Why Are You Still Shopping In An Actual Store?

Ugh.  My guess is there's only one sales person on the floor.

Signs of the Christmas holiday have been present since before Halloween, but I really don't get in the mood until Thanksgiving approaches.  As a former retail queen, Christmas after Labor Day is abhorrent to me, but since I watch retail from the sidelines these days, I do have an early interest in who will win the black belt of shopping this year - Black Friday vs.Cyber Monday.  Will 2013 be the first year internet sales top brick and mortar sales during the holiest of shopping days - Black Friday weekend?

We all know why on line shopping beats store shopping.  Where else can you score awesome deals and drink, smoke, eat, have your own clean bathroom nearby, yell at your kids, and talk to your sister on the phone all while visiting ten stores at basically the same time (depending on your computer skills).  On-line shopping also protects us from some of the more nefarious store shopping cultures like rude shoppers, profiling, parking lot rage, snotty sales associate syndrome, crowds, lack of store stock, filthy bathrooms, long lines with no one to wait on you anyway, and trans fat only food court offerings.  Not to mention that recently, for some unknown reason, malls have become a target for psychopaths.

Victorian shopper's rage...Bitch stole my lace jabot!

So, tell me, why would you subject yourself to a Victorian way of shopping?  On line shopping is safe, secure, convenient and easy, not to mention a world-wide selection at your fingertips!  Happy Cyber shopping!

Babies Are The New Jewelry!

I'm constantly checking out celebrities looking for new jewelry trends but this year all I see are babies and baby bumps.  In fact, babies have become the new celebrity jewelry.  Babies are hanging off arms where bracelets and watches should be.  Looking back, I remember my bracelets, earrings and big rings had to go for fear my babies would be scratched.  So sad.

There have been so many celebrity babies born this year the east and west coasts have been virtual hatching stations.  One could reverse menopause just by visiting.  Penelope Cruz and Hillary Scott from Lady Antebellum gave birth on the same date as the Duchess, and JImmy Fallon and his wife welcomed a daughter yesterday.  Other celebrity and pseudo celebrity baby explosions of note this year include Anna Chlumsky, Elton John and David Furnish, Shakira, Michael Lohan and Kate Major, Perez Hilton, Amber Rose and Wiz Khalifa, Holly Madison (of Playmate fame), Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard, beauty Malin Ackerman, Channing and his wife, Jenna Dewan-Tatum, Jessica Simpson, and Busy Phillips, Jenna Bush-Hager, Jeremy Renner's girlfriend (surprise!), Lisa Ling, and Kim Kardashian and Kanye West just to name a few.  How odd that we haven't seen Kim and Kanye's baby yet but we've already seen the Prince of Cambridge.  Perhaps it's because Kate and William don't need to sell the photos.

Kate showing her post-delivery baby bump.  No rush here to look like she's never been pregnant. 
Perhaps she will start a new trend.

Ex-Tiffany's Executive Allegedly Stole $1.3 Million Worth of Jewelry!

There will be no more blue boxes for former Tiffany Vice President, Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun, who was seized Tuesday by FBI agents in her Darien, CT, home for allegedly stealing $1.3 million of jewelry from the company.  She has been accused of stealing over 165 pieces of jewelry over the past two years and selling them to an international jewelry buyer and reseller. 

First of all, Darien, CT is 85 out of 100 on the Forbes Llst of "America's Most Expensive Zip Codes" so I find it hard to believe she did it for the money unless something nefarious is going on in the Lederhaas-Okus homestead.

Let me just say, we who work in the jewelry industry, are by far, the most honest people in the workforce.  We must be.  We are surrounded by diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires and pearls every day.  We work with some of the most desirable commodities available to the human race, other than drugs (FYI-jewelry are drugs to some women I know).  As a result, jewelry associates must be 100% impervious to the "temptations of the bauble". You must think of it as stuff...as if you worked in a garbage dump; or a dung recycling factory.  Something hideous.  Otherwise you would be stuffing tennis bracelets into your shoes everyday and sweating it out as you exit the co-worker security door. 

Perhaps Ms. Lederhosen, the executive, blurred the lines.  She may have become a little too comfortable with the casualness of it all and thought those 165 pieces of jewelry she hocked as HER actual stuff.

