Did
This month I took the time to fix and resize some jewelry that I’ve been meaning to take care of since late last year. I like to purchase secondhand jewelry either from Etsy (I wrote about that here) or from the RealReal and many times they don’t fit perfectly. It sort of comes with the territory when buying used jewelry, but the price can’t be beat! So I go to my amazing jeweler in Walnut Creek (A&G Jewelers in downtown) and they resize, fix, and polish my old stuff to look like new and to fit. The only thing you can’t really alter are rings with stones that are not set in prongs (so like channel set rings), or eternity bands (rings with stones that go fully around), or bracelets/necklaces with hollow links. I would also not recommend resizing branded jewelry (like Tiffany’s or Cartier since it can interrupt their inscriptions) or really old antique jewelry (for the same reason). So for those items I would purchase in the perfect size or not at all.
I started following the Instagram account a-trader-joes-florist and have been inspired to create some of my own bouquets for myself and friends (see pic above for my Valentine bouquet that I made). I love how she spells it out for you and includes the cost!
I’ve been selling some stuff over on my Insta account FairlyCuratedCloset (check it out if you’re interested). So far I’ve sold three black bags: the Cafune Stance, the Ree Projects Elieze, and The Row Park tote in black (all black bags and I feel quite relieved actually that I have less black bags just sitting unused in my closet). I really love all three bags but I also have way too many black bags so it’s nice to see them off to good homes. I’m finally organizing (and curating, perhaps) my closet and it feels good!
This month I updated my Quince Fine Jewelry review (with the Open Contour bracelet in silver), my Quince Sweater Review (with the Alpaca Wool Waffle Stitch Sweater), and my Loewe Puzzle Review (with my new-to-me sand and mink small puzzle).
I watched “True Detective: Night Country” (on HBO MAX) with Jodie Foster and can I just say wow. I loved it even though it also freaked me out so many times. I’m not a fan of horror so at times it was tough for me to watch, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. And as a palate cleanser so I don’t have bad dreams from Night Country, I’ve been watching “Sort Of” which is about a trans Pakistani-American finding themselves.
I’ve been dealing with some health problems since last summer, and have put off some very expensive imaging scans until 2024 because I wanted to upgrade our Kaiser health insurance to a level that would cover scans and procedures (I did an ultrasound in 2023 and under “bronze” coverage I paid $420 out of pocket 😮). So I waited to do a CT scan until this year (couldn’t schedule it until this month) and haven’t paid for it yet (though our yearly premium did go from $0 a year to over $3000 for the “gold” level of care—yay to the American healthcare system 🙄). Anyway I was quietly living with the anxiety that it might be cancer (and early cancer runs on my mom’s side of the family), but of course I was trying not to freak out. Though I have to say my exorbitant spending/shopping during the last half of the year was probably linked to my health anxieties (see Doom Spending). Anyway I’m happy to say it’s not cancer 😮💨 though I will have to get an MRI and possibly surgery (thank goodness we opted for gold health care coverage this year!).
Home reno stuff: My husband completed our second bathroom renovation in our current home (with some of my help—I’m mostly the buyer and muscle when needed). This one was a complete gut since I think the last time the bathroom was renovated was probably in the early eighties. And it’s a good thing we did it when we did since we discovered newly sprung leak that was just starting to stain the subfloor. And at the end of the month we demo’d our primary bathroom so we’re back to using just one bathroom in the house. In our new home, we are adding Ditra mats for radiant heated floors. We were inspired by our AirBnb/hotel room in Japan that had radiant heating. With heated floors you don’t need to turn on the furnace (thus you don’t have to burn gas—which is more eco-friendly), and it’s also better for those with allergies (like myself) since it doesn’t distribute allergens like a forced heat system. But it does take quite a bit of electricity so it’s great that we have solar panels and wall batteries with the new house. We decided to do this overhaul before we moved in since 1) we didn’t like the existing floors (way too dark), 2) we were able to sell all the ripped up boards on Craigslist since they were still relatively new, and 3) once you move in, it’s extremely difficult to redo flooring. Anyway this is our first time doing something like this so we feel extremely lucky to have help from a trusted handyman who’s done this kind of thing before. We’re doing this to save some money but I don’t really recommend the no-general-contractor route to most people (it’s a huge time commitment to DIY).
