Let’s Light the Christmas Tree

Tonight, a longtime holiday tradition continues in New York’s Rockefeller Center with the 76th annual tree lighting ceremony. While New Yorkers like myself know better than to brave the crowds in midtown until well into next year, tourists and tree-lovers alike flock to the landmark to take part in the festivities every year.

Jewelry hounds will be happy to note that the glittering star on top of the 8-ton, 72-foot Norway spruce is a miracle in and of itself. The Swarovski sparkler weighs in at a whopping 550 pounds, is over 9 feet tall and is made of 25,000 glittering crystals. What a way to ‘bling’ in the holiday season!

Tony Bennett, Harry Connick, Jr., Jamie Foxx and Beyonce are among the entertainers scheduled to perform, and Britney Spears is expected to officially ‘light’ the 30,000 energy-efficient LED bulbs that sit on over 5 miles of wire.

Other important guests include a Pascagoula, Mississippi family whose new home was built in part with lumber from last year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, an 84-foot-tall Norway spruce.

Light for the holiday season, and light at the end of the tunnel. A wonderful sentiment and a glittering way to mark the official start of the holiday season.

NBC will air the entire ceremony tonight at 8pm.

Diamond Sparkle? The Eyes Have It!

Diamonds and jewels have been showing up in the strangest places lately. We thought we’d take your minds off the back-to-school blahs and the endless coverage of Sarah Palin’s children (and her children’s children) by sharing a few of our more bizarre discoveries.

Hitting the green now means you have to be IN the green. We’ve found a must-have accessory for every golfer worth their weight in gold: a diamond encrusted golf ball marker. Not satisfied with your basic plastic disc or, say, a stray leaf? Pick up Shano’s luxurious design for a mere $10,200. Caked with a half-carat of white VS diamonds on the platinum rim, this mighty little accoutrement measures one inch in diameter and is only 1/10 of an inch thick. Fore!

Not to be outdone, Swarovski designers always find something bizarre to bejewel. We thought their bathroom sink line was a stretch, but this latest news tops it. Your diamond and mink fake eyelashes now have the perfect partner: Swarovski studded contacts. Dubbed “Sparkle,” the lenses are embedded with a circle of tiny Swarovski crystals around the edges.

Indian designer, Anthony Mallier, created the look for a design competition organized by designboom and Swarovski called “Crystal Vision”. He took the theme literally and came up with second prize (out of 4,074 entries).

No word yet on who is brave enough to wear them. Maybe Ms. Palin will give them a go?