finally! my ring!

So I already gave you a peek at my ring, but it definitely deserves its own post. I’m pretty sure the ring is perfect, or at least perfect for me. It’s exactly how I imagined it in my mind. But enough with the chit chat! You want more pictures!

Here are some shots that the jeweler took (I have no idea what that leaf is doing):

And here are some shots on my hand:

As I mentioned before, the center stone is a 1.46 carat pear-cut yellow sapphire. I’m not sure if I’ve said anything else about the ring specs before, so here they are: the ring has a full bezel setting and a Euro shank, the metal is palladium and the side stones are 3×5mm white sapphires. I designed the ring and it was custom crafted for us at Green Lake Jewelry Works here in Seattle. The process took a long time, but we were very happy with the results. We’ll be going back when it’s time to purchase both of our wedding bands.

We were going to do diamonds on the sides, but at the last minute I switched to white sapphires. They sparkle beautifully and I just decided I didn’t want any diamonds. De Beers can suck it.

A couple people have asked me about palladium, because it’s not a common choice. I’m not an expert, but we did research the metal before we decided on it. Palladium is a relatively recent metal option for jewelry – it wasn’t even discovered until 1803 and it wasn’t until WWII limited the availability of platinum that palladium appeared in jewelry. Palladium is a platinum-group metal, with properties similar to platinum, but it’s a lot less dense, and a LOT cheaper, about the same price as gold. Although it hasn’t been used very long, it has a good reputation and should last as long as gold or platinum. My guess is that palladium is going to be the next “big thing” in jewelry.

We chose palladium because we knew we couldn’t afford platinum, but white gold has some issues. White gold gets its “white” from either nickel or palladium in the alloy. I’m sensitive to nickel, so we didn’t want that. White gold is also usually rhodium plated to make it really white, but it wears off and has to be re-dipped periodically. Palladium, like platinum, is a 95% pure material. I liked that. Color-wise, palladium is a little warmer than platinum and a little cooler than white gold, if you can even tell the difference. Anyway, we’re happy with the choice. Daniel will be getting his ring made in palladium as well (he wants them to match).

It struck me for the first time the other days that I’m going to be wearing this ring for the next 60 years or so (fingers crossed!) It’s so special and I’m so happy to have it. I love that I got to design it myself, but I’m so grateful to Daniel for giving me such a beautiful piece of jewelry.

Any ideas about what I should do for a wedding band?

jewels

I went strawberry picking on Saturday. Daniel couldn’t come with me because he had to work, but he definitely wasn’t upset that he missed the “opportunity” to bend over a row of tiny strawberry plants.

It took about an hour to pick 10 pounds of strawberries. They were $1 a pound! And they were, hands down, the best strawberries I have ever tasted. Let’s take a look:

Bee-youtiful. Here’s a different shot:

What’s that? I can’t quite make it out…it looks like something is sitting on top of the strawberries!

It’s a ring!

It’s my ring!

engagement photos

A few weeks ago, our lovely friend Joel Bombardier took some engagement photos for us. Here is a sampling of some of my favorites. You can see more over at flickr.

insufferable fucking hipsters:

check out the insane white-blonde streaks in my hair in these ones:

I really like this one, but Daniel thinks it’s creepy.

I love these yellow shoes:

all about my hands and their bling

I got a mani-pedi with pretty pink polish about a week and a half ago, but unfortunately I didn’t take pictures and now it’s too late. It was the first time in years that I’ve had my nails painted and the first time I’ve ever had a pro (besides my mom) do them. It was so much fun I’ve decided that I’m going to treat myself to manicures more often now – they’re only $11, which is like 3 coffees. I can totally afford that at least once a month or so.

But there’s another reason I’ll be getting my nails done more often – pretty soon I’ll have a gorgeous new ring on my finger. We approved the final wax for my engagement ring!

Of course, my nails aren’t painted in this picture; by Sunday, they were looking pretty ratty, so since I knew we’d be taking some pictures, I ran over to Target for some emergency nail polish remover before Daniel and I went to look at the wax. Also, my fun bright pink polish would have clashed horribly with the yellow sapphire (I know this because all week it clashed horribly with my citrine decoy ring). But I’m definitely going to get my nails done again before I go to pick up the final ring – any suggestions on a color?

Speaking of color, I still can’t quite picture the finished ring, because I keep getting hung up on the horrible green-ness of the wax, but I’m sure it’s going to look fabulous. This is the first time I’ve seen it with all three stones, and I love the sparkle. The metal setting will be cast this week, and I should have the finished ring on my finger in about three weeks!

I’ll do a big post with lots of pictures as soon as the ring is done, of course. I’ll also give more details about our experience with the jeweler and the ring materials and specs then too.

open letter to the world

Dear World,

What you need is a 3-in-1 regular waffle maker/Belgian waffle maker/waffle cone maker. Why do you not have one yet? It would only require a simple swapping out of the plates. I love me some delicious waffles, but I don’t have room for even one waffle maker, much less three.

