LOVE STRUCK // Jon + Lindsay

  



Meet Lindsay and Jon, a cute pair of creatives who just got married this summer.  I was lucky enough to help them design their wedding rings to accompany the ring Jon proposed with, an heirloom that he inherited.  I love working with jewelry that has a history in the family-- it makes everything so special.  Lindsay wanted a white gold band, slightly irregular, with rosecut pinkish/greyish diamonds circling around.  Jon opted for a sturdy squared edged band with a weathered finish.  I love their story, enjoy.

1// How did you meet?  What was your initial impression?

Lindsay: We met while I was in beauty school and Jon was in film school.  One of my friends wanted to set us up - she was dating a friend of Jon's at the time.  She was much younger than I was and assumed Jon was her age as well (I was 24 and Sarah had just turned 20 I think).  I had assumed we wouldn't have much in common but I thought it would be at least fun to meet someone new. 

My first impression was that he needed a haircut!  And that he was cute and shy.  We didn't get together right away but I went back to the bar a few weeks later and invited Jon to a party I was going to later that night with my best friend.  Little did I know my friend was pissed at me for inviting a third wheel out to our night, but she forgave me when she realized what a big deal he would turn out to be in my life.  He and I talked in the corner all night, forgetting that anyone else existed.  Turned out he was actually a couple years older than I was and we had a ton in common (both bay area transplants, both close with our families, etc.) He called me the next day (!) and we've been together ever since.

Jon: My film school buddy was dating one of Lindsay’s friends Sarah, and she brought Lindsay into the bar I was working in at the time. Once Sarah asked both of us if we were interested, she decided to bring Lindsay in one night after I got off and Linds asked me if I wanted to go to a party with her.

My initial reaction was one of somewhat skepticism after Lindsay told me that the party was in the Marina (this is not a neighborhood I frequent often). Once we got to the party, Lindsay and I just sat in the corner all night chatting. I feel like I got to know her pretty well fairly quickly and decided she was a super rad chick. I called her a day later and asked her out. I’m pretty sure we moved in together like 3 months after this.



2 // What is a memorable moment from your courtship prior to getting engaged?

Lindsay:  Oh man, there are so many!  Traveling to North Carolina to meet Jon's family for the first time was really great.  I met him after he had only been in California for about 6 months so all of his friends that I met were new friends.  He didn't even have Facebook!  I wasn't sure that this guy even existed before I met him, so it was nice to have confirmation that he did.  Like myself, he is very close to his family and they were so welcoming.  We went to Hilton Head together and had a great time.  It made me feel so much closer to him to know the people who loved him most.  

Jon: After only dating for 3 weeks, I went back to NC for the holidays and Lindsay went back to Cleveland. We decided that we missed each other so much that we couldn't stand it, and I rented a car and drove from NC to Cleveland (an 8 hour drive) Once I finally was up there, we both kinda got a little freaked out that I drove that far to hang out with a girl that I had only been dating for three weeks, and we couldn't decide if I was a total creeper or not. Luckily, we got married so instead of it being creepy, it was just really sweet.




3 // How did you become engaged?

Lindsay: Jon proposed on my 28th birthday with a ring his parents had given him more than a year before that used to be his great grandmother's.  We had been living together for 3 years and had talked about getting married a lot.  He knew that I had been waiting for him to propose for at least a year!  Since it was my birthday, we had plans to go to Sonoma for lunch and wine tasting.  I had a feeling the night before that he was going to propose - I could tell something was up with him.  But I didn't know how or when.  He got down on one knee in our bedroom before we left.  I was just getting out of the shower and was so focused on what I was going to wear, I almost didn't respond right away.  But then I caught on to what was happening.  He was very nervous and shaky and said some really sweet things.  He said he wanted to propose somewhere beautiful and the most beautiful place he could think of was the home we had built together.  I started laughing because the apartment was a mess.  Then he told me how much he loved me and asked me to marry him.  I said yes and he put the ring on the wrong hand.  I laughed again.  The first thing he said afterwards was "we have to call your mom right now - she's been holding this in for 24 hours."  We went up to Sonoma as planned, and had an amazing day filled with wine, food and phone calls.

Jon:  I proposed to Lindsay in our apartment on her bday, before going to Sonoma. I got on one knee in the bedroom while she was getting ready in the bathroom, and waited for her to come in. I actually waited for a decent amount of time. I think she was asking my opinion on some earrings.





4 // What was one of the highlights from your wedding?

Everything.  I think having friends and family involved in parts of the wedding made it really special.  We had a friend design the invitations, another friend sang as we walked down the aisle and another took the photographs.  Our ceremony also felt really intimate - we had collaborated with the minister to come up with something that felt really personal, and had a lot of family and friends involved.  Having so many groups of friends and family from all over the country come together was amazing.  The food was amazing.  We had a bacon caramel chocolate wedding cake - that was a definite highlight.  Really everything.  We were both pretty cynical about having a big wedding beforehand, but I think that there is no real way to describe what an incredible feeling it is without going through it.  It all came together perfectly to give us the most amazing day of our lives.  

