Countdown Update

Saturday, March 15, 2008:
As of Friday, I have 20 ties (4 work weeks) to go. They make quite the kaleidoscope of a selection, and to tell you the truth some of them make me a little nervous. One of them isn't pictured because it is receiving some TLC. The estimated day of completion stands at Friday, April 11, 2008.

Last Minute Inspiration Works

Friday, March 14, 2008:
Most of the time I solve the riddle of what I am going to wear the night before, knowing my propensity to waste mountains of time in the morning. Well, Thursday night fell apart on me so I found myself with the shot clock running down Friday morning in front of dwindling options on the tie rack and a desire not to do something simple - these two parts of the equation don't really pencil out to punctuality. During my whirlwind first H&M experience I had purchased a solid purple/mauve tie that went well with a graph check shirt that I until recently owned (it's spring evacuation here at 222B). At some point that tie got a snag in it, and if you've ever had a snag is a tie, you know as well as I do that it is a disastrous feeling as they basically ruin the tie - anyways, I had the occasion then to NEED a tie. The replacement was found at Target and it is by their house brand Merona. I bought it in time to wear to the memorial service of Frank Bates, a man that I greatly admired and Katherine's grandfather.

Finding myself back in front of my closet, I scanned across my shirt spectrum and suddenly I saw something that looked the appropriate level of spring - a shirt with green and purple vertical stripes. I grab a the Merona tie, but also a green tie and laid them across the shirt. I was disappointed instantly with the green one but hesitant with the purple one still. Knowing that the best part of this game was the consequence free experimentation, I decided it was OK that I looked redder than usual and threw on the shirt and tie with my gray suit from Banana, snapped a photo and was out the door. The compliments I received throughout the day proved that genius comes from being pressed for time.

I also wanted to highlight Dennis' selection today. Awfully patriotic, and I appreciate that on a Friday.

Guest ties!

Since the beginning of this process I thought it would be fun if I had a "Guest Tie" section, however I thought it weird, especially where I work, and who I meet with, to take snapshots of ties. Yeah, it would be weird. However, I did find two right in our own office and they were proud to pose for me.

Scott's flowers:
Scott works with me and covers foreign affairs (in the places in the world that speak romantic, slavic and germanic languages), the judiciary, telecom and housing, along with some other areas. Scott is from Astoria, and he likes orange. I like Scott for his like for orange. Orange is a hard color, but Scott does really well with it. Scott's tie is by Pronto Uomo. The tie is made of two oranges, one slightly lighter than the other, which disguises a really nice fleur de lis pattern unless the light hits it. It reminded me of the wall paper in the Mansfield Room on the Senate side, and several other rooms of the Capitol. The wall is plain vanilla until a flash of light hits it to reveal a very intricate pattern. Really cool tie.


Dennis's stripes:
Dennis also works with me and the tie I photographed is one that I have been interested in for a long time and is very "Dennis". It's a striped tie made of a series of different stripes over an orange background. The stripes, upon closer inspection - and I have stared - is made out of various colors like gold, purple, a light blue and a dark blue. The really good stripe is made up of a series of circles. Not to disparage the other stripes, they are fine, too. Dennis tied it with a graph checked shirt which works because of the different scales in the pattern - the thinness of the lines work really well. Yes Dennis, I stare at your tie, but don't worry, I listen to every word you say.

This was fun. I should do more of these. Maybe I could just take screen shots off of CSPAN for the more entertaining ties.

wood and flowers

Thursday, March 13, 2008:
I feel like my jovial attitude helped pull off today's combination - it was either that, or this new combination actually worked on it's own. After the last couple weeks, I think it was the ether my brain was running on that made it all ok. Today's selection was a Ted Baker I bought at Nordstrom when I was on a shopping trip with my friend Natale. I remember being slightly confounded by the salesman who directed me to the Ted Bakers, and that's where I was headed anyway. Ok, it wasn't a funny story or even an interesting one, it was just a story. The tie is a light turquoise with light blue flowers outlined in brown in an overgrown mess. It's more of a stretch, I guess, in the design column, especially when paired with my brown herringbone suit. It easily goes with a tan, khaki, or gray suit, but I hope my cheerful nature made up for it.

Cool Crosses

Wednesday, March 12, 2008:
I have a problem with this tie - I can't for the life of me remember when I bought it. It's a satin tie with woven cross hatched stripes from Banana, and I vaguely remember getting it when it was on sale, but I can't picture if it was after I moved here or before. Regardless, it was a smart call. I am really fascinated by satin and the effect light has on it. This two tone effect paired with the cross hatches of dark navy and light blue is really strong, and at the same time reminds me the visual effect of water on window panes. I think that it's a really smart tie, very upscale, and paired with a white shirt and my favorite suit from JCrew (that is a little snug right now) it is one of my favorite combinations. The sad part is that I have had this in the back of the rack and it took so long to surface, with 24 days to go.

Banker-lite

Tuesday, March 11, 2008:
So with 24 ties remaining in this little adventure, I've been getting a little nervous about my selections. This is a pretty big week in terms of meetings and after work events, so now that I am getting down to spring colors I am getting a little anxious with all my playful ties. I chose my JCrew pinstripe, a blue shirt from Banana, and a silk print tie I bought last spring from Banana. It's a paisley pattern with an emphasis on the blue stems in the pattern. I bought this when I was shopping with my friend Lisa in what could only be called a "pity spree" in order to make myself feel tons better. I also bought my gray Banana suit on the same day. I hated paying retail for the suit, but not the tie. Ties, for whatever reason, are something I don't mind spending money on. The same way I feel about dinners - just an fyi. The look is strong and very business oriented, but the swirls in the tie offers a playful juxtaposition to the chalk stripe in the suit. I have worn this suit with a pink and green combination that stretches this concept a little farther, so I tried something different and I like this a little better.

Bright yellow for Monday

Monday, March 10, 2008:
Today's tie was one of the first ties I purchased when I decided I wanted to wear suits for ever and ever. Katherine, her mother, and I had gone to the Woodburn outlets because I was on the quest to work in politics or in law (or something requiring a suit) so I needed an interview suit. We were in Brooks Brothers, the pinnacle of taste in my life at that point, led us to a simple black suit. It is a little stretchy, has flat front pants and no back vent - I am told that it's a peculiar suit by Brooks Brothers, and if you went through their selections you will not find another one like it. The tie is a silk print tie, also from Brooks Brothers, in bright yellow and has alternating small blue diamonds and red dots. This is one of only the silk print ties I actually like, and it works with a light blue shirt. The selection was at the suggestion of Katherine's mom because everyone needs a bright tie in their closet - inspiration for further purchases perhaps? Thanks LeeAnne.