"Bad" news and good news!

[anchor31]

I had a wonderful birthday weekend with my family and J! Thank you so much for everyone''s kind wishes!!

J and I talked about rings this weekend and I told him I was mad at him for buying the XBOX I wanted to give him as his engagement present (he knew I wanted to buy it and was excited about it; he just suddenly decided it was too much money for me to spend WITHOUT talking to me about it). I explained how taking decisions about my money are not his to take and he should have talked to me about it first so we could have reached a compromise of some sort. He felt really bad about it, so he agreed when I told him I wanted to pay for the ring setting. So all is well now, and the ring budget is upped by 500$!! Mouahahaha...

He also admitted that he wants to buy me a Canadian diamond, even if it means paying a little more money. I think it''s a wonderful idea (Canadian pride and all that

)! I found some with very reasonable prices on diamondexchange.ca and canadian-diamonds-wholesale.com, so I have something to work with for the prices. From what he told me, he wants to work with Création Paul H., so I''m excited about that. He doesn''t remember the name, but he said it''s a high-quality place where you need an appointement, so I think it''s Paul H. I hope they have reasonable prices; apparently they pay the taxes if we pay cash for the ring, which is good. We''ll see what they have... Depending on the diamond prices and the settings they have, I might suggest to J to get the diamond from Diamond Exchange Toronto (diamondexchange.ca) and the setting from Paul H.

The "bad" news is that we can''t make an appointment to meet with the jeweler for another three weeks. Next week is Mother''s Day weekend and my grandmother is coming to visit, and weekend after next is my father''s birthday weekend, so J is coming over. Oh well, it''s not so bad. J told me he''s thinking about making the final purchase around mid-summer, so there''s no big rush. Why is he waiting now that he has the money? No idea. Men are truly strange creatures.

I''m feeling too good to be frustrated about it right now though.

 

[sunkist]

Oh Anchor it sounds like great news over all!! I''m so happy for you

I love that your budget us up $500 (Muahaha!) ohhh that cracked me up

Happy Birthday, girl

Looks like we might be getting engaged around the same time!!!! Hang in there with me

 

[Mannequin]

That''s great news, Anchor!

Sounds like some good progress is being made!

 

[ilovesparkles]

and the ring budget is upped by 500$!! Mouahahaha...

You cracked me up good this morning! And yay! Just out of curiousity about how much more expensive are Canadian diamonds than american? Per carat? Just curious and don''t have time to look right now. I must be running off to class

 

[anchor31]

Date: 5/8/2006 9:19:27 AM
Author: ilovesparkles
and the ring budget is upped by 500$!! Mouahahaha...

You cracked me up good this morning! And yay! Just out of curiousity about how much more expensive are Canadian diamonds than american? Per carat? Just curious and don''t have time to look right now. I must be running off to class

Well, let''s see... A .51 H-VS2 ACA from WF would be $1553 USD and a .51 H-VS2 ICE Ideal H&A from DE would be $1429 USD. So, it''s not that Canadian diamonds are more expensive, I''m just not sure we''ll get such good prices in a B&M. I''ll print some stones out and bring them along, though, and I''ll see what good it can do!

 

[sumbride]

plus you have that added benefit of Canadian diamonds being "conflict free". That''s cool in itself. Glad to hear things are chugging along!!!

 

[Scooba]

anochor, are you not going to get him an engagement present at all now? I think you could get him something less expensive with more sentimental value that he will have forever, and could maybe give to a son one day..?

 

[sunkist]

Date: 5/8/2006 11:22:16 AM
Author: sumbride
plus you have that added benefit of Canadian diamonds being ''conflict free''. That''s cool in itself. Glad to hear things are chugging along!!!

So are Canadian diamonds actually mined in Canada? That might be a stupid question, now that I think about it, but this is the first I''ve heard of "Canadian" diamonds!

