Up in the Air

We've had a blog entry about underwater metal detecting, so why not a marriage proposal in the sky? This actually looks like one of those a shuttle flights like the one from Chicago to La Guardia's Marine Air Terminal (What a great flight for James Levinson Jewelry to get back and forth between the NY and Chicago offices, although it was much better when that flight left from Midway instead of O'Hare). 

Anyway, what are your thoughts about this proposal in the sky? Our first thought is, if you're going this route (no pun intended), you need to be supremely confident she'll say yes. If she says no, in the words of Seinfeld, that's a pretty big matzah ball hanging out there. Plus, it would make a short flight like that seem like as long as a trip to Australia--or the moon--either way! 

Luckily for the man, this young lady said "yes" and the whole flight got a glass of champagne. Not bad...

(Thanks to reader Amy for bringing this video to our attention)

Reality Check

One of the biggest misnomers in the world is "Reality TV." There is obviously entertainment value because these shows continue to get high ratings. However, most people watching should and probably do know very little "reality" actually applies in most cases. While shows like "Jersey Shore" probably has entertainment value, it does not reflect reality in any sense of the word...and has done very little except make some people from New Jersey embarrassed to admit it.

Another in a long list of "reality" shows is "The Bachelor/Bachelorette." Shockingly, another couple's fairly tale romance born from this, anything but, "reality show" has ended with season six's Ali Fedotowsky calling it quits with Roberto Martinez after an 18 month engagement.

Roberto certainly "manned up" and got Ali this really nice engagement ring.

Of course this is why the James Levinson Jewelry blog brings this former couple up (although James Levinson himeslf will readily admit to catching more than a few episodes of this show over its eight year run).

So Ali will likely give back the three carat, $50,000 Asscher Cut dimaond. Too bad, but still a nice ring!

Upon hearing about the breakup we got to thinking. We know the whole concept of the show does not reflect anything resembling a normal courtship between a couple. In reality, a gourmet dinner cooked by a private chef, followed by a moonlit walk down the beach is certainly not the norm for a FIRST DATE. 

However, digging a little deeper, have any of these pairings actually lasted beyond the show for any great length of time? We did some research so we can share the actual reality of the situation.

If you count "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette" as one entity, there have a been a total of 22 seasons. Of those 22 seasons, according to our friend Wikipedia and other sources, only ONE couple is still together and married! The one is Trista Rehn and Ryan Sutter from season one (pictured below).

With a 4.5% succeess rate over a pretty adequate sample size, what brings millions of viewers back to this show year after year? If you knew the outcome of a movie before it began, would you sit through and watch all of it in hopes that you were wrong this one time?? Or would you just watch because there may be attractive people, who may or may not sleep with one another on their weekend getaway to a fancy resort on private island? Is it as simple as some Americans will watch anything on television?

This show has the most predicable ending on television. At least you really don't know what will happen on the Jersey Shore. So, we need your help:

What is the hook here? If you are tuning in, what brings you back? If you don't watch, what do you think people get out of watching this non-reality, reality show already knowing the eventual outcome??

Cue up Queen and David Bowie for Thanksgiving

Today James Levinson Jewelry is talking about fake engagement rings...not cubic ziroconia rings, but engagement rings women wear who aren't actually engaged.

You might be scratching your head at this point and asking, what woman wears an engagement ring without being engaged?

Of the 55 million unmarried women in this country, many are obviously heading home for Thanksgiving this week. According to this article there are indeed women who can't take the pressure of going home to face their family without having a ring on their finger.

Fair enough if they feel pressure from their family to get married. This happens frequently and in many different families. The question becomes, how can a woman feel morally okay lying to her family about such an important milestone? And how is the lie even possible? Do these women all of a sudden show up for Thanksgiving and say "hey everyone, I'm engaged...here is the ring"?

No matter how much pressure a family puts on a woman to get engaged/married, wouldn't they think it's a little strange to NOT KNOW this important little tid bit before the woman comes home for Thanksgiving?

