Here It Is....

Ta Dah! Here's the ring and the band - the only time I get to wear it until the wedding (though I still have it on as I type, I know he'll take it away soon.....)

Slight issue with Mr S' ring, they apparently can't get the one he wants in a 9, it's Tungsten and they just don't make that one that size. It was a huge issue but he just went with the ring in the photo I posted earlier, the one on the left.

I do have to say - it was a circus act trying to explain to him over the phone what was going on and get him to pick a new one...lol. We're all good, his ring is ordered and I can't wait to see it on his finger!!!!

The Lordess Of The Rings

We got the rings yesterday! Yippie! They come from a mall store which we swore we wouldn't do - BUT they look great.

I couldn't find an exact photo of Mr. S.', and we won't have it for a few weeks, as it's Tungsten they had to order it in his size rather then size it in the store.

So use your mind morphing powers and imagine if you will..... The exact band of the image on the right, ONLY with the 5 diamond spaced out like the ones in the band on the right....

They can't engrave on Tungsten, so he'll have to remember our anniversary on his own, haha. I was considering adding my birthday in there too for good measure, but o-well. He'd better start using his palm pilot!

I'm just so happy he found something he really liked, looks great on him and has diamonds in it - because I figure if I need them then so the hell does he!

Now my ring, which we weren't going to get but the price was great and it looked great with my ring, looks a little like this:
It has 11 diamonds in it. They are princess cut, which is not what my engagement ring is but you can tell due to the size of the diamonds in the band. It looks great with it. I should have my ring on Tuesday, so I'll take picture of the two together then.

In the end, my ring with the band will have 22 diamonds total - HOW OBNOXIOUS! I almost feel snobby wearing it - eh I'll get over it ;-)

Ring Shopping Today

Today Mr. S and I are hitting the....dare I say it....mall, to look for his wedding band. Mr S has been totally against mall jewelers for as long as I can remember, complaints about 300% mark ups and shotty quality.....

Hence the whole reason my ring was hand crafted by a small jeweler, who happened to be a friend of mine. It turned out great and I love it, unfortunately with the cost of metal, specifically the platinum that my ring is crafted from, having risen through the roof - we can no longer afford to get my wedding band from him. In fact, we can't afford to get Mr S.' ring through him either.

In an effort to save money and get us something we both wanted, I hit the mall last week looking to get an idea of what Mr. S. might light. He won't let me get him platinum, so we are leaning towards Tungsten and Titanium. We want something heavy duty that he can wear even when working in the garage with out if bending and what not.

When we get back from our running about, I'll let you all know how it goes and hopefully we'll be coming home with at least his ring!

Use of Left Hand Restircted In This Area

Not long ago a good friend of my took me out for a few drinks during her visit back to Minnesota. In all honesty, I'm a stay at home mom, I don't own and cute "clubbing clothes" and at 28 felt really out of place in the bar playing rap music I wasn't familiar with and what seemed to be a bunch of 18 year old around me.

I held a conversation with my friend, screaming over the music. We took turns scanning the crowd for people she knew that were supposed to be meeting us and I hoped that with arrival of more people we might migrate away from the dance floor to a quieter area where we could talk better.

My prayers were answered and we did migrate to the back of the bar. We had a few shots, shared a few jokes, had some beer, did a little dancing and at 1 am, I was picked up by Mr S in the parking lot to head home and sleep.

I felt pretty good about how the night went. Sure I was a bit quiet because I didn't really know the people we were with, but I enjoyed myself none-the-less.

The following night I was hanging out with my friend once more before she headed home. We were sitting around with Mr. S and one of his friend talking and my friend told me that one of her friend thought I was really annoying "flashing my ring around like I needed everyone to know I was engaged"

I was shocked. I searched my memory for any obnoxious hand movements. Did I show my ring to anyone and tell them I was getting married? No.

"What?" I asked quizzically

"Yeah, she said you were flashing your ring around all night" she said it like it was not a big deal at all. SHe didn't think I was over doing my bling, just her friend I guess.

At this point I'm not only a bit hurt but really ticked off . I ran the night back through my head and remember a lot of me shuffling my feet and looking at them, fixing my shirt and running my hand through my hair, pushing my purse strap up on my shoulder - all nervous movements, things I did to pass time as I felt I didn't belong in a conversation about "so and so and her new hair cut", or whatever.

Am I now not allowed to use my left hand because there's a ring on it and I might offend the single? I didn't do anything that I wouldn't have been doing if I didn't have a ring on my finger. And my ring isn't huge but it is very clear and does have an amazing sparkle to it.

I still can't recall a single moment when I was waving my hand about as if to show off my bling, but apparently someone was so incredibly down about her own life that she would come down on me like I was an annoying rich girl showing off hr new toys. Ha dI known I needed to stuff my hand in my pocket to keep from the light catching it, I would have happily obliged.

So newly engaged gals - BEWARE....use of your left hand may stir up controversy and may even possible piss off the single - so be prepared.

Dueling Engagement Rings

A few months back I attended a local wedding fair with my Future Husband and his mom (you'll learn through out this process my mom isn't as detail oriented as I am, so most of my planning is done with my Future MIL..Mother in Law)

As I entered the atrium of the wedding fair I saw an old friend, someone I knew through an ex but was still very very sweet nonetheless. We did the typical screaming-girlie-jumpy hello and then it happened, the worst and stupidest thing I've done in all my engaged days at the time....

We both showed off our rings, together.

Don't sound bad? Well, no I'm sure in most cases it's not - however our rings were very similar. Very similar, except for one little detail. Her ring was obnoxiously huge. The kind that makes you wonder if there's a hand under that rock.

Well I just had to do it, couldn't keep my big mouth shut - I said excitedly "OMG our rings are the same!"

Idiot.

Any fool could see that they weren't. And though I love my ring and it's exactly what I dreamed about having one day, size and all - she obviously had that "Big Ring Big Head" syndrome and rolled her eyes at me and said "uh, yeah" in the most uncertain and awkward tones possible.

Suddenly this sweet old friend of mine became the "I'm better then you because my ring is bigger" type. I was mortified. I could have said anything....why did I have to say that?

I think that people too often these days base the status of their relationship on the size ring they are lugging around. Sure hers was bigger, but why did I suddenly feel so intimidated by that? I hand picked the ideal design of my ring, my future husband had a designer create it exactly how he wanted it, he hand picked each and every diamond in it. He didn't walk into some store and pick one off a shelf. My band is made of platinum. My ring can't be matched in quality.

And my relationship was as perfect and pure and unique as the ring I had on my hand. How that ring came to be on my hand was the most amazing thing of all.

It makes me feel so stupid to think that the glimmer of an obnoxious diamond could make me forget all the things that made my ring the most perfect ring for me, even if it was only for that split second

So, before you let anyone make you feel like less of a bride because your ring is smaller then theirs remember this: The diamonds are not the most important part of your ring, it's the story behind them that makes that ring amazing.