I don’t just get a Birthday, I get a whole Birthday month! I’m special that way 😉 And with my Birthday month comes a few gifts, of course. The brooch pictured below is one of the gifts I got for myself. There’s more to it, of course…

I wanted a real bow and real arrows for my bday… and all I got is this brooch!

Quite frankly, I’m not into brooches! I was actually looking for a real bow with real arrows, when I found this brooch instead. Weird, I know. It made me realize that I would probably be using such brooch more than a real bow.

Why did I want a bow in the first place? Because I used to have one when I was a girl / teenager and I always like it. It was fun to go out in the woods and play with it.   Just to be clear, I never killed anything with my bow and never even tried. It isn’t my style to go around killing animals. I’m vegan now, but I was never an animal killer before.

So I wanted a bow because I thought it would be a great reminder of the freedom I had when I was young. A reminder of the hopes & the strength, the love & determination. I had a whole life ahead of me and a bright future ready to unfold. It would have also been a reminder of how fearless, brave and bold, I was. Something I need to get back in touch with. Basically, I need to be a little bit more like an Amazon warrior!! I know, I know…

Anyway, I didn’t get a real bow but this brooch instead! My Birthday month isn’t over yet, so who knows, I might still get one. For now and in my daily life, this brooch will do as the necessary reminder. As I will likely use it to tight my asymmetrical cardigans (something that is bit like a uniform to me!), it will be quite discrete, probably often even hidden, but I’ll know it’s there and that what matters.

So you see, this is what happens when you have a whole Birthday month. You get to ponder on where your life is at and where you are going. When your Birthday is early July, like me, you get to reflect on the current year. Where did the last 6 months went? I’m not even quite sure. What are the priorities the next 6 months? What shall the focus be?

For me, a Birthday month isn’t much about partying and it isn’t about celebrating the fact that I’m getting older. On the contrary it is a way to stop a little, reflect and refocus.

 

I’m telling you all this because I think you should try. Go ahead and get yourself a Bday month! It’s a great exercise.

While I reflect and refocus, I think of gifts to myself that would represent best what I’m trying to achieve with my life, what I need most, what would best support me in these efforts. I give meaning to my purchases, I give them a purpose.

This is not a way for me to justify buying stuff. I’m not going on a big shopping spree. I take my time (I have a month!) and choose, very carefully, a very limited number of items that I will a) most likely keep for a long long time and / or b) use regularly. And most of my purchases are vintage or antiques.

So I got this brooch to remind myself to be brave & bold and I got something else to remind myself to stay focused on my dreams. I’ll show you that one soon.

You can set your own rules for what you buy during your bday month. I’m just explaining my rules to give you an example.

Try it for yourself, you might like it!

Just a bit of cleaning

As you can tell from the above pictures, the brooch needed some cleaning.

I really liked it a bit dirty & used, but it’s still best to clean used things before starting a new life with them, so I did.

The brooch is, I think, made of brass so I thought I would try the method I use for cleaning silver and see what happens.

How do you clean silver? To me the easiest way is with aluminium foil, baking soda and boiling  water. If you haven’t tried this yet, you should, it works wonder.

Just put foil in a pan or bowl, add some baking soda, put the item you need to clean and pour the boiling water. It will bubble and within minutes you will see a difference in the appearance of your object. The aluminium foil will darken and basically will become dirty. Your object needs to touch the foil for this method to work.

After that, just wash your item with soap and water and your are good!  As you can see from the below pictures, it works wonders.

 

And tada! 

 

Like the Queen of England, I will be making a statement by wearing this brooch. As you understood from the above, it will mostly be a statement to myself, one of encouragement that says something like: You’re an Amazon warrior, one from modern times. You can handle all the sh*t that comes your way! You are brave enough, strong enough, smart enough!

Yeah, I really need some pick-me-up and some cheering nowadays!