Jake Owen Reveals 'Dat Durrrrty Knee,' a Sure Sign of His Traditional Marriage Proposal

Country music star Jake Owen posted a photo of “Dat durrrrty knee” to his 1.1 million Instagram followers on Friday. It was a sure sign that he had popped the question to longtime girlfriend Erica Hartlein in the most traditional and festive way, on bended knee at an outdoor Christmas tree lot.

In a post sprinkled with festive tree emojis, Owen wrote, “5 years ago we went and got our first Christmas Tree together… at this same spot. This year, I asked her if she’d like to get Christmas Trees every year for the rest of our lives.”

Owen included a number of candid photographs of the actual proposal and joyful aftermath.

In one shot, Hartlein seems to be staring at the open ring box as Owen is proposing with his high knee planted in the muddy ground.

In another shot, the couple celebrates the moment with the help of their adorable 19-month-old daughter, Paris Hartley.

“Our little Paris was there to witness the complete surprise,” Jake wrote on Instagram. “So much of a surprise, Erica didn't have her nails done… (yes, I now know that's big deal I guess).”

Although the engagement ring details have yet to be revealed, the center stone appears to be a sizable round or oval yellow diamond set on a simple yellow-gold band.

“She said yes in the sprinkle of a Nashville snow,” he continued, “and we celebrated by going to her favorite restaurant. She was successful not getting Polynesian Sauce on that bling. Life is good. I love you @ericahartlein.”

Owen also gave a shout-out to his buddy, Matthew Paskert, who took the candid photos.

Owen and Hartlein met in 2015 at a Restoration Hardware store, where she worked as an interior designer. Jake was furniture shopping and it was love at first site.

He told the “All Our Favorite People” podcast that he was intrigued by how beautiful she was and how she was holding court in the store that day.

“I was like 'Wow, she's got a lot going for her. She's confident,'” he said.

He asked her out for a beer and the rest is history.

They made their first public appearance together at the 2018 ACM Awards, and in November of that same year announced they were having their first child. Owen is also the father of 8-year-old Olive Pearl from his previous marriage to Lacey Buchanan.

Credits: Images via Instagram/jakeowenofficial.

New Survey: 63% of Couples Pick Their Diamond Engagement Ring Together

For generations, grooms-to-be have been faced with the daunting task of picking out the perfect engagement ring. Sometimes they got it right and sometimes they got it wrong. With the engagement ring being the second-highest-priced item of all the couple's wedding expenses (the venue is #1), grooms are now acknowledging that they could use a lot of help.

According to a brand new survey commissioned by the Natural Diamond Council and carried out by One Poll, 63% of couples reported that they picked out their precious ring together, rather than having the ring chosen by the partner who would be popping the question.

These results seem to mesh with recent reports from The Knot, which revealed that 7 of 10 “proposees” were “somewhat involved” in selecting or purchasing their engagement ring, and nearly a quarter of that group (23%) said they looked at rings with their partner.

The recent One Poll survey also confirmed that white, colorless diamonds are still overwhelmingly favored by newly engaged couples. Two-thirds of the 2,000 respondents made this more traditional choice.

"Despite all the ways in which our society has evolved over the centuries, the diamond endures as the ultimate expression of love and commitment and the most beautiful way to mark life’s most precious moments," Lisa Levinson of the Natural Diamond Council told harpersbazaar.com.

Survey respondents also noted that clarity was the most important consideration when buying a diamond, followed by the setting type and the uniqueness of the design. Surprisingly, they reported their ideal center stone to be 2.2 carats. This number seems to be high and might reflect a very affluent group of respondents.

