A kiss on the hand may be quite continental...

"Imperfection is beauty. Madness is genius. And it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring." Marilyn Monroe

My friend Megan always says that I’m shambley. She says that even at my most together moments, something is always amiss. If I’m on time, presentation in hand, my cardigan is off by one button. If I’m looking pulled together, 100 percent aesthetically pleasing, I’m running two minutes behind.

And while I like to think I’m not always in shambles, I know exactly why it happens. I perpetually think I can do one more thing before I need to walk out the door. If I have five extra minutes before I need to get dressed, I become convinced that I can finish a pending assignment. If I have twenty minutes before a meeting, I’m sure I can bake a quick batch of cookies. If I have an hour between classes, I think I can fit in a quick work out and shower.

And some mornings, when I have an hour and twenty five minutes before work, I really believe I can work out, while the cookies bake and my assignment prints.

Essentially, it’s a mix of overconfidence in my capabilities and a belief that I really can make time move more slowly.

But I cannot…

Hence the cardigan that’s inside out (and maybe a little wrinkly).

Luckily for me, Jim says this is something he loves. It makes him smile when he can’t quite run his fingers through my hair, because I didn’t have time to condition. And he laughs when I’m running out the door and he has to remind me that my keys are on the counter.

Imperfection is beauty, right?

Right. Unless you’re a diamond. Then perfection (and clarity and cut) is beauty.

But times are tough and sometimes you want a perfect five carat diamond – and you just can’t afford it. And sure, some may settle for opting out of a new diamond. But Louisa Johnson doesn’t settle. She gets creative. Thus, Diamantine. They are the first and only diamonds to contain lab-created stones. She created the beauties in a lab in Los Angeles and they’re scientifically indistinguishable from traditional stones. Except, they’re thousands of dollars less. Because Diamantines are backed by third-party test data and certified by the most respected labs in the world, it’s impossible to tell them apart from natural diamonds.

Which means, they look perfect. Not even Megan could call them shambley.