I had the great pleasure of traveling to Santa Fe last week, and I absolutely fell in love with it. I’ve been to plenty of desert places before (mostly in the Middle East but also in the American West and Southwest), and I’ve loved them all, but I don’t remember ever loving a desert place as much as I did New Mexico. It was completely charming. And yes, enchanting.

But the weather was not what I’d hoped for. It got quite chilly, and I irrationally failed to pack even a light jacket. So I had to buy a jacket in Santa Fe, right? Right!

red suede with fringe!

(Apologies for the not-great picture). This is by far the flashiest, boldest thing in my wardrobe now. I couldn’t resist it and I totally love it. I haven’t gotten a picture of the back yet, but it also has silver embellishments and lots of fringe. I love the A-line shape of this, and the color is just slammin’.

I couldn’t stop at the jacket, though, because it just didn’t look right with my little spring flats. So I had to go boot-shopping, right? Right!

decisions, decisions

This was a very hard choice. My tweeps and my instagram friends voted for the brown, but in the end I went with the black, which I think look better with my red coat, and which will be slightly more versatile with my wardrobe. But the brown ones are on my wishlist, and I hope to own a pair someday. They are Ariat Dahlia boots, and they’re available lots of place online, including on Amazon: Ariat Women’s Dahlia Boot (affiliate link).

Ariat Dahlia, in black

The boots are super-comfortable, though they are a teensy bit big for me. I bought them at a store on the plaza in Santa Fe that only carried whole sizes. I usually wear a 7.5, so I went with size 8. I think the 7.5 would’ve been perfect, but I’m happy enough with the fit of these. I walked all over the place in them and had no problems at all. The price couldn’t be beat, either, especially after I’d looked around in Santa Fe a bit. The first boot place I visited was a place that made all their boots by hand, in shop. I immediately fell in love with a pair in turquoise – and then discovered they were $1600! That is way, way out of my price range, so I was very happy to find a pair of non-handmade, perfectly lovely boots at a reasonable price.

I did draw the line at buying a cowboy hat, though. Gotta save something to purchase on my next trip, right?!