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IMPORTANT DATES FOR CHRISTMAS 2023 & NEW YEAR 2024:
The last date for new custom design orders to be started is November 7th.
If you need your ring resized before Christmas it needs to arrive back in the workshop by December 5th.
The very last date to place an order to have it arrive in time for Christmas is:
International orders: November 14th.
NZ orders: November 21st.
Need something now?? Check out our selection of items that are ready to ship! https://www.ashhilton.com/collections/ready-to-ship-2
If you don't need your order before Christmas, but do need it before the end of January, please place your order by December 15th and it will be shipped before we close. Our first shipping date in the new year is January 16th.
Phew! Confused? Please feel free to get in touch.
]]>The number one most important thing for us when making our engagement rings is that they are as ethical as is possible. We also want these special rings to be family treasures that are passed from generation to generation, so we only use stones that we know will last the test of time.
We've put together this blog post to walk you though our gemstone options to help you choose the perfect stone.
These are naturally occurring diamonds that our supplier has removed from old jewellery and re-introduced into the supply chain for resale. The world’s existing, above-ground supply of diamonds is immense, by choosing a recycled stone you're helping reduce the industry’s reliance on environmentally damaging mining practices.
There is an independent grading company in the USA called the GIA that grades and certifies the recycled diamonds we use. They are the most well-regarded grading company and are accurate and strict with their grading.
These are created in the USA using advanced technology which replicates the natural method of diamond formation, giving them the same characteristics of natural ones, both in strength and sparkle. Lab-grown diamonds present the newest, most technologically advanced, and sustainable alternative to mined diamonds available in today’s market.
All of our lab-grown diamonds are certified and are purchased from suppliers who follow internationally recognised environmental standards and are subject to strict rules and regulations for working conditions and environmental impact. These stones are graded by IGI which is another well-regarded grading company.
The one downfall with these stones is that they are sent elsewhere in the world to be cut and we are unable to trace the exact facility where each stone has been cut. We're not stoked about this and continue to apply pressure to our supplier to give us more transparency about this part of the process.
Our coloured gemstones are sourced from Columbia Gemhouse. This statement from their website sums up why we chose to work with them:
"Fair Trade Gems are closely tracked from mine to market to ensure that every gem has been handled according to strict protocols. The protocols include environmental protection, fair labor practices at the cutting and jewelry factories, and a tight chain of custody that eliminates the possibility of treated gems or synthetics being introduced into the supply chain. The program also includes promotion of cultural diversity, and public education and accountability."
Sapphires are our go-to coloured gemstone for our engagement rings. Like diamonds, sapphires are a strong stone meaning they are perfect for both our bezel and claw set styles. We love the rainbow of colours that sapphires come in!
For everything you need to know about purchasing one of our special engagement rings check out our handy Engagement Ring Buying Guide.
]]>Ash, Laurel and their kiddos have recently confirmed some exciting plans to fulfil one of their lifelong dreams. They're taking some time away from the workshop to embark on a family sailing trip.
What this means for your order:
While Ash is away from the workshop there will be a few changes to the pieces that we'll have available for immediate purchase, all etched designs will be on pre-order. This means these pieces will be made and shipped after Ash's return to the workshop in October. Below are the important dates you need to know:
We will have a limited number of selected etched designs pre-made in stock, available on enquiry. However, please note these will be available in limited sizes/widths.
Resizes:
If you need to send your ring back for resizing and it has an etched design or stones it may need to be resized by Ash, just get in touch and we'll see what we can do.
To have your ring resized before Ash goes on leave we'll need to receive it in the workshop by MARCH 25TH. Resizes that arrive after this date that require Ash to resize will begin to ship from OCTOBER 31st 2022.
Custom Design Service:
During this time our custom design service will be closed until Ash's return to the workshop. Our custom design service will close on MARCH 7TH and reopen on OCTOBER 10TH 2022. While our custom design service is closed you can still fill out our custom design form, Tamsin will be here to answer any questions and can quote you a price.
Pieces still available to order as usual:
While Ash is away we will still have some of our standard designs available as usual. Siggy and Shannon will be making and shipping the following designs within our usual turn-around time of 3-6 weeks + shipping:
Engagement Rings:
Love waits for no man on a sailing adventure! We're currently working on a plan to be able to offer our engagement rings while Ash is away so you can pop the big question when the perfect moment strikes. Check back here for new updates.
**ENGAGEMENT RING UPDATE**
Ash is our engagement ring making master, he creates each ring by hand. Needless to say, being able to offer these special rings without Ash here is incredibly tricky so we've been brainstorming all sorts of ideas to come up with a solution for while Ash is away. We've come up with an option that we think is pretty cool and is also perfect for those who are a little nervous about selecting the perfect ring.
We're now offering the option for you to select a beautiful diamond or sapphire to propose with and then, together with your fiancé, you can choose the perfect ring style to have the stone made into when Ash returns to the workshop in October. We have these special gemstone proposal boxes which are handmade from sustainably harvested wood here in New Zealand. Inside is a special silver gem case to hold your chosen stone, keeping it safe and secure while still showing off its beauty.
You can read all about how this service works in our Gemstone Proposal Box blog post!
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Katie and Christian got in touch with us to help them custom design their wedding rings. We absolutely LOVE the brief that they provided us. They wanted to create bands that represented the other person:
"since he's from the mountains and I'm from South Florida, we've bonded over and teased each other often about our different experiences in nature: I fall down in the mountains all the time, I'm not a great hiker, and he's not used to the heat and sand of the beaches. Because of this, we've had affectionate nicknames for each other since the start of our relationship: I call him Mountain Boy, and he calls me Beach Girl. We'd like to model our etchings on this- I would have a ring with a mountain and he would have one that shows a beach setting".
]]>First of all, we hope you are doing ok, man this is all so much! Here’s what’s happening with us.
**UPDATE NUMBER TWO!**
We're back up and running as per usual with all the necessary health and safety protocols in place. The only piece of the puzzle that might be impacted is the postage, so for the time being, we are sending all of our international parcels via DHL courier express to ensure that they arrive in a timely manner. New Zealand courier seems to be operating pretty normally, with small delays to Auckland. Ring sizers could be significantly delayed.
