Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) might roll around only once a year, but the skulls, monarch butterflies, and other motifs meant to celebrate ancestors who've died are a part of everyday life in Mexican culture. And quite a few Phoenicians have embraced them, too, sporting iconic sugar-skull images on everything from bolo ties to hipster socks. Walls, bins, and shelves at La Tiendita (meaning "the little shop") inside the Arizona Latino Arts and Cultural Center are filled year-round with jewelry, magnets, masks, home decor, fashion accessories, and crafts channeling Day of the Dead and other Mexican traditions. Many are made by local artists, and there's a good chance you'll get to meet and talk with at least one local artist while you're there. Pieces of colorful tissue paper called papel picado, perforated to create Day of the Dead designs, hang suspended from the ceiling — proving that shopping, as you've long insisted, is actually an essential life-affirming act. Go ahead, get that fancy skull-print handbag or wallet. Your abuela (grandmother) would have wanted you to go for it.