You're Never Fully Dressed Without Your Pearls!

I've been drawn to pearls for as long as I can remember. My Birthday is in June. My Birthstone is the pearl. Simple, stylish and elegant. They can be small and understated or big and bold. But they're never showy and never loud and never brash as diamonds can be. I'm a pearl girl through and through. I have a pair of diamond stud earrings that I wear from time to time. My engagement and wedding rings are diamond. Stunning and brilliant and classic in style. But had the Pearl been a bit heartier able to withstand what my hands do and go through I would have chosen a pearl ring for certain. As it is my hands are busy and clumsy and often I trade the brilliant diamonds for my two simple gold bands that cannot be bent and damaged. Back to the pearls...

I got my first pair of pearl earrings when I was 13. My paternal grandmother gave them to me for my Birthday. I lost one a few years later and was devastated and ashamed to tell anyone so I replaced it with a cheapie, reproduction set. During my college years I was never without my pearl earrings or necklace. Not real. My mother would not let me bring real ones to school. And she was wise!

After I graduated from college my love of the pearl remained. I wore my single strand necklace and earrings all over the place. Even to the gym!

I wanted more and on a meager, newly-grad, publishing income I could only afford costume jewelry. And this is where my collection of bigger, bolder and funner pearls grew. I could use these big and fun necklaces to dress up a pair of jeans or I could wear them with a Little Black Dress. For many years I lived in Greenwich, Connecticut right off the Avenue, THE place for shopping and dining. There was a Carolee Store right around the corner of my apartment. Me in that store was like a little child in a candy store. It was heaven. One bauble was more divine than the next. (Carolee also designed costume jewelry for Ralph Lauren.) And so my collection of costume pearls grew and flourished.

See the author's stunning wedding dress with pearls and read more here.