I have five sons – I love them and adore the ground they walk on of course – but for the past few years I have been resigned to the fact that the only daughter I will ever have will be of the ‘in-law’ variety. My two eldest sons are in their early twenties and while one seems to change girlfriends like  he changes his socks (yeah unfortunately – on a fortnightly basis…) my other son is happily ensconced with his first and only sweetheart and I am getting to the stage where I feel he needs a little assistance in moving on to the next stage…proposing to her.

Patrick has every intention of proposing of course but he wants to have the ring all ready to present at the right moment and so he well should; I have been looking around for him (call me a pushy mum but never call me patient!) and saw some beautiful pieces of Tacori Jewelry on the Mulloys Jewelry website. My son likes uniqueness and individuality in most things and those terms really describe his lovely girlfriend; all the jewelry on this site are individually crafted and designed by such names as Scott Kay, Tacori, John Hardy, Roberto Coin, Marco Bicego, Konstantino and Ritani. I actually got sidetracked because I have developed a passion for earrings lately having had my ears pierced two years ago and am building up a collection of them – but it was back to the tacori engagement rings for my son eventually.

I mailed him the link to the site and I should also mention that they also have a referral program whereby purchasers get discounts and ‘diamond dollars’ for bringing friends and family to the party who also purchase. The more they spend the more you get! meanwhile I am waiting for my son to get back to me – I have a feeling I will be putting my hand in my pocket soon…but it will be well worth it.

Well considering we only have about 14 weeks left until Xmas I don’t think it can ever be to early from this point onwards. Just count up how many paydays that is…scary stuff indeed.

I do a huge chunk of my Xmas shopping online these days because my family live overseas and the easiest way to get their gifts is to shop online – very often I get free postage and delivery thrown in so I am a convert in that sense. Of course I hit the shops for my younger kids presents – I do love the atmosphere of shopping at Xmas time here so I get the best of both worlds.

Shopping online is a breeze nowadays and the high profile sites are all well known and safe – one of the newer and best sites is ShopWiki which many of you would alreeady know about. It works like Google in that it searches for ALL the shopping sites and not just those who have paid to be listed in directories. So in this way you get to see everything that is on offer out there.

I’m getting my Mum and sister some nice girly stuff this year and I want quality as well as a good price – Mum is really into her cosmetics and I seem to recall her saying she needed a new makeup bag that will hold all her stuff. Mum has always looked after her skin and always wears a foundation as a base even though her skin is perfect without it!

For my sister…she is into organic hair and health products so as long as it is ‘natural’ she’s happy with anything nice. ShopWiki has a terrific listing of what’s available in that line so no problems there.

Having looked through the products on ShopWiki so far I love the fact that I recognise so many of the brands – plus you get heaps of suggestions for others as well.