Pearls and Productivity

If you're not in the loop, I am moving in a few weeks, and things are insanely busy. I don't have internet at the moment either, so my apologies for not posting. I do have one or two "blogging unplugged" entries I've been writing up by hand, and when I have more time I will be posting them.

Today was a mad rush to do many errands, and I felt like the fabled adult of Allie Brosh's world. (If you haven't discovered Hyperbole and a Half, do yourself a favour and click on over. She has a sense of humour that would be skewed if it weren't so bang-on, and she uses Paint and her imagination to charmingly, if strangely, illustrate her insights.)

So! I'm an adult!

• I went to the bank
• I opened a PO Box at the post office
• I paid bills
• I got a Medicare refund
• I did laundry in the hotel sink
• I picked up my new contacts
• I called about unlocking my phone

Except for the last thing, this was all done in the space of six hours - and I also met a friend for hot chocolate, got my brows done, remembered to feed myself lunch (kebab!) and walked all over downtown. I was doing so well, I decided that I deserved to do something I've been meaning to do for AGES. Though I've been in Sydney nearly two years, and have walked or bussed past the gorgeous restored building that houses Australia's premier pearl jewelers, I have never set foot inside Paspaley.

I wandered around and a nice sales lady came up to me and asked if I was having a browse. (For the record, I was wearing a nice Esprit dress and a scarf, so I didn't look like a backpacker who'd come to gawk.) I decided to go with the truth, and told her I'd been meaning to come by to see the beautiful building and their pearls for some time. She smiled and left me with a "Let me know if I can answer any questions," and I meandered through and looked at many cases of huge round pearls, some on strings and some as earrings, several with diamonds or other stones to set them off. Eventually I came upon a case with earrings set with diamonds, pearls and turquoise-coloured stones. They were sheer gorgeousness. The sales lady chose that moment to ask if I'd found a favourite yet. I pointed them out and she said the stones were topaz, and the metal platinum.

I looked around some more, wistfully, and once near the door (and the smaller, though no less stunning pieces) I said, "Well, maybe on my thirtieth..." and she said that was the year of the pearl. Then, noticing that I was the only 'customer' in the shop, she offered, "You can try those on if you like."

"Really?"

I can say quite honestly that I have never seen such beautiful pearls, and although they were weighty, the post and clasp design didn't drag at my lobes. They were just the right length, dangling down to my jawline, and so sparkly... sigh. They are valued at $22,800.

Yes, people. I got to model jewelry that's worth as much as a car. I then tried a simpler pair, worth a mere $5,000 - a single pearl dropped from a chain and two small diamond studs, and they were also quite lovely - with perfectly round pearls. Such extravagance. Such a fitting end to my last day in Sydney for who-knows-how-long. Such a dream, this life I'm living now...