If I were a Jane...

I would surely be a plain one.

My closet hangs neutral (if it hangs at all). Solids outweigh patterns. Cottons beating silks. There is very little flowy-ness. Only a handful of bow ties. Hardly any sequence. There may be a few strappys.

My point is I don't really have a style. I dress for comfort firstly and secondly for comfort. Comfort would probably be the third and forth reasons too. I might accidentally strike an aesthetic chord from time to time. But I surely don't dress for attention, or flare, or flash. I'm not daring. Or hip. Or knowledgeable. Or anything really.

I'm classic t-shirt and jeans. Simple.

That's my preface to today.

Now....



Every good cowboy has one. And any good American would recognize one.

In this day and age, a sighting is followed by a "I like your... wait, what's that called?" Finger snapping coincides this remark. The questioner hopes that the click of their fingers will trigger recognition in their brains. It never does. That sound of boney flesh against boney flesh doesn't have the power we falsely bestow on it.

I said, "It's a bolo and thank you" six times today.

Yes, a bolo tie. I told you... every good cowboy has one.

OK, so my grandpa wasn't herding steer. He was simply a bolo lover. Wore one everyday. One of which I inherited.

The slide on my bolo is a nice big piece of tiger eye edged in gold. A good justification for breaking out the 80's chorus that Survivor made famous. Yes, I continuously look for reasonable excuse for sudden song/dance. "And he's watchin' us all in... the eye of the tiger"

Musical digression. My apologies.

The braided leather end in decorative gold aglets (I may or may not have wiki'ed the bolo tie). As I walked today, the aglets set a gentle, rhythmic ting to my step. This must have been the sound to my Grandpa's whole life.

This bolo usually sits with my other seldom worn but frequently considered jewelry atop my bedroom dresser. I silenced it's taunting today and put the darn thing on.

There's is really only one shirt combo I have ever braved the bolo with. The brown, button up linen. The sleeves loosely rolled to somewhere between wrist and elbow. The tiger eye nestled neatly over the second button. I'm not a first button type of girl.

I have to admit to feeling a little masculine in this get-up. For being a big ol' rock laid in frilly gold, it's the most masculine piece of jewelry in existence. The 'man-bag' to the necklace world. I countered the masculine with a pair of J-Lo Jeans. Don't judge me! I like the stretch!

I think I need to try the bolo with strappy, sequence, barely there tank. Ahhhh... but I'm not a risk taker in the closet. I already got too much attention today just being a cowboy.