It''s done! A 1.60 J SI2 has found a new home...

[Lynn B]

This thread has gotten SOOOO FUNNY! Josh, I LOL picturing our dear Mara, still rocking and drooling after her psychotic (diamond) break... hilarious! And a Diamond Addiction Recovery Clinic and Hotline... hysterical! Maybe Leonid oughtta start one, and put the link on the PS homepage!

Well, lots of you have me "beat" for sure... but I have to tell you that less than one year ago I was just a quiet, mild-mannered, devoted working wife and mother, taking care of her family and herself, living happily and modestly and without any diamonds at all...

and look what has happened to me?!! In the last 9 months, I have bought one large (1.53) diamond, one large 18KG setting, one platinum ACA semi-eternity band, "tried out" an upgrade stone (1.6, (returned it), pitched the 18KG setting and re-set the diamond into a matching platinum ACA semi-eternity band... I still aspire to a 3c someday myself, AND I am currently drooling over a RHR. Look what you guys have done to me! I NEED HELP, TOO!!!

Save me a seat in the clinic, Mara... I'm with ya, girlfriend!

Lynn

PS On a serious note, though, I have to say that I think that Mara epitomizes what PS is all about. She is a super savvy, educated diamond buyer, and look how it has paid off for her. (And of course she is in good company -- lots of folks here are, too... but afterall, this thread is about Mara!

)

 

[gee5088]

Mara,

First of all, congratulations on the upgrade!!! Certainly FANTABULICIOUS!!! The proportion of the diamond compared to the band and your beautiful, long, slender fingers is just great! Enjoy!

Is there a link to Greg''s ring? I would love to see it...

 

[cute330xigrl]

WOOOW! This was a nice thread to come back to (after being offline an entire week). The upgrade is absolutely amazing!! Dre gave it a million thumbs up Mara!!! We both have always LOVED your setting.. but now, wow. Its even more incredible. My favorite detail in the thread is the rotation of the stone to not have any of the arrows hidden by any prong. Talk about attention to detail and great customer service by WF. Dre and I somewhat shopped together for the stone (well, lets say I put him in touch w/ PS).. so I''d like to think there''s hope for me in terms of a trade-up. heh!

I tried a bit of probing, to find out if there''s any attachment to the orig. stone. Shame on me, I''m still an LIW. How am I thnking of trades.

Speaking of oblivious friends, I have to share this story. Coincidentally, my coworker and his wife were in Fortuneoff when Dre and I were there looking at Ritani settings. so my coworker came over to congradulate us, find out what settings we were interested in, yadayada. We showed him the setting and at the same time were talking to the sales rep. Not knowing whether we neded to have the stone on us or not (since Dre was thinking of buying the band that nite) , we brought the stone w/ us. Dre wanted to see the stone against the band since it''s an I color stone. Well, the wife asks to see our stone. And get this, instead of just looking at it, she puts my stone up next to hers and looks back and forth to compare the two. As if her stone is what everything is to be measured by. Dre and I felt so bad for her hubby who had a bit of a sad look on his face when she did that. My stone is bigger than hers, so we think shes was irritated at that. For whatever reason, she competes w/ me on everything. So in an attempt to make him feel better, I told him "Dre convinced me that you can find lower color stones that looks just as incredible as a F or G stone, so we were able to go up in size". Ofcos, her response is "Oh. Cool." Oh cool?? Her hubby on the other hand, thinks I''m a Jedi and asked for my assistance for their 7yr anniversary gift. Well, needless to say, she loved her anniv. gift and now wont shop for diamonds w/o asking my opinion.

Anyways, Congrats again lady.

 

[aljdewey]

Everyone keeps mentioning the "turning of the arrows" so they aren''t under the prongs.

A thought on that: I suspect the primary goal when setting the stone is to make sure the girdle inscription is visible.

I suspect that the reason the arrows were set slightly under the prongs on Mara''s last stone was the result of trying to make sure the inscription was visible.

It seems, though, that in this case, the inscription didn''t interfere with that placement, which is awesome.

 

[Mara]

awww thanks Lynn that is so sweet!!

cel..I will dig up the thread that has images of Greg''s ring and post it for ya!

cute330...such a hilarious story, people are funny that way!! 99% of the world out there is oblivious and people always look at me askance when greg mentions i belong to a diamond forum for assisting customers..they are kind of like..assisting them with what? buying larger stones of course!

Al...I don''t know if my ring has an inscription, do ES stones?? If not, then the previous stone would not have had one either. I haven''t even looked for it, but figured if it was not listed on the GIA cert then not?

