Sparkly Things Make Me Happy

Much like last week, work this week has been kind of frustrating. My mantra seems to be, "I hate my boss. I hate my boss." This is nothing new. So at lunch today I decided to go to a jewelry sample sale. I thought, "What the hell? I'll treat myself to something nice." I figured I'd get myself a belated bday present since I did dub this decade the jewelry decade, and I haven't purchased a piece of birthday bling yet. The first year of the decade started with a Tiffany charm bracelet, followed by a Tiffany initial pendant, then came the Tiffany Aries pendant. Well, this year Tiffany isn't quite in the budget, so I decided sample sale jewelry would have to do.

Anyway, this little shopping trip was exactly what I needed. There were so many beautiful pieces, I just couldn't decide what to get. Who is this jewelry designer you ask? Her name is Diana Warner and her stuff is soooo cute. A couple of years ago I was going through all these online clips I'd saved looking for a birthday present for WH when I saw the perfect necklace, which happened to be designed by Diana. I loved it for two reasons 1) I felt the necklace made the perfect symbol of our friendship and 2) part of the proceeds went to providing water to people in Africa. Thankfully, the gift was a hit and we both became fans of this designer.

When she moved her business to New York, I attended her first sample sale. I dragged JL (now JM) and we both got all giddy and excited about all the pretty jewelry laid out in front of us. Diana was there and such a joy to talk to that it was hard not to be excited about her stuff. She helped JM pick the perfect stone for her necklace and she recreated a bracelet for me that I had been eyeing. My creation ended up being somewhat of a one-of-kind piece because she ran out of the original links and had to substitute them with something else. To this day, I still get compliments on the thing. Her employees even asked me about it at the sample sale because they'd never seen it before today. Too funny.

After going through every drawer and bin in her studio, (what--she said I could make myself at home) I decided to get myself two bracelets. The first one was the Fancy Nancy bracelet:

The one I purchased had a gunmetal finish and a gray crystal. I originally had a silver one with a deep blue crystal, but I kept getting drawn to the gunmetal. So, in the end, I purchased both. I may end up giving the silver one to my sister for her birthday since I designed it with her in mind. Yes, I was able to customize it by picking out the metal and the stone. So much fun!

Here's the other bracelet:

I didn't actually buy all these stacking bracelets, although I'm a little tempted to go back tomorrow to get another one. The one I did purchase is the smallest one of them all. I'm a simple girl and I really like how that lone bracelet looked on my wrist. Just that little bit of sparkle was enough to make me happy.

And because I love my sister for causing minimal drama while I was home, I did purchase a necklace for her that I know she'll love. Why will she love it? Because Blake Lively wore it on Gossip Girl, and my little sister loves that show and Serena Van der Woodsen. There wasn't a product image on the site, but here's the Ryan layering necklace on Serena:

You can't really see it that well in the pic, but trust me, it's cute. I'm almost tempted to keep it for myself. I'm actually going back tomorrow to pick up something WH has requested. Who knows? Maybe I'll pick up another sparkly thing for myself! If you're looking for a present that's fun and unique or want to splurge on yourself, I highly recommend going to her site: dianawarnerstudio.com.

Now the reason I needed a little retail therapy was because when I returned from my fabulous vacation last week, I came back just in time for the handing out of envelopes. Thankfully there weren't little pink slips inside. Instead, there was a letter telling us that due to the economic climate, all of our paychecks were going to be cut by 10%. Yes, after hearing that news retail therapy should have been the last thing on my mind, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. The bright side to all of this is that I still have a job and I'm getting 10 extra vacation days to help ease the blow. That brings my grand total of vacation days to 30. What does that mean? I can use some of that tax refund money and a few of those days for another trip back home to SoCal! I can also take time off for another possible road trip to NC, a visit to TN and a fall trip to Maine. And I can even take a day or two off when I have visitors! Yes, bright side indeed. Although, how can I afford all these trips when my income has been slashed by 10%? Easy...I only go to places where I have free lodging and I mooch off my amazingly awesome, generous friends. Plus, it doesn't hurt to have a sister who works for a major hotel chain. See? So simple.

I may hate my boss and have less money, but I'm really trying to make the most of my situation by reminding myself every day to be thankful for what I have. Who knows? I could be collecting unemployment and selling all my stuff in a month.

Besides the sparkly jewelry, I found another reason to be happy: Bryan Greenberg released some dates for his summer tour and put up two new songs on his site. Today CR said I was his stalker. I suppose she's right, and I'm OK with that. I really wish I could see his show in L.A., but I'm counting on DS to stalk on my behalf. I'm sure he'll be releasing his NYC dates soon and when he does, I'm buying tickets. Anyone want to go with me? I promise I won't embarass you. Check out his "I Sorta Have a Girlfriend" song on his MySpace page. It's pretty funny. He played it at his last concert in NYC, and I busted up laughing.

Another music note...I'm loving the new Marie Digby, Kate Voegele and Mandy Moore songs. All three of them have albums coming out soon and I can't wait!

OK, tomorrow is Thursday (awesome TV day) and then it's Friday! I love Fridays!