O Cushion Cut Diamond, Split Shank, Micro-pave Ring – Where Art Thou?
When it comes to making decisions (especially if it’s related to shopping), I am a pretty indecisive person. I can spend hours upon hours, even months upon month, looking at an item and cross referencing other items before I begrudging decide to buy or not. That is until I see something that I like…at that point, I just go for it. No questions asked.
For the past few months, I’ve been looking for something that sparkles. My research materials: the Internet and stacks upon stacks of magazines that cater to that once in a life time day in a girl’s life.
From the get go, I knew I wanted a cushion cut center stone. Why?
- There’s a reason why it has a classic/vintage look. Cushion cuts were the ‘IT’ look for jewelery during the late 1800s and early 1900s. In fact, many antique gems used this cut, including the infamous Hope Diamond.
- According to The Diamond Buying Guide, cushion cuts have a “marvelously romantic and classic look and definite stands out from the crowd of round brilliants” even though it’s not as “fiery or brilliant as many of the newer cuts.”
- While cushion cuts are growing in popularity these days, they are still a relatively rare to find as compared to rounds or princess cuts. In other words, I ain’t looking for no cookie cutter ring.
As for the setting, this little beauty had me at “hello” ….
Unfortunately for me, this freakin’ ring has been nothing more than a figment of my imagination. If anyone else saw this on page 280 of the winter 2010 issue of Martha Stewart Wedding and tried to find it, you’ll understand my pain. Where do I even begin?
- You may not recognize it, but this ring is made by Tiffany’s. Too bad, it’s NO WHERE to be found at www.tiffany.com (as of 2/3/10). What gives?
- In the magazine article, there was a customer service number in the caption for this ring. I called it and surprise, surprise, the customer service rep had no idea that this ring even existed! She had to put me on hold and ping her co-workers/managers to find out.
- I was then connected to diamond specialist who told me that this ring is a new style that has yet to be made available on the Web site. However, she did find some units in the brick-and-mortar stores near me.
- While I should have made an appointment to go see these units like she recommended, I just wasn’t ready to commit to a date at the time. Instead, I decided to walk in one day. Ironically enough, this ring was not there. On top of that, the sales rep I spoke with said that their store has never received any units of this ring.
- While I was starting to think that this ring was just a dream, the sales rep did assure me that it would be available eventually this year…too bad she didn’t have a ballpark release date.
- I left my email address with the sales rep, but almost a month later, there has still been no signs of this ring. So what’s my next move?
It may be time to move on and find a jeweler who can re-create this ring for me or build me something that comes pretty darn close. While of course, it might not have the same level of quality control, this option may actually be easier on my budget.
Side Note: While it has been a bit frustrating trying to track down this ring. I must say that Tiffany has really good customer services and super nice sales reps. All very helpful even though they had no clue about what I was talking about most of the time. Just negative points to the PR team for jumping the gun on getting coverage for a “non-existent” ring.
You know the old saying, “always a bridesmaid, never a bride”? Well, for me, that idiom is better expressed as “always on guest book duty/cake distributer/assistant to the MOH, never a bridesmaid”….that is until now.
While I am still waiting for my official invitation, I am excited to say that I’ll be part of my cousin’s wedding party. Yeah! Let’s hear it for identical dresses that match the decor! As an added plus, I am especially looking forward to planning her reception games (i.e., a Chinese tradition whereby the bridesmaids and groomsmen humiliate the bride and groom by making them play ridiculous, semi-inappropriate games with sexual innuendos in front of their closest family and friends.)
As a side note, what this also means is that I will now be able to blog about wedding stuff without feeling somewhat awkward since I myself am not engaged….yet….dun, dun, dun….to be continued.
After recapping the results of my 9 goals for 2009, it’s time for me to set some new goals for the new year. The first seven are repeats from last year – the ones that are still in-progress. The remaining three are new goals.
- Become a better blogger – Whether or not I make time for blogging every day largely depends on my mood and energy level at the end of the day. As such, I think it’s more realistic that I make time for myself to blog at least once a week. Ideally, I would like to increase the number of posts that I write each month and increase my readership so that I can really call myself a real blogger.
- Live long and thrive – Yes, I have an incredibly cheap membership to 24 hour fitness, but no need to waste it. I need to make a conscious effort to go to the gym more often, like once a week or more. Likewise, I need to change my eating habits as well – right now there’s a little too much snacking and junk food when I’m feeling lazy.
- A pirate’s life for me – Rebuilding a decent music collection on my iPhone isn’t a high priority for me, but if I can spend some time on this, it would be nice to listen to music without ads (Pandora) or a song limit (De Do Music).
- Budget like a rock star – I created a budgeting/personal finance spreadsheet on Excel (which I am still fine tuning) last year. The hard part now is updating it on a regular basis. I need to set a time for me to make updates each week so that I can manage my money and spending habits like a hawk.