Bought
Vintage Tiffany’s Hook and Eye ring (similar one here): My first purchase of the year was this vintage Tiffany’s ring, influenced by some of my favorite Japanese vloggers (Cozue of Cozway Channel (hope she’s doing ok 😢), Yuzuki, and aya asahina—the first two do a lot of vintage shopping while the third vlogger is just generally a very stylish model). They call it “Old Tiffany” and they’ve got me looking at vintage sterling silver pieces (I got this particular ring from the RealReal). Some of the vintage jewelry I remember from my youth (hello chunky silver chokers with an oval or a heart tag), but back then I wasn’t really buying sterling silver from Tiffany’s (wasn’t my vibe—when I was a teen I was really lucky to get one Tiffany’s platinum ring from both my parents that I cherish through this day). Anyway silver jewelry is definitely coming back into fashion so if you have some Old Tiffany lying around in your jewelry box, 2024 is their year. (I also got a vintage Tiffany’s love knot bracelet as a Valentine’s gift from the family—same one in better condition than mine was here. Guess 2024 will be my Old Tiffany’s era lol). Also if you decide to invest in some vintage Tiffany’s sterling silver I highly recommend this large polishing cloth to buff up some of your more tarnished finds. (You can see my clean up the love knot bracelet here).
Old Celine Large Trio: And speaking of Valentine’s Day gifts, I bought myself a large Celine trio because I’ve been wanting a large one for awhile now (I used to have the small one but it was too small). And I couldn’t resist the sub $350 price tag. Again I got it from eBay and I was super happy with the purchase. This bag came with the original foam inserts (to help keep its shape) and was in great used condition. I feel like you can’t go wrong with a classic Celine Trio since it’s such a practical bag! Full review to come!
Cocofloss: Yes, I was very excited for floss (#ThisIs40 lol). After hearing at least three different people rave about this floss I finally tried it out. As much as I like the idea of the biodegradable and refillable floss from Huppy, it just wasn’t cutting it (and I had several cavities to fill earlier this year despite flossing religiously 🤦🏻♀️). And after trying it out, I’m a believer. It may or may not look like cocofloss gets more gunk out, but you can definitely feel it. I bought this multi-pack because it was slightly discounted, but I have to say the flavoring is very minimal. After I’m done with the floss, I’m definitely going to save the plastic container and get the refills. I honestly wish I had tried this sooner.
Secondhand Bottega Veneta Small Intrecciato Wallet (current selection of secondhand Bottega wallets from Fashionphile here): I’ve finally stopped using my pandemic cardholder (when covid hit I switched to a cardholder so that I’d only have to sanitize a couple things every week instead of a whole wallet—remember those not so long ago days of sanitizing everything including groceries?!). So I went back to my Old Celine wallet that I got back in 2016. But that wallet felt a bit too big (especially when using the Loewe Puzzle Bag). So I got this secondhand one from Brandear at a fairly good price (probably because it’s light pink and a lot of the dirt marks can be seen). But I love it since it holds just enough without being too big or squarish. I decided to go with Bottega because I was influenced by the Youtube channel Sin Sin Koubou (the Tanner Leathersteins of Japan), which mentioned that their top tier designer brands for leather were Hermes (of course) and Bottega (really?). I’ve never had anything from Bottega before (I used to think of it as an “old lady brand”), but now I’m a convert (maybe I’ve aged into the old lady age bracket lol). And yes, the leather is that yummy. Let me know if anyone is interested in a full review!
Gifts
The folks at Vegamour must have heard about my thinning hair problems because they kindly gifted me a few items from their Gro and Gro+ line. I can’t wait to try them out and of course I’ll do a full review of them all here to let you know what worked for me.
uniqlo sweater
Uniqlo Striped Cotton Sweater: I had a gift card from Christmas (hence its qualification as a gift) and even though I really try not to shop at fast fashion stores, I couldn’t let a good gift card go to waste. Plus when I took a quick look at whats on there, I fell in love with these striped cotton sweaters. I got one in white and one in black and they’ve been on heavy rotation ever since. They’re a bit oversized which I love, and even with multiple wears they’re looking great. Of course I’ll let you know how it wears in the future (especially after washing) but so far so good.
Quince shoes: Earlier this month I used some of my Quince credit to try out their shoes. I got the Italian Leather Point, the Italian Leather Lug Sole Loafer, the Washable Knit Driver Loafer, and their Washable Knit Flat; and I wrote a Quince Shoes Review coming soon. I decided to put this in the “Gifts” section because even though it was not gifted from Quince, in a way it was gifted by everyone who’s purchased through my Quince referral link in the past. So thank you to you guys!