Fashion Musings: 26 Going on 14

I'm wearing a massive pink bow in my hair today. It's a barrette, sitting perched on top of my head, a little to the right, giving the bow a nice tilt. It's nearly identical to a bow I wore often as a little girl.

From about the age of 3 until I was 13 my mother did my hair the same way everyday - pulled up and to the side, and fastened with a bow or barrette.

With my two cousins. Can you guess which one is me?

Recently I've been going through a phase where it's like I'm really trying to hang onto my childhood through my fashion and accessory choices. The thing is - it's fun. When you're a kid you don't care. You wear what you want because it makes you happy. So on a day like today, channeling the kid inside me I can totally wear bright blue pants and a bright orange shirt and a huge pink bow in my hair and maybe an over-sized blazer because it's sort of silly and it makes me happy.


This becomes slightly awkward, of course, when you're approached by an actual child...


See, here I am sitting at my desk, typing up some updates for our studio development grid with my boss standing next to me, when a co-worker walks by with his two kids. They're cute kids, one boy, one girl - maybe around age 10 or something. Or they might have been like 12. Maybe 8? (actually, I have no idea - I really can't distinguish children's ages all that well just yet).  As they pass by us and their Dad says hello they happen to be staring at my large desk space.  All of a sudden the little girl cries:


"McDonald's toys!" 


At which point I'm thinking, oh boy.

And sure enough, about two seconds after looking at Lego toy car, she cries:


"Silly bandz!"


She's spotted my prominent jewelry choice and now comes to stand right in front of me for a close examination of my selection of Silly Bandz.


At this point, my boss is just laughing at me. Here I am - his 26 year old assistant, with a giant pink bow in her hair, happily conversing with a little kid over a mutual interest in toys, bright colors, shiny objects, and air.  Then I gave her one of my Silly Bandz, a pink fairy that also glows in the dark.  Let's just say I was the coolest of her dad's co-workers she met today, that is for sure.  Whether or not it's a sign I need to grow up, I think I'll ignore. So maybe just about every one of my co-workers today has made a remark about the bow, I don't care. It's fun and it's me. Ironically, it's back to the "truest" version of me - the same girl wearing a big pink bow, smiling at all the bright colors and laughing at air.

My Pink Bow