5 // The magic ingredient is: 

Lindsay: Humor.  Letting your guard down and showing your partner your real, true, deep-down dorky self.  And unconditional support.

Jon:  Being able to let your guard down 100% percent around your partner and not being afraid to be as dorky as she is.



L O V E + M E T A L

S P R E A D T H E L O V E

Adorned // Maia Macdonald

Maia Macdonald is an Old Oakland neighbor and a creative powerhouse.  She is a graphic designer, photographer, Art Director at Rue Magazine, and has a mega Pinterest following of 1.8 million users.   Maia is a big believer in buying local from craftspeople and is enthusiastic about her adopted city of Oakland.  Let's just say we think she has a great eye, a open and welcoming energy, and a jewelry collection that is both sentimental and stylish.   I sat down with her to talk and explore what she loves most, the pieces that mean a lot and the ones she just plain loves.

MD: I was given this by my Mom's Mom.  After my Grandpa died a few years ago, she went through her jewelry collection among other things and decided to give some pieces away so that's how I got it.  It's made of turquoise, but it's so old now.  She and my Grandpa traveled the world, lived in Ethiopia, northern Africa, Europe... she traveled so much that she doesn't remember exactly where she got it.  I think it looks sort of Northern African.  

KE: Do you wear it?

MD: Not really because it's so old and fragile at this point.

KE: It also kind of reminds me of Tibet, like the cloud motifs.

MD: Yes, I would love to know where it came from.  It a beautiful way to be connected to my Grandma and her adventures.



MD: This is a Sarah Swell ring that she gave to me, I love it.  It's simple and edgy, and I like to stack it with other rings.

MD: These turquoise ones my sister made for me.

KE: Really?  Those are pretty, does she make a lot of jewelry?

MD: She used to make more, she's really creative, she's a textile artist.  She makes beautiful things, but she doesn't do jewelry as much anymore.

MD:  This one isn't really anything special except I just love it a lot and wear it all the time.KE: What kind of stuff do you usually wear it with?

MD: Usually it's something I like to throw on with jeans and a tee, sort of casual.  It's a great length.

MD: This is one of my fun pieces, because sometime I just want some super gaudy gold.  I usually go for more organic designs, but every now and then I just want some big gold to wear.

MD: And this one is another gaudy piece that I actually found at a thrift store.  It seems like it's from the 80's, I've had it for 5 or 6 years and it's really held up.  I wear it a lot, and it's sort of silly because it was this cheap thing I found at a thift store but I probably wear it more than most things.KE: Those are sometimes the best pieces, the ones that are surprise scores that grow on you.

MD: This isn't a super fancy one, but I love having a gold watch.  I got this for myself a few years ago.

MD:  A few years ago I was doing some graphic design work for Cuyana, and they gifted this to me.  The company they were working with in Argentina was making these, among other horn jewelry.  MD: This bracelet used to be my sister's, and I think she actually got it from my Mom.  I've always loved the texture, I'm not really sure how old it is, but I think my Mom had it for a while.KE:  Do you guys swap a lot?MD: Ya, that's the thing, especially when I lived closer to home, jewelry would kind of always be trading hands between the women in my family, until you kind of forgot who the original owner was.  I say that, until my sister comes to visit and says, "Wait a minute, I didn't know you had that!"    

MD: This is my engagement ring, by a designer that I actually found on Etsy.  I actually got to pick out the stone, the setting, the band.  It was a fun process.  I really love grey diamonds.

MD: I got these from Mashka in North Beach, she's a local designer who has a little shop.

KE: What was the occasion to get these? 

MD: When me and my now husband first moved here I was working for William Sonoma and I would get Fridays afternoons off, so Travis and I wanted to explore all the time and he would meet me in the city on Friday afternoons.  We were so excited to be here and just wanted to see everything, see all the neighborhoods.  So there wasn't really an occasion except just being smitten with the City.

To see more of Maia's work, hop on over to her amazing blog Design Conundrum. You can also follow her on Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook via @designconundrum.

L O V E + M E T A L

S P R E A D T H E L O V E

Adorned with Noemi

I sat down with my cousin, Noemi, to chat about her jewelry collection for this edition of Adorned, my blog series that features interesting women telling the stories behind the most important and best loved pieces in their jewelry box.

Noe (that's what we call her) is super energetic with a dry and brash wit, and she came correct with some awesome stories about her collection.  In fact, we all had a good laugh at how everyone in the room was captivated while she talked about each piece, my family and I getting to hear some stories for the first time ever.

The point of this series is not to highlight who has the most beautiful or precious collection of jewelry, it is about connecting to one another through stories, the jewelry acting as a powerful talisman and tool, because hey, we all know that a ring from a Crackerjack box can be just as special to us as a diamond ring, the object holds far more than dollars and cents.  It holds who we were, who we are, and who we love.

