SAVINGS & LOANS MEETS THE WEDDING FILES: SIMPLE, SPECIAL WEDDING BANDS

I haven't done a Savings & Loans post--where I lay out all the beautiful things I would love to own if my bank account balance had a couple dozen more digits in it--for a long while. But this week I found myself scouring the internet for simple wedding bands and I realized I have expensive taste! I was looking for something I could wear to work, running errands, or out to brunch without feeling too flashy or too plain; something that could be a stand in for my (somewhat fragile) all-diamond wedding band when I didn't want to worry about losing a stone.

After considering all the different styles I liked, I figured a small single stone setting or a bezel eternity band would be best. These are what I came up with:


The options at Tiffany are stunning but, not surprisingly, staggeringly pricey!

the Tiffany Jazz Alternating Band Ring (left), $10,100

the Tiffany Bezet Round (right), $1,650






The rings made by Dana*David, which I have written about before here, are slightly better priced and a little bit more unexpected, but they still top out between approximately $600 (stacking rings, left) and $2000 (diamond bands, right) at retail stores.

So what's a girl to do? Head to Etsy, of course!





I immediately discovered a (new-to-me) jewelry shop there called RosadosBox. Representing a line of jewelry sold at the Chicago brick and mortar store Love & Promise Jewelers, the Etsy shop is chock full of stunning rings and bands at various price points. You could easily buy your 'official' wedding band here but since I was looking for a backup, I was happy to discover that they will customize their designs to fit your price point and aesthetic, changing up the stone or metal as you see fit.

Here are some of my favorites:

Thin Rose Gold Bubble & Breathe Eternity Band (top, left), $1165

14K Rose Gold Bubbles Eternity Band (top, right), $1000

Silver Petite Bubbles White Topaz Eternity Ring (bottom, left), sold*

Silver Thin Diamond Engagement/Stacking Ring (bottom, right), $139





Of course, as I was searching Etsy I managed to find some other, equally tempting options beyond the confines of the RosadosBox shop. Here are two other drool-worthy, though slightly pricier, options:

Bezel Set Diamond Wedding Ring in 14k White Gold (left), $589.99
Potentially more practical since the stones do not go all the way around!

Bezel Set Chocolate Colored Diamond Eternity Wedding Band in 14k Rose Gold, $1392
I am totally swooning over this ring and love the idea of stacking them. Too pricey for me (at least right now), but I could certainly see buying one to commemorate a big anniversary or other life event. Definitely wishlisted!

Which one would you pick? And do you have a back up wedding band or ring that you wear for traveling or more casual occasions? Or do you think I am crazy (my husband does, ha!)?

*I ended up buying this one because it fit the style, durability and the price point I had in mind. I haven't received it yet, but will let you know how it turns out! Can't wait to see it!

*UPDATE: I just received the ring I ordered in the mail and it is beautiful! Elegant and simple, it looks to be of great quality and arrived in a timely manner. I highly recommend RosadosBox!

THE ARTIST SPEAKS

THE MONUMENTS AT NIGHT

This weekend I went to Washington, D.C. to visit my sister-in-law. I hadn't been to our nation's capital in years and I had forgotten how beautiful it was. We spent Saturday evening wandering around the mall—from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial—and I marveled at how stoically spectacular they all looked on that perfect early fall night. Plus I saw Marine One fly overhead and land in the White House lawn. Awesome!See more of my photos from the weekend here.  

FROM BUD TO BLOSSOM: ANDREW ZUCKERMAN'S FLOWERS

Have you seen Andrew Zuckerman's gorgeous photographs? He has spent the last year working with the New York Botanical Garden, the Smithsonian Institute and the Fairchild Tropical Garden in Coral Gables, FL to take beautifully detailed and somewhat abstract photographs of over 200 species of flora. The results are spectacularly laid out in his new book FLOWER, which will be released in November.

If you need more floral eye candy between now and then you can visit his website here to see more. Bonus: the site also features equally beautiful films of the full life-cycle of several flowers, from bud to blossom to wilt.

Consider the book wishlisted!

(thanks to swissmiss for the tip)

GANGNAM STYLE

Fill this under very random but highly hilarious. Have you seen this new music video, sweeping the internet, of Korean artist PSY singing his hit song 'Gangnam Style'? The lyrics apparently point to an incisive critique of Korea's upper class social norms, but the scenes in the video point to a crazy pop frenzy of ridiculousness. It's pretty fantastically over-the-top.

Learn more about PSY here (he went to BU, crazy!), read the Atlantic article about the video here, and see his funny appearance on the Ellen Show here.

(Also, in the last scene, that backdrop totally looks like every school photo I took from 1994-1997, ha!)

I'M BACK, BABY!

Phew! Who knew getting married was such a whirlwind? We had an absolutely amazing day and even more amazing honeymoon in Iceland. I can't wait to share some of the 3000 (yes, 3000!) photos I took on the trip.

But until I manage to process and organize those, I will be doing some more of my short and sweet posts to get you back in the swing of things. That said, I have been dying to share this crazy nail art with you by the artist Alice Bartlett. It seems Bartlett went to a hobby shop in search of inspiration and she came out with astro turf and miniature figures for model making. Adding these to her lovely nails she created tiny vignettes on her fingers on one hand and photographed the scenes with her other hand. Cool, right?

