Today, I am loving...

I have been in love with the idea of wearing your children's initials around your neck since Katie Holmes kept sporting a Jennifer Meyer diamond-encrusted pendant of an "S" - for Suri - last year. She is rarely ever seen without it and even wore it on the cover of InStyle's August 2011 issue.

I could never afford the real thing at $1,500 a disc. So boy was I glad to find this hand-stamped initial set from Tea Party Jewelry on Etsy!

Then as I browsed through Tea Party Jewelry's shop, I fell in love with the idea of wearing my kids' names - rather than initials - on disc pendants.

So I asked Tea Party Jewelry to customize a set for me: 2 discs, hand-stamped with my kids' names, in this typewriter font that I was really smitten with. I asked them to put the silver spacer ball from the initial set to keep my discs apart. A tiny portion of the discs actually still overlap when I wear my necklace. Amusingly, whenever Isabella or Noah spy their sibling's disc on "top" of theirs on my collarbone, they switch the discs around so their name is more prominently seen. Oddly, they've never done it in front of the other so am not sure what drives them to do it every time. But I'm glad both of them do it because it affirms that I don't play favorites. Unlike them, I don't get to see their names when I have my necklace on. But I've picked up this habit of stroking the discs in the middle of my workday. And whenever I do that, I kind of feel warm all over and I can't help but smile to myself.

I still want an initial set though. And I just love Gwen Delicious Jewelry Designs' take on the initial pendant. I think the vintage typewriter keys give an initial charm a different character. Plus, it's perfect for a lover of pretty typography like me.

And instead of a spacer ball, I ordered a bronze ampersand to go in between my kids' initials (because, as you know, I love the ampersand).

Gwen Delicious has yet to finish casting my typewriter key pendants, but I can barely wait to stroke my kids' initials in the middle of my workday.

Today, I am loving... the sentimentality of wearing your children's names or initials around your neck. It is such a special and stylish way to always have a memento of the people you love so close by.

Photos from teapartyjewelry, gwendelicious and here. 

Some related links you might have missed:

• my pretend closet: J.Crew maritime dress
• the typography-initial trend
• my love for the ampersand (coincidentally, the ampersand letterpress necklace on this post is also from Gwen Delicious!)
• previous posts from the Today, I am loving... series.

And in case you're planning to purchase necklaces on Etsy or anywhere online, here's a great necklace-length reference from one of my favorite blogs, Playtime Break.