shape
carat
color
clarity

LIW #1 saying ...

galeteia

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
May 9, 2006
Messages
1,794
... take me off the list! :appl:

Some of you may remember my search for a new placeholder ring after my current set (originally sized from a 3.75 to a 7.25) became too small to get off my fingers easily. I eventually got a ring for $400 but was disappointed when it arrived- it was just totally swallowed by my 9.5 swollen manpaws and the shank was 1/2 coated in plat, so I sent it back.

I despaired of finding another placeholder that would work as a stacker with my 'someday' e-ring, that was under budget. SO was getting irritated with my constant obsessing over rings, and then dismayed after I spent the weekend (where I received and then decided to send back the ebay ring) moping around in a depression. While he's an excellent communicator, emotionally supportive, affectionate, and nurturing overall, when it comes to "shiny things" he just doesn't get it, and admits as much. He was bewildered over why I was so keyed up over a "trinket", and he didn't get it until I weepily told him I was embarrassed to have a bare finger and humiliated by the catty gossip being spread about me at work. :blackeye:

For those who didn't catch my ebay thread or aren't familiar with my story, SO I have been together for 6 years this holiday, and legally married for 3.5 as we're an international couple who had to get legally married in order be together in the same country. We were forced into the decision to marry only 6 months into our relationship, because we knew it would take about 2 years for the paperwork to go through- it ended up taking 2.5 years, during which we barely saw one another. It was all a huge gamble, and since I was having panic attacks over my unreadiness to marry no matter how crazy I was about this boy, we decided to consider the legal marriage our 'ceremony of co-habitation' and completely ignore getting engaged/married "for real" until we were ready. As I said in my numerous threads about my misgivings and fears, I was 100% sure about the guy, but was NOT READY for marriage. I also dreaded leaving my home, country, family, single life, all of it, for a place that was the antithesis of everything I believed in (Texas). I was never a girl who valued or wanted marriage. I was focused on my career and didn't see myself settling down.

I eventually told him that I could commit to 2 years here, no more, and we'd reassess at the 2 year mark whether we were in this for keeps. I was confident that our relationship had the potential to be everything we'd hoped, but we'd only been together for 6 months and lived together for 4 of those months. We needed to log solid, living together, real-life time before we could really make that choice. We were legally married, with a bare-bones 30 second swearing to legal terms and signing, JOP dealie in May of '08.

We'd always planned to have a 'real' engagement and 'real' wedding when we were ready ... but 3.5 years of domestic bliss, a giant wedding for my BIL, and one ring-crisis-caused depressed episode later, he asks me if I could have the ring I really want, what would it be? I asked him if he meant for now, or my 'someday' ring, and he tells me it doesn't make sense to throw away money on a temporary ring, why not get the real thing now? :-o I'm thinking ... is this it? Are we going to take the plunge for real?
 

galeteia

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
May 9, 2006
Messages
1,794
Then he asks me "honey ... do still want a ceremony and fuss? We're already married, both legally and for real." I realized that no, I didn't really want or care about that anymore, but was holding onto some sort of marking of the decision to mate for life, rather than getting shoehorned into playing house and then sort of eroding into married life by accident. I was hanging onto the ceremony for my MIL's sake, but SO pointed out she got her fill with my BIL's huuuge wedding last year.

He asks why don't we just get wedding bands and exchange them, just the two of us. He talks about our life together, how I've supported him through the terrors of grad school, how we're already married in truth [meaning how we are together, not the legal bit], how we've already chosen one another for life, and a who bunch of other heart-meltingly sweet things that I can't quite recall because we're both teary by this point :love: , and we decide to exchange rings this holiday. My mother is coming down to meet his parents anyway, so the timing is perfect!

I realize that I've just had my proposal :love: but the ring is still to be determined. He has realized by this point that whether or not he understands it, the ring is important to me. He asks me what I want as my e-ring, and I tell him that I'd like an OEC diamond because it's an antique and therefore being recycled ... aaaand I've touched his Big Red Button about the diamond industry, and cue a 20 minute rant about it and the fact that even an antique is still contributing to supply and demand, etc etc :blackeye: So I knew even an estate diamond would be out. I can pick whatever I want for the setting, as long as it isn't a diamond. Fair enough!

