Conflict diamonds

With the message of the movie "Blood Diamond" reverberating around the world right now, I'm getting a lot of letters about how to tell if your diamond is one of the 'conflict diamonds,' and where you can go to find non-conflict diamonds. Here's a great article from About.com's jewelry expert, where you'll find terrific, educational links to help you out:
http://jewelry.about.com/cs/diamondmining/a/diamonds.htm

And if you're interested in naturally-colored diamonds, check out www.ncdia.com.

While we're on the subject, look at the beautiful hues of colored pearls at www.thepearloutlet.com. I had the great fortune of trying some of these on, and they give a modern twist to a traditional wedding day jewelry look for moms, maids and brides.