 

[Mara]

cel..here is the link to Greg''s ring images. I realized I never got a picture of him with it on the hand..maybe I can sneak one in today...

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/kudos-to-boone-rings.14936/

 

[sevens one]

Alright- I''m going to be of no help either- but I agree with F&I (and everyone else)

Next time jump all the wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy to the 3ct. What the heck.
Love that picture Ana-

Hmmm now how long will we (I mean you) have to wait for the 3ct jump?

Didn''t hubby say when you have a child?

(I told you I''m no help)

 

[aljdewey]

Date: 3/12/2005 1:38

7 PM
Author: Mara

Al...I don''t know if my ring has an inscription, do ES stones?? If not, then the previous stone would not have had one either. I haven''t even looked for it, but figured if it was not listed on the GIA cert then not?

I don''t think GIA lists inscriptions on their grading reports. AGS puts it in their "comments" section, but I''ve never seen anything other than *NONE* in the GIA comments.

Maybe John or someone can reply......if a diamond is graded by GIA and has no inscription when it arrives there, don''t they at least inscribe the GIA grading report # on the girdle at the time of grading?

If not, then are ALL ES stones inscription-free?

 

[gee5088]

Mara,

THANK YOU for posting the link to the thread for Greg's ring...it's GORGEOUS: sleek, masculine, and modern! I haven't seen many men's rings with a diamond "center stone"-certainly an idea for my fi's band. What a good way for him to be able to have a stone of his own to obsess over! Hope you wouldn't mind...I've already copied your e-ring design for my own, now pondering copying your man's ring too! As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!

THANK YOU also for ALWAYS responding individually to everyone's comments/questions...such a great personal touch of yours! I know for me, it's a great way to feel more involved with this whole PS thing on a personal level. Not that reading ALL the posts nearly EVERY DAY several times a day at all hours of the day wasn't personal enuff! HAHAHA

 

[Mara]

thanks cel....my husband LOVES his ring and it definitely gives him a diamond to ooh and ahh over. he says he gets alot of compliments on it, aka in the elevator at work, and he loves attention (he''s a Leo!) so he always tells me when people ask to see his ring or notice the diamond. it also looks really great on his hand, i think that for some diamonds on men may not be their cup of tea but i think it''s fabulous on him and i love it much better than if he had gotten a regular band!

sevens....greg said when had our first kid maybe i''d get the TWO carat. hah! i''ve already disabused him of THAT notion!! hehee. since then he had his ''lets grow this stone'' epiphany so i must be doing something right?

 

[chellebelle]

Mara~ Your ring is absolutely stunning! It''s so beautiful and I seriously didn''t think your ring could get any better, but you proved me wrong! Your new stone is perfect! So much bling!

Are you working on those flower shots?

I can''t wait to see them!!!

chelle

 

[Mara]

edited to add, i named this the wrong thing...okay....this is a 'negative' shot of my diamond...i love it because it shows the arrows pretty crisply, and also shows the inclusions a bit! you can kind of see them off to the sides/edges...but totally not visible at all with naked eye!

 

[Mara]

okay HERE is the flower shot....

an attempt at flower photography with diamond...hehee...i love purples so this is right up my alley. plus i don''t have alot of things flowering in the garden right now so i''m limited with selection! hehe.

i do have a huge red amaryllis flowering now so we''ll see about using that next!

 

[Maxine]

It looks like it had an x-ray!!! cool....

 

[chellebelle]

Ohhhhhhh, Mara..... you take such awesome pictures! I love ''em!!! That "negative" shot is so cool. How''d you do it? And the flower shot is so very pretty. Love the purple. You''re lucky because you have a garden! I don''t (because I live in an apartment) and if I did I''d probably end up killing all the plants anyway!

So I expect more pictures to come as your flowers bloom (please)!

 

[Maxine]

Mara, how do you get your pictures to come out a decent size? Mine are always huge or so close-up when I crop them?? Love that flower!i

 

[Mara]

I will definitely do more with the flowers once I''ve got some in the yard! So far I have one lone daffodil and other random fillers.

Maxine, for pictures I *always* resize them to no more than 450 pixels width (and appropriate ratio for length), because that is the size that seems to look best on PScope...so crop and do whatever else you need to do to the image to get it to where you want (aka if its close up crop out the close up of the diamond or if it''s a more landscape shot keep most of the picture in...) and then before you save it, resize the entire image to around 450 pixels width, make sure the aspect ratio is maintained. That should work better for posting so that it fits nicely, hopefully!

