Put a Fork in Me -- I''m Done!!!!

[belle]

what a beauty!!

i am soooo happy you found the stone of your dreams dem!

you done good girl!

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 7/10/2006 3:22:35 AM
Author: Couture
Oh my, your new stone looks so amazing!! It looks really great (and perfectly big) on your finger!

I have begun my search for a diamond and I am wondering if you can help me out a little. I don't want to steal your thread at all, so if you just reply once that would be so helpful!!
I keep reading that people get 'eye clean' SI stones like yours, and that would be great for me, but how do you find out that it is eye clean without having it shipped to you?
And what exactly is eye clean? I thought it meant that you cannot see the inclusions with the naked eye, correct? (If so, yay for eye clean!!)
I am looking for similar color around 2 ct, RB. Any tips or suggestions?

Thank you so much and again, your stone looks awesome, congrats on finding it!!

I will try to get you started Couture - welcome

Also you are more than welcome to begin a new topic in Rocky Talk and you will get lots of help there!

The only way to find out if a diamond is eyeclean is to ask the vendor you are working with if it is. Easier if you stick to in house diamonds so the vendor can look at it for you.

Secondly decide what is eyeclean to you. The industry standard is " no inclusions visible in normal light face up with normal vision at a distance of 10 - 12 inches" or words to that effect. In other words, in an SI clarity you might see something face up or from the side, however plenty of very clean SI1 and SI2 diamonds exist as many happy owners show here! Also the larger you go, the chances increase that you might see something in an SI clarity, so best to make it clear what eye clean needs to be for you and let your vendor know what your expectations are. Also some can send you magnified pics which can help.

Eye clean can mean different things to different people. Some like a small visible inclusion as they think of it as a handy birthmark so they will always know their diamond. Some find a tiny inclusion bugs and eats away at them - neither way is wrong, you just need to know what category you fall into and what level of eyeclean you need to make your diamond " mind clean!"

Just to summarise, eyeclean doesn't necessarily mean that you can't see any inclusions with the naked eye, so be clear with what you expect with your vendor. There seems to be a shortage of SI diamonds in that very popular size right now and pickings are slim anyway, the very clean SI diamonds are pounced upon! You might have to be patient ( Mara had to wait a while for her beauty) or maybe consider a VS clarity if you can't find the SI which is a good fit for you. Best of luck and hope this helps!

 

[dbgaap]

What a wonderful resolution to your situation!

It looks gorgeous!

And I, too was able to wear my rings up to delivery day.
And, with a thin setting like yours, it''s easier to deal with a little but of weight fluctuation.
Worst case- you may have to wear only one ring instead of two if your fingers swell (hmm which one will you pick??)

Congratulations on your wonderful new diamond!

I''m not surprised you had to pay a bit even with the trade.
Going up in color really does cost, but if you are color sensitive,it is SO worth it! (I''ll join you on a "show me your G thread!"

 

[allycat0303]

Oh.....but what a tasty way to be done! It''s gorgeous, beautiful. And my future aspiration stone. 2.3 G, Vs2, spot on what I want for the stone they pry off my cold dead hands

The shots are beautiful, your stone is beautiful. Enjoy your new sparkly!

...Isn''t it funny how your husband wanted to make sure there was a lifetime tradeup policy??? I doubt very much another upgrade is out of the question for you

 

[BeaudryBabe]

Holy s***, I missed some goodies while on vacation last week. Dem, what an incredible stone, WOWZA!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Dem, regarding the camera, my daughter has a Canon A510, which I am hoping is similar to yours. What are you doing to get the macro shots? Are you pushing the round disc on the back where there is a tulip and MF? Thsi will help me a lot if I can figure out how to take close-up diamond pictures before mine come on Wed.!

 

[Mara]

I still think that the black arrow phenomenon has to do with how you light or don''t light the stone. Sometimes it''s as simple as moving in front of the stone on a really sunny day...it''s amazing what you can do with the diamonds and photography with various lights!!! I think I have ''tapped out'' in my house...hehee.

I was thinking the same thing re you two being twins Lynn...wah I really am the newborn now!!

 

[Demelza]

Thanks, guys, for all your congrats!

It's good to hear that most of you were able to wear your rings up until the end of your pregnancy. Hopefully I'll be the same.

