Getting Married March 31st 2012 - still need engagement ring

I have been searching and searching and I think I am now a victim of too much information.
I have seen some beautiful stones and some not so beautiful stones but I feel that comparing beautiful stones
is like deciding on a 67 lincoln continental convertible, a 1970 challenger, or 67 shelby mustang.

I live in Los Angeles and have a large selection of diamonds to look at from dealers of uncertified stones in Chinatown, the jewelry booths on Hill St., to the private diamond dealers in the high rises on Hill.

I bring an ASET, an idealscope, a UV pen light, and a camera everywhere I go and sometimes I get nasty looks but mostly inquisitive dealers, and the occasional dealer who is just as enthusiastic as I am.

I really love my girlfriend, can't call her fiancee yet, and I know she wants a:
2+ carat
patterned cut (AGS ideal, GIA excellent, 8 arrows)
G-H color at lowest
eye clean stone
and I have a $20-24k budget (which I think makes it really hard, like one of those reality show guys who finds an old, original pain, Bugatti with 500 miles on the odometer sitting in some barn in the middle of no where) but I am intent on weeding out the special stone amongst all the triple X, or AGS 0-1 stones.
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I have read and seen most of the tutorials on goodoldgold.com and pricescope and really appreciate the information. Today I met with a guy who cuts the Eighternity stone and was also impressed. I think ultimately, I want to find the perfect stone for my fiancee but also to establish a relationship with a jeweler so that I can always turn back to a trusted friend to buy more diamonds.

Sorry for the long post, I just really need help finding a stone, I'm at my wit's ends. I need it by February 13-18th sometime because I was planning to propose during our engagement shoot which will be at the elementary school where we met.

Here are some questions:

1) On GIA excellent cut stones, is the pale pink under the table and pale pink around the upper girdle facets a bad sign, meaning if I keep looking, will I find a GIA excellent cut stone with more red to the edge and a table with more light return? Here are some examples of what I mean:


2) I was told honestly by a dealer that he buys diamonds that are ungraded and decides where to send his stones for certification after in house grading and determining that a beautiful stone can get a GIA bump (like Colbert bump) and a stone that would be hurt by GIA gets sent to EGL-USA to get an on paper edge. And in fact, I was sitting with a diamond cutter when another dealer asked him to help grade a stone, something like J color 3ct who had a diamond from a shopper unhappy with her retail purchase who was asking for more than that price. When the cutter agreed with the dealer that it was a lower color, she pulled an EGL-Intnl cert that graded the diamond an H color, so I know that GIA and AGS are the more conservative grading houses, but the question is, can I find a diamond in the rough that is eye clean (VS1-2) EGL-USA, F-G color, that would be GIA SI-1-2, G color but the cut turned out to be a true ideal cut AGS 0-1, or GIA XXX? Or is that a pipe dream?
This is a EGL-USA, 2ct, VS1, G color for $24k mounted + tax, ideal cut:


3) I have access to rapnet.com and the prices look pretty good, is that a good place to get a deal on a diamond?

4) Finally, with it coming to crunch time, am I really being just too picky, and am I only imagining a difference where there isn't one discernable to the human eye? Going from stone to stone, I can remember the little nuances I liked about the stone, like a dark star pattern, or a bright star pattern because of the lower girdle facet lengths, or a nice spread, but I really haven't been able to compare as many side by side. That's why I take the pictures, but at this point, it has become very confusing.

5) I saw my first supra-faceted ideal cut stone, the eighternity and was impressed by its light return but a little turned off by its loss of the traditional pattern, I have seen the videos on goodoldgold, but in person, in diffuse lighting, it looks like the eighternity had much more brilliance and scintillation compared with the GIA XXX with 8 arrows. I know it's a matter of personal preference, but the question is, if my girlfriend wanted to upgrade, would I lose value on the open market because of the uniqueness of the cut?

I'm really sorry about the long post, but you all have helped me so much, and I'm just asking for one last favor, help me find the perfect diamond for my fiancee, please.