Furthermore, are these women single OR are they in a relationship and just don't have the bling to show off yet? If the latter is the case, how do the boyfriends respond to the woman who says "listen honey, I'm going to wear this ring over Thanksgiving weekend so my family thinks we're engaged, but I'll be sure to take it off after the weekend." Are there really sane men who will put up with that kind of behavior? If it's the former situation, (the woman is single) aren't there some pretty extensive issues she must be going through if she is willing to show up at Thanksgiving with a ring and say she's engaged? The natural first question from the family is probably not "where is your fiance" but "who is your fiance?"

To us, as much as we enjoy selling rings, we can't help but wonder what must be going through a woman's head when she feels the need buy an engagement ring if she's not actually engaged. She must be under some serious pressure


Does anybody know a woman who has done this or heard a story like this? If so, we'd like to hear from you...and as always, your thoughts and comments are welcome!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We Like Midwesterners!

Here's a feel good entry to end your week. It's about people being honest which seems to be pretty common  in the time we've spent in the Midwest. Plus we get to tie two of our favorite topics into this post, engagement rings and sports.

Yes, we here at James Levinson Jewelry are big sports fans. Even though the World Series did not involve a New York or Chicago team, we still found this story out of St. Louis to be great. Enjoy! (And no, this is not a stadium proposal!)

Click here for a great story!

Underwater Metal Detecting

When we started the James Levinson Jewelry website and blog, we never thought we'd use a title like this. We promise this is not some kind of science fiction post, but it's actually a pretty amazing story from Australia.

We've found a way on this blog to combine underwater metal detecting with engagement rings. Enjoy this story!

Celebrity Engagement Rings

We came across this video which show some pretty impressive celebrity engagement rings. This proves that a really nice ring does not necessarily translate into a happy marriage. Many of the celebs featured in this video are either divorced or the wedding never happened. Which is your favorite ring?

Should this be our last Kardashian post?

So the James Levinson Jewelry blog is as guilty as some others when it comes to writing about Kim Kardashian. This is now our third post on the topic. However, as a company that just recently entered the blogosphere, we like attracting new readers. Based on the numbers, more people have read our Kim posts than any other. Perhaps a microcosm of the real world when it comes to entertainment. 

Some of what is out there is plain nonsense...but other content, such as ours, seems warranted. We can't possibly ignore a 20.5 carat engagement ring, even when there's all this other hubbub that goes along with Kim, Kris and their antics.

We're not sure what to make of this article we found today. Could this really be true?

Also, should this be our last Kim K post or any other Kardashian related post? 

Spending money on a marriage proposal

We found an interesting article about spending money on marriage proposals. 

We'd like to hear your thoughts on whether it's important to spend a lot of money on the actual marriage proposal or not? 

Our question is answered!

Last week we posed the question:

Who should keep the ring?? Kim or Kris

Seems like we have an answer to that question. There was indeed a pre-nup which stated Kim Kardashian must pay the full amount of the $2 million ring to Kris Humphries in order to keep it, in the event of a divorce. So a seemingly smart move by Kris, although we're not sure why Kim would have agreed to this considering she would have kept the ring in the end anyway. 

We are also reading reports (thanks to Dan Hauptman) now that Kim wants to keep the ring. Yes, it's a very nice ring, but why does she want to keep it if she has to pay full price for it? 

Hasn't she considered the possibility that she might have many other engagement rings? Will a $2 million ring now be a prerequisite to be engaged to Kim if she ends up keeping this ring?

Let's be honest: If you're the next guy who wants to marry Kim, are you going to settle on a 5 carat ring if she has this 20.5 carat monstrosity in the jewelry box? Talk about intimidating a guy...

Which one is your favorite??

Some more fun videos to end your week. We're interested to hear which of these marriage proposals is your favorite? Which is the most creative?

6 great marriage proposals

Real Housewife, REAL BIG RING!

We still don't know what's going to happen with Kim Kardashian's ring. In the meantime, another celebrity Kim (Kim Zolciak, "Real Housewives of Atlanta") received a really nice 10 carat ring. 

It's no 20.5 Kardashian-esque ring but, really, we don't know how anyone can go wrong with a 10 carat ring!

What do you think about it?

Two great marriage proposals on video

At James Levinson Jewelry we want to hear marriage proposal stories. Here is a creative, yet scary one!

Creative Marriage Proposal

And a first for a marriage proposal (that we know of)...

Fainting from a proposal