Better to be a European guy?

Another lag in the JLI blog which we apologize for. We are busy getting rings ready for clients, traveling around the country and Valentine's Day is just around the corner. 

Speaking of next weeks' holiday, our thanks goes out to Stephanie who made this amazing Valentine's Day brochure for James Levinson Jewelry. If anyone needs a good graphic designer, let us know and we'll forward you Stephanie's information. 

 

There is still time for a last minute gift...just contact Adam@JamesLevinson.com. Does anyone have any exciting V-Day plans? We'd definitely like to hear about them! 

This time of the year is popular for proposal's. We have known many people who wait to propose around this time. Of course this brings up the question about how much to spend on an engagement ring. We discovered this article today from a British newspaper. We were drawn to the headline about "Three week's salary instead of one month's." 

We were always under the impression in the US that three month's salary was "the norm." Of course the norm is not really three month's salary, it's whatever an individual feels comfortable spending. 

However, how did it go from one month in England to three month's in the US (we're assuming the England rule came first)? How did the three month's first start in the US and how did the one month first begin overseas? 

Furthermore, through all the economic downturn we've experienced, there was no public proclamation that if you're a guy and want to get engaged, it was acceptable to spend less. Maybe it was out there at some point, but we didn't see or notice it. Was it just implied?

We find it funny that there is a discrepancy between continents and countries on this so called "rule." What are your thoughts?

Client Proposal Stories - 2nd Edition

CLIENT PROPOSAL STORIES - 2nd Edition (Shawn and Molly)

Last week was a hectic week and the first time we've ever gone a full week without a blog post. We hope that doesn't happen again for the while and our apologies to the readers who inquired about the lack of posting.

We are proud to bring you the next installment of "Client Proposal Stories." Our first installment, Allison and Randy was our most read post since the JLI blog began in October...and the most read by a lot (almost 4x as many readers as the next highest entry). 

We'll see if this month's featured couple, Shawn and Molly can boost the readership even more. Thanks to both of them for providing content for this! Here is their story...

Molly and Shawn Sullivan

How they met:

Although never meeting, Molly and Shawn charted similar paths during their collegiate years. Both scholar-athletes at their respective institutions - Molly at Butler and Shawn at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) - their paths crossed a number of times at cross country competitions. In fact, Shawn's cousin, Erin, was a teammate of Molly's at Butler.

Shawn running for UIC

Molly and friend watching Butler in the Final Four

After Shawn graduated, he worked in the athletic department at his alma mater. At the same time, while she was completing her degree at Butler, Molly worked at the Horizon League office as an intern. The paths continued to cross sans encounter.

Although no records can confirm it, it is believed the now married couple officially met in 2003 or 2004 depending on the account. Shawn had moved into the front office of the Chicago Rush of the Arena Football League by then, but Molly was getting her start on a campus with UIC.

Over the course of the next couple of years encounters between the two continued in social settings. Ground broke on a solid friendship. Similar interests, backgrounds, running and tanning abilities (none whatsoever) provided the foundation for that friendship. 

In 2005, business was about to pick up between Molly and Shawn. Shawn agreed to return to the UIC athletic department to work in the marketing department, just a brief walk to Molly who was in the compliance office.

For a couple years, colleagues and family members accused Molly and Shawn of being more than friends. The platonic nature of their relationship was continuously under assault. Many predicted love down the road.

The prognosticators were correct. Starting in February of 2007, the stage was set for a quick and adventurous courtship, as Shawn was sure Molly was to be his bride.

The proposal 

Working through Adam Levinson, Shawn was encouraged by the Levinson's offers to examine rings. It didn't take long for Shawn to find the perfect engagement ring for Molly.

 A few days before Christmas, 2008, Shawn and Molly took a Friday off work to get some holiday shopping done. By this time, Shawn had possession of the ring, but one item the couple didn't possess was an angel to sit atop their Christmas tree.

Not the actual tree!

