It's a wrap! Merry Christmas to everyone

The holiday shopping season is drawing to a close and we watched frenzied last-minute shoppers running all around the city today, buying a gift here, some goodies there, all in preparation for Christmas.

Our family members are all off on holiday adventures, others are gathering for Christmas dinner. The traditional gift of the fruit basket arrived today, so we're trying out some tasty pears and apples right now.

Greetings from Mr. Spock!

Holidays are a combination of rituals and customs and festivities, and for this season we get to top it all off with gifts. Tokens of appreciation for being a great friend, a smart child, a thoughtful neighbor or co-worker or even a mailman who brings your letters when you are home and holds them when you are away.

We've given tributes to the staff at our apartment house, thanking the doorman, the porters, the folks who shovel the snow and fix little things, and we rewarded our staff with presents and dinners. As always, I made sure our customers got a little something extra too, by cutting prices, using lighter packaging so shipping could be cheaper, and making some jewels that look like they cost far more than they really do. 

Boomer relaxes on the couch

We took every order, included free gifts to our long-time customers, and gave lots of discounts and promotions. I'm happy to say that lots of folks were happy with our jewelry and ordered like crazy. I really thank each and every customer and appreciate your business. I tried to visit our retail store, Henri Bendel a few times to wait on customers and thank them in person, because it helps me design better things for you when I can chat and see what people like and what they desire.

At home, we've decorated my brothers house with zillions of ornaments, trinkets and lights, while our faithful doggies Chicklet and Boomer looked on in amusement.

My brother Joe celebrated the season with a christmas toy he bought for himself, a 1969 Chevy Corvair. Yes, it's an old car but if it makes you smile, then why not! I can't wait for a ride in it, maybe we'll drive around the neighborhood and look at some of New Yorks super-duper christmas houses, where the owners put up enough lights to make it look like Times Square.

So, we're ready. Our last 'rush' package went out the door, but orders are still coming in for New Year's eve so we'll be back to work packing soon. We've handed off our giant red bag of jewels to Santa, who flew by earlier today, because even elves can't make jewelry the way we do at robertachiarella.com. And Yes, Virginia, there IS a santa claus. Here's proof, from a letter in the New York Sun from 1897. Ciao and Merry Christmas everyone!


Click to make it bigger!



RC2 is NEW

It seems quiet here in New York City on this Sunday morning, the pups are snoozing and it's a nice fall day. After the last two weeks, it's a welcome relief. Our newest collection for the RC2 Trend Collection (our super trendy line for fall) has been launched and seems to be a hit with our Fashionista customers. 



I am happy to see that the La Strada bracelet is already half-way sold out, and we've already reordered from the factory. This is a great piece, available in 2 colors and is so great for your fall wardrobe. We've also got a great Bib Necklace, and many other great fall pieces on the website. The Crystal Coin Cascade Necklace is also very popular, it was featured on The Today Show as part of the "Emmy Award Look for Less" segment, hosted by our dear friend Jill Martin.

Our jewelry is featured in InStyle this week, the Award winning CZ Stud earrings are right in there for everyone to admire. If you're on the E-mail list, you will have gotten a promo code to get a discount this week, so that'll help you buy lots of our great items. 



Joe Chiarella and Chicklet wait out the Tornado in NYC

I'd hoped to put up some pics from Fashion Week in Lincoln Center, but you may know that New York was hit with a couple of tornados (yes, in NYC!!!) which headed right towards the family home in Queens. That caused a few days of no power, and one of the computers gave up it's life in the power failure.

My brother had to evacuate with Chicklet, who had a great time eating at a sidewalk cafe in Manhattan while they fixed the power lines. Hopefully we'll get the pics out of the hard disk, once my brother puts down the chain saw that he's been cutting down branches with and gets back to the computer. Fortunately nobody was hurt in the storm, so we are all grateful. The house was not damaged, so the shipping boxes, gift wrap and assorted necessities for robertachiarella.com weren't harmed.

So, you can see why I am happy it's a quiet day. We've got a bunch of orders to pack and ship tomorrow, you can't underestimate the power of a super sale, the CHA CHA CHA bracelet (featured in BRIDES) is going to be discontinued soon so we're giving an incredible discount to make sure these great bracelets find nice homes!

Next on the list is getting ready for HSN, we've got a great new collection to show on TV coming up soon.

We've got to get the jewelry ready, then hit the hair stylist, manicure, dress shoppe and shoe store before the trip down to Florida. See you on TV! Ciao.

world peace versus doggie raincoat

This is Chicklet. Our cute terrier who does not like to go out in the rain. Yes, that is a bracelet made into a dog collar, we jewelry designers do these sort of things!



With torrential downpours forecast for tonight and tomorrow, I realized that our little pup had to have a raincoat, or there will be trouble when she's got to go. So, it was off to the Ritzy Canine, a super-cool dog emporium located in a beautiful town house in midtown manhattan.

Normally a quick trip, but I forgot that the U.N. is in session this week, and the diplomats are everywhere. You've never seen so many bulletproof cadillacs, and you can't imagine the traffic. But chicklet needed her raincoat, so we kept going. The people of New York have a love-hate relationship with the UN, but this week you get to see the diplomats in their finest native attire, and the place is all dressed up with flags and fountains, and it looks impressive.
42nd Street is mostly closed, so the motorcades can come and go, the rest of the streets are choked.

The Ritzy Canine was open, thankfully, even though it is on a street that the cops and secret service closed off to use as their staging area. Note to potential troublemakers- these guys had a lot of guns!!!
I made it through, and got a nice yellow slicker for chickie. A customer in the store loved my chunky monkey bracelet, I pointed her in the direction of Henri Bendel.
I walked back towards first avenue to get a taxi to take me home, and I passed this promenade across the street from the UN, filled with tourists taking pictures.

I joined them, and learned they all were waiting for the arrival of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. They tell me that he was in this limo, and that he was smiling and waving as the car went by (squinting through the viewfinder, all I saw was some guy behind the bulletproof glass). I hope they had a good meeting, and that they solved at least a few of the world's problems today.


So, our little chicklet got her new coat, made in Honduras, sold by a nice european woman and transported back home in a taxi driven by a man from Egypt. Funny, if it wasn't for the traffic I wouldn't have noticed anything different was going on today.

Buddhist monks, eskimos, men in kilts, we see these guys every day, even when the UN is not in session! This is New York, where people from all over the world live together all year long. I hope the diplomats take a look around, and see that, right here on the street, we are the united nations. Ciao.