Oh man, last year was a wild ride. At the end of each year, I like to take stock of things, personally and professionally, while catching up with friends, attending holiday parties where people still think it's ok to wear an ugly Christmas sweater - good Lord people for all that is holy please stop doing this - and shopping online to avoid the crowds.
My fam and I also decided it was time to pick up and move to a fab new house we found last summer, so we are knee deep in open houses, home inspections and all of the joy that selling your house and buying another brings, right at Christmas and in the middle of our holiday rush. Not my best idea, but it'll all be worth it in the end, right? Please tell me moving in my mid-ahem-40's wasn't a bad idea and that I'll have a mortgage until I'm OMG WHAT HAVE WE DONE.
But, I gotta tell ya, even with all this chaos I'm actually excited for the new digs, it's a great space for entertaining, and we plan to host small wine-soaked jewelry parties, to teach people about moissanite and show off the different brands we carry. We may even have some special guest appearances. After we are all done ogling stones, then we can do a little hot tubbing, as soon as I figure out how to thoroughly sanitize someone else's hot tub. Ewwww.
Holidays are challenging for me at times with my parents gone, it's difficult watching our kids grow up without my mom and dad around to cheer them on, straighten them out, or tell crazy stories about me growing up. (although on my final point, that's likely a good thing.) So we tell stories about them instead, like the way my dad used to play pranks on my mom, which totally pissed her off every damn time, like short-sheeting the bed. (I definitely inherited the "do not play tricks on me/sneak up on me cuz it's not funny and I'll kick your ass gene".) She always got him back somehow, for example, by teaching our dog to sit in front of the console TV and howl during football games. Yup, good times.
Now, back to business. Read on to find out where we've been, and where we are going. I'm feelin' like 2017 is going to be an absolutely epic year, amiright?
JHD Then and Now
NEO Moissanite
We started 2016 with one shape available in the NEO, a near colorless ideal cut round. It was pretty, but not amazing*. Our NEO guys made several rounds of tweaks to that cut earlier this year, AND then went and developed a 2nd round cut to boot. Both are gorgeous, so we now have our diamond cut round and the round brilliant. I liked the diamond cut round so much, I put a 4.2 carat monster in my new Raven engagement ring.
They then expanded their line to include near colorless and also colorless cushions, emerald cuts, ovals, princess cuts, radiants, hearts, trillions, half moons and more. Something to note, the NEO is so well cut, they face up whiter than a typical near colorless stone. Check out Instagram to see what I mean, people are always asking me if the NEOs I'm posting are colorless, and in most cases, they aren't. So basically in less than a year we went from having pretty rounds in limited sizes to a full line of beautiful stones, all with great pricing and the best moissanite warranty available.
Look for more colorless NEOs in the new year, along with expanded sizes. Rumor has it we'll have a NEO asscher in the not too distant future, as well as additional sizes in their beautiful princess cut, I have a 1 carat sample here, and it's a sexy lil thang.
*Keep in mind many of the older NEO reviews you read on the boards are talking about the first gen NEOs. All the NEOs we are selling now kick ass.
