Changing Tastes…

When I was younger, I was all about silver jewelry. Everything had to be silver. Yellow gold? I thought it was ugly. It didn’t matter if it was costume jewelry or something real - if it wasn’t silver-colored, I wasn’t wearing it. And blue stones. Always blue stones.

And that preference stuck with me for a long time.

Then my daughter got older, and we started sharing jewelry. The only problem? She was a strictly yellow-gold girl. No silver. No exceptions.

So little by little, I started picking up yellow and brass-toned pieces so we could share. At first, it was purely practical. I didn’t love the look of it, but it made sense.

And then something funny happened. 

It grew on me.

Before long, I realized I actually liked the warmer tones. The silver pieces I had worn since grade school started getting less and less wear. I didn’t get rid of them - they still hold memories - but they’re no longer the first things I reach for.

I’ve also always had very specific jewelry rules.

No rings with tall settings or big stones - they get caught on everything.

No chunky pieces. No excessive sparkle.

Practical rules. Sensible rules.

But lately, I’ve noticed something else happening.

I’ve started breaking them.

As I get older, I find myself more open to things I once ruled out completely. Rings with taller settings. A little sparkle here and there. Pink stones, green stones, red stones. Even the occasional silver piece sneaking back into the mix.

I’m still a vintage girl at heart, though - that stays the same. My eBay watchlist is full of Ostby Barton rings that I’ll never actually own (college tuition and making memories with family and friends are far more important - I’m more of a costume jewelry girl now) but I absolutely love admiring them from afar. (Some of my faves are in this post so if you're looking for some beautiful vintage rings, check out Ostby Barton rings, because they are beautiful!)

There’s something about the imperfect swirls and carvings of old handmade rings that modern pieces just don’t capture the same way.

(Side note: The company’s founder, Engelhart Cornelius Ostby, was actually a 64-year-old first-class passenger who died when the Titanic sank on April 15, 1912. I’m also a Titanic history fanatic, in case you didn’t know. But I digress...)

The rings I’ve been drawn to lately break all my old rules.

Some have tall settings. Some sparkle. Some are silver tones.

But that’s life, right?

We grow. Our tastes change. We get to rediscover what we like in all aspects of our life -  sometimes over and over again.

And sometimes the lesson is simply this:

The rules we make for ourselves aren’t meant to trap us. They’re just starting points.

We’re always allowed to change our minds.