100 Days, 100 Ties

Ahh, where would I, or this blog, be without the ellipse? It emanates a certain sarcasm that the simple period simply cannot convey. And the combination question mark/exclamation point?! Too obvious, just like either one alone! Am I right?

Tonight was a special night, as far as Evanston Chamber nights go. ‘Twas the night of our annual meeting, and things went very well. A well-planned, well-scripted and well-run event by Lisa McGowan of A Wondrous Affair, our Annual Meeting and Awards Dinner was a great success. As it was a big night, I knew that my outfit would need to be a bit extraordinary.

Who's the Boss?

Thus I present the Tie du Jour (or, as it’s post-midnight, the Tie du Yesterday), a green paisley with blue and silver undertones. It’s from Hugo Boss, and my man Hugo does NOT mess ’round. You may notice that this is the tie I’m wearing in my WordPress (& Facebook, for that matter) profile picture, which was taken last year by Jill Brazel of Jill Brazel Photography.

Shir o Shekar

My reference to my Southern roots in the title of today’s blog (Tie No. 57, by the by) comes from my suit that I wore to the event. As you can see, it’s a seersucker suit, and it’s a beauty. It’s a Brooks Brothers, that I bought at Classy Closet on Washington & Custer in SE Evanston a few years back.

Emanuel over at Classy Closet has a pretty interesting array of men’s suits, ties and shoes that he sells, mostly, on consignment. Given its proximity, I have stopped in there several times over the years. He also has a pretty wide selection of women’s clothing, including business suits.

Well, I could have taken about 50 pictures of Guys With Ties at the event last night, but I chose to keep the iPhone holstered, for the most part. I did get one of Randy Pluta, Director of Sales & Marketing at the Hilton Orrington, the venue for last evening’s festivities. Sorry that it’s a little blurry, but you can tell Randy has great taste in ties (and spends a lot more on them than I do, I’m sure).

The other picture I got was of Michael and Moorad, two sales guys from Best Buy Evanston, on Howard. Best Buy sponsored one of the awards last night, the Community Leadership Award, and GM Steve Smith brought a table-full of employees from the store. These guys had such a high level of style–from the cardigan to the glasses to a Mason’s pin for crike’s sake!–that I just had to get a shot.

Well, thanks for reading…Brooke

So I had a successful parting with two ties yesterday, and a challenge to get rid of another one today.

Don't...look at the light!

My 2nd-place contestant from the last Friday Freebie, Nicole Colin, graciously accepted the consolation tie; I assured her that it took a special submission from my cousin Elizabeth to knock her from her perch. So, the multi-striped green Perry Ellis from last week stays local with Nicole, while the blue & green Kenneth Cole will be sent to Texas, where it will grace the neck of Elizabeth’s husband, Tim. Be sure to send pix when it gets there!

It’s been extremely sunny the past few days here in the Evanstonland region of Chicagoland, and my Tie du Jour reflects that pretty well by, well, reflecting sunlight.

My bright yellow beacon of shiny tie-ness is from Zanzara, and I found it at Unique Thrift Store at Howard & Western. Their ties are priced at 99 cents, and depending on the color of the label, can be had at a 25% or even 50% discount. I have at least 20 ties (meek understatement alert!) from Unique.

After posting three Guys With Ties yesterday, I realized that I forgot that I’d taken another picture early in the morning on my way out to work. Christopher Dale, my upstairs neighbor, was sporting this tie and heading off at the same time. He works down on 63rd Street on the South Side, and shoot if I can’t remember who it is. Darn brain!

I had some more visitors to the office today…Brandon Bowers and Billie Kershasky of Astor & Black, a custom men’s clothier. They sell mostly suits, but have all the accoutrements. Fantastic swatches, and I hope to become a customer soon. While Brandon enters the pantheon of Guys With Ties, Billie becomes the charter member of Girls With (Guys With) Ties.

I was actually extra proud of this sales call, as I referred Billie to Brandon a few weeks ago as part of her job search. She is a great friend and is going to be a fantastic salesperson for A&B.

Thanks for reading…Brooke

Julia, my daughter, is an heiress to a small fortune. The key word there is ‘small’, and ‘fortune’ is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact that she had better luck out and marry well, or hope that I perish at the fault of a rich corporation.

