This is the Story of my Pandora Bracelet...

I received the Pandora charm bracelet for my last birthday from my sister.  I had never seen them before and didn’t realize there would be so many different choices for charms on my bracelet.  I enjoy getting new pieces of jewelry and I am not married so don’t receive jewelry very often nor do I buy it for myself.   When I opened this gift I thought this is a very fun present and one I may like to give to other family members or friends in the future so they can share in on the fun of picking out the charms.

The bracelet was given to me with the frog bead.  It was the most fitting bead for me because I collect frog memorabilia and have collected these things for about ten years.  So you can imagine how many frog things I have, from outdoor frog statues in my garden, to frog salt and pepper shakers and plates and cups with frogs on.  Many of my items have come as gifts from my family and friends.  Whenever we are shopping people point out any frog items they see and half of the time I have the piece already or the other half of the time I think I need to purchase it.  A year ago, my boyfriend at the time, even purchased a real frog for me, which is living in an aquarium in my house at the moment. I am not sure where my, so called, obsession with frogs started but don’t think it will stop in the near future.  I am even contemplating getting a frog tattoo, but don’t think I will go that far.

The next bead I received was the hanging shoe bead from my niece.  We both enjoy collecting shoes and purses, so she knew I would like this bead.  When we go shopping out of town we enjoy showing each other the most outrageous shoes and some of the time we try them on and actually end up bringing them home.  The shoe on this bead reminds me of the time we were looking at shoes and she showed me a very high heeled leopard skin shoe.  She did not think I would like it, but when I tried it on I thought I had the perfect outfit to go with it and ended up purchasing the shoe.  I will need to get the purse charm in the near future.

When Christmas came I was so excited to see I had received more beads because my bracelet was sort of bare with only the two beads. The baby blue glass bead was given to me from my boyfriend for Christmas.  He said the color reminded him of my blue eyes.  He likes when I wear shirts this color because he says my eyes just shimmer.  He says this color will always be my color and I should never be seen in anything else.  He has bought me several shirt and sweaters in this color but never jewelry.  I didn’t think he would ever think of something so special.  I wonder what other blue charms he could buy me.

I also received the snowman bead, which was a gift from my Grandma.  We received record amounts of snow this year and she thought this would be a good way to remember when I received this bead and what had happened in that year.  She also remembered the times when my sisters and I would make snowmen in her yard always making sure she could see them from her front window.  I remember searching for scarves, hats, sticks, stones, and carrots to decorate the snowman with.  One year Grandma even let us use Grandpa’s favorite top hat, but she said we better not lose it or Grandpa would be upset.  Of course it didn’t stay out on the snowman very long because Grandpa decided he wanted to wear it and took it off the snowman.  But he replaced his hat with one of Grandma’s not so favorite hats and we didn’t mind.  We always hated when winter was coming to an end and the temperatures were getting warmer because we knew our snowman’s life was ending and we wouldn’t be able to make another until the next winter rolled around.

The turtle bead I received as a New Year’s present from my boyfriend.  I guess he didn’t find another blue bead.  I am not really sure why he picked the turtle other than the fact that it was a neat bead.  He probably thought it would look nice on my bracelet and my frog bead needed a friend.  We did see a turtle on one of our first dates when we went camping up north and were fishing out on the lake.  Maybe he thought of that time, but I doubt if he remembered that.  He is not always good at the smallest details.

The suitcase bead I purchased for myself after seeing it on my friend’s Pandora bracelet.  I liked it on her bracelet and thought it would be fitting for mine as well.  I love to travel in the United States and internationally.  I hope to visit Paris and the Eiffel Tower in the future and have it listed in my hopes and dreams journal.  This suitcase does not look like mine when I go on trips, because mine is always over packed, but I still like the bead.

I also bought myself the purple lights bead because I really liked the way it sparkled and was looking to add some more color to my bracelet.  Even though it was a more expensive bead, I thought I would splurge on myself, because I had just received a raise at work and this was one way I could celebrate.

The pink circle bead was given to me from my best friend.  She knew I really liked the color pink and she said the circles reminded her of our friendship and also the circle journal that my friends and I send to each other recording special times in our lives just to keep everyone up to date.  I always enjoy reading it to see what each of our group of ten friends has been up to in the past year or more if I haven’t spoken to them recently.  We also include pictures in it and I will have to include a picture of my Pandora bracelet next time and the pink friendship circle bead.

My neighbor and friend gave me the green oval lights bead.  She noticed I had been collecting beads while she was over one night for dinner.  She had asked where I bought the beads and what the meaning of the bracelet was.  So I told her several different stories of mine revolving from the beads.  That must have been when she told herself she wanted to be a part of my “bead story.”  So she gave me this bead and said it was because it reminded her of all my pretty green flowerbeds, flower boxes, grass, and gardens in my yard.  She said she walks by my house everyday and thinks how pretty everything looks and how much time I must spend on my yard.  She wanted to show her appreciation to me for helping the neighborhood look beautiful and doing my part to keep house values up.  It makes our neighborhood a pleasant place to live and raise families.  So now I will have this bead to remind me of my friendship with my neighbor.

The orange murano bead was picked out by my sister, who said it reminded her of the marbles we used to play with when we were younger, probably around ten years old.  We both had our bags of marbles, mine was red and hers was blue.  I remember sneaking into her bag once in a while when she was sleeping and taking some of her marbles.  I didn’t think she noticed, but when I was older she joked about it saying she always knew there were marbles disappearing.  My sister always admired the orange marbles for some reason and would trade those for in exchange for her blue ones. 

My boyfriend gave me my other colored blue and green bead with the flowers on it.  He likes to give me flowers for special occasions and thought it would be a good idea to give me this bead for Easter this year along with some tulips he found at the floral store.  It was a nice surprise and I always like to hear why people picked the bead they did.  He thought at first he would not buy me flowers for Easter this year and would only give me the bead, but then he said he decided I was worth it.  I will never forget how thoughtful he was. 

So this is the story of my Pandora bracelet.  I look forward to receiving even more beads from friends and relatives in the future and look forward to purchasing my own as well.