Ally -- Thanks! You're so suspicious

! Hubby just wanted that little extra insurance policy just in case we win the lottery and find ourselves in a position to upgrade to a 3ct, hehe. Not likely, but better to have the policy than not.

Dbgaap -- It does sounds like a "Show me Your Gs" thread is in order, doesn't it?

Diamondseeker -- My camera is a Canon Powershot A520. I simply put it in macro mode by pressing the little tulip icon on the back on the camera and, after downloading, cropping the photos a bit to get even closer. Start practicing now! Can't wait to see pics of you 2 diamond contenders on Wednesday!

Mara -- Yeah, I don't know about the black arrows business. I've been taking diamond pics for a while now and trying to get those silvery arrows to show up and I never could with my old stone. Now, all of a sudden I can, no problem. I don't think I'm doing anything different, but maybe I am. It's curious. The arrows in my old stone were much skinnier. Perhaps that had something to do with how much could reflect off of them??

ETA Hardly a newborn, Mara. We're only 4/100ths of a carat bigger than you -- that's more like triplets and you were the last one to come out, hehe.

 

[TravelingGal]

What a perfect stone/ring!!!

 

[Kim N]

Dem, I''m so glad you were able to find your dream stone, and what a stone it is! It''s incredible.

And your pictures of it are amazing. I love all the colors coming off of it, and the silvery arrows, and the shards of light. I''ve been trying to capture pictures like that with my Canon, but I haven''t been able. Whenever I''ve tried to take indoor pictures, it''s given me the camera shake warning for not having enough light. I think I need to try pictures with the sun behind the ring like yours.

Aside from the mind-cleanness, what visual differences do you see between this stone and your old one?

 

[Demelza]

Date: 7/10/2006 3:08:36 PM
Author: Kim N
Dem, I'm so glad you were able to find your dream stone, and what a stone it is! It's incredible.

And your pictures of it are amazing. I love all the colors coming off of it, and the silvery arrows, and the shards of light. I've been trying to capture pictures like that with my Canon, but I haven't been able. Whenever I've tried to take indoor pictures, it's given me the camera shake warning for not having enough light. I think I need to try pictures with the sun behind the ring like yours.


Aside from the mind-cleanness, what visual differences do you see between this stone and your old one?

Thanks, Kim! Yes, it seems that taking shots with the sun behind the stone works best for me.

I'm still getting to know the "personality" of this new stone, but these are the actual visual differences I've noticed thus far:

1. The new stone is definitely whiter than the I. The difference in color isn't huge, but it's definitely there and noticeable to me in a variety of lighting environments. Whereas the old stone used to look slightly tinted from the side, especially in natural light, the new stone never does. The face up color and the side view color are both equally white. Love it!

2. The new stone is more "firey" than the old one. Again, it's a subtle difference, but Rich noted that this stone was particularly "firey" and I have to agree. The other stone sparkled a lot, but not like this one.

3. The optical symmetry is better on the new stone -- the arrows are much more prominent and more precisely formed. They're fatter too and show up more easily in all lighting conditions. What effect that has on performance, I don't know, but if you like seeing arrows, then it's a positive. The stone generally seems "crisper".

That's what I've noticed so far. While subtle, the differences are pretty significant to me, especially when combined with the "mind clean" differences. I'm just thrilled!!

Thanks for asking!!!

 

[snlee]

Dem, your new diamond is beautiful! I''m glad you were able to get a "mind clean" diamond, as that is definitely important!

And I love the classic solitaire erring and plain band look as well. It really makes the diamond look HUGE! I sometimes wonder if I should get a plain band instead of an eternity…*sigh* So hard to settle on just one!

 

[diamondsrock]

I''m in love!!!

that diamond is absolutely amazing!

 

[Lynn B]

Date: 7/10/2006 3:45:18 PM
Author: Demelza

Date: 7/10/2006 3:08:36 PM

Author: Kim N

Dem, I''m so glad you were able to find your dream stone, and what a stone it is! It''s incredible.

And your pictures of it are amazing. I love all the colors coming off of it, and the silvery arrows, and the shards of light. I''ve been trying to capture pictures like that with my Canon, but I haven''t been able. Whenever I''ve tried to take indoor pictures, it''s given me the camera shake warning for not having enough light. I think I need to try pictures with the sun behind the ring like yours.



Aside from the mind-cleanness, what visual differences do you see between this stone and your old one?

Thanks, Kim! Yes, it seems that taking shots with the sun behind the stone works best for me.


