You can stand under my umbrella...

...ella, ella, eh, eh eh...under my (argyle) umbrella....

Found this wonderful find at Target in Coral Ridge Mall, located near Iowa City, Iowa. 

Iowa?! What the heck was I doing there?! Well, Amber and I were there for a my friend and fellow viscompadre, Stephen Emlund (check out his site) -- he got hitched! Anyway, Iowa is pretty okay. There were a lot of tall, good-looking men there. I saw plenty of argyle sweaters at the food court, too.

Argyle CULTure

For those NOT in the know, Russell Simmons is one of USA Today's “Top 25 Most Influential People of the Past 20 Years.” He is not only a hip-hop pioneer, but he is very inspiring in all aspects of the entertainment business and more importantly, the fashion industry.

He is an entrepreneur and along with Phat Farm and HBO’s Def Comedy Jam and Def Poetry Jam, Simmons has launched a new ground-breaking fashion line, Russell Simmons Argyle Culture. (Check out his site here) Additionally, here is a screenshot. From a designer's POV, I really enjoy the navigation of the site and I took a quick liking to the simplicity and the incorporation of argyle seen at the bottom of the page :

RSAC is mostly urban clothing for men and Elle recently showcased the Spring 2009’s Ready-To-Wear fashion runway show featuring RSAC. There are a ton of different types of argyle... here are some of my favorites boys, er..I mean, argyle pieces :

Totally diggin’ the crazy diamonds and bright blue shorts. 

Actually, I recently purchased denim pants of the same color.

Not too sure about all the white going on--

it’s very... Morgan Freeman in Bruce Almighty-esque.

Can’t go wrong with purple!

A bit of khaki-overkill, but the socks are kinda cute.

For those who don’t know me very well, I am all about bright colors, so the pieces that Russell Simmons put out intrigued me. I’m not really a fan of the white tennis shoes, but I enjoy the stark difference it makes in comparison to the crazy-out-there-shades of color. My favorite ensemble would probably be the last picture. Though some people may argue that the sweater vest contains just diamonds and not necessarily an argyle-pattern, I like the checkered, salmon-colored button-up and the gray shorts to compliment the sweater vest. I’m not big into accessories on men, but I mean, this guy is obviously TD&H, so who’s complaining? Not me. 

Breaking a mental sweat.

Today, I ran errands with my mother. Look what I found!

Word reference never looked so good...

Remember the reason for the season : ARGYLE!

I hope that this entry finds everyone doing well and that your Christmases were splendid. This Christmas, my family and I went to Branson, Missouri. If you’ve never been to Branson, think of it like Vegas...minus the casinos and add more country. Okay, so not like Vegas at all, but Branson has a lot of hokey entertainment and a lot of corny lights. Basically, it’s just a great place for a family vacation. My fam and I go almost every summer. Unfortunately on Christmas, there weren’t very many shows showing...I really wanted to see the new Neil Sedaka musical, Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, a musical based on all of his songs, but alas, they were on break for the holidays. I thought that at least Andy Williams would be there, but his last Christmas show was on the 13th. Christmas was nice. We attended midnight mass in Branson and the entertainment was pretty good (I mean, I would expect so since we were in BRANSON).

In argyle news, I got two argyle vests for Christmas. I saw a lot of argyle at midnight mass. On Christmas day, we watched Adam Sandler's new movie, Bedtime Stories at the IMAX theatre. I always enjoy watching movies at the IMAX theatre. Also...I saw a lot of argyle sweaters. It was a nice surprise when my own sister, Jill, came out sporting an argyle sweater she purchased from Macy’s. Now Jill has always made me proud, but a tear came to my eye when I saw her wearing this sweater :

Again, this was taken at the IMAX theatre. I am not wearing argyle, but I do endorse other patterns, especially plaid. And ESPECIALLY purple (anything). I hear that purple is very “in” this season. It is also a vest, for which I am also a fan. 

Last entry, I promised a picture of my fam and I wearing blue, so here you go. I wanted to wear my new argyle vest, but I forgot it in Blue Springs (aw). 

In order from L to R : Ness, Jilly, Me, Jessamine, Mom & Dad.

So here you have it, folks. Consider yourself updated.

I Shop, Therefore I Drop.

Lesson learned : do not put off Christmas shopping for your family. I had to do ALL of my shopping today because we are leaving for Branson (!) tomorrow. Sunday started off like every Sunday in Blue Springs...we went to church. It was pretty crowded, I'm not all that surprised, being Advent season and all. After that, the fam had breakfast together and then Ness and I headed out to shop. We went to the plaza, Barnes & Noble, the mall, Target, the mall again...totaling almost seven hours of shopping.

I. Am. Exhausted.

Went home, wrapped everything and now the gifts are peacefully under the tree. Whew.

I bought two things for myself while shopping. I got a striped vest from Wet Seal ($10!) and an argyle vest from New York & Company (NY&C is having a 50% of store wide sale. Check it out!) My new vest looks like this :


Cute, huh?

Every year, my family picks a color and we all wear variations of outfits in that color for Christmas. Last year, we wore purple and this year we are wearing royal blue. (Past colors include : red, green, gold, pink) I would like to wear this sweater vest, but I don't think it will match very well. I will post pictures of Christmas with the Endayas next time, so get excited!

If I don't update before then, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas.

No Butts About It

Hey, the semester is over! Last week was finals week and I was finished by Tuesday, so since then, I've just been sitting around doing nothing. I have plans, though. Like, I want to do a big watercolor piece, some collage-ing, work on Professor Pauls' website and just chillax. I'm going to be in Kirksville until Friday...I may leave on Friday eve or Saturday morning, depends on how much packing I get done. On Monday, the fam and I are headed down under (Branson). I'm pretty stoked! We've never been down there for Christmas because it's hard to get something booked. Andy Williams, here we come!

Let's see, what else... I'm almost through with Season 4 of LOST. I mean, I've already seen it, but I need a refresher before January 21st. Season Premier, man! Joyce and Ashley are leaving today, so that's a bummer. But maybe some of my other friends will stick around awhile longer (HINT HINT). I miss Anthony, I can't wait for our weekly dinners in the new year. Sitting at the Help Desk is bor-ing, but at least I'm with Ben.

Before Greg has a mild freak-out, I'll talk about argyle for a bit. I mean, this IS supposed to be "All Argyle, All the Time." So as the holidays approach us and you are looking for something to wear for Christmas Day, or Midnight Mass, or that hot New Year's Eve party, consider argyle! It's fun, yet trendy, it can come in sweater OR sweatervest form and everyone looks pretty cute in it! There are a variety of colors to choose from and you can wear it with almost anything! However, here is something you should steer away from :


Almost as bad as pirate argyle! Okay, maybe they're tied.

I see the light.

Anthony passed this link along to me. This is located in North Carolina, also, this is my second post about North Carolina. Maybe I should move there. CHECK IT OUT!