The night before the planned shopping excursion, Shawn placed the ring on top of the tree. The next morning, Shawn ran an errand to set up the proposal. He picked up some Starbucks and presented an angel he had picked out for the top of the tree. He requested that Molly secure the angel atop the fir tree adorned with tidings. She climbed to the peak with the assistance of a chair and saw the sparkles of the diamonds.

Shawn dropped to a knee and requested her hand in marriage. She said yes through tears of excitement.

The two were married on July 24, 2009 (after of course purchasing Molly's wedding band from the Levinsons). 

"I had a lot of anxiety entering the ring buying process," Shawn said. "Did I have enough money? What was a carat? What are my options? Having a friend like Adam and a guiding arm in Jim to help me navigate the process, put me at ease. To this day, we look at the jewelry and feel lucky for the experience and relationship with the Levinsons. I couldn't imagine working with anyone else for jewelry."

#Winning with Lego

Over the short history of this blog, we've highlighted some pretty impressive proposals, including ones from our own clients.

We have to give credit where credit is due though. There may be proposals better than the one below, but it's hard to believe that anyone could put as much time into a proposal than this person.

His name is Walt Thompson, an Atlanta-based photographer and filmmaker who put together this Lego proposal for his girlfriend, Nealey Dozier. Actually, saying "put together" is probably doing Walt a disservice. He spent 22 hours shooting the proposal in stop-motion. One can only guess how long it took to edit and complete. How much time do you think a man should put into a marriage proposal?

This one is pretty spectacular and she said yes...enjoy!

A Proposal in Stop Motion... in HD! from FIREPIT PICTURES on Vimeo.

That's the only argument I need Shawn!!

Happy 2012 from James Levinson Jewelry! Our first entry of the new year centers on the world of sports (which is our other favorite subject here at James Levinson Jewelry). Both Lebron James and Michael Jordan got engaged over the last week. A present superstar and a past one in the same week! 

Lebron, who drops a lot of points on the court regularly, reportedly dropped around $250-300K on his fiance Savannah Brinson's pear shaped center diamond (pictured below)

A VERY nice ring! As for Michael Jordan, we have searched long and hard to find any pictures of his fiance Yvette Prieto's ring. Something tells us that since he's Michael Jordan, the ring has to be among the nicest engagement rings a pro athlete has ever purchased. We will anxiously await the first glimpse of lucky Yvette's ring. 

We certainly don't anticipate many arguments about whose ring is nicer, Savannah's or Yvette's, even if there are people who still argue about who is better on the court. 

Of course Lebron vs. Michael brings to mind this hilarious scene from the movie "Bad Teacher" with Jason Segel arguing about who is better with an elementary school aged boy named Shawn who obviously never saw Michael play (we don't know if Shawn is actually spelled that way but we're honoring our good friend Shawn for the purposes of this entry).

Is it safe to say, even without seeing Yvette's ring, that Michael Jordan wins the engagement ring argument no matter what? Is the fact that it was purchased by Michael the only argument one needs??

First Class Proposal

A month ago we featured this proposal in the sky. Since many of you are likely traveling this week for the holidays, we felt the need to share another proposal at 30,000 feet.

We think the Air Canada one below trumps the Delta one from last month because:

-They had better seats...they were in the first row. Can't tell if it was first class or not, but it's definitely better than the Delta couple had
-Flying her family in to greet them at the airport...classy move
-Photography: Nice job by the camera person. Not sure how this man arranged for that to happen, but it seemed better than amateur. In addition, there seems to be ample pictures of the family's reaction in the airport, plus they got the necessary shot of the couple with the flight crew on Air Canada.
-We didn't get a good look at the ring, but she seems to be just fine with it!

In our estimation, this was a "first class" proposal all the way...pun intended!

Happy Holidays from James Levinson Jewelry!!

Client Proposal Stories - 1st Edition

CLIENT PROPOSAL STORIES - 1st Edition

We are proud to announce a new feature on the James Levinson Jewelry Blog that called "Client Proposal Stories."