I''m still getting to know the ''personality'' of this new stone, but these are the actual visual differences I''ve noticed thus far:


1. The new stone is definitely whiter than the I. The difference in color isn''t huge, but it''s definitely there and noticeable to me in a variety of lighting environments. Whereas the old stone used to look slightly tinted from the side, especially in natural light, the new stone never does. The face up color and the side view color are both equally white. Love it!


2. The new stone is more ''firey'' than the old one. Again, it''s a subtle difference, but Rich noted that this stone was particularly ''firey'' and I have to agree. The other stone sparkled a lot, but not like this one.


3. The optical symmetry is better on the new stone -- the arrows are much more prominent and more precisely formed. They''re fatter too and show up more easily in all lighting conditions. What effect that has on performance, I don''t know, but if you like seeing arrows, then it''s a positive. The stone generally seems ''crisper''.


4. The clarity is better on this stone. I was to the point with the old stone where I could pick out the dark carbon spot without looking very hard, both from the face up position and from the side. The grade setting inclusion in this stone is a collection of pinpoints, all white, so I know there''s no way I''ll ever see them with the naked eye.


That''s what I''ve noticed so far. While subtle, the differences are pretty significant to me, especially when combined with the ''mind clean'' differences. I''m just thrilled!!


Thanks for asking!!!

Wow, that''s pretty interesting, Alex. So do you feel like you have all the best of your old 1.53 but with... more SIZE?

 

[CareBear]

Dem, your new stone is delicious! I guess it doesn''t matter how everyone else viewed your last rock. if you aren''t uncomfortable it, then it''s not right for u. I am glad u decided to keep the setting though. you know how much I love your size in that setting!

 

[dbgaap]

Date: 7/10/2006 3:45:18 PM
Author: Demelza


2. The new stone is more ''firey'' than the old one. Again, it''s a subtle difference, but Rich noted that this stone was particularly ''firey'' and I have to agree. The other stone sparkled a lot, but not like this one.

OK, so when you say firey, do you meant it throws off flashes of sharp white light? Or lots of twinkles? Just curious.
I briefly had an E that had very crisp hearts & arrows. It threw off major flashes of white light.

Your stone is so beautiful! It does seem that the bigger the stone, the more important it is to get high quality.
On Saturday, my hairdresser commented to me "I see a lot of diamonds and many are bigger than yours, but I don''t often see such a sparkly diamond". Yep, he got a nice tip.

congratulations on a huge sparkly diamond!!!

 

[Demelza]

Date: 7/10/2006 7:04:23 PM
Author: Lynn B

Date: 7/10/2006 3:45:18 PM

Author: Demelza

Date: 7/10/2006 3:08:36 PM


Author: Kim N


Dem, I''m so glad you were able to find your dream stone, and what a stone it is! It''s incredible.

And your pictures of it are amazing. I love all the colors coming off of it, and the silvery arrows, and the shards of light. I''ve been trying to capture pictures like that with my Canon, but I haven''t been able. Whenever I''ve tried to take indoor pictures, it''s given me the camera shake warning for not having enough light. I think I need to try pictures with the sun behind the ring like yours.




Aside from the mind-cleanness, what visual differences do you see between this stone and your old one?

Thanks, Kim! Yes, it seems that taking shots with the sun behind the stone works best for me.



I''m still getting to know the ''personality'' of this new stone, but these are the actual visual differences I''ve noticed thus far:



1. The new stone is definitely whiter than the I. The difference in color isn''t huge, but it''s definitely there and noticeable to me in a variety of lighting environments. Whereas the old stone used to look slightly tinted from the side, especially in natural light, the new stone never does. The face up color and the side view color are both equally white. Love it!



2. The new stone is more ''firey'' than the old one. Again, it''s a subtle difference, but Rich noted that this stone was particularly ''firey'' and I have to agree. The other stone sparkled a lot, but not like this one.



3. The optical symmetry is better on the new stone -- the arrows are much more prominent and more precisely formed. They''re fatter too and show up more easily in all lighting conditions. What effect that has on performance, I don''t know, but if you like seeing arrows, then it''s a positive. The stone generally seems ''crisper''.



4. The clarity is better on this stone. I was to the point with the old stone where I could pick out the dark carbon spot without looking very hard, both from the face up position and from the side. The grade setting inclusion in this stone is a collection of pinpoints, all white, so I know there''s no way I''ll ever see them with the naked eye.



