Amethysts, and Emeralds and Sapphires, Oh My!

My mum got a bit of money through as part of her pension payment and she decided to buy my granny a nice new ring, as she's always really good to all of us.

So today we all (my brother, too) went in to peruse the gems on offer in the Argyle Arcade!  Let me say right now, that if I ever get married I'll definitely half to go halfers on my ring cause I only really like the Art-Deco style platinum rocks that go for about £7000.  An investment though, eh!

Anyway, my granny narrowed it down to three rings, one a lovely pale sapphire-and-diamond banded number, and the other two both bright amethysts.  We're going to go back tomorrow and get it, to let her sleep on it.  I know it's kind of a weird thing to say but her hand really suits the amethyst!  I guess it must be her colouring.

Then we went for lunch in Sloane's - three portions of the epic Mac 'n' Cheese, please! - and then for a quick coffee.  Very nice day out, en famille.

My dad got the bus into town to meet us at the end.  For those of you don't know my dad, it might be hard to convey how big a deal this is - my dad drives everywhere and has used public transport maybe once in the last 25 years.  But he now has his free bus pass for over-60s (but don't tell him I told you) so today, for the first time, he got the bus into town with it.  All on his own, and he made it!  It was quite sweet, he was all quietly chuffed with himself when he arrived, telling us all about what you do with the card and how they scan it for you.  I don't think he'll be making a habit of it, but I was quite proud of him for giving it a go!

Not long til I go down to London now, I'm getting quite excited!  I've talked KH into coming to see the Tracy Emin exhibition that's on, which I think should be really interesting!  There's also a pub I'm dying to go to for lunch, Inglots Cosmetics which I want to go to in Westfields Shopping Centre and a feminist film screening about women being abused within the porn industry. (Cheery.)

All this in... 2 and a quarter days!  I arrive in London at 6pm on Saturday and I catch the overnight bus home (Greyhound, not Megabus, don't worry!) at 10pm Monday night, arriving back in Glasgow at 6am.  So it'll be action packed and I'm sure I won't get all of it done - the most important thing, of course, is the Kate Rusby gig on Sunday afternoon which is the whole reason I'm going - but I'll give it a good go!

We're having feminist film night chez moi on the Friday night, so I'll have to make sure I'm packed and ready to go as these civilised film discussion groups often descend into wine-fueled drunkenness resulting in serious hangovers.  I plan to drink a glass of water between each glass of wine but you know what Robert Burns said:

"The best laid plans of mice and feminists/

go oft awry!"

TMC

Too Much Cava.  Oh well.

Last night was MM's birthday cocktail-extravaganza in the ever-obliging RJ's flat.  It's one of those big new flats down in Finnieston: big living room, big windows with big view, a mezzanine and two bathrooms.  What more do you need in a party?  I'll tell you what else: cupcakes.  There were little piles of cupcakes all over the place and they were uber tasty.  I wish I'd thought to steal some and bring them home.  I did get a party bag, though, which was a genius touch.  No-one seemed to be taking them so I think me and LW both got about 3.  Wouldn't want them to go to waste y'know!

Everyone was all glammed up and looking very nice, I stuck some pics on my Facebook but somehow managed to not get a pic of my own dress!  How did this happen!?  I can't quite believe it but I think LW took one so I'll have to harangue her into posting them online.  And now that I work opposite her, this shouldn't be too hard.  Ha!  Slowly but surely me and my gals are taking over Byres Road.  We need someone down the other end now, though.  Who wants a job in Oran Mor?!  So far we're sorted for clothes, shoes and snackables (KM works in Little Italy) so all we need now is a beer connoisseur and we're sorted!

Anyway, woke up with a bit of a Cava head this morning, but a good strong cup of coffee (cup number 2 is due about now) and a killer bacon sandwich (Spanish tomato-toast meets Scottish bacon sandwich = one happy Clara) sorted me right out.

Back working in the shop 2-6 today, and I'm trying to decide what to wear.  Hmmm.  Might go for the tiger top my granny gave me, but not sure what to wear with it.  To much pressure, too little sleep.  Damn.

I think I'm starting to ramble.  The one thing I am going to wear is my Crown Jewell ring.  I'm thinking I should maybe take the security with me and have them watch the door, wouldn't want anyone to steal it.  You might be thinking that it looks a bit familiar:  I can't believe that Kate Middleton had the nerve to copy my ring.  If you take a proper look though, you might notice that mine is actually bigger than her's...

BLING

I've just read some article online (one of those things that pop up on MSN) about Natalie Portman, and how many people have said her engagement ring is 'too big'.  So I hopped off to Google to have a good look, and here it is, number 1... 



Natalie P



Obviously there's no denying that is a serious piece of rock, but I don't think it's bad at all!  Anyone who says N.P.'s ring is too big is probably jealous and should just keep their mouth shut!  She's not even a Bling-y, star-studded kind of person, so I think her ring is perfectly nice, and only wish I could afford one similar for myself.

Anyway, I've seen much worse, like Cheryle Cole's yellow diamond (number 2) which, frankly, I think is hideous. 

Cheryl C

Actually, seeing as I'm on the subject of rings, here's one that I really love, courtesy of Lisa Eldridge (number 3).  You can kind of see it in this pic, but for a better look watch one of her videos on her website.  Like this one, for example. 


Lisa E. My fave.