At least once each month we will feature one couple and share their proposal story. We've found each couple has a unique proposal story and each is worthy of sharing. Since we already share video proposals and other stories, we wanted to add a personal touch to the blog by showcasing our own clients and their stories. We hope you enjoy the series!

This month's featured couple is Randy and Alison who were married this past fall. Here is their story...

How they met:

As members of the CrossFit Chicago (CFC) community, it was inevitable that Alison and Randy would cross paths. The CFC community is a close knit group that is guilty of “monitoring” each other’s performance posts and Facebook pages. These two people were no different. Randy and Alison were well acquainted with each other even before meeting formally for the 1st time at the CFC bowling social on March 7, 2009. Their social personalities and mutual admiration for each other’s CF results created an immediate bond that quickly developed into a budding friendship. As Ranison spent more time in and out of the “box” their relationship blossomed and they were dating by April 2009. Since then they both will tell you they have never been happier!

The Proposal

On October 28th, 2010, Alison came home to four bouquets of flowers sitting on the dining room table with a framed note saying "The last 4 days have been stressful (including, in part, the events that occurred with their dog's surgery - day of and post-op) ... I wanted to find four ways to make you smile."

The note also stated that she should NOT move the flowers off the table or attempt to put them in a vase. Alison immediately texted Randy and asked why she couldn't move the flowers as they 'are going to die.' Randy stated to just listen to him for once! Alison waited almost six hours until Randy got home from work to find out why she couldn't move the flowers!

The note Randy left

When Randy finally got home he explained each flower is different and is in a specific order. He took out a sheet of paper and began to read the names of each flower ... wild flower, iris, lilly, lisianthus ... and so on.

Alison thought 'What the hell is going on and why does he know the names of these flowers. He is being WEIRD!' After Randy explained the flowers Alison looked at Randy and said "Cool babe ... thanks?!"

Randy then explained he wanted to do something nice given the recent events in their lives and it being the same day they celebrate their yearly anniversary.

He proceeded to thank her for taking a leap of faith (Alison took a big risk moving in with Randy given her past experiences). She needed to know moving in with Randy was not a means to an end.

Randy told Alison while the future is uncertain he can promise they will continue to take steps forward in their relationship. Moving in, getting a puppy, being by her side as she graduated...and their parents meeting each other were all examples of the promise he made.

Randy said he and Alison 'are like the flowers.' They started as individuals ... much like each flower in the bouquets. "When you us together, just like the flowers ... they just work. They fit. They're perfect. THEY JUST MAKE SENSE when they are TOGETHER."

Randy handed the sheet of paper with the list of flowers to Alison and repeated, "US together make sense - just like the flowers make sense when they are put TOGETHER."

W ild flower

I sis

L illy

L isianthus

Y ellow football mum

O ncidium orchid

U perum (blUperum)

M onte casino

A lstromeria

R ose

R ed hypericum

Y ellow solidago

M illet

E cheveria

The names of Flowers

Alison took the sheet of paper and went speechless after reading the list of flowers.

Randy immediately dropped to his knee and said "Yes this is happening. I got tired of waiting for you and decided I needed to do this myself. You made it OBVIOUSLY clear you would NEVER propose to me!"

"Alison ... W.I.L.L. Y.O.U. M.A.R.R.Y. M.E.?"

Ring from James Levinson Jewelry

She said yes...

Married November, 2011

Here is their testimonial on our website.

Planes, Trains, Automobiles...and sometimes buses

A lot of pre-holiday traveling to be followed up by holiday traveling for us. This is always a busy time of the year! Like Steve Martin though, back in Chicago now!

Wondering if anyone can share a story about you or someone you know buying an engagement ring or piece of jewelry far from home? If it involves either Vegas or John Candy, it'll be all that much better and you might win a prize from us!

Happy Friday from James Levinson Jewelry!

Picture or Video?

Over the short life of this blog, we've posted a bunch of proposals caught on video. Some have been pretty awesome/creative, others not as exciting. We recently read this article in the New York Daily News about a man who captures proposals on his camera for a living. Not surprising he used to be a part of the paparazzi.