 

[ilovesparkles]

Cool I was also wondering because I really hate the thought that my future diamond (

) could be a blood diamond. I have read too much to know better and would also hate to make debeers any money. So canadian sounds reasonable, that is so cool! I am going to go do some looking now myself

 

[anchor31]

Diamonds - He bought his XBOX himself because he doesn't want me to spend my money on him and get him a present.

Anyway, he has all the guizmos he wants now, and the other option I considered was getting him an engagement band, which he doesn't want.

 

[ilovesparkles]

Date: 5/8/2006 2:56:22 PM
Author: sunkist

Date: 5/8/2006 11:22:16 AM
Author: sumbride
plus you have that added benefit of Canadian diamonds being ''conflict free''. That''s cool in itself. Glad to hear things are chugging along!!!

So are Canadian diamonds actually mined in Canada? That might be a stupid question, now that I think about it, but this is the first I''ve heard of ''Canadian'' diamonds!

Hehehe yes they are. THere is also a company in AK or TX or somewhere down there that refuses to sell out to debeers so they are also guaranteed not to be blood diamonds. And then there is Diamond National Park where you can go and try to mine your own. There was a post about that a while back because this guy found a 4.21 canary yellow rough.

 

[sumbride]

Date: 5/8/2006 2:59:21 PM
Author: ilovesparkles

Hehehe yes they are. THere is also a company in AK or TX or somewhere down there that refuses to sell out to debeers so they are also guaranteed not to be blood diamonds. And then there is Diamond National Park where you can go and try to mine your own. There was a post about that a while back because this guy found a 4.21 canary yellow rough.

Crater of Diamonds state park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas.... but please, ladies, don''t tell your guy about it or you''ll be on the LIW list for a LONG time... it''s definitely a cool place and great for the true bargain hunter... the entrance fee is nominal and you get to keep whatever you find, but big finds are rare... VERY rare.... the park has been open a long time. It''s fun, I went as a kid but only found a hunk of jasper. Now that I''ve seen polished jasper I wish I remembered what I did with it, but for your left-hand bling, the DIY variety may not be for you!

 

[sumbride]

Date: 5/8/2006 2:57:24 PM
Author: ilovesparkles
Cool I was also wondering because I really hate the thought that my future diamond (

) could be a blood diamond. I have read too much to know better and would also hate to make debeers any money. So canadian sounds reasonable, that is so cool! I am going to go do some looking now myself

You can always buy an estate ring when the time comes... at least it wouldn''t contribute to the current situation. Of course, most precious things have had some blood shed over them at some point, but estate is at least older.

 

[anchor31]

sunkist - Yes, Canadian diamonds are mined in Canada, I''m guessing in the Great North. Not only are they conflict-free, but the workers are at least paid the Canadian legal minimum wadge, which can''t be said about the diamonds mined in Africa.

ilovesparkles - Heee, it''s so cool that you want a Canadian diamond!

Be prepared to pay 25-ish% import taxes though.

 

[akw94]

Anchor,
That''s great that your budget is upped! That is weird that guys feel a need to wait even though the $ is there. I guess it''s another guy-thing that makes little sense!! But it is soon and that''s very exciting!
That''s also pretty cool about getting a conflict free diamond. I''ve thought about that but hadn''t actually looked into it.

 

[ilovesparkles]

Date: 5/8/2006 3:07:49 PM
Author: anchor31

sunkist - Yes, Canadian diamonds are mined in Canada, I'm guessing in the Great North. Not only are they conflict-free, but the workers are at least paid the Canadian legal minimum wadge, which can't be said about the diamonds mined in Africa.

ilovesparkles - Heee, it's so cool that you want a Canadian diamond!

Be prepared to pay 25-ish% import taxes though.

Hmmmmm, what if I go up there and purchase the stone and blablabla and then wear it out of Canada?

OK now I am totally scheming especially since we won't even be looking at stone for at least a year

But 25% really? THat bites!