***UPDATE***
Hooray New Zealand!! Our team of 5 million has done an amazing job staying home, so we are now able to ease up restrictions a bit. We are back to our usual 4-6 week turnaround time plus shipping. All orders (apart from free ring sizers) will ship via DHL Express at no additional cost to ensure that they make it to you in a timely way.
We are taking every precaution to keep our contact minimal. Siggy and Tamsin will continue to work from home and Ash and I will make sure our in-house workshop is safe and clean. We've set up a contactless pick-up system with our super-rad courier driver.
We're still waiting to hear from our suppliers about what their shipping timeframes will be, but we should be good to go to make most of our pieces with what we have in the workshop now. If there are any issues with your order, we will let you know ASAP.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SUPPORTING SMALL BUSINESS DURING THIS TIME!
All the best,
Laurel, Ash, Siggy and Tamsin
We are currently sheltering in place per our Government's instructions for the next 4 weeks. (here's a link that explains exactly what that means https://covid19.govt.nz/government-actions/covid-19-alert-level/ ) Luckily, our workshop is in our home, so Ash can carry on making jewellery as normal.
Our employees are working from their homes so that we can continue to work through all order inquiries and custom design processes.
As of right now, our suppliers are unable to ship to us but we do have quite a bit of stock on hand to make most of our pieces.
Shipping of non-essential items is not possible during our country’s 4-week lockdown. We’re hopeful that we can still work within our usual 4-6 week turnaround time but, as I’m sure we’re all well aware, the sands are constantly shifting. Because of this, we’re not comfortable making any predictions about what will happen at the end of those 4 weeks.
What we do know is that we are great with communicating with our customers and love connecting with you, so we will be very proactive about staying in touch with you about your order and will be available to answer any questions.
We also want to make sure we’re looking after our families and ourselves while we work from home with our kids, so we will keep communications within New Zealand business hours.
Please reach out with any question at all (or even just to connect during these strange times), we are here for you!
Laurel, Ash, Siggy, and Tamsin
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Ash is heading away to realise a life-long dream of sailing across the Pacific to help some friends get their boat from the Galapagos to Tahiti. So, we're putting a pause on some collections and custom orders while he's away.
All etched designs and engagement rings won't ship until May 31st.
All plain and textured bands will be available as normal as will all bangles.
Custom designs will resume at the end of July.
We do have some etched designs in stock, so please get in touch to see if we can make it work.
]]>Ant and Matt. Photo courtesy of Photos by Zoe
I got this question from a lovely man via Instagram the other day:
"What do two men typically do with rings? Do they both do an engagement and wedding ring, or are the engagement rings typically used as the wedding rings? Also do both people wear the engagement ring?"
I loved it! One, because it opened up a wonderful discussion about the infinite possibilities of two hands and up to 6 rings. And two, because I've also wanted to be an advice columnist and I'm pretty sure this is as close I'll ever get.
Turns out, I know a thing or two about jewelry, but I'm not a gay man, so I had some reckons but thought it was probably best to do some crowd-sourcing for information and ideas. Which, holy-kajole, I got such amazing, lovely, kind and inspiring stories from our community.
I wanted to use every, single photo from Ant and Matt's wedding. I also want to go back to school, become a Dr. and re-do mine and Ash's wedding. Photo courtesy of Photos by Zoe
First up, my reckons. When it comes to anything and everything wedding-related, I'm a firm believer that there's no reason to be bound by any sort of rule or tradition, especially when it comes to rings. Want to mix your metals? Go for it! Feeling left out because you gave an engagement ring, but didn't get one yourself, YOU SHOULD TOTALLY BUY YOURSELF AN ENGAGEMENT RING TOO!
I think our asymmetrical facets ring makes an excellent engagement ring.
The more rings the better (says the lady that earns a living selling rings). So, my answer is yes! Gay men do wear engagement rings. Turns out, so do straight men. And it's fine to stack an engagement ring with a wedding ring on the same finger no matter where you fall on the gender spectrum. The idea that jewelry choices have anything to do with gender is just ridiculous.
A perfect, subtle engagement and wedding ring stack.
I also suggest that you can wear an engagement ring on one hand and a wedding ring on the other. We have lots of people that do that. Or just use one ring for both engagement and wedding ring. So many options. All of them good.
Now, the best bit! Here's what we heard from our crew (aka our Instagram Followers)
First up from Kristi:
"As a lesbian couple..it kinda relates, but a little different - as 2 women I thought as me being the one proposing I would get 2 rings, a beautiful diamond ring for my fiancé and I didn't want to miss out on a putting a ring on to celebrate our occasion, so I ordered myself a ring too!! Why not I say!! And I think men could do exactly the same!!"
Kirsti and Bindi's engagement rings, the solitaire diamond ring we made as a custom order and the two pines and a diamond ring you can find here, because we all deserve engagement rings.
And this from Holly:
"So my fiancé is not gay, but I got him an engagement ring (from y'all) because we view our relationship as equals & that was just as important for him to have something to signify that we had taken the next step in our relationship."
This is the look of love you get when you're in a couple where you recognise that you're equals and thus equally deserve an engagement ring. You guys are badass! Photo courtesy of KJ Jugar
And finally, from Ant, he went with both an engagement and wedding ring and rocks a stack:
"I will say that I did not want a massive diamond, but did want it to be a diamond ring. So the ring with the trees and night sky worked perfectly."
You can find The Snow on Pines ring here:
https://www.ashhilton.com/collections/etched-designs/products/snow-on-pines-ring-in-rose-gold
And finally, I think everyone deserves a giant diamond ring if that's what they want. I've never seen a hand that didn't look spectacular with a classic solitaire hanging out on the ring finger.
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Thanks so much for helping out this amazing organisation. We'll match, dollar for dollar any and all donations made to COHI from now until the end of January. Just select "Ash Hilton" from the drop-down on this page: https://app.etapestry.com/onlineforms/CircleofHealthInternational/donate.html when you make your donation.
Here's a bit more info about Circle of Health International and the HUGE impact they make from their website:
"Circle of Health International (COHI) is an international humanitarian organization providing reproductive, maternal, and newborn health care in crisis settings around the world. Founded in 2004 with the mission to increase the capacity of women's health care providers in crisis and disaster settings, COHI provides disaster relief, supplies, professional training, and sustainable livelihoods for vulnerable women.
