Cherrystone Earrings

When I was a kid, my mom would stop at the same gas station every week to fill the tank. The spot was a local affair with a tiny convenience store attached that housed assorted odds and ends. I always looked forward to those trips to the pump because my mother's way of occupying my sisters and I during the seemingly endless flow was to give us a quarter each to buy ourselves a piece of candy. My favorite were the giant chewy Sweet Tarts.

Before leaving the store, I would start salivating just thinking about the taste of the round sour chews, and by the time we got home, I would have gobbled all four of them up. On the rare occasion that sweet tarts were unavailable, I moved on to my second choice: a sour apple Jolly Rancher stick. Despite the stick being second to the chew in taste, it easily won out in aesthetics. The hard candy was slick, green, and deliciously transparent—not unlike Moonrise Jewelry's Cherrystone Earrings.

Made from deep green recycled glass beads and fair trade sterling silver ear wires, the Cherrystone Earrings ($25) are a perfect accent piece for outfits both casual and dressy. Adaptability is a common theme among the stylistic and ideological vision of this progressive, eco-friendly jewelry maker. Whether rolling up your sleeves to build a habitat for humanity or hosting an art auction fundraiser for charity, this pair would be perfectly at home in your ensemble. In fact, they may well steal the show.

Handmade in Virginia, I wonder if these lightweight yet sturdy earrings aren't named after Cherrystone Campground, a nature getaway alongside the Chesapeake Bay where luxurious cabins and tent-style "roughing it" cohabit nicely. Another possibility of the moniker's origin is a throwback to a particularly small type of quahog that was used as currency by some Native Americans, but given the latter's decreased geographical relevance—and my own irrational bias against crustaceans—I'm going to bank on camping over clams.

As further demonstration of its social justice mission, Moonrise is providing Feminist Review readers a 15% Discount off anything and everything on their website. The discount code is 'FEMINIST' and there is no expiration date. Anyone up for some holiday shopping?

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