Sitting here this morning, gazing at my dying shamrock plant and trying to pull myself together enough to water it, it dawned on me that I hadn’t done any good window shopping. Now, we all know, window shopping for me, means firing up google and searching.

And oh dear did I search. And drool. And search some more.

Here, ladies, is what has kept me from buying a jumbo box of orange dreamsicles and eating them all…today.

When it comes to fashion, I like starting with something traditional, and kicking it up a notch. I’m your average “Girl Next Door, Daddy’s Girl” in my pressed jeans, and pearl snap shirt. Bling to me has always been a shiny spade bit and some 3 inch conchas. I like shiny stuff, just like most girls, I just don’t feel the need to bathe in it. Catch my drift?

So for this fall…I’ll be remaining true to my traditional roots, but I’m going to kick it up…like this….

I found this store today. Or maybe it found me. Either way, I drooled. Zoey Willow. Now, don’t get me wrong I know my “just out of college, trying to make it, thank gosh my family runs cattle and I know how to garden or I’d be starving” lifestyle doesn’t allow me to purchase from this store. But lawsy-mercy. If I could, I would! Here’s just a few of the drool worthy items I’d be scooping up if I could.

These handbags are so perfect for cowgirls. Unique conversation starters!

These….are….well….an addiction. Hello girls!

Donald J. Pliner is the designer. Every girl needs a classy, well made pair of pumps, right? Right!

These purses, from m. andonia of Los Angeles are definitely attention grabbers…Can we say stylishly vintage.

I might need one for the Western Icon Ball during NFR?

I’m going to feature the “Prairie Princess” design in today’s installment of “Story Behind the Design…”. This is actually a bit of an embarrassing story of a trip I made to Cody Wyoming April of 2008. Embarrassing, because I drank 1 to many “chardonnays” around people I’d never met, which I have a rule against doing, and I vaguely remember modeling my tee’s in front of a bar room full of people. But alas, I digress…

Prairie Princess is actually the product of a bar room conversation with two great gentleman from the great state of Wyoming. While I was in Cody, I was desperately trying to pimp UBetcha Apparel at the time, and if any of you know me, you’ll know I’m relatively reserved, so pimping my t-shirt line has been a challenge for me. However, every day I get better, and for this I’m thankful. I attended a c.d. release party in Cody in April of 2008 at the Irma Hotel. I knew NO ONE! Not a soul. Boy did I feel like more like an amazon woman then ever in my life. And me calling myself an Amazon woman is really just me saying I felt terribly out of place, tall, and freakish! Yike! So anyway, there I was, in all my Amazonish glory, trying desperately to chock down my nervousness and strike up a conversation with a group of people sitting at a table kind of in the corner of the room. One of the gentleman at the table was wearing a leather fringed frock coat and I thought maybe he was an extra for a movie or something. If I’d only known…

I take a deep breath, a swig of my crown and coke, and step towards the table…asking at the same time “Do you all mind if I join you?” Emphatic “Have a seat!” & “No we sure don’t mind” answers resound around the table and I sit down. A couple questions into the conversation I find out that one of the gentleman is Chris Turner (Ted Turners son…if my memory serves me right) and Ed Phillips who’s part of the Cody Nightly Rodeo. Great guys to strike a conversation up with. Chris Turner hosts a radio show on Saturday mornings from 9-10 in the Irma Hotel called Comfort Food. Unfortunately, when I looked the radio show up for this post, it looks like it’s on a hiatus. Which is much to bad, since it really is a funny show. I certainly hope they’ll be able to find sponsors again soon. So I chat with them during the launch party and get information about Cody and some great history.

The launch party sort of breaks up with everyone going to the bar area to listen to the artist sing some of his songs. I find myself seated at a table with several towns people and several people from the launch party…and they are all giving me ideas, advice and just generally helping me with UBetcha Apparel and ways to market the company. However, the drinks keep flowing. Crown and Coke number 2 goes down pretty easy, as do 3 and 4. So by the time number 4 is gone, I’ve got 2 more lined up, plus a shot. Now this post isn’t meant to be about my drinking habits, but frankly, when you have that many people buying you drinks, how do you turn them down? I’m not really certain how to politely not accept them, especially when they are already on the table in front of me. Somewhere along the line the word “Princess” is being used to describe me and women of the west and then “Prairie” is thrown in there and Ed comes up with “Prairie Princess”. I can’t remember the specifics, but I did write “Prairie Princess” down onto a business card, and that’s how it came into existence and onto a t-shirt, even though I can’t remember much else from that night. I do vaguely remember modeling the t-shirts for a bar room full of people…and changing shirts whilst in the bar……..