COHI ensures quality care to mamas and babies in crisis situations around the world, having served over three million women - domestically and internationally - in 18 humanitarian emergencies since its founding. ‘Big-box’ relief organizations tend to export Americanized solutions to communities in need. COHI takes the opposite approach, aligning with local, women-led organizations who are best suited to know and advise on the needs of the women and children that they serve. COHI has worked alongside midwives and public health professionals in Sri Lanka, Louisiana, Tibet, Tanzania, Israel, the Philippines, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Oklahoma, the Philippines, Nicaragua, Sudan, Haiti, and Afghanistan."
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Eeep! We love seeing customer photos of their wedding day! We worked with Jen and Amanda to design custom wedding rings for their Grand Teton Wedding. Their elopement was photographed by The Hearnes Adventure Photography, which I'm pretty sure are our wedding vendor soulmates. I think they should come visit us in New Zealand for a photoshoot!
I'm not sure if my Monday Morning words can live up to these stunning images, so I might just let a few of them speak for themselves.
Here's a cool little look at how the custom design evolved through the sketching process back and forth with Ash. These were the initial concepts:
Then Jen and Amanda narrowed down how they wanted the mountain shading and trees.
Then finalised the diamond positions.
And Ash turned the designs into rings!
]]>We don't want this gold to ever leave our hands, so Ash alloys it himself without sending it away to be refined, thus imperfections.* We embrace and celebrate these small surface marks as our own little contribution to the wabi sabi worldview.
They're unpredictable, so we never really know what we're going to end up with. Here's a wee gallery that shows the full spectrum of what can happen. In saying that, if you'd rather err on one end of the spectrum or the other, we can totally accommodate.
This is our most typical and common type of imperfection. It's what you can expect if you order one of our beach gold rings.
Another to show how it looks on a matte finish ring, this is what the vast majority of our rings will look like.
This is a little bit more pronounced, but still pretty subtle. We would probably let this leave the workshop without giving it a second thought (unless you had specified as minimal imperfections as possible).
With this one, we'd probably check with you first, to make sure you were ok with this many marks.
This is another angle of the same ring. Again, we'd check that this was ok before sending it out.
This is a ring for someone that wanted very pronounced surface cracking. Ash has made it look deeper with some extra engraving. This is only done by special request.
This is a ring for someone that LOVES imperfections x 1,000,000. They asked Ash to add engraving to mimic surface cracking.
SOME CAVEATS :)
Very, very occasionally, there are imperfections hiding just under the surface that we can't see. This can cause the metal over it to flake off. This is not ok! If this happens to your ring, we'll fix it.
*A word about white gold. We can't alloy white gold ourselves. It requires temperatures beyond what we can achieve in our workshop, so this is made by our lovely suppliers in Auckland, in small batches just for us!
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THE IMPORTANT BITS:
We're on our way home! Everything (apart from custom designs) should now ship within our usual timeframe of 4-6 weeks.
KEY DATES HERE:
Ash and Laurel get back August 4th.
New custom designs will not be started until September 3rd
Some standard designs and resizes will not be available between June 1st and August 17th
Thanks so much for working with (and around) us. Check out our Instagram Stories while we're away to see how we're getting on :)
Ash and I on our first ever trip together!
We fell in love in the middle of my round the world trip when I was 25.That first year, we travelled together to France, drank too much Pernod, made out under the fireworks on Bastille Day and had some very dramatic seaside arguments (in other words, we fell in love). So, to celebrate my 40th birthday, we're going back.
Us on that first trip to France. Sometimes we sobered up and stopped fighting long enough to visit castles. Little babies!
Travelling is a part of who we are as a couple and now a family. It gives us the guilts to leave the workshop behind, so we've worked hard to find ways to minimize the impact it has on our customers (mainly by relying on the awesomeness of Siggy and Pip to keep things ticking over while we're away).
Truman loves trains!
We think there will really only be about a 2-week window where orders will be affected but thought we should give plenty of notice so that no one misses out :)
Henry snorkelling in Hawaii, because he's the luckiest boy in the whole world.
]]>Our next shipping date is February 2nd.
We will be checking our email periodically during this time, so if you have a pressing issue with an existing order, please email us with URGENT in the subject line.
We hope you have some wonderful times with the ones you love as wel!!
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We are absolutely thrilled with the results. The model (@hannahmcrae) wore one of our symmetrical facets bands. The bouquet was from @l.b.flowers (I'd like one on hand for daily use) and the makeup was by @calistya.mua
We hope we get to work with these ace people again. Heaps of fun.
]]>Boom. This is the very ring that's on my finger right now. One of my BFF's husbands ordered it for her as a surprise, it didn't fit and I WAS SO HAPPY because it did fit me.
Maybe you're a yellow gold ring kind of person?
Or Rose Gold? And GIANT.
Or teeny tiny with a diamond!
Or maybe you need two that are best friends!
]]>Well. Well, well, well. Etsy made us their featured seller. Which is a huge deal. If you're not an Etsy seller, you probably don't know what a big deal it is. And even if you are an Etsy seller, but started in the last couple of years, you probably don't understand why I think this is a big deal. To be honest, it's not as big a deal as it used to be, as the featured seller used to hangout on the front page of the web site for a week, which would translate into LOTS and LOTS of views. Nowadays, the featured sellers hangout on the Etsy Blog, but because I remember those big deal days so much, it was a HUGE deal to me and something I always super hoped would happen.
Well, if you made it through all of that, checkout the feature! Or, just scroll down to see the lovely and super talented Rachel Brown Photography did for us on super short notice 1 week before Christmas. And if you go right down to the bottom, you can see my hilarious before and after of the amazing work my BFF Poppy (hire her for your wedding!) did.
Love this one! Siggy blackening etchings.Siggy is so pretty. Pip cracking my ass up. It happens a lot. The long view of the (old) workshop. I've reclaimed this room as my own. I painted it pink.
Siggy talking about an order with Ash. We work in weekly bunches, with all the orders for the week on one tray. After the Etsy feature, we had to build bigger trays.
This is the look I make when I'm scared an order is missing. I promise I found it.
