Story of the Ring (Part 1)

as you probably saw from my 'we're engaged!' post - this is the ring. my beautiful red plastic adjustable ring. i was thrilled to wear it - even if it did confuse people and prompt them to constantly ask me 'where's the diamond??'


even when the ring started leaving a ring of rust on my skin and chris started asking me if i wanted a 'real' ring - i was still in love with it. after a few weeks though i started to reconsider. i knew the plastic one probably wouldn't last the whole year - and while i had been against an engagement ring to start with it was fun having something on your finger to play with and show to people. but what kind of ring?


i knew from the get-go i couldn't go with a diamond. a girl in an anthropology course i took did a lecture on the diamond industry (years before the movie 'blood diamonds' came out) and how it was basically the mafia - i've been morally against them ever since. that and the fact that some people go into SO much debt over a rock...ay yi yi! now i don't mean to diss on those who have diamonds. i have many good friends that have them and respect their choices - i just knew it wasn't for me. so i started searching. i liked the idea of a pearl - very pretty but not something i could wear everyday. so then i started looking around online at antique rings. i didn't plan to buy one online (who knows what kinds of scams there are!) but just wanted to get some ideas....and i discovered white topaz!


same look as a diamond but practically dirt cheap in comparison! chris and i went to one of the big chain jewelry stores (even though their commercials make us throw up a bit in our mouths) just to see if they even had them. no they did not. end of story. i then went to a local jeweler and asked them if they carried any white topaz rings - they said no but immediately followed that with a 'but we would be happy to order the stone for you and customize it!' very nice!


i browsed around and saw a beautiful diamond ring that i (guiltily) loved. it was a round solitaire with little chippy diamonds all around it - all in a white gold setting with a very thin band. perfect! two days later i brought chris in to show him and we asked the jeweler if he could do that setting but with white topaz - he said that he could although he'd have to enlarge it a teensy bit since he couldn't cut the white topaz into such small chips. fine with me! so the ring i'll be getting will look like an almost $5,000 dollar ring but will have only cost an immensely tiny fraction! in fact - the main cost is the white gold and the custom order - the stone itself is very inexpensive. which will be nice if anything every happens to it - which it shouldn't. it's an 8 on the hardness scale and i'm not doing a ton of hard work with my hands (hello - i don't do any work, remember?)


this is an idea of what the ring will look like - although i'll definitely be posting pictures as soon as i get it (about 3 weeks)

so there ya have it - the story of the ring - part 1. i do feel slightly guilty after having gone on to chris about not wanting a ring and then getting one custom made. even more so i feel guilty about perpetuating the whole gotta have a diamond thing. even though i know it's not one people will think it is - i'll just have to advertise it as the great alternative!

deep down though i'm super excited to wear this ring - IT'S SHINY!

oh! i forgot - the first ring - i mentioned how we were pretty sure it wouldn't survive a whole year? well...it broke today! as i was gathering up my bags to leave work it snagged on something and popped right off! needless to say i was super bummed (it was the cherry on top of my already shit-tastic day)! but i found the red rose and plan on super gluing it back on. i'm always gonna keep it even if it's not always on my ring finger :)