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I don’t wear a lot of jewelry; in fact, it took Mike’s Mom giving me three pairs of her departed sister’s earrings for me to remember that I do, in fact, have pierced ears.

Since Ellie was born, the only piece of jewelry I wear daily is a ring that I bought right after she arrived – a plain white gold band with her name and birthdate engraved on the inside. I wear it on my left thumb, mostly because I’ve lost weight since getting sized for it and it’s too big for any of my fingers. I was puffed up like a bloated walrus in the weeks surrounding her birth; I was also completely irrational, and had to have that ring RIGHT NOW. Thus, the sizing problem

Back to the point of this post.  As I do when I’m bored or want some inspiration, I was wandering through etsy one day months and months ago, and happened upon Monkeys Always Look. And stopped. And I think I gasped or squealed or said “holy sh*t, I love this place!” in an unnaturally high octave. Probably the latter. I went on a favorite-ing frenzy that day, and added about half the store to my wish list. I’m pretty hard-pressed to find jewelry that I like and would consider wearing… but I can’t think of one thing in Allison’s store that I would turn down. (That, by the way, is both a glowing endorsement and a big fat hint to anyone who might want to buy me things. Wink, wink. Nudge.)

          

I’m particularly in love with the copper work. I don’t know if it’s because Mom wore a lot of rose gold, or if it has something to do with my obsession with the Southwest… or maybe there’s no root cause for it, I just love copper.  I don’t even care if it turns my fingers green (which I’m sure it’ll do, since my skin hates everything pretty). I want ten copper rings. At least.

Allison also makes these wonderful engraved spoons – garden markers, wedding favors, home decor, you name it. I personally don’t have a use for them right now,  but the romantic in me wants every last phrase about love and friendship engraved on my silverware.   And also lyrics, but I couldn’t tell you which ones – music and lyrics are Mike’s department.

Antiqued spoons with words like “basil” and “parsley” stamped on them are ridiculously charming.  That’s the level of charming I’ve never been able to achieve.

Side story! Before Mom had me, she worked for Sam Peckinpah (a notorious and acclaimed film director from the 60s and 70s, and a bit into the 80s before he died), and she developed friendships with some incredible actors, like Jason Robards (wow do I ever miss seeing him on the screen), and David Warner.  Well, (according to the stories I’ve heard all my life)… back when they worked together on The Ballad of Cable Hogue in the late 60s, David Warner fancied my Mom, apparently something awful, and she never really dug him back.  She found the British accent to be ugly and annoying I’mnotevenkiddingwhatthehell and she was afraid she’d have to move to England if they got serious, so she turned him down politely, and eventually moved on to fall in love with my father, a married man with a family of his own.  Neither my mom nor I would ever claim that she made great decisions in the 70s.

The whole point of all of this?  What if I was David Warner’s child instead?  Born in England, raised in a foggy suburb of London, drinking tea and knowing what crumpets are?  Maybe THEN I’d be the kind of charming that uses silver spoons as garden markers.   In my British-Charo fantasies, I’m also incredibly witty, a brilliant dresser, and I look exactly like Helena Bonham Carter.

British-Charo would own hundreds of these silver spoons.  They’d be everywhere, marking everything of significance.  And everything of significance would be charming.  British-Charo would charm your ass off with her copper rings and her silver spoons, and that delightfully charming charm of hers.

 

All images are copyright Allison Cecil, Monkeys Always Look, and used with permission.