My niece''s new BGD wedding earrings - photos

[hmr_mama]

So pretty! Your niece is truly blessed to have an Aunt like you!

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

You are the best aunt ever Whitby! Can you adopt me?

Lovely earrings!

 

[reggie]

Wow, very cool. I thought the first and second pic looked stunning. When I saw the third pic showing the detail of the basket for the pearls I was even more impressed.

I love it when ever detail has a specific meaning and the fact that you two can now share a bond with the peal/diamond connection it makes this gift that much more memorable. Two thumbs up!

 

[joelly]

It is totally beautiful. She is such a lucky girl to have such a great aunt.

 

[dani13]

Those are SOOO pretty!!!!! What a sweet aunt you are!!!!

 

[Dreamer_D]

So lovely!

 

[yssie]

Lovely!!



I hope she''ll share earshots with you when she gets them

You''re an awesome aunt

 

[LabRatPhD]

such beautiful, classic earrings! You are such a sweet aunt!!

 

[whitby_2773]

Princessplease, DiaDiva, pinki, lknvrb4, y2kitty, Diamond*Dana, nataliesamaras, Hudson_Hawk, gemgirl, Catmom, Luckyeshe, motownmama, Bella_mezzo, Tuckins1, siamese3, tyty333, legra, cushioncutnut, wsblue430, purselover, loriken, lizzyann01, honey22, somethingshiny, beechezz, qtiekiki, oddoneout, hmr_mama, Brown.Eyed.Girl, reggie, joelly, Dani, dreamer_dachsie, yssie, LabRatPhD –

Thank you all so much for your kind comments! Erin hasn’t seen the finished project yet, tho she’s seen the ‘in production’ photos. It was so enjoyable to make these for her and a great pleasure to work with Brian Gavin Diamonds and Pearl Paradise on something so special.

i asked Erin if i could include her photo on this thread, and with her permission - here she is. won''t her new earrings look beautiful?

i am one proud aunt...

 

[DiaDiva]

Whitby, she''s beautiful and those earrings are going to look just amazing on her.

 

[Natylad]

Aha!! The gorgeous girl with the gorgeous earrings will make a great set

 

[Dandi]

WOW Whitby they are amazing!! How thoughtful and generous of you!! Your niece is stunning!

 

[AprilBaby]

What a wonderful wedding gift! She is going to be a stunning bride!

 

[Laila619]

Love them! What a special gift. I''m sure she will be thrilled!

 

[Cachette]

Classic, beautiful earrings.

Wonderful gift you are presenting your niece with. It will become an heirloom piece for certain.

Cachette

 

[dragonfly411]

Whitby - that is such a great sentiment, and those are beautiful!

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!!!

cheers--Sharon

 

[Gailey]

Oh Whitby, what a lovely story. I particularly identify with it because I have two nieces who I adore.

Please come back and update this thread with a wedding shot of your lovely niece wearing her earrings.

I also have to agree that Lesley is such a wonderful lady to work with. My ring project with her was such an enjoyable process. However, she became firmly cemented into my heart when she moved heaven and earth to find me a tiny pink sapphire heart and shipped it to Julia K Taylor within 36 hours for a project for a sick friend.

BTW, there is such a strong family resemblence between you and Erin.

 

[vespergirl]

Beautiful earrings - so elegant!

 

[stepcutgirl]

I love these Whit! You have such good taste and it''s nice to give her something that really is quality. Can I have you for my Aunt?

 

[Catmom]

Whitby, she is absolutely gorgeous and those earrings will look stunning on her. I really hope she will agree to let us see some wedding shots with her wearing the earrings.

 

[Maisie]

Whitby, those earrings are beautiful. As is your niece! I bet she can''t wait to wear those earrings on her big day. I wish you were my aunt, or big sister... Or something!

 

[risingsun]

The girl with the pearl earrings...she will look glorious!! What a beautiful gift from her loving Aunt Whitby

 

[whitby_2773]

DiaDiva, nataliesamaras, DandiAndi, ApilBaby, Laila619, Cachette, dragonfly411, canuk-gal, Gailey, vespergirl, stepcutgirl, Catmom, Maisie, risingsun,

Ladies – thank you so much for your kind comments. Rather than being such a great aunt, I actually am lucky to have such a wonderful niece.