 

[Mara]

today was an absolutely beautiful day...we sat outside for a few hours and relaxed, so of course...I took more ring pix!!

these were taken under the umbrella on the patio, so diffused bright light out of the sun, ring looked fabulous and of course I had to sneak Princess Portia in who was busy napping on her towel!!

i LOVE seeing everyone else's pix of their rings too, esp when their sets similar, it's like looking at my rings but better! plus i'm not the one taking the pix! hehee.

the first one is on the patio table, that's Greg's PowerWagon in the background so figured I'd keep it in the shot! the last one is indoors, in our family room with the light on while we watched TV...i love those amazing dim light sparkles...they don't come off as great in the pix but i'm sure you guys all know what i am talking about!

today we saw my parents, my dad did his first biathalon (he is training for a big triathalon later this year) and my mom said that she thought this diamond looked even better than my H SI...i didn't prompt her for her thoughts, just showed her the ring and she came out with that, which is funny since that is totally how i feel as well. the specs on this diamond are so similar to my H SI but this one just POPS!

oh and before i forget again, chelle...i took the negative shot with the negative option on my camera, it also has sepia, b/w and some other types, but the negative one by far was the coolest!!

 

[Lynn B]

OH MARA! Great photos! I love them all, but especially the top one. YUM-MY!

More, more, more (please!)

Lynn

 

[Mara]

Lynn, this picture taking thing is an ADDICTION! Of course I took some more pix this afternoon while waiting for Greg to finish showering so we could go to Safeway to get items for the grill for dinner. Haven''t uploaded them YET though...figure I will back off the obsession for ONE night.

G has already made multiple comments about prying the camera out of my cold, dead hand.

It seems like so many people have gotten new settings, new stones, new somethingorother in the last week or two and all of these amazing pictures are just like eye candy, lip balm, chocolate covered oreos. all GOOD!!!! more!

 

[Mara]

okay Lynn, here are my rings on the mirror shot...during the day though so it''s super bright, i love these because it looks like there are 4 rings and 2 big J diamonds...heheh this mirror stuff is cool.

you can see if you look closely how my e-ring side is polished shiny by WF and the w-ring is a bit duller...needs to be polished!!

YUM! now where is that LOUPE?!

 

[Mara]

and i got this cool shot through the IS!

 

[Stephan]

Gorgeous!
Oh, I love your nails too !!!

 

[Lynn B]

OH! AWESOME PHOTOS, Mara!

I LOVE the mirror photos and the IS shot is absolutely amazing!

I''m gonna haveta try that!

Way to go, girl!

Lynn

 

[chellebelle]

Oooooo! Those mirror shots are great. I love the last mirror pic... it''s so white and bright!

And I know what you mean about taking pics being an addiction! I feel that way too! Robbie thinks I am obsessed with my ring and taking pictures of it, lol.

Oh well, I guess that''s why I love PS so much... I''ve got all these great people that I can totally relate too!

 

[Mara]

thanks guys!!! i swear...this is a SICKNESS. waiting for Greg to get home....lighting was right.....here we have ARROWS. love them!

 

[jadeleaves]

 

[Mara]

oh my god Jade where did THAT big beauty come from?!?!?!?! you are soooooo evil...and yet it's sooooo good! hehehe.

damn...I am sooo covetous! must win lotto soon!! i've already missed the 'marry a rich man' boat!!

what size is that asscher supposed to be?

edited to add...I had to show Greg and his priceless comment was 'you've obviously found other people who are weird like you'...HAH!

 

[jadeleaves]

Date: 3/15/2005 3

0:50 AM
Author: Mara
oh my god Jade where did THAT big beauty come from?!?!?!?! you are soooooo evil...and yet it's sooooo good! hehehe.


damn...I am sooo covetous! must win lotto soon!! i've already missed the 'marry a rich man' boat!!

what size is that asscher supposed to be?

edited to add...I had to show Greg and his priceless comment was 'you've obviously found other people who are weird like you'...HAH!

That was the asscher in that 5ct cartier ring - you mentioned that is your dream asscher

!

I did one for my finger too

and hubby said 'you gotta be kidding me - you just got your new ring!!!'

 

[kaylagee]

JadeL, I love it!! LOL! that asscher is a killer. yum! 

i've got to improve my photoshop skills! I totally need a huge poster of my hand with somethin' similiar(like in YG with a gap between bands).



Mara, That's definitely the one to get after the 3ct. Rb...a 5ct+ fancy! yeeeeaaaaahh!