I'm pretty sure one of us must have farted-one of few things that can inspire that look of love and admiration from Ash
The whole team! Look how Ash and I are drinking OJ while the Ladies drink all the wine. Just kidding, we started drinking mimosas at 9AM and the Ladies had to hold everything together while we lost orders and farted inappropriately.
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We are currently on our annual family holiday from December 16th-January 7th. We will have limited email contact during this time. If you have an urgent question about an existing order, please write URGENT in the subject line of your email.
If this is you'd like some info to help you get started, this link might answer most of your questions: http://www.ashhilton.com/pages/how-to-buy-a-ring
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!
]]>The Charleston beach where we get our ethical gold
I heard on National Radio this morning that Charleston, New Zealand is celebrating it's 150th birthday this weekend and thought, "this will make for some great blog and social media fodder! We love Charleston!" Here's why.
Hopefully, it's pretty obvious that ethical wedding and engagement rings are our bag around here. It was a major turning point in our business when Ash first started looking into worldwide gold mining practices. What he found was shocking. So many people were aware of the atrocities surrounding diamonds, but not many people understood the huge environmental and cultural toll that precious metal wreak on the world.
He knew he couldn't just bury his head in the sand and ignore the situation. He reached out to his suppliers and found out that they only source gold from New Zealand and Australia, which have relatively good mining practices, BUT the majority of it comes from traditional mines, which can create up to 20 tonnes of mining waste to extract enough gold for a single wedding ring. Uh, not so great.
This is what a traditional goldmine looks like. Yuck.
Then! He remembered that his Dad, Jim, had done some work for a guy collecting alluvial black sand gold from a beach on the West Coast. This is where Charleston comes in. Charleston was a big gold mining town in the 1800's. All the gold mines are long gone, but not all the gold is! Gold from the mines has washed down the rivers and mixed in with the black sands of the beaches. Jim's mate had purchased the rights to a gold claim in Charleston to collect this black sand gold.
A much better scene than an open pit mine.
It's basically bigger-scale gold panning involving a tractor and rubber matts and a slurry of sand and water. Two people operate the plant right on the beach. They do use mercury in the process, which we were concerned about, but Jim told us that they always end up with more mercury than they started with, so they're actually removing mercury from the beach that's washed down from the old mines.Sparkles of gold in the sand!
I just love this whole story. Ash wants to make ethical jewellery, but can't find a supplier that can help him out. Jim has gold fever and thus was one of 3 people to work at this little gold lease. Ash is able to visit the set up, see how it all works and know 100% that it's all up to snuff. Ash can make wedding rings for people from gold that comes from the same place he grew up knowing that it in no way messes up the environment or screws people over.
Our ethical wedding rings sometimes have surface imperfections as the metal isn't refined in the traditional way, but alloyed by Ash in our workshop.
If you're in New Zealand, go to Charleston this weekend for the party! You can go and try out black sand mining for yourself, see the old goldfields and ride the train up the Nile River. More info here: http://www.westcoast.co.nz/events/150th-anniversary-charleston-goldfields/
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This is going to come as a HUGE SHOCK to our American friends out there, but there is a strong and vocal anti-Halloween contingent in New Zealand. I KNOW! Why? How? Usually you think New Zealand, and you just automatically think, better. I mean, there's even a dish soap flavour named "New Zealand Springs." Not a lot of countries could be a successfully marketed aroma. This shocking cultural misstep (alongside whatever it is they serve me when I ask for nachos), was my first real "Brand New Zealand" disillusionment.
This family's gonna do the crane move on your bad attitude New Zealand!
There are a variety of complaints. First and foremost, what I hear is that it's an American (and therefore automatically really bad) tradition that's being foisted on the unsuspecting children (parents) of New Zealand. I get it! America has done a lot of crappy-crap to the planet. I wasn't so pleased living in America, so now I live in New Zealand, so I get it! BUT! I am still American (which a lot of people seem to forget when telling me how terrible Halloween is simply because it, like me, is American) and there's not many aspects of our culture that I feel comfortable celebrating out in the wider world. So, I think you should let me have this one. And if you don't want to play along, that's cool. I do think you'll be missing out on a helluva lot of fun though, so open your mind and let me try and convince you.
Let's go to the moon!
Some background. I grew up in the deep South in a very small, Christian and conservative town. My parents were very non-traditional. We were poor at a time when it was really important to have expensive jeans and all your Christmas presents wrapped in matching wrapping paper from the fancy department store. We didn't go to church. Most holidays highlighted all the ways we didn't fit-in. I was far from alone in this alienation.
It doesn't have to be all about sugar! Banana ghosts for crying out loud!
BUT! Halloween was always the great equaliser. Everyone was invited. Everyone could participate. You didn't have to be rich or white or Christian to have a great Halloween, all you needed was a little bit of creativity. In fact, for that day, you could turn yourself into ANYBODY. You could be the president, or an astronaut or a bumble bee or a super rich guy. The most egalitarian holiday ever. Kiwis are into that, right?
The other thing I hear is, "It's rude to send your kids out begging for candy! Give me candy or I'll do a trick on you!!" Ok. I can see how this one would be a bit tougher if didn't grow up in the Halloween culture. I got all the candy as a kid, so now, as a grown up, I'm super excited to give that candy back to the world. You don't have the buy-in, fine. But surely it's worth $10 a year to have your own personal parade of cuteness and creativity coming right to your doorstep? These kids (hopefully) worked really hard on their costumes, so I don't really see it as begging. And by the way, I have a strict no costume, no candy policy. But I will soften if they can tell me a joke or do a dance.
Other than that, it's really more vague arguments about how it's just not a New Zealand tradition and bah, humbug. Well, so? New Zealand isn't really teeming with celebratory holidays, why not take the time to have a bit of fun? I've never heard anyone decry Blossom festivals or Diwali celebrations or even Dia de los Muertos. Which brings me back to Halloween = America = Bad, which makes me sad and sad for my 50% American kids. BOOM. Guilt bomb.
How can a kid in a Robin Hood costume made out of paper be anything but good??
I guess the other two main detractors are the commercialisation and the sugar. Which, yeah, you can go crazy and spend a lot of money, but that's a total choice just like in every other aspect of life. And the sugar, welllll. “He that is without sin among you, let him eat the first easter egg."