Just a little about Erin…

Erin is the third of four in her family, my only sister’s daughter. My sister is a well known school principal of a very old girl’s school, and Erin’s father is a physician. Erin has 2 older brothers, one recently qualified as a pediatrician and the other a doctor about to specialize in emergency medicine. Given this family, Erin grew up believing she wasn’t very bright and not terribly special. Our bond was forged during countless conversations about how special she was…to ME…but also how gifted and how truly good she was. Erin has a very special heart.

When she left school, she went into teaching (like her mother/my sister) and considered going into the private school system. On graduating, tho, she decided to get some real ‘hard life’ experience, and took a teaching position at a small school in the Australian outback teaching aboriginal children. She initially had the entire high school class, then the primary class (that’s elementary and middle school, for those from the US), for all of whom English was a second language. Her job was incredibly tough as she had to deal with everything from alcoholism, broken families, missing parents and the death of some of her students, to all sorts of issues relating to sexuality – to say nothing of the difficulties relating to educating such a diverse and under-resourced group. Erin’s day started early when she would drive the small school bus out to the river bed and get the kids out of bed and off to school; her job seemed to have no limits. She was a 2 hour drive from the nearest town (Alice Springs), and she was the only white person where she lived. Her safety was an issue also, given that the area’s married police officer once turned up in her house, drunk and amorous. On that occasion, the local women saw and heard, and all turned up in her living room en masse.

She had to sign a 6 month contract when she took this job, as so many teachers had come in the past with a romanticized idea of what this job would be like, then left within weeks. Erin stayed for 2 years.

During that time, she worked tirelessly to raise awareness of the plight of outback aboriginal children in Australia and at the end of her 2 year stay relocated to Sydney with 5 aboriginal children (3 boys, 2 girls) in tow. Having been employed last year by an elite Sydney private school, she negotiated to have these children enrolled in the boy’s school where she now teaches, and the neighboring girl’s school where my sister is the principal. She then set up a scholarship programme to provide for their educational needs, and personally approached company after company for funding. The boys are resident at their school but return to Erin on the weekends. The girls both live with Erin and she pays for their food and lodging out of her own pocket. She is 25 years old.

When she marries in June, she intends to continue to house the girls till they finish high school. She is working in the meantime on finding a way to continue this programme in a permanent way; frankly, I suspect this is where Aunty Whitby will come into play. Erin is also studying for a PhD, having discovered she isn’t quite as dumb as she always thought…

This girl deserves so much more than a pair of earrings, and yes – she’s beautiful – inside and out.

 

[Gailey]

What a truly exceptional young woman Whitby. Every time you mention her your pride in her shines through in your posts. Now we can see why.

She is doing a marvellous and selfless thing bringing up these children and making sure they get a good start in life, but what makes this doubly remarkable is that she has done all this at such a young age.

The world needs more people like Erin. I would like to see her nominated for an honorary award for her service.

 

[Maisie]

She sounds amazing Whit! Her selflessness and committment are to be admired. I love how she took those children with her. I am astonished that she has accomplished so much at such a young age. Good on her!

 

[whitby_2773]

thanks gailey and maisie

my whole family has always been heavily involved in community service/volunteer work/charitable giving to a fairly high degree, and we each have our own specific areas we support. and my sister has always set the bar very high in this regard.

but erin just raises the bar again and is on a whole new level (altho my sister personally taking school supplies into one of the war torn areas of africa was pretty impressive, in my opinion! she is a *formidable* woman!) erin also does a lot of public speaking/awareness raising, and i have stacks of newspaper articles on her in this regard. the fact that she''s doing a job nobody in australia really wants, and is so young, and is also so attractive, kind of catches the eye.... she''s had articles in our largest newspaper here in sydney and has also been included in magazines like Australian Marie Claire when they''ve done articles on ''fifty unusual australian young women'' and that kind of thing.

anyway, suffice to say that i have a huge degree of respect for her and what she''s doing. and thank you for your kind words; i am one proud auntie.