Check out more of her work here.


(thanks to design milk for the tip)

FROM THE ARCHIVES: WOODNOTES HOME

For the next three weeks I am off on an adventure—the best adventure possible! I am getting hitched, an amazing event and process that has inspired my ongoing series of posts called The Wedding Files. While I am on my honeymoon I will be featuring some of my favorite posts from past years (including this one from way back in February 2009) to tide you over until I return. Hope you enjoy them!

Living in New York, I have a lot of friends who live in studio apartments. While these are not the "studios" you see in the movies or on tv, there do often feature a big open space. And what better way to break up that space, to decorate it, then with these lovely paper curtains. Woven from countless interlocking shapes, these paper beauties are extremely elegant and would look wonderful in a modern or traditional home.

Check out more here.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: ART INTERVENTION

For the next three weeks I am off on an adventure—the best adventure possible! I am getting hitched, an amazing event and process that has inspired my ongoing series of posts called The Wedding Files. While I am on my honeymoon I will be featuring some of my favorite posts from past years (including this street-side number from September 2010) to tide you over until I return. Hope you enjoy them!

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I have been bookmarking a lot of videos about super cool street art recently. Here are three of my favorites I thought I would share with you. Enjoy!

Some background on the project:

"In 2007, the New York City Transit Authority began installing LED signs on subway platforms that display estimated wait times for arriving trains. Unfortunately the information is little more than trivia: except for a few stations, it is only visible to travelers after they’ve paid their fare, so the data has little bearing on commuter decision-making.
Their primary effect, then, is to erode faith in the system, to create expectations that can’t always be met, to raise false hopes, and to erase the mystery and magic of the wondrous system that transports more than five million riders a day.
These LED signs also threaten historical social behaviors, rendering obsolete the time-honored New York tradition of leaning over the platform edge with the hope of glimpsing headlights from an approaching train.
The Spoiler Alert signs warn waiting riders of this potentially unwanted information – allowing them to avert their eyes so they may preserve their spirit of adventure – while still leaving visible the data for travelers who wish to ruin the surprise for themselves.

Learn more about Jason Eppink (a major player in my favorite group: Improv Everywhere) and his other projects here. Found via the awesome Subway Art Blog.

Some background on the project:

"This summer mural painter Matt W. Moore created a series of live painting performances on walls in MARSEILLE, LYON, and PARIS. Directors Le Groupuscule captured the evolution of each mural, gathering over 700,000 pictures, that were edited as a stop-motion animation to an unreleased track by Monsieur Monsieur to create this music video. This collaboration of 3 artistic disciplines to make walls dance is part of the global initiative : Let's Colour Project."

Learn more about the collaborating artists here (in French) or here. Found via Wooster Collective.

 

Some background on the project:

"Multipraktik is a multi-disciplinary platform motivated by the pursuit of new practices at the crossover between design, photography, video production, music, events and art. We operate as an evergrowing collective of designers, artists, musicians, producers and programers. We create teams based on projects and with each project we try to challenge conventional approaches. This project was organized cross-slovenian street TapeArt actions with different artists (in particular Fejzo & Luka Ursic) as part of the new campaign for Orto (Simobil)."

Get more information on Multipraktik and the artists here and here (website under construction). Found via Wooster Collective.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: CHROMA COLLECTION

For the next three weeks I am off on an adventure—the best adventure possible! I am getting hitched, an amazing event and process that has inspired my ongoing series of posts called The Wedding Files. While I am on my honeymoon I will be featuring some of my favorite posts from past years (including this one from the good ol' color obsessed days—may they live on forever!—in March 2011) to tide you over until I return. Hope you enjoy them!

The colorful collections of Kontor Kontor are seriously inspirational.  The green set has been my desktop background for weeks now and it still hasn't gotten old.  Do yourself a favor and get through this hump day with a dose of Kontor Kontor's bright, beautiful chroma—check it all out here.

Thanks to SeeSaw for the tip.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: IT ALL AD(D)S UP

For the next three weeks I am off on an adventure—the best adventure possible! I am getting hitched, an amazing event and process that has inspired my ongoing series of posts called The Wedding Files. While I am on my honeymoon I will be featuring some of my favorite posts from past years (including this ad-fab one from way back in June 2009) to tide you over until I return. Hope you enjoy them!

I love clever advertising.  With ads on the back of bathroom stall doors these days, it makes me smile when something makes me think, pause, and take a second look.  All four of these ads do a great job of breaking out of the mold.

Thanks to Black*Eiffel for clueing me in.

p.s. Why isn't AdBlog onto these?

FROM THE ARCHIVES: YULIA BRODSKAYA UPDATE

For the next three weeks I am off on an adventure—the best adventure possible! I am getting hitched, an amazing event and process that has inspired my ongoing series of posts called The Wedding Files. While I am on my honeymoon I will be featuring some of my favorite posts from past years (including this bright, type-loving one from back in September 2009) to tide you over until I return. Hope you enjoy them!

There is some really beautiful new work in Yulia Brodskaya's portfolio. I simply cannot get enough of these bold bright paper curls. Check out the gorgeousness here.