The survey also encouraged respondents to reveal their favorite celebrity engagement ring of all time. The Top 10 answers are below…

1. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge's oval blue sapphire engagement ring
2. Meghan, Duchess of Sussex's trilogy ring with a cushion-cut center diamond flanked by two smaller diamonds
3. Singer Miley Cyrus' 19th century vintage old mine cut diamond in a solitaire setting
4. Model Hailey Bieber's oval-shaped diamond engagement ring
5. Singer Beyonce's 18-carat emerald-cut diamond ring
6. Actress Elizabeth Taylor's Krupp diamond ring
7. Rapper Cardi B's pear-shaped diamond ring with two diamond halos
8. Singer Demi Lovato's multi-carat emerald-cut ring with two smaller diamonds
9. Reality star Kim Kardashian's 15-carat cushion-cut diamond ring
10. Socialite Paris Hilton's 20-carat pear-shaped diamond accented with smaller diamonds

Credit: Photo by BigStockPhoto.com.

Music Friday: Country Star Russell Dickerson Compares His Love to a 'Band of Solid Gold'

Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you great, new songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the lyrics or title. Today, country star Russell Dickerson compares his love to a "band of solid gold" in 2020's "Love You Like I Used To," the lead single from his forthcoming album.

When Dickerson delivers the first verse — "Girl, I have always loved you / Oh but something’s changed / Blame it on time, the road or the ride / But it ain’t the same" — the listener is certain that this is going to be another sad break-up song.

But, as he rolls into the chorus, we realized that we've been fooled. "Love You Like I Used To" is really a romantic testament to how love gets better and stronger over time.

He sings, "What we got ain’t got no ending, like a band of solid gold / It’s sweeter with time like strawberry wine / It gets as good as it gets old."

The surprising plot twist wasn't part of Dickerson's original version of the song. He wrote it in January of 2018 and then re-worked the lyrics in September to make the song more reflective of his own relationship with his wife, Kailey.

Dickerson told Billboard magazine that his wife really didn't care for the original version of the song. He recalled her saying, "Oh, I don't think you nailed it on this one."

She loved the revised version, a collaboration with songwriters Casey Brown and Parker Welling.

Dickerson recalled, "When we came back with the song sounding like a breakup song in the first verse and then it hit that twist in the first chorus, it was like boom!"

The song was released in February of 2020 and zoomed to #5 on the Billboard US Hot Country Songs chart and #2 on the Billboard Canada Country chart. "Love You Like I Used To" will be featured on Dickerson's yet-to-be-released second studio album, Southern Symphony.

Russell Edward Dickerson was born in Union City, TN, in 1987. He earned a Bachelor's degree in music from Belmont University and signed a record deal with Creative Artists Agency in 2010. In May of 2013, he married his wife, Kailey.

“Like all of my songs, I’ve lived it," Dickerson said. "I started dating my wife 10 years ago and it is true — I don’t love her like I used to and I think a lot of people will be able to relate to this song.”

Please check out the video of Dickerson performing "Love You Like I Used To." The lyrics are below if you'd like to sing along…

"Love You Like I Used To"
Written by Russell Dickerson, Casey Brown and Parker Welling. Performed by Russell Dickerson.

Girl, I have always loved you
Oh but something’s changed
Blame it on time, the road or the ride
But it ain’t the same

It’s a different kind of feeling
Not the one I knew
From the sweet on your lips
To how your hand in mine fits
Girl, I have always loved you

But I don’t love you like I used to
This gets better every time you kiss me like this
It’s stronger the longer I’m with you, yeah

More than every single day before
Didn’t know I could ever love you more than I did
But baby I do, I don’t love you like I used to, no

What we got ain’t got no ending, like a band of solid gold
It’s sweeter with time like strawberry wine
It gets as good as it gets old

And oh, we thought we knew what it meant way back then
Why would I keep fallin’ all-in higher than I’ve ever been?

Oh no, I don’t love you like I used to
This gets better every time you kiss me like this
It’s stronger the longer I’m with you, yeah

More than every single day before
Didn’t know I could ever love you more than I did
But baby I do, I don’t love you like I used to, no

No, no, no, no
I don’t love you like I used to
This gets better every time you kiss me like this
It’s stronger the longer I’m with you, yeah

More than every single day before
Didn’t know I could ever love you more than I did
But baby I do, I don’t love you like I used to

I don’t love you like I used to
(I, I love you like, love you like, love you like, love you like)
No, no, no, no
(I, I love you like, love you like)
Love you like I used to, no
(I, I love you like, love you like)
Oh, I don’t
Love you like I used to

Credit: Screen capture via YouTube.com/Russell Dickerson.

