Jewelry that Means Something

I don't have much expensive jewelry. When we meet with our insurance guy, he always asks me about jewelry. "Do you have enough coverage? How much do you think your jewelry is worth?"

Um, I don't need a separate policy to cover my jewelry. Most of it is handmade. Almost all of it is inexpensive. I like it that way.

There is a lot of awesome, handmade jewelry out there, and I love supporting people who are creating their own pieces.  Much of my stuff has been bought from a friend of a friend who makes her own jewelry. Sadly, she doesn't have a website. However, I'll bet that if you go to a local craft fair, you'll find someone like Valerie who makes and sells beautiful jewelry at great prices.

I bought this Buddha pendant for $8 in 2007 and still wear it a few times a week. The metal chain (which I bought for $4.50) has turned brown, and someday I'll get around to replacing it. I bought this from an etsy seller that's no longer selling, but there are lots of great pendants on etsy.

I bought this for a friend for Christmas for $8.95 from SunshowerCreations. I think it's gorgeous and may end up buying one for myself as well.

Andrew bought me this nerd necklace for Christmas. It was $6.95 from Pieces of Me Pendants. Like the Buddha necklace, it's made from a Scrabble tile. I love this necklace and am constantly amused by people who think that "nerd" is an insult.  I'm proud of my nerdiness--so proud that I'll wear a Scrabble tile proclaiming it for all to see.







This is my most recent purchase. It's from SpiffingJewlery. She and her husband cut and bend the aluminum, custom stamp it with whatever you want in your choice of fonts, and give you forty different color options. This cost me $28.00, including shipping. It's astounding to me that such labor-intensive awesomeness is so affordable.


She hand stamped it with Eight Noble Truths. I need lots and lots of reminders. Lots and lots.

I love jewelry that reminds me of who I want to be. The inexpensive pieces I've bought make me so much happier than a piece purchased from a mall jewelry store.* They say things about me, and in some cases even help me as I strive to be the person I want to be.

*I assume. I suppose I can't say that for sure since I don't really buy pieces from a mall jewelry store. Still, it seems like a pretty safe assertion to make.

Geriatric

I'm sure everyone has things that make one feel old.

• I see tweens wearing '80s inspired clothing, and I realize they've never seen the 80s.
• My niece is old enough to start 4-H and sell geraniums.
• Alanis Morissette is identified as a 90s artist instead of the musical genius she is, and I realize that this is how my mom feels about artists from the 60s.
• My friend's son becomes a teenager.
• Reaching the age at which I need to start taking calcium supplements because my body is unable to stockpile it
• Taylor Swift--anything at all about Taylor Swift

Sunday afternoon, I willingly did something else that made me feel old.

I bought a pill case. I take a lot of vitamins in the morning, and it seems stupid to open every bottle every morning. I'm a lot more likely to actually take everything if I have it in one place. Pill cases also appeal to my Type A-ness. I love me some organization.

But I still feel old.

Brilliant!

I just had a brilliant idea. If I owned a store specializing in products for other weird, OCD types such as myself, I would make a bowl that had two distinct halves--probably in a yin/yang shape because, well, that makes sense to me.

What would this bowl be for?



Wait for it...




You could put hot apple crisp in one side and ice cream in the other. That way you could get the perfect spoonful of cold ice cream and hot apple crisp for the entire bowl instead of the current situation of ONE perfect bite and then lukewarm apple crisp swimming in a pool of melted ice cream for the rest of your dessert.*

The truly great thing about this idea is that when people look at you like you're a whackadoo, you can look shocked and indignant, point to the bowl, and say incredulously, "But that's what it's MADE for."

Someone should pay me for this idea.**


* Yes, apple crisp is in the oven. Why do you ask?

** Andrew swears there was a marketing campaign by Gargantuan Restaurant That Shall Not Be Named And Whose Symbol Is a Double Yellow Arch about a container that did this very thing. "The hot stays hot and the cold stays cold." I am disappointed and trying to decide if I should pretend he didn't say anything.