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claddagh ring, ring, silver

March 17, 2015

#ringoftheday

silver ring, rings, claddagh ring

 

I’m a ring fanatic.

I have close to 50 rings. Most of them mean something to me… whether it was given to me by a friend, a family member, or I picked it up during one of my trips… I know where every single one of them is from. If you follow me on Instagram, I occasionally post my #ringoftheday…

 

There are some I wear more than others and you can tell… the band is stretched, dented or borderline breaking. There’s one ring I’ve worn for almost 10 years straight. It’s a Claddagh ring that I got in Ireland when I was 16. Well, if we’re being technical, I bought my original Claddagh ring in Ireland and I wore it so much that it broke just before my 18th birthday! I was SO sad about it. A couple months later on my birthday I opened up a tiny box from my mom and it was a BRAND NEW ring straight from Ireland!!! The funny thing is… I’m not even Irish. So I know what you’re thinking “what? Why? Huh?” WELL… that Ireland trip was the first time I had ever been outside of the US. It was a trip organized through EF Tours with a group of kids from my high school and 3 other groups of high schoolers from different cities in the US. Total, we had 38 people on our tour bus including our bus driver and guide. The trip was an incredible 10-day tour all around Ireland.

claddagh ring, ring, silver

I bought the ring in a gift shop in Cork just after my mom and I had kissed the Blarney Stone. I wanted to remember the trip and my first time out of the states. I wear it because it reminds of my first incredible European adventure. The meaning behind it is pretty awesome too… it actually represents; love (heart), loyalty (crown), and friendship (hands)… isn’t that a great meaning for one ring to hold? When you wear it with the hands pushing the heart away, it means that you’re ready to give your heart away… when the hands are holding the heart facing you it means you are taken. I didn’t know that when I got it, so I had people asking me if I was married… I was like “um… I’m 16… no??!!”

 

The second ring that I wear every day is a beautiful Larimar stone ring that my sisters and mom brought back from the Dominican Republic.  The stone fell out once, but luckily I heard it and I have since super glued it back on… that sucker isn’t going anywhere!

larimar ring, dominican republic, silver, ring

 


I have this thing where when I travel somewhere, I want to collect a ring from wherever I’ve been. Sometimes I search and search and don’t find anything. The ring can’t be some generic ring that I could have gotten anywhere, I want to make sure the ring represents the place I’ve been somehow.


 

This one is from Croatia… can you believe that it only cost me about $2 USD? $1 USD is equal to 7 Kuna— so shopping over there was pretty sweet! I loved it because it was different than any other ring I had at home. I loved that the sphere looked like the earth and the bright blue water surrounding the gorgeous city of Dubrovnik.

coral, pearl, turquoise, ring, dubrovnik, croatia, travel

 

I got this twisted one when I visited my friend Nancy while she was in her residency at Artspace in Raleigh. I got it from a woman who made all sorts of jewelry. The older woman was STOKED when I walked into her studio to look at the rings. I told her that I liked to collect them when I travel and she pretty much dropped everything that she was doing at her work station to help me pick the perfect ring. I also thought it kind of looked like it had a “B” in it on the left side and from certain angles you can see a heart. Pretty cool right?

artspace, ring, travel, gold

 

A few Christmases ago, my youngest sister gave me the ring below because she wanted to be the giver of a #ringoftheday post… how cute is that?! I love it because I’ve created this meaning that the 3 lines of the spiral in the center represent my sisters and me and it makes me think of sister love when I wear it 🙂

silver ring

 

This ring took FOREVER to find. I’m telling you… it was my MISSION. I got this fleur de lis ring in New Orleans. I knew I wanted a ring with a fleur de lis but it was actually really hard to find one that I actually really liked. I didn’t want one with rhinestones or something that looked like it could break in two seconds… I walked into boutique after boutique and FINALLY…. TA DAAAAA! I LOVE IT. I love the detailing on the band, the “wax seal” look, and how it looks so unique. There were only two of them in the whole store! I HAD to have it.

fleur dis lis, ring, silver, new orleans, louisiana

 

I got this gorgeous amber ring when I studied abroad in London in the Spring of 2010. One Saturday morning I visited Portobello Market and I couldn’t leave without this ring!

london ring

 

I’m starting to run into repeats on my #ringoftheday…

guess it’s time to go on a trip, eh?

rings

 

XOXO,

Brett