We know shopping can be either an exercise in drudgery: we plod along, methodically acquiring items simply because it's necessary to sustain ourselves. Drop it all in a cart and stand in line. Overall, a dull, purely business transaction. Like buying a hammer. Or some duct tape. Or Shopping can be a joyful, blissful experience where we marvel at the choices, the colors, the arrangement, and comfortably weigh our options in a pleasant, beautiful space. All of this adds up to an overall feeling of satisfied contentment. They don't call it Retail Therapy for nothing.

One little shop in Miami has an especially delightful and inviting take on the shopping experience. Miss Peppers accessories boutique just opened in November and they were featured in Daily Candy. At Miss Pepper, you are greeted with a burst of fresh flowers, a fainting couch (you know, it can happen), a friendly boston terrier and a beautifully decorated room accented with bright funky globe chandeliers. When we saw the Daily Candy article and photo about Miss Pepper, we did a happy double take - looked closer and noticed that the wallpaper is Echo's own flower power wallpaper. They used our retro pattern in soft grey to be the backdrop of their customer's shopping experience. So not only can you find hip, new jewelry and accessories but this boutique will make you feel hip and new ... and happy!

Miss Pepper, 7308 Red Road, South Miami (305-668-8282) http://www.misspepperboutique.com/

Each season has it's own colors, sounds and scents.  It's hard to compare the shocking brights of fall leaves to a brilliant blue summer sky but winter has a sort of secondary layer of emotion and a stark brilliance all it's own.  The trees are dormant. The ground is cold and hard. Nothing grows. But the quiet beauty of a pure white snowfall against the bare trees is a reminder to pause. It's sort of Mother Earth's downtime.  A powdery fresh snow absorbs sound which lowers the ambient noise over a landscape. This quiet peace is a simple but remarkable difference compared to the bubbly brilliance of birds and sunlight in spring and the roar of a summer thunderstorm.  Winter can be your transition, your in-between days because it's an important note in the music of the seasons.  The pause in the chorus, the white space on the page. Without space we wouldn't have matter.  Winter is punctuated by marking the passing of the year. It's more than flipping a page in the calendar. This year is gone but a new one is beginning. We wouldn't have spring without the cold change of winter.  And we don't have new growth without reflection.  Hope this season you get time to stop and watch the snow fall.   Thought you might enjoy this video tribute to George Winston's December. It's long, but then again, so is Winter.

Welcome to our new feature called Cubicle Couture - Echo Our Style.  Check in and see how and what we're wearing here in the hallways at Echo.  Today the windy morning influenced everybody's outfits and most of us layered up in wraps, sweaters and ponchos.  We found 3 people each wearing a wrap a different way.  Wraps are commonly thought of as something to be worn around your shoulders, like a shawl or a pashmina. This is a great way to wear a wrap in the cold weather months and a lace, sequin or silk wrap also can be a nice touch to a party dress or bridesmaid's dresses.  But these wraps shown here are worn like scarves.  They provide just the right amount of fabric to gather and drape loosely for that casual look.  The first two wraps are also eco-friendly. They are made of bamboo which is naturally anti-bacterial and are amazingly soft!   The last look is our brightly colored ikat.  Ikat is a type of fabric which is created by dying the yarns before they are put onto the loom and woven into fabric.  We had an earlier blog post all about ikats here if you'd like to read more.  So if you're searching for a perfect, long and versatile scarf, you might just find it in the Wraps section!