We eventually compromised on a stone that would suit us both, and a local jeweller was able to get it into a temp setting and on my finger by my 31st birthday. ::) It's a WG 6 prong head with a 2mm cathedral YG shank. I plan to save up for a Singlestone setting eventually. I'm beyond thrilled with it and couldn't be happier! I love it when we're holding hands as he watches TV and I catch him adjusting it so the stone catches the light. I can't post pictures of the ring, but I am sure a quick google will point you all in the right direction. ;))

So, here's LIW #1 (for how many years running now?!) signing off!
 

HopeDream

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Mar 14, 2009
Messages
2,146
Congratulation Galateia! I've been hoping for your announcement for years. Yay!!!!! :appl:

Could you post a pic of the setting and just censor out the stone with a box or a blur or something? I still want to see your ring, even if it's just a temp setting. Which singlestone setting were you thinking of getting eventually?

I'm so happy for you ! :bigsmile:
 

galeteia

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
May 9, 2006
Messages
1,794
HopeDream|1321247876|3061196 said:
Congratulation Galateia! I've been hoping for your announcement for years. Yay!!!!! :appl:

Could you post a pic of the setting and just censor out the stone with a box or a blur or something? I still want to see your ring, even if it's just a temp setting. Which singlestone setting were you thinking of getting eventually?

I'm so happy for you ! :bigsmile:

Thank you!

If you go into youtube and search for my name + engaged, it should come up. ::) I will probably go custom with several design elements from singlestone, with the split leaf side stones and head in WG, yellow gold shank with engraving, and a milgrained bezel around the stone.
 

MBKRH

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Dec 23, 2010
Messages
593
Congrats!!! That's so exciting!! :appl:
 

maebelle

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
May 28, 2010
Messages
826
Took a quick look at the video, so pretty! I actually love that it's tinted blue in certain lights. Wear it in heath! Congratulations!
 

geckodani

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Jun 25, 2008
Messages
8,896
:appl: :appl: :appl: :appl: :appl: Wahoooooooo! Hip hip hooray for Gala! So happy for you!
 

tuffyluvr

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Mar 24, 2011
Messages
1,339
Congrats! It's beautiful!! Can I ask why the m-word is banned on PS? I think it's so pretty! So sparkly and the blue tint in moonlight is super cool!!
 

galeteia

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
May 9, 2006
Messages
1,794
tuffyluvr|1321298386|3061513 said:
Congrats! It's beautiful!! Can I ask why the m-word is banned on PS? I think it's so pretty! So sparkly and the blue tint in moonlight is super cool!!

It's in the TOS. But thank you! I have asked Santa for a cheap digital camera this year, so I'll be taking a ton of glamour shots and more videos in different lights. It's hard not to talk about how awesome it is! ::)
 

Seattle SC

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Jul 27, 2010
Messages
108
What a lovely thing to see here on PS this Monday morning. Congratulations to you both!
 

blacksand

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Mar 31, 2010
Messages
889
Congratulations, Galateia! You deserve all the happiness in the world.
 

wakingdreams53

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Jul 27, 2010
Messages
891
Galateia! I'm so truly happy for you!
I wish you and your life-mate a long and happy life together (even though you had a head start :)) )
Beautiful ring! Love that you still got an OEC!
So so so so many congratulations!!!
 

MissStepcut

Brilliant_Rock
Premium
Joined
Jun 29, 2011
Messages
1,723
Congratulations. I am glad you're both ready at the same time.

FWIW, In my opinion, OECs and other antique diamonds aren't really contributing to the demand because the secondary market supply channels are pretty far removed from the primary supply and modern mining. They're just not fungible goods. Those lines are blurred a little with the advent of AVRs, but I am just not buying his reasoning from an economics perspective. It would make sense if OECs were often recut into RBs, but they aren't. They have their own market completely separate from the diamond mine supply chains.They're not substitutes for each other on an economic sense.

It's like saying that buying a period Victorian ball gown contributes to child labor in clothing sweatshops in China today. While children are producing garments, and the Victorian ball gown is a garment, buying it from an antiques dealer isn't putting the least bit of pressure on modern clothing supply chains.

This is coming, by the way, from someone who is currently elbow-deep in a research paper about international diamond supply chains (and it's my second research project on the subject this year).
 

galeteia

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
May 9, 2006
Messages
1,794
MissStepcut|1321322927|3061816 said:
Congratulations. I am glad you're both ready at the same time.

FWIW, In my opinion, OECs and other antique diamonds aren't really contributing to the demand because the secondary market supply channels are pretty far removed from the primary supply and modern mining. They're just not fungible goods. Those lines are blurred a little with the advent of AVRs, but I am just not buying his reasoning from an economics perspective. It would make sense if OECs were often recut into RBs, but they aren't. They have their own market completely separate from the diamond mine supply chains.They're not substitutes for each other on an economic sense.

