Spending ALL the money!

It only takes a spark to get a fire going, they say… well, to tweak the phrase, it only takes one trip to the college bookstore with two college students to empty the bank account.

Ok, that was more than a tweak, but you get my point, yes?  Even if we did get off easy at just over $700 in first semester books, it still boggles the little grey cells

to lay out so much green at once.

One silver lining to the cloud, however, was that upon entering the GCC bookstore, I was immediately presented with the Bargain Book Table — and it was loaded and overflowing with children’s story books!  I thought the placement (in a college bookstore) slightly odd, but was more than happy to peruse their offerings, and was very pleased to find three for the little guy that only added a smidge extra to our purchases.

After successfully acquiring all the necessary materials there, we took a jaunt up to northern Glendale.

For many, many years, I have been unable to wear my wedding ring, and finally the time was right to investigate the possibility of jewelry restoration.  I looked online, hoping to find something close to us in the west valley, and discovered Treasures Custom Jewelers, right here in Glendale.  I was extremely eager to see this family owned and operated business, and was hopeful not only that they could accomplish what I wanted, but that we could help the local economy by patronizing a small business instead of the big jewelry conglomerates.

I was bowled over by the personal service, the care and honest assessment of my request.  I came in asking if they could possibly combine my engagement setting with my wedding band.  After examining the pieces, the answer that came back was yes, it could be done, but it would be time consuming and thus, expensive, they wouldn’t recommend it because it would likely result in a weaker ring prone to breakage; finally and most importantly, they really didn’t think I would love it, and they wanted me to LOVE what I went home with.  I totally understood and knew it was a long shot request anyway, so I asked to look at their plain wedding bands, figuring that was my last option. Before she showed me those, however, the lovely and gracious Danielle suggested, to my surprise, that perhaps they could simply repair my band.  I hadn’t even thought to ask about it, because  when we bought this ring (itself a replacement for my original wedding ring) from a large chain jeweler, they told me it could not be re-sized because of the pattern. Danielle took it back to their design guy, and he said not only could he repair and re-size it, he could match the pattern as well for just a little more!! I was absolutely ecstatic – that was what I had really wanted to begin with!  I checked in with Paul and he was pleased with the price, so my ring is in their capable hands, and in a week it will be on MY hand — at long, long last.  I couldn’t be happier!!