Ok fine, the Iron Man costume is pretty lame and commercial, but whatev, he got if for Christmas :)
So! I have one last point. I always see all these nostalgic posts about how before social media, you knew where your friends were because there was a massive pile of bikes outside a house and how we used to know it was time to go home because the street lights were coming on and how kids learn so much from roaming the neighbourhood with their friends. Well, Halloween helps with that. It gets all the neighbours out and talking to each other and laughing at the costumes and meeting all the other kids on the street and your kids find new buddies to hang out with and that's good. And healthy. And FUN.
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I never thought Ash and I would really get married. All the people that we love are scattered far and wide and I knew that we would never be able to have them all together in one place, so really what was the point? Then! All of our immediate family happened to be in the same country, at the same time, THE STARS ALIGNED and BOOM our wedding (and more importantly, our wedding theme) was swung into action. We had a window of 1 month to pull it off and a pretty small budget, because we love limitations and hate sleep.
Luckily, our closest circle of friends and family includes, a former wedding invitation designer, a wedding photographer, a professional make up artist and a wedding celebrant. And, you know, we've made a few wedding rings in our day. So! That's the deal. Here's the porn.
This is the invitation my insanely talented Sister created for us. It's perfect. I love it. I have extras that I look at a lot. She made sure to put in both mine and Ash's star signs as well as the Matariki constellation that Ash mapped out in diamonds on my engagement ring many years ago.
These are the boys swimming at the beach down the road from our house the morning of the wedding. Lucky, lucky.
This is Ash reading one of approximately 17,000 lists I made. I still have them all in a special box, because lists are the best thing ever. My Dad taught me that.
Ash and I share a similar personality flaw that makes it nearly impossible for us to buy things. It's taken us 5 years to buy a duvet cover. Which made it hard to organise a wedding in 30 days, we both had to buy shoes. Luckily, Ash already had a suit. He never found the right shoes, so he bought these at the op-shop the day before the wedding. In that box is an antique pocket watch I gave him. He carried that and a compass my Dad gave him the year before he died. When Ash pulled that out and showed me just after ceremony I almost lost my shit.
This is Ash's Dad Jim. We call him Jimbo, but I don't think he likes it. He doesn't usually get too excited about parties, but he was super sweet leading up to the wedding and was super helpful. He even let me decide if he should wear his pink shirt or his purple shirt. I went for purple.
This is Tom, Ash's cousin and best man. His family gave us 1/2 a cow for our wedding present, which was the best present ever. Don't ever play cards with him.
Henry was so, so excited to wear fancy, fancy clothes for the "wetting." I found the cutest vintage suit from the 40's and he wore blue glitter ballet flats.
Ok, so, you guys. Ash made me a gold constellation necklace and tiara for my wedding present. Full disclosure, I did ask him to make me a necklace, but I told him to make it in brass. He and my Sister designed it in secret and then he made it in gold. It's the scariest thing I own. Also, the most beautiful.
These are my wetting shoes. And the necklace and tiara. I bought my shoes second hand (yuck!) and the lady said in the listing, "they just sit there in my closet like sad princesses waiting to be worn." And I was like, "whatever, I'm gonna wear those everyday." Nope, still sad princesses. But, they make me happy. Unless I'm wearing them and then I hate everything.
Remember our ridiculously beautiful wedding invitation? Well guess what? My Mom turned it into our ring bearer pillow. I have absolutely no idea how she got these wizard-like abilities, but it's the prettiest, most perfect pillow in the whole, wide world. She embroidered a font! Two fonts! And then stipple-painted the milky-way and hand embroidered all the constellations. How can she do this? I can't even write my kids' names on their lunch boxes without making an embarrassment of myself.
Ok, so I maybe stole the colour theme from my bedroom. Dark blue + gold 4-life.
This is me applauding my ridiculously talented husband and his tiara-making skillz. Can your husband make a tiara? Mine can.
Let's take a minute to appreciate how beautiful my Mama is. It seems I did not get her skin and its inability to wrinkle. Thanks Dad.
This is the face that you want your friends to make when they see you all made up for your wedding day. The whole day could have stopped right there, because this look on my beautiful friend Fie's face made it all worth it.
And also this one.
Oh, and also. My beautiful friend Poppy is a makeup artist. You should hire her for your wedding, this is her web site. I really do have the best and most talented friends ever. #blessed.
If Ash ever infuriates me and I think I want to leave and go back and work at a cafe in Texas and drink only margaritas and eat only queso for the rest of my days, I look at this photo of myself and remember that this was how excited I was to marry him. And we were already 9 years, two kids, a mortgage and a business in, so I knew exactly what I was getting myself into.
This is Jonny. He married us. He was one of the first real friends I made in NZ and he's kept me laughing ever since. He and Ash have known each other for 20ish years and he's just like family. Thanks Jonny!
Ok, these are Ash's two siblings besides Siggy. Tom and Zoë. Aren't they cute? Zoë has her PhD, knows how to play all kinds of instruments, is teaching Henry how to rock climb and is smoking hot. We all kinda hate her a little bit :) She learned a song, a very special song, to play for the wedding ceremony and then just happen to pick out the two other songs I really wanted her to play but was afraid to ask her to learn on such short notice. I'm surrounded by wizards.
This was the most magical moment of the ceremony and I missed it as it was before I walked in. We got married in the woodsy part of our back yard over a little bridge. Henry, who was 4 at the time, was in charge of pixie dust. He had a little pouch of superfine glitter and threw it into the air as he twirled and jumped. The gold glitter hung in the air and it was like magic. Wish we had a video.
My nephew Jacob is a martial arts super hero and gave a display of his skills just before I walked in. It was awesome by all accounts.
Truman was in charge of the pillow. He knew he had to hand it to Evan, but then he took it straight back after the rings were detached and hasn't let go of it since. He also refused to wear a shirt or have his hair brushed. Everyone seemed very concerned about this. It just felt like home to me.
My BFF told me she loved this pic because I'm literally dragging my Mom up the to the altar. I was super-psyched!! I also love all the smiling happening in the background.
This is the exact image I had in my head when I was imagining our ceremony in our backyard. I still can't believe how lucky we are to have the incredible talent of Victoria Vincent in our lives, but more on her later.
Definitely the sweetest moment of the day, Ash made wedding rings for the boys and we gave them to them during the ceremony.
