Birthday wishes and dentist visits

Happy birthday to my big sister!

In other news, I paid a visit to my dentist today, where they thoroughly scolded me for not flossing enough. I hate it when they do that. Still, I got a free purple toothbrush out of it, so I suppose I can't complain too much.

The neighborhood where my dentist is located is very posh, as evidenced by the high-falutin' stores surrounding it (Dior, Gucci, Vera Wang, Barneys, Jimmy Choo). Because of this, I always make sure I dress decently to avoid looking like riffraff. As I was walking out of there today, I ran into what is probably typical neighborhood clientele - a woman wearing a sleeveless black dress, yellow shoes, and (I am not making this up) matching yellow gloves that came halfway up her forearms.

All she needed was a yellow pillbox hat and we would have been transported to tea at the Ritz in the 1960s.

I also stuck my nose at the many jewelry store windows to gape and dream about the shiny, pretty things displayed - there was a Van Cleef & Arpels, a Bulgari, and the ubiquitous Tiffany's, where I spent some time dreaming over their jewelry. I saw a necklace of diamonds, a sapphire and diamond eternity ring, and a beautiful pearl choker.

Lest I felt deprived being surrounded by all those goodies, I did treat myself to two things: a chicken empanada and a pair of fuzzy blue slippers. Coupled with my free toothbrush, I'd say it was a good shopping day indeed.

Trappings

Listening to:
Pictures of You - The Last Goodnight
The Way I Am - Ingrid Michaelson
First Time - Lifehouse
Teenagers - My Chemical Romance
Penny On The Train Track - Ben Kweller
Slow Me Down - Emmy Rossum

Reading: Sin and Scandal In England by Melody Thomas

Watching:
Heroes
The Office

Skeptical about: Prison Break

Broke up with: Grey's Anatomy

Drooling over: the apartments here

Snacking on: bananas dipped in melted Lindt dark chocolate

Movie lineup:
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
The Kingdom
The Jane Austen Book Club

Obsessing over:
1) Whether Lindsay Lohan is truly rehabilitated
2) When will JLo and Christina Aguilera finally admit to their pregnancies
3) My new dress from Target that shrunk in the dryer
4) The fact that my two cats are too fat
5) Yulia Tymoshenko's braids
6) How I have no clue what I'm doing in my fantasy football league

More butterflies

I have to confess, I ended up loving this piece so much that I just might keep it for myself. I have this black v-neck minidress that would look adorable with this! But...I know, I can't get too greedy. I must stop absconding with the inventory or I won't have much of a business at the end of this endeavor!

The pendant is a carved butterfly made of bone, with a strand of coral beads on sterling silver wire. The necklace is approximately 16", and the butterly pendant is 2" in length and 1.5" high.

New toys

Our credit card company has this awesome program where for every time you charge something on it, you earn points, which can eventually be redeemed for all kinds of stuff. After years of saving the points, we finally earned enough to redeem a gift card from Best Buy, part of which was used for my new 3rd generation iPod Nano! I've been busy playing with it and putting it through its paces - the colored screen for watching videos is awesome. It is also INCREDIBLY tiny - a mere 2.5" x 2", and the thickness is an almost insubstantial 6 MILLIMETERS! I can't get over it - I can probably fit this baby in my pocket. I hesitate in taking it anywhere with me for fear of breaking it.

I got the Nano to replace my now defunct Mini, which would betray me by running out of power after the first five minutes of my commute. I hope this one performs better!



The other thing we used the gift card was for a new 37" flat screen TV. We had a bit of an adventure with it at Best Buy. Mr. Hazel Designs and I didn't think the TV would be *that* big, so we stupidly brought his tiny, two-seater sports car, thinking we could probably fit the TV in the trunk. Turned out the box it came in was way bigger than we expected, so Mr. HD had to drive home in his car so he could pick mine up instead (a much bigger 4-door Toyota), and then drive back to the store. Alas...the box still would not fit. So our Best Buy salesman, rather than have us pay for delivery, instead offered to drive home our TV in his pickup truck. I drove my car while Mr. HD rode with the salesman...talk about going beyond the call of duty. We made sure to get the name of the salesman's manager so he can be amply rewarded for his good deed towards obviously amateur flat screen TV purchasers.

If the whole adventure wasn't enough to make me a loyal Best Buy customer, this weekend was also tax-free weekend at the store, and they matched the price of the TV to Circuit City's lower price. I'm not used to such competent and generous customer service (I'm talking to both of you, Sprint PCS and Zara!), so it was a wonderful surprise to find it in my neighborhood electronics store.

My wine personality

Took this from my cousin's blog, who always has interesting things to say.

You Are Chardonnay

Fresh, spirited, and classic - you have many facets to your personality. You can be sweet and light. Or deep and complex. You have a little bit of something to offer everyone... no wonder you're so popular. Approachable and never smug, you are easy to get to know (and love!). Deep down you are: Dependable and modest Your partying style: Understated and polite Your company is enjoyed best with: Cold or wild meat

What Kind of Wine Are You?

I find it hilarious that I apparently party "politely". That makes me sound like I have a stick up my ass! Mmm, wild meat...

Turquoise earrings

I'm multitasking by 1) working on a new piece consisting of corals and a bone pendant, and 2) mulling over a design idea involving citrines and a blue cameo pendant (just thinking about it makes me salivate!).

In the meantime, I whipped up this pair of turquoise earrings for myself, to wear to work tomorrow. I've been saving these stones for something special (I particularly love the robin's egg blue color), but I couldn't resist taking two for myself. Hee.

Obsessed

Part of the reason why I started creating - which involves playing with interesting gemstones to my heart's content - is to feed my insatiable obsession with jewelry - earrings, rings, necklaces, bracelets. Collecting and playing with gemstones and hoarding jewelry components partly satisfies my urge for shiny, pretty things.

One aspect of this obsession is my love of vintage and/or antique diamond rings. When my big sister received her engagement ring years ago, I instantly fell in love with her lavish vintage filigree ring and the meticulous and ornate detailing. It was graceful, unique. For years, I fervently wanted one just like it - easily the most beautiful ring I have ever seen. When my own engagement came, Mr. Hazel Designs granted my wish and gave me a ring similar to my sister's - an Art Deco platinum ring with a bezel setting and delicate filigree all around.

Thus began my obsession with antique rings. I can't get enough of it. Even though it's been some time since I received my ring, I still stare at it practically every hour and fall in love with it all over again. But, having my dream ring hasn't stopped my habit of scouring antique shops for more, so indulge me for a moment while I post some of my favorites below.

This is from one of my favorite online stores, Topazery. It is a late Edwardian style white gold ring from the 1920s with an Old Mine cut diamond weighting .93 carats. Notice all that yummy, lacy filigree.

And this is a gorgeous platinum deco ring from Antique Jewelry, with a 1.25 carat Old European cut diamond.

And lately, I've also fallen in love with halo settings like the the Tiffany Legacy ring, inspired by this antique original from Fay Cullen, containing a champagne colored cushion cut diamond.

And finally, this one is a lavish Edwardian white gold ring from NYC Diamond District merchant Israel Rose.