Jewelry Box Tour 5 || Brenna Dougan

1| Your name, s’il vous plait Brenna Dougan*

* I met Brenna on the first day of Kindergarten. She was feisty and she had a sweet perm! I thought to myself, "I should stick with this girl!" So we became friends and have been BFF's ever since. The photo of the kids in rollerskates in this post is us! You can read more about us in this post.
 
 2| Where do you live? Washington, D.C.

3| What do you do during the day and at night? During the day I work on international labor issues. Basically, I monitor the enforcement of labor laws in the countries with which the United States has trade agreements and trade preference programs.

4| What do you look for in a piece of jewelry? What are you drawn to? I like unique, tasteful pieces; something that can be worn to the office or worn out but that is not too flashy or too run-of-the-mill.

5| Tell me about the jewelry you wear the most. Is there something that you never take off? I wear a pair of sterling silver hoop earrings several times a week. They are full hoops and close behind the earlobe with a little bar that slips into place. They are just the right size: not too big, not too small, and the silver is beautiful.

6| What is your jewelry weakness? My weakness is jewelry from places to which I travel. That is, it it's very hard for me to roll into a big-box store and buy jewelry. I want my jewelry to have a connection to a time and a place.

  

7| What’s the last piece of jewelry you added to your box? My latest piece is a pair of off-white lace earrings from Tree and Kimball that are absolutely to die for and look stunning when paired with a strapless black dress and strappy sandals.

8| Please tell me a great story about a piece or two in your collection: Well, I'm including photos of two things: a necklace made from a bullhorn from Guatemala, which I bargained my butt off to get, and I've never seen another piece like it in Guatemala or anywhere else, and the brooch that was my great-grandmother's and has my initials.

A great story? When I was an undergrad one of my numerous odd-jobs was to drive a shuttle from Iowa State University to the Des Moines airport for conferences. That is, I would work with conference services to find out when conference attendees were to arrive to the airport and I would drive down and pick them up and drive them to their hotel at the university. During one conference, there were two men from China who had a 5:30 AM flight from Des Moines. I had to pick them up at their hotel at 3:00 AM to make sure they made it to the airport on time. They were so appreciative of the fact that I picked them up so early that when I dropped them off they gave me a necklace of delicate, floral-patterned beads, a matching bracelet and two packs of gold-foil-embossed Chinese cigarettes. They told me that the jewelry and cigarettes were 'typical' pieces from China. That was many years ago but I still take the necklace and the beads with me everywhere I move.

9| If price was not an issue, what piece of jewelry would you give to your best friend? I would get her several strands of Coco Chanel's pearls so she could mix and match them with other lovely and classic pieces.

{This is the last interview in the five-part Jewelry Snooping Series! If you commented on each post throughout the month, you are in the running to win a $50 gift certificate to the shop. I'll announce the winner on Monday, December 5th here on the blog. Thank you for reading!}