This post is sponsored by Shinola but the content and opinions expressed here are my own.
Valentine’s Day is coming up, and usually Omied and I keep it pretty low-key for V-day. We don’t even really like to go out for dinner on Valentine’s Day, because all of the restaurants in the city do a prix fixe menu instead of their normal menu since it’s so busy, and they really jack up the prices. Instead, Omied has promised to cook us a romantic dinner at home. ? While we’ll have a low-key night in, this year I wanted to get Omied something special, to show my appreciation for how supportive he’s been over the last month with my decision to quit my job at Google and go full time with What The Fab. He is my partner in crime and I literally couldn’t do this without him. He’s been wanting a new watch since the one I got him as a graduation gift many years ago is admittedly a bit outdated. So, we went over to Shinola to pick out his Valentine’s Day gift.
Shinola’s store in San Francisco is absolutely stunning, and as soon as you walk in, you can tell that every piece in there has been crafted by hand, with care. The store manager was incredibly helpful and it was clear that he has a passion for Shinola’s beautiful leather goods, and has tons of knowledge about all of their watches. Omied tried on several watches and he ended up going with The Runwell, with a black dial and a dark brown leather strap. Shinola had so many different styles to choose from, and you can of course mix and match their different straps to find your perfect style. It was so cute because all the gentlemen in the store were really excited for him and told him that was their favorite style and that he’d picked out a great one. Shinola also does custom monogramming in the store, so we were able to get the leather strap on Omied’s watch monogrammed. We decided to go with our wedding date, 9.12, on the inside of the strap, so it’s like a little secret that we know is there on the hidden side of his beautiful new watch. Picking out this gift and including the custom monogram felt like crafting the perfect love letter. Omied’s new timepiece from Shinola is timeless and beautiful, and fits his style perfectly—he wears it so well!
Elise Armitage is an entrepreneur and founder of What The Fab, a travel + lifestyle blog based in California. At the beginning of 2019, Elise left her corporate job at Google to chase her dreams: being an entrepreneur and helping women find fabulous in the everyday. Since then, she’s launched her SEO course Six-Figure SEO, where she teaches bloggers how to create a passive revenue stream from their website using SEO. Featured in publications like Forbes, Elle, HerMoney, and Real Simple, Elise is a firm believer that you can be of both substance and style.