Diamond-and-Gold Flecked Rocks in Canada's Far North May Signal Huge Riches

Diamonds and gold are strange bedfellows. They very rarely appear in the same rock, but when they do, their unlikely marriage can signal the presence of abundant riches.

The unusual rock samples collected by University of Alberta researchers from an outcropping on the Arctic coast of Canada's Far North have close similarities to those found at the Witwatersrand gold deposits of South Africa, which account for 40% of the gold ever mined on Earth.

"The diamonds we have found so far are small and not economic, but they occur in ancient sediments that are an exact analog of the world's biggest gold deposit," said U of A researcher Graham Pearson.

Pearson said the outcrop of rocks, known as conglomerates, are basically the erosion product of old mountain chains that get deposited in braided river channels.

"They're high-energy deposits that are good at carrying gold, and they're good at carrying diamonds," he said. "Our feeling was if the analogies are that close, then maybe there are diamonds in the Nunavut conglomerate also."

Pearson said that finding new diamond deposits in Canada's Far North is critical to the ongoing success of the country's $2.5-billion-per-year diamond mining industry.

After bashing off 15 kilograms (33 pounds) of Nunavut conglomerate, the scientists dated the rock fragments using state-of-the-art mass spectrometry equipment at the U of A. They concluded that the rocks had been deposited about three billion years ago.

Even more exciting was the revelation that the modest sample contained three diamonds.

"My jaw hit the floor," said Pearson of the moment he learned about the diamond content. "Normally, people would take hundreds of kilograms, if not tons of samples, to try and find that many diamonds. We managed to find diamonds in 15 kilos of rock that we sampled with a sledgehammer on a surface outcrop."

While the diamonds all measured less than 1mm in diameter, the geological implications were huge.

Pearson surmised that there must have been a kimberlite pipe that had transported the diamonds to the surface from deep within the Earth.

"It tells us there's an older source, a primary source of diamonds that must have been eroded to form this diamond-plus-gold deposit," he said.

This also means mining diamonds in the area would not necessarily require very deep mines.

Researchers will be doing more research to establish the extent of the diamonds and gold in these rocks, and the possible primary sources of these minerals.

Credit: Nunavut photo by Xander, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Consider This Stunning Keepsake for the Diamond Lovers in Your Life

Looking for a great holiday gift for the diamond lovers in your life? Check out the newly published Diamonds Across Time, a stunning 432-page coffee-table book that celebrates every aspect of history’s most coveted precious stone.

Featuring 10 richly illustrated essays by world-renowned scholars who are united by their deep affection for diamonds, the book looks back on history and trade, investigates the nature of diamonds, reviews legendary gems, celebrates jewelry collections and spotlights great designers. The volume places diamonds in the context of the political, social and cultural stage on which their histories were etched. The contributors tell the human stories that underpin the world's adoration of diamonds.

The glossy pages pop with high-quality photographs of gems and jewels, archival documents and rare drawings.

The hardcover book was compiled and edited by the World Diamond Museum’s chief curator and world renowned jewelry expert Dr. Usha R. Balakrishnan, who contributed her own monograph titled The Nizam Diamond, Bala Koh-i-noor, the Little Koh-i-noor in the Sacred Trust of the Nizam of Hyderabad.

Other topics include the following:

• Diamonds of the French Crown Jewels – between West and East, by François Farges;
• A Concise History of Diamonds from Borneo, by Derek J. Content;
• Indian Diamonds and the Portuguese during the rise of the Mughal Empire, by Hugo Miguel Crespo;
• Two Large Diamonds from India, by Jack Ogden;
• The Romanov Diamonds – History of Splendour, by Stefano Pappi;
• The Londonderry Jewels 1819-1959, by Diana Scarisbrick;
• Dress to Impress in South East Asia, by René Brus;
• Powerful Women Important Diamonds, by Ruth Peltason;
• One in Ten Thousand; the Unique World of Coloured Diamonds, by John King.

