We had another wonderful and delicious dinner at the Rybskis. I love any meal that incorporates both ham and lamb.

Found these pictures when cleaning the dining room the other day. I gave em to (e:xandra) for safe keeping but I snapped a photo of them to save just in case.

We started the night rescuing (e:mike) who was at a retirement party in Kenmore and ended it at a party with (e:xandra). I would like to say it was memorable but no one remembers anything.





UPDATE: I do remember one hilarious part of the night. My favorite european sales guy was at the party talking to us and at the same time there was another guy who was attempting a 1.5 minute keg stand next to him - they were calling that guy James Frank for some reason. It wasn't his name. All of a sudden the sales guy yells out, you know who I really hate, that one author - she is such a conceited bitch - its all about her, what's her name - Anne Frank? Seriously, he really said it out loud. He is german I think and has a heavy accent to make it extra ridiculous. Everyone looked at him like he was psycho and then looking at each other and then back at him. All of a sudden some other girl agrees and I think, these are the weirdest people I ever met but he kept going on and on about her. Turns out, after a little digging that he was trying to talk about Ayn Rand, and the other girl thought that was who he was talking about but somehow all the yelling of James Frank get it confused in his head and so he was calling her Anne Frank.

I hope I'm not all white by the wedding.

One major step accomplished. I got my wedding ring. Well I ordered it and its on its way fedex. I have literally been searching since last July for the perfect ring. I posted about it before (e:paul,57174)

My goals were yellow gold (to match (e:terry)'s ring (e:paul,56634)), quality diamonds and a gem in some sort of masculine design. I also wanted natural stones, no blood gems - at least not first generation ones. Its a hard to find combo, esp the masc part.

Its funny how we are picking different roles. (e:terry) wants a bouquet. I wanted a gem ring. Without any traditional gender roles it leave us free to be whatever.

For the engagement ring I got him a plain gold band because he doesn't really like gems. I don't just like gems, I freakin love them.

So onto the ring I picked. I searched through so many vintage rings because it skirted the blood diamond issue and because I think its cool to recycle. Plus the newer rings all seem to look so crisp like they were computer engineered and I like the more organic look of older rings. I was dead set on yellow gold because (e:terrys) ring was yellow gold and because I just love the look of it in the sun. I was also concerned I would be allergic to anything white as sometimes I react to some metals.

There were some cool rings made out of dinosaur bones and meteorites that I saw, but like wood and certain other metals they are not resizeable. I wanted something that could be resized over time so I don't end up being one of those people who's sausage fingers had to get cut off because their ring was too small.

I kept holding out because I wanted to wait until after the gem show at the Erie County Fair grounds last weekend. It was a chance for me to see all the different stones I liked. I also had this idea about buying the perfect gem at the gem show and having the ring made. At one point I even wanted to make it myself but the idea of the whole process sounded kind of overwhelming the closer we get to the wedding.

After listening to some people talk at the show and some research I decided that one major factor for me was gem strength. I didn't want a gem that I could easily crush or scratch. Diamonds are a 10 on the Mohs scale but next in line were sapphires at 9.

Also after looking at all the gems I recognized that I also didn't really want a faceted stone as the main feature but something smooth that plays with light naturally. This lead me to Cabachon style gems. Cabachon fashioned gems are when the gem is polished and shaped smooth instead of cut into facets.

I also didn't want a hollow gold ring because I had one that I had bent. It was 24k gold so maybe it was just too soft but it made me worry.

So after a bunch of searching I found a vintage 18k gold ring, with VS1-2 diamonds and a star sapphire. I had to have it. The color of the sapphire is amazing.

The only problem was the price was a bit out of my range at $4999 (e:terry) gave me a budget lower but I was a determined bargainer and was able to get a more reasonable price.

Plus, who does want a ring where you can say, oh yes, it is beautiful, just like my husbands eyes.





In case anyone else is looking for an amazing, one of a kind, vintage ring check out eragem