The Jeweled Necklace

Susan Hubler reported to police that someone forced open a rear door to her Old Post Road home sometime on July 24. Police said the suspect then went through the tiffany jewelry, looking for valuables and used a knife to pry open a safe, taking five necklaces and their cases and $80 in cash and coins. In a release sent out Friday, police did not issue the value of the necklaces.Jonell McLain first spotted the necklace in an upscale jewelry store in Ventura, California, in 2004. With a price of $37,000, it was far out of her range - until she got the idea of asking a group of women to buy and share the necklace. What follows is a leap of faith and an eye-opening experience for everyone involved. The jewelry store owner agrees to discount the silver key rings if his wife can be part of the group, thus opening up a new social circle for her. Another woman finds that the necklace puts spark back in her marriage. Christening the necklace "Jewelia," the women incorporate themselves in the name of the necklace they all share and hold charity events. Although they don't always agree, the 13 "women of Jewelia" always put the interests of the group ahead of any one individual. Both an interesting social experiment and a heartwarming story, Jarvis' chronicle invites her audience into a world of lively, diverse women, and readers are bound to find them good company. -Kristine HuntleyThe owner and artiste of Riviera Sea Beads uses different silver necklaces to make her works of art, such as crochet, chain rope, cabochon, peyote stitch and right-angle weaving. "In the creative process of designing a new piece of jewelry, I am greatly influenced by my French heritage and the atmospheric light and vivid colors of Provence, which I try to re-create in my work like a painter paints on canvas, by mixing the pearls, their different shades and sizes, and the precious natural land and sea materials I use in my jewelry," Long writes on her Web site.