Squirrel Heavy

Happy holidays, people! Did you have a good one? I had a good one. Though I am technically Jewish, I love all of the trappings of Christmas--the lights, the colors, the multitude of presents on one day (don't even get me started on that pesky eight-day rule us Jews abide by)--and part of my family is Christ-oriented, so I jump on that bandwagon. Since BF and I have been together an eternity (five years plus a little), he knows of my jewelry fixation and thus asks me to narrow down what I would like to an easy list. This year I was more than happy to oblige because I had my heart set on a single thing:

It's an ornate (some might say gaudy, but those people are inevitably boring) garnet Victorian ring. As always, the present came attached with several trials and tribulations and I didn't get until the day after Christmas but my god, I love it. It's shiny and huge and perfect. 

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Now, a couple of weeks ago, I had dinner with the gorgeous (is it me or does she keep getting younger?) WendyB and we discussed many things, but also squirrels which I think are bound to come up in any interesting conversation, right? I told her that to avoid crying at movies, I think of squirrels. You know, frolicking and whatnot. It's fail proof. Wendy reminded me of her awesome squirrel necklace...: 

Wendy Brandes Squirrel Necklace, $125 (free shipping 'til Dec. 31st!)

...And then that very weekend, the BF and I were taking a morning walk through Astoria when I was bombarded with the city's version of nature. First, we came across a squirrel eating a slice of pizza:

I whispered to BF "Make sure it doesn't move!" and hauled ass back to the apartment for the camera. Then we came across one of the famed black squirrels native to Astoria Park (like a fat cat, right?):

Of course we then met this little diva, who was inches away from me (expecting pizza methinks), and he/ she pulled out all the cute poses in the squirrel handbook:

Lastly, moving away from ze squirrels--this house was in a row of similar houses, and the only one covered in birds. Looked very Hitchcock-esque:

There was also a falcon, but he'll be in another post.

Off now to squish a kitty and further admire my ring. Happy New Year!

Stephanie Nielson

Stephanie Nielson (aka Nie Nie) and her husband Christian. Photo from Nie Nie's blog.

Though only three days ago I mentioned I wouldn't be blogging much, I did want to write up a quick post for a great and generous thing Wendy B is doing.

Wendy is auctioning off her exquisiste Diana Necklace to raise money for Stephanie Neilson, a blogger who was tragically injured (burned on over 80% of her body) in a plane crash last month. The flight instructer died and Stephanie's husband, Christian, was also burned.

Wendy is doing an awesome thing, so please please please head over to her blog and read the details and bid. Get in on the good karma towards Stephanie and Christian and know that you'll be helping a fellow blogger--this is a community, after all.

Initial Here

No more complaining about work, I promise. This weekend we caught up on sleep and explored Long Island City, which is about 15 blocks south of us (we're in Astoria). What a weird place with it's crammed in luxury highrises full of nobody and empty streets teeming with hip restaurants. I assume they will be soon be marketing the town as the "new Manhattan" or some such ridiculousness, but until then, it'll feel like a really hip ghost town full of soulless shiny buildings and great boutiques.

Today we ventured to the mall, a rare treat when you move out of suburbia. This first necklace looked lovely on a mannequin in Urban Outfitters and it inspired a whole post. It's good to be back.




Urban Outiftters Monogram Necklace, $18









Scrabble Charm by HeistJewelry, $45

Sterling Initial Necklace by Jennifer Zeuner, $220

Art Nouveau Inspired Initial Necklace by IstanbulDesign, $65

Custom Initial Copper Charm by Amy Cornwell, $20









Copper Initial Necklace by Wiyomu, $15

Gold Block Initials (vintage deadstock), $20 at day-lab [only limited letters, but day-lab always has a ton of deadstock initial necklaces, so it's worth a look around the site]

Boleyn Necklace by Wendy Brandes, $300 for sterling silver (also available here in gold)

Sign Language Initial Charms, $5.50 each (pewter) by Talking Hands


And if you have hours to kill, please feel free to click here for the etsy search of "initial necklaces" which I left at page 40, though there were still about 100 pages left to peruse. I had to tear myself away so we could catch up on Project Runway.

Friday Favorites: Mother's Day Edition

Only today do I realize that I should have done some sort of comprehensive "what jewelry to buy your mother for mother's day" post. My only excuse is that I need a lot of time to plan when to take my shower, my precious shower that has become a key out of my apartment. See, I don't leave the house until I'm showered, so I'm trapped until I feel ready to get to it.

Anyhow.

Happy Mother's Day to all you people who celebrate! This morning on the radio I heard that, contrary to the Hallmark Conspiracy Theory, Mother's Day is an actual holiday that was started about 100 years ago. Sorry, but now you have to buy her something. You can't drone on and on about commercialization, blah, advertising guilt, etc. Of course, I only told you this two days before the big day, so you can be a little late. I'd suggest buying something from the ever-fashionable Wendy Brandes who finally got her website up and running! Go Wendy!

Shamefacedly, I must admit that I didn't really buy my mom jewelry for the big day. She was a little obsessed with a certain shirt, so I bought her one in every color along with various assorted things.

