Day 26 March Macro - Tahitian Pearls

Another nocturnal Blip, haven't done one of these in a little while but just couldn't sleep tonight..(it's 12:30am here just now)....
I bought this ring for myself whilst on holiday in New York for my 50th Birthday (9 years ago)...the shop I bought it in was a tiny second hand jewellery store not far from the Russian Tea Rooms.  The store was complete chaos and the chap who owned it was completely eccentric...it was an experience and a half buying it.  They had trays upon tray on exquisite jewellery and it was almost impossible to make a choice...I finally (after about an hour) narrowed my choice down to two rings...this one and another pretty citrine stone ring....I opted for the Tahitian pearls because I just love pearls and as pretty as the other one was I simply couldn't afford both.  I asked the store owner if he could get the ring sized for me and he said he would...I paid for it and left.  I went back a few days later to collect it and he produced both rings...both sized for me and then proceeded to have a bit of a meltdown when I told him that...no...I didn't want the other one...only the pearls.   It was an interesting experience and the owner clearly thought that I wouldn't say no to the other ring...a good sales technique I suppose...a friend of mine also went to this store a year later when she was celebrating her 50th birthday and had a similar experience but did make it clear to him that she would only be buying one ring...not two!

The extras today are a lovely Rottweiler who lives in the penthouse apartment in my block...his name is Lenny and he's adorable...so friendly and full of licks and hugs when you speak to him!  The budgie is my stepdaughter's and his name is Chip...he's a beautiful colour but a little skittish so this photo had to be taken through the bars...

I have to say a big thank you to youoregon1 for putting the link to the Nik filters in his upload yesterday....I looked at these before I bought the Topaz filters and decided that buying them all was just too much....now that Google own them...they're free....I don't know how to do the link that he did in his journal but check out his entry for 25th March as the link is in his journal....well worth downloading.....

I have thoroughly enjoyed doing this macro challenge and it has made life quite easy as all of the photos so far have been indoors....having said that I am looking forward to getting some outdoor shots as my main Blip during April!