sometimes the ice just ain't your friend

okay, i know i haven't posted in a while, but things have been crazy and haven't gone as well as i had hoped. i've been frustrated and restless and couldn't seem to figure out why until i had this weird, superstitious idea. i'm not sure if it's all in my head, but as soon as i followed my instinct, things seemed to get a little brighter. all i needed to do was get rid of the bling.

i come from a long line of women who believe you're running around practically naked if you 'don't have anything in your ears or your throat.' meaning, of course, that a proper woman never leaves the house unadorned, even if it isn't anything fancy. so over the years i've accumulated bit of jewelry -- mostly because my family members love me and hope i'll like it, but also partly because i don't see most of them for years at a time. let's face it, unless you're considerably large for your age, a necklace or earrings is gonna fit.

because of this i have a shelf on my bookcase full of containers. one big box with stained glass on the little doors and revolving hooks and drawers, furry linty boxes that open on a hinge, tiny round and square plastic boxes with scripty store names engraved on the lids, zippered velvet bags in all kinds of shapes and sizes. all holding trinkets and baubles. and all of them beautiful. (well, except the one really hideous silver necklace/earring set with several black stones the size of quarters hanging off it. i would never be caught dead in anything so flashy. it's pretty, but really not my style.)

on top of that, i'm lazy. i usually wear plain hoops and a thin chain, maybe with a small pendant like the cool-looking hollow one that looks like a bullet and is full of holy wax from a famous church that my aunt traveled really far to pray at. the only items i wear with any regularity are my silver anklets, and i haven't worn them all winter because my boots are form-fitting and cause them to dig into my ankles. other than that, i change my jewelry about once every couple of months. if i remember.

about a month ago, i was looking for something my mom wanted and started feeling guilty for having nice stuff and never wearing it. i knew i'd never be on top of things enough to change it up every day, let alone match my outfits, so i decided to bust out something out of the ordinary. i found these gold studs my uncle's wife bought for me -- two sets, for both sets of my ear piercings, with one little smaller for the upper ones, and both with just a little bit of bling in them. diamonds, i guess. then i found a matching ring my mom bought herself to keep her wedding ring from sliding off after she'd lost a few pounds with a few small stones in it. very pretty. i decided i'd try it out for awhile.

it was hard to remember to put it on in the morning, but i got into the swing of it. the ring would be nice to fiddle with during boring meetings or while i was waiting for the shuttle bus. but i swear, the day i started sporting the bling, things started to go wrong. everything i tried to do with the best intentions seemed to hit a snag. meetings didn't go according to plan, i seemed to always say and do the wrong thing at the wrong time and what did go right wasn't always received well. i got into stupid tiffs with people i loved, and was paranoid about what the people i liked thought of me. i caught all the red lights when i was in a hurry, and the store was always out of what i was looking for. the post office lost my netflix dvds, so i had nothing to watch for almost two weeks. i got the flu. and then the stupid new blind eyebrow lady yanked out more than half of my brows but left annoying stray hairs that i had to spend 2 hours taking care of myself. i just couldn't catch a break. and i'll look like a constantly surprised freak for another two weeks.

again, maybe it was all in my head. but it was starting to get me down and i couldn't figure out why everything was going so very wrong. until this morning. when i traced the start of my misfortune to the day i changed the jewelry. so i took it off and put it back in the box. today i didn't have to wait in line at the bank. or for my haircut. and even though i took off five inches, i'm pretty happy with my hair. the store had a full supply of the conditioner i was looking for, which is constantly sold out. i managed to do an afternoon's worth of errands in an hour and a half and was EARLY for work. i prevented a big mistake during my shift. my lunch order, and that of three other people, was somehow not all screwed up. my car just happened to be close enough to under the bridge that there wasn't too much snow to clean off of it when i got off work. and i actually have a couple of days off this weekend.

who says the sparkle in your life has to come from a diamond? i'm rocking some boring silver earrings i bought at Claire's Boutique in 1997 for ten bucks.

and i feel great.