 

[anchor31]

lol I can''t blame you for thinking that, but I''m not the one who''s going to recommend smuggling a Canadian diamond to the US...

Allycat, a fellow Canadian, told me about a friend who tried to smuggle his ring from the US and got his car seized. That''s a scary thought...

 

[ilovesparkles]

Hmmmm scratch that thought! lol

 

[anchor31]

Ilovesparkles - I just saw that Diamond Exchange (www.diamondexchange.ca), who sells Canadian diamonds, has an office in New York. So lucky you, you most probably would not have to pay those import taxes whether you buy online or in person... It''d probably be safer to check though...

 

[anchor31]

UPDATE

I just noticed that we have a long weekend the weekend after next. It''s my dad''s birthday on Saturday the 20th, so J is going to come over, but since we have a holiday on Monday, I''m thinking about asking J to call the jeweller and see if he can make an appointment for Sunday or Monday.

I''ve found a Canadian diamond I really like... It''s an AGS certified .50ct I-SI1 ideal H&A with medium fluorescence (HCA 1.2). If it''s eyeclean and the fluor doesn''t make it look oily or cloudy, it would be an amazing diamond!! It would go up to about $1550 CAD tax included, which would give us around $950 CAD to play with for the setting, now that I''m contributing 500$ to the ring.

Hm... I wonder if it''d be enough to get sapphire sidestones...

 

[SoonIHope]

OOOOH SO EXCITING!!!!!!!!!

Good luck anchor!!!!!!!

 

[anchor31]

Yeah... I shouldn''t get too excited though...

I should wait and see what the jeweler we''re going to see can offer us, and what J says...

 

[ilovesparkles]

Yay that sounds exciting! Sorry to hijack your thread for a bit there! You have to let us know what happens!

 

[allycat0303]

Anchor!!! Wow sounds like a great diamond, and a good price too. My stone has medium flour, no problems what so ever. Actually, I LOVE flour, and wouldn''t get one without it. Flour makes lower coloured diamonds look more white. If anything, I''m disappointed I didn''t get STRONG blue! Good luck with your search!

 

[E B]

Yay Anchor! Sapphire sidestones would be awesome.

 

[Rhapsody]

My BF doesn''t like me spending money on him either. He''s told me I''m only "allowed" to spend 30 dollars on him for our 7th anniversary present

yeah right, like I''m gonna follow that rule!

I''m sorry he bought the Xbox even though he knew you wanted to get it for him. That wasn''t very nice! For our 5th anniversary I wanted to get B a PS2 but it was going to be a surprise. Well the day before he went out and bought one! So instead I spent all morning the day of our anniversary trying to track down some rare games for him while I was at work. I had every boy in the building calling used game stores for me, it was pretty funny.


Several jewelers in the US carry or specialize in diamonds from Canadian rough. Bailey Banks and Biddle carries a line of ideal Canadian diamonds. I think they call them "artic ice" or something like that.

Increased budget is always a good thing, its amazing how easy it is to spend what seems like an awful lot of money. I hope you can go shopping over the next weekend or 2 and find something fabulous!

 

[anchor31]

Thank you everyone!

Ally - I have to admit it almost sounds too good to be true!!

If J says yes *crossing fingers*, DE has a 30 days return period, so I''ll ask to have it shipped so we can check it out. I''ve seen some fabulous stones with fluor on here and I''d like to have one because it''s a good way to get a whiter looking diamond at a lower price (although it''s not a requirement), I just want to make sure it doesn''t have the "oily appearance" problem. Of course, I want to check if it''s eye clean too.

Ebree - I''ve been sort of falling in love with the sapphires and diamond look... And of course, sidestones means more "finger estate" covered, right?

We''ll see what we can get...

Rhapsody - What''s with them not wanting us to spend money when they''re spending thousands?? I wasn''t even going to spend half what he''s going to... Anyway, boys are just silly sometimes.

So... with all this I''m trying to not get my hopes up... But it''s haaaard!!