Day 292 - purple crescents

A colleague bought these for me not because she set out to buy me a present, but because she saw them and thought of me. I really like them for that reason - it makes them special. Plus, you know, purple!

Day 291 - steampunk

My mother bought me these. They originally didn't have the bottom cog so they were a little on the short side. When she gave them to me, it was with the two extra cogs so that I could lengthen them myself and bring them up to Kim earring standards.

Clearly, my mum knows me well.

Day 290 - ME!

No earrings yesterday because I decided I needed a proper stay-at-home-and-don't-see-anyone day to recover from Christmas. The most energetic I got was running a bath. It's a hard-knock life.

These were necessary today because I went for lunch with three people whose names start with an 'M'. So this way it was quite obviously a day for Mokoena and Marius and Maayan and Me!

Day 289 - gold bows

The climax of this week's Christmas earrings: Christmas Day bows. I had wanted just one bow per ear but they only came in a box of four and I had some spare gold/bronze chain hanging around so double bows it is!

Day 288 - snowflakes

Christmas Eve earrings - again a pair that started life as Christmas tree decorations.

Day 287 - Xmas angels

I bought these from a Christmas flea market held at the Masque Theatre a couple of years ago. I specifically chose two different colours even though I knew I would be turning them into earrings because symmetry is boring.

I did something different with my earrings today: I went for drinks with people from work. I normally don't socialise with my work peoples because I share my dad's view about people you work with: I see them all day every day, why do I need to see them outside of work as well? But I made an exception and it turned out very well. Wine: the common denominator everywhere!

Day 286 - Christmas balls

OK, let's just get this out the way right upfront

Seriously, though, these got a lot of comments today. Mostly, people thought they must be heavy. They're really not. Very lightweight.

I also had a couple of people telling me they had the same things on their Christmas trees. Entirely possible since I did buy them as Christmas tree decorations from Pick n Pay. One guy (someone I don't know who stopped me in Spar) did assert that they looked better on me than on his tree, so my decision to earringify was clearly totally justified.

Day 285 - silver angels

So since this is the week of Christmas, I figured it was fitting to have a week of Christmas earrings. Which I have a lot of because Christmas decorations make damn good earrings: see Exhibits A, B and C from earlier this year. Those were from Checkers; these were from Pick 'n Pay I think.

Day 284 - blue bead drops

These were a birthday present from my aunt. Today I wore them to a rehearsal for The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), which I will be performing in next year. Today was our first rehearsal with our prod sec who will also be helping us create our costumes (since she did such a fantastic job with the costumes for A Midsummer Night's Dream earlier this year).

We were running through the script scene by scene breaking down exactly what costumes and props are required when. Since we have blocked out the show already and have run it a few times by this point, we are obviously very familiar with the content. Our prod sec has not yet seen the show though, so occasionally we would say something that was perfectly logical in the context of the show and only realise how weird the actual words were when Santie fell on the floor laughing.

Some highlights:

• We don't need a kazoo because I have two recorders
• Oh, and we need a bowl for the rapist's blood
• Swords could be awkward when I'm holding him
• She'll need a helmet for Fellatio

Intrigued? Mark your calendars.

Day 283 - brown spears

I love these - a funky shape, interesting patterns, light material that doesn't try to kill me. All to the good. They make me feel tired though because I had a VERY energetic day today. I walked about 1000 miles (exaggeration? What is that?) doing shopping AND I did housework (which is not something I attempt very often). Plus I finally found a craft shop near to me so I could restock the earring making station so then I spent two hours making and repairing earrings. By the time I sat down for a glass of my wine, my feet be like:

I know, #firstworldproblems.

Day 282 - Christmas spears

Like my blue starfish and purple stars, these began life as Christmas decorations. I suppose it is pairs like this that make people call me ostentatious. And I suppose also that I should start admitting to myself that they're probably not wrong. For example, my colleague and I went to buy a balloon today for another colleague whose wife has just had a baby. But the balloons were so fun, we couldn't pick just one. Or two.

Day 281 - blue toucans

I had a bit of a blue day with these because I have new hair and there's blue in it. (Same as the reasoning for my pink day, now I come to think of it.)

