My check in/catch up post this week was growing so long that I thought I’d break it up into a few different posts as I have time.

One of my goals this year was to branch out from the habit I’d been in for several years of primarily wearing necklaces without any other accessories (that is, when I wore accessories at all, aside from almost always wearing glasses.)

I felt like I was in a rut during the first couple post-pandemic years and was mostly at home, not working and it’s taken practice to find my groove again. I DO love a statement necklace and I’m lucky to have a nice collection (mostly gifts or fun pieces acquired over the last 20 years) but I wanted some greater variety.

• I don’t wear earrings - my piercings are long closed.
• My wedding ring is a single silver band with 10 small inset diamonds. I don’t wear fashion rings often; however, I did find a fun one with a large sea green bead that I wear on my right hand from time to time.
• I often wear a watch with a rose gold band - my smartwatch - but I don’t wear it all the time. I’m used to feeling something on my left wrist now, so if I’m skipping the watch I’ll pop on a bracelet instead. Typically that’s either a leather and wire Sámi bracelet (from the area of Sweden that my grandmother and great-grandparents are from) or a wide metal cuff.
• I have a small collection of brooches that I’m trying to wear more often.
• In particular, I’m enjoying bandanas and scarves, and finding different ways to add pattern and color by styling with them. (As a cravat or neckerchief, as a headband, as a bracelet…)
• An awesome small business that I have a couple shift dresses from (you’ll see more about them in a follow-up post) makes fabric suspenders in beautiful, colorful decorative fabrics that you can swap out on their dresses.

Some favorites:
1. Bandana criss-crossed under collared dress and secured with a brooch - a hummingbird pin made by a Nooksack artist (from Eighth Generation.)
2. Bandana tied at the neck around a scarf ring/slide.
3. Bandana worn neckerchief style with layers of faux pearls on top, and a vintage brooch pinned on a denim jacket.
4. Bandana tied into a wide cuff bracelet. (A dendritic quartz pendant necklace is in the background.)
5. Double strand leather and wire bracelet (in the background, that blue pendant is one I’ve had since high school - I think I picked it up at a fair in Santa Fe.)
6. Bandana around head as headband.
7. Wire work/stone bracelet over a mesh top (with a lavender amethyst pendant necklace in the background.)
8. A sea green ring.
9. Salmon hand-dyed ascot with a double strand of beads in nearly the same color.
10. Bandana tied around the wrist as a cuff.
11. Bandana worn neckerchief style with a couple layers of black glass beads over it. (I was tickled to find that my dressy robe coordinated so well with the bandana.)
12. Metal and wire hair comb (made by a friend a few years ago.)
13. Plaid cotton square scarf tied around the neck and secured with a scarf ring/slide.
14. Decorative fabric suspenders on a shift dress (also with a marble pendant necklace.)