Easy Steps for a Great 2010 January 31, 2010
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source: http://lowenddslr.com
A new year brings with it new hope. If you have been looking forward to the new beginnings of a new year try something new!
Volunteer at a local charity.
Nothing makes you feel better than giving to others and there is a great need for community volunteers.
Get a make over
A new hairstyle or a new outfit can give you an instant lift
Forgive someone
Let go of old grudges. Holding onto past hurt only keeps the pain alive. It does nothing to lift you up.
Learn Something New
How about taking a class at a local school or learning how to crochet? Learning new things keeps you young!
Turn Off the TV and Read More
Whether its War and Peace or People Magazine reading helps you focus and calms the mind.
A Valentine’s Day Classic – Dinner and a Movie January 28, 2010
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How about dinner and a movie this Valentines’ Day? You can do the cooking or order in and rent a movie for a perfect and inexpensive evening of romance.
We have some movie suggestions for the most romantic night of the year. If you want to go through a box of tissues opt for epic classics like “Casablanca”, “Titanic”, “Love Story”, “The “Notebook”, “The Way We Were”, or “An Officer and A Gentleman”. If you like a little laughter through your tears try “Ghost” “Breakfast At Tiffany’s”,” A Walk In The Clouds” or “Sleepless in Seattle”. If you prefer lighter fare opt for “Moonstruck”, “You’ve Got Mail”, “Bridgette Jones’ Diary”, “How To Loose A Guy in Ten Days”, or “How I Married An Ax Murderer”. If these movies don’t stir your passion, you can view the top 50 romantics movies at IMDB.com and choose one yourself.
You can visit a cooking website like the FoodNetwork.com for some great romantic meal suggestions and they will even tell you how hard or easy the preparation will be so you don’t get in over your head. Just don’t forget the popcorn and have fun!
Check out our Valentine’s Day Jewelry Specials.
New Valentine’s Day Tradition January 26, 2010
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source: funmunch.com
Valentine’s day is right around the corner and it’s not too early to start planning your day. Tradition holds that couples present each other with sentimental cards and presents on the holiday devoted to love.
Many choose this day as the perfect opportunity for getting engaged or married. It’s a great anniversary on which to celebrate your love for each other.
My husband and I take this day and use it as an opportunity to pass on a kindness that was shown to us when we were a young couple. We had just finished eating dinner at a Chinese restaurant and had asked for the bill. When our waiter returned he informed us that the bill had been paid by someone else. The kind benefactor had enjoyed seeing a couple in love sharing a meal and picked up our tab! We were quite flabbergasted and grateful to the kind stranger who we never saw.
Now every Valentine’s day we go out to a local restaurant choose some happy couple and anonymously pay their tab. It brings us much more joy than you can imagine discretely watching the shock and smiles from our unknowing recipients. We think this is the perfect Valentines present to each other and it has become our yearly tradition.
However you celebrate this special day we hope you enjoy many special moments and create some Valentine day traditions.
See our Valentine’s Day specials.
Planning the Perfect Wedding November 23, 2009
Posted by Jill Renee in : Just Jill , add a commentYou’re engaged and hopefully you purchased your ring from me so you’re off to a great start. Now the hard part begins.
You need to find a location, a dress, invitations, a cake, pick music, choose attendants, flowers, honeymoon, and on and on…
It’s enough to make Las Vegas look real good… but still you’ve got to get there, get a hotel, get a dress, pick a chapel, and on and on…
So what to do? Relax, take a deep breath and trust that everything will work out because it always does. I really believe that things work out just as they are supposed to work out and the world keeps on turning.
My own wedding was 28 years ago and it was perfect. We had about three hundred people and the date was August 7. Not too worry about the heat though because we were getting married in Buffalo NY. August would be warm but not unbearable. WRONG, it was the hottest day and the location for the reception had no air conditioning…catastrophe right? No not at all. Even though I was wearing long lace sleeves and a cathedral length train…I didn’t even notice the heat. Our guests kept the bartenders busy and danced their socks off. No one seemed too bothered by the heat but to this day friends and relatives comment about how unusually hot that day was in Buffalo.
