grandma's jewelry

when my grandma died, she left behind a LOT of jewelry.  she was never rich - or even close to it - so there was no discussion of whether any of it was worth a huge amount of money, but she loved jewelry.  it's amazing how much of it is timeless - things that we, her 30-ish year old granddaughters love and were happy to have.

my grandma had one daughter, my aunt monica.  monica had taken a couple special things for herself, but she generously brought most of it for the granddaughters to share.  she spread it all out on a table last saturday afternoon and we looked through it all.  my cousin sara proposed a draft; each of us would take one piece per "round," assuring that we didn't feel like others had taken everything we wanted.  my first round draft pick?  this cameo ring:

after that it's a blur - i don't know which piece i took when.  a couple months ago i have decided that when i am an old lady principal i want to have a brooch collection.  here are three to add to the...one...i already had:

horrible picture wherein i demonstrate how i will wear said brooch:

a ring i remember grandma wearing a lot - it's the end of a spoon bent around on itself - and necklace.

charm for a necklace:

awesome earrings that i will probably never wear - they are made from 1940s dimes!  do not ask me how someone did this.

also, FDR isn't on the dime!  wikipedia informs me that it is "mercury" or "winged liberty," and this is what the dime looked like from 1916 until 1945.  i mean, makes sense, right.  you don't put a current president on your money...

another ring - love this one, too:

and then there was my grandma's owl collection - 14 owls that she'd collected over the years.  we split them up among the family members.  i definitely got the best one.  (shh - don't tell.)

i'm really excited about having these things of my grandma's - she'll always be with me!

(ugh, vomit - too cheesy.  but TRUE, people.  sometimes cheesy is TRUE.)