Capturing Memories with Pandora

After writing three stories, I decided it was time to shop. I pulled up the Chains and Charms website and began searching through the hundreds of Pandora charms available. I knew I wanted to get myself a clip in order to contain some of my charms to one side, and all I needed to do was settle on a design. I decided that I wanted a pattern that would be reminiscent of something that I had an interest in rather than choosing something solely for its aesthetic value. I ended up going with the starburst clip because it reminded me of the pattern often repeated on wallpapers, fabrics, glassware, dishes, and other accessories of the fifties. I am currently redoing my bedroom and have opted to design it in a retro fashion, as I like the look of simplicity from the fifties and sixties, as well as the colors. It reminds me so much of visiting my great aunt’s house years ago. Her home was always neat, but was never updated from the time she had purchased and originally decorated it. After her son’s passing, I spent a whole summer with her, helping with the housework, cooking and taking care of her. She would tell me stories of the past, and in the evenings we would sit for dinner and dessert in the living room. She and I were both big ice cream lovers, and we especially loved strawberry shortcake with ice cream. I still remember watching television in the evenings and there above her fireplace was a large black starburst clock—a symbol of the fifties. My aunt passed away days before I arrived home from my first year at college. I was lucky to receive her old china set, patterned, quite fittingly, with starbursts, as well as her old record player and cabinet filled with many old seventy-eights. The old cabinet makes me think of her and exactly where she had it placed in her home when I would visit her. It was sitting along the wall to the right, visible as soon as I would walk in the front door. And, actually, I never knew that it was a record player until after she had passed away. I always thought it was just a pretty cabinet, as she used it to put her telephone, photo frames, and other such décor on. Soon after I had taken it home, my uncle informed me that the record player itself had received so little use in the past that it was ruined because it had essentially welded itself unmovable. For my graduation, however, my uncle surprised me with exactly the same turntable and he installed it. Placing the old seventy-eights from my great aunt onto the record player and listening to the wordless, perky melodies brought images to my mind about the lavish parties that I had always heard about her having. I am so glad to have some items mementos to help keep her memory alive. So, I felt that the starburst clip would not only serve to represent my liking of the retro and vintage styles, but the memories that are many from the precious moments shared with my great aunt.

The next bead I chose was a spacer. I wanted a bead that would add some design and character, but would not take up too much space, since my bracelet seems to be filling quite rapidly! I chose the leaf spacer to match the one that I already had picked a few weeks earlier. My boyfriend and I went to a jewelry shop recently to pick a charm to surprise his mother with, since we had gotten her a Pandora bracelet for Mother’s Day. We chose the dinosaur bead for her, since when my boyfriend was little, he was crazy about anything dinosaur. Of course looking through all of the beads without picking one for me was really hard, and so my boyfriend told me to pick one because he wanted to get me one also. So I picked out the leaf spacer because I thought that it not only hinted at the vintage style of the fifties, but could represent my new liking for gardening. I have been spending some long days outside planting and mulching and watering and such. I decided that since some of my favorite plants are merely foliage, so the leaf spacer was fitting. As much as I love flowers, my flower beds tend to look nicer and fuller with plants that produce primarily leaves! This year I found a plant that is often called Lamb’s Ear and I added it to my flower bed. I absolutely love it! It produces a silvery green, velvety leaf that looks similar to the ones on the spacer bead. When I start my new job in the Fall, I am hoping to be able to take a little baby Lamb’s Ear plant and keep it in my cubicle. I am not sure where I have picked up my interest in planting and gardening, but I do find it relaxing and rewarding. And, since I have started redoing my room, I have found a retro print that I will frame to accentuate the bedding I chose. It is a light blue background, and on it is a pattern of both starbursts and leaves. How perfect!

I debated which was the last bead to choose. In fact, I actually ordered the clip and the spacer separately, before placing my last order. It came down to the ocean wave in purple cubic zirconia or the shell and starfish bead, and the starburst bead. I am an ocean lover. I love the coast of Maine and I love to be in Florida, as well. Most of my vacations center on being by the ocean. In fact, part of my room is designed with mason jars and a lamp filled with pretty sands, sea glass, starfish, driftwood, and shells, as well as nautical photo frames. Each of my vacations with my boyfriend has actually been by the ocean. We visited Portland, Maine twice and enjoyed walking on the cobblestones of downtown, picnics by the lighthouses, the smell of the ocean in the air, and lobster roll dinners on the docks. And we have spent a week during each of three winters while we were in college visiting his grandparents in West Palm Beach, Florida. There we even enjoyed just taking drives down Route 1A during the day on our way to get an ice cream cone, or in the evening while watching the sun set on the ocean. We love to walk in the sand in the evening, and he is the one who has been good enough to carry many pounds of heavy wet sand as a souvenir for me. So in the evenings, we would head to the ocean and collect bags full of sand. Then during the day I laid it out on the outside table and spread it to dry in the sun. It was unbelievable how many tiny, yet perfect shells there were. I ended up mailing over thirty pounds home in one visit alone! I use it for my crafts and for just a reminder of how wonderful my trips to the ocean have been, and how calming it was.  The ocean wave bead is curved just so that it actually does remind me of the calmness that resounds from the ocean. And the shell and starfish bead has much the same affect. And, I love the fact that it is two-tone and very intricate. The golden starfish alone reminds of other beach trips in Newport, Rhode Island! However, I decided I would hold off on either of these beads and make one or both of them perhaps my next selections.

In the end, I chose to go with the starburst bead because it had much the same qualities that I liked in the starburst clip and leaf spacer. In addition, I felt that this bead could symbolize my liking of the spring and summer because, in spite of its title, I think the bead actually looks more like the sun. It reminds me of being younger and always spending the spring and summer days outside in the sunshine: baking mud pies, barbequing, going for walks, having lemonade with all of the neighborhood kids, skipping to the candy store, driving in the evenings to get an ice cream cone, campouts, and riding bicycles and scooters till dusk. The starburst bead is, however, so much prettier in person than the computer is able to illustrate. I especially like the golden tones and the clear cubic zirconia in the center. All of my other beads are beautiful and meaningful, but are primarily sterling silver, aside from my green striped Murano glass bead. Thus the starburst bead really stands out and makes a bold statement. I have decided to place it right in the center of my bracelet. And eventually, when I decide upon either the ocean wave bead or the shell and starfish bead (or possibly end up undecided and with both of them), this bead will compliment them since it looks so much like a glowing sun!

Placing my order online was very easy and I received the confirmation right away. I was very excited to receive each of my new beads and could not wait to rearrange my bracelet to fit the new patterns and styles in. I was especially pleased with the impeccable customer service that I received throughout the order process. The Email communication is fast and the representatives are very friendly. I kept a look out for the FedEx truck after tracking my packages online, and found the items placed neatly on my stone wall each afternoon. Each item arrived very quickly, and was packaged extremely well in not one, but two bubbly envelopes. I was thrilled to see such a cute little box that was so perfect for the size of the charm, and was even more thrilled at the thought of doing more business with Chains and Charms. I have already referred my sister, my mother, and one of my friends. I can’t wait to let some others know that I have found one of the best online charm stores with the most extensive inventory that I have seen!

-Sarah M