Ties--Wearable Art for Men.

I once heard that men love ties so much because it's their only accessory when it comes down to getting dressed up. Makes complete sense! A change in color or pattern of tie can transform a suit or dress shirt/slack combo into a completely different outfit :) That's probably why my brother came home from his mission with a tie collection that could fill an entire closet...Men want to be able to express themselves through their accessories too, right? (idk, maybe that's just my kind of guy)

Yesterday I spent about 10 minutes intensely thinking about ties when it was annouced at our "Linger Longer" that we were going to be doing things differently. *For those of you who don't know what it is...it's intended to be extra time after church to stuff your face and mingle with other people in the singles ward. Meeting new people does happen on occasion, but it usually comes down to you eating and sitting with the same people you just sat next too during all three hours of church.*

It was instructed that all of the guys were to take off their ties and place them into a large collective pot. The girls were to line up, get their food, grab a tie out of the pot, and find a place to sit. After the girls were seated, the guys were to get their food, find the girl possessing their tie and "mingle" with them.

Immediately I thought, "AWFUL IDEA!" After complaining for a minute with a couple of girl friends we decided that in all actuality it really was a clever activity and way for people to actually talk to those they might not know yet. But here's the thing: My friends and I were pretty much the last four in the line of girls. This meant we didn't really have a choice as to which ties we chose and essentially which guys we would be "Mingling" with.

As I stood in line I caught myself analyzing what kind of guy would wear each tie. I figured that it had to work just like accessories for girls. For example earrings--You've got the girls who wear the simple but elegant diamonds, the classy pearls, the edgy chunky plastic shapes, the "I'm going to pretend it's in" feather earrings and you've even got the girls with the gages. They might not determine the person that they are but it explains something about them. It's kind of like that for men and their ties.

You've got bright colors, the stripes...

The bold colors, the plain colors, polka dots

Vintage, fancy, expensive, skinny, patterned...

and even old, dirty and those ties with the cartoon characters.

Granted some guys have lots of different ties but I can still bet that each one still explains the kind of style they have which in turn can tell a lot about a person (except I understand that there are some times when people receive accessories as a gift...that could throw you off. Another thing that can throw you off is the fact that vintage is in. We like vintage but sometimes OLD vintage-looking ties are easy for ANYONE to come around.)

I looked at the last few ties in the pot and knew that I would not be mingling with my potential crush/love. Hahah. (you know that was their motive in doing this whole thing.) Call me Crazy? Shallow? I don't care. I was right. I mean, all of the guys that sat at our table were nice, special souls and of course it was nice meeting new people in the ward! But you can't tell me that all of the other girls in the ward weren't thinking the same thing as they picked all the fancy ties. Just saying.

OK, you're right. I think about things more than any normal person should. I guess I'm just ticked because I know that if I would have been first in line I know exactly the kind of tie/guy I would have picked.

Haha. Alright. I'll be done for now :) In the mean time, analyze your accessories (or lack thereof).... I bet it explains a little something something about yourself or what you want to betray!