To get email reminders when a new woman is featured, become an Adorned Insider.

1// This is a bracelet I got when I was visiting my family in Mexico, so for me it's like carrying them with me.

2 // I don't remember when they came from, I just like to throw them on when I'm looking for something happy, and light--they're flowers, they make me feel good.





3 // These are Mexico too, I got them when I think I was about 15 on a trip to see my family.  They're gold, I wore them back home and wore them for a very long time.


4 // These silver bracelets are from my Papi, who brought them back from Mexico.  He meant to get me a set of seven, he purchased a really expensive set and forgot them on a bus.  When he realized he went back and got these for me.


5// This is a necklace that was my Mother's that she used to wear back when she was into this sort of thing as a young girl. {laughter}  I wore it in high school and I loved it, it reminded me that it was cool to be out there, unconventional, and to do my own thing.


6 // These were something that you gave to me for working at one of your very first events when you first got started.  I love them, the style, I love the way they feel as they hang.


7 // I've had those since I was five or six, and I always wore them.  I got my ears pierced, my Mom said, when I was about six weeks old so I've always worn earrings.  When I was really little I would lose my gold hoops all the time, they would just fall out, but this pair I managed not to lose then, and I've held onto them all this time.


8 // The N is from my Mother from a trip in Hawaii, she loves going there and the Hawaiian style gold jewelry.  It was a beautiful gift.  And the cross is from Grandma Ellen for my high school graduation when I was 17.  She bought the cross and my Mom bought the chain so it was a gift from them both.


8 // That ring was something I got when I turned, I want to say 14, but maybe it was when I was even younger, I can't quite remember.  But the thing about this ring is that it's a sapphire which is the birthstone for September, and my parents really wanted to give me something a gift that was sort of a representation of a coming of age, so maybe I was 12, you know puberty or around that time.  And what is really significant about this ring is that I was preparing to go on a trip and the first and only time I stole something from a store there was a story about this ring.  I loved this ring and wore it everywhere, I swam with it, washed my hair with it, I went skiing with it, I did everything with this.  So I remember my friend Jennifer, who was a bit of a bad influence, I was with her while she had this plan of going behind the counter and getting a bag and filling it up at Macy's. So she's asking me what I think of this item or that item, and I knew, I just knew it felt wrong.  Of course we go to leave and get totally busted and pulled into a room, her mom gets called, my mom get's called.  And you know, I had no reason to steal, I was there with money my mom had given me so that I could get something for a trip we were going on to visit my Dad's family, she had dropped me off at Macy's specifically to get what I needed for this special trip.  So that day that I got caught I went to bed, and when I woke up the next morning I couldn't find my ring.  It had come off my finger.  Again, I wore this every single day and never took it off, so to me it really felt like a message, of somebody saying that what I had done was wrong.  I felt such a huge amount of guilt afterwards, and I panicked, I cried, I think I even prayed, I was so torn up that I had lost this very special gift that my parents had given me.  I mean, it was so special, my parents had saved up money and bought me my first big girl piece of jewelry and give me that responsibility, and I was horrified to think I could lose it and let them down.I found it the next day, but it was so weird that it would ever come off that I still feel like it was some sort of a message, and I chose to see it as a sign.

9// Simple studs that I love to wear everyday, they're just easy and so I wear them often.

10 // These pearls my mom gave to me when I was 21, and I wore them everyday for a long time.

11 // This bracelet is from Austria, my brother hosted an exchange student when he was in high school and he brought it back for me for my birthday, which I celebrated that year by going skydiving and he came with us, and I wore it when I jumped out the plane.  It kind of makes me feel like Wonder Woman.

12 // This is my engagement ring, you made it and Ricky helped design it.  And that's the ring I'm going to wear for the rest of my life.


13 // Black pearls that Ricky's mom Katie gave to me.  She took this trip and ended up getting evacuated do to a flood and tsunami, she had to stay at a school-shelter on her vacation.  Worst trip to Hawaii ever.  Ricky and I had talked to her about how majestic Hawaii is and told her 'oh you have to go, you have to see this paradise,' and she ended up getting evacuated!  But even through all that she still took the time to find me something special, she knew that I love pearls and I love black, so there you go.

14 // First piece of big girl jewelry I ever bought myself.  I bought it because I just loved it, the movement and how interesting it was and I just felt incredible wearing it.  I don't usually tend to buy rings for myself, in fact I only have three.  But I just put it on and it felt like me.

15 // Oh, you like my Giants earrings, dude?!  {laughter} I've had these since we were kids, and I wore them to every single Giants game I've ever been to, all the way back to Candlestick.

Noe's living room and painting by her fiance, Ricky Watts.  

Me and Noe as little girls

Thank you for reading, I'll be bringing you more interesting women from my life and beyond.  To get email reminders when a new woman is featured, become an Adorned Insider.

L O V E + M E T A L

S P R E A D T H E L O V E