For those that know me and those that have gotten to know me, you know that I’m my own person, a unique and pretty lil butterfly as it were. Even if you disagree about the pretty butterfly, go with me on this (and stay after, so we can have a ‘talk’). I often describe myself as a tomboy and a geek. When I’m initiating the New about who I am and give that description, some people don’t believe me. At one point, it was about being geeky. Now it’s leaning more towards not buying it that I am a tomboy. And I think I understand the culprit.

I can’t be accused of being overly girlie or prissy. Well I can, but it doesn’t hold water. Though oftentimes the jest is missed when I make certain remarks (z0mg, I broke a nail!). The fact of the matter is, I’m a mutt. A little of this tendency, a little of that tendency, some of this trait, dash of that. I like clean and organization. It makes my mind zen when there’s a semblance of order in key places (my desk has never been one of them for some reason). I love wearing jeans, a t-shirt and sandals. I didn’t start wearing make-up until I started my internship my senior year in college. Prior to that, it was lip gloss, if you can count that. When given a choice between movie genres, I gravitate to action, sci fi, horror and historical inspired by default. As a child, I played outside all the time. From seafaring to scaling high mountaintops (read: trees, they’re very versatile playthings). That bit about cleanliness…it didn’t count when playing outside.   I grass stained my knees with the best of them.  I played with the boys, until puberty hit in and then I had a hard time understanding why they were such doofuses all of a sudden. The onset of betties will do that to you.

I did in fact have things like barbies as toys. I also had playsets a la kitchens, I was She-Ra for a while, and I was pretty down when someone broke my walkie talkies. T-Rex still finds that story amusing and that I remember it so well. Like I said, I was pretty down. You know how many kinds of awesome fun can be had with walkie talkies? Apart from that, there were games and as I said…running amuck playing outside. I never wanted to be a princess growing up. I wanted to survive on some castaway island though. The Robinson Crusoe-esque movies always had really cool treehouses.

Of course I had my odd moments because as I rose through the grades at school, it was being pointed out to me I wasn’t like other girls. Naturally I wondered about this. Then I became the doofus. That point in every tween-teenage girl’s life where she’s awkward around boys, very aware of her appearance and looking for some acceptance. I’m glad it lasted only until high school. I would epically fail at conveying how glad I am about that.

I was only keen on fashion as I was early on because of my sister and mainly because she wouldn’t have me as a sister otherwise, then she kinda adopted me as a project of sorts. I’ve always hated shopping for clothes, mainly because we’ve always had a rocky relationship. I was ok shopping for other things.  That part…hasn’t changed so much except perhaps for screen size/gigabytes/awesomesauce factor.

It wasn’t until I was faced with interning that I realized I needed to step up my game. Then I was honest with myself and realized I needed some game first. At 21 I owned make-up for the first time and I even knew what to do with it. I polished myself up well with the help of family. My sister had passed on by this time, but I’d pretty much swear she was the equivalent of squeeing in spirit when Mom and I went on that shopping trip.

Since then, I’ve got more dress/business clothes than my usual comfy fare that I’m a fan of. With work, I wear dress clothes five days a week easy. I hardly see my jeans and I get a lot of miles on them for the sheer fact that unless I’m schlepped somewhere for work, they’re not worn often.

As such, most people see me at work or straight from work. Decked out the usual dress pants, a top that vibes and the accoutrement to go with, right down to heels. And I’d lay odds that that right there contradicts when I say Chelle= tomboy. A majority of the time, I do not look the part.

The funny thing is for a long while, I had a hard time finding a way to dress as needed for work, but to infuse my personality. That little pop of funk, of fun. My cube is decked out with awesomeness, and as girlie as it sounds..I wanted to match. Somewhere along the way, I learned how to do that.  I was seeing the same conumdrum more and more with my peers and generation- how do we incorporate that which makes us geeky and fun;show our personality.

I get a lot of compliments on my shoes…from guys. I know somewhere guys are supposed to be programmed to notice such things if they’re in certain situations. Ye ole ‘he’s been trained well’ joke.  Not always the case, actually most times the exception really. When I wear my Naughty Monkeys (that is the brand’s name, no joke) I always get a compliment on them. Anywhere from ‘nice’ to ‘awesome kicks’

And they’re usually the reason I’ll respond with ‘they give the ensemble a lil funk’ because a) they do and b) well look at them [stage left] . Those are completely money.  I can see where the double take or ‘does not compute’ would come in.  I’ve never really fit completely, neatly, or close enoughly to a mold anyway.