[I also want to give a quick shout out to this mother of whom I speak: Mom, you are absolutely the best mother ever! Thanks for being such a great mom and friend! More to come in the card!]

So if you are still totally unsure, or if you have successfully purchased a Mother's Day present and now need to treat yourself after all that stress of finding the perfect gift, well, maybe something down here will appeal to you. As they are Friday Favorites, you know they appealed to me (I'm in a necklace mood today):


14K Pave Heart Necklace with Black Diamonds by Phoenix Roze, $395
(It's funny, but I have very little interest in white diamonds, but I can't get enough of either black or uncut diamonds. And here I was thinking I'm a Tiffany girl.)

Speaking of Tiffany, however...

Paloma Picasso Crown of Hearts necklace, $185



Moonstone Chaos Necklace by Kelly Meeker Designs, $124





Harvest Moon Necklace by Lisa Levine, $276





Rough Diamonds Chandelier Necklace by Alexis Bittar (at Art Effect Chicago), $225


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Now I really need to talk about my hair. I tried to avoid it, but the hair. It's killing me.
This is my own fault: going to a new hairdresser because they were closer and cheaper. But still. This woman (highly recommended by many people on the Internet--that'll teach me), chopped off a great deal of hair and now I don't know what to do. I'm going to pull a Whoorl and ask you to leave your choice in the comments. (P.S. The hair is a little wet in, I think, all these pictures)

Here's what it looks like right now:



-Pin straight with lots of weird layers thanks to hair lady
-bangs (obvs)
-blonde right now, but I might make it a little brighter or something

Should I:
A. Stop whining and let it grow out so my outrageously expensive hairdresser can give me a cut I am happy with

*or*

B. Make an appointment with said hairdresser to have it cut into a proper bob (current haircut was supposed to be a "long" bob) such as this...

You can also pick C and just make up something! I'm flexible.

Parade of Wolves

Wolf Parade Poster by El Jefe Design

Since their second EP, Wolf Parade has taken top awards (in my head) as best band. Ever. Well, maybe not ever. I know people get all huffy about The Beatles and whatnot. But Wolf Parade is my favorite band by a good margin: their first album, Apologies to the Queen Mary, has many more plays on my iPod than any other album. I also often obsess over the keyboardist to the point where he has individually become top o' my list of celebrities I am allowed to canoodle with, allowed by the BF. (I am pretty sure the BF knows this.)

Anyhow, these last two days have been utterly thrilling as I've been listening to their new album, At Mount Zoomer, and totally loving it.

Here's to Wolf Parade!


Wendy Brandes Isabella She-Wolf Necklace, price upon request until Wendy gets her website up




Recycled Gold Wolf Ring by Species by the Thousands, $300



Wolf Bracelet by Odin Lonning, $168 (designed in the Pacific Northwest style)




Wolf Tooth Necklace, $40


My little feline, pissed that I just woke her up and am taking pictures just as she's finishing a yawn. (If she were a human, she'd be all, "Don't you dare post this on the Internet for the world to see!" But since she cannot speak...)

Happy Valentine's Day (Almost)!

Tomorrow I find out some important work stuff that will most likely have big impact on my future. I know tone is hard to convey through the written word, so let me just put it out there: I am not excited about this. But! At least I'll be going into it with good shoes. (Thanks, mom!)

For all of you are still hanging around waiting for me to stop bringing you down and get all with the Valentine's Day jewelry already...


Pylon Heart Pendant (on nylon cord) by Mignon Faget, $150 for sterling silver






The Cassel Pink Diamond (very rare), $1,400,000




Red Thread rings at Marmelo, about $52 US (priced orginally in Yen)






Good Charma "Love" Bracelet, $400 for gold vermeil (silver also available)








Sophie "Twisting Heart" Necklace by Wendy Brandes, $7300

Hope everyone has a good one, whatever your relationship status may be...

Wendy Brandes

Our favorite local blog queen, the immensely talented jeweler Wendy Brandes, has suffered a blow at the hands of blogger!

She received the following notice from Blogger, and is therefore unable to post....
This is a message from the Blogger team.

"Your blog, at http://wbjewelry.blogspot.com/, has been identified as a potential spam blog. For an explanation of what spam blogs are, please see Blogger Help: http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=42577
You will not be able to publish posts to your blog until we review your site and confirm that it is not a spam blog. To request a review, please fill out the form found here: http://www.blogger.com/unlock-blog.g?lockedBlogID=2660258807099414939
We will take a look at your blog and unlock it within four business days. Please note that if we do not hear from you within 20 days, we will remove your blog. If this blog does not belong to you, then you do not have to do anything. Any other blogs you may have will not be affected.
Since you are an actual person reading this, your blog is probably not spam. We find spam by using an automated classifier. Automatic spam detection is inherently fuzzy, and occasionally a blog is flagged incorrectly. We sincerely apologize for this erroneous result. By using this kind of system, however, we can dedicate more storage, bandwidth, and engineering resources to users like you instead of to spammers. Thank you for your understanding and for your help in our spam-fighting efforts.
Sincerely,

The Blogger Team"

Wendy can be found at Wendy Hates Blogger, as she waits for the Blogger team to realize their error. We stand behind you, Wendy!