Besides Twitter my main source of news is NY Mag which I receive in the mail every other week and then proceed to rarely read. So I’m pretty much NOT up on any sort of current event. But this week I actually opened my NY Mag and found this article about women, jewelry, and their life stories. If you have read my blog for any length of time you know I am all about this.
This article started me wondering why do we do this? Why do we attach emotions to objects? Is it sentimentality? Or nostalgia? Or the human urge to tell stories and these objects are our props, like memory triggers? Do you do this with your objects, jewelry or what have you? I know Stories of Objects does, as does Sabiscuit because like me they both actively collect and catalog their objects with stories. But do you? Do we all? Even if you don’t blog about it, do you have your special symbolic somethings with stories? What are they? I’m curious.
Also? Happy Valentine’s day.
Very Bangled 
Happy Valentine’s Day. It’s nice that a major publication echoes your vision, and those hands are fascinating. I need for my accessories to have value and meaning beyond the price tag. Each one attracts questions from admirers who know that meaning is important. Thank you for mentioning me, darling woman! Have a spectacular afternoon. xoxo
Happy V-Day to you too! Hope you’re enjoying that pizza 🙂 I think you and I are very much of the same mind about accessories. For me it’s more than just matching a shirt, you know?
That’s true and this is why they need their own blog. Mood, vintage, material, all weigh in on the decision. The pizza was so good I ate it all before realising I had to photograph it. It was six inches across and disappeared as soon as it came. Thanks for remembering. xoxo
My photos. Memories. As for news, I try NOT to keep up simply because I don’t want to get depressed. Too much going on and none of it good. I can’t stop it, and I already pray, so why keep reading/watching it? I do have my favorite pieces of jewelry, but I made them myself using objects that were given to me, or photos I treasure, photoshopped to a small size and enhanced. I collect recipes that I could never make if I used a different one every meal and lived another 100 years. Tons of recipes, just because I can. Enough yarn to open my own shop. I’ve gone beyond collector to hoarder in some categories.
Yarn is an easy one to accidentally start hoarding. I always develop big knitting plans when in the yarn store, then put off making the hat or scarf or whatever because I get caught up in my other crafts. I’d love to see these special jewelry pieces you’ve made! I hope you feature them in a post, they seem sound very special.
I keep ordering new yarn to make sure I have “enough” to finish all the afghans I plan to make by next Christmas, when actually all I should have to do is put what I have in groupings for the already planned afghans. I think I would have enough for the extended family, but the truth is, I always find new and pretty yarn online, and order some, then have to order more to go with that, so on it goes.
I’ll try to find the jewelry eventually and post about it. Right now a lot of things are stored in boxes for the move, if/when it takes place. That could be a year from now. They don’t tell us anything any more, after giving us so much false information for the past two years.
Good luck when it comes to the move. May it be as pain free as possible 🙂
Thanks VB, but is any move pain free? Or stress free, for that matter. If they would just tell me when and where it will be it would help. I think they are making it up as they go along.
Sounds like they are trying to make it as stressful as possible. Ridiculous behaviour.
I’ve been working on breaking my sentimental attachment to things for years because I’ll keep everything and I’ve been trying to teach myself that I’m not my things(if I sound corny then whatever, it’s from Oprah!) but this does resonate with me. I have a hard time giving up stuff with memories but I’m getting better at it.
I think it’s okay to keep some stuff of course, like special jewelry=)
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Happy Valentine’s to you too!!!
It’s hard to get rid of some of the silliest stuff- like movie stubs, or match books. I really admire the people who are able to rid themselves of the clutter.
Happy Valentines Day! Personally, I wear a leather necklace with a few religious medals on them, one of which I’m almost positive is lucky and was blessed by this priest I loved who passed away years ago. But every time I’m scared or upset or feeling anything really, I hold the medal between my fingers. It’s like it’s charged with energy or something, I can’t explain. But I feel better. 🙂
Wow, that sounds like something very special. I can understand why you treasure it 🙂
These are all great questions. I think for me it’s not so much jewelry, although I do have a deep attachment to my necklace my parents gave me, but little mementos and keepsakes I’ve acquired over the years. For instance, I have a small lighthouse statuette sitting on my desk from Peggy’s Cove that reminds me of my visit there with my family a few years ago. And I also have a priceless happy Saturday gift on my desk from a close friend who passed just before I’d gotten married. I keep them around because they’re always little reminders of where I’ve been, what I’ve done and the good time I’ve had with the people associated with the object. I think it’s an emotional connection that soon can’t be replicated with anything other than something from that time. At least, that’s what I think. 🙂
That is such a good point on how it can’t be replicated by other objects. It’s a specific item for a specific memory, which is so true.
My grandkids ask me for jewelry stories. I do have two charm bracelets one is silver and the other is gold. Both have wonderful pieces of my travels by collecting charms along the way in my lifetime. They also want to know which husband gave me which piece of jewelry since they know two of the exes… smiles! I would love to read your jewelry stories, which your Dad’s bracelets are so special to see…
Oh my! The photo you used for this post is just amazing! It seems every family has a jewelry story….well done.
This photo is from the linked article- I love it’s composition, the hands, and jewelry. It’s just great, and the NY Mag article is definitely worth the read. I recommend it.
I’m not especially sentimental, but I do have a piece of “jewelry” that has a lot of meaning. My great grandmother passed away last year. She had this necklace that she wore every day, with eight charms, one for each of the 10 commandments, minus two that she lost. But I remember her always talking about how the two she lost were the two that she had the most trouble with following. Now I have it, and I will tell my children (if we ever have any) the same story! It’s a great piece of family history!
That does sound like something very special. Which two are missing? I hope not coveting thy neighbor’s wife
Oh my gosh!!! Hahaha. No, my grandmas “flaws” were not taking God’s name in vein, and I think the other one is “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” – she was a bit of a gossip. 🙂
Those are the good ones to be breaking!! That means she was a fun lady 🙂