periwinkle

Periwinkle has an onomatopoeic quality to me. I just think when you say the name you can instantly picture the cute little bright lavender flower that is it's namesake.  Unfortunately for you readers, I'm also an oncology nurse and a huge science wonk. And I love learning about origins of certain medicines. Like vincristine, a major chemotherapy (the O in RCHOP and, yes, I get that that is majorly confusing, don't get me started on medical acronyms that make you go huh?) used to treat lymphoma, it is derived from Madagascar Periwinkle. Vincristine (aka Oncovin, that's where they get the O from) can never be used intrathecally and has a maximum dose of 2 mgs (you can thank me later if that helps you answer a question correctly on Jeopardy). Two cute little teardrops of perwinkle quartz wrapped in gold wire with four rosy lavender glass crystals dangling above. All wire 14 kt gold-filled. $23

lakshmi

Lakshmi is your one stop shopping goddess according to wikipedia. She bestows wealth, both spiritual and material, and she's the embodiment of beauty, really what more could you need? Perhaps these earrings. I wanted to name them after a hindu goddess because I think these would look amazing on someone Indian. The garnet red, with a pop of coral, the smoky topaz glass and gold vermeil spacers between the beads, should I photoshop them on Padma Lakshmi's ears so you can see what I'm talking about? Well I think they would look great on anyone but when I made them I just kept seeing someone with darker coloring wearing them. Prove me wrong, or right. All wire is 14 kt gold-filled. $19

anjou

For the past two weeks I've been experiencing a panic attack. That's right, a two week long panic attack. Needless to say, it sucks. Will my insides ever stop feeling like a vulture is clawing at me? But, on the bright side, I lost any winter weight I gained. Perhaps I have a pheochromocytoma. I am in love the the singsong rhapsody of certain medical terms 'pheo' being a tumor of your adrenals, a fight or flight hotspot for the release of catecholamines, a little epinephrine and norepinephrine to help make your heart feel like it's about to jump out of your chest? I get hung up on words, like the fact that the sympathetic nervous system, paradoxically it would seem, primes the body with a stress response that makes you feel very bad. Maybe the sympathetic nervous system goes by the misery loves company, we're in this together, school of thought. 

This is neither here nor there with respect to these earrings. Four red anjou pear drops weight a tiny trellis of fine gold-filled chain. Bronze, gold and deepest red glass beads climb towards your lobes. All metal is 14 kt gold-filled. $23

skyfall

I don't know about you but Skyfall didn't do it for me. My favorite part of the movie was Adele singing 'Skyfall' and after that I just found it boring and too violent. Who am I becoming? So why the name for these earrings? The teardrop resembles London blue topaz and London made me think British then Bond. It sounded more apt than 'Quantum of Solace' don't you think? And the teardrop is like a lovely little piece of early evening sky that has fallen to your lobes with kisses of the deepest blood red and bronze crystal beads accenting the London blue. All wire is14 kt gold-filled. $23

he loves me

This is like the gem version of picking petals off a pretty pink flower. But you can keep the winning petal close to your heart. A faceted teardrop of rose quartz wrapped in wire hangs on a gold chain. Wire, chain and clasp are all 14kt gold-filled. 17" inches in length. $37

Au

Yes, that's periodic table speak for the element gold. My dorkiness (and pretentiousness) knows no bounds. I can only hope some J Crew designer sees this, rips off my 'color' and names a sunny summer cotton sweater Au. The focal piece of this necklace are glass petals of the most lovely iridescent golden color. Separated by three tiny beads and hung on a gold chain. This necklace is very simple and dainty, but elegant too. The chain, clasp and beads are all 14kt gold-filled. 19-1/4" in length. $37

break the night with colour

I gotta put the u in colour because this is the title of a Richard Ashcroft song and he's British. Now I was years late to appreciating this song, apparently it came out in 2006 and I only downloaded it this summer. But oooh, I want Richard Ashcroft to just sing oooh to me nonstop. It's heady stuff, who knew a man could put so much emotion into one syllable? Seriously when I first downloaded this song I'd just hit repeat nonstop while on the treadmill, I thought of looping his ooohs so I could fall asleep to that, I'm sure it would guarantee very yummy dreams. This multi-strand bracelet has pearls that are the deepest blue black, coupled with paler bluish grey seed pearls and a strand of iridescent cut glass that sparkles blue, lavender and pink. Quite a conversation piece, this is a bracelet that would be a lovely accompaniment to a little black dress. 14kt gold-filled clasp, 8-1/4" in length. $41

chocolove

If you haven't had a Chocolove candy bar yet, don't start! You won't be able to resist the dark chocolate with almonds and sea salt, it's like a tastier, overpriced Hershey's with almonds.  Oooh, they have a pretzel in milk chocolate candy bar that's super yummy too. So this necklace is like my ode to chocolove, with chocolatey colored freshwater pearls accented with amber and smoky quartz cut glass crystal beads and bronze glass seed beads. 14 kt gold-filled toggle clasp. 26-3/4" in length. $47