The bridesmaid’s were wearing the ugliest peach taffeta dresses man ever created but I loved those dresses. One friend, a beautiful red head hated the color because she said it clashed with her hair. She said she could live with the dress as long as I added a hat to the ensemble. The hats they wore were chosen by my friend and looked like something a lady born at the turn of the century would wear on a long day riding a horse. She was happy and the others went along with the wearing of the “hats”. Boy do I have great friends!
It was time for the first dance and we had forgotten to choose a song! So the bandleader approached me with a list and told me to pick one quick. I got to the E’s and saw the Barbara Streisand classic “Evergreen” it was as good as any other. So bingo our wedding song is Evergreen. You won’t find it on any of the top wedding song lists but it worked and whenever my husband and I hear it we giggle at the memory.
I had spent some time picking out the four tier flower covered cake with the cute precious moments couple perched on top. When it came time to cut the cake everything went off as planned, bride and groom both had a little frosting left on their faces. Only later did I find out that the REAL cake had been dropped on the way into the reception and that the one I cut was made from cardboard with a real cake layer on the top where we cut it. The cooks had sheet cakes in the back that were cut into pieces and brought out to the guests. The only person at the wedding who knew of this catastrophe was my grandmother and she handled it perfectly! I found out after the honeymoon.
We were excited about the Caribbean cruise we would take the next day for our honeymoon and had safely stored our luggage for the early morning trip. When we arrived on the boat and began to unpack we found someone had found the luggage and filled every square inch with white rice. We had rice in every pant and shirt pocket, bottle top, and compact in our luggage! We were still finding rice in our pants cuffs and shoes months after the wedding!
Although this may not sound like the perfect wedding that you may expect it was perfect in every way. The bumps are really what made it perfect and memorable. I hope this helps you to relax a bit while planning your “perfect wedding” because you know everything will work out exactly as it should to make your day perfect!
Danforth Diamond Salutes Our Troops September 29, 2009
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We have been very fortunate to have many service men and women as our customers over the last few years and we have had the pleasure of making and sending these rings overseas to military bases in Iraq. Although, we never actually have met these brave men and women in person we have developed some great long distance relationships and love hearing updates. Sgt. Alen Culver sent us a beautiful wooden plaque and an American flag that was flown aboard a US Army C-23 Sherpa on the night of August 9 2009. We all treasure these gifts and have them hanging up on the wall in our office.
In addition I recently have had the luck to get a behind the scenes tour of the USS Nassau at the Naval base in Norfolk, Virginia, Helicopter Squadron FOURTEEN (HM-14) “Vanguard” at the NAS base Norfolk and Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
The USS Nassau’s primary role is to transport Marine Corps personnel. In addition, the cargo areas can transport trucks, tanks, artillery and large amounts of supplies. The deck is capable of holding 10 helicopters and the ship is equipped with a full service hospital complete with operating rooms. This is indeed a floating city with 3,000 inhabitants. Not your average inhabitants though…these men and women can handle any crisis the world hands them at a moment’s notice.
Commanding officer Malcolm H. Potts, CDR, USN welcomed us to the HM-14 “Vanguard” helicopter squadron. These helicopters serve to search out enemy mines and have performed many humanitarian deeds around the world. Capable of airlifting heavy construction equipment, they were recently deployed to help rebuild the region of Taiwan where floods had devastated the countryside. These dedicated men and women of Vanguard are capable of deploying anywhere in the world within 72 hours!
The last stop on our amazing tour was to see the jets at NAS Oceana. Oceana is a working airport that has navy fighter planes taking off and landing all day long. This master jet base is home to seventeen strike fighter squadrons of F/A-18 Hornets and F/A-18 Super Hornets. The small cockpit and the operation of these jets is not for the faint of heart…only the very brave need apply! In addition, this naval base also serves as a training facility for many elite units and is an alternate landing site for the space shuttle.
I truly enjoyed seeing the ships, helicopters and planes on my tour but what was most extraordinary was meeting the servicemen and women that make all these machines work, run and perform their duties. They give us their best each and every day and sacrifice so much to protect the freedom we all enjoy. I admire and respect every one of them and am very thankful for the wonderful day we shared together.
God Bless You All,
Jill
