Another thought for the day:

jewelry is now my lipstick.

By that, I mean those "rules" that I referred to back in August.

If you don't feel like clicking, the rule in question is:

"3. Wear lipstick. It feels great, and it’s fun, and all too often we depend on other people to make us feel good and show us a good time. Get yourself some lipstick, and every time you apply it, remember that this is one of your rules of life: to show yourself a good time, in your shade, on your terms."

But you know? Lipstick is hard for me to remember. And I tend to have it all chewed off by the middle of my first class (and reapplying it, ugh). And it does feel kind of weird to me, not having worn it all my life. (Though there is now a product they are calling "lip stain" that intrigues me...is it really as long-lasting as they claim? Does it not feel like wax sitting on your lips? And - does it contain any kind of horrible chemicals?)

But anyway. Lipstick doesn't work all the time for me. But jewelry - that's different. I didn't formerly wear much jewelry, or even, really, ANY (save for a ring that has sentimental value and that I wear every day anyway).

But these past couple weeks I've made more of an effort, once I'm dressed but before I run out the door, to go through my big box o' jewelry (and I probably need to store it in something better than an overgrown tackle box - though, then again, a house thief might not immediately recognize it for what it is)

And you know, I have a lot of nice jewelry. Not "nice" in the sense of being expensive or valuable or made with precious stones, but "nice" in the sense of being pretty and interesting and going well with different outfits I have.

So, I've taken to wearing jewelry more often, and wearing a bit more jewelry. Today I have on a long rope of freshwater pearls, most of them dyed a bronze or brown color, which goes nicely with the skirt I have on. The freshwater pearls came courtesy of my dad - I have a lot of jewelry he's given me; he traveled a lot in the Southwest in his research days and used to like to stop in to trading posts where there were Native American jewelrymakers selling their artwork (and yes, it is artwork - it's not the cheap, mass-produced stuff, it's the stuff people make one-at-a-time and sold for a fair price and supported their families that way) and buy gifts for my mom and me. And he also gets a catalog from a place called House of Onyx, and periodically will buy "lots" of stuff they sell - I think he bought a dozen or so of the freshwater pearl strands and then had us pick the ones we liked best (the rest wound up being Christmas gifts to female cousins and nieces).

I'm also wearing a funny little bracelet I bought the last time I visited McKinney - they were having an art fair going on and while it bugged me that the sidewalks were even more congested (and I almost didn't find a place to park), there were interesting things to look at. One of the artists was a woman who made jewelry out of old Scrabble tiles, either decoupaging or wood-burning on the blank side of them. The bracelet has a tree (the bare branches - it's a winter tree) woodburned into it, and then it's coated with polyethylene finish. It's on a leather thong (and it's a bit hard to fasten the clasp, especially since I wear the bracelet on my right wrist - my left hand is my non-dominant hand and it's not as good at doing fiddly things like closing jewelry clasps).

But wearing the jewelry does make me feel good. Partly because I like how it looks, partly because some of the pieces I have remind me of happy times.

So maybe I can rewrite rule #3 for myself:

"3. Wear jewelry. It's pretty, and it’s fun, and all too often we forget about the little things that make life pretty and fun. And it can remind you that you have people who love you, even though they may be far away. Or that you do sometimes have time to just go out and have fun and buy "treats" for yourself. Wear jewelry, and every time, remember that this is one of your rules of life: you are worth taking the time to fuss with pretty-but-not-totally-necessary things."