Anyway, the Heiress picked out this tie over the weekend, and I forgot to wear it on Monday. Apparently putting the tie on the doorknob of my closet isn’t enough to remind me. Next time I’ll tie it around my head, samurai-style…mayhaps I’ll see it in the mirror. Before my shower. Gingko Biloba!

Againyway, I’m glad I’m making J’s pick the Tie du Mardi, since it’s the Chamber Networking Breakfast today, hosted by the North Shore Retirement Hotel. Gotta look me best, or at least coordinated.

As beautiful as the splendid clouds

My Tie du Jour is one of my new favorites, and one of my coolest thrift store finds. There it was, hanging out at the Salvation Army on Kedzie, all of $1.50. It’s from China, according to the label, but not on a “Made In China” basis. This one seems like it was made there to be sported there. The label has some Chinese characters on it, right above the word “CHINA.” Deep, yes. But below that it says “NANJING YUN BROCADE RESEARCH INSTITUTE.” That is actually a pretty fun website, just for the unintentional comedy brought on by the lost-in-translation bits and the random punctuation slivers. ‘Yun’ means ‘clouds’, “since the fabrics is as beautiful as the splendid clouds in the sky.”

Well, then. How…nice.

We had a couple of splendid clouds at our Networking Breakfast this morning (Yes, I wrote part of this blogpost pre-NeBr), sporting ties, of course.

First, we have Robert Adam, proprietor of Adam Insurance Brokerage. A very nice guy, Bob is a fixture at Chamber events. I saw him later on in the morning, and he had removed his tie. Cheater!

Next we have Eric Fenton, owner of private tutoring firm Across the Board Test Prep. He and his wife attended their first chamber event this very morn (hopefully not their last).

Thanks for wearing ties, you Guys With Ties!

Bup, bup, bup! Wait a tic…another GWT just came in for a meeting. Jake Chamberlain, of Sandbox Industries, sported a vintage paisley while presenting an idea to me. This tie accompanied Jake on a 2-year mission to the Ukraine; that’d be a mission for the Mormon Church, not a spy mission. Thanks for stopping in, Jake.

And thanks for reading…Brooke

There are two ways to be awake past 1…well, okay, there are about 78 ways, in all honesty, but in the past two nights I have experienced some pretty basic (and rather lame) methods for doing so. We have last night, where it was just pure ignorance of the sleep needs for a man in the 28-48 age bracket (first time that particular age bracket has EVER been cited…thank you very much). And, we have tonight, where I went to sleep before 11, while putting Julia to bed, only to awaken about a quarter past 1. Par-tee on!

No matter, I’ll just bang this out and complete our busy Saturday (coffee. swimming lesson. Panera. Laps 4 Lincoln. soccer match. pick up babysitter/party helpers. Julia birthday party. cousins arrive. cousins spend night. sleep, hopefully). That’s a big parenthetical expression, wouldn’t you agree?

Not easy being blue and green either...

On to the Tie du Jour, aka Friday Freebie Four…

Yes, our strip of today is from Kenneth Cole. I like their stuff–ties, pants, shirts, you name it. The green & blue pattern simply jumps off of this shirt, also green/blue patterned. As the Friday Freebie, it will jump right out of my flat as well, to the best commenter.

We already have a leader in the clubhouse, actually. Nicole Colin, of 3dRenderingNow, submitted this amazing photo of a guest Guy With Tie, or Amphibian With Tie, I guess I should say, sporting a strip that looks suspiciously like the Tie du Yesterday. It just begs the question…why ARE there so many…songs…about rainbows?

Yes, Kermit is pluckin’ away here, vying for Nicole to get this tie. I must say, I may give her the green striped one as well. Well done! Don’t let that stop you from submitting your own comments on why YOU should get it, though…

We have a mammal-esque GWT too…James Smith, of First Northern Credit Union here in Evanston, gets in with a classy and classic striped repp tie. He’s a Louisiana man, raised in Baton Rouge (aka “Red Stick”, glorified previously during Red Tie Week), who has promised a batch of boiled crawfish this summer. Ahem…

Thanks for reading…Brooke

“I think I’ll miss you most of all!” –Dorothy [to Scarecrow], The Wizard of Oz

This one is going to hurt…

Sometimes, since I started 100 Days, 100 Ties, I have put on a certain tie, knowing full well that I won’t be wearing it again for a while. But, then I look at the dozens of other ties and realize that I’ll get over it.

