Here’s a little about me: 

I’m a mom, a friend, a daughter, a sister, an artist, a jewelry designer and the part of me I’m trying so hard to get used to… a widow.  My name is Crystalyn. Yes Crystal and Lyn squished together by Candice, my older sister by three and a half years, to make one unique name. Thank God she didn’t name me Minnie Mouse!! LOL

I’ve enjoyed having a unique name and even though my name’s not pronounced Crystal-line it still wound up being rather fitting since I followed my sister into the jewelry industry over 10 years ago. I’m a jewelry designer who loves natural metals and stones and just how they make you feel when you wear them. It’s the love of jewelry that brought my husband Ryan and I together. I’ve recently come to realize, through the illness and heartbreaking death of my 38 year old husband, that we are not promised tomorrow. With a new found “embrace the day” attitude and my passion for jewelry I’ve decided to take a leap of faith to begin creating my own jewelry line of wearable minimalistic gold fashion jewelry for ladies while carrying out our mission to make an impact on the world of cancer. I’ve also decided to also start this blog as a way to document and share the journey of Winston (our 2 1/2 year old son) and I. I’ll share thoughts, ideas, lessons, experiences, tips, trials and errors of starting a business, renovating a house and basically whatever paths come our way. I want to document our journey so one day we can look back on it and reflect. The purpose of the blog is more for him and I but I hope you can relate and maybe join in the conversation of our life with tips and stories from yours. We are all navigating this beautifully unpredictable journey called life. Cheers to Connection… It’s what makes life so rich.

I want to dedicate this blog to a sweet friend of mine, Veronica. I wish I could have had the chance to get to know her better but she, like Ryan, was granted the gift of only 38 years on earth. Today I attended her funeral. Her spirit is a bright light for me and her legacy reminds me to embrace the day. She was a phenomenal writer/blogger, mother, wife, friend and all around person. You can discover more about her in her inspirational Blog: thereyouareblog.com She was and is one of my “silver lining” friends. You can read more about what that means to me in my first blog post.

Love Always,

Winston and I