January favorites

Lily of the Valley solid brass pendant

Milk Glass 1920s sautoir || Lemon Lime Bakelite earrings

1930s Janus cast brass necklace

Art Deco pavé set rhinestone bracelet || 1930s gold fill heart locket with pearl

Art Deco carnelian and glass drop necklace 

Just a few of my favorite pieces added to the shop this month! 

Kings of the Victorian Jungle

Hey, hey - the Art Nouveau lion locket that I stocked in the shop today has a fraternal twin! The Twin, who is 14K yellow gold (hence the $$$$ tag) is for sale over at Lang Antiques. The Jean Jean version is gold filled and likely American made. Aside from provenance and metal type, they are quite similar. They date to the same era (1900s-1910s) with a nearly identical lion and shield motif. Even the textured background and curly border are shared. I just love finding jewelry mates like these.

Bon weekend!

Georgian ring and box

This Georgian ring just sold over at Bell & Bird but that doesn't stop me from thinking about it and its gorgeous shark skin box. I've never seen a ring box that opens with the ring face pointing down, have you? I love how it completely changes the shape of the box and gives it a pinched/tapered top.

Photos courtesy of Bell & Bird

The best toys

I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I'm either cooking a meal or cleaning up after a meal, it seems. I'm also a grazer so I'm constantly looping through the kitchen to grab a handful of nuts or another splash of coffee. And Severen eats three meals a day and about as many snacks. So it is a parade of activity from 6 AM to 11 PM!

Thankfully there is lots for Severen to do in the kitchen while I work. I've set it up so that almost every cabinet and drawer is accessible to him. As long as he is safe, I let him explore and experiment. He takes all the cans out of the pantry, plays with the cutting boards, unrolls the kitchen twine, pulls on the salad spinner, pulls the dishtowels off the oven handle, etc. As I've watched him roam and play I've come to see that many of his favorite "toys" are actually kitchen tools. And it makes sense! They have moving parts, they have handles,  hell they do things! Real life grown up things! From now on, I'm going to do my baby shower shopping in the kitchen tool aisle.

Severen's kitchen faves:
Flour sifter
French Press Top
Measuring spoons
Salad Spinner
Old juice bottle with lid
Paper towel rolls
Spatulas
Popsicle molds
Rolling pin
Anything that looks cool and moves (tea strainers, for example)

Things he reaaaalllly wants to play with but I stop him:
The cheese grater (oh MAN does he ever want to get his hands on that!)
Forks
The immersion blender
The freezer
Large pantry items (but cans of tuna are OK)
The garbage can, AKA the Holy Grail of kitchen items

What I do when I want to score some big points:
Take the lower rack out of the dishwasher, load it up with fun stuff and let him push it around the house. Good times.
Turn on the oven light. WHOAH BOY!
Help him cut up a banana on a tiny cutting board with a wooden knife
Get out a giant bowl, fill it with water and make a big ritual out of washing some vegetables
Get out the broom and chase him around with it
Give him a couple of crackers and some raisins

Black Hills Gold locket

I recently acquired a lovely Landstrom's locket. The South Dakota company is known for their work with Black Hills Gold. This piece is not vintage so I can't offer it in the shop but I would like to find it a new home. It is 14K gold fill with 10K gold trim. There are no photo accessories but otherwise it is "like new" condition. It retails for around $150 in the company store and I'm offering this one for $70. Please contact me if you are interested!

Twin Peaks things that you need

 

     

  

Mr. Jean Jean and I just finished watching Twin Peaks. Now I get it! I get all the pop culture references. I know what people mean when they talk about Donna's "amazing style." I also understand why every girl my age has a major obsession with Agent Dale Cooper. Here are a few fun things I found on Etsy to celebrate the series (images linked). Isn't the Nadine brooch hilarious? The same shop offers The Log Lady, Lucy, Dr. Jacobi and Laura Palmer. I won't judge you if you feel an urge to collect all the characters.

French tights

These are a few examples of the snazzy tights from the French company Les Queues de Sardines (by m+o). The butterfly wing tights from the A/W 2012 collection are so excellent, non? Oh, and this pair made me laugh out loud last night. You can find a nice selection - including the pair in the top photo (LOVE!) -- over at Lille Boutique.

via Les Queues de Sardines by m+o {images linked}

Sextuplets

As you might recall, I have a little *thing* for the combination of brass + colored glass + enamel in antique jewelry. I also get a huge kick out of finding long-lost jewelry mates. These six pins are my pride and joy. I first told you about them two years ago and I've managed to add to the collection since then. Have you seen any other colors? I'm betting there is a red, orange and yellow out there in the world. Here's to hoping I can find them!

P.S. If you like these pins there is one available on Etsy right now.

