We have been cleaning up the office, and have odds and ends, samples from sellers, and will offer these as gifts with your purchase this weekend. The value of the gift is determined by the amount of your order. Click here to add your gift to you cart. September 28

We are working on the October issue of the customer email newsletter now. If you want to receive the newsletter with coupons, you need to sign up, see above, because if you requested newsletter and emails when you created your account, we don't use that information. We usually give some information about what kind of jade to wear for the month if you wear jade for health. And include some coupons, usually a coupon for general items, and then a higher value coupon for jade bangle bracelets. If you an idea or a request for something you would like to see offered in our once-a-month emailing, let us know at calmspirit @ calmspirit.net We usually send only one email to customers each month, so we don't frustrate you with too much unwelcome emails, but during October-January we sometimes send two emails each month. Let us know what you would like to see offered. We want to make our customers happy! September 25

Good news for our international customers. We have revised our shipping services and rates to offer you a lower price for expedited shipping that includes tracking and insurance. Previously if your order was $108+ the only shipping method was my International Express mail at $52. We have been experimenting with International Priority mail which also includes tracking and insurance and starts at $29. We still offer the basic first class international shipping for orders less than $108, but tracking is not available, and shipping is at your own risk unless you choose to upgrade. And upgrading to International Priority mail costs less now, so if you are an international customer, and make even a small order, you can upgrade and add on the International Priority mail at a lower add-on charge. The shipping time is 6-9 business days, which is almost the same as the 5-7 business days as the International Express mail. We will try it for awhile and if it continues to work out well for our international customers, it will remain as the expedited shipping method. We really do try to keep our shipping costs as low as we can. We pack well, especially for international mail, and use quality boxes and shipping supplies, and spend the time to make sure your mailing address is applied to all areas of your parcels in case the shipping label gets damaged. We want that lovely jade to get to you as safe, and inexpensive, as possible! September 23

I wore a big black 15mm carved Tahitian pearl on a silver string necklace to a cocktail party this afternoon, and someone asked me about it, commenting that it must be the best kind of Tahitian pearl because of its beauty. As far as "grade", it's the lowest grade. A grade is perfectly round and smooth. B grade is not perfectly round. And C grade can be either round or not round but has pits or bumps on the surface. The big ones are sometimes carved by skilled people who know the cultural and spiritual symbols. The carvings look like traditional tattoos, and in fact the "locals" have tattoos that are similar. The carvers examine the pearl, and all of its imperfections, and decide how to carve it to bring out its best assets and take advantage of the imperfections. Although technically my pearl is the lowest grade, it's all natural and genuine Tahitian pearl, it's lustrous, glows and is beautiful. I love wearing things that are part of nature from different regions of the world, For me, they are very grounding, spiritual. Next to jade, pearls are my next love. September 21

A problem with selling mostly one-of-a-kind items is that when the item is sold, it gets removed from the web site. So if a customer wants to leave a review on the item, it's not possible to review the actual item that was purchased. And new potential customers love to read reviews! When a customer contacts me after they receive their jade purchase and is thrilled with the purchase, their email is a testimonial, but we don't have a section for testimonials. Sometimes I ask them to write about the item in the review section, on a similar item. But of course if that item gets sold, then the review is gone...again. If you have made a purchase and you were happy with it, and would like to write a general review of the kind of product you purchased, we will offer you a $10 coupon for one review, or a $20 coupon for two reviews. Log into your account, write your review, and send us an email to yingyujade@yingyujade.com and you will receive your coupon code. As a bonus, one lucky review write will receive a $50 coupon in a drawing on Sunday. Coupons good through the end of September. Log into your YingYuJade account, then go to the "reviews" section, choose an item that is similar to what you purchased, write your review. Reviews are not posted immediately, so you won't see it right away.The webmaster approves the reviews to avoid SPAM and inappropriate offensive links. Review writer coupons will be the Daily Specials for September 18 and 19. As a blog reader, you can write your review today. Thanks so much! September 17

A FaceBook friend recommended this website to me featuring a 21 day free mantras meditation. I started on day one, and it has become part of my morning wellness ritual, along with taiji, qigong and yoga. The first one is the classic OM mantra, and it's easy to remember and do, and if I never do any of the other mantras after the program, it will be very beneficial to me. Why is this in the jade blog? If you wear jade for health and wellness, you are aware of the good qi energy in your jade. When I am deep in the daily mantra, I can feel my jade resonating from all energy in me. It's beautiful to look at afterwards. My jade bangle is not translucent, but it seems like I can see through the stone. It glows. It has become more precious to me, more a part of me. If you are having health problems, or emotional, spiritual problems in your life now, I highly recommend the 21 day program. You can start either at Day 1, or on the day you get enrolled. I recommend starting at Day 1 because it's designed to grow and flow. Find a quiet place you can sit, or lie, comfortably, with your spine straight, and you can breathe deeply. Turn on the daily mantra, and for 15-20 minutes simply listen to it, or chant along with it. If it's too complex to chant, as some were for me, just listen as if you are taking in into you as reference for the future. When it's over, stay quiet for a few minutes, the open your eyes, rub your face and head, clap your hands and get back into your world. You and the world will be better for it. Namaste. September 15