It's like saying that buying a period Victorian ball gown contributes to child labor in clothing sweatshops in China today. While children are producing garments, and the Victorian ball gown is a garment, buying it from an antiques dealer isn't putting the least bit of pressure on modern clothing supply chains.

This is coming, by the way, from someone who is currently elbow-deep in a research paper about international diamond supply chains (and it's my second research project on the subject this year).

Oh, I'm with you there. ::) However, it's clearly something he feels strongly about, whether or not I agreed, and since I would expect him to accept my veto on a diamond if I didn't want one, I needed to respect his input. It makes me happy to have a ring that he contributed a say in, as it makes it more 'our' ring and gives him a stake in it instead of it being 100% something I picked out, ordered, paid for as the primary breadwinner, had shipped to me, and then he just stuck on my finger. ;))

I got what I wanted, which was an OEC stone in the temp setting I wanted, with the option to get a better setting in the future. He got what he wanted, which was a non-diamond. It was a win-win compromise, and that was more important to me than having a diamond. :bigsmile:
 

MissStepcut

Brilliant_Rock
Premium
Joined
Jun 29, 2011
Messages
1,723
Galateia, I am sorry, I didn't read your post carefully and thought it was still up for discussion.

It sounds like you guys came up with a perfect compromise. Wear it in health ::)
 

galeteia

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
May 9, 2006
Messages
1,794
MissStepcut|1321336955|3061971 said:
Galateia, I am sorry, I didn't read your post carefully and thought it was still up for discussion.

It sounds like you guys came up with a perfect compromise. Wear it in health ::)

No worries! I absolutely love it. It's mesmerizing! :love: Now I fully understand the fuss over the chunky facets in OECs!

Thanks for all the congrats, ladies! I wonder if nebe realizes she's in the hot seat now :naughty:
 

UnluckyTwin

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Mar 16, 2010
Messages
317
I checked out the video and then was reduced to staring at the screen saying "oooooohhhhhhhhh puuuuuuurtty." It's awesome!
 

princesss

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Mar 18, 2007
Messages
8,035
Gala, I couldn't be happier for you! Wear your beautiful ring in good health.
 

galeteia

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
May 9, 2006
Messages
1,794
Thanks ladies!

UnluckyTwin|1321368937|3062121 said:
I checked out the video and then was reduced to staring at the screen saying "oooooohhhhhhhhh puuuuuuurtty." It's awesome!

Hehe, I do this all the time in real life. When FI (!!!) catches me looking at him like this: :love: he'll distract me by saying "look how great your ring looks in this light" and I'll fall for it every time!
 

RebeccaMUA

Shiny_Rock
Joined
May 16, 2010
Messages
205
Congrats!!! So happy and excited for you!!! As the other ladies have said, it's a gorgeous ring and may you wear it in health :D
 

Mannequin

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Mar 16, 2006
Messages
1,733
VERY excited to hear your great news, Galateia! Your happy announcement has been a long time coming, thrilled for you. :appl: :appl: :appl:
 

Jessie702

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Mar 29, 2009
Messages
2,308
OMG Hon...Congratulations. Im so happy for you, I know its been a long road!! :appl:
 

galeteia

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
May 9, 2006
Messages
1,794
Jessie702|1321466698|3063025 said:
OMG Hon...Congratulations. Im so happy for you, I know its been a long road!! :appl:

I know, there is a part of me that cannot believe I'm finally at this step, I guess because it wasn't a big, flashy proposal? ::) That's fine, as we've always been a balanced partnership that makes decisions together, so it's totally our style.

I'm now obsessing over stacking bands to keep it on my finger, as my size is fluctuating wildly and I'm worried it will fly off!
 

Laila619

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Apr 28, 2008
Messages
11,676
Congrats! I saw your ring on the other site, and it's gorgeous!
 

galeteia

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
May 9, 2006
Messages
1,794
Laila619|1322031119|3067483 said:
Congrats! I saw your ring on the other site, and it's gorgeous!

Thank you! I really do love it, and the simple setting has given me a whole new project to become obsessed with: stackers! :love: I promise more pictures will be forthcoming once I get a camera.
 

DuckLovingVegan

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Mar 31, 2010
Messages
253
Congrats! The ring in your avatar is just beautiful!
 
Be a part of the community Get 3 HCA Results
Top