Monday, October 31, 2011

Something Old...

Ten years ago last August, my maternal grandmother passed away.  It was a really tough time for me.  Her passing was a beautiful and spiritual occasion, and it brought us together as a family in a way that nobody but she could have possibly done.  She was seriously a rockstar.  I have a LOT of happy memories from that time.  Weird, I know.  :-)

After she passed, we got to do the whole tear apart the house, sort everything out, prepare things for donation and being given to the children as per her will etc. etc. etc.  Her craft room became a sort of... sorting place.  Towards the end, mom said that I could run up and look through her costume jewelry and if I saw anything I liked, I could probably have it.  Now, there was some AWESOME stuff in her costume jewelry collection.  Fun cocktail rings, great necklaces, amazing pins... she had amazing taste, and a fun and eclectic sense of style.  She could pull off a big bling-y cocktail ring and make it look expensive.  She was just that classy.  So... I was a little more than excited to sort through these treasures and find something tangible and wearable to remember her by.

Digging through the little clear acrylic divider boxes, I found a little tiny chunk of silver-colored metal.  It was round... so I assumed it must be a ring, but it certainly didn't look like any other ring I'd ever seen.  For starters, it didn't have any stones.  It was just... metal.  It had three flat holes in it, and some delicate looking, vintage-y scrollwork on the sides.  I was entirely transfixed.  I knew enough in my 15 year old mind to know that this HAD to be important, and definitely NOT just costume jewelry.

I took it to my mom, and said, "I think I want... this."  Her eyes got a little wider, and she quietly said, "Where did you find that?"  I showed her the box, and she smiled, and pretty soon we were showing it to the aunts and my Grandad and as it turned out... this was no ordinary ring.  I had found my great grandmother's wedding ring.  Grandad's mom.  My great grandmother, Vera, was born in 1893... on Indian Territory in Oklahoma.  She married my great-grandfather, Frank, in 1916 in Portland, OR.  Of course, that's only part of their story... but the neat thing about life, is that we leave little pieces of ourselves behind for those who come after us.  We're all tied together.  And I had found her ring... everyone had thought it had been lost.  Nobody knew what had happened to it.  And I'd found it, inside a box, in another box, in Mimi's costume jewelry. 


It had (at some point) had its stones removed.  This is pretty common with antique jewelry, so I'm told.  I took it to a jeweler who specialized in restoring antique jewelry, and he informed me that the side stones were likely heart shaped, as evidenced by what was remaining of the prongs.  He said that someone had ground off the prongs... which isn't the best way of removing stones from a setting, but that it wasn't irreparably damaged.


Here's some of that gorgeous, vintage detail I was talking about.  Can you imagine?  This ring is nearing 100 years old... 


Also, same size as my finger... because, you know... genetics.  :-)
(Also, also... ON my finger... because I am A GIRL and it's what WE DO.)


I'm really excited to eventually get this beautiful ring restored.  I have NO idea how much something like that would cost.  I do know that I have two diamond wedding sets and a diamond necklace that need to find new homes... and I would be MORE than happy to let the jeweler take them in trade for newer, better, and prettier stones for this gorgeous ring.  I love that someday this ring won't sit empty, like a sad little skeleton.  But it's going to be happy and loved again.  Someday.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Fall Bucket List!

I totally meant to do this back in September.  But I didn't... So I'm going to blog it now.


I want to state for the record that AUTUMN is my favorite time of year.  Truly, NOTHING beats the majesty that is Autumn in New York... they don't write songs about Autumn in Oregon for a reason.  But... this year?  This year I want to do all the things, the FALL kinds of things, that I didn't get to do in years past.  These are things that I think should be mandatory for each and every autumn... but I didn't get to do them as often as I would have liked.  Oh, and these are in NO particular order.  Just spouting 'em off as I remember them.


  • Corn maze, preferably in the dark.  Corn mazes are ALWAYS more fun in the dark.  People jumping out and saying "BOO!" are optional.
  • Pumpkin carving
  • Wassail
  • Baking a GOOD GF apple pie
  • Carmel corn, homemade, the GOOD kind... in the oven.  With or without cinnamon almonds.
  • Apple picking?  Can you even do that in Oregon?  If not... skip to next bullet point.
  • Home made caramel apples, preferably with apples I PICKED MYSELF.
  • Go for a walk in the brisk autumn air, with a friend.  Have a long talk.
  • Photo session in a forest or a field.  Pumpkin patch maybe?
  • OHEMGEE PUMPKIN PATCH!!!! Preferably with a hayride.

And... that's pretty much my Top 10 Things I HAAAAVE to do this fall.  Good news?  Already checked that first one off, thanks to an activity with my church.  Holla!

Friday, October 28, 2011

Been awhile...

I haven't been posting on my blog.  I tend to clam up when I'm sitting on something.  Time to let a little bit more of my story out into the world.  I'm divorced now... it's official.  Well... I'm officially late in announcing that.  I've been divorced for a little over a month now.  I'm not going to go into the who, what, when, where, and why of my divorce in this post, and probably won't go over it much at ALL on this whole blog.  Suffice it to say, it's not just MY story, it's his as well.  It's not fair for you to only have my side of the story.  Just like it's not fair when people judge me after hearing only his side of the story.  But I don't mind telling you that it's all done, and official, and on paper, and on record with the state.

I can give you basic facts...  We were married for five and a half years.  We were separated for about two months before the divorce was made official by the state, it took (seriously) about two days to a week from the time that we turned in the paperwork to the time we were legally strangers.  Now, we don't talk.  It's okay though.  It's probably better that we don't.  There are a lot of... feelings... and not great ones at that.

But now, I get to start all over with my life.  What a scary thought.  I'm in my mid-twenties, just BARELY starting out in college, embarking on a pathway towards a nursing degree that will take me anywhere from 6-8 years to complete (Family Nurse Practitioner or Certified Nurse Midwife).  It's a tough time to start over, but it's better than never starting at all.  And I know where I'm going, because I know where I've been.