These are our wedding hands. Here's a little secret, I've never been much of a jewellery person, and even though our whole lives revolve around making and selling wedding rings, I never **really** understood what the big deal was. Until I had my own. And especially once Ash had his on his finger. It's the only part of the wedding that's with us every, single day and I really do get excited when I catch sight of his. It's so tangible! Plus, the whole unbroken circle of infinity thing is pretty cool too.
These are my girls!! My sister Autumn on the left and her daughter Suzannah on the right. They are the sassiest, funniest, sharpest, smartest, most beautiful ladies in the whole wide world. I'm waiting, waiting, waiting for the day when Autumn does something stupid so that Suzannah gets so mad that she comes and lives with me in New Zealand. It's never going to happen because my Sister wins everything.
After the ceremony was finished all the guests went back to our place for some snackies and drinkies and Ash and I had some portraits taken. See? Plenty of wrinkles, thanks Dad. But, they're happiness wrinkles, so it's ok.
This is my smokin' hot husband. That made me a golden crown. And homemade donuts. But not on this day.
Truman came over to me and gave me lots, and lots of kisses and cuddles. Note the pillow.
This is Ash's Granddad, also named Ash. He's stunningly awesome and hilarious and makes sure your whisky glass is never empty.
This is Ash's Aunt Mary, his Grandma Shirl (Granddad Ash's wife and the sharpest, funniest lady around) and my Mother-In-Law from Hell, Jude. What can I say about Jude? She's the styliest, hippest, loveliest lady around. She will kick your ass at tennis, hang up on you if call while the cricket's on, meet you in Europe at the drop of a hat and make you buy the nicest shoes in the shop. She's who I want to be when I grow up. Except for the cricket part.
This is Astrid, our amazing photographer's daughter. Since I don't have any daughters, I've decided she's also my daughter. Hope that's cool Tor and Lico.
Ash has always been a van guy. Not a creepy van guy, but a, "let's just put it all in the back of my van" kind of guy. This was the first van we bought together. We gave it to Jimbo a few years ago, but are still allowed to borrow it for special occasions. Now it's painted with political protest messages in bright red paint.
Wedding Party party time.
Just strolling and being smug as hell.
This one just speaks for itself. It's saying, "I'm a badass photos."
We read a lot of those, "how to look great in photos" articles. This is our best work of the day. We were squinching, but not too hard.
This is our album cover:
So, not only did my sister make the invitations, design the vintage celestial theme posters and get way drunker than me to distract from my embarrassing level of drunkeness, she also arranged all of the flowers. SHE WINS SISTERS.
This is one of said posters. We got free images from the Library of Congress and then had them printed on plan printers in dark blue ink. Now, they decorate our house. Except for the one that Truman pulled off the wall and ripped into a million pieces. He's a terrible human. Apart from his dimple, that's really cute.
This is Saali. He and Ash grew up together and he couldn't make it to the wedding on such short notice. Except that Siggy is the best Sister/in law/friend/badass ever and flew him in to surprise us! WE WERE SO SURPRISED. He sang a beautiful love song that he wrote. It was amazing upon amazing.
Ash and Autumn cutting the wedding cake. Wait. What? So, I have this ridiculously amazing Aunt Gail. She made that wedding cake and it almost killed her. I thought I was asking for something easy, but apparently ombre blue icing is not easy. Not at all easy. It looked exactly, exactly how I wanted it to and it tasted freaking amazing. She also made lots of allergy free treats for all the kids and pretty much just blew all of our minds.
You know how I said that mine and Ash's family and friends are sprinkled all over the world and couldn't all be there? Well, they all got together and made a video. A video I still can't watch unless I don't have anywhere to go for several hours because it makes me cry so, so hard and when I cry I get this crazy red patches all over my face. I have no idea what I did to gather up so much love in my life, but I did and it's all in one video. The absolute best wedding present ever. This photo of me watching shows approximately 1/1,000,000th of the emotion it evoked in me. The rest of it was dumped all over the poor caterers in the kitchen where I hid out and sobbed. I really wonder what they thought happened to me. They were highly concerned and made me eat cake.
This is one of many, many favourite dancing photos of the night. My beautiful friend Anna is proving that she made entirely of light and pure joy, my Mom's in behind her gettin' it on, I'm totally in the zone, and Ash is drunk-hugging off to the left. There's a lot of dance photos. We danced till 5 AM. It was epic. It was my wedding wish come true.
Not only did the super-talented Victoria Vincent take all the photos, she also showed up to set up and clean up. This is a day after photo and I love it. All the amazing work from all my super-talented wizard friends and family had been enjoyed and eaten and drunk and loved and danced up into a mess. A beautiful mess.
Like what you saw? You can have it all too! Hire my amazing friends!! Poppy Make Up Artist is seriously legit. I had no idea I could look like that. She has this incredible way of making everything around her just look better (probably because she's so hot). The Old Saint John's Hall is totally beautiful and right in the center of town so you can be as loud as you want and everyone can take a cab home. And Victoria Vincent is the most talented photographer ever made. She's also a good dancer and her husband is super hot. Her (my) kids are pretty ok too.
]]>Well. Ash does not experience this urgency. In the evenings he gets all sentimental and quality-timey and says, "sure!" to requests that I can't even hear because all my brain voices are sing-shouting "15 MINUTES TO WINE TIME" to the tune of one of Missy Elliot's songs.
All this is to say that one night Henry got to make his own diamond ring at 8PM on a school night and the photos are the sweetest thing I've ever seen.
Henry's design concept:
Getting to use the torch to solder the ring.
And now it's a circle!
Filing out the rough bits.
Hammering until it's round.
Pushing the prongs over the "diamond." It was important to henry that the diamond was upside down so the pointy bit was up.
More fire.
The finished product!
An ethically made (apart from the child labour) recycled sterling silver and 14ct beach gold ring with a 1CT reverse-set cubic zirconium. Not for sale, private collection.
]]>This is our snow on pines ring in 18ct Rose Gold. You can find it here.
We call this the Oregon Pine Tree ring. I think it looks like a Christmas tree. I secretly want Ash to put colourful stones on the branches to look like Christmas decorations, but that might be too much. Here's the link to buy.
This is the same ring as above, but in yellow gold. I don't know which I prefer. Hmmm. Here's the link to this one.
