The Midlife Woman » gifts

Diamonds, a Valentines Day Necessity?

Kathleen — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:35:48 +0000

Valentine’s Day is only a few weeks away. I prefer not to “go big” on this ancient, and nowadays excessively commercialized, day of love. You see, our wedding anniversary is barely one month later, and to me a more appropriate reason to splurge. This year we are celebrating 25 years of marriage, woo hoo!

I‘m a practical woman or perhaps midlife has matured that youthful dreamy romantic gene. Either way, I never was a material girl. An expensive yet beautiful bouquet of roses is a waste of money in my opinion. Moreover, my thinking is diamonds are appropriate for long lasting love occasions. An expensive anniversary or engagement-sized diamond is an excessive gift for Valentines Day in my humble opinion. Rings or another jewelry piece with sparkling diamond accent chips is more acceptable for a Valentines Day gift. After all, how many pieces of fine jewelry do I really need?

In fact, when hubby and I married, my diamond engagement ring was handed down. It was a beautiful, old-fashioned setting, mind you. One of those charming engagement rings where the small diamond is surrounded in platinum, illuminating sparkles with the grand illusion of a large diamond and set on a gold band. I was quite happy to be given that diamond engagement ring.

This fact gnawed at the hubby. He sincerely believed a BIG diamond was something I should be blessed with. Knowing what he really thought was truly a beautiful display of love and more than enough for me. On our 10^th anniversary hubby prevail over my practicality and purchased a marquise cut diamond ring. I have to admit it is a sparkling beauty; I love the diamond ring. The elongated shape adds length to my short finger and brilliant colors sparkle in nearly any lighting. It was well worth waiting for although the hubs may not agree.

Diamond Facts

Similar to radiant cut diamonds, the marquise diamond is a multifaceted cut. However, the marquise radiates a bow-tie effect when light reflects on it. It produces an effect of dancing lights and radiates in the sun. This characteristic has been credited for its wide popularity among engagement rings.

For the ultimate representation in a diamond ring, one can purchase a heart diamond; that is, a diamond cut and polished in the shape of a heart. Many claim by doing so results in the loss of potential brilliance and fire. In other words, the intense brightness and those spectral sparks of blue and green, yellow and red are lost in the cut. However, did you know that some cut diamonds possess hearts and arrows?

According to whietflash engagement rings, “With special viewers it is possible to clearly see a pattern of eight symmetrically spaced arrows when observed from the top, and eight symmetrical hearts when viewed from the bottom of the diamond. By combining optical symmetry with outstanding proportions and impeccable finish, diamonds will perform at peak levels with regard to brightness, scintillation, and dispersion (otherwise known as brilliance, sparkle, and fire)”

Twenty-five years of marriage hasn’t changed my view on Valentines Day gifts. I still prefer a small gift of love and time together rather than an elaborate, expensive gift of diamonds. A box of fine chocolates or better yet, a box of chocolates from our local Chocolatier Norman Love is a superb presentation of love. Even at midlife, date night with dinner and a movie, is another appropriate and romantic Valentines Day gift and one I’m still rather fond of too.

How about you, what is your opinion on diamond rings and Valentines Day gifts?

Kathleen

Hey, there I'm Kathleen. My friends call me Kathy; to my kids I'm Momia. Life has afforded me many hats: Mom, wife, sister, friend, business owner... and most recently a midlife blogger. From college to marriage and babies, in the midst of business and wealthy boomers, midlife retrospection validates this extraordinary journey called life.

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Shopping Alert | Free HTC EVO 4G from Sprint

Kathleen — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:42:59 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

This post brought to you by Sprint. All opinions are 100% mine.

Smart phones are one of the hottest gifts this season! I have wanted a tablet for a long time now and Sprint helped to make my dream come true. Sprint is offering such awesome deals hubby ordered me a new smartphone for Christmas… Woo Hoo! In fact, the EVO 4G deals are so affordable, we bought Red an HTC EVO Design as well. He loves the 4G speed, anywhere information accessibility, and some pretty darn amazing apps too. Oh and lets not forget the music, gotta have tunes right?