Bright Lights, Big Township

I am really going to miss this tie/shirt combo, though. It’s another one that I may sneak in, at a later date. I’ll be sure to let you know if/when I cheat.

It’s from Pierre Cardin, and it’s very French-ness (French-icity? French-issitude?) is très évident. It just calls attention to itself, and that’s exactly what I was going for, pairing it with a pink/white shirt with a wonderful diamond pattern. I wore my Perry Ellis blue suit with little pinstripes, so the shirt-tie was ALL pop. The scarf (POCKET SQUARE) was of the same color (I’m trying to avoid typing ‘pink/white’ again in this paragra…DOH!), so, yes, very French.

Speaking of French, I have one Mec Avec Cravatte (Guy With Tie) today. Patrice Robin was a true French gentleman, who unfortunately passed away several years ago. His sister, Michèle Robin Crump, has lived in Memphis for 30+ years and is one of my mom’s dearest friends. He always wore bow ties, and the 3 or 4 times I met him, you could always tell that he just oozed class. Michèle sent me this photo, along with the words, “Voila Patrice Robin et son fameux noeud papillon…I miss him so much.” My mom has one of Patrice’s ties, and has sent it to me to wear–proudly–during Bow Tie Week. The French for bow tie, noeud papillon means, literally, butterfly knot. I love that.

Send some pictures of your loved ones–dearly departed or still around–wearing a tie that made them a part of your memory; along with a story would be nice.

Well, thanks for reading…Brooke

…B-O-W-T-I-E.

While dressing, I noticed that one of my bow ties had fallen on the floor of my closet. Normally, I would have left it there, for days or perhaps weeks. But, since I’m sooooo responsible, I picked it up and put it on. There’s some major thought process that goes into choosing a Tie du Jour.

But, apparently, throughout the day, that thought process left me; as I sat and stared at the white laptop screen, it remained a white laptop screen. Yes, I was watching the professional hockey match (here we go, Blackhawks, here we go! Chicago up 2 games to zip over the “do you know the way to” San Jose Sharks), and yes I was making full stretch use of my new wireless capabilities, but…I drew a blank; I shot blanks; I stared and stared at a blaaaaank paaaage. Couldn’t even think of the title.

But, after falling asleep numerous times, while thinking, “I’ve got to finish!” I gave up and brought the laptop back into its homebase. Magically, the “can’t spell” piece of my brain kicked in, and I came up with that one. Ahhhh, I knew that I’d wake up and be good again.

Row, row, bow your boat

So, the Tie du Jour from yesterday (Tie d’Hier, for you fellow francophiles) is/was a good one. No label, strangely enough, but I’ve had this bow tie for years. I like the yellow touches that seem to go well with the blue and white flowers and the gray background.

The BTdJ definitely made the rounds yesterday…lunch at the new Bombay Indian Grill on Sherman, a new-meeting center-warming reception at the Hilton Garden Inn, my daughter Julia’s Team Evanston soccer game (they won 5-1, huzzah!), and then PizzaFest at Carmen’s Pizza on Church, hosted by the Rotary Club of Evanston. The good thing about wearing a bow tie is that it’s pretty hard to drip hot pizza sauce on it. Or soup. Or wine.

Steve Hagerty and...

...Joe Romano

Yesterday there were a bunch of gents chalked up on the Guys With Ties board. We had Steve Hagerty, of Hagerty Consulting, and Joe Romano, of Romano Brothers, snapped in the lobby of our building, One Rotary Center. They were heading downtown to hear Gen. Petraeus speak (here’s a great GQ article on him–Petraeus, that is, not Hagerty or Romano).

Then, at the Hilton fiesta, Pat Kelly of John J. Cahill Plumbing was sporting a nice plaid strip. Pat is a new member of the Chamber’s Board, and will be properly hazed…I mean, installed…at our upcoming Annual Meeting & Awards Dinner on June 2. It’s the 90th Annual, you know…

And, finally, John Osterlund, of Rotary International, also wore a tie to our daughters’ soccer game (his Abby scored a hat trick IN THE FIRST HALF), thus ensuring that we’d win any Better Dressed Parents awards, if there were such a thing.

So, I smite thee, writer’s block. May ye never rear your ugly face again.

Thanks for reading…Brooke