Working toward our commitment to offer jade bangle bracelets in a price range for every budget, we have been moving some of the Burmese jadeite bangle bracelets from the YYJ web site to JBB. The YYJ web site will offer the very best of our quality of jadeite, as well as our Chinese jade. Most of the jade bangles on YYJ are bangles I personally purchased in China from the jade carvers, hanging out with them during the day as they worked, and being assured that they are A grade, all natural. The prices on YYJ will reflect this great quality and that they were purchased in jade carving cities near the Burma border. I have written in the past about working toward retiring this jade business, and the lower prices on JBB are part of the plan to get these sold. Through Monday, we are having "make an offer days", where you can get an even better price on bangles regular price $400+. You can even make an offer to purchase the entire web site of JBB, all the inventory and the domain name! If you want a good deal on a jade bangle, visit JBB and make an offer today. September 14

I often get emails from women who have visited China and fell in love with jade, and purchase their first jade bangle bracelet. When they return home, they sometimes wonder why their jade bangle has changed color, or cracked easily, or even broken, and that's why they do a search for a replacement jade bangle bracelet. I sympathize with them for the loss of their special jade bangle they purchased in China, being assured it was genuine and natural color because their tour guide took them to a real jade factory. If you travel to China and have an opportunity to visit a jade factory, do it. You will learn a lot. But be cautious about what you buy there, because you will learn later that perhaps you didn't get the kind of jade you thought you got, even with a certificate to prove it. The "jade factories" are for tourists. Your tour guide will get a percentage of what the tour group purchases there. You will see jade being carved and polished, and see "the local Chinese" shopping there for the jade. It's all an act! All the time they are laughing inside about the "laowei" suckers. Even the "shoppers" are employees. You may learn some true facts, but I have my doubts because what I hear in the emails, which is mostly mis-information. Savvy jewelry shoppers are aware of the jade factory scams, and often wait until they return home to buy their jade bangle. If you go to China, go jade shopping at the jade factories or other tourist shops, and you see a jade bangle you love, go ahead and buy it. It might be a "good one", but even if it's not, it will always be a special souvenir of your jade shopping in China. I still have one of the first jade bangles I bought at a tourist scam shop in China, and cherish it for the memories. But it's dyed quartzite. One of the reasons I have written so much resource information about jade is because when I first started selling jade, it wasn't sold in the USA, and there wasn't much information about jade, jadeite, and having a business, it was important to me to inform consumers. There is a lot more information online now, but unfortunately there is a large amount of mis-information, too. I learned about jade from the sources in China, in places where "laowei" didn't go. I stayed with Chinese families, shopped with jade carvers who had never seen Americans. But I also had to purchase the kind of jade that appeals to people who live outside China, including Asians who really don't know very much about jade. You will see a variety of qualities and prices on both web sites. The commercial "foreigner" jade is usually lower priced. The higher prices are for the A grade, natural color traditional kinds of jades. It's all genuine jade and jadeite, but having jade available for all budgets means that on YYJ and JBB, you will get what you pay for. September 12

This is a good time for local Floridians to visit some of the most popular tourist spots here in Florida. It's very hot and humid, and the winter visitors don't get here until October, so there are good rates on hotels, discounts for locals sometimes. We took a couple of days to visit the St Pete beaches and stayed in a hotel right on the beach. Our balcony overlooked the beach, and you can walk outside to the pool and on to the beach. My favorite beach time is at sunset, and the beaches really fill up with people coming out to watch the colorful sunsets. And it was certainly hot during the day, even at the beach near 100 degrees in the afternoons. It's always surprising to me that when I'm so hot I feel like I'm going to melt, soaked with sweat, I can touch my jade bangle, the part that falls away from my wrist, and it feels cool. My jade really didn't like all that heat, though, and the color didn't look so good when it was really hot. The best way to store your jade if you are not wearing it is in a dark place, like a drawer. And preferably where it's not dry, because jade likes water. I think my jade looks better in Florida than it does when we visit the Ohio/PA area. And I can remember when we first moved to Florida and I unpacked all the boxes that were on the screened porch, I couldn't believe how pretty it looked, so much nicer than when I had it in Ohio. Loves the humidity, and tolerates the heat. September 10

We sold a lot of jade bangle bracelets the end of August, gave good discounts for customers who paid by check. Because we were so busy, we sometimes neglected to remove the products from the web site and shopping cart when a customer pays by cash. It's removed automatically when it's purchased online, but needs to be removed manually otherwise. I realized there are products on the web site that are not in the shopping cart, and products in the shopping cart that are not on the web site, and even products on both sites that are not in their boxes, and products in the boxes that are not on the web sites! So we need to go through everything over the next few weeks to figure out what is where or where-not! You will notice that while we do this, we will reduce the price of some products, but return the prices of products that were marked down for summer to their original prices. And when we get caught up, there are some really nice jades to add to the web site, getting ready for holiday sales. Some of the jade bangles scheduled to be added are very good jadeites, the old mine "lao pit" quality of jade, and while they won't be "cheap", they will still be priced lower than we see in some of our Hong Kong competitors. So keep checking back, to see what's new, what's changed in price, and other surprises. September 5

We needed a new introduction video to represent our current products, and decided today was the auspicious day to make it and get it loaded on YouTube and the web site. We like to made videos outdoors with natural daylight, and the morning was perfect for that. We waited until late in the morning when the lawns were done being mowed and workers who make a lot of noise were closing down for a lunch break. It's a preview of some our products so people can see that we sell quite a variety of both Burmese jadeite and Chinese jade. This is an all-day project, but a necessity to keep Ying Yu Jade current. September 2.

The Calm Spirit / Ying Yu Jade complete September newsletter is available online now, click here. This month features Chinese medicine wellness information for September regarding balance of body, mind and spirit. There is information about what kind of jade to wear this month if you wear jade for your health, and more. September1

Return to Blog Index

Blog Home

Ying Yu Jade Web Site

Jade Bangle Bracelets Web Site

Calm Spirit Web Site

Monthly Newsletter