It certainly wasn't a blue day in the emotional sense of the word because I went to see Hope Street, the musical, which is currently on at the Masque. What a fun show! Super proud of my friend who wrote and directed it and of my friends dancing in it too.

Day 280 - blue and white beads

Don't have a lot to say about these for a similar reason to Day 57 when I saw Avengers: Age of Ultron. Funnily enough, that was on a public holiday too - Freedom Day. Anyway, today was Reconciliation Day and, #ZumaMustFall aside, for me today was about Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Don't worry, I promise not to be THAT person. No spoilers here. Suffice it to say I loved it. When those two little yellow words appeared on the screen, I got goosebumps.

Day 279 - silver dream catchers

These are a little smaller than my usual fare, as should be apparent to anyone who's read my blog at all, but I just liked these. As you can see, the one has an ear cuff attached, which I also really like even though for the most part my hair covers my ear so a subtle ear cuff like this is not really visible. But then again, my earrings are for me, not anyone else, despite the evidence to the contrary that is this blog. In fact, since this blog is about sharing, this seems the perfect time to share my latest ear worm (aka aneurhythm) that simply refuses to leave my head. You're welcome.

Day 278 - kneeling soldiers

Not sure what kind of soldiers these are. Greek maybe? Or maybe Roman. They are wearing togas of some sort. But they don't look like Asterix and Obelix Roman soldiers, which is pretty much the extent of my knowledge of these things.

Day 277 - small gold leaves

The double layer thing that these have going on remind me of the earrings from Day 47, though these are obviously quite a lot smaller. I needed a small pair for this day because I had a rehearsal in which I would be running around and jumping a lot and didn't particularly relish the thought of being bruised by my jewellery.

Day 276 - feather hoops

These are rather fun. And they make a nice tinkly sound so would be good as game reserve earrings.

Day 275 - black chandeliers

I love these earrings. Just love them. And it's encouraging that we are 275 days in and I still have stalwart, favourite pairs that I haven't worn. I would've expected me to wear all the usual suspects first but I've been quite diverse in my choices. Go me.

A few years ago I threw a drag party (I think for my birthday), primarily because I really wanted to wear a top hat and tails. Which I did. It was a fabulous party because my friends and family just threw themselves into it and delivered in fine style. We even got my dad in a skirt and wig. Pictures are available upon request or with a small amount of Facebook stalking (not that I encourage that sort of thing).

The reason I bring this up is because my grandmother dressed as Quentin Crisp and borrowed these earrings to complete a very awesome costume. One I believe I am correct in saying won one of the "Best Dressed" awards:

Day 274 - pink ellipses

Since I wore these with a pink top and my hair has faded to a vaguely pink shade, someone at work today told me I looked like a flamingo. I'm assured that was a compliment.

I was also drinking pink wine at work today since we had a bridal shower for one of the designers. There was even some bubbly left in the bottle and since it would be sacreligious to throw out Graham Beck, I decanted it into a super classy plastic water bottle and took it home. I'm enterprising that way.

Day 273 - rainbow diamonds

These are actually my mother's and I will give them back. I just really wanted to wear them because I like them and because they're so evocative of my mum. What I mean by that is that I've seen her wearing them so often and in so many different contexts that just looking at them conjures up a tableau of mum memories in the back of my mind somewhere.

Day 272 - turquoise chandeliers

My aunt gave me these. She was given them as a gift about 20 years ago but says she's never worn them. Never fear! Kim is always here to offer a warm, loving home for unwanted and neglected earrings. It's a public service really.

Day 271 - sparkly blue spirals

These are fun little blue spirals. With glitter on them. That is what they are.

Day 270 - purple rings

Purple. Long and dangly. Light. Nuff sed?

Day 269 - palm trees

Something a bit different. And the perfect opportunity to share a 12-year-old-boy-sense-of-humour picture:

*snigger*

Day 268 - white feathers

I made the mistake of walking into an earring shop that was holding a "Black Friday" sale. I know that this is a thing in the States, it being the day after Thanksgiving and regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season, but for some reason it's now catching on as a thing in South Africa as a day for sales. Not that I mind discounts of course, but it's a bit random since we don't do Thanksgiving and the Christmas shopping period in this country, judging by the decorations, seems to start in about October. Anyway, these and many more pairs were the result of this particular Black Friday sale, since there was a "buy one get one free" situation.

