Double your pleasure, double your fun!

I will be the first to admit that I have been slacking on my birthstone blogs! Where did the month of February go!? I can’t believe we’re basically done with March! Wowza. For this blog I will be talking about both February and March’s birthstones. February’s birthstone is beautiful amethyst. Amethyst is the most valuable gemstone in the quartz family. Interestingly, because of its beautiful rich color, it has been of great importance in nearly every culture throughout history.

One of my favorite things about amethyst is how cool it looks in the rough. I am sure you have all seen a rough amethyst, they are very common not only in rock and gem shops, but anywhere small “trinkets” are sold. I have seen rough amethysts the size of a grown man! They are truly stunning!

 

March babies are very fortunate to have aquamarine as their birthstone. When I went to the Natural History Museum in L.A., the aquamarine they had on display were gorgeous! Not surprisingly, aquamarine came from the Latin terms aqua, meaning water. According to legend, the ancient Greeks greatly feared Poseidon, god of the seas. Greeks believed his anger caused storms, so sailors would often wear aquamarine around their necks to provide good luck. Very fine aquamarines are mined from Brazil, where the largest gem quality aquamarine was ever found– weighing over 240 pounds!

This is a picture of an aquamarine beryl I took at the Natural History Museum, isn’t it awesome? The aqua blue hue looks as if it came straight from tropical waters!

For those of you who haven’t heard, I recently got a job at a lovely jewelry store. I plan on writing a blog about it, so stayed tuned!

And the award for best Oscars jewelry goes to…

First of all, I want to apologize for putting my blog on the back burner lately. I have been a basket-case trying to figure out my life! I am currently in the process of interviewing for a job, and also in the process of moving and apartment shopping. I really hope I don’t go crazy!!!!!!!!!

Anyways, I loved the amount of bling at the Oscars this year… umm did you see Natalie Portman’s Harry Winston necklace sparking on camera? Thank God for HD! Wow! I was in love at first sight. Natalie definitely scores my number one spot for best jewelry. Talk about some serious $$$.

I also ADORED Michelle Williams and her Fred Leighton diamond (30 carats of heaven!) choker. She is always so simple yet stunning, and her pixie haircut is absolute perfection. Penelope looked just as lovely with a beautiful stormy-blue gown and a fabulous Chopard diamond choker. These ladies sure know how to dress to impress.

Busy Phillips won my award for best earrings… ever. I am head over heels for these Irene Neuwirth boulder opal earrings. My jaw hit the ground when I saw their magical colors and geometric shapes. I can’t even begin to tell you how bad I WANT these stunners! I took a look at some of her other jewelry pieces and they are just as unbelievable, I HIGHLY recommend surfing her site, http://www.ireneneuwirth.com/#/home. I’ve been creepin’ her page for days…

Stay tuned for more jewelry gossip, and thanks for reading!

Hidden Treasures

Being the crazy jewelry hound that I am, I have recently discovered some of the best places to find amazing jewelry– antique stores. The lovely earrings to the left are one of my recent finds… they immediately caught my eye, and I knew they had to be MINE! They are made by a jewelry company that I had previously never heard of, Weiss Jewelers. I tried to do as much research as I could, but all I could find was that Albert Weiss was a jeweler in the 1940′s and 1950′s. His jewelry is known for beautiful Austrian crystals, bold colors, and lovely designs. I cannot wait to put these onto posts (they are clip-on) and wear them for a night out! They are so sparkly, and the colors are just amazing. The teals, purples, and pinks are a million times more gorgeous in person. SCORE.

I am now a little obsessed with looking at his jewelry… no two pieces are exactly alike! Each piece is bursting with color, fabulously made, and has a fun vintage twist. If you are interested in Weiss jewelry, I highly recommend looking on eBay. There are tons of Weiss pieces for sale, and they are fairly cheap. And of course, check out your local antique store… they are so much fun, and you never know what treasures you will find!

 

L.A.’s Gem Vault

A couple of weeks ago I was in Disneyland and had the awesome opportunity to see L.A.’s Natural History Museum. After a long stressful process of losing my ID and credit card the day before I was supposed to go to the museum (mind the fact that I was supposed to fly out that day also!) I was almost not able to go to the museum! Luckily, everything worked out and I was able to see some amazing rocks! These two pictures are some of my favorites. The rough Tanzanite is beautiful, but the cut Tanzanite was soo gorgeous! I knew I had to get some nice pictures of one of my favorite gemstones.

