Say hello to my high school best friend, Allan John, and his amazing wife, Leah! Leah is a very busy woman during the day, traveling all over the country, but after work, she is a wife and homemaker who's created a beautiful blog about her travels, shopping finds and recipes. Read all about it on
The Bright Spot.
Anyway! AJ and Leah had a double date with Vince and me recently at Greenhills since I'm obsessed with pearls and Leah happens to be very educated about them. Leah and AJ are still in their honeymoon stage so they're in the thick of furnishing their home. They were lusting after a Union Jack chest (
read all about that here!) in this tiny stall that sells IKEA stuff:
While Leah was haggling away, Vince fell in love with these laundry sacks. We bought England and Italy. We use them for the kids' dirty clothes and cloth diapers.
Meanwhile, I wanted to get these tin can sets in such sweet and delicate designs. But I was in Greenhills for one thing: pearls. So I resisted. Maybe when we go back next time!
We saw this funnily-named skirt. Any guesses why it's called express??
Haha. I wonder what M Café has to say about this! Anyway, I haven't been to this part of Greenhills forever so I was really surprised to see that National Bookstore had a major makeover.
Look! The old editions of
Vince's Life! Hence the discount. You can get these books if you want to save but
I highly recommend the new edition. They're edited and updated by Vince and they feature fabulous new cover art!
Leah with my Frances Sales satchel. It looks so nice! Leah carries it well. Sigh. I'm still wishing to reopen the bag business. I'm just too busy to do it now! One day, one day.
Anyway! Like I said, we were here to shop for jewelry, pearls specifically. And Leah says that the
Berdori pearls are excellent. Oh my, they certainly were! Leah showed me how to look at lustre, to rub the pearls in my palm, to feel the weight, to check the sizes, to appreciate the imperfections of real pearls. Oh wow. I was overwhelmed!
These are the South Sea pearls. They are waaaay beyond my budget (for now!) but now that I know how much they are, I'm not so intimidated. One client project fee and I can buy me a string of these beauties! Must work hard!
South Sea being unattainable (for now!), we looked at the freshwater pearls selection. Just as breathtaking actually. I want to buy them all!
For Valentine's,
Vince gave me a gorgeous set of pearl jewelry: studs and a single strand set in silver. They are lovely! But they whetted my appetite for more pearls! I plan to get drop earrings, a double strand matinee, a rope or the even longer lariat to wrap around my neck, and a bracelet.
Rings? Not really planning on getting any since I already have a lot of rings. But then I saw these:
I'm in love! Each is in the price range of a designer bag. I'm not really into designer bags but you all know I've been longing for a Tod's D Bag. I even told my Nuffnang friends to give me enough work this year to buy me a Tod's (or two haha). But now that I've seen these majestic rings, I'm thinking I'd rather buy these!
Thanks, AJ and Leah! I learned a lot on our fabulous shopping trip. As soon as I can afford another piece of jewelry, I'll call you. Let's go on a double date again!