Day 267 - silver leaves

A simple pair this one, but I simply wore them in one ear and augmented them with an ear cuff, also with leaves on.

Day 266 - colourful sea horses

These were key rings I bought from the Two Oceans Aquarium in order to, you guessed it, turn into earrings. Aren't they cute? Although they do look like they're wearing lipstick which is a squeech (yes I just made that word up) disturbing.

Day 265 - skulls

This pair is a present my mum "accidentally" bought for me. They're fantastically Nightmare Before Christmas, which is one of my all-time favourite films. Tim Burton at his best.

As I said on Twitter once:

My family in a nutshell: our Christmas playlist includes "This Is Halloween"

Day 264 - red birds

These are my mother's (sorry, I mean they're from my supplementary collection) and I've always liked them. They were a bit awkward to wear though because I wore them with a top with holes in it so they kept getting caught, causing me to squeak randomly and worry people around me. (Honestly, this top is not as dodgy or homeless person as it sounds. The holeyness is just a nod to the recent trend towards see-through t-shirts. And I swear there was more underneath it than just my underwear.)

Day 263 - sparkly triangles

As I said on Day 248, I really like triangular earrings. And these are particularly awesome since they're long and sharp enough to rival the pair from Day 7.

Day 262 - purple wooden beads

I had to fly to Jo'burg for the weekend again and bought these at the airport because I apparently physically cannot walk past an earring stand without buying a pair. But look at them: they're so pretty!

Day 261 - black triplet

As mentioned way back on Day 37, I have three of these pairs in different colours. I don't know where the purple ones are, but here are the black ones. They seem to have lasted better than the blue ones too.

Day 260 - Kenyan Africas

I bought these in Kenya because, as I've mentioned before, I love the shape of the African continent. The texture is fun too. They were particularly apt for today since we had an end-of-year event at work and the theme was Africa. Gotcha coming and going there. Booyah.

Day 259 - black copper stars

I like these rather a lot. They came from the same shop in Kalk Bay as the pair from Day 247.

Day 258 - green and ivory beads

Like the pair from Day 167, these were given to me by my mother. A rather interesting pair I think, though the picture is not of a particularly good quality. Oops.

Day 257 - The lizard and the parrot

Both of these were given to me as orphans by a friend who thought I could still use them despite their being partner-less. But of course. Who says earrings have to match? Plus, the absurdity of the pairing gives me the perfect opportunity to share a hilarious clip from 2008. In Episode 8 of the 45-year celebratory TV version of Just a Minute, Nicholas Parsons went off on an Edward Lear tangent when introducing the subject of "The Owl and the Pussycat":

Day 256 - Celtic knots

These I have owned for absolute ever. They're little, yes, but a big hoop helps there. And they're sentimental. I never got the clichéd Celtic knot tattoo so maybe this is my version.

Day 255 - TARDISes

These are just pure win. They were pendants that were a birthday gift from myself (for an explanation of this, see Day 82). They were the perfect pair to wear when I attended a Doctor Who themed baby shower, to which I even took fish fingers and custard.

Day 254 - Hindu patterns

I like these rather a lot - a very striking pattern. They certainly got a lot of compliments, both from friends and from people at work (which phrasing I just realised makes it sound like I don't have friends at work which I would certainly dispute). One of my colleagues described them as "very Hindu", which is why that's what they're entitled. I suppose I can see the resemblance.

Day 253 - gold squares

I love these. So flash and gaudy. And they make lovely clanking noises. They'd be good game reserve earrings, actually.

Day 252 - chili peppers

My mum and sister bought these for me in Italy when they went on a cooking course in Tuscany. I particularly like the colour and the sparkles they give off when they catch the light. One might say they are "hot".

Day 251 - Chinatown lacies

Ah, Chinatown. You have delivered once again. Nice and cheap and a simple design that is different enough to be fun. Just like me! Well, except for the cheap part; good Chardonnay can be quite pricey.