That''s what I''ve noticed so far. While subtle, the differences are pretty significant to me, especially when combined with the ''mind clean'' differences. I''m just thrilled!!



Thanks for asking!!!

Wow, that''s pretty interesting, Alex. So do you feel like you have all the best of your old 1.53 but with... more SIZE?

Yes, I would say that describes it perfectly! I love that stone and always wished I could give it some steroids to make it grow. This stone feels like that stone all grown up!! It is the best of both worlds and that''s why, ultimately, I decided it was worth it to spend the money now to get what I really knew I would always want.

 

[Demelza]

Date: 7/10/2006 8:46:20 PM
Author: dbgaap

Date: 7/10/2006 3:45:18 PM

Author: Demelza



2. The new stone is more ''firey'' than the old one. Again, it''s a subtle difference, but Rich noted that this stone was particularly ''firey'' and I have to agree. The other stone sparkled a lot, but not like this one.

OK, so when you say firey, do you meant it throws off flashes of sharp white light? Or lots of twinkles? Just curious.

I briefly had an E that had very crisp hearts & arrows. It threw off major flashes of white light.


Your stone is so beautiful! It does seem that the bigger the stone, the more important it is to get high quality.

On Saturday, my hairdresser commented to me ''I see a lot of diamonds and many are bigger than yours, but I don''t often see such a sparkly diamond''. Yep, he got a nice tip.

congratulations on a huge sparkly diamond!!!

When I say that it''s "firey", I mean that it throws off lots of colorful sparkles -- sometimes they can be big flashes and sometimes little twinkles, but either way, lots of greens, reds, blues, yellows, etc. I love a super firey stone and prefer it to white light return (or brilliance).

Nice compliment from the hairdresser!! Little did he know, that was the surest way to a good tip!

 

[Jelly]

Dem, that''s lovely!!! It''s not only the ring of your dreams, but it''s the ring of MY DREAMS!!!

Congrats girl!!! I expect more pics!

 

[butterfly 17]

Date: 7/10/2006 3:45:18 PM
Author: Demelza

1. The new stone is definitely whiter than the I. The difference in color isn''t huge, but it''s definitely there and noticeable to me in a variety of lighting environments. Whereas the old stone used to look slightly tinted from the side, especially in natural light, the new stone never does. The face up color and the side view color are both equally white. Love it!

2. The new stone is more ''firey'' than the old one. Again, it''s a subtle difference, but Rich noted that this stone was particularly ''firey'' and I have to agree. The other stone sparkled a lot, but not like this one.

3. The optical symmetry is better on the new stone -- the arrows are much more prominent and more precisely formed. They''re fatter too and show up more easily in all lighting conditions. What effect that has on performance, I don''t know, but if you like seeing arrows, then it''s a positive. The stone generally seems ''crisper''.

4. The clarity is better on this stone. I was to the point with the old stone where I could pick out the dark carbon spot without looking very hard, both from the face up position and from the side. The grade setting inclusion in this stone is a collection of pinpoints, all white, so I know there''s no way I''ll ever see them with the naked eye.

That''s what I''ve noticed so far. While subtle, the differences are pretty significant to me, especially when combined with the ''mind clean'' differences. I''m just thrilled!!

Thanks for asking!!!

IT so funny that you posted this as these are the same exact reasons why I love my current stone and I am afraid to get another bigger, but perhaps not "better" stone, for me anyway.

I love the whiteness of a G. I love not seeing any warmth or yellowness in this stone. I recently got a j colored stone and I can see the color in it. If I hadn''t of gotten it for such a great deal, I probably would not be keeping it right now. Also, The J I have will be set with sapphires, so the color won''t show as much.

I also have a basically perfect clarity stone, even when I had the stone appraised by AGA, Chris told me he felt that they made a mistake at AGS and should have given it a VVS2 because there is just one tiny pinpoint inclusion that I can hardly see with a loupe and believe me, I can see everything!

Also, my stone has such sparkle factor and crisp clear arrows. I love looking at the arrows, I love the optical symmetry. And the fire is unbelievable. I compare it to my other diamonds and nothing compares to it. IT''s like a disco ball!

