Tag: Life

Why put your future in jeopardy when buying jewelry?

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Sometimes even the least self-serving girl makes demands about engagement rings that she would in no other instance. Small house, old car, discount shoes, thrift-shop duds, forever21 baubles…None of these matter as long as the sparkle on our left ring finger results in the periodic blindness of those around us.

On the the other hand, the poor blokes who love and adore us and want to please us to the point of ecstasy don’t necessarily have $30k set aside, and if they do, it’s probably not filed under “the love of my life’s engagement ring fund” (we can only dream) and say they do have a nest egg already, wouldn’t we rather it go toward our dream house?

Case in point. This is one of my (Fayetteville) dream homes, I qualify because I have many around town (the country…the world!)

And this is my dream ring:

Both make me swoon. Why would a besotted young lady in love want to sacrifice one for the other? My answer is two-fold. We should and yet we don’t have to. We forgo blinding everyone in our office/circle of friends/random party for now.  Let me explain! The ring above is and will always be my dream. Must I realize my most precious of dreams NOW at 24? I think not.

A while back I posted here about beautiful dream rings but ladies, I have other ideas. Women seem to be marrying younger and younger and the state of our U.S. economy is getting scarier and scarier. Why don’t we wait on our dream ring? Instead of our beaus taking 10 years to save for what “we” want or taking out a loan he doesn’t need, let’s compromise.

My proposal: Find a gorgeous cocktail ring you know you’ll love forever and wear that until you (or hubby) strike it rich and can provide you with what your heart desires. Keep pictures, most jewelers worth their snuff can re-create for you.

Here are some of my faves under $5K

$4500European Diamond Engagement Ring

$4600Art Deco Engagement Ring

$3500Art Deco Engagement Ring

$4500Art Deco Engagement Ring

$26002.30ct Aquamarine Engagement Ring

$2400 Art Deco Emerald Engagement Ring

$48000.74ct F/SI Marquise Diamond Ring

$1900Art Deco Ruby Engagement Ring

$39000.59ct G/VS Diamond Engagement Ring

$50001.27ct Old Mine-cut Diamond Ring

All of the above found at FayCullen

$795Main View 1 $895Main View 1

$895Main View 1$12501209862915_30-1-1517.jpg

$1450Estate-Mikimoto-Pearl-Cluster-Ring-Main-View $16501209862963_30-1-1926.jpg

$1750 Main View 1 $1750 Angel Skin Coral Emerald Ring Main View

$1750Art Deco Star Sapphire Solitaire Main View 1$2250 Main View 1

$2250Aquamarine Seed Pearl Filigree Ring Main View $2450 30 1 1830 Main View

$2650 1209862971_30-1-854.jpg $2650 1209862976_30-15-284.jpg

$2700 Main View 1$2750 1209862985_30-3-1634.jpg

$2750 Main View I LOVE this one $2750 1209862924_30-1-1585.jpg

$2850 – I die 1209862973_30-1-918.jpg $3250 1209862894_30-1-1331.jpg

I <3 $3250 Chysoberyl Cats Eye and Diamond Ring Main View$33501209862987_30-3-1753.jpg

$3350 1209862989_30-3-666.jpg $3450 1209862600_10-1-1386.jpg

I do – $3850 Apple Jade Diamond Cocktail Ring Main View I do – $3950 Antique Sapphire and Old Mine Cut Diamond Ring Main View

$4250 Main View 1 I do $4750 Main View 1

And these below are the winners! All $750

1209862950_30-1-1788.jpg Modern Ballerina Style Diamond and Emerald Ring Main View 1209862924_30-1-1581.jpg 1209862677_10-1-1962.jpg

Main View

Above images from Lang Antiques

Happy Weekend!

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I hope the next two days and nights are filled fun for you! Here’s what I’m hoping for me.

A little lovin’

Some rest  

Spring Flowers 

Dinner with friends (al fresco- natch) including a champagne toast photo_brunch.jpg

I’d like for boyfriend and I to talk wiggles on a long walk. (This is them – below) Aren’t they adorable? I am lucky!

In this park. Perhaps he’ll bring along delicious drinks for us to share?



I’ll swing and he’ll push. Then he may or may not have a picnic put together for us EXACTLY like the one below.

Sunday will bring peonies and coffee and lazing.

Wishing you the same and much more. xx

Self Control

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Ok. I realized today that I am going to be physically on the beach in six weeks and two days. I do not feel nor feel that I look fat. With that said, I know I’d look better -5, -10, even -15lbs. I know I’d feel better, I know my clothes would fit better, I know my boyfriend (who lovingly tells me I look amazing) would agree once it was off.

My mom and I are going to Charleston, SC (one of my fave places) to visit my brother who is in college there. I want to get a tan and get lots of cute pictures and wear my cutest summer items while there, not to mention my mom is looking better than ever above age 55. NOT FAIR. If she asks to borrow my swimsuit, I know that will send me spiraling into anorexia but I’m just not sure I want to wait for that.