- Become an early riser - Maybe I can set an example this weekend and go to bed early tonight and wake up early. It would be nice if I can learn to sleep at 10PM and wake up at 6AM to get eight hours of sleep. Ideally, it would be great this leads to me making time to working out in the morning before work. Problem is, I am such a night owl that this is sounding more and more like a pipe dream to me.
- Organize - I wonder if it would help me to create a monthly schedule for myself to do laundry, vacuum, scrub down the bathroom and scoop the litter box. At least then I wouldn’t feel like live in a garbage dump sometimes. Another thing that I would like to do is take inventory of my stuff so that I know what I have and don’t have.
- To Do Lists – I could put this under “organize” but I feel like this is such a problem area that it deserves its own bullet. I used to make to do lists for myself while I was at school, but since I started working, I only make a list for work tasks. Everything else is a bullet in my head that may or may not be remembered. I guess what I need to do is combine my work list with my home list so that everything is kept in one place. I think it’s clear to me that I need to do this on paper and that my iPhone isn’t going to work (even though there are many apps that could help).
- Project Photo Sort – I’m embarrassed to say this, but I have a number of picture frames with the “photo” that come with the frame still in them. This wouldn’t be such an issue if it hasn’t been almost two years since I got those frames. As such, I really need to spend some time to sort my pictures and print the ones that I want to frame. I would also like to scan my old photos and keep them in a safe place digitally.
- Move Forward - DL and I have been in limbo for more than a year. It’s time to make a decision and move forward.
If you ask me, 2009 was a lousy year for me and many others. Hopefully, 2010 will be better.
In the meantime, here’s a quick recap on the goals that I set for myself last year:
- Create a life list – DONE; I started the list in June…now it’s just a matter of adding more items and crossing them up as I go.
- Become a better blogger – In PROGRESS; I have good months and I have bad months. This will be a continual work in progress until I find my groove.
- Stay employed – DONE; The agency is doing well and I hope that stays that way in 2010.
- Live long and thrive – In PROGRESS; While I have gym membership, I need to make more of an effort to go (more than once a month). As for food, I need to make more of an effort to stop eating out so much and start cooking my meals more often.
- A pirate’s life for me – In PROGRESS; It may be a long time before I actually put any effort in my music collection. In the meantime, I am dependent on Pandora.
- Budget like a rock star – In PROGRESS; I have good months and bad months in terms of budgeting and paying attention to how I manage my money. Not a good habit and something I hope to improve in 2010.
- Find a hobby or a social group – DONE; Last month, I found a networking group, Asian Professionals Meetups, in the city. The group has been pretty cool and I’m looking forward to going to more of their events in 2010.
- Become an early riser - IN PROGRESS; Try as I may, it is hard for me to wake up in the mornings. I need to learn to sleep earlier and wake up earlier so that I can get more out of my days. Argh!
- Organize - IN PROGRESS; Oy! I love organizing and home improvement shows, but I why can’t I organize my room and my life.
So a few weeks ago, my mom bought some Restaurant.com “gift certificates” for me. It seemed like a good deal – $25 gift certificates for just $2. Not bad, right? Well, that is until you read the fine print and actually go to one of their “participating” restaurants…
MAJOR FAIL #1
To sum up my dining experience this evening in a nutshell, the restaurant did NOT accept my Restaurant.com gift certificate. In fact, so many customers before me have tried to redeem their coupons that the restaurant has had to post a sign on their front door stating that they would not honor them. What the heck, Restaurant.com?! Seems like you’re just arbitrarily listing any restaurant that you can think of on your site as a participant. What a MAJOR FAIL!
MAJOR FAIL #2
Coincidentally, my mom decided to try and use her Restaurant.com coupon this evening as well. While she had a completely different experience, it was equally as disappointing as my experience.
Rather than telling you the story, let me break it down with some simple math:
Here’s the premise: The Restaurant.com gift certificate for this restaurant requires the user to spend at least $50 and provide an %18 minimum gratuity on the pre-discounted meal.
Cost of the meal: $58
Cost of the gift certificate: $2
Tip: $10
Tax: $5
Discount: $25
Total: $50
In the words of Mastercard, this is “priceless” and ridiculously ironic if you ask me. Once again, MAJOR FAIL!
CONCLUSION
Now believe you me, I have no intention of ever using Restaurant.com again and I am pretty sure my mom feels the same way, but don’t just take my word for it. Here’s what some other more prominent bloggers have to say:
- Consumerist – Chris Walters calls it “shady” and warns consumers to watch out for a no good, sneaky third-party vendor – Shopping Essentials – that wants $15 from you every month in exchange for a non-existent service.
- WiseBread – As much as I like and respect WiseBread, I can’t help but wonder if Xin Liu and her readers have been force feed Restaurant.com Kool-Aid, ’cause the feedback is overwhelmingly positive and supportive.
