kattitudes

Honey, if you are feeling up to more carpentry work, I could really use some of these bookshelves in the kitchen dining room by the stairs.

It would make a wonderful Christmas gift, quite honestly. And whilst I really do need the jewelry tools we talked about for the business and I have fun listing all the big girl toys you always ask me to list, if we don’t get some bookshelves in the house I am going to be reduced to burning books.

I know it is not the romantic gift that you prefer to find, and it is one of those practical type gifts that you abhor having to purchase, but nonetheless, see the above paragraph about burning books. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

See, here is one of the categorical drawbacks of being a bench jeweler. There are no more surprises. When you know the outrageous prices that jewelers charge for their jewelry, you know that there is no way on God’s green earth you are going to send your Mister, unescorted, out into the world anymore for anything even marginally related to jewelry.

Now granted, my Mister has purchased for me some of the most gorgeous jewelry this side of our budget that has ever been seen. I finally own a few antique pieces I grew up thinking would perennially be out of my reach.

But now that I am, as the vernacular states, in the know, I cannot let him out anymore, knowing that I can put together a ring for literally a fraction of what the bloodsuckers will demand from him.

It stinks!

The biggest part of this stinking is the demise of our Christmas Tradition.

Now you have to understand, the Christmas Tradition came about wholly and completely on the part of my Mister, with no prompting and completely unbeknownst to me.

It was the Christmas two months and thirteen days before our wedding day proper. At the conclusion of our Christmas morning festivities, my amazing Mister reached into the heart of our fourteen (yes, fourteen! what a challenge that was to clean up after) foot Christmas tree and pulled out a tiny blue box. If you are a female and breathing, you *know* what that means. (Note: I originally wrote the tree was 12 feet, but my Mister read that and corrected me. Apparently it was 14 feet. We lived in a loft at the time and the clean up was staggering. I tried to blank that part out of my mind. My brother in law {the monkey} had to shimmy up a water pipe to put the star on top. It was a massive tree.)

Nestled inside was the first of what has come to be known as our Christmas Tradition. Simply put, every year, I get a piece of jewelry for Christmas. The Mister told me early on that our Tradition reflects our year; feast or famine. If it was a good year for us, it is an extraordinarily lovely Christmas Tradition. If from a budgetary standpoint, it was a famine year, the Christmas Tradition reflects that. But regardless of our feast or famine status, my wonderful Mister has always pulled out that small box.

That amazing man can pull all types of misdeeds and stumble through endless misnomers all year long, but everything becomes water under the bridge come December 25th when he reaches into that tree and pulls out that tiny box for the year. He’s a smart fellow, you know? Born diplomat, that one.

Jewelry just fascinates me. It is one item that mankind absolutely does not need, but one item that we will literally start wars over. Jewelry. I finally decided to make it a profession when someone (I can’t even remember who now) pointed out to me that the first thing I noticed on a person (always) was their jewelry!

I love jewelry. I don’t care what type, what it is made from, where it has been recently, if it is plastic or paper or real or not, I just love adornments. I love the whole kit and caboodle.

And so now that I know a little more about jewelry and how to make it and how to find it a little less expensively than the Average Joe…well, the thought of sending my Mister out for my Christmas Tradition almost breaks me out in hives.

Gone are the days I can dream about these. Now I try to aim my Traditions as low as possible. I don’t want the Mister taken advantage of. And knowing what I do know now, if he’s in a jewelry store and breathing, well - there ya go.

And now, as I am working on making more of these type of pretty toys, rather than dreaming about waking up Christmas morning on a feast year, I wake in the hopes that this is the year that my Mister didn’t go overboard. It is just too easy for me to find and make the pieces myself.

So, it is with a heavy heart that I, in good conscience, bid my Christmas Tradition goodbye. I cannot let it continue, knowing that I can save the family budget so significantly.

However, if there are any bench jewelers out there that would be willing to work out a reciprocal Christmas Tradition agreement, I would love to talk.

This year, I am hoping for a simple white gold lever back basket set (or bezel set, either works) pair of pink stone earrings. Sapphire, topaz or kunzite. I need something that I can put in and leave in that are safe through daily workout sessions (including swimming sessions). And yes, I know we are supposed to take out our jewelry, but I don’t.

That is what I hope to find in my little blue box this year. I will admit, I have received what I hoped for in my box only once in all the years. That is because my Mister has developed quite the reputation as the independent thinker when it comes to choosing the jewelry that he wants to give me. I have never had cause to complain, so if he decides to go with something different, he is very knowledgeable and fun to work with.