We have been Sprint customers since the early nineties. I have to say that of all the cable, cell phone, and internet providers we have experienced Sprint has the best customer service of them all. This testimony combined with the great holiday deals on Android™ powered EVO 4G or EVO™ Shift devices should be motivation enough however, for a limited time get waived activation for new lines of service and free shipping from Sprint as well!

What are you waiting for???? Go here http://bit.ly/rBqHmY for the activation waiver and here fo: Android™ powered EVO 4G devices such as the HTC EVO™ 4G or EVO™ Shift for FREE.

This Special is for a limited time so you better hurry on over to Sprint.com to take adavntage of this awesome deal, I sure did!

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukah !

Kathleen

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Looking Good, Seeing Well | The Gift of Sight

Kathleen — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 05:21:05 +0000

Having poor vision sucks. You see both of my sons wear corrective lenses and my youngest wore glasses since he was 15 months old. Becoming of age, they jumped at the chance to wear contact lenses. I fully understood their excitement, or so I thought. At the time, my vision was perfect. In reality, the closest vision association I could make was a pair of womens sunglasses. Living in Florida, the UV rays deem sunglasses a necessity, especially on those beach and boating days! While I did become accustomed to wearing sunglasses, they were never really was comfortable.

Midlife has brought on the “vision blues” if you will. Needing correction with both near and far vision, I chose traditional glasses over contact lenses. The idea of purchasing both contacts and glasses seemed overindulgent and a tad vain to be honest. The eye doctor offered contact lenses with individual prescriptions, one for near sighted and the other far. OMG there was no way my eyes would work independently!

Today I went to renew my drivers’ license and the woman said, “Try to read line five without your glasses. If you can read it, an eyeglass restriction will not be added to your license.” Pushing my forehead against the machine, line five appeared as a complete blur. No amount of squinting or switching of the eyes could make that line readable! My sons anguish back then is a reality for me now. I did however have the photo taken without my glasses!

Many contact wearers would agree 1-800 Contacts is a well know and reputable vision retailer. My sons and my niece have and do shop there. Those of us who choose traditional glasses usually expect to pay quite a bit more for good vision, which brings me to the reason for this post. Did you know 1 800 contacts now sells eyeglasses? They have a new sister sight, www.glasses.com, woo hoo!

Let’s evaluate shopping at Glasses.com…

Buy ‘em online = convenient. Virtual “Try On Application” = perfect style. Include a thirty-day “No Questions Asked” return policy, one-year manufacturer frame warranty, AND a replacement deal on damaged glasses; sign me up!!!

I browsed the site and found plenty of fashionable, quality frames that are reasonably priced. Brands such as By Brand, 7 For All Mankind, Jones New York, Kay Unger, MODO, Oakley, and Phoebe Couture are available for the entire family.

Thinking Florida sun, these Baby Phat womens sunglasses grabbed my attention. Described as being infused with trend, fun, and excitement, I would definitely sport these!

In addition to fair prices and fashionable frames by reputable manufacturers the broken glasses replacement program offered by glasses.com is priceless! Sunglasses or traditional, being a mother who had two young boys wearing glasses I can attest to the importance of buying quality frames. The savings achieved with cut-rate frames is not worth the troubles broken glasses cause much less the cost of replacing them. This program offers 50% replacement cost for the first year of the same or comparable frames. Finally, Live Chat is available to answer questions and assist in the purchase of glasses.

I’m a firm believer in giving gifts that fulfill needs before wants. Hubby is in need and long over due for new glasses. I’m shopping the men’s line of glasses tomorrow. After all, free shipping in addition to the wide selection of styles, warranty, and awesome replacement plan are a great incentive for looking good and seeing well. This holiday season will include the gift of sight for my family!

Kathleen

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