...the very pants I was about to return

  I had to return the Rugby corduroy mallard critter pants.  What a shame!  They were almost perfect.  Corduroy, Critters, the waist and length were good; but they fit like tights.  Corduroy leggings they were.  Am I getting too old for these brands aimed at young people?  Maybe, maybe not.  But I have been shopping at Lands' End and L.L. Bean more often.
  The bright side is now I have the money back from the pants.  And the money was from my mammy to buy X-mas gifts for myself.  I can't let her down now can I?  And I need another pair off shoes like a hole in the head.
  But, I do need a new pair of boat shoes.  They're my 3 season go to shoe.  I wear socks with my boat shoes when it's cold outside.  I especially think that rag wool socks look great with boat shoes.  And I know that Sperry makes winter boat shoes and high top boat shoes; so maybe you can buy them for me.
  Hey Sperry, can you make a boat shoe with a red brick sole but a regular leather upper (not suede)?  Thanks.  I'm afraid of ruining the suede.
  So I'm going with the Authentic Original Boat Shoe, again, but in the classic brown color this time.  The Sahara color has served me well, but it's always good to switch things up.

I've also ordered the Bass Brockton in white nubuck from Piperlime.  I've been debating getting white bucks because it takes a lot confidence and style to pull them off.  They were on sale so I bit, and if there's anyone I know who can pull it off, it's me.
 

 
I always think of this Seinfeld clip when I return pants.
 

What I got myself for Christmas

  Every year my mother gives me money at Thanksgiving to buy myself Christmas gifts.  I then buy the gifts for myself and then have her open the gifts on Christmas Day so at least someone is surprised.  This is what happens when you're extremely particular about exactly what you want for Christmas.  You couldn't just get me any Lego set or Nintendo game.  It had to be the exact thing that I wanted.  As I got older and started buying clothes, I would have been cruel to have my parents got out hunting for a jacket in the right brand, size, and color if I knew all along where to get it and didn't mind going to get it myself.
  Well, here we are at Christmas 2010 and I've never been so sartorial in all my life.  It seems that all I want for Christmas are clothes and clothing accessories.  I've bought other stuff over the past year, like an iPhone and a new laptop so I'm all set with electronic toys for a while.
  Here are the things I bought myself for Christmas.


Florsheim Cedar Shoe Trees

I've never owned shoe trees, but I recently bought a pair of Bostonian burgundy longwings at The Barn and they're nice enough to warrant some shoe trees.

Corduroy Mallard Pant from Rugby

I've been jonesin' for some corduroy critter pants for a couple years now, but they can be a bit pricey.  I've been kickin' myself since last winter for not getting the flannel lined lodge chino from Rugby.  But I think these are better and more of what I'm looking for anyhow.

Leather Man Ltd. custom D-ring ribbon belt


This isn't color I got, but you get the idea.  I went a little crazy and got the red roman stripe.

J. Press British wool hunting cap

I've got a guy at J. Press in Cambridge, who will remain nameless, who hooks me up (or at least I like to think that he does).

I've been on a mission to find a new flay/ivy/scally cap.  I've searched online, but a hat is really something that you have to try on before you buy it.  It's all about how it feels and looks when you put it on your noggin.

I'd like to add that I got all of these things on sale and with free shipping.  Cyber Monday and promo codes are beautiful things of great beauty.
Merry Christmas.

Fridays

Fridays for me have become ritualistic.  The soup of the day at work on Friday is clam chowder and I've had a bowl of clam chowder with oyster crackers and an ice tea nearly every Friday for a least a year now.

I've also been wearing my Nantucket Reds on Fridays since I got them Memorial Day weekend as sort of casual Friday kind of thing for the summer.

And when I get home from work on Fridays I make a cup of coffee (ice coffee today), sit down at the 'puter, and check out GQ's 'The Week in Style'.  I subscribe to GQ and I used to sip the GQ kool-aid, but I think my style has matured over the past couple of years and I don't think I'm as influenced as I used to be.

I like seeing what the celebs are sporting.  Some of them do great but most of the guys try too hard and fail.  And it makes me feel good knowing that I dress better than movie stars.  It's a weekly collection of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Good

The Bad

and The Ugly

Nantucket or Where we won't be going back to anytime soon

The bride and I had such a great time on Martha's Vineyard after our wedding that I thought it might be nice to check out Nantucket.  We did, on Memorial Day weekend, in the midst of the Figawi boat race.  It turns out that the man from Nantucket is Martha's douchbag brother.

On Martha's Vineyard, the weekend after Labor Day, there were many things to do and see and these things just seemed to find us.  We happened upon great restaurants, we took a bike ride from Vineyard Haven to Oak Bluffs and then found a quiet beach.  We found places where there were affordable things to purchase.

Not so in Nantucket.  Things just didn't jump out at us.  Restaurants, shopping, activities...nothing.  Thing were expensive.  The Whaling museum admission was 17 dollars and we passed.  The worst part was that the island was full of drunk preppy douchbags.  All the rich girls wore aviators and colored wayfarers.  It was funny watching girls in high heels crossing cobblestone streets.  There were a couple of bars that were packed with drunk twenty-somethings.  Parts of downtown Nantucket seemed like a college campus.

I did buy a pair of Nantucket Reds at Murray's Toggery Shop.  Probably the only good thing to come out of our trip.  I could have bought them online but it was nice to be in the shop.  Murray's had a great selection of seersucker critter shorts.

We were booked for the 8:30 pm high speed ferry to leave but we were ready to go at 4 pm.  We caught the next ferry at 6:00 and got the hell out of there.  Let go to the tape...

The Fast (and expensive) Ferry

"Buffy, do you see Muffy's boat?" 

Nantucket is very beautiful