Before...

After...

 

Mindy Kaling Says Little Women Need To Wear Big Jewelry...Makes Perfect Sense

I've always thought petite women needed to wear larger jewelry.  Even if it's only one piece like a bracelet or a statement necklace.  Alas, many smaller girls insist on wearing "why bother" gems that get lost on their bod's.

Mindy Kaling, from The Office and The Mindy Project, says..."I have an overtly 'new money' aesthetic -- I am the child of immigrants after all!" admits Massachusetts native Kaling. "I like jewelry that's big. I like conspicuous jewelry!" "For the most part, I like for my jewelry to make me feel dainty -- not the other way around."  That makes perfect sense to me.  Obviously, her Dartmouth degree is in Defensible Image Shopping and Acquisition of Overly Expensive Goods.

As the actress explains, her collection of baubles is so impressive that it often attracts extra attention. "At the airport, it takes me 30 minutes to get through security with all of my jewelry," jokes the star, 33. One of Kaling's favorite pieces in her collection is a vintage rose gold 1968 Rolex oyster watch.

18K Rose Gold Day Date President's Rolex Watch, circa 1973, $14,950.
1stdibs

Mother's Day Musings....

Mother's and Sleep......

Mothers are basically part of a scientific experiment 
to prove that sleep is not a crucial part of human life. ~ Unknown

  

Speaks for itself...

So nice you can sleep in it...Louis Vuitton Eole Monogram 50 Rolling Duffle Bag.
 Retail:  $2210   Bella Tutto:  $1700. 
New at bellatutto.com

Mother's Day Musings....

Part III - Baking Pies.....

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie...Inspirational Quotes on Mothers Day by: Tenneva Jordan

No wonder she didn't care for pie...

Pie she will love...Roberto Coin 18K White Gold 3.23tcw Diamond Circle of Life Necklace.
Retail Price:  $7500...Bella Tutto Price:  $4500 at bellatutto.com

Mother's Day Musings....

Here's Part II of important messages about Mother and her upcoming breakfast in bed festival.....

Making a decision to have a child--it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. 
Inspirational Quotes on Mothers Day by: Elizabeth Stone

Don't you think this would look nice on her wrist?  Just move those babies a little to the left.   
David Yurman Hampton Blue 10mm Renaissance Bracelet...Retail Price:  $4800...$2595 at bellatutto.com!

Mother's Day Musings....

The lullaby is the spell whereby the mother 

attempts to transform herself back from an ogre to a saint.
Inspirational Quotes on Mothers Day by: James Fenton

Mother's Day is quickly approaching and in recognition of our upcoming awesome day, I'm posting some warm and fuzzy musings about what it means to be a mom, along with gift ideas available to you from bellatutto.com - a website that offers designer jewelry at discount prices.  Give your mother jewelry and she will forgive you for all those nights you came home drunk during high school.

Better than wire hangers...David Yurman Cable Classics 7mm Silver Ice Bracelets.  $1095 ~ $1795 at bellatutto.com

 

Bad Guys From Home Alone Rob KFC Instead of Jewelry Store

Two men in Australia with the same skill set as the bad guys from Home Alone attempted to rob a jewelry store for the third time on New Year's Eve.  However, rather than break into the store stocked with jewelry and gems, they landed in the restroom of the KFC next door, much to the surprise of the employees who were on duty at the time.  Undaunted by the prospect of winding up with wings and thighs instead of diamonds and pearls, they immediately robbed the KFC staff, making off with $2600.  The two robbers, Dwayne (always a Dwayne) Doolan and Peter Welsh, were later apprehended by police.

Determined to get into this store, the first time they threw spark plugs at the window hoping to shatter it and enter that way.  When that didn't work, they decided to break in through the back door but wound up in a nearby animal shelter store making off with $50 from a donation box (nice).  Their last attempt brought them into the bathroom of the KFC.

Could they have been going after these...

Poultry Jewelry - From L-R: Gem-set and diamond brooch by Michele della Valle; diamond and colored stone chicken brooch; and a diamond, colored stone and enamel brooch, Raymond Yard, circa 1930