ACK!! I totally missed this! I''m glad I checked in on Ally''s residency-good-news thread! Hi guys!
Ladies, it is so nice to be back on here. I don''t have a ton of time to spend like before, but it just makes me SO HAPPY to see everyone''s progress....people who were LIW back in the day now are mommies, etc. The eye candy doesn''t hurt either, but it''s always the people.
I''m GREAT! My sweetie and I set up a joint savings "setting" account yesterday....so we are officially in planning/saving/custom E-ring setting mode!! We have been to one big B&M chain just to see things in person (he''s never done anything like this before), and we have focused in on what we want. Now we just need to visit a couple more local people, in addition to
WF and some other online vendors...we''re definitely going custom (we have a stone) so we need to know what our savings target is. I''ll probably post a thread in rockytalky soon, b/c I KNOW I am going to need assistance from you experts. You guys might be surprised that my tastes have changed a tad! I will always be a pave-halo-whore, but.....we probably aren''t going exactly in that direction. Close, but more simple....and more me, if I''m being honest, I think. I have an EC stone from a family friend''s ring (she left my sister and me two rings: the EC with 4 baguettes in palladium, and a 3-stone OEC ring. My sister used the latter to make a pendant and earrings when she married.)
Anyway.....I have always been a step-cut nut--as you guys know!!--but I''ve realized that after ALL the years of drooling? I''m not meant to have an asscher. I have grown to love this EC stone SO much, and after some trying on: asschers don''t look good on me! My fingers are too stubby. They are so freaking (I''m sorry "kicken") gorgeous, but they just look wrong on me in a way that the elongated profile of an EC doesn''t. So there''s that. (He also couldn''t remember how to say "asscher" and kept saying, "what is it? asscrack?" Teehee.
So re: setting stuff. BF had to play a gig out of town about a month ago, and said at the airport, "when I get back, I want to talk about settings." I didn''t bring it up right away (rightfully gunshy, right?!) and finally after a couple of weeks he was like, "weren''t you going to show me stuff??" And I was like, "do you REALLY want to?" and he was like, "YOU are silly." So he got the nutshell PS tutorial. We looked at a lot of pictures/bookmarks/threads that I''d been saving up since we got serious, and he REALLY responded and got into the vocabulary and is really excited about it. And I actually like his suggestions a lot.
What I thought I wanted for sure: a) pave on the shank, pave bezeled halo. (e.g.
ritani endless love,
James Allen denhov)
What he suggested we look at too: b) pave shank BUT w/ metal bezel/halo (like Lauren''s or neatfreak''s, plus pave band)
c) pave bezel halo BUT w/ metal shank (like some Tacoris out there, or Tawn''s/MINE''s.)
We had these three things in mind when we went to (of all things) Robbins Bros. We knew we certainly weren''t buying, but it was great for him to see thigns in real-life size, not magnified 20x. I was SO surprised by how strongly I reacted to a really lovely bezel-set RB, and also to a Tacori-haloed-EC with a plain band.
We still probably want to do CADS of options b and c, but I find myself leaning towards b--which is also his fave (though he was VERY proud of himself for thought up option c and then having me like it in person!) Long before I discovered PS, I once was really REALLY drawn to a simple bezel ring. Perhaps even more than my usual micropave/antique-y MO, it''s the strongest in person visceral reaction to a ring I ever had. PLUS? I''m a huge klutz. HUGE. I have phantom bruises all the time, knock my stuff around. A plain bezel (or metal halo, semantics) is probably smart for me.
SO....we need CADS, need to choose, and need to know our exact saving target once we have some quotes.
What we KNOW is that we want:
1) bezel (no prongs)
2) THIN, THIN band....if it can be thinner than 2mm, that''s great.
3) pretty side profile that kind of swoops up
4) WB sits flush (we''re both doing plain bands)
5) If we go with no pave in the halo, then VERY small, 1-sided pave (like .5pt) in the shank, only part way around--like, less than semi-eternity.
The only variables are Plat/WG...we''re leaning towards plat, but price IS an issue.
I''m going to have to start a RT thread soon, this is ridoc! Sorry, gals--TMI!
One other thing: The existing setting and baguettes are lovely, and I do NOT have a need for them....I''m wondering if some vendors would accept trade in, at least for the baguettes? Hard to say, but if it defrayed the cost at all, that''d be great...I''ve looked at them through my loupe (well, of COURSE I have) and they''re lovely.
So....once the setting is done, we''re hoping to get engaged soon. He has given a drop-deadline of the end of the calendar year, but I suspect it''s closer to the end of summer. We would love to get married next May 1 (since it''s a 1st--and therefore an anniversary--and a Saturday.) BUT....we are going to be on a surrrrious budget. So a Saturday may not be ideal. We''ll see. We want to come up with three workable budgets so that if need be, we could go with option c which would be just us paying for the WHOLE thing, probably just cake, champagne, maybe some super light appis. My parents lost a ton of their retirement and I already know they''ll have far less than 1/2 to offer what they spent on my sister''s still-modest wedding in 1999. And PLUS? They''re trying to couch that they clearly feel bad about that in silly other excuses, like, oh, I''m OLD. So....if I''d actually married the ex at 32/33 they''d have paid for that absolute disaster, but OH NO! At 35/36 it''s just silly. It''s absurd, but the fact that my sis was 28 and I''ll be going on 36 is not a legitimate excuse. Blame it on the economy, THAT I get. Make it about my making different choices? Nuh-uh. So, needless to say, my honey and I want to have an option where we ask them for NOTHING and therefore they can dictate NOTHING. I''ve started some serious budget research and I''m pretty inspired! That will be a BWW thread sometime. But we already have some serious hook-ups. It might not be fully on the cheap (that''d be $50 at the County courthouse, which is gorgeous here--on the water, etc....but we want to be married in our church), but it WILL be simple.
Ok: most narcissistic post ever. Sorry.
Things are good. I''m taking a show break after doing 3 consecutive/concurrent plays over the last six months, so for now just some staged readings....nothing full-fledged until the fall. Since I was on PS back in the day, things are just better for me: I''m much more integrated into the theatre world here, I love my jobs: I''m teaching playwriting in city schools and run the kids'' program at an Episcopal church 1/2 time. The church-lady thing is a little random, but it''s been so good for me. We do a lot of drama with the kids, I make my own hours, for the most part, and.....yeah, I met my future husband. (He''s one of the paid soloists in the choir. So we can say we met at church, but we''re both paid to be there.)
I have a niece now! My sister had my little yummy girl in March of 08.
My little Mattie (my elderly miniature poodle) went to doggie heaven in June of 07. That was one of the last real ties between my ex and me, as we''d been sharing custody. We tried to be friends for a while, but.....kind of too hard. I know from facebook that he has a girlfriend now (I changed to "in a relationship" first, though. HA!) and I am truly happy for him. I hope he''s able to be the kind of person I know he''d like to be. But it is NOT my problem.
I still adore my RHR....the fact that I''ve loved this bezel so much (ok, bead-set in the bezel, but still) just underscores how excited I am with the new e-ring possibilities.
Ummmm?
More news as it happens. Will definitely be starting an e-ring "help us!" thread very soon in Rockytalky. DBF and I are still getting settled into our new place, getting books on shelves, caught up on LOST, and eating entirely too much.
Thanks for the shoutout, Ally! And Hi guys!
Yeah... I think the addiction is back.
