Ruby Diamonds

When we think of the "heart shape" we more often than not think of romance and love. It has managed to work its way into our treasured holidays such as St. Valentine's Day, into our greeting cards and gifts, and into our designs of jewelry as well. This jewelry is often made out of precious metals (such as gold and silver) and gems (such as diamonds and rubies), and when we incorporate the "heart shape" we are creating an object that portrays the eternal ideas of not only romance and love, but caring and belonging as well. We will now explore the origins of the "heart shape symbol", heart jewelry, and learn about the world's most famous heart-shaped diamond.

The "heart symbol" has been around for years, used to refer to the spiritual, emotional, moral, and intellectual core of humans. It's often depicted as "red" as this symbolizes blood (as it is the heart that pumps blood through the body) and strong emotions...and what emotion can possibly be stronger than that of true love?

Finding a true heart-shaped diamond is a rare event, but they do exist. For example, the most rare and famous of these is the "Blue Heart" (also called the Eugenie Blue) diamond. Many people consider it to be the best example of a blue diamond that the world has ever seen. The only diamond that can rival its fame is perhaps the Hope Diamond, but with the unique heart shape of the "Blue Heart", it really stands out in the crowd. From the standpoint of pure elegance and simplicity, there are few diamonds that can hold a candle to the "Blue Heart".

The "Blue Heart" is a 30.82 metric carat diamond. It is thought to be of either African or Indian origin. The original rough diamond was cut by Antanik Ekyanan of Neuilly, Paris in either 1909 or 1910. It's current dimensions are: 20mm x 19mm x 12mm.

The diamond wound up in the possession of an Argentinian woman named Mrs. Unzue, who had it set into a corsage. It was sold to Cartier in 1910. When it was sold to Van Cleef and Arpels in 1953 it was still in the corsage setting.

Next stop...an European family. They then sold this heart jewelry gem to a gentleman named Harry Winston in 1959. He put the diamond into a ring, and then sold it to Marjorie Merriweather Post, who eventually donated it to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. This wonderful example of heart jewelry is currently on display at this institution today. Want a bit of trivia? At one point the "Blue Heart" Diamond, the Hope Diamond, and the Heart of Eternity were all on display at the Smithsonian.

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Need a pink gift for that special someone? Look no further: I have put together a list of six great gifts that would make any pink-lover swoon. And if you happen to like the item but wish it wasn't pink - no worries. Most of these come in other colors as well.

Weleda Wild Rose Body Oil Swiss company Weleda grow most plant ingredients that go into their products biodynamically in their own gardens on a plateau in southern Germany. Biodynamic cultivation uses no pesticides or toxic substances whatsoever, so you don't have to worry about your skin absorbing all those pesky chemicals that are found in many mainstream oils and lotions. Their wild rose body oil comes in a dark blue glass bottle with a bright pink label and the main ingredients are jojoba, sweet almond, and organic musk rose oil. If the thought of putting oil on your skin grosses you out, don't worry - it does get absorbed very quickly, and leaves your skin incredibly soft and sweet smelling (not overpoweringly "rosey"). $25.

Corkscrew Trust the French to invent a wine opener they describe as "sensual"! L'Atelier du Vin's stylish "Chic Lady" corkscrew ($44) comes in both hot and pale pink, and has a patented "swing system" which makes pulling the cork out of the bottle totally effortless. I'd add a bottle of wine to go along with it; a nice ros preferably (but please stay away from the White Zin!).

Stovetop Espresso Machine Bialetti's cute logo alone is enough to make me want to add any of their products to my kitchen (and I rarely drink coffee!). But it just got even better with the release of 2 pink versions of their stovetop espresso/cappuccino makers: The Dama Pink ($42.95) and the Mukka Express ($89.95). Not only do they produce amazingly tasty espresso and cappuccino, they look fantastic, and a part of the proceeds of each goes to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Flip MinoHD Camcorder Electronics have come a long way from the days when everything only came in black or silver. But even so, sometimes you want to put your own touch on the design of your gadgets. Pure Digital Technologies lets you do that with their Flip MinoHD camcorder. They offer a huge variety of ready-made designs, but if you'd rather go with your own creation, you can either use their pattern maker to make up a brand new pattern, or upload a photo or design and have that printed on the camcorder. These cute little camcorders measure only 3.94"x1.97"x0.63", weigh in at 3.3 oz., have a 1.5" LCD, 4BG of built-in memory, a flip-out USB connector, 2x digital zoom, a tripod mount and an f/2.4 lens. $229.

Digital Camera Samsung's sleek TL9 (NV9 in Europe) comes in a shiny bubblegum pink and is packed with great features: a camcorder, a voice recorder, an MP3 player, a text viewer and a multimedia player. The camera part of this little gadget is not bad either, boasting 5x optical zoom, 10.2 megapixels, image stabilization, face recognition, smile and blink detection, and a beauty shot mode which smoothes out the skin of your subject. It retails for around $240.

Vertu Cell Phones Not widely known in the US, these handmade cell phones from UK-based Vertu (a subsidiary of Nokia) are uber-stylish gadgets that would make any Valentine gasp with delight.

Their Constellation collection includes the Core Range in polished stainless steel and bright pink leather, the Precious Range in black leather and 18 carat rose gold, and the Monogram Range's "Cerise", in stainless steel and a pink leather patterned back. All measure 4.3x1.7x0.6", weigh around 5 oz, have Bluetooth email and speakers, and work in over 180 countries.

The Signature Diamonds collection has had a few eye popping designs in the past. A garish example was the "Cobra", which had a cobra made out of rubies, diamonds and emeralds "slithering" around the face of the phone - not my cup of tea, but apparently a few people thought they were worth $310,000. At the moment, however, the pink offerings are very pretty and quite subdued: The "Rose Gold Pink Diamonds" and the "Rose Gold Pink Sapphires" are both encased in gold with the face framed by pink flowers (made from sapphires, rubies and diamonds). Both weigh 7.2 oz, have loudspeakers, voice recorders, work in 175 countries, and have 300 hours of standby and 3-9 hours talk time.

The most exclusive feature on these phones, however, is probably the "concierge button". By pressing this little button (on the side of the phone), you reach a personal assistant, who can help you (24 hours a day) with everything from finding a perfect restaurant for a romantic dinner to arranging for a private jet so you don't miss that important business meeting.