Trinkets On My Vanity

I’ve been getting more and more enthralled with the “manual” function on my camera, and I’m really starting to learn how to, y’know, use it.  I’ve been taking pictures of everything!  I took this picture of some items haphazardly collected on my vanity dresser, in my bedroom, in the dark, and while looking at this photo, I realize that each of these things has a story.

The green figure on the left is a jade wolf brought to me from China, by my best friend in high school.  She moved to China when we were both about 15/16 years old, and when she would come back to visit, she’d bring “gifts from China,” she would always say with a grand flourish.  I remember her telling me that the Chinese were deathly afraid of wolves, and that wolf-themed gifts were hard to find.  She called me “Lobo” for a nickname.

The pendant below the jade wolf was a gift from Jenny S., who is always bringing me completely unexpected presents.  She said it reminded her of me because of the stag I drew on one of my American Duchess t-shirts.

The little naked woman is not actually naked! She has on a bathingsuit, maybe it was painted in at one time, or maybe meant to be “nude.”  She came to me after my great grandfather died.  He had an odd collection of slightly naughty things.  She says “made in Germany” on the bottom.

The earrings actually belong to my mother.  They’re vintage, and she leant them to me to wear with my Baroque gown last weekend, but they are clip on earrings and I didn’t want to lose them, so I did not wear them.  Oh how I covet these earrings – I don’t want to give them back!

The little frame the earrings are resting on has somebody’s painting of a little white dog standing on a chair, looking out a window.  I cut it out of a magazine because it reminded me of how Avi would stand on the trunk under the window and look out all day, waiting for me to come home from work.

The bracelet is vintage costume jewelry from an enormous collection that came back from Texas when my grandmother moved out here to Nevada, and the house in Texas was cleared out and sold.  My cousins and I used to play with these glittery rhinestone pieces ALL DAY LONG when we were kiddies.

I can’t help but want to surround myself with things like this.  Sentimental things, pretty things, vintage things.  My collection is growing, between teacups and trinkets like these :-).