Arts + Culture

Booked All Day

A bookworm’s dream crawl through four East Valley shops Article by Camilla Richardson | Photography by Timeless Vision Media & Tara Dunn Photography You may have experienced a bar crawl where you choose a neighborhood, map a route and spend a few hours moving from one stop to the next. A book crawl offers a literary twist on the familiar idea. Ditching pints of beer for stacks of books, friends move from one bookshop to the next, browsing shelves, trading recommendations and comparing their...

Food + Beverage

A Culinary Escape to Tucson

Our editor spent a weekend eating, sipping and exploring her way through the country’s first UNESCO City of Gastronomy Article by Kris Ann Valdez When people picture Tucson, they often think of the Old West, sunshine and the open desert. What they should be thinking about is what's on the menu. Tucson became the first U.S. UNESCO City of Gastronomy in 2015, recognized for its over 4,000-year-old agricultural heritage and the Native American, Mexican and even Chinese culinary traditions that...

Food + Beverage

From Their Table

The Rea family preserves generations of food traditions Article by Kris Ann Valdez | Photography by Kaylee Chelsea Photography & Anissa Kennedy Perry Rea doesn’t follow a recipe. He cooks from intuition. Born to Italian parents from a region south of Rome, he never had a recipe handed down to him by his parents or grandparents. Instead, his knowledge came from watching them in the kitchen. So when the idea took shape to publish a cookbook of beloved family recipes, both to share with Queen...

Food + Beverage

Beer, Food, & Community

The Heart and Soul of Old Ellsworth Brewing Company Is Its Craft Beer, Scratch-Kitchen and Community Article by Gretchen Pahia | Photography by Timeless Vision Media What started as a shared love of craft beer and a little homebrewing has grown into one of the best local gathering hubs in Queen Creek. Old Ellsworth Brewing Company opened to the public in 2017, but the story behind the family-owned brewery began years earlier. The original owners — Brian McKean, Christine McKean and Ryan...

Arts + Culture

Phoenix Rising Stars Talk Personal Style

Away from the field, three players embrace fashion as another way to express identity, heritage and personal confidence daily. Article by Kris Ann Valdez | Photography by Ashley Orellana Player 1: Ihsan "Nino" Sacko Position: Striker/Winger What does personal style mean to you? To be honest, since I was young, I didn't like to wear the same clothes as the people around me. And I want to put the light on my sister, because she helped me to choose a lot of my clothes in the past. And yeah, if I...

Real Estate

September in Encanterra

If you've been counting down the days until September, you're not alone. There is something deeply satisfying about that first morning when you step outside and the air feels just a little bit different — a little lighter, a little cooler, a little more like the Encanterra we fell in love with all over again. The desert is waking back up, and so is everything inside these gates.This is the season Encanterra was built for. Golf mornings that stretch a little longer. Patios that invite you to stay...

Style + Beauty

JEWELRY IS EVERYTHING

How bold gemstones, mixed metals and vintage pieces are making statement jewelry part of everyday style and personal expression. Article by Kris Ann Valdez | Photography by Emily Albright Photo Delicate, minimalist jewelry is stepping aside as bolder statement pieces reclaim the spotlight. “You're starting to see sculptural pieces, almost like wearable architecture around your neck," says Myranda of Myranda Fine Jewelry. "Bold metals are having a moment, but they aren't meant to be perfect...

Arts + Culture

One Happy Artist

How a series of unexpected detours—from a Siberian farm to Arizona—led ceramicist Rike Kova to clay, creativity and herself. Article by Kris Ann Valdez | Photography by Raquel King Photography Arizona-based ceramicist Rika Kova grew up in a small town in southern Siberia, Russia, where being an artist wasn't considered a profession. It was the 1990s, shortly after the Soviet Union collapsed. Factories closed, jobs disappeared and many families survived by growing food and bartering for...

Style + Beauty

What's Old Is Bag Again

Y2K handbags are back, but Queen Creek's Dusk Boutique says personal style wins over trends. Article by Kris Ann Valdez | Photography by Timeless Vision Media Nostalgia has a tight grip on fashion these days as social media thrusts "old-school" trends back into the public eye. Nowhere is that more evident than in handbags, where the coveted "it bags" of the early 2000s have officially earned the label of vintage, a mere two decades later. Whether young people are rummaging through their...

Arts + Culture

Beneath the Finishes

Alex Pevtsova designs homes around the daily rhythms of the people who live in them. Article by Camilla Richardson | Photography by A. Marie Studio, Amy Schaumberg Interior designer Alex Pevtsova of Pif. Design Studio doesn’t create luxury for the sake of luxury — she believes a home must reflect the daily rhythms of those who live in it.    “Everything we do starts from function,” Pevtsova says. “Beauty is really just the byproduct.”   A first-generation American, Pevtsova arrived at...