And this is the funny thing…Charlie’s actually a cousin of mine: after Athena and John’s wedding I talked to my mom about the wedding and mentioned John’s last name…her head turn and she asked me to repeat it…turns out John’s mom is my mom’s cousin (their grandmothers were sisters).   So that makes John my second cousin..and Charlie my third cousin (if I have that right).  Small world indeed!  So nice to meet you cousin–you just radiate happiness!!  Here are some more photos of the little guy.

At most every wedding the past few summers, during the “guys getting ready” I spied that familiar dark blue rectangular box with a splash of pink in the center.  Ahh yes, a Vineyard Vines tie box.

You gotta love Vineyard Vines…for a whole lot of reasons.  Love their colorful, fun good looking ties that many of our grooms wear…that girls and guys both like.  Love the entrepreneurial energy of these two guys–Shep and Ian–who reenergized that category with style, salesmanship, lots of variety and some great branding.  And love that they’re having an awesome time growing their business way beyond ties…really capturing the relaxed but dressed-up seaside style.

Vineyard Vines is headquartered in Stamford and has stores in Westport and Greenwich CT along with other perennially preppy spots such as Edgartown, Nantucket, Southampton, Palm Beach and Georgetown.  All told they have 18 VV stores and sell their wares in some 500 retailers…and have projected sales of $100M for 2011.  Of course, they’re very plugged into the wedding market, offering lots of customized wedding items.  In fact Vineyard Vines has partnered with Darien’s Coren Moore  (who designs beautiful wedding dresses & bridemaids dresses) on a line of brightly colored ties.

While I’m talking up Connecticut preppy clothiers…here are some others to check out:

J. Press in New Haven…the grand-daddy of prepdom, my dad’s favorite, right next to the Yale campus, J. Press has stores in NYC, DC and Cambridge as well….for Yale wear, Barbour coats, English-y sport coats etc.  In the middle of beautiful Essex CT is J. Alden, a classic boating town men’s clothier featuring who outfitted the guys at Farrell and Darius’s Dauntless Club wedding in August.

Up in the center of Litchfield CT is R. Derwin Clothiers, which is owned the parents of a client of ours who were married in 2009 up in the Berkshires.  Check them out for argyle, Viyella, and English country clothes.  J. McLaughlin from NYC recently opened a store in Westport (side note: what is it about first initial of all these retailers?).  As their site says, they offer “classic American brand featuring a flair for bold colors and signature prints.”  And, Rugby from Ralph Lauren in Greenwich and New Canaan offers an Etonian take on preppy.

Lastly, lots of these retailers now feature style blogs…and here are two independent preppy bloggers to check out: Dailyprep by Muffy Aldrich and ivy-style.com.

Bow ties…cool?…absolutely!  Bow ties have been booming recently, and you really notice that at weddings.  Bow ties add a dash of panache and are a fun & colorful way to amp up your style.  The resurgence of all things preppy is helping drive the popularity of ties, especially from retailers like Connecticut’s own Vineyard Vines.  Men would never call it accessorizing, but hey that’s what it is…and in general guys are way more comfortable with trying out different watches, bow ties, pocket squares, socks, belts, you name it…to look good.

For cool and colorful bow ties check out these sources: Vineyard Vines, Forage, (shown above), Pierrepont Hicks, Rugby, and Brooks Brothers.

Welcome to 2012–hope your new year is off to a great start! Here’s a look back at some 2011 “discoveries” (for us)–photographic and otherwise–that you may want to try as well:

• Pinterest: “collect” images from the web of stuff you love. Post and follow others like twitter. You can follow Jane here…pinterest.com/shauck.

• Photojojo: cool & cute photo gizmos and gifts for DSLR to iPhone: www.photojojo.com.

• Minted: fast-growing site for holiday cards. We partnered with them in 2011: photoiris.minted.com.

• Decluttering blogs: don’t be on the next episode of A&E’s “Hoarders”…check out Miss Minimalist and The Happiness Project and be free.

• Mac Lion & iCloud: to complete the PC to Mac transition we upgraded to the Lion OS and now use Apple’s iCloud to back-up and share among our iMacs, iPad and iPhones.

• Backblaze: online continuous backup for your computer…check it out at www.backblaze.com.

• French Press coffee: a nice side effect of our 10 day power outage after the Oct. snowstorm. If you can boil water, you can make great coffee in a french press!

• Treva Restaurant: a stand out among the West Hartford eateries, Treva’s fresh, flavorful Euro-cuisine and Chef/Owner Dorjan are great!

• Coconut Grove, Miami: loved the village vibe down in Coconut Grove, loaded with trees and bistros and nearby Key Biscayne’s beaches. We stayed at the Mayfair Hotel and Spa.

• Boden: Jane loves this British web retailer’s simple, classic, well-tailored clothes. Check them out at www.bodenusa.com.