And this is just snowy, snowy perfection. Also looks good with a few more snowflakes and diamonds thrown in the mix. We're always happy to make custom rings if you want it a little different. You can buy this one here.
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We were partying on the big boat. That's a tiny bottle of wine in her hand.
The plan was to meet in Hawaii. For some reason, I thought it would be more economical to go ahead and go to the Mainland of the US at the same time since we would be in that hemisphere. It didn't work out that way, but alas. I also thought it would be no big deal to end our epic journey with this super-duper epically anticipated dream holiday with my best friends. Seriously, we started planning this trip in 2012. Again, I completely over-estimated my kids. It's easy to do, a lot of the time they're stunningly incredible.
Truman was officially super-duper x 1,000,000 over travelling by the time it was time to go to Hawaii. Every night before bed he would ask, "is tomorrow the day we go back to New Zealand?" for a solid month. He was sick of the heat, the city, the tacos, all of it. He wanted his cloud bed and his blue transformer car. And then the day before we flew to Kauai, he got a huge fever and spent the entire day in bed. Great.
He seemed fine when we got up in the morning to go to the airport, but he wasn't really. He hung in there as best he could and I got totally, totally swept up in the excitement of it all. We all did. When we finally got to Kauaii and to our first night's accomodation, had a little to eat and then checked out the beach, we were super stoked. Especially Truman, he was so, so happy to be in the sea. There was a perfect little lagoon for him to splash around in and body board and it was great. He was a little grumpy at meal times, but mostly great.
So, we made him go lots of places. Lots of places he didn't want to go, like the beach and the other awesome beach and that other beach with all the sea turtles. And he cried, and he whined. And I felt like I failed as a parent because I raised this brat that can't even appreciate freaking sea turtles. And then we had a whole family melt down on the most beautiful beach I've ever seen and I cried (not just because there was sand in my eyes because it was thrown there by rage).
The next day, Henry woke up with a fever. And then Truman had bad bathroom stuff going on. And then one of the awesome dudes we were travelling with got crazy sick and had to be in bed. And I remembered. Oh! I didn't raise a brat. I'm not a terrible parent for being all permissive and letting him breastfeed until he could ask for it by name and giving him another piece of avocado toast that one time when he asked for it all rude and whiney. I'm a terrible parent for dragging my sick kid all over damn Hawaii.
So. That was all the bad stuff. I had to put that stuff first so that you can read the rest of this without totally hating my guts. Hawaii is amazing. I think I was so excited to hangout with my friends for a whole week, that I forgot to think about the fact that Hawaii is probably the most beautiful place in the whole damn world. And I thought the water might be kinda cold, but it's not. It's warm and beautiful. And guess what? Henry totally caught a wave! And snorkelled every day. And I was so, so, super proud.
And Ash fulfilled his lifelong dream to work from a hotel balcony in an exotic location.
And I climbed up on Ash's shoulders and *almost* got two fresh coconuts down. Luckily Kiwis never give up, so Ash climbed up that damn tree and got the coconuts, fulfilling Henry's life long dream. Henry was not super impressed with the fresh coconut, too much internal hype. So we did what anyone else would do and turned those coconuts into piña coladas. The world's best ever piña coladas. When life gives you coconuts, make piña coladas. Is that the piña colada industry's slogan? It should be.
Oh, and we stayed in a mansion! I think it was a mansion. I'm not really sure, but it was FAAAAANNNNCCCYYY. It had 6 bathrooms and a swimming pool and speakers on the lanai. It was crazy. I'll never forget our first day there, all 8 of us running around like we won the dang lottery. It was great. And I don't think I took a single picture of our times in the house. Which I'm sad about. But also not sad, because I was too busy laughing and eating and drinking Mai Tais and just generally feeling super-loved up having all my people in one place. One super-duper beautiful place.
The whole thing made me just want to scoop up all the people that I love and move to some island with lots of coconuts and rum and sea turtles and warm water and just live there forever. Does that ever work out? It doesn't seem like that ever works out. Or maybe it does and all those people are just having way too much fun to take pictures.
What I do know is this: You should go to Hawaii. It's pretty. And if you're lucky enough to have your best friends with you, well then you've just made some piña coladas out of coconuts. Also, it's ok to write ridiculously dorky stuff like that if you're happy. Or a little bit rum drunk. I'm both, so I'm good.
And thus concludes our travel story for now. There will be more. We already have a Facebook group set up for my 40th birthday in 2.5 years. Paris. Wanna come?
]]>Our newest love in the world of eco-friendly wedding decorations is dried floral arrangements. We LOVE this for so many reasons. First of all, they're beautiful. Second of all, you can keep these for years as decoration in your home. Third, florists and flower growers can save leftover flowers that might end up in the bin and turn them into long-lasting works of art. My fave in New Zealand are from
I think the best way to be eco-friendly in your decorating is to apply the principle of re-use. Especially good if you can re-use something that would be thrown away and turn it into something beautiful. I think this re-use of bottle caps would make a ridiculously cool backdrop:
It's an art installation by Mary Ellen Croteau. I found it here: http://www.greenprophet.com/2013/02/garbage-art-ideas-mary-ellencroteau/ The Green Prophet is such a cool web site that focuses on Environmental Issues in the Middle East.
When Ash and I got married, my sister and I found cool trinkets and vases at the local recycling centre and then painted them all gold. This was an awesome (and cheap) way to make stylie little table decorations. I still use them around our house. Which I think gives me re-use bonus points.
Ooooh! Aaaah! Gold spray paint makes everything better.
Add some flowers, and voila! Super cute centrepieces.
The other thing we did was have poster prints made from vintage images found online in the poster archives of the Library of Congress. You can download full-resolution images for free. We picked ones that we loved and fit our astrological theme. We knew that they'd make great artwork to hang in our house after the fact. Which we did with glee! Until an a certain second child ripped one down in a fit of destruction. I told him that didn't fit with our brand, but he didn't care.
The other thing you can do is to find interesting greenery in your garden and use that. I love this thyme garland (photo by Sarah Wood):
I also love this idea to use leaves instead of place cards. ( Calligraphy by Natalie Chang via Magnolia Rouge)
All so lovely! And none of it ends up in a landfill full of streamers and confetti and place cards and balloons. Although, that kind of landfill sounds kind of awesome.