Here we all are. I think I’m hiding it pretty well but SUMMER IS COMING!

What can I do in 6ish weeks to lose 10lbs? I know it can be done. Question is…am I willing to do it and what is it that I should do.

Goal:

Will also take:

These jeans were loose and are now quite tight. Too tight to wear.

Wish me luck. I NEED IT.

Fuzzies

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Do you remember fuzzies? My brothers and I all had them as children and we loved them so much that our mother had to physically remove them when the “time” came. Look at this one from Ikea…I literally want to curl up on it. I am very much looking forward to having my own place to sprawl out  and decorate.

One of “those” days

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Do you ever have one of those days where nothing can pull you out of a strange funk? It’s like nothing is really going wrong but nothing’s really going right either. Even though you have things to look forward to, you can’t see them clearly in your mind. It’s like one of those cheesy Claritin clear commercials where the person can’t see for their allergies? Except it’s not allergies, it’s just the “can’t help it’s” as my mom used to call it.

Today is Tuesday. My office has tinting on the windows, so that people outside can’t see in. You’re supposed to be able to see out, but the tint is so extreme that everything ALWAYS looks gray unless the sun is so bright you’d be blinded if you were out of doors. Some days it bothers me more than others, today is one of those.

So…let’s see, what should I be happy about today? For one, it’s March. March can honestly be as dreadful as February but it’s at least nearing spring. Daylight savings is coming up. That’s always lovely. It feels gorgeous to be sitting outside at 8:30pm and still feel the sun shining on you.

I am looking forward to that and to sundresses. Hope you get out of your funk today. Music always helps.

Winter

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Today, it is officially winter. Horrifyingly, it was 8 degrees when I awoke this morning. It took nearly an hour for the heat to begin working in my car and I am seemingly cemented in tights. I hate tights, but this time of year, pants make me feel wide and leggings are really not appropriate for work. I live in sack dresses with empire waists. Alas, I digress…

I felt the need to post today because I’ve been thinking a lot about reading and needed to document what I want to read. Cold weather always makes me think of fires and cuddling up in some home that is not my own (because I do not have a fireplace) hunkering down and getting lost in a story. Hopefully we’ll be starting a book club soon…and most of these recommended reads are courtesy of NPR (actually all).

  • Mrs. Bridge
  • Spooner by Pete Dexter
  • When Wanderers Cease to Roam: A Traveler’s Journal of Staying Put, by Vivian Swift
  • Travels in a Thin Country: A Journey Through Chile, by Sara Wheeler
  • The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders, by Emmanuel Guibert, Didier Lefevre
  • The Color of Lightning, by Paulette Jiles
  • The Gone-Away World, by Nick Harkaway
  • What Happened to Anna K, by Irina Reyn ( This is a re-make of sorts of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, one of my faves)

More from NPR…

Mystery books http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111743357

Carry-On books http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91364064

Lately

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It’s been a while since I’ve written. Things are much the same. I have resigned (resigned is the wrong word) to life in Fayetteville. It’s been more of an attitude change than anything else. I realized it is a great place to live, I have friends and family here. And, I don’t want to waste my life wondering what will become of it. So… that’s where I am, same job, same house, same car, different attitude. Sortof.

My attitude-adjustment has a lot to do with one of my friends moving back to the area and the possibility for more. We have a delightful business idea that will probably never come to fruition. We want to buy and renovate an old theater and show indie movies and serve adult beverages.

There was a tornado warning the other night. I was so scared I made Robert pile into the bathtub with me, Opal and Wiggles. We sat in there for 20 minutes, listening to the radio, flashlight in hand before I became convinced that it had passed.

I am currently looking forward to taking my beloved boyfriend to my beloved New Orleans. I absolutely cannot wait. I have about 20 restaurants to pack into 9 meals. I think Robert will love it as much as I do. We’re staying with my bestie, Sara in her lovely adult flat. I am counting down the days. 15 days. I have some crash dieting to attend to.

My mom is doing this crazy diet called HCG. It basically tricks your body into thinking that you’re pregnant and in a famine, so it burns fat and you can only eat 500 calories. I told her that’s anorexia, but apparently it’s not. She looks amazing. I’m jealous but too lazy to do anything about it.

Oprah is having a karaoke contest. Last night, Lydia (my friend who just moved back to town) and I dragged our high school friend Chris and our new friend Korey (with a K) to You know Uno. When we arrived, we were the only participants, we sang and sang. I sang “Son of a preacher man”, “The nearness of you” and “Cry me a river”; a duet with Lyd on “I wanna dance with somebody”, “Never gonna get it” and with Chris on “I’ll be there”. I need to add to my repertoire. Lydia sang a stunning rendition of  “And I’m telling you” from dreamgirls. I recorded her on that one, but her camera ran out of memory a verse into it. I guess we’ll have to repeat the performance if we want to submit to the big O.

Winter has come early but life is good. Going to get my boyfriend to retrieve my winter shoes from the attic tonight and eat dinner with some girlfriends. I’m looking forward to it all. I am a sponge.