Santa rocked out, as always!

Detail of Iosselliani ring, originally uploaded by retrogemkitty7.

Whew! The last few months got away from me, blog-wise, but for very pleasant reasons - I had a great performing gig, was spending a lot of time with friends, & had plenty to do at my day job, including writing a bunch of blog posts for our soon-to-be launched, much-upgraded website. Since we're about to "ring" in 2012, I thought this might be a good time to post a pic of my major holiday haul.

I'd never heard of Iosselliani until Barneys sent me an email featuring this ring & several others. As you may know, I am a design snob, especially re: jewelry, & can't be bothered with most new baubles that are anywhere near my price range. My tastes tend to lie at either end of the spectrum - very classic or totally bizarre - & it's usually much easier for me to satisfy them with vintage sparkles. Most moderately-priced new jewelry is so "safe", aesthetically, that I find it visually offensive. I adore much of Tom Binns' & Delfina Delettrez' work, but due to their price points, must admire their most interesting pieces from afar. In a similar vein, this ring was outside of Santa's current budget when I first emailed it to him. Sigh.

Fast forward to mid-December, a 60% off sale, & more utterly shameless hint-dropping. Santa took the bait & this fabulous sterling-&-faux-gem rockpile made its way into my Christmas stocking. He was rewarded with a bottle of each of his favorite after-dinner tipples: port & single malt Scotch. Milk & cookies would hardly have been adequate!

I hope all of your holiday wishes came true & that 2012 will be a great year. Cheers!