The ring is here!

I was diagnosed with Swine Flu on Tuesday of this week, so needless to say its been a not fun week of sickness. The bright spot by far, was Joe's arrival on Friday night. He came straight from a flight (he was in the Canary Islands this week for work) and was carrying a special package - my engagement ring! I haven't taken it off all weekend :)

The one?

OK - we might have found the elusive "one" and no- I'm not even talking about my FH (future husband) Joe here. I'm talking about the ring!

Years ago Carrie and I went to the State Fair somewheres north of Atlanta for fun. We took some visiting colleagues from abroad with us (mostly for laughs to see how they'd react to the "largest cow in the world" and arm-sized turkey legs). They loved it and so did we. Anyway, there I bought a ring which the dealer told me was a replica of a 1920s Tiffany setting. That might have been just sales talk, but I believed him and bought it for a whopping $35 bucks. Over the years, I've worn that ring nearly every day - had a stone replaced, gotten it cleaned, re-plated, the whole nine yards, probably spending 5 times the price on maintenance alone.

Well Joe has a family diamond that his Grandma, the lovely & very cute Frona, gave to him some years ago. He showed it to me a couple of weeks ago and we realized the the stone is nearly identical in cut and size to the center diamond in the ring from the State Fair! It got us thinking...what if we had that old ring made - but for REAL this time :)

So that brings us to the present - we've got emails into a few jewelers and are collecting estimates on what it would take, but I think we're both excited about this, so this one might be it!

Also - thanks for all of the input on the earlier ring pics - seems everyone's got a different taste in rings. Some (my uncle, mom, Sana) were horrified that I wanted a cocktail-esque ring for my engagement. Others (Lea, Bijal, Court) loved the idea and sent detailed choice order preferences. The best was from Bijal who printed the picture out in color and provided notes, editor-style, and sent me a PDF attachment with all the details. Hilarious!

Engagement photos, courtesy of Carrie

One of my best friends, Carrie, was here this week for work and to celebrate her 29th birthday. It was just in time too because first she helped Joe and me shop for engagement rings (we found lots of good ones, but are still deciding) and then later put her photography skills to the test shooting engagement photos for us.

She's still working on the finished product, but here's a sample on her website and to the left: http://www.flickr.com/photos/khakiaraki

Picking out engagement rings with Joe and Carrie

Carrie came into town for work yesterday and it was just in time because she was able to help Joe and I look for engagement rings yesterday. When Joe proposed, he gave me a "placeholder" turquoise ring to wear while we picked something out together. He knows that I have pretty specific tastes (I have my heart set on an emerald ring) and love antiques. We started by looking first in Paris and then this weekend we went all around London - the fancy shops on Bond street including Tiffany's (we liked but didn't love the Edwardian Legacy ring), Hatton Garden jewelery district (including a tour of David Marshall's workshop) and finally to the Gray's Antique Market where we found TONS of great antique rings. A collage of the many rings I tried on are to the left - aren't they all so beautiful?

We finished the day with some champagne, tapas, and live guitar music at the lovely downstairs restaurant at Fortnum and Mason, BBQ at Bodean's, and a night cap at Sketch. It was a fun day, but my mind isn't yet made up about which one to choose - so many great options! Which one do you think?? Email me :)

A weekend in Paris and...we're engaged!

Joe and I plus his parents & my mom all went to Paris last weekend for a quick trip via the Eurostar. We stayed in a fabulous apartment which Joe could only describe as "very French" in Le Marais.

The weekend before, my mom arrived and I took her for a day trip to visit Cambridge, which she really liked. We went to the lovely Orchard at Grantchester for tea and scones and enjoyed sitting out under the apple trees and walking along the river Cam afterwards.

Anyway- back to Paris. After the best tea in the world at Mariage Freres, we headed off on a cruise of the Seine and a walk down the Champs Elysees. At this point, it was getting dark and the lights had started to come on the Eiffel Tower. As we crossed the Pont Alexandre bridge, Joe was holding my hand and started to get nervous. I looked back and saw his parents video taping us and figured something must be up. He dropped to one knee and asked me to marry him. Of course, I said yes so I supposed you could say that we're now affianced!

That picture of us on the bridge smiling with the Eiffel Tower behind us was taken right afterwards. And then we all went to a lovely dinner at Oh Duo (we basically took the group to all the same spots Carrie, Frances & I had gone on our whirlwind trip there earlier this year). It was a fantastic night. Thank you again Joe for making it special :)