Piled up

I piled up a bunch of rings yesterday and they looked so pretty all together that I decided to stock them in the shop all at once. There is a bit of everything coming your way . . . a late 1920s sterling band, a 1930s signet ring, some gorgeous 1940s costume rings, a pretty Mexican sterling and goldstone ring, etc. I aim to have them stocked by 6 PM tonight (that's when Severen's babysitter leaves!)

How I would like to ring in the New Year

Hello! We got in late last night from nearly two weeks of traveling. I've got loads of catching up to do in the shop (and beeeautiful things to photograph!) but until I can get my act together there please feast your eyes upon this Fabergé bell-push, ca. 1890. Can you imagine putting your finger on this beauty? I think that would be a pretty excellent way to start the New Year, with a push of this bell. Maybe next year . . .

P.S. Here is another gorgeous bell-push from Fabergé.

via Wartski

It's his birthday

        

I've never been more excited for a birthday than I am this year. And not for my own, but for Severen's. He turns one today. Here is my "he's here!' post from last year (just look at that little face!)

I vividly remember what I was doing when my water broke. I was standing in the kitchen, walking toward the garbage can to throw away some eggshells. And then it happened. I froze and looked at Soren. It wasn't until that moment that I really, truly understood that a baby was coming. And soon! That was my last moment of clarity for several hours. My next moment came when I realized that the wet, wiggling body on my chest was something that had just come out of my body. Inside, outside. Invisible, visible. An idea of a baby, a real baby. I wish I could have been hooked up to a CAT SCAN at that moment (OK not really) because what happened next in my brain must surely have lit up the screen: I became a mom.

It didn't happen when I looked at him, and that surprised me. I expected to see his face and immediately feel, "Oh this is my precious son!" Instead, I looked and looked and looked at him as he screamed and squinted up at me. I just felt confused. What was this? How could his voice be so powerful? Um, have we met? It was a scary moment, honestly, to expect a wave of tender emotion and feel not much at all.

But that didn't last long - maybe 10 or 20 seconds. Then I decided not to worry about my eyes. Or my brain. I stopped trying to study him. Instead, I just felt him. I pulled him close and nibbled his fingers. I put my face right up to his and cooed. I felt a crazy urge to lick him, like a mama bear. And that's when motherhood hit me. It turns out the the optic nerve is a poor conductor of motherly love. And the front lobes of the brain are ca-pooey after labor. But being close to him, skin on skin, flipped the parenthood switch from "off" to "on." And there is no turning if off again. Ever.

When you go into labor you have one life. When you leave the hospital (birth center, etc.) you have two lives.

I am so grateful for Severen's life and for the chance to be a mom. Happy Birthday, Severen!

P.S. That photo of Soren holding Severen for the first time gets me every time . . .
P.P.S. I will share some birthday celebration photos here next week!

Bird watercolors

I think these bird watercolors from the shop Splodgepodge are really lovely. One of Severen's favorite words right now is cardinal and I'm thinking of getting the cardinal watercolor pair for him. Here is a clip of him talking to his cardinal toy a couple of days ago!

Merry, Happy, Merry

We had a wonderful day with our family today - I hope that you did, too! Happy Holidays!

Closing in on a year

Severen turns one in about two weeks - WOW! This is what we looked like almost exactly one year ago when I was 38 weeks pregnant. I can so vividly remember shooting the photos for that post, feeling my son (I didn't know it was Severen then - crazy!) kick and wiggle from time to time. And here are a few photos of what the two of us look like today.

A year means something different to me now than it did before I had a child. It seems longer and also shorter. It seems longer because I counted almost every one of the last 350 days in some way or another. I charted Severen's growth and progress by the day, the week, and the month. I kept a journal (sort of) about my life and his. I took 1000s of photographs. I carefully measured and documented the passage of time in a way that I've never done before. By doing that I came to see just how very, very much can be accomplished in a year. Every day really counts when you are working on building your life from the bottom up, as children are.

Oddly, the length of a year also feels shorter now than before. Maybe that fast-forward feeling comes from being so engrossed in the dozens of daily tasks involved in raising a child. The pace is almost incomprehensible and things accumulate quickly. One diaper becomes 1000 diapers. One feeding becomes 3000 feedings. A 9# baby becomes a 26# toddler. It is a bit disorienting. Sort of like coming up from the subway the first time and suddenly finding yourself in a different part of the city - trying to figure out how you crossed all that distance without seeing it happen. Soren and I are always marveling at Severen's changes. When did he start doing that? How long has he been able to say, "star?" When did his hair get so long? When did he outgrow his 12 month clothes?

However slowly or quickly time passes, I know that one day I will wake up and be absolutely astonished to find that have been aging along with Severen. I completely understand why people say, "I can't believe I am 40!" or "I can't be turning 50, can I?" It is easy to lose track of time when you are watching someone else grow up.