I'm back after a bit of a hiatus. I'm still collecting vintage and antique items. I have so many stories I want to share about some of the objects I've collected. Today is an antique mourning brooch.

I've wanted to own a piece of Victorian mourning jewelry ever since I discovered they existed. I used to check out the 'Art of Mourning' website, admiring the jewelry and the stories behind them. Mourning and hairwork jewelry goes back to middle ages, though during the 19th century it seemed to flourish. (source) Most mourning pieces use a lock of the deceased's hair in the jewelry. Some pieces are very elaborate while others are more simple, using a braided lock of hair. 

When I saw this mourning brooch, I didn't want to pass it up once I saw the back was engraved with initials and a date of death! I did a little digging on Ancestry and Google and came up with quite a bit of information. The backstory to this mourning brooch is absolutely fascinating, yet tragic. 

Samuel Cutler (79) and his wife Lydia (63) were on board the 'Rob Roy' schooner, June 28th of 1832 (source). They were headed to Portland Maine from Newburyport in Massachusetts where they lived. A storm squall came up, capsizing the ship. (source) Five passengers were trapped in the cabin and drowned. Samuel & his wife Lydia were among the victims, the bodies were recovered and laid to rest. I imagine one of their family members had this mourning brooch made after theirs deaths to remember them by. (Some documents on Ancestry mention they had 7 children. Lydia was Samuels 2nd wife). 

It appears there's two different colors of hair braided in the middle of the brooch, so I'm assuming it is from locks of both Samuel and Lydia's hair. The brooch is incredibly tiny, it was probably worn at the throat pinned to a dress. There are jet beads, though one is missing and a few have cracks, and tiny seed pearls, though some are discolored with age.


Samuel Cutler was a clerk and merchant during his life. There is a book that comes up on Google with a journal he kept on board a prison ship. (source)

Since Valentines Day fell on a week day and after a lonngggg work day, we stayed in and had Chinese takeout. My husband got me roses and my new favorite L'Occitane almond lotion. And I got him a few Playstation 2 games. :-)

Here are some photos (mainly Instagram) from our Valentines 2013.

My coworker of 11 years gave out pink/red carnations to all the ladies at work.

Hearts on the card I got my husband.

Roses & L'Occitane!

Close up

My new favorite scent.

We bought this a few days before Valentines haha. Couldn't wait!

Right before Valentines, I won a giveaway from the Bama+Ry Shop on Facebook! Jasmine makes gorgeous custom stamped copper & nickel jewelry. I love the jewelry she makes. Like these cute bird earrings and this beautiful inspire pendant. I also love this home is where the heart is necklace.
 
I was so lucky to win one of her pieces! I love the heart & key design, because when my husband & I were dating & so far apart from each other, we had heart & key key chains. (Kind of like these). The necklace arrived just in time for Valentine's Day. And it came in such cute packaging too! Thank you Jasmine! I love it! :-)


 

My husband thinks I'm crazy because I never take off my wedding band. I have a very slim 3mm titanium wedding band. I also have a "blingy" part of my wedding ring that I do take off when I come home. But the wedding band itself, never comes off.

I occasionally remove my wedding band to apply lotion. But I sleep with it, shower with it. It never comes off. (It never tarnishes either because titanium doesn't! hehe!) My husband takes his wedding band off to shower & sleep. But, I'm always afraid I would forget to put it back on if I did that, lol! I mean occasionally I forget to put the "blingy" part of my ring on when I leave the house.

So how about you? Do you take your wedding band off? Or am I the only crazy one. :-p

I've got a lot of rat/mouse items! I thought it would be fun to share my collection with everyone. (You can click on the pictures to make them larger.)

Most of these came from F.B., F.B.'s aunts & 1 from my Rat Chatter friend.

Stuffed Ratties! 3 from the Philippines & the Xmas one is from my Mom.

2 top left from F.B., 2 I bought from Drusilla & others I got myself.

I got these myself, the coin purse is from Bath & Bodyworks!

These are hanging from the rear view mirror in my car. Got them in the Phil!

F.B. sent me this little guy!

My Dad got me this- he spins around in the cup, lol.

Tita Nel, F.B.'s aunt gave me this purse in the Philippines	!

These were made my by Rat Chatter friend Phyllis! They hang on my wall!

I bought this drawing from Rat Pirate a Rat Chatter friend who is an artist.

Gotta have some rattie books!

My gorgeous very expensive bracelet from Esquivel & Fees.

My cute little charm from Ebay.

My sister in law gave me this- the little Chinese rat spins around.

And let's not forget a very permanent part of my rattie collection!

As you can see I have quite a collection! Some I've bought myself, but a lot of the items were given to me as gifts. And... I'm still adding to it! Do you have any collections?

Purple is my favorite color! (Along with Pink, Aqua & Black.)

My glasses are purplish:

My customized Converse have purple in them:


I have a lot of purple clothing:


Purple Jewelry, almost all of it came from the Philippines.


I wore purple on my wedding day. (F.B.'s barong was light purple.)


I had a silky soft purple pashmina in case it got chilly in the evening on our wedding day:


My wonderful in-laws & sister in law who put our wedding together included purple in our wedding decor- even our wedding invitations had purple on them.