“The establishment of the World Diamond Museum marks the first step in the long journey to reignite the passion for diamonds, chronicle traditions, explore cultures and show the eternal relevance of beauty, even in present times,” wrote Alex Popov, Founder of the World Diamond Museum, in the book’s foreword. “This volume unites diverse stories that reveal the many meanings of the diamond and how human emotions and beliefs are reflected in its thousands of facets. The book is illustrated with incredible photographs of rarely seen gems and jewels from closely held collections and reconstructions of historical diamonds, done with the help of state-of-the-art computer technology.”

Diamonds Across Time may be purchased at this website. The cost is £95 (about $127.55) and shipping to the US is approximately $35.

Credit: Image courtesy of the World Diamond Museum.

'Born From Lightning,' December's Birthstone Has Powerful Tanzanian Connection

A Maasai folktale imagines how tanzanite came to be. Once upon a time, the story goes, lightning struck the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, scorching the land, and in the aftermath, a spectacular blue crystal was left shimmering in the ashes.

In 1967, a Maasai tribesman named Jumanne Ngoma is credited with discovering the shockingly beautiful bluish-violet gems that, at first glance, appeared to be sapphires. Gemologists would later confirm that Ngoma's find was a totally unique variation of zoisite.

Samples of the mesmerizing mineral quickly caught the attention of Tiffany & Co., which launched a campaign to market the gems as “tanzanite” to honor its country of origin and the only place on earth where tanzanite can be found. (The name "blue zoisite" was panned by the Tiffany marketing team because it sounded too much like "blue suicide.")

In 2002, tanzanite became one of the official birthstones for December, sharing that distinction with turquoise and zircon.

In 2017, tanzanite celebrated its 50th anniversary. Once a mineral oddity, tanzanite has evolved into one of the most desirable gemstone varieties — thanks to the efforts of Tiffany and the rest of the jewelry industry. Tiffany’s marketing clout helped earned tanzanite the noble title of “gem of the 20th century.”

Tanzanite is said to be 1,000 times more rare than diamonds due the fact that tanzanite is mined in only one location on earth. The area measures 2km wide by 4km long and the remaining lifespan of the mine is said to be fewer than 30 years.

Tanzanite’s color is an intoxicating mix of blue and purple, unlike any other gemstone. The mineral comes in a wide range of hues, from light blues or lilacs, to deep indigos and violets. The most valuable tanzanite gemstones display a deep sapphire blue color with highlights of intense violet. The Smithsonian’s website explains that tanzanite exhibits the optical phenomenon of pleochroism, appearing intense blue, violet or red, depending on the direction through which the crystal is viewed.

The "Petersen Tanzanite Brooch," shown above, is part of the Smithsonian's National Gem Collection in Washington, D.C. The piece was designed by Harry Winston in 1991 and donated to the museum by Donald E. and Jo A. Petersen in 2002. The triangular-cut matched tanzanites weigh approximately 30 carats and are adorned by 24 carats of marquise, pear and baguette-cut diamonds in a floral motif. The tanzanite “flowers” may be detached and worn as earrings.

Credit: Photo by Penland/Smithsonian.

'Outback Opal Hunters' Discover 45-Carat, 'Life-Changing' Gem During Season Finale

During the thrilling season finale of Outback Opal Hunters, 21-year-old Sam Westra and his mentor Pete Cooke discovered a 45-carat double-faced black opal valued at AU$120,000 (about US$89,000).

The "life-changing" find marked a 180-degree turn of fortune for the team that had suffered through a woeful three-month period of losing money in Australia's remote and inhospitable interior.

Fans of the Discovery Channel's hit reality TV show have been rooting for the likable team from Lightning Ridge, NSW. The success of their entire season hinged on their final cleanup — four tons of fractured stones collected from the 100-year-old open cut mine they call "Old Nobbys."

"Plenty of material, just potch everywhere," said Westra as he and Cooke began the sorting process in the video below. "Just got to get the big one, mate. Where's the big one?"