 

 

 

 

 

The Aquamarine beryl was really cool, but I loved this 65lb crystal ball. It is on loan from the Smithsonian and one of the world’s largest FLAWLESS crystal balls. Another one of my favorite displays was the Opal collection. The colors were simply brilliant… every color of the rainbow, and then some! It’s very fun to think nature created these wonderful colors.

 

 

 

 

 

I of course had to take pictures of the Sapphire display. Sapphire is also one of my favorite gemstones because it’s not only durable, but is also comes in tons of colors. The cubic zirconia replicas represent nine stones cut from the famous Cullinan Diamond. Incredibly, the Cullinan Diamond was found in 1905 and weighed 3,106 carats… the largest rough diamond EVER found. I would sell my soul to have been able to see that!

I wish that I could post ALL of my pictures from the museum, but there’s simply too many. If any of you ever get the chance to see The Gem Vault, please do. It really is a gem lover’s paradise!

January’s Gorgeous Garnet

I’m very jealous of January babies… their birthstone is one of my favorite gemstones in the world, garnet. I love garnets so much because their color is simply delicious. In fact, garnet comes from the Latin word “grain” because ancients believed the gem resembled a pomegranate seed. I own several pieces of garnet jewelry, and I definitely plan on buying many more… on accident, of course.

 

This bracelet is my favorite piece of garnet jewelry. I received this about 5 years ago from a jewelry drawing…basically the only time I’ve every won anything! I adore this bracelet and always receive tons of compliments. For you jewelry lovers, you probably recognize that this is from Silpada. Silpada is one of my FAVORITE jewelry companies because their jewelry is very natural and earthy with wonderful gemstones… definitely check them out. Their jewelry is great quality AND they have a lifetime guarantee! I have several pieces of Silpada, and I can’t wait to buy more!

Surprising to many people is the fact that all garnets are not red. These green beauties are demantoid garnets which come from Russia. They have excellent refraction properties– meaning they shine like a diamond! Some say they can even outshine a diamond… I would love to feast my eyes on that! I probably wouldn’t need to eat for a week. Well, I hope you enjoyed learning about this beautiful stone, and I hope you all have a great holiday weekend, and thanks for reading!

 

A Gem of a Find

Over the past couple years I have received the CUTEST gifts from a boutique called  Francesca’s Collections, http://www.francescascollections.com/ 

Francesca’s recently opened up in one of the malls here in Reno and I am IN LOVE! They have everything from witty flasks (I got the one on the left as a present!) to the most adorable clothes and JEWELRY! Every time I have gone into the boutique I have accidentally walked out with some form of jewelry. Usually I am very picky about buying jewelry, but I have found something I’ve wanted each time I’ve shopped here. And the best part about Francesca’s is that their prices are very reasonable. You can get a fabulous pair of earrings for under $15… it’s a guilt free store!

The picture on the left is of the earrings I purchased a few weeks ago. They are ash colored crystals surrounded by beautiful turquoise crystals, they are SO pretty and sparkly in person. If I remember correctly, they were about $10. The second picture is of the actual boutique… I just wanted to show how adorable it is! If you have a Francesca’s in your area, it is a MUST to go and shop at! I guarantee you will find something that will accidentally fall into your shopping basket . Thanks for reading!

Ann’s Christmas Jewelry Breakdown

Happy Holidays everyone! Isn’t in insane how fast time flies? I hope you all had a great Christmas and got everything you wished for! I wanted to take a few minutes to share what I got for Christmas this year.

I was given this lovely earring and bracelet set from my boyfriend. They are both handmade by an artist in Lake Tahoe who sells jewelry at a local art shop, http://www.talart.org/, http://www.etsy.com/shop/tahoeartglass. They are SO glittery and beautiful… I love them so much. I have already received tons of compliments! They change from dark cobalt blues to seafoam greens, just like Lake Tahoe. The pictures do no justice! The artist also makes bracelets and earrings in all colors of the rainbow, they are  truly one of a kind!

These delicate leaf earrings are from http://www.bluenile.com/. They are faceted sterling silver and sparkly as can be! I have had my eye on these for awhile, not only because they are pretty, but because they are just $30! I gave these as a gift to my girlfriend and she absolutely adored them, she wore them the same day they arrived at her house! Blue Nile has TONS of great quality jewelry that is affordable for all budgets. In the future I plan on writing a blog about my favorite pieces from Blue Nile.

Oh yeah! I wanted to add that “Santa” brought me my first Swarovski star and I am so excited! Thanks Santa! Well, I hope you all have a fantastic and safe new year, and of course, thanks for reading!