the relatively affordable price of happiness

Anybody who thinks that money can't buy happiness has obviously never shopped at Down Under Jewelry on Newport's Lower Thames Street. That little store has the most comprehensive selection of affordable happiness I've ever encountered - necklaces made up of chunks of yellow jade the color of marigolds, rings made out of brilliant fire-streaked antique glass buttons from Czechoslovakia, bracelets of watery aquamarines so clear and limpid that you can almost feel those hard knots in your soul start to dissolve...Everything in there is individually designed, hand made, unique, beautiful. Much of it is very affordably priced (under $200) and some of it is downright cheap (under $25).

My boyfriend calls me an shallow materialist & a shopaholic. You know what I tell him? SO WHAT. Why is it that everybody pretends to have so much contempt for THINGS? People forget that there's a power in beautiful, well-made things - be those objects jewels, paintings or houses - that verges on the supernatural. Beautiful things have the power to heal, to soothe, to bring joy and ease. These strike me as being no small achievements in this difficult world. But I suggest you go over to Down Under Jewelry and decide for yourself. Bring your wallet. Open it. And get happy!