Also, I am such a color and clarity nut, that even if I try hard enough to convince myself I will be happy with something lower, I don''t really think I will be.
Even getting a G was hard for me, but I chose it over an F at the time because I loved the clarity plot in my G compared to the F. Both were VS stones, but the F had a bunch of tiny inclusions, whereas my G had just the one plotted.
This is what I am afraid of, that I will have to settle for something in order to get the size I want, when I have all the that I want with the stone I have now.

Damn that Diamond Shrinkage Syndrome!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Date: 7/11/2006 10:10:00 AM
Author: butterfly 17

Date: 7/10/2006 3:45:18 PM
Author: Demelza

1. The new stone is definitely whiter than the I. The difference in color isn''t huge, but it''s definitely there and noticeable to me in a variety of lighting environments. Whereas the old stone used to look slightly tinted from the side, especially in natural light, the new stone never does. The face up color and the side view color are both equally white. Love it!

2. The new stone is more ''firey'' than the old one. Again, it''s a subtle difference, but Rich noted that this stone was particularly ''firey'' and I have to agree. The other stone sparkled a lot, but not like this one.

3. The optical symmetry is better on the new stone -- the arrows are much more prominent and more precisely formed. They''re fatter too and show up more easily in all lighting conditions. What effect that has on performance, I don''t know, but if you like seeing arrows, then it''s a positive. The stone generally seems ''crisper''.

4. The clarity is better on this stone. I was to the point with the old stone where I could pick out the dark carbon spot without looking very hard, both from the face up position and from the side. The grade setting inclusion in this stone is a collection of pinpoints, all white, so I know there''s no way I''ll ever see them with the naked eye.

That''s what I''ve noticed so far. While subtle, the differences are pretty significant to me, especially when combined with the ''mind clean'' differences. I''m just thrilled!!

Thanks for asking!!!

IT so funny that you posted this as these are the same exact reasons why I love my current stone and I am afraid to get another bigger, but perhaps not ''better'' stone, for me anyway.

I love the whiteness of a G. I love not seeing any warmth or yellowness in this stone. I recently got a j colored stone and I can see the color in it. If I hadn''t of gotten it for such a great deal, I probably would not be keeping it right now. Also, The J I have will be set with sapphires, so the color won''t show as much.

I also have a basically perfect clarity stone, even when I had the stone appraised by AGA, Chris told me he felt that they made a mistake at AGS and should have given it a VVS2 because there is just one tiny pinpoint inclusion that I can hardly see with a loupe and believe me, I can see everything!

Also, my stone has such sparkle factor and crisp clear arrows. I love looking at the arrows, I love the optical symmetry. And the fire is unbelievable. I compare it to my other diamonds and nothing compares to it. IT''s like a disco ball!

Also, I am such a color and clarity nut, that even if I try hard enough to convince myself I will be happy with something lower, I don''t really think I will be.
Even getting a G was hard for me, but I chose it over an F at the time because I loved the clarity plot in my G compared to the F. Both were VS stones, but the F had a bunch of tiny inclusions, whereas my G had just the one plotted.

This is what I am afraid of, that I will have to settle for something in order to get the size I want, when I have all the that I want with the stone I have now.

Damn that Diamond Shrinkage Syndrome!

Well, I am happy to have some company in the higher color and clarity camp! I feel alone sometimes! But I just like all of the C''s to be great, if possible, but I don''t desire a huge stone which makes it possible. I am undecided on color..I am looking at 2 H''s this week. One scores in the G range on Jon''s color machine, so I feel like it will be fine. The other is a solid H, so I don''t know. If I decide to go with an under 1.5 ct., then I may go on and get an F. (There are no G''s right now in my size range, unfortunately). I know myself well enough that I''d be like Dem and be unhappy eventually if I sacrifice too much on color or clarity. But I haven''t seen enough diamonds in good light to be sure of my color tolerance!

 

[moremoremore]

Demelza- that is a STUNNING stone. Simply stunning!!!

 

[Demelza]

Kayla -- I so hear ya on this! If you know that you're a color and clarity nut, I would definitely advise not to make any compromises just for size. I love a huge stone as much as the next person, but, in the end, the size of my "I" wasn't enough to compensate for the compromises I made in the other Cs. If you love everything about your stone now except for the size, my advice would be to wait until another stone comes up in the size you want that has ALL of the characteristics of this stone. Otherwise, it may be a recipe for regret and dissatisfaction. I'm sure that that 2.32 G, SI1 WF stone was absolutely amazing, but I just knew that I would be unhappy if I was able to see an inclusion from any angle. I suspect you would have been the same way. It sucks to be like this because I'm sure we miss out on some large, gorgeous stones at great prices, but better to know this about yourself now than do what I did and lose money.

