[knotty panda]

My niece was MOST disappointed this Christmas. I got her a leather, black freshwater pearl bracelet. What she wanted was something like this, with one of Josh's pearls. Josh?

[knotty panda]

She's an adult.

[Slraep]

Hi Knotty,

I've pretty much fixed the problem of any people in my family blatantly showing their dislike of my Xmas gift to them---they don't get any the next year. Sure has made the Holidays much more pleasant on Xmas Eve. After all, what's a little disappointment once a year compared to famine, natural disasters, and terrorist bombings, eh?

Slraep

[PGDesign]

Originally Posted by Slraep

Hi Knotty,

I've pretty much fixed the problem of any people in my family blatantly showing their dislike of my Xmas gift to them---they don't get any the next year. Sure has made the Holidays much more pleasant on Xmas Eve. After all, what's a little disappointment once a year compared to famine, natural disasters, and terrorist bombings, eh?

Slraep

Slraep - I could not agree more and I applaud you for standing up for yourself. I find Christmas so stressful that I have now decided that the money I put aside each year for presents will be donated to a leading cancer charity instead. The people I am expected to buy for have so much, and appreciate so little.

This is my first post, and I must say this site is a mine of valuable information. I adore pearls in all their forms and I'm hoping to photograph my small collection over the next couple of weeks. Thank you to everyone for providing a genuinely informative and friendly forum.

PG x

[Sueki]

Hello PG,
Welcome !
Photos - oh, yes please....
Knotty, so sorry your niece was disappointed. Can you make those belly thingies ?

[danachit]

Aw now, Knotty....
Fess up... It's really you who wants a pearl belly ring, isn't it?

[GemGeek]

Photos of your collection? Woo Hoo! We love photos.

[Caitlin]

Hi PG Design.
Is it just a co-inkidinky the initials are PG? Pearl Guide Design.....are you the new architect of this site? I heard we had someone working on it to streamline it and more. Whether or not, welcome!

Knotty
How adult is your niece? I mean I think those belly button piercings are pretty, but kinda juvenile, so I applaud your effort to bring her into full maturity....with a lovely bracelet.

Dear Slraepy,
Thanks for being the conscience of P-G.
Yesterday I was just thinking how lucky I am to own my home and 3 little acres. That alone puts me in the top few percentiles of wealth in the world. And I am deeply grateful I have running water too. When we first moved out here, we had no water and had to truck it in.

I kept myself from flipping out over it by noticing that most of the world hauls their water in on their heads a couple gallons at a time. At least we had a truck and could get 3,000 gallons at a time. And now- here on the desert, I too have running water.....Not that I expect that to last....... AZ, CA and several first nations have oversubscribed the water of the mighty Colorado river and will someday reallly be sorry. Already it goes to ground near Yuma AZ and a dry gully is all that goes to the Bay of Cortez. What is that doing to the salinity of the Bay and its once plentiful pteria sterna beds........I speculate no further- it is too scary.

[knotty panda]

Princess of Pearls: My niece is 18.

Sueki: Yeah, I looked at it a bit but didn't give it a whole lot of thought. I saw belly rings with 14 ga and 16 ga wire. Earrings are painful if the gauge is too big. Can you imagine getting this wrong? Man! That might leave a mark! She really wants one of Josh's pearls. I am hoping one of the vendors goes -- Wow! New product line! and does it.

Danachit! LOL Best chuckle I've had all day!

Please don't think my niece was ungrateful. Quite the opposite. She was adopted into our family at 14 from a very difficult background. She did finish high school and is working full-time and going to college full-time. When she saw the dark pearls, I could tell from the look on her face she thought they were Tahitians and having a recent piercing ... well, I put 2 and 2 together. There's other holidays.

[PGDesign]

[quote=Caitlin Williams]Hi PG Design.
Is it just a co-inkidinky the initials are PG? Pearl Guide Design.....are you the new architect of this site? I heard we had someone working on it to streamline it and more. Whether or not, welcome!
QUOTE]

Hi Caitlin, it would be rather nice to be the person you mentioned, but unfortunately I'm not associated with Pearl Guide as anything other than a new forum member (I'm actually an interior decorator). I am finding the content quite fascinating and it's great to see that pearls, in all their forms, are appreciated. In the UK jewellers I only seem to come across classic white or cream strands.

Knotty, I do hope the problematic Christmas gift gets sorted out, these things can be such a minefield.

PG x