New Edit/Remix: Mary J answers "All I Want Is You"

Not Today (all I want is you bridge)

Cosmo Baker - Love Break 3

Two dope mixtapes out this past week that actually got me pretty hyped - this is the first, made by a dude who obviously really loves soul music on it's own terms. This is the 3rd chapter of his already legendary "Love Break" series. Respect and thanks to the homie Cosmo.

Love Break Three - The Heart's Final Chapter by cosmobaker

String Figures: La Guardia student portraits by Robin Moore

source: this guy's string figure website

via this splendid blog

RIP Kwanz

http://djstef.blogspot.com/2010/11/rip-kwanz-aka-dubstarrick-flare-of.html

The Soil

The colour of the Nile

The Bride's dress was described as being 'eau de nil' the colour of the nile. (From the French eau de nil: eau, water, and Nil, the Nile.) Other 'colour names' currently listed (in the incomplete list) on the wiktionary page for 'colour names' that begin with the letter 'E' include: ecru, eggshell, emerald green, ebony, eggshell blue, electric-blue, emerald. FYI I recommend the Wikipedia page on colours for a far more complete list.

Must admit I am rather hypnotized by this photograph of 'couture fantasia' from the finale of Christian Lacroix's fall 2009 Couture show.

Climbing Bank Vole

The cold weather has made the Bank Voles in the garden much bolder. One has taken to climbing an ivy-covered fence to get at some fat balls in a feeder hanging nearby. At least three others feed below it.



Videoscoped with Canon Powershot A640 and Leica APO77x20

New Blend: Come Around/Deuces

Here's something I made yesterday to the smell of apple pie baking from scratch.

Collie buddz - come around (b.cause doouces blend) by djbcause

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, jewelry hounds. Turkey jewelry doesn't seem like a good idea, but these items just cracked me up.

Be sure to carbo load for that Black Friday blitz tomorrow!

Andreas Gursky

Kuwait Stock Exchange 2007, Baharain 2005, Dortmund 2009

A few musings for this week....

Im so so so busy right now guys its ridiculous! I just cant win! *sigh*





For those of you who dont know me, *I am Naomi and I am a workaholic* lol, well no, but I do have 2 jobs. By day I am a nursery nurse and early years worker and I have to say I absolutely LOVE my job! I work for an education supply agency at the moment where I have been placed temping in a local college nursery. I have been there for a couple of months now and love my days there working with their toddlers. They are so much fun and make everyday different. A lively little bunch who forever keep me on my toes and I adore them all! I will be a very sad girly when the time comes when they no longer need me *sigh*.



By night and weekends I work in a theatre, which is also so much fun. I work front of house at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, we have some great shows and its such a priveledge being able to see so much theatre on a regular basis. Fast approaching us is panto season, *ohhhhhhh yes it is!* we have the fabulous Christopher Biggins as our lead this year and I am absolutely bursting to meet him! I hope he is as nice in real life as he is on T.V, otherwise my world is gonna be so sad! I also heard on the grapevine a few days ago that we have a massive star coming to do a show with us in February! Matthew Lewis who plays the character of Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter movies will be with us in our yearly Agatha Christie fix, this year its a play called 'Verdict'. I have to say every year that they come I absolutely LOVE the Agatha Christie shows which we get but this time I am even more excited to see it arrive! Roll on Feb!!!



But yeh, with all of this, life as Naomi is pretty busy, I do 8 hour days at nursery then most nights and weekends I go straight to work at the theatre. I cant complain though, it keeps me and my shopping addiction very, very happy for the moment! I have purchased so much stuff just recently! I am currently on the hunt for my awesome Big Girls Paradise outfit for their Xmas event on December 11th! I think I may have stumbled upon an awesome dress from eBay, heres a pic...

I am awaiting its arrival then I shall get some pics up! What do you think?



I really cant wait to do another OOTD but Ive literally lived in my uniform over the past few weeks! Ive had so much new stuff of recent and it just hasnt seen the light of day! Also I have a week off on the 6th December where I am hoping to get round to having a massive clear out and eBay sale! Keep an eye out!

Ohhhhh a quick favour, do any of you lovely ladies have any recommendations for a good lash glue?!?! I usually use the ones which come with the lashes but they arent very good the majority of the time! Help?