Potch is the term for the near-worthless rocky material that has the same chemical makeup as precious opal with one critical difference. With potch, the tiny silica spheres that make up the stones are jumbled. In precious opal, they’re all laid out evenly, which gives the structure the ability to break visible white light into separate colors.

Within a few minutes, Cooke encountered a small, but valuable, stone that presented hints of green, blue, red and orange.

"There's a gem there for sure. We're on the money, mate," said Cooke. "This is fantastic."

But then the mining veteran turned absolutely giddy when he spied the "king stone," the best stone of his parcel.

"These come up two or three a lifetime, if you’re lucky,” said the gleeful Cooke as he rotated the stone for the Discovery Channel's viewers.

Although initially valued at AU$55,000 on camera, the team later met with an opal carver who confirmed that the actual value was AU$120,000. The gem, which Cooke dubbed "Fire and Ice" because of its brilliant flashes of red and deep blue, is the most valuable opal unearthed to date by any of the Outback Opal Hunters.

About 90% of the world’s finest opals are mined in the harsh outback of Australia, where a unique combination of geological conditions permitted the formation of opal near the margins of an ancient inland sea.

Scientists believe that between 100 million and 97 million years ago, Australia’s vast inland sea, which was populated by marine dinosaurs, began retreating. As the sea regressed, a rare episode of acidic weather was taking place, exposing pyrite minerals and releasing sulphuric acid. As the surface of the basin dried further and cracked, silica-rich gel became trapped in the veins of the rock. Over time, the silica solidified to form opals.

Outback Opal Hunters has entertained audiences in more than 100 countries and territories.

Please check out this clip from the season finale of Outback Opal Hunters.

Credits: Screen captures via YouTube.com.

Sotheby's NY to Deliver Pre-Holiday Treat to Fancy-Colored Diamond Lovers

Ultra-rare fancy-colored diamonds in vivid shades of pink, blue, orange and red will headline Sotheby's Magnificent Jewels auction in New York on December 9.

All eyes will be focused on Lot 75, a colorful ring set with a rectangular mixed-cut 5.03-carat fancy vivid pink diamond flanked by two cut-cornered triangular fancy intense blue diamonds weighing 0.88 carats and 0.77 carats.

The piece comes from a private collection and carries a pre-sale estimate of $9 million to $12 million.

Lot 31 features a heart-shaped fancy red diamond weighing 1.71 carats. The stone centers a heart-shaped pendant pavé-set with rows upon rows of round diamonds and dangles from a 20 1/2-inch chain accented with rose gold heart stations. Interestingly, the reverse is further enhanced by round diamonds.

The romantic pendant has a pre-sale estimate of $2.5 million to $3.5 million. With a little more than two weeks to go before the live auction, online bidders already have pushed the offering price to $2 million.

Orange diamonds rarely hit the auction block, but Sotheby's will have one to offer on December 9. This heart-shaped fancy vivid orange diamond weighs exactly 2.00 carats and is framed and accented by round colorless diamonds. Lot 29 is expected to sell in the range of $1 million to $1.5 million. The top pre-sale bid is currently $800,000.

Another heart-shaped stunner is this 2.29-carat fancy vivid blue diamond encircled by yellow diamonds and near-colorless diamonds. The Gemological Institute of America report accompanying the stone states that the blue diamond is potentially internally flawless. The current high bid is $1.8 million, but Sotheby's believes the hammer price will be in the range of $2.25 million to $3.25 million.

Credits: Images courtesy of Sotheby's.

Couples Spending Less on Weddings and Honeymoons, More on Engagement Rings

While couples are spending less on elaborate weddings and honeymoons due to the pandemic, they are spending more than ever on the perfect diamond engagement ring — often upgrading in color, cut and clarity, rather than size. That was the key finding from the De Beers Group's latest Diamond Insight "Flash" Report, which has been looking carefully at the impact of COVID-19 on relationships and engagements.

Interviews with independent jewelers throughout the US also revealed that the rate of engagements has increased significantly, with bridal sales accounting for the primary source of diamond jewelry demand.

