The dresser in my room

1) An ironstone plate piled wit baubles and earrings, and a Victorian tortoise shell calling card case given to me by my mother to celebrate the opening of my design business. I wake everyday and think of that case and get ready to start my day designing.

2) A wooden box from my father's dresser. Then it was filled with loose change and stray marbles, sewing needles to put buttons back on his Brooks Brothers button down shirts, a thimble, extra buttons, a celluloid tortoise shell shoe horn, extra S and H Green Stamps which he would give to me to fill in my stamp book, rubber bands and extra monopoly pieces.......Now it holds earrings, stray jewelry parts, my daughters' baby teeth and such.....it still holds needles, buttons and extra thread to sew on missing buttons.

3) There is an Art Deco Daum vase in aqua and royal blue that takes center stage on top of two cobalt blue lacquer boxes from West Elm. The vase is filled with more jewelry, none very expensive, much of it from Cost Plus where exotic trinkets can be found for pennies.

4) There is a tortoise shell circular box, part of a Victorian dressing table set passed down from my aunt. The hand held mirror has made it's way mysteriously to my daughter's bedroom.

5) Two well used urn vases sit on top of white blocks from West Elm that were meant for wall mounting. The vases were a gift from Mom. They are chipped and cracked, one missing an "ear". But the color is like summer at the beach. They please me to no end.

6) There is a carved ivory colored box that I have had since college. I cannot remember where I got it. But it is a reminder that a person grows and changes. There are nicks and chips, but the box is still here and fills up with little bits and pieces of things collected over the years. A lone earring missing it's mate, pearls that have spilled off of broken strings waiting to be restrung, Indian head coins and 20's era broaches, and Girl Scout patches still waiting to be sewn on my girls' sashes.

7) The mirror is from a garage sale. The gilding is darkened. Some days I think it needs to be freshened up, and some days I like that it is a bit moody and dark. It is hung too high and the glass is too aged to really use it for reflections of me....so I use it to hold pictures. There is one of my grandmother on my Mom's side, and a family picture of my Dad and his siblings. There is a picture of a house in Martha's Vineyard that belongs to the family of my husband's best friend, and a photo of my oldest daughter at the beach when she was just knee high. The mirror is strewn with shell necklaces from Hawaii and one very special necklace given to me by an Aunt who was a very big part of my life. She passed away from breast cancer. Tim and I visited her the day before she passed, and the last thing she had said to us was not to waste time. Life is too short, so hurry up and get married. We did. That was over 20 years ago. She was only 54. The necklace is made from carved ivory beads and has a shell pendant held by tooled silver that hangs right over my heart.

Do you have memories on your dresser? I would love to hear about them, and see a photo! If you send them to me, I would love to post it and tell your stories.

Add some memories to your weekend!