It's a Bling Thing

Not mine

I'm sure it's no secret by now that I am a creature of habit. I have habits I need to make, habits I need to break, and habits that are just sort of run-of-the-mill--nothing amazing either way, but they are part of what makes me who I am.

This week's challenge addressed one of those ordinary habits. I tend to wear the same jewelry every day: sterling silver and abalone shell earrings, my wedding ring, and some kind of beaded stretchy bracelet on my left wrist. Not exactly Barbara Bush and her iconic necklace...or Marge Simpson and hers, for that matter.

Ditto

Even though I don't often buy jewelry for myself, I have amassed quite a collection of it in the form of gifts from my husband, my sister, my sons. It's not the fancy stuff--no Tiffany here--but most of it is fun or cool or unique. The only problem being, it never gets worn.

Until last week, that is, when I succeeded in wearing at least one piece of jewelry per day that I hadn't taken out of the box in a long time. Not only was it fun to mix things up, but it was a surprisingly sentimental journey. In looking through my collection, I was reminded that I have jewelry given to me by two very dear women: my mother, who is still living, and my mother-in-law, who is not. I stumbled across wearable art projects (admittedly a generous term) made by my sons in elementary school. I found earrings my husband gave me before we were married, back when we had lousy jobs and little money. I even reevaluated some pieces I made when I took a class and (briefly) thought I might want to pursue jewelry-making as a creative endeavor. Age hasn't improved them much, but hey, I tried.

Lest you think it was all a skip down memory lane, I also came across quite a few bits I can easily live without--clearance items I knew I'd probably never wear, holiday gift exchanges that aren't quite me, and stuff that makes my overly-sensitive skin itch. It was good to weed those out and focus on the things that have a deeper value. In fact, the only downside was that I spent so much time poking through jewelry that I was nearly late leaving for work most days.

This was a fun one for me and resulted in another Take It on my ever-growing list.

See you next week!