L.A GTG on 10/17- We''re heading to the beach!

LaurenThePartier · Oct 17, 2009

Date: 10/17/2009 2:49:30 AM
Author: Selkie
I should be there! Taking the cat to the vet at 9, but hopefully that won''t take too long and I can make it over to Santa Monica by 11. If I don''t see everyone at Starbucks, I''ll meet up with you at 23rd Street. Chargergrrl, I think I have your cell number if anything comes up.

Looking forward to meeting you, Selkie!!!! I''ll send you my cell # too!

miraclesrule · Oct 17, 2009

I''m so sad I can''t join all of you. My daughter''s 30th birthday party is tonight and I get to babysit.

Have fun for all of us. Chargergrrl, can you believe that my team may be moving to L.A??
GAH! Bye-bye season tickets for me. Boo.

I can''t wait to see your pictures. It''s a beautiful day, ENJOY!!

kenny · Oct 17, 2009

Just got home.
I had a wonderful time with four very cool and fun ladies.

We stayed at Starbucks, I mean Fivebucks, for over an hour and drooled over all the suerpbling.
It was so nice to feel free to actually stare at women's diamonds and even ask if I could loupe them without them freaking out and wiping out her cellphone to call 911.

All the bling was to die for but I have to give the special mention to the vintage bezel-set emerald-cut diamond, I forget the screen name of the owner, and am not sure if it is the same as her real name so I'll refrain from naming her, respecting privacy and all.
Her diamond looks twice its weight yet was so well cut that it oozed contrast and pop!
But really all the lady's rocks were droolworth.

LTP brought 500,000 fantastic loose and set colored stones and we laid them all out on the table.
I told Laura that she needs cosmetic surgery . . . more fingers.

There was so much bling that I was waiting for the mafia to open up their machine guns or for the smoke alarms to go off from all the fire.
I LOVED that green peridot ring in the halo, so fine and yummie, who's was that?

Then we moseyed on down to 23rd St. Jewelers and I really really got a very good feeling about this jeweler.
So many fine hand-made pieces and cool vintage stones reset in brilliant designs.
The ladies took half their stock out of the cases and stacked them onto all their fingers and toes: it was really quite shameful.
Seriously, I highly recommend this jeweler, both their inventory and staff are top-notch.

Then the galz dragged me to a place where ~~they got me drunk and had their way with me~~, I mean we had a yummie healthy lunch and took some pics.
I'm so glad I didn't get a parking ticket - I deserved one, twice.

So, when's the next one ladies?

bebe · Oct 17, 2009

Sounds like all of you had fun.
Did anyone take pics!!!

kenny · Oct 17, 2009

Yes, several cameras were clicking away.

I didn't take many.
I'm so slow; I take forever to get one pic.

The light wasn't that great so I improvised a tripod on the restaurant table.
I set my camera on my wine glass and set the rings on a sugar packet holder which was set on my water glass.

I added and subtracted sugar packets under the rings and the camera lens to center the stones in the frame.
Then since there were long exposures I asked the ladies to not touch the table while the timer took the pic.

Can you guess whom these beauties belong to?

LaurenThePartier · Oct 17, 2009

I'm back at my friend's house after an amazing, busy day, and waiting on our reservations for tonight.

So, first, some introductions. From left: Blueroses, Me, Selkie, Kenny, ChargerGrrl. Kenny - this pic is the best representation of your personality and all of the ladies looked lovely, so this is the one of 6 that I picked.

Disclaier; I'm on a tiny netbook, so there's no way I can edit photos, so they're being uploaded straight from the memory card. Otherwise, they'd be cropped, and I apologize.

We started at the 26th and Wilshire Starbuck's and ChargerGrrl showed up first. We checked out each other's rings, and I marveled at her lovely studs and jackets. That W prong setting is perfect for that Princess! Meanwhile, Blueroses is texting me to tell me what I already knew - LA traffic is miserable! Kenny arrived next, and I could have called it the moment I saw that left hand. I have now seen the most amazing Asscher I have ever had the pleasure of seeing! WOWSERS!!!! I lament that I'm still not used to my D90, and that my little P&S wasn't fully charged, so the best pics of the day have come from Kenny's camera. Then Selkie arrived, and she brought the colour with her!!!! That Tsav in the Van Craeynest is perfection and her e-sapphire is lovely. After a load of annoying traffic, Blueroses finally arrived, and OMG, her e-ring is just divine. That EC antique is amazingly spready and so contrasty!!! Perfect design, and just goes to show how beneficial many years of PS membership can be. Blueroses, that thing is a home run!!!

I have a ton of pics of gemstone pieces from 23rd Street, but lack the time to upload and process until Monday. Ladies and Gentleman, I had the most amazing time this morning/afternoon. Y'all were more wonderful than the pictures I had in my mind, and for me, it was beyond cathartic and refreshing to meet you ladies who were LIWs and BIWs with me. I'm so glad I could meet you all, and I will definitely be back within the year. More to come later . . .

