My Jewelry Guy

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Sometimes during the Christmas 2006 break I lost the center of my engagement ring. We were going to replace it but we just never got to it until my wedding band fell off my finger last summer. I had no idea what happened. I remember talking about it while driving back from lunch with my co-worker, I remember looking at it even, and when I got in my car to drive home, it wasn’t on my finger. Ahhhh…. I loved that ring too. It was one of those eternity type rings.

We didn’t get into the ring replacement until we returned from our big trip overseas. My co-worker recommended me a jeweler in Independence, MO, and there I went. I liked this place, still do, because they do handmade work. So I talked to Kelly, gave him whatever diamond and gold that I have left, he drew me a design, I loved it, and off I went to look for a center. I was stuck on a cushion diamond. I love antique everything and I am in love with old style rings and the cushion cut is an old time cut that’s becoming popular again now. I did my research and of course I came to find out that I fell in love with the most difficult diamond to purchase. The cushion has no perfect specification unlike the round for example. You have to look at a cushion and you either like it or you don’t. There are all sorts of different ratios and even the perfect cut and polish doesn’t always mean a great looking cushion. Of course I couldn’t find any locally. They all had to bring one in and all had some sort of policy if I don’t like the look of it even though it perfectly matches all the specs. After lurking around at pricescope.com, talked to a few stores, I finally found the cushion man. Mark from ERD in NY. Ha ha… yeah, I bought a diamond online. Because he had such great reviews, I trusted this guy to find me the perfect cushion within my specifications and that looks great. He found one of course (being in the diamond district has its advantages) and for what it is, I got a great deal on it, well at least a few hundred less than if I got it locally and shipping was included. I recommend him everybody at pricescope swears by him for cushions.

Kelly and Drenon was the one who build my ring. He was a bit skeptical about me buying my own center, ONLINE, but he was quite impressed with my cushion. After a couple wax, the first wax was not at all like how he drew it, he nailed it. Although it was a bit weird to look at a blue and orange (the color of the wax) I knew it was the ring. After a couple of weeks I picked it up and voila, my ring {::SMILES} Kelly did a great job I think. Not only did he create a great ring he patiently put up with me.

Coincidentally the ring was completed a few days before Christmas. So in a way it seems like it’s a Christmas present and almost to the year since when I lost the center. Hope he likes the card. I tried to make it kind of manly even though the paper does have flowers on it. I have nothing manly. The papers are new, I got them at Hobby Lobby, 5/$1, by Memory Keepers. The stamp is a Fiskars clear stamp. I was looking for something that has a diamond ring and this was the only one I could find. The “thank you” is from the Spring Solitudes set.

The Holiday Season

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I hope everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ours was quite nice: fun and relaxing with the family.

Now our favorite holiday is coming up, Christmas. It’s not all about the presents but it’s all about the atmosphere and that during this time, we somehow think less of us and more of others that we love. This year we decided to buy less but do more and even our little girl was on the same wave length as us. Here’s what we asked Emma, she’ll be 4 in February:

Mom: What do you want from Santa, Emma?
Emma: A pink sleeping bag, a pink cash register, and a pink laptop
M: Is that it?
E: Yes, I need to share with the other kids
M: That’s nice Emma, it’s nice for you to share and not want everything
E: Uh uh
M: What do you want from mom and dad?
E: I want mommy and daddy to buy something for another little girl that has no toys

Ok, how can you beat that? We’ve asked her over and over again the last few weeks and it’s the same answer. Now ever year, ever since I had my first real job actually, I have a habit of picking a child off the angel tree. One year I didn’t because my work decided to adopt a family and I took responsibility for the gift of one of the child, but besides that, it’s a habit I’ve always had. This year was different though, Emma was really into picking out the little tag, asking me who the child was and what he/she wanted, and deciding on one. So this year we’re going to shop together for a nice package for this 18-mo-old that we picked out.

We’ve done all sort of different things throughout the year to help others. We don’t do yard sales, we’d donate our clothes and toys to either the church or the Big Brothers Big Sisters. Even Emma will go through her toys and clothes and she’ll put a bag together herself. The same with furniture, we’d take them to the Salvation Army. We donate dry goods to the local food pantry and help the United Way or Children’s Miracle Network. This year we found some other ways of helping, and spreading the ways we donate, and you can see that in our Charities link.

I know that we’ve had one year where we spent thousands of dollars on presents, I know one year at 7 mo pregnant I was pushing a 6 speaker system Onkyo system into the house, but those were the days. Christmas isn’t about how much we buy but it’s about Jesus’s birth. This is something that we need to work on with Emma since Jesus is not at all in the picture, it’s just Santa and gifts right now. But at least she’s got the giving idea right.

Hope you can share your blessings and joy with others who are less fortunate. I don’t need that extra stamp set, the $25 can go to Kiva.org

2007 Vacation

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This is one picture that I took with my Canon XTi and a new zoom lens. Now I just need to make some time to sit down and scrapbook.

What I Did Today

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Well, I took the day off and got a few things done at home. Not as much as I wanted to accomplish but at least I have a splash page for scrapbit.com and I somewhat customize this page more. I will post some cards later when I have more time!