Sanctuary Anniversary Celebration & Cissi's Market Event

Sanctuary boutique in Westlake and Austin Monthly home hosted a celebration for their one year anniversary this last Thursday. After Austin Fashion week I was very excited to have this event to go to wean myself off of the excitement and overload of events from AFW.

The event itself had cranberry vodkas and cookies from Tiff's treats (yum!) to enjoy while we shopped around. The idea of the store is totally unique with tons of handmade professionally made items that were personalized, each designed by a different designer, things that looked totally original but when you looked closer you could see they were personalized. While the personalized aspect seemed to be the majority of the store, they also had products by other designers that weren't personalized. They had a huge range of items - everything from bath products, to gorgeous jewelry (wish I could remember the name of the sweet designer that was there with her gorgeous gold-dipped leaf necklaces and earrings),

to clothes, to candles, to funkier casual jewelry. The entire store had a really peaceful atmosphere. With so many different things from so many different artists it would have been easy to have it feel cluttered. The simple murals on the walls, and the random painted and unpainted tree branches, most designed to hold items for sale, really gave it a peaceful feeling.

I really fell in love with the store! Only the fact that it was so high-priced will keep me from coming back. Unfortunately, it wasn't evened out with items that WERE slightly more affordable either.

The invite had said to buy a t-shirt or bring your own as they were doing screen printing from Studio 3. I was impressed with how professional and custom the screen printing looked - like something you would find at a boutique shop, not regular t-shirt prints. They did a gorgeous job on the fitted tee I had brought. I absolutely loved my printed peacock feather.

Wearing the shirt for the first time - excuse the morning hair and no makeup

What a fantastic idea Studio 3 being there offering screen printing was, and the girls were SO friendly and hard working. There were three of them in their cute hot pink dresses that were their uniforms and even though they didn't all need to be out there helping, they were.

Oh, another awesome aspect is they will screen print on anything made from cloth or paper! I love that I went just to be able to discover Studio 3 and follow them. And I would definitely recommend Sanctuary to anyone who has the budget to shop there!!

In contrast, the Julie & Julia event at Cissi's Market blew. Aside from meeting Mai and Dani there which was a blast,
it was sweaty, hot, and crowded, and the only people who had tables were the media and their tables were reserved. The only appetizing food being passed around was delicious chocolate truffles that melted in your mouth and were like an entire piece of cake in one small bite. We ended up tasting their sangria which tasted like fruit juice gone bad (and I love me some sangria!), and their champagne with crushed rose petals and something else. The rose petals had intrigued me, but I can't remember the something else because I couldn't taste either one! We ordered sweet potato waffle fries which were deliciously smothered in a gourmet cheese, and the salad of the night, which was either completely the wrong salad or a very unimpressive side salad. Pretty sure it was the wrong salad because it was supposed to have pulled pork on it and it didn't. The only thing to do with Julie & Julia was the french food they offered, the preview they played over and over on a screen hidden behind the crowd, and a cooking show from a lady you could barely hear and was also crowded behind media cameras and media diners, who happened to be sweet enough to offer the appetizers and treats piled upon them to Dani and Mai who were standing behind them. Disappointing, but I did get to have fun with Dani and Mai, and enjoy a cupcake in the rain
from Hey Cupcake across the street on South Congress with my honey afterwards.
Cissi's saving grace was their email afterwards stating they would be limiting RSVPs for future events. I'm thinking that's a good idea. Perhaps limiting the media might actually have it be a more talked about affair as well!