ETA: Eeeeeeek!!!!!! Kenny, that pic is stunning!!!!!! I think a new av is in order when I can get some editing software.

Selkie · Oct 17, 2009

Kenny, you are a riot and your asscher is to die for. Your wine glass tripod was a genius feat of engineering. Chargergrrl, it was awesome to see you again and meet your lovely peridot ring. And Lauren and Blueroses, it was great to finally meet both of you, you are both so much fun. I loved seeing all your gorgeous jewelry and learning about wizard rock! And 23rd Street is my new official West Coast favorite jewelry store. They were very patient and accommodating, and their pieces are breathtaking. A great day!

kenny · Oct 17, 2009

A shameless step cut ménage à trois.

Any gunk you see is not in the stones; it's ON the stones.

All three of these stones have super duper high clarity.
Actually, I'm surprised they were this clean since they were just taken off fingers.

The two upper stones are picking up the rust colored wood behind my head, as seen in the upper pic of all of us.
I wish I had more time to shoot more of the exquisite jewelry that everyone bought.
These two pics are really all I have.

This pic is a very informative example of how effective these beautiful bezel settings are for step cut diamonds.
I think the upper-right emerald cut is below 0.8 carat (please correct me if I'm wrong) and the bottom asscher is 2.26 carat.
They do not appear that much different in size.

Mara · Oct 17, 2009

wow that last picture is just stunning, kenny... you don't often seen step cuts photographed in 'real life' quite so fabulously and brightly.

sounds like you guys all had a fab time, too fun!! was it as hot in LA as it was here today...in south bayarea northern CA it was 80! what the heck.

that EC is an amazing ring... blueroses i think i missed something...congrats!!!

blueroses · Oct 17, 2009

It was SO much fun!! My first GTG, and just a blast to meet everyone in person--especially after spending so much time with Lauren, Selkie, and Chargergrrl on the LIW list back in the day.

Kenny, your sugar packet/wine tripod was hilarious (as are you and your toothbrush in that shot!) and that picture of the three step-cuts is so drooly. Yep, you're right. My EC is only .627!!

Mara, you did miss something, but it's really not your fault--I popped back on to PS last Spring, got engaged, did a thread, and then disappeared again. I'm a very bad PSer. I am planning to do an overdue SMTR thread for the ring. But....HI!

Ladies and Gent, it was a blast. I had so much fun geeking out on bling today.

kenny · Oct 18, 2009

Thanks Mara.
Yeah, it was unseasonably hot in Santa Monica yesterday, low 80s, but everywhere we went had AC.

I can't wait to see all the other pics.
There are a zillion pics of the bling we brought and many pieces at 23rd St Jewelers.

ChargerGrrl · Oct 18, 2009

Oh, what joy it was to spend a lovely afternoon with PSers. Laruen, Selkie, Blueroses, and Kenny- THANKS for the fun time!

The pieces at 23rd St. were amazing, but we gave them a run for their money as witnessed by Kenny''s spectacular pic above. Now THAT was a fun photo shoot to witness!

miraclesrule · Oct 18, 2009

Chargergrrl!!! That is YOUR peridot???? A.M.A.Z.I.N.G... It''s making me salivate every time I see it. I want.

Skippy123 · Oct 18, 2009

Date: 10/17/2009 11:59:40 PM
Author: kenny
A shameless step cut ménage à trois.

I love this!!!

Great pic!

Beautiful group and fabulous bling!!!!!

sounds like a wonderful time.

Yay Lauren you got the D90, woohoo!

Bliss · Oct 18, 2009

More pics! Good golly gosh, the step cut threesome is daring and racy - because it made my heart race!

You all look great! So fun - wish I were in LA!

LaurenThePartier · Oct 19, 2009

OK, I finally got a few uploaded and sized. This is Blueroses hand (and yummy ring) and a SBTY necklace!

LaurenThePartier · Oct 19, 2009

ChargerGrrl''s bling. This altogether is something else! Love her W prong princess and that peridot RHR was a knock out! CG was also kind enough to rescue her ACA bracelet from the safe deposit box for us to view. I''m sure it''s back at the bank now. Poor lonely bracelet.

LaurenThePartier · Oct 19, 2009

Rings in a row.

LaurenThePartier · Oct 19, 2009

Kenny can obviously do his ring better justice than I can, but this was the best hand shot I could get.

LaurenThePartier · Oct 19, 2009

Selkie''s set. Sorry it''s blurry, hun! I think I was still laughing about something we were talking about and I blurred these shots all over the place!

LaurenThePartier · Oct 19, 2009

Speaking of Selkie - I think she and I may have gotten into a knock down, drag out fight over this necklace. It''s simply gorgeous in person. Selkie''s modeling it here.