And, hey! If you're looking for some super rad eco-friendly wedding rings, might as well have a look while you're here!
]]>It's that time of year again!
Henry's starting to get it. He told me a few times that he felt like Texas was his home. My favourite quote from the whole trip, "All the people in Texas really, really love me. Even people we don't know just seem to like me."
Water tower, Gruene, TX.
Truman in a really old dance hall with his new shoes and new purse.
We didn't get to stay for the beer portion of the dance hall evening unfortunately.
Truman just fits right in.
A beautiful mission in downtown San Antonio.
Big ass wagon wheel at a truck stop in the middle of West Texas.
Henry on a super early morning hike in Big Bend National Park
I'm pretty sure this is Ash's first selfie.
Henry took this photo as we were all rushing to watch the sunset through "the window" at Big Bend National Park. I just love it.
And Truman took this photo of Ash and me in the desert.
The dudes dressed up to go horseback riding. Unfortunately, there is no horse back riding at the dude ranch on Sunday. Next time boys!
One of the telescope domes at the Macdonald Observatory.
Truman at the State Capital in Austin.
Krause Springs, one of my favorite swimming spots outside of Austin.
Well, this is me!
I don't feel you can ever relax to this extreme in a cold climate.
Or stay in the lake all damn day.
]]>We decided to take the train from LA to Austin! I had done this trip in reverse when I was 16 and absolutely loved it. Ash and I toy with the idea of taking it every time we travel to the states, usually, my desire for queso and family overrule the scenic route.
We decided this was the year to go for it. We had heaps of time scheduled in Texas and knew that the boys would love it. Bonnie and Andy (best hosts ever) dropped us at Union Station in LA around 9 and our 35 hour journey began.
I wish I had more photos of Union Station; it was stunning. Ash and I got a bit lost and a bit frustrated and then had a run in with that bitch Karma as the bottle of red wine we were trying to sneak onto the train smashed inside Ash’s backpack.
Hot, sweaty and dripping wine we boarded the train. We booked a sleeper car, which was kinda cool because it’s kinda like first class train ridin’. In our disheveled state, I felt like the conductor was going to suggest we might feel more comfortable riding in the freight car, but he didn’t. He was nice and told us where the free coffee and juice were located.
Our car was awesome. It spanned the whole width of the train car and had 4 bunks-3 singles and 1 double that transformed into four seats and two tables during the day. The boys couldn’t believe our luck that we had a transformer car. Ash took a shower with his backpack and we all got into our jammies and the train rocked the boys to sleep. At about 2 am. Jet lag was not kind to us.
Meals are included in the price of the sleeper car and we were all excited for breakfast in the morning. It was so much fun, Amtrak dining cars are my new happy place. I know that we did actually pay for our meals, but the idea that we got to eat whatever we wanted for free made me happier than it probably should.
The dining cars have limited space, so they do what’s called “community seating” aka, you have to sit with strangers. Since we were a party of four, we just got to benefit from all the other awkward conversations around us and didn’t have to engage in any ourselves. Lot’s of “it’s the journey, not the destination!” mixed in with “I’m scared to fly” or, “my head injury prevents me from going on planes.”
The absolute best part of the train is the observation car. Big swively chairs under a glass dome roof. This particular journey goes through the desert southwest. The Sonoran desert was my and Henry’s favourite with its big cacti. I think the boys were expecting more of a Saharan looking sandy desert, but quickly got used to the idea of cacti and tumble weeds and red dirt. Henry took about a bazillion photos and videos. Truman mainly talked really loud and bumped into people unapologetically in the hallways.
Ash and I got to read and drink wine and take our own photos. Train travel really, really is the most relaxing way to travel. In general, the other people on board are there because they like to take things slow and to talk to other people about how they like to take things slow. No one has to drive, you never have to go through security screenings, the kids can move around freely and there’s always time to enjoy the journey. Even if you can’t freakin’ wait to get to the destination!
]]>Born and raised in Texas and now living in New Zealand, I've made this long-haul between the two places about 9 times now. Henry's done it 4 times and Truman 3. We felt prepared. We packed minimally. We needed no diapers. We made sure to include lots of swagger and over-confidence in our suitcase, because our kids are awesome! We travel all the time! We're patient and kind to each other! Our kids can amuse themselves at restaurants! Who needs wipes!?!
Me. I needed wipes. We were sticky constantly. Because we fed our kids, LOTS of lollies and marshmallows to quiet all the yelling and whining, which is a totally awesome long term solution and does not beget more yelling and whining and crying. Also, Truman throws up when planes land.
But, enough of that real talk. Let's look at some pretty pictures and pretend only the good and attractive times happened! Our first stop was LA. We usually just skip through the airport here and head straight to another plane to Texas, this year we decided to spend a few days with our dear friends, Bonnie and Andy and their two littles Maxfield and Molly Lou. Best decision ever.
Truman got to meet some dinosaurs. And also some bison.
Henry checked out the lunar lander.
And I got to see the REAL SPACE SHUTTLE. I totally cried. Bonnie said I would, and I did. It was incredible. We almost didn't go, the kids were over it, but we forced them. These became a theme on our trip.
Oh! And we went to Disneyland. Yeah, Disney, they're kinda evil and we're ethical jewellers, so maybe I this doesn't really jibe with our brand, but dude, it was pretty magical. We stayed for 16 hours. We rode everything. We had cocktails (cocktails! at Disneyland!). Our friends were incredible tour guides, knew exactly where to go and what to do and were just all-around the best! If you get a chance, stay with Bonnie and Andy in LA. You won't regret it.
The boys are sitting on a bench made out of popsicle sticks. Because they're in the land made for bugs and so everything is made out of giant, fake trash. It's pretty amazing.
Tru's favourite ride was the stroller. Turns out, he likes his space and comfort zone to be intact at all times. Which is tricky when you're travelling for two months solid. Routine is just not really available. Sorry Tru! I hope you don't hate us forever xoxo
But then again, sometimes it's worth it, eh Truman? Sometimes the sun starts to set and you wake up from a long nap in the pram and your Dadda takes you on a rocket and then you get to spin and spin in a giant tea cup with your best bro Henry and the hard stuff is all worth it.
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