Thursday, September 23, 2010

Pandora's Box

Last spring, a few friends and I went out together and bought ourselves Pandora bracelets.  This told us a lot about each other.  Some of us couldn't bring ourselves to put charms of different colours or styles on our bracelets.  Some went for super-plain and some went for the ornate charms.  Some of us stopped after the initial purchase, and one has since filled her bracelet with charms.

Me?  I mixed and matched.  I chose different colours and styles, bought one plain charm, and a couple that are a little more ornate.  I've worn my bracelet almost every day; but I've come to realize that I never should have bought it.

For those who aren't familiar, Pandora bracelets are charm bracelets.  The charms are like beads that you thread onto the chain.  Some people have full Pandora bracelets but I was happy with my mostly empty one when I bought the first three charms.  It was a sale - buy three charms, get the bracelet for free. I intended to just stick with the three beads, and would have been happy with what I had.

(not my bracelet)


Except.  There are these threaded areas on the bracelets that break them into three sections. I'm assuming that they're there to hold the beads in place; but frankly, they mess with my chi.  I found for the first few weeks that the beads were twisting and threading themselves over to the outside sections, and it bothered me when they weren't all centered on the bracelet.  I spent so much time twisting and threading them back into the middle section that it became a huge distraction.  I ended up buying two clips to cover the threaded areas and prevent the beads from moving out of the center section.

This was perfect.  I had five pieces.  (My OCD makes me want to group everything in groups of three or five).  There were two semi-ornate, slightly coloured clips on the outside.  Beside each of those were two fairly colourful beads, and then a plain silver bead  in the center.  Life was good.

But then, I had the brilliant idea a few weeks ago that I needed a bead to celebrate my promotion.  I had a particular bead in mind, that has a specific meaning to me, but not to anyone else.  I waffled buying this new bead.  I don't really need it, I shouldn't spend the money... blah blah blah.  I went out bought it.

Now the bracelet's driving me nuts again.  I've got four beads (not five, not three) between the clips.  They are all different sizes and colours, and I can't find an order for them on the chain that works with my incessant need to establish a pattern.    I'm seriously thinking about setting the new bead aside in a jewelry box until I can justify buying another one to even out the patterns.

I think that's why they call them Pandora bracelets.  Once you start buying the beads, you can never stop.

7 comments:

  1. I'm a pattern junky too, mine revoles around the numbers 3, 5, 8 and the cumpulsive need to make any group of anything into a circular group of ten, but I don't wear jewelry

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  2. Janice I so wish I could sit and have lunch with you, I share your compulsiveness. Is compulsiveness a word? Yes. I checked.

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  3. I need to do a blog post. I hate being at the bottom of your blog list. I feel like a dud :)

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  4. Linlah, I'm 3's, 5's but not 8's or 10's. On a good day, I can make a group of 9, which is really three groups of three. It's the mother load of groups.

    RR - I'm going to leave your blog on my list, for as long as it takes. I miss your posts, even if they were infrequent.

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  5. That would drive me batty as well. I need to definitely stay away from those bracelets! I'm not quite so OCD, but I would get fairly obsessive over balancing the bracelet...

    I do have a thing about the number 9. I'm getting tattoo #8 in about a month, and I'm pretty sure I will not be waiting nearly so long between tattoos after this one, being so close to 9 will drive me..

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  6. those seriously look like fun bracelets. I still have my charm necklace from High School with the little roller skate and artist's palette and shamrock from our trip to Ireland. Do you remember those charm holders that then attached to the chain???

    My OCD causes me to always pick things out in even numbers. If I am grocery shopping it is always 4 cans and not 3. I feel your pain with the dis symmetry though

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  7. I had the same problem when I got mine, I think it's designed like that to make you fill it up :) I managed to get mine filled up by my family buying me them for endless birthday and xmas presents, it has so much more meaning now. The other thing I did is to buy the necklace and I switch some of the beads around and put them on the necklace sometimes.....it's great to re-invent your jewelery without having to spend any extra money - enjoy :)

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