Shame on me!

UBetcha Apparel "Prairie Princess" tank with custom UBetcha Apparel tutu!

You can see and purchase the UBetcha Apparel “Prairie Princess” tee through the UBetcha Apparel website.

As I’ve mentioned on a few other occasions, I own a company by the name of UBetcha. I just recently started adding the word “Apparel” because without it, who knows what UBetcha really is, and I wanted to have a direction with which to work from as well as towards. Who’s to say UBetcha won’t one day become something more, such as a company that also helps rodeo athletes find sponsors or get noticed, but for now, UBetcha is all about t-shirts.

Several years ago I worked for a ranch and home supply store, selling feed, tack, fencing, bolts, plants, jewelry, home furnishings and clothing. It was great and I loved every minute of it. I gained a ton of experience and know-how and I spent almost 4 years with this wonderful company. Many of you may know the company as Murdoch’s now, but then it was Ranch and Home Supply, Big R. Shortly before going on my fourth year of working there, I moved. To Sheridan Wyoming. The gentleman I was seeing applied for and was given a job with Padlock Ranch, just outside of Sheridan in a small town by the name of Dayton Wyoming.

Enter, my actual cowgirl year.

Prior to this time I’d spent a lot of time as a farmer/ranchers granddaughter. We didn’t use horses though, and my life seemed empty without them. Yes, we had horses for riding for fun, but honestly, if you don’t have a job to do on a horse, I didn’t think you could call yourself a cowgirl. I still don’t think I’m a cowgirl. I’m somewhere in-between. I’m getting off subject, so let me turn it back around.

During the year I spent working for the Padlock and dating this great guy I listened. Hard! Because as we all know, cowboys have some inventive and lesson teaching sayings. I’m not about to divulge any of them in this post, because that’s going to come up in later entries. I’m just stating a fact. Cowboy sayings are blurted out throughout the day while working cattle or riding or doing any number of other things a cowboy does. So anyway, I listened. And I started to write these sayings down. And for what reason? I wasn’t even sure at the time, I just knew I needed to get them on paper. So many of them were so true and memorable I couldn’t help but to remember them, but others were heard less often and I wanted to be sure to remember them.

After a year of writing these down and compiling quite a list, we moved! I cried! I bawled! I stomped my feet and cursed the system and questioned my faith and I got mad and I’m not even sure I want to go into all the other emotions and thoughts I had. We made the decision to move. I wasn’t happy to say the least, but figured I’d better follow since the U Haul was headed back to Montana.

Enter, my “I’m starting my own business” years.

So, upon arriving back in Montana, I have this huge list of cowboy sayings. What am I going to do with this? About this time I decided to start college, and work towards an A.S.S. degree in Graphic and Web Design. Two years wasn’t enough to really have a grasp on most of the information, but it got me into the door of a local design firm, and I’ve been there for the last two years. We moved back to Montana in 2005. It’s now 2009. There’s a lot of time in-between and I’m sure you’re wondering what happened. Well, I’m not telling. Lets just say a lot of changes, and I’m no longer seeing the same gentleman. Back to the list.

The creative director and his wife, of the firm I’m working at, own a silk screen press. It was sitting in the basement of the office we worked in, gathering dust. Back in May of 2008, they sold it to me and for the next 6 months I taught myself how to use the machine, how to burn screens, how to order t-shirts, how to clean screens….basically a crash course. I made a lot of mistakes, but I learned a ton. Those mistakes are what brought me to where I am today, working on creating a line of clothing, branded by me, screened by me, shipped by me, created by me and sold by me.

There I was, with this machine, and a book full of cowboy saying’s. What do I do now? At the time, I knew I wanted to start some kind of business dealing with clothing, I just wasn’t sure how to even get started. I’m still not sure. I’m still not even sure some days I’m started or moving forward. I’m still learning. About that time, I was joking with a friend of mine about starting a screen printing company and I was really trying to search for a name. One day, during a light-hearted phone conversation with my friend, he happened to utter the words, “O YOU BETCHA!” and a light went off. Why not? I mean, there are crazier names out there for companies, and frankly, UBetcha sticks with a person. We all say it at some point or another and we all laugh when we hear it. UBetcha reminds me of a “go-to-attitude” and it’s bold and full of attitude, but at the same time can be made classy, sassy and utterly feminine. It just works!

Attitude? UBetcha!