obsessed: jewelry shop favs!

if there’s one thing i’ve come to know about myself, it’s that iiii love jewelry! i think i’d rather accessorize over a basic t-shirt than fancy up any other way, and i find that i’m less and less into wearing any kind of trendy cheap stuff and more into having fewer quality jewelry items that i really love.

aaalso… i’m especially into jewelry that carries meaning… and the more secret-ish and understated the meaning, the better! like, you know how some people get a tiny, secret tattoo that pretty much only they know about? well, i’m not a tat gal, but that’s kind of me and jewelry.

so! i have several staple favorites these days that i pretty much wear non-stop. i don’t feel like myself without my jewelry on, and i’ve come to know exactly what i’m looking for in a pretty little accessory, whether it was $19 at an antique shop [one of my rings!!!] or a designer-name deal…

that being said, there are a handful of jewelry shops that i really adore! so, shoutout to some favs…

monkeys always look – i discovered this shop during my search for the perfect name rings sometime around when maddalena was born… and theirs remain my absolute favorites!! to anyone else, they look like simple stackers as you wear them, but i love that when i look down, i can see my babies’ names, tiny and hand-stamped into sterling silver. i literally never take mine off and never stop being obsessed with them… and i was so excited to get another one for baby #2 that my sweetpea of a husband went ahead and surprised me with a rocco ring a couple of weeks before he was born!

layered + long – when i came across L+L, i was immediately swooning and dizzy and in love. i’d been browsing jewelry on etsy, with a vision of a certain necklace style that i was looking for when i clicked upon their shop… and after days of gazing at their gemstone bar necklaces, i finally decided what i wanted and sent them a little message to see if they could tweak their style just a bit for me, creating their gemstone bar necklace with sterling silver beads instead of gemstones on a gold chain [ps. i love mixed metals]. and they did! and i LOVE it!! and bonus, i wanted to be able to layer it with a necklace i’d already been wearing [my pink gemstone necklace from the beach reminds me of maddalena, by the way, and so i wanted this one to remind me of rocco!], so i ordered it along with a detachable chain extender! it’s perfect. aaand… cutest thing ever… what i didn’t get: personalized tiny bar tag. gosh. i love that.

ryan sadkin – a couple of years ago, my sweetest friend, morgan, sent me and the other blacation girls the prettiest bracelets from ryan sadkin! each one has beads in the gender color of our [firstborn] babies… mine has the perfect pink on a gold chain, and it is just gorgeous. it’s so gorgeous that i loved it a little too hard and it broke!! woops. that’s what i get for never taking off my jewelry. hooowever!! i contacted the lovely ryan, and without hesitation, she let me send it to her, she fixed it right up, and she mailed it back! i was so excited! it’s as beautiful and perfect as ever now. she also has about a million beautiful things in her shop that i have my eye on…

simon & ruby – the lovely, lovely [and local to nashville!!] lindsay of simon & ruby makes some really beautiful designs, and i know firsthand that she pours her heart and soul into each one! she took some photos of me, maddalena, and two of our very best girls last fall [she is multi-talented! and that day, actually, maggie & i both told each other we were both pregnant, ha!] that i love SO much… and in them, we of course got to be fancy and decked out in her jewelry. oh, it was hard to take them off when the day was over! 😉 anyway, i’ve purchased a handful of my favorite S&R jewelry items as gifts for others, but have yet to spoil my own self! although, when the day comes that i do… my favorites are the beautiful pepper bracelet [or the griffin necklace, since it can be worn as a wrap bracelet, too], and the gypsy bracelet! ob… sessed.

helen ficalora – speaking of symbolic jewelry!! i adore my helen ficalora horseshoe necklace. it means the world to me, because it reminds me of my life, my childhood, my casey, what i love most. mine is sterling silver, which i think you can only get in store, but their online store has it in yellow, white, and pink gold… and about a million other gorgeous things!

charm it! – this is a fun one for the littlest ladies!! charm it! sent maddalena a sweet little charm bracelet last year, and she just loves it!! the girl can accessorize, that’s for sure. anyway, she loves all the different charms, which are super cute… and what i love about them is that their mission is to inspire individuality and creativity in young girls! for that reason they have some reeeally adorable little charms for their bracelets.

okay, and additionally, i have not actually purchased anything from [also local!!] consider the wldflwrs, buuut i am always planning to snag a couple of dainty stackers and a new midi ring from their pretty little selection!

so yay! gosh, i love being a girl. 😉

xoxoxo