18 Things you can Learn About Me from My Charm Bracelet

Today is my birthday and each year I have plans to do a post about X amount of things about me that you didn't know.  Every year I don't do it.This year as I was creating the lesson for Week #3 of my new Inspired eCourse I realized it would come out today and the project I'm sharing is a charm bracelet.  The idea is that it is an autobiography of my life.  It got me thinking that there is a lot that people could know about me just from looking at my charm bracelet.Today I'm sharing a lot of the charms and what they mean to me and you can learn a lot about me from my charm bracelet.1.  When I was in elementary school I started taking clarinet lessons.  I disliked my teacher and my parents had to force and bride me to go to my lessons.  (I got to get my ears pierced at age 12 I think instead of waiting until I was 16 if I went.)When I reached high school I switched to saxophone and also had an amazing band director.  I loved it.  I loved it so much I was a music major in college.  (The first of a few majors I switched throughout college.)Writing and performing music isn't so much a part of my life anymore, but I do love listening to music.2.  I had a cat named Hunter S. Thomcat.  (Named after the author Hunter S. Thompson.)  He passed away at the beginning of last year.  He was such a goofy and funny cat and had a ton of personality.  I still miss him a lot.He was a big cat, but seemed to be totally unaware of it.  He'd plop down on anyone who came over.  He had at least daily rituals of running around like he was a kitten.  You couldn't keep a glass of water on a table because he would knock it over so he could see the water running.  He also liked drinking out of glasses, so we would have a decoy glass out for him to drink out of so he'd leave our glasses alone.  He loved watching water, but he hated to get wet.3.  Photography is a passion of mine.  I started taking photos when I was young with an old camera my parents gave me.  Somewhere in my early 20s I really got into it again and my dad let me use his SLR camera (of course, it was film back then.)  A photographer told me the best way to learn photography was to take a lot of photos, so I did.  I tried all the different settings, took notes and then created a gigantic binder with all the photos and the camera settings listed so I could learn how to use the camera better.Now I have a DSLR camera and I still love taking photos.  From a single road trip I might have 300 photos for just one day.  I hate the whole debate about taking photos versus having an experience, that if you take a lot of photos you're not actually experiencing the event.  Taking photos is a major part of the experience for me.4.  I have always been crafty.  My mom was/is very crafty and I grew up making lots of stuff.  (And, of course, I still do.)  I don't just make jewelry, I make a lot of things.  Of course, you've probably seen my art journal pages.  I also scrapbook.  I sew a tiny bit.  My mom and I made all of my tablecloths, cloth napkins, invitations and every decoration for my wedding ourselves and I love DIYing.5.  I love road trips.  Very often my hubby and I will hop in the car with no particular end goal in mind and just drive and see what we find.  Also quite often, he will put together a road trip and not tell me where we're going and the whole thing is a surprise to me.The ironic thing is that we just have one car.  I got rid of my car years ago and never replaced it because I just don't need it and I don't want to contribute to the killing of our planet any more than I have to.  Either we're together or I can walk or take the bus anywhere I need to go if he's not home.6.  I do freelance general transcription on the side of my jewelry teaching.  I also spend a lot of time at the computer with writing these blogposts, editing photos and videos for tutorials and emails.  Since the computer is a major part of my life it's on my charm bracelet.7.  My husband's name is Jim.  (We're Jim and Kim.  Cute right?)  This was a photo from our honeymoon in Niagara Falls at the Cave of Winds, one of the highlights of the trip.He's everything to me.  We've had our ups and downs like any couple that's been together for going on 14 years, but our relationship and love is our top priority.  We're one of those couples that people get annoyed with that actually love spending time together.  One of the reasons I love my business is that I can work around his schedule so we can spend time together.8.  I love waterfalls.  This photo is also from our honeymoon.  Niagara Falls is one of my favorite places.  I love the beautiful nature.  I love all the kitschy nostalgia of it.  The actual town is just a regular town and then you drive and bam!  you're at the falls.  I had one of the best hoagies ever at a place downtown.  (One of the best....I live near Philly, so, you know, no one competes with Philly on hoagies.)Often our road trips take us to waterfalls.  We've been to tons of them.9.  I'm really into nature and butterflies especially.  In the summer the trail that I often walk on is full of butterflies and I draw them in my nature journal all the time.  I have a book to help identify butterflies, but the number of butterfly species is completely overwhelming and so many of them look similar.  You can rarely get close enough to a butterfly that's still long enough to see an exact pattern on its wings.I also have the start of a butterfly wing collection.  I, of course, only pick them up when I find dead butterflies on the ground.  Never alive butterflies.10.  I have been a lot of amazing places, but my probably my favorite is the Erie Canal.  I was completely obsessed with locks when I was a kid.  I remember watching a ship come into a lock, the water fill in and thought it was so cool.  Many years later I finally got to go down the Erie canal and experience the locks myself and it was just as cool as I thought it was when I was a kid.(The photo is from Lockport, NY)11.  Trees are my favorite.  I mentioned above that I loved butterflies.  Trees are my favorite thing in nature.  They're my favorite thing period.  I'm sad when I see trees cut down.We had a green (eco-friendly) wedding at my parent's river side property surrounded by trees.  I couldn't imagine being married anywhere but surrounded by trees.When I'm having a bad day, I go to a place with a lot of trees to feel better.12.  The Beatles are my favorite band.  (U2 is my second and then there are a ton of others that are all my favorites in no particular order after the Beatles and U2.)This is a photo I took of the side of a Hard Rock Cafe of a Beatles quote that I adore.  (Also, we don't really like Hard Rock Cafe or chain restaurants.)and13.  Rose Quartz is my favorite gemstone.  Pink is usually my favorite color.  (My favorite color changes all the time.  Why choose one?)14.  I love traveling.  I don't just love road trips like I mentioned above, but I also love vacations.  However, I hate being away from home for too long.  A week is perfect.  Beyond that and I start to miss my routine.15.  I dream of visiting Paris.  I have never been there, but it is a goal of mine.  I hear it's not exactly what I probably think.  LOL.  But I would love to experience the whole grittiness of it as well as all the beauty of it.16.  Spirals are my signature motif.  I find spirals everywhere and I'm drawn to making spirals all the time.  I love the symbolism of spirals.17.  How old I am!  (And proof that today is my birthday.  LOL)  This was my grandmother's charm and my mom gave it to me when she passed away.  My name is on the other side.  My grandmother got it (I'm not sure if it was a gift or she had it made) when I was born.  It's probably my favorite charm.Bonus tidbit:  My grandmother always called me Kimmie Jo.18.  My first and last initials are K.  Just kidding, you already knew that considering this is KimberlieKohler.comMy little brother's name starts with K and so does my mom's name.  My parents say it was an accident.  They just happened to like the name Kimberlie and my brother's names and they both happen to start with a K.  I don't know for sure.  :)I hope you liked getting to know me better and seeing the charms on my charm bracelet.  There are a few more, but they're mostly repeats of things I really love.Do you have a charm bracelet?Learn to make your own in Wire Wrapping for Beginners eCourse!Learn more and get started immediately here:  Wire Wrapping for Beginners eCourse.