Category: Uncategorized

JD

“My name is JD. I’m obsessed with hats, I absolutely am!

And not just any hats. Not caps, but actual hats- the Fedoras, the Homburgs, the Panama’s. These are the hats that I’m really drawn to. I can tell you that my grandfather is definitely the biggest influence in my obsession.

At an early age my grandparents would drive over from a little town in west Texas to my parents house. As soon as my grandfather walked through the door he would kneel down to give me a big hug. I’d come running up to him and every time the brim of his fedora would crash into my cheek.

I always stood back and looked up at him and he looked like such a movie star, such a gentlemen in his chocolate brown Fedora. And this guy, he was a blue collar manual laborer, a bricklayer.

But he was also the most gentlemanly, the most reserved and articulate man that I have ever been influenced by.

For me a big part of his identity was that hat. I think back to when they were leaving our house every Sunday, driving away in their old Chevy Impala, into the Texas horizon, I could always see, peeking over the window, the Fedora.

Now that I’m a young man, these hats are definitely central to my style. Most of my friends don’t recognize me when I’m not wearing a big brimmed hat.

I feel most complete and I feel most at ease and I feel most like a gentlemen when I’m wearing my hats. What else can I say?”

Erin

“My name is Erin.

I know it seems obvious and lame but I brought my laptop. I met my husband on-line at Match.com and started a career that I never thought was possible for myself.

At the time, I think it was 9 years ago, I was socially awkward and a coworker suggested I try on line dating. I was like: Are you insane? So she put up a profile for me. My mother said they’d find me chopped up in the trunk of a Camaro.

I got 600 emails the first couple of days but they were all gross and then I noticed where you could specify your search parameters and Andrews profile came up. I said to my girlfriend- why doesn’t a guy like that write me?

I went to bed- didn’t contact him. The next morning he had e-mailed me. It was really creepy.

I didn’t actually have narrow search parameters. He had to be really tall, graduated college, never married. What’s funny is that on our first date, the one and only date I had from match.com, the first thing Andrew said when we sat down was: Okay- I have to tell you something. I was like great-What? He says: I’m Divorced… I’m Thinking great, what else?…and I didn’t graduate college. And he says if you want to leave, totally fine but I just wanted to tell you and get that out the way. He explained that he was married for only ninety days, big mistake and had dropped out of college to run a business but was now back in college and finishing his degree.”

Tidbit:

Fast forward to 2010-Erin and Andrew have been married now for five years. Andrew earned not only his under graduate degree but also a masters. Erin’s interior design business continues to thrive and her blog http://www.elementsofstyleblog.com has taken off with almost 200,000 hits per month.

Sandy

“Okay! My name. Sandy.

Here’s what I brought today. It’s a vintage Easy Rider motorcycle helmet. I love motorcycles, I race motorcycles, I grew up on motorcycles. I’ve been a gear head all my life.

I always loved Easy Rider. One of my greatest memories of coming of age was seeing this movie. It was amazing.

I found this magazine ad for a place called Justified Defiance. They found all the old styles- a whole warehouse full of them. They kept just the shells, restored them and the brought them back to life.

I had to have it.

When I’m not using it, it sits on the shelf in my house.

You know, it’s a great piece. It’s Americana man!”

Tidbit:

Coincidentally, right after this was photographed there was news of Dennis Hopper’s passing. Hopper had directed and starred in this cinematic symbol of the 1960s.

Ayden

“My name is Ayden

I am 6 years old.
Today I brought some of my Bakugans.
I don’t know why I like them, I just do.

Thank you.”

Ron

“My name is Ron and today I brought Kleenexes of my late wife Lisa.

The joke that we had, (which really wasn’t a joke) was the fact that she was always blowing her nose and leaving the Kleenexes all over the place. I’d find them in the bed, on the bed, in the sofa, and on the sofa. She’d just blow her nose and leave the Kleenex and I would always complain, ‘Don’t you know what a wastebasket looks like?’

One time she said, ‘Well one of these days I’m not going to be around and you’re going to find one of these Kleenex and you are going to feel sorry for giving me such a hard time about them.’

Ironically, that was the case, because Lisa died suddenly of septic shock.

After she died, I was going through some of her bathrobes and found these Kleenexes. I just laughed because I remembered the conversation we had and I never thought that she would die.

When something like this happens you just want to keep things. Anything.

It’s weird because since she was cremated I couldn’t get a lock of her hair. I have some of her hairbrushes with a little of her hair. I actually cleaned the bathtub that was clogged, so I have a ‘clog’ of her hair.

But the Kleenexes are the only things that really I know she touched on this planet so I keep them. It’s strange, but what can you do?”

Tidbit:

“The young girl the picture is our daughter Kiki. She was only three when she lost her mom.”