Award winning jewelry?

The 2009 Emmy awards show was kind of boring, but it's always fun to watch fashions on the red carpet. Several pieces of jewelry caught my eye. Heidi Klum was wearing what they called "shoulder duster" earrings. But in photos, they looked like long strands of hair curving around her neck. The trend was obviously chandelier earrings, and my favorites were worn by Glenn Close and Debra Messing. Thanks to a press release put out by the Diamond Information Center I know that Glenn's rose cut diamond pendant earrings were created by Fred Leighton and Debra's diamond and yellow gold leaf earrings were from Lorraine Schwartz, a name that is not as familiar to me. I looked up her website and her creations run in the thousands of dollars -- gorgeous, but I think I'll get the $5.80 version at Forever 21 instead.

What I don't know about jewelry.....

Just finished assignment two of Jewelry Essentials, which I thought would be a snap. However, the course has me learning many new terms -- although I probably won't be using these in casual conversation anytime soon.

I already knew the names for several types of chains, including byzantine, snake and rope. But have you heard of gooseneck, bismarck and bowtie figaro? Me either.

One of the best assignments in the course is to watch slide shows with endless examples of antique, retro, designer and estate jewelry. Fascinating for a jewelry-lover like me. To put that in perspective, you might compare this with guys who love to look at tools, even though their workshop is already full of every possible combination. (But my jewelry box isn't that full...yet.)

I did finish this week's questionnaire with a 15 out of 15 questions correct. Should be easy with an open book test, huh? Right, but the questions can be tricky, like the DMV test, where you second guess the answer, so I felt good about scoring 100%.

Now on to the more mundane part of the weekend....cleaning the house, washing clothes, grocery store....then maybe I'll turn on HSN since one of my favorite jewelry designers, Nicky Butler, will be showing his handmade, gemstone and sterling silver creations from Jaipur.

And so it begins....

When you meet someone for the first time, some people say they notice your eyes, and others may look at your shoes. I notice jewelry. It doesn't have to be diamonds or anything dazzling, but your accessories do make a statement. If you watched Ted Kennedy's funeral, you noticed pearls, lots of pearls, were the compliment to many of the basic black dresses that day. And as you watch the runway shows this fall, you'll see lots of loooong necklaces.

I don't know what started this, but I have become fascinated with jewelry. And I'm studying to get my Accredited Jewelry Professional certificate from the Gemological Institute of America (www.gia.edu). Studying gemstones isn't work, it's a fun hobby. So, I thought I would start a blog to capture my comments or "nuggets" of information that other jewelry fanatics might enjoy.

Some of my favorite designers are Jay King (big, bold hand-made stones from mines all over the world -- www.desertrosedirect.com) and Heidi Daus (www.heidi-daus.com), who creates works of art with Swarovski crystals. And my daughter just added some Mexican coral to my collection from her recent vacation.

I'm only on the second assignment in my Jewelry Essentials course (got an A on the final in Colored Gemstones), so watch for more posts on how this journey evolves.