>> Our new favorite bracelets don't just look chic — they also give something back. Pura Vida was founded by two friends who, while on a postgraduation surf trip in Costa Rica, became enamored with the local artistans' brightly colored bracelets and decided to sell them back home in San Diego. Now, the company is just over a year old and a runaway success; the bracelets (priced $5 to $12 each) sell at over 700 stores across the US — including Nordstrom and American Eagle Outfitters — as well as on the Pura Vida website, and the company currently employs 25 artisans in Costa Rica full-time to create 15,000 bracelets a week. "Now the bracelets are everywhere and we see strangers wearing them — at bars, restaurants. The connection we feel when that happens is so sweet," Pura Vida cofounder Griffin Thall says. In addition to providing work for artisans in Costa Rica, Pura Vida also donates 1 percent of its profits to The Surfrider Foundation. Here, we've rounded up some of our favorite pieces from the collection — click through to shop them all.
At left: Pura Vida bracelets layered with watches and other pieces, as spotted at a recent market appointment in New York City.
When my husband surprised me with this large framed photograph I was delighted but also a bit taken aback. I spend quite a bit of time thinking about the décor in our house and didn't know where such a large piece would work. The photo is very special to us as it portrays a part of Costa Rica where we work for part of each year. It was also taken by a fabulous photographer we've recently gotten to know. To my husband's credit, the colors fit right into our color scheme, and the best location soon became obvious — the middle of our living room! You can read more about it 
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