When I first met Cynthia Wolff, back in 2005, it was to talk about my engagement ring. I explained to her exactly what I wanted and on my 30th birthday, in the middle of the Hokey Pokey {we rented out a roller rink}, my husband got down on one knee and proposed with it. Even though I had helped in designing it, I hadn’t a clue what the finished ring looked like and was surprised and overwhelmed and teary-eyed when my husband presented it to me in its little red box.
But let’s rewind for a moment… back to that first meeting with Cynthia who sat me down at her dining room table and proceeded to bring out velvet lined tray after velvet lined tray, each sparkling with rows of pave diamonds, gorgeous vintage jewelry, semi-precious and precious rings, necklaces, bracelets, earrings… anything and everything you could possibly imagine, all at my fingertips. I was a kid in a candy store… and I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to take it ALL home with me. Because I did.
But there were a few pieces that stood out. Cynthia had about 8-10 bangles, in various shades of gold {white, rose, yellow} shaped liked tiny tree branches and set with randomly placed diamonds resembling knots in wood… and I fell in love. I wanted an armful of them. But when I heard they were over $3,000 each, I slowly just set them back down… but I’ve never forgotten them.
You wouldn’t know this about me because I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned it BUT I have a thing for tree branches. In fact, I’ve been known to drag a 9foot fallen tree branch in from outside, and use it as decor. I’ve also been known to drag a 5foot tree branch in after a windy night and glue fake flowers all over it so it resembled a Cherry Blossom Tree {which I totally would have DIY’d had I been blogging at the time}. Both of which were placed in or around or as a pseudo canopy to a stairwell. I’m not sure what it is about branches and stairwells, but if we had stairs in our current house, I’m betting there’d be a huge branch suspended above them.
I’ll get to the point… Cynthia may or may not have been having a little sale recently of said bracelets and I was the lucky receiver of two of them for Valentine’s Day. One in rose gold and one in yellow and to give you a little history, they were cast from actual tree branches, which I just adore, and set with rare diamonds from the Argyle mines of Australia.
Yes, he spoils me rotten, what can I say? But I’d love him even if he didn’t.
Here are just a few of my Valentine’s Day Instagram shots.
The husband brought home some of the most delicious cupcakes home from Velvet Cupcakes… oh god are they good. And we promptly placed them in my domed cake stand to freshen them up. I don’t know what it is about that thing, but it actually makes food FRESHER! I usually refer to it as The Moistmaker… Friends {anyone?}.
The shot below is from the cupcakery window… and from last month.
And how funny is this cookie {below}? If you sent it back in time, even just 15 years, no one would have any idea what it meant. Oh technology… and baked goods.