 

He is actually serving a very interesting market, one that seems to be getting bigger and bigger. With YouTube and Facebook we are obviously sharing videos and pictures at unprecedented rates. There are 48 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute and eight years of content every day! As for Facebook, there are 6 billion pictures uploaded each month! 

The ease of transferring visual information today has to contribute to the number of marriage proposals being caught on video, and through pictures. 

For those of you who aren't engaged, do you want your engagement captured either on video or through a camera lens? Will we get to the point where it's more the rule than the exception for there to be visual evidence of the actual engagement? For those who are already engaged or married and didn't capture this moment as it happened, would you do it over again to record everything if you could?

If you're in the camp of having evidence of your engagement, would you prefer to have it be on video or through a plain, old camera?

 or?

Would you marry Lady Gaga?

Having a hard time understanding this article about Lady Gaga rejecting marriage proposals. That's marriage proposals, plural! Our thoughts are simple:

-Why are there MULTIPLE men lining up for Lady Gaga's hand in marriage? We don't know her personally, but based off of the interviews we've seen and the way she's acted in public, Lady Gaga doesn't exactly seem like the "settling down" and getting married type.

-If you're a guy is Lady Gaga A) Really that hot and B) worth all the baggage/nonsense that goes along with being married to her.

-What does Lady Gaga bring to a marriage other than money and dresses made out of meat? She's pretty talented but there is way too much else going on with her. 

-If you're married to her do you refer to her as "Gaga" or "Lady Gaga?"

-Let's be honest, does a Lady Gaga marriage last long than Kardashian's 72 day sham of a marriage?

What would be a good reason to marry Lady Gaga?

Man-gagement Rings

Just read an article about a trend where women are giving men engagement rings. We've put pictures of a couple of examples. At James Levinson Jewelry we've never sold one, but we are happy to serve this section of the female (or male) population if they'd like to get a "man-gagement" ring.

After some more research we have found this to be a common practice in countries like Argentina and Brazil. Now more and more people are adopting this trend in the US.

Along the way, was there a woman who got tired of waiting for her boyfriend to propose and decided to jump the gun and do it herself? Will this now become a trend among gay men...or is it already?

What are your thoughts on the man-gagement ring?? For the ladies (or men), is this something you'd want your fiance to wear in addition to you wearing an engagement ring?

Good Advice

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Happy December from James Levinson Jewelry! This is a busy time of the year for us with the holidays rapidly approaching, but it's also a popular time of the year for engagements. If you're thinking about proposing in the next few weeks we found a great article in the Huffington Post.

We want to highlight a section from it that we think is really important for you to keep in mind whenever you, or someone you know, decides it's time to look for a ring. While we hope you'll come to us for advice and to purchase the ring, you should keep this well written section of the article in mind no matter where you decide to go:

"I've never been a huge fan of the saying "diamonds are a girl's best friend." If you scrape away all of the marketing slogans that have been used to peddle engagement rings over the years, you're actually left with a custom dating back to the 1400s that symbolizes the desire to commit to one woman for the rest of your life. Because she'll be wearing the ring for the rest of her life, you should do your homework on what style she prefers. This can be as simple as taking a window shopping trip with her or interrogating her friends and family on whether or not she's mentioned which specific stones and settings she's a fan of. Finally, do yourself a favor and don't succumb to the pressure to spend several months of your salary on the ring. Your financial decisions are yours and yours alone to make. Remember, the ring symbolizes commitment rather than the size of your wallet."


Like the article states, you should always try and find out what kind of ring she might interested in. That will make the process of buying the ring much easier and less stressful. There is no shame in asking her friends, sister etc. They will probably view it as a great move on your part!

If you or someone you know is thinking about starting the engagement process we are happy to offer our advice which comes from 40+ years of experience. Whether you buy from us or not, the advice is always free. You will always deal with the owners, never any sales people!  Be sure to visit our website for our contact information including our direct numbers. Enjoy your holiday shopping!

PS...here is a link to the entire article we referenced. Happy December from James Levinson Jewelry!

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...