Today while at the Bead Shop on Magazine Street (which is probably my favorite bead shop yet, although I really liked De Ja Bead before the hurricane), I picked up two strands of an slightly iridescent creamy-colored cultured pearl, some bronzy Czech glass beads, and a gorgeous pendant: a leaf from a ginko tree (the tag says "money tree," but I think it's really a ginko leaf), dipped in 24k gold. All for $20!

I plan on using all three of them together to make a necklace with autumnal colors .. and since gold is kind of a neutral color (at least here in New Orleans) and I do wear a lot of browns, I look forward to the completed product. :)