This is the man that researched diamonds for months before he bought my engagement diamond (sans setting), then took another year to pick out just the right setting. (For those that understand jewelers speak, he ended up designing a Tacori style with an emerald cut center, with both trillion basket set and round bezels on each side, then had the wedding band with baguettes made to match. Very one off and I obviously adore it).

So, if you are a bench jeweler that would be interested in keeping alive our Christmas Tradition and want to work out an exchange program (I am interested in finding someone that is willing to deal with a like exchange. I can work on your surprise [if you have one] at or near cost in a like for like exchange).

I understand it seems silly, but it’s the surprise that I will miss the most. The moment between seeing that box appear and wondering what will be in it right before I flip that lid open. And if I can find someone that will help my husband keep that surprise, all the better!

I know you asked me to put some Christmas items on my wish list for you.

And I know that you just got me a new laptop this year for my birthday.

But honey.

I didn’t know that Sony came out with this.

Did I mention that it is a Viao?

And I don’t know if I happened to mention this part but… it’s pink. Quit rolling your eyes. They are going to get stuck that way.

I know the color doesn’t make a difference, but it’s pink, Bean.

Pink. And a Viao.

I just wanted to mention that, in case you had any questions or problems or issues that you needed to resolve. Like that little nausea issue that I know is plaguing you from the second you started reading this. Honey, quit rolling your eyes.

via things that I know will cause you physical pain to have to purchase but there is still the very minuscule slightest possibility because you know I would adore it. And because you know I use the hell out of my poor beat up trashed little baby Viao still even though you already got me a new laptop. And just as a little fyi, the laptop is $1,250 and is available on SonyStyle.com and Sony Style stores.

Do you remember in the airport in Germany, when the security screener kept asking me if I had anything unusual in my bag and I kept insisting that I didn’t, and it turned out that the lead crystal dressing jar I was carrying had put her in a panic? What a mess.

Well, of course to me it wasn’t unusual! She should have been more specific. (You know, you have so much patience to be traveling with me, dear).

I already have two of the round

and the dressing jar

upstairs, but I never did purchase the cylindrical.

I could use another dressing jar as that is a handy little number, frankly, used for all sorts of things (I was using it to tote a chunk of jewelry back home to Germany at the time of the mixup in the airport).

I’ve been keeping it downstairs lately at my desk to capture all the bits and pieces that come off the jewelry I’m working with, but only because earlier I had used it as a vase for a special birthday bouquet.

I really am in love with this particular dressing jar, which is why I am beginning to think I could easily use another, frankly. But originally, this post started out to tell you that I had never purchased the cylindrical shaped bottle.

So there you have it. I bought them at Penhaligon’s, in that fantastic red store right outside Covent Garden up from your work? The tiny one that you always said smelled (which made sense, being that they were a parfumerie). But somehow, I don’t think you meant it in a positive manner. I don’t mind. In my old age, I’ve noticed that they smell, too.

via Penhaligons

Remember this? Yeah, I cannot decide between the two.

One of the fun things about marrying a super king geek Mister is that we get to be early adopters for so many cool and neato toys. But it also means that a lot of our electronics are just fugly beyond words. Neat to play with, but just not always pretty.

Not a problem anymore, now that we have found silly funky SKYNmobile, where, for the price of a few manicures (which we have been sorely lax about anyway) we can redecorate all of our laptops on a whim (but we are leaving the sacred Viao alone. We don’t mess with our baby V.)

Usually, we are hands off with silly stuff like this, but the makers claim that the skins are not only reusable, but that they will remove cleanly. And with the sizes available ranging from 12 to 17 inches, there is one to fit most standard laptops out there. Hey, with that type of a sales pitch, we can see trying this at least once. Forty dollars is more than a little steep for our tastes, honestly, but it is tempting. Maybe one of those silly things to put on a Christmas wish list.

via: SKYNmobile

I said I needed some rather expensive jewelry tools for Christmas, and this really does count as a jewelry tool. I swear.

Love this! We need emergency equipment anyway. Why not go campy and enjoy the hell out of having to use it? Hello Kitty gives us this great emergency gadget with a hand crank USB cell phone charger, LED flashlight, AM/FM radio. hazard siren, and compass — all in one super-cute pink package. Hey, we might be old, but we still love pink. Always have, probably always will. We tried to adjust to some manly colors to make life easier at home, but sorry. Still pink, so we like this.

Thanks to one of our favorite toy website: engadget.com