Until next time guys...Big Love <3>

The Real Rarity of Gemstones

So at the end of my last posting I mentioned that you could forgo diamonds and get some of those purple sapphires I love so much....but maybe not. People tend to forget that the product that I deal with (truly fine quality gem materials) is actually in relatively short supply. A number of jobs I've taken on recently have shown just how short the supply really is. The piece pictured here is a new pendant that I just finished up. The center stone is a black (well more grey than black) South Sea mobe pearl. A few years ago I got my hands on a small (very small) collection of a few of these round beauties. Since then I haven't been able to get a single one of any quality.

Two years ago I took an order in for a pair of carved spectrolite faces (like this one) that I so like to work with. The stones had to match a pendant that my customer had bought from me. I kept ordering stones and the carver kept sending me labradorite (which is a lighter color material usually with speckles in it), which of course didn't match. I've been after my supplier to keep at him about getting the right material and, while I kept getting nice faces none were what I needed. Then earlier this year another customer of mine came to me and wanted me to get a matched pair of faces similar to these but with the faces facing each other. So I placed the order for those as well as the smaller ones I was looking for. When they came in finally guess what? They were also labradorite. Pretty but no comparison. So after many discussions with my supplier she finally found out from the carver that he had, in fact, run out of spectrolite material entirely and was running out of carvable labradorite as well. The only other material my supplier has been seeing (uncarved spectrolite) has nothing near the colors or intensity that all of my older cut faces had.

I also recently took in an engagement ring order from a very nice couple who spent a few hours with me. They picked out a design (this one) but they saw a very nice lighter toned blue/purple color shift sapphire that I had from my regular sapphire supplier but it was round and the design takes an oval stone. So I first went to my primary suppliers but no ovals were to be had in this color range. I expanded my search. I went to a number of other suppliers I have used in the past and eventually a few new ones as well. The first thing I realized when I started seeing the stones they sent me was that the stones I now sell are even better than I realized. Most of the ones sent to me were dark, poorly cut, windowed, included and all over the place in color. When I finally got the other suppliers all focused on the actual color I wanted, no one (so far, although I have more stones coming in this week) could actually produce a single stone that was an exact match to the one in my case. I have one or two that are close. I have one or two that are actually pretty. But it surely isn't like when I want a blue sapphire where I can get a bunch in whatever size or shape I want almost immediately.

So what's my point you might be asking. Well I have a couple. The first is that while there is a plethora of junk out there, the existence of high quality stones is in fact fairly rare, especially when dealing with things that are out of the ordinary. The second is that we are, in fact, running out of material at a fairly rapid pace. Fine quality gem material is a rarity, not a commonplace thing. With the booming Asian markets absorbing huge amounts of the remaining high quality materials, Americans being ever more concerned about the price of things (and hence gem dealers offering the better goods to Asia first), and the depletion of many of the world's most prolific mines we are going to see less and less high grade, fine gem material. I wouldn't ever consider the purchasing of gems to be an investment but if you want your grandchildren to be able to own some of this better material it might be a good time to invest in a few pieces to pass down.

The pendant is 18k and 22k yellow gold with chrome tourmalines, a pink sapphire and a diamond and is currently available.

Lady Di Sample Sale Steals The Spotlight

Let the royal wedding jewelry games begin, my fellow bauble lovers. It's official. Everyone and their mother wants a Princess Di-inspired piece of jewelry for the holidays.

I have to admit - much like those wily obituary writers who have their Keith Richards piece done WAY in advance  - I've been waiting for the Prince William proposal to rock the celebrity jewelry world for quite some time now.

I mean, c'mon, lad! Eight years is enough!

So. I had all my ducks in a row when the stars aligned last week and apparently - so did sample sale site sensation, JewelClub. 

While jewelry manufacturers are scrambling to get their Lady Di merchandise in stores for the holiday shopping season, JewelClubers already have a collection curated, priced and ready to go - today.

Of course I pored over their Lady Di Sample Sale stash that went live at midnight - and they have the Kate ring up the wazoo for folks who want a replica. But they go one better by including royalty-inspired sapphire styles that allow women to put their own personal stamp on the trend. Cool.

Not only that - but they've thrown in a nod to the other royals who've walked down the aisle in emeralds, rubies and other gems to boot. (Did you know Fergie wore a ruby engagement ring? I guess her poor decision-making skills started after the divorce.)

We've got until the clock strikes twelve on Wednesday to take advantage of their generous pricing (up to 80% off retail) before our princess fantasies turn into proverbial pumpkins. So get on it jewelry hounds and gift givers! It doesn't get much bigger than this in terms of trend meeting taste.

 

Even Keith Richards would be impressed. Alive. And impressed.

Google Streetview Finds: part II

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