This is kind of interesting -- in the narrative portion of my appraisal, Rich had this to say about the G, VS2 color/clarity combo: "This combination of color and clarity happens to be this appraiser's favorite combination. I feel it gives the finest stone for the money without sacrificing any color or clarity beauty whatsoever."

So, I guess we're in good company! Stick with what you KNOW works for you! That's my plan from here on out and hopefully I won't make any more costly mistakes.

Diamondseeker -- I'll be very anxious to hear what you think of the 2 stones you're going to see tomorrow and if you notice any color difference between the G and H. It sounds like you, too, know what you need for comfort in terms of color and clarity, and even if it means spending more, or waiting longer, it's worth it to get what you want in the end. Get your camera ready -- we're going to need lots of pics!!!

MMM -- Thanks!!!!

 

[mandyd]

Dem, that is one beautiful rock! And I think Richard Sherwood is an absolute delight to work with it! Way to go!

 

[BrightSpot]

Wow, Demelza, your new stone is absolutely perfect in every way! I actually am salivating looking at the pictures.

Congrats on finding the right stone for you--enjoy it & wear it in good health.

 

[Small]

OMG...what a beautiful stone Demelza!!!!

Congratualtions...great choice

 

[headlight]

I just wanted to say congratulations and that your diamond has to be the most beautiful stone I have ever laid eyes on!

 

[cutey TT]

Date: 7/11/2006 2:00:18 PM
Author: Demelza
Kayla -- I so hear ya on this! If you know that you''re a color and clarity nut, I would definitely advise not to make any compromises just for size. I love a huge stone as much as the next person, but, in the end, the size of my ''I'' wasn''t enough to compensate for the compromises I made in the other Cs. If you love everything about your stone now except for the size, my advice would be to wait until another stone comes up in the size you want that has ALL of the characteristics of this stone. Otherwise, it may be a recipe for regret and dissatisfaction. I''m sure that that 2.32 G, SI1 WF stone was absolutely amazing, but I just knew that I would be unhappy if I was able to see an inclusion from any angle. I suspect you would have been the same way. It sucks to be like this because I''m sure we miss out on some large, gorgeous stones at great prices, but better to know this about yourself now than do what I did and lose money.

I am right there with you...I can''t get past my fixation on color and clarity. I just bought a pair of earrings from WF, and while Brian suggested that I go a little bigger and get I colored stones, I just couldn''t do it cuz of the warmth I was seeing from the side. Even though I knew that especially with earrings, no one would ever be looking at them from the side, I just couldn''t do it and ended up going with an E and F pair (it was a mind-colorless thing). BTW, I get to pick them up at the end of the week...I''m so excited~!

My next *big* project is an e-ring upgrade -- targeting sometime in the spring. I keep trying to convince myself that I can get a bigger eye-clean SI1 stone, but I know myself all too well...if there is even a teeny-tiny barely visible inclusion it will just bother me to no end...same thing with color. My current stone is an F and I''m basically thinking that I need to stay pretty much in the colorlessness range. Since you''re saying that you don''t see a hint of color in your *beautiful* G stones from the sides, I''m assuming I won''t be able to either (so that''s definitely good to know).

Anyway, I''m definitely glad to see that I''m not alone with my color / clarity hangups. Once again, Demelza, I''m so glad you found the perfect stone that you love, love, love everytime you look down at it. Hopefully I will find a stone that I feel the same way about once I start looking...

 

[whatmeworry]

Wow, really stunning diamond. The simple solitaire really lets the diamond be the star of the show.

 

[dbgaap]

Date: 7/11/2006 9:35:20 PM
Author: cutey TT

Date: 7/11/2006 2:00:18 PM
Author: Demelza
Kayla -- I so hear ya on this! If you know that you''re a color and clarity nut, I would definitely advise not to make any compromises just for size.

I am right there with you...I can''t get past my fixation on color and clarity.

Yeah, me, too.

And it''s becuase I can see it. Mentally, I am OK if I can''t see it. I need at least a G color.

So, at least I am REALLY happy with my stone.

Size can come later, if DSS sets in!

Congrats again, dem- your new stone is sooooo beautiful!!
congratulations!!