July is a big month! It is the halfway point. We have completed half of the year and have another half to look forward to! I start the month with a family birthday and end the month with a family birthday. My mom is July 1st and my dad's birthday was July 30th.
Make the second half of this interesting 2020 year a great, thought-provoking, memorable and peaceful year.
Engagement Rings
Let's chat engagement rings and gem cuts!!! Most engagement rings and wedding sets are the traditional diamond. Classic and timeless, they are the most popular kind of center gem, as well as the most durable and lasting. Some people opt for their birthstone as the center stone. Both are beautiful. Please pick a ring, cut of the stone to match your personality and wedding theme.
Click on this link to read an article about gemstones, ring styles, shape, and quality.
July 14 - Bastille Day
What do you know about Bastille Day? I only knew the band Bastille and their song "Pompeii". Great song by the way!
Bastille Day is a holiday celebrating the storming of the Bastille. The Bastille was a military fortress and prison on July 14, 1789. It was a violent uprising that helped usher in the French Revolution.
Built in the 1300s, during the Hundred Year's War against the English, the Bastille was designed to protect the eastern entrance to the city of Paris.
Eventually, a group of men climbed over an outer wall and lowered a drawbridge to the Bastille’s courtyard, allowing the crowd to swarm inside. Nearly 100 attackers died in the onslaught and dozens of others were wounded, whereas the royalists lost only one soldier.
Much like the Fourth of July in America, Bastille Day is known in France as la Fête nationale or le 14 juillet (14 July)—is a public holiday in France, celebrated by nationwide festivities including fireworks, parades and parties.
For more information -
https://www.history.com/topics/france/bastille-day
Nelson Mandela Day
Nelson Mandela was born in Transkei, South Africa, on July 18, 1918. He is one of the most well-known anti-apartheid activists in South Africa. The definition of apartheid is
a·part·heid/əˈpärtˌ(h)āt,əˈpärtˌ(h)īt/
- (in South Africa) a policy or system of segregation or discrimination on grounds of race.
He was jailed in 1963 for leading the liberation movement against apartheid and for his stance on the human right to live in freedom.
The first Mandela Day was launched in New York on July 18, 2009. On November 10, 2009, the United Nations adopted a resolution declaring July 18 as “Nelson Mandela International Day”. The day marks Nelson Mandela’s contribution to peace through his active involvement in resolving conflicts, promoting human rights, international democracy and reconciliation, and in addressing racial issues. The day hopes to inspire people to embrace the values that Mandela shared. These values include democracy, freedom, equality, diversity, reconciliation, and respect.
Click here for more information
Multicultural Wedding Inspiration
BUFFALO SOLDIERS DAY - July 28th
Have you heard of the Buffalo Soldiers? I am not talking about the song by Bob Marley. Congress established the first peacetime all-black regiments in the regular U.S. Army after the end of the Civil War. The Buffalo Soldiers (one of many African-American regiments raised during the Civil War) were the first instituted.
Since they were frontier regiments, Buffalo Soldiers of the 9th and 10th Cavalries faced the hardships of the Wild West. They protected unsettled land as pioneers moved westward. Buffalo Soldiers Day on July 28th commemorates the formation of the first regular Army regiments comprising African American soldiers in 1866.
In the picture below, is my dad reenacting as a Buffalo Soldier. He is the 2nd from the left.
To learn about the Buffalo Soldiers - click here
