The Jewelry Drawer

I’d like to invite you into my jewelry drawer today, which is a stark contrast to all the rings I was gushing about last week.  Not everything I own is up here in Alaska with me, but mostly everything I wear.  Which isn’t much.

When I was growing up, I had about a billion different earrings, a good collection of necklaces (both dainty and statement), and enough bangles to disrupt a classroom.  I’d pile things on, match to the extreme, and mix vintage pieces from our jewelry box in the basement with my favorite handcrafted choices (like the  little red beaded woman I got from a craft show).  I didn’t have many rules I followed when it came to dolling up…except maybe matching my eyeshadow to my embroidered school logo.

Along with everything else I purged when starting my style journey, I boxed up all my Claire’s jewels and returned the borrowed pieces to their various resting places in our house; I kept only my studs as my start.  I went through a few different phases whilst I accumulated my newest pieces, but they serve me well.  I know a lot of women in the world would never trade in their jewelry collections, but my mom has always been a big inspiration to me when it came to minimalist jewelry.  Growing up, I never saw her wear anything except her engagement and wedding ring (a simple solitaire and a gold band), her matching single diamond necklace, and her double pierced ears (still more diamonds).  While I was dumping everything from my jewelry drawer onto my arms, ears, and digits, my mom stayed refined and classic.  I think that’s to be expected from little kids/rebellious teens…but somewhere along the line, I switched gears.  It’s really rare to see me in anything more than my wedding rings these days.  And while I dream of gorgeous rings, I just have a hard time spending money on accessories when I get by just fine with the following.

1.  The Pearls:  Of course I was going through the Audrey/Jackie O/Sarah Vickers thing and neeeded some pearl action in my life.  Amanda amazingly found these pearl earrings with gold fastenings two Christmases ago, and I must admit, I’m still terrified when I wear them.  I’ve had not such good luck with pearls staying in my lobes for some reason, but I wore them for the wedding.  They were just perfect and effortless.  And I love their red and gold box.  The necklace was a fluke present that ended up being absolutely perfect.  I remember Amanda and I were doing girl stuff when my mom called us (not to long after getting the earrings); she said a doctor she worked with was somewhere in the Asias and was meeting his friend who works in pearls…and did we want a strand?  HECK YES.  I requested a long strand to double or knot, and again I wore them for the wedding.  Since they are 100% real, I am worried about wearing them too much…but I love seeing them when I open my jewelry drawer.

2.  The Gold Pendant:  I wear this necklace, about, 80% more often than any other necklace I own.  For one, it’s the perfect length.  It dips past crew-neck shirts and fills the void of a v-neck.  I got it from Emerson Made (before it changed to Emerson Fry), and it symbolizes the phrase, “know your own magnificence.”  I love that.  I got the dragonfly for Amanda as a sort of sister-necklace thing, and I don’t know if she wears it…but its saying really fit her, so I couldn’t pass it up.

3.  The Blue Stone:  Impulse purchase plus craftiness equals wonderful keepsake from Amanda’s visit last August.  We had just been in awe of the Portage Glacier, gone giddy over the crystal blue streams, and felt like we had to capture that essence for ourselves.  We stopped in a pretty jewelry store one afternoon and scanned all the glass cabinets for the perfect blue pendant.  What we found was a pair of earrings, and luckily we were fine with dividing them to make individual necklaces.  Amanda sent me an old gold chain once she got back to Missouri.  It’s such a great addition to my growing fine jewelry collection.

4.  Vintage Bangles:  I have two lovely little bracelets, I don’t know if anyone else would consider them bangles, but yes.  These were part of the haul of vintage jewelry from our box in the basement; and although what I’ve paired them with over the years has changed, they are still my favorites.  Nowadays I’ll either add my Kate Spade bangle from 2011, or wear them by themselves.  I think they are perfect.

5.  My Wedding Rings:  So many diamonds, I still can’t believe it.  Ethan did me proud with picking out my engagement ring and diamond bands all by himself (from his tiny phone screen at AIT), and I still think it’s the best and sparkliest ring ever.  Some days I wish the bands weren’t all fused together, but I still marvel at it.  I guess I’m not used to it yet.  Maybe after our one-year mark…and maybe not hehe.

I hope you enjoyed this peak inside my jewelry drawer!  It’s pretty rare to see this side, since I don’t do style posts.

**One piece I wish I could share with you (that I don’t have with me) is my beautiful crucifix necklace I received from my grandma on my First Communion.  Even when I didn’t have much faith, I still wanted to wear it…it’s so lovely.

Tags: Emerson Fry, vintage