It all started with a watch. Way back last year, I really started coveting a Michael Kors watch. I blame it on all of the fashion bloggers I follow showing off the newest Runway collection, but in reality it was my fault. There should be an 11th commandent that says, “Thou shalt not covet your neighbors watch.” I thought about it almost daily and soon I had it in my mind that I had to have one.

I didn’t buy one.

I hoped someone nice would come along and buy one for me.

Christmas came and went. My birthday came and went. I didn’t receive one (surprise, surprise – no one wanted to buy me a $300+ watch). Yet, I still had a feeling my wrist was a little lonely.

Then, around mid-February I suddenly came into some unexpected money. I don’t make much off of this little blog (here’s how I do make the little money that I do). Honestly, it’s barely enough to cover the technical fees to keep the thing running. But I’ve never written this blog for the money. I just enjoy doing it. Anyway, I had a new sponsor sign up that I wasn’t planning on. Suddenly, I had just enough money in my account to say, “I deserve to spend a piece of this on myself.” Typically when I receive money it automatically goes back into the blog or to pay for gas or groceries. This time, I decided to keep just enough to buy myself something I really wanted – a watch.

Once I had the money to spend, I was even more careful about spotting the watches people were wearing and learning all of my options. Suddenly, I realized I didn’t want a Michael Kors watch after all. The Michael Kors watches I lusted after were quite big and masculine and, frankly, quickly dwarfed my little wrists. In addition, I didn’t love that so many people I knew and followed online already owned one. Chalk it up to defiant individualism.

Soon, I started checking out the Kate Spade watches. All of them were stunning, yet slightly petite in comparison to the oversized watches everyone is wearing. They seemed like the kind of watch I could wear for years, even decades to come as the pendulum on watch trends continuously shifts from small to huge and back to small again.

Finally, I had made up my mind. The Kate Spade Gramercy watch in gold would be mine. I drug Bill and my sister to Frontenac to the Kate Spade store. If I was going to spend this kind of money, I was going to get the full experience of shopping Kate Spade! Once we arrived, I excitedly told the woman working why I was here and that I had already picked out what I wanted. She showed me to the watches and guess what? The Kate Spade Gramercy wasn’t in stock in gold. My heart sunk. I had big plans to wear my shiny new watch to dinner and every so often just casually check the time. How could it not be in stock?

The woman showed me some other options and I wasn’t sure what to do. She encouraged me to try on a few similar watches and guess what I found? My skin is awful for gold. I mean awful. Every gold watch I tried on didn’t work well with the red undertones. She encouraged me to try on the rose gold instead. Suddenly, I had found my match. In looking at the rose gold online, it looked much more brassy than the actual watch appeared. As I tried on the watch and imagined myself checking the time for years (and decades) to come, I knew this was the one. After some amazing help from the staff in practicing taking it on and off (apparently I’m clasp illiterate) and a resizing on the spot, I wore my new watch to dinner and oh boy did I check the time!

Since buying my watch, I’ve been working on building the perfect arm party. Once again, I’ve been studying the wrists of every gal that walks by, pinning images for inspiration and searching my favorite blogs. I also asked for advice from my Facebook fans when I posted this picture of my arm party in progress (APIP?).

 What I’ve come to realize from my searching is that there are three things every arm party needs. You can add a few of each category, but a complete arm party has:

1. A Statement Watch. Your watch should reflect you. I’ve seen small watches and huge watches. Metal watches and leather watches. Blinged out watches and simple watches. Pick one you love and build from there.
   
2. Leather. Leather acts as a great way to add some accent to your metal. I’m particularly drawn to leather bracelets that wrap multiple times around your wrist. Do your best to match the metal hardware on your leather bracelets but don’t stress too much. Mixing metals is in!
3. Detailed Metal. This is where you can really show your personality and where I recommend you buy several, super affordable pieces. Some days you may feel like spikes while others you might want something more soft and floral. Having flexibility will allow you to switch up your arm party mood at a moment’s notice.
   

Do you have any recommendations on how to build the perfect arm party? Share them in the comments or share a photo on Facebook!