Ditto… I can’t wear rings at all because of problems with my hands, but I wouldn’t want something like that even if I could. Even if you like how they look, there are incredibly realistic fakes out there that are tons cheaper. I don’t understand why anyone except the obscenely rich would waste money on expensive jewelry.
Then, I guess part of the point is that some of these people breaking the bank to get that stuff are trying to convince others they’re members of the obscenely rich.
The nicest and most wonderful thing my boyfriend can do for me is help make my life a little easier. Wash the dishes, vacuum the apartment, run an errand for me (bonus points if I don’t have to ask)… things like that are much more endearing than just going and buying me stuff I don’t need, want, or don’t have much practical application for.
Valentine’s Day does suck, but I like the candy. I told the boy I’d like a big box of chocolates, but not to buy it for me until a couple days after, when they were marked down on the deep deep discount. Flowers are overpriced and I never want them for any holiday, unless they’re still attached to a plant and root system, and will be around longer than a week. Not into jewelry or stuffed animals or balloons or the cutesey shit. He treats me well all the time… there’s no need for a special holiday to do anything out of the ordinary (except maybe an anniversary, if you want to celebrate it.) It makes me sad that a holiday that was just engineered by card and candy companies only to make money to begin with, has the ability to upset so many people.
My boyfriend wanted to buy me a diamond engagement ring, but I kept saying I didn’t want one. I don’t like diamonds! I could even do without a ring but he insists on it. I like emeralds, but it seems they are soft stones, so I asked for a sapphire stone.
I have a diamond, but it’s a family heirloom on his side - over 150 years old, so it pre-dates the DeBeers issue. I did want a ring for purely aesthetical reasons (I wanted to be SEEN as engaged - call me crazy), but had we not had this diamond, I really wanted a sapphire ring. I LOVE sapphires and have them in my engagement-ring and wedding ring. There are some stunningly beautiful sapphire rings out there.
And I admit, I like my diamond, which is an antique-cut, so it’s a little more unique than the majority of stones, but I like the fact more that my in-laws (mother-in-law mostly, as it was her mother’s stone) trusted and loved me enough to let me have this precious family heirloom - and that my husband was the one who chose me to have it. I’d love it the same way if it were a cubic zirconia, emerald, sapphire or piece of quartz. And unless we choose to pass it down to a child someday, this thing isn’t coming off until I’m dead:).
Who knows from diamonds? Deb mentioned in a casual conversation, long before we were serious, that she did not think much of diamonds and actually thought a smoky topaz would be a nicer engagement ring. So many months later, when I popped the question, I surprised her with a smoky topaz ring.
However, all you Valentine’s Day haters miss the true importance of the holiday: following Valentine’s Day, all the specialty candy shops put their red boxed chocolate on sale to clear the way for Easter chocolate and I can always find truffle chocolates at half price from the 15th through the 18th (by which time I will usually have bought out their stock).
There’s nothing wrong with liking diamonds, and although the Kimberly and associated mines are the most productive on the planet, there are plenty of diamonds from other sources. My vent against diamonds is the way the DeBeers cartel manipulates the market to artifically raise prices and how they have (very cleverly) manipulated the public into believing that diamonds are an indispensable part of the marriage experience. Ditto goes for those enormous, unwieldy wedding “dresses”, frighteningly towering cakes, and absurdly expensive receptions. It strikes me as not only being superficial but fiscally detrimental to the future of the couple in question. (Though, obviously wedding industry suppliers would take odds with that.)
The issue with DeBeers being an exploiter of labor and a manipulator of market could be said of any of a number of companies and products, I suppose. I just dislike that kind of manipulation.
Diamonds have some very interesting and useful mechanical and thermal properties, but there’s no reason they should be so vastly more expensive than any other precious stones. I find it bizarre that someone would spend the downpayment of a house on a piece of carbon.
I have my mother’s ring. It’s at least two karats; maybe a little over. I’m not sure. Mom told me it was worth about $13,000. Personally, I think it’s hideous. I guess it would look better in another setting.
No idea what I’ll do with it. I can’t sell it, and it’s unlikely that I’ll ever be married.
I much prefer emeralds to diamonds. And they’re not soft, but they are brittle and will chip if you don’t take care of them. I found out that finding a perfect emerald is near impossible, so naturally I have to have one.
Have you considered moissanite? Don’t be mislead. We’re not talking a new version of the CZs. Moissanite ranks right up there with the natural precious stones.