"For many couples, the pandemic has brought them even closer together, in some instances speeding up the path to engagement after forming a deeper connection while experiencing lockdown and its associated ups and downs as a partnership," commented Bruce Cleaver, CEO, De Beers Group. "Engagement rings are taking on even greater symbolism in this environment, with retailers reporting couples are prepared to invest more than usual, particularly due to budget reductions in other areas."

De Beers' informal survey also revealed that consumers are often choosing more classic designs. Jewelers noted that round diamonds and round-edged fancy shapes of better qualities are dominating their bestsellers, and that designs have become simpler, with customers less interested in extra pavé and melee embellishments.

While halos are still selling well, jewelers are generally seeing engagement ring customers opt for more conservative looks. Round diamonds are the most popular shape, followed by ovals and cushions.

The "Flash" report also included findings from a national survey of 360 US women in serious relationships, undertaken in late October in collaboration with engagement and wedding website, The Knot. It found that the majority of respondents (54%) were thinking more about their engagement ring than the wedding itself (32%) or the honeymoon (15%), supporting jewelers' hypothesis that engagement ring sales were benefiting from reduced wedding and travel budgets in light of COVID-19 restrictions.

When it came to researching engagement rings, 86% of respondents said "online" was, by far, the most effective channel for gaining ideas/inspiration, with 85% saying they had saved examples of styles they liked.

"Part of the reason people are getting engaged during COVID is because there is so much distance between them and their community," noted Dr. Terry Real, a relationship therapist and author of the forthcoming book Us: The Power of Moving Beyond Me and You. "The couple is intimate, but thirsty for outside stimulation... For a young person to have a performance of your love that's witnessed is like water in the desert in this culture. The ring is that performance. Especially now."

Credit: Image by BigStockPhoto.com.

Under Pressure: Scientists Defy Nature by Making Diamonds at Room Temperature

Imagine 640 African elephants balancing on the tip of a ballet shoe. That was the amount of pressure scientists needed to transform carbon into diamonds — at room temperature. The scientists defied nature by taking heat out of the equation of how diamonds are formed.

“Natural diamonds are usually formed over billions of years, about 150 kilometers deep (93 miles) in the Earth where there are high pressures and temperatures above 1,000 degrees Celsius (1832 degrees Fahrenheit),” said Professor Bradby from The Australian National University (ANU) Research School of Physics.

The team, led by ANU and RMIT University, successfully generated two types of diamonds: the kind found in fine jewelry and another called Lonsdaleite, which is found in nature at the site of meteorite impacts, such as Canyon Diablo in the US.

One of the lead researchers, ANU Professor Jodie Bradby, said their breakthrough shows that Superman may have had a similar trick up his sleeve when he crushed coal into diamond, without using his heat ray.

While Superman crushed carbon using the palm of his hand, the scientists used a specially designed anvil at room temperature.

Until now, lab-grown diamonds have been created by mimicking both the intense heat and extreme pressure present deep within the Earth.

“The twist in the story is how we apply the pressure," Bradby said. “As well as very high pressures, we allow the carbon to also experience something called ‘shear’ – which is like a twisting or sliding force. We think this allows the carbon atoms to move into place and form Lonsdaleite and regular diamond.”

While mined diamonds are cubic in shape, the diamonds generated by the scientists are hexagonal, which led them to theorize that their varieties will be even harder than conventional diamonds.

Co-lead researcher Professor Dougal McCulloch and his team at RMIT used advanced electron microscopy techniques to capture snapshots of how the Lonsdaleite and regular diamonds formed.

“Seeing these little ‘rivers’ of Lonsdaleite and regular diamond for the first time was just amazing and really helps us understand how they might form,” he said.

The scientists believe that their new lab-grown, super-hard diamonds would likely be used for industrial purposes, such as drill bits and other cutting devices. Their findings were recently published in the scientific journal, Small.

Credits: ANU PhD scholar Xingshuo Huang holds the diamond anvil that the team used to make the diamonds in the lab. Photo by Jamie Kidston, ANU; River of diamonds image by RMIT; PhD scholar Brenton Cook (left) and Prof Dougal McCulloch with one of the electron microscopes used in the research. Image by RMIT.