My last post (ahem…right here) showed off my recent accidental Goodwill find: an ivory bangle. As I mentioned in the post, this is a very complicated piece of jewelry and it has prompted me to do some research in deciding if I (likely) keep it. My honey and I brought it to our jeweler Isabella Hutten to confirm it’s ivory-ness. Which she did. It’s tricky to place a value on ivory because of the laws surrounding the sale of it in many states, the undesirable yet valuable nature of ivory, and the lack of comparable ivory items on the market. So I started googling ivory like jewelry.

It seems bone is the popular ivory looking material. I guess because it might be cow or horse. Basically a waste product in our meat eating economy. Like this second hand Chanel bangle. Yep I just called a Chanel bangle “waste product”… That is how we do! For seriousness tho the raw look of bone is highly popular. Bone, along with geodes, fossils, and skulls are definitely having a moment. In an odd way, most ivory is too polished looking to be fashionable.

The other big ivory-like material out there is acrylic resin. Handling my ivory bangle it feels and looks very much like a synthetic material. Maybe because I’m so accustomed to synthetics. The big difference in ivory is the very light cross hatching pattern. It is a tooth, afterall. It has some tiny natural rings and details. Like a tree pattern but much more delicate.

Anyway, I enjoy this research and reason to read about jewelry. My honey and I are staying in Lake Tahoe for the week to commune with the snow. Whenever we come up here I have the most challenging time packing. I’m all “Do people wear jeans in winter weather?” I can’t ever remember.

Our friends and their ridiculously cute 1.5 year old are staying with us at the cabin we rented. Most people come up here to ski, but I enjoy the hiking and snowshoeing. Bandit is all about the outdoors whereas Leroy likes to remind me that he is a Chihuahua.

Yep, this is how we do it with our visiting dog. (This is actually a pre-Tahoe shot- see my ivory bangle? Paired with the yellow enamel my brother gave me. Below is the legit Tahoe shot. You’ll note I finally decided people in the cold *do* wear jeans. Unfortunately I brought the pair with the fly that’s afraid of heights.)

#weirdselfies 🙊