End Of The Year Wrap Up

It's been a pretty interesting year in jewelry, fashion and human observation in general.  Here are some of the highlights...

I started off my blog with the one of the most awaited events in a long time: the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Evoking only the best memories of Princess Diana, I felt as if she was happily observing their every move. And who could be lovelier and skinnier than Kate. Her choice of jewels, fashion, and protruding clavicle is on par, but not greater than Diana's was, just like a good daughter-in-law should be: skinny enough so all your friends are envious, but not skinnier than you.  You know Di would have approved.

Oprah...pretending to look interested.

We said goodbye to Oprah this year...thank God.  I was really getting tired of her solving the problems of the world. I think I'm not alone as we all witnessed her new project, OWN, not realize the same level of success as her show. Oprah...please just go away and spend your OWN money.

And who knew so many people were interested in Paula Deen's diamonds? Next to Kim Kardashian, Paula Deen was the most popular blog I wrote. I don't know if it's her diamond rings or that she condones the use of huge amounts of butter, but people really like her.

Next it was the Van Cleef & Arpels, "Set In Style" exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt, a little boutique museum currently in the process of getting a 5th Avenue face-lift. Gorgeous sparkles with stories to match, we got a unique glimpse of the kind of jewelry women rarely wear today. When the occasion calls for it, I can pull some decent diamonds out of my safe, but nothing like the jewelry privileged women wore prior to WWII. Today we can't even smoke, let alone buy a $50,000 VC&A ruby and diamond studded cigarette case to carry them in. Women were so glamorous back then, even with emphysema as their accessory.

FYI - hands down, VC& A had the best holiday windows this year.   Each one had moving parts and told a little French story featuring their magnificent jewels.  What you can't see is the homeless person who was outside the store on the sidewalk loudly begging for money.  Quite a contrast to what was in the windows....

And who the hell knew the earth had spewed up so many big yellow diamonds? It seemed like every other day a 30 carat stone was being unearthed and auctioned off to a couple in Tennessee who looked like they lived in a trailer park. That's the millionaire next door for ya'.

Kim's diamonds on their honeymoon.

I did far too many Google searches of Kim Kardashian this year. What a waste of my time; however, her name was searched for so often I felt I needed to write about her, even if it was to write about what a waste of time she was.

I know they're easy to throw on, but come on...

Then there was Elizabeth Taylor.  An icon for most of her life, she amassed a serious collection of jewelry and art that belied her frivolous love life.  And her contribution to AIDS research cannot be denied. She was unique and generous, even if she lived most of her life in those ridiculous caftans.

I can't wait to see what 2012 has to offer jewelry, fashion and people-wise.

Paula Deen’s Diamonds

Hey Y’all... I’m Pawla Deen and I’m preparin' Pawla’s Breaded and Fried Stick of Butter for y’all today but I can’t lift mah hands because mah dahmonds are so big.  But ah need to lift mah hands so ah cin git out the meatloaf that’s still stuck in the prongs from yesterday…wait, hold on...I'm just gonna use mah teeth to git these last hunks out.  Mah husband tells me to never take mah rings off because he’s afraid ah might lose them - so ah don’t.  Look y'all...I cin see the ground beef through the top of mah dahmonds!

Actual stick of breaded and fried butter.

Seriously, I really like Paula Deen.  Her Chocolate Bread Pudding recipe is the best I’ve ever made and it always turns out great.  But it’s her diamond rings that I love the most.  There is little information out there other than she was robbed of about $100,000 in jewelry (not her diamonds, thankfully) back in 2010 by a skanky housekeeper.  In her husband, Michael Groover's book, My Delicious Life with Paula Deen, you will find a chapter he calls "Shopping for Paula."  He uses three jewelers and especially likes Levy Jewelers in Savannah, GA.  He also mentions A. & E. Jewelers and another jeweler, Michael Ross, in Mobile, AL.  He trusts each one and states that he can call any of them and ask, “What would Paula like,” and they will send something out to him on approval.  If she doesn’t like it, he can send it right back.  

However, I’m not sure I agree with him when he says, “Buy what you like (meaning he buys what he likes, not necessarily what Paula might like).  Unless a man has great taste in jewelry (and I’ve really only met a few over the years who were interested enough to pay that much attention, and they were usually weird and/or controlling), he is much better off shopping with his significant other and selecting something together, or looking in her jewelry box to see what she already has, or maybe calling his trusted selling professional in his favorite store…. another good reason to have that great salesperson who keeps a record of all your wife’s jewelry purchases.

Here is the only close up I could find of Paula’s huge diamond engagement ring.  Not sure of the carat weight but could be as much as 10 carats.

Rumor has it he designed those dahmond rings.  Lucky Pawla...he looks and shops like Santa Claus.