we all had a really nice time in the end. 

And just to make sure I looked decent (and because I haven't found anywhere to get a cheap haircut yet), I got my brows done before we left. It's more expensive down here, but they also "fixed" my makeup afterwards, a.k.a. gave me a whole new face of stuff and tried to sell me on lash and brow tinting. I love a face of new stuff, but lash and brow tinting completely creeps me out so that was a little annoying. I am still totally tempted by the purple mascara, believe it or not. The brow stuff really fills in and tidies up my brows nicely and the mascara, cliche as it sounds, really made my eyes pop. The tinted moisturizer was nice, but I couldn't really tell if it was any better than the stuff I normally use. And the blush was horrible and dark and shiny and looked really bad. I mostly just thought it would fill out the little image roundup I've got going on.

Benefit Counter by ajftuba on Polyvore.com

Benefit Cosmetics : makeup : box o' powder
$28 - benefitcosmetics.com

Benefit Cosmetics : makeup : foundation
$30 - benefitcosmetics.com

Benefit Cosmetics : makeup : eyes & brows
$30 - benefitcosmetics.com

Benefit Cosmetics : makeup : mascara
$19 - benefitcosmetics.com

And the obligatory packing rundown. 

AZ Trip by ajftuba featuring a short cardigan

J Crew vneck sweater
$88 - jcrew.com

J Crew vintage top
$80 - jcrew.com

Short cardigan
$60 - bananarepublic.gap.com

Old Navy sheer top
$13 - oldnavy.gap.com

Banana Republic jeans
$67 - bananarepublic.gap.com

GAP bootcut pants
$60 - gap.com

J Crew 50s style pencil skirt
$30 - jcrew.com

Patagonia
$49 - patagonia.com

Gap short
$40 - gap.com

Patagonia
$35 - patagonia.com

Indigo by clark
endless.com

Privo slip shoes
$50 - jdoqocy.com

Kenneth Jay Lane stamped jewelry
195 GBP - net-a-porter.com

Ten Thousand Things chain jewelry
$145 - ylang23.com

Bracelet
$120 - sundancecatalog.com

Patagonia MLC® - Maximum Legal Carry-On Bag
$229 - patagonia.com

Privo Gali at Zappos.com
$70 - zappos.com

Of course, these are all the Polyvore equivalents, the real deal had a lot more purple and a lot less J. Crew. It fit perfectly in the MLC though. The Patagonia Maximum Legal Carryon is perfect for a nice weekend trip. And it makes roaming the airports much easier when all you have is a big soft backpack with no frame.

I will take office pictures as soon as it isn't the middle of the night. And then we can discuss how the heck I am supposed to "finish" in here other than spending a bunch of $$$.