Sincerely,
Sarah

P.S. Why is there a George Foreman Grill with, like, a million interchangeable plates but only one kind of waffle plate? I don’t need a stupid indoor grill, just a multi-waffler.

Alpacapalooza!

I never got around to posting pictures of Alpacapalooza! In case you haven’t heard of it, Alpacapalooza is a two-day alpaca festival that’s held every year at the Puyallup Fairgrounds. We went on Saturday April 4th, so I really should have posted the pictures sooner. It’s free to the public, and there is petting! (Ask the owner first, though). You should go next year!

Daniel and a ‘paca having a staring contest:

Lovely bobble-head alpacas:

And me with a dude named Orion the Hunter:

If you’re interested, there are more pictures on my flickr set here. And I will buy lunch for anyone who comes with me next year.

first try at a ring wax

Yesterday Daniel and I got to see the wax for my engagement ring! It looks great, but we decided to make a few modifications, so they are going to remake the wax and it should be ready in a week or two. We ordered the side stones, too. Now that I’ve tried on the wax, I can’t wait to take off my “decoy ring”. It’s pretty, but it’s obviously not meant to be worn every day, and it’s starting to wear out.

Here is is from the top. The side-bezels are sized for 2×3mm pear shaped stones, but they look kind of puny here. We decided to have them remake the wax and order 3×5mm stones instead.

Here it is with my center stone. I know jewelry stores have special lights to make stones sparkle, but isn’t it pretty?

And here’s a side view. The style with the squared-off bottom is called a Euro shank and it makes the ring more comfortable to wear and less likely to roll around on my finger.

I seriously can’t wait. We’ve been having some stress and frustration lately trying to figure out a wedding venue that we like and can afford, but the ring process has been so delightful and stress-free (after we figured out how much it was going to cost, of course…)

yellow sapphire

Daniel and I are finally able to start working on my engagement ring. We’re working with Greenlake Jewelry Works to design the ring from scratch. We ordered the center stone online from Israel Diamonds.

My stone came in the mail today, and we’re very happy with it. It’s a 1.46 carat pear-shaped yellow sapphire. I’m very happy with the color – it’s a nice bright lemony golden yellow. It’s about 8mm x 6mm. Here is a pretty glamor shot of the stone I took this afternoon:

As soon as we take it over to the shop, they’ll start working on the setting. It’s going to be bezel set in white gold with a trillion diamond on each side. Hopefully in a few months I’ll have it on my finger!

spring fashions

From the pictures in my last post, you can see a few of my newest clothing purchases.

First of all, a couple of months ago I bought a peacock feather fascinator from this etsy seller. It’s a little bit fancy for everyday wear, but I love it and try to wear it whenever the occasion is formal enough. Here’s a shot of the fascinator in my hair:

It’s on a headband but it sits almost like a little cap cocked to the side. It’s really fun.

I also bought this bright yellow trench coat from Target a few weeks ago and I love it. Even though it poured rain all last week, a yellow trench keeps it feeling like springtime. Daniel took a particularly artsy shot of me in the coat:

Everyone who knows me in person knows that I’ve loved yellow and gray for an obscenely long time. To prove that the color combo is still relevant, I’ve pulled together a “spring accessories” Polyvore collage using yellow, gray, and a new accent of mint green:

I have been in love with that necklace from J. Crew since I first saw it. Isn’t it spectacular? I’m also really tempted by that yellow purse. The buttery leather and the ruffles are just too much. It’s from Anthro, of course.

Two years ago when I fell in love with the color gray everyone thought I was crazy for liking such a boring, unflattering color. But now gray has been a hot color for over a year and it doesn’t appear to be going away soon, either. I love gray (and its close cousin greige) because it makes bright colors really pop. Here’s another collage I’ve pulled together of some gray and red accessories that I think are adorable:

Man, Polyvore is so fun to play with!

Oh, and since I posted an artfully blurred picture of myself, how about one of Daniel?

They are pretty cool shoes.

dinner date

Daniel and I went to Campagne (recommended!) last Sunday night for a nice dinner. We hadn’t been out to a really nice restaurant since the night before I left for Sweden, when we went to Ray’s Boathouse (highly recommended!).

(In case you don’t already know, every March and November 30 of Seattle’s nicest restaurants offer a prix fixe menu for $30. It’s kind a nice way for students like us to have a really romantic, nice dinner without spending quite as much. There’s more info on this site).

Getting all dressed up to go out is a nice opportunity to take pictures, so without realizing it, we took pictures on both occasions. The two photo “shoots” ended up being similar, because we stood out on the porch in front of the apartment both times.

Here’s what we looked like then:

And here are some shots from week:

Here’s a great jacket-and-fascinator shot: