The ring

As promised, the bar exam is over, and bride-brain has returned. :-). 

I got lost on a blog the other day, I don't even remember the name, and stumbled on a post dedicated to the ring. I then checked my posts and realized I never really posted about the ring, or even a close up photo of the ring, or the story behind it. 

Let me preface this with saying, I've been kind of weird about what I post on FB. I always thought I'd look forward to posting a shot of the ring. But, something happened. I can't really pinpoint it, but I found the people on FB who posted the least were the ones I was most intrigued about their wedding details. It adds an air of mystery, and it almost adds an element of class to it. This isn't ENTIRELY what prompted my decision to keep things off FB. More so, I came to the realization that... I want to share these moments with the people who are in my life and who I interact with and who make time for me. If you're not invited to the wedding and you're not a part of my life, I kind of don't want you knowing about these very personal details. I know I sound crazy, and it's just a ring and a wedding, but... it's just how I've grown to feel about it. 

Throw on top of it the fact that I know there are girls are out there, and I feel bad saying I used to do this..back in the day.. who see "ring photos" and then text and gossip with their friends, saying things like "did you see her ring?" It wasn't until I got engaged that I realized just how defensive I became about my ring/my wedding. I realize it's not everybody's style, but it would crush me to think of people who aren't even in my life, talking shit about it. It's totally changed my outlook on when I see others posting photos of their rings/engagements on FB. I'm 100% less critical. 

End rant. That being said, I feel 100% comfortable sharing it with 39+ (the + is for you lurkers.. you know you're out there... ;-) ) pseudo-strangers!

SO, onto the good stuff. M and I never went shopping for a ring. It was a choice both he and I made. We wanted it to be a 100% surprise (as much as you can surprise a girl with 'proposal radar' that was on 24/7). So, it was a bit strange, but even in the months leading up to the proposal, we talked about a marriage timeline in vague terms. I know this is the most important piece of jewelry I'll ever own, and some people think I'm nuts for not wanting to pick it out, but I had 2 feelings on it.. 

1) If I can't drop/he can't pick on adequate hints..well..I wasn't doing my job.

2) It symbolized a promise from him, a gesture on his part, and that was enough. Knowing that he picked it, he bought it... doesn't matter what it looks like. It came from him, I'd love it. (CHEEZEBALLS). 

Enter: Pinterest. 

I had been pinning things to a board titled "For the 'big day'" for a while now. Yep, I was that girl. Whatevs. Anyway, I must have been pinning one night on the couch, and M got a glimpse of my wedding board. He then went as far as to stop me, and browse the board a bit. I didn't think anything of it. 

I had pinned a few rings, without any idea what price point they were, what stores they were.. it could've been Harry Winston for all I knew. I was just pinning for style. After M proposed, we were driving in the car to dinner and he says "so, do you recognize the ring?" 

Huh? No. 

He says, "you pinned this ring on Pinterest." 

annnndd my jaw drops. At some point in the blur that was the next few days, I checked my Pinterest board and BAM- there she was: 

Just sitting there, all unassuming. M said he pulled up my Pinterest board on his ipad, walked into Shane, and said "I want that." 

SO, in some twisted roundabout way, I got to have my perfect non-shopping-beforehand proposal AND still got the pick my perfect ring. God bless my technie-ingenious fiance. 

Now, want to see photos of my ring doing cool things? OKAY!

Scrabble has always been kind of a part of our relationship, especially in the early days.. so one of the first things I did was whip out the Scrabble board and re-create a Pinterest idea. Can't really see the side details of the ring there. And below, a product of boredom at work: 

 You may have read in our proposal story (see the "Our Wedding" tab!) that M got a parking ticket in the 5 minutes it took him to propose. Kind of hilarious, when he calmed down. Anyway, here's an artsy/ironic/funny photo I took of the ring and the ticket (which we've saved). You can see some detailing on the side of the ring better in this one:

 Annddd a slightly more close-up straight on shot of the ring:

I love the halo of diamonds around the center stone. One of my only real big wishes for the ring, is that it'd have a halo. 

Anyway, there she is in detail and with a background. :-) I love her. 

Stay tuned for an upcoming post titled: burlap, a love affair. 

Starring TJ... and burlap. 

Just kidding. But remember how I said in my MN Bloggers guest post I had burlap coming? It arrived later that day! I've already cut it down to begin my project. AND I even remembered to take photos. Your lucky day, people. :-) 

-Kelly