A ring without the bling. For now.

Remember when I said that we got started on the wedding band process? And that I should have my engagement ring back by early November?

Well. Helloooo late November/early December. Nice to see you. And not my ring.

Here's the ish: way back in October, Foxy and I headed to Jared's (yep, he we went to Jared's) to discuss options for our wedding bands. His was incredibly easy - I think we debated over a few different choices for five minutes, then decided. Wham bam think you ma'am. Done.

Then we explored choices for my ring; I explained my vision (the crisscross band) to our consultant, Luka (coolest name ever, IMO). She had a perfect idea of what I was imagining, and just happened to be the main custom ring designer at the store. We talked, pulled similar ring examples, drew pictures.

Once we came to a "finished product" on paper, Luka explained that they needed to keep my ring so they could make a wax impression of it, and then a wax impression of my soon-to-be wedding band. I was told I would get a call when the band mock-up was ready, and that I could take my e-ring home at that point. However, a month later, there was still no phone call. I finally call in myself and was told that the wax imprint was indeed ready to be ok'd and my e-ring was ready to be picked up. Foxy and I headed up to Jared's as soon as we could. The bummer is that this is what we saw:

So sorry for the blur!

That? Is not anything like I asked for. I'm really not sure where that little "V" notch came from, as it's nothing like I described or what Luka drew (seen in first two photos) - nor does it sit flush (or even remotely nicely) against me e-ring. I relayed these sentiments and was told that they would make a new wax mock-up of the (hopefully correct) band, but they would need to keep the e-ring a while longer so they could get another imprint of it. Ugh. Ok fine. The bright side to all of this was that I was told they were putting it on a rush order since it didn't come out right the first time, and it should only be about 2 weeks.

Four weeks later, still no call. I call back in, and they say it's ready.. again (and they didn't call me becaaause..?). I trot on up, extremely excited to see the new mock-up and to finally, finally get my e-ring back. I've definitely grown some separation anxiety.

Here's where the good news/bad news comes in. Good news: I like the band mock-up!

Now I know the wax is a bit thick, but apparently it loses about 30% of that thickness when it's actually made out of metal. It sits against the ring perfectly, and I'm super excited to see how it will eventually look against my e-ring. I tried to rest both rings on my finger to see the effect and promptly got yelled at (apparently the wax is fragile), so all I could get was the ring on a metal rod. No biggie. So far, so good!

The bad news: I still couldn't take home my e-ring. Since I ok'd the band and told them to make it, they still need to keep the e-ring another 4-8 weeks to make sure they get a perfect fit with the band. I was given an optimal date of 2 weeks for it to possibly be ready for me to take home, but given my recent experience? I will likely not have it back until after the new year. I understand why, but I'm still bummed. Oh, and the reason I never got calls about the wax being ready was because they switched two numbers in my phone number around. Super awesome. (Get on it, Jared's.)

So, all in all, I'm still waiting and my patience is waning. I'm excited to see the final product of the band, but I'm so, so antsy to get my precious (my preeeecious) back!

Did you get a custom wedding band done? Did they have to take your e-ring away for a long time to do so?

When life gives you lemons..

..you make lemonade. Then you add some vodka.

Or Bloody Mary, as the case may be.

I don't know about you guys, but sometimes planning a wedding can just feel so overwhelming. There's so much to think about, to plan, to spend, to have a back up for. I'm sitting here, just over six months out, and having a mini panic attack at everything I still have to do; yet, I feel like I don't know what to do because I have already done so much.

The main things I can think of that aren't done and that could be worked on at this point (invitations, ceremony stuff, jewelry, bridal party gifts).. well, I'm being a lazy butt about them. I know there's stuff I could do, but I'm just not. Between hardly having enough time to eat dinner most nights and only seeing Foxy every few days due to his 12 hour night shifts, I've gotten very procrastinate-y. I have all these ideas floating around in my head and I either have no time to do anything with them, think I should wait a few more weeks/months to actually do something with them as to not have everything done months ahead of time, or choose to watch TV (and have a glass of wine) instead of doing them. It all boils down to avoidance, because it just feels like so. damn. much. sometimes.

I'm aware that part of my current wedding procrastination and anxiety is likely coming from random life stresses and the ever expanding list of requests from friends and family of what should and shouldn't be at the wedding. You know, like what music should be played, what food should be served, who should stay in what room, what the ceremony should entail, what "traditions" we will and won't be doing. The people pleaser in me takes it all into consideration, but the kick-ass woman (some might say "bitch") in me gets frustrated because this is our wedding, not theirs. Foxy and I claim trademarks on vibe, ideas, flow.. oh yes, and 99% of the funding. The same people who tell me "if you're happy, other people will be happy" are also telling me "well you should really have this and this" and "well you won't have enough food if you just do stations". Please keep in mind these are just general samples, and we are getting them from people across the board.

So I've been getting frustrated, and I've just hit the "pause" button on actively planning, since a lot is, in fact, planned already. And a lot just has so many possibilities that I'm overwhelmed by it all.

Tell me I'm not the only one who gets a little panicked over what is and isn't done for the wedding. Have you ever needed to take a step back and just recharge? How did you deal with outside people's influences?

New family traditions

After writing this post, I realized Miss Mole just wrote something along the same lines; great minds think alike! This holiday season is a bit different for Foxy and I, and I wanted to share it with you:

Growing up, I would split Thanksgiving (and Christmas, for that matter) between my mom and my dad. In college, I would generally spend Thanksgiving with my mom, Christmas with both, and New Year's with my dad. Since I've been with Foxy, it's been Thanksgiving at my mom's, Christmas at the future in-laws, and New Year's at my dad's.

Lost yet? Just remember: Thanksgiving at mom's in NY.

Well, since I no longer live at home or a mere 2 hour drive away (as I did in college), holiday time generally means one main thing: traveling. Anyone who goes a distance to go home for the holidays knows that traveling = traffic. And I? Have no. tolerance. for traffic.

After some terrible experiences these past few years (like a 4.5 hour trip taking 10 HOURS), Foxy and I put our foot (feet?) down. The message was relayed to Foxy Mama that if she wanted to spend Turkey Day with us, she'd have to come down to MD instead of us going up to NY. That is, if we moved and had room. Which we have and we now do!

So this year, in the spirit of possibly starting a new "new family" tradition, Foxy and I are hosting a joint Thanksgving/Friendsgiving, since some of our closest foxy friends decided not to travel home this year either. It'll be us, my mom and stepdad, his two kids, and a few of our friends - one (two, if you count the hubs) of whom I actually met and have gotten close with via a Weddingbee meet-up a while back (I'm talking about you, miss EAQ219! Obvs.)!

One of the bajillion amazing things to come from the Bee for me!

(Oh, and her hubs and Foxy have a total bromance thing going on. It's cute.)

Who knows if this will be a repeat event, but I'm holding out hope that it will be. You think I stopped at planning our wedding? I helluva love planning anything and hosting people at our house. It's a bit nuts, actually. I'm cool with it.

What about you? Have you started any new family traditions since you've been with your other half?

Linens & things

Ugh I'm so behind on this. Foxy and I spent a night at our venue and had a meeting with our DOC over a month ago, and here I am just writing about it. #badblogger

Anyhoot, the Vandiver sent us an email a while back promoting cheese & wine for $109 when you book online - a deal they are giving guests if you stay at the inn on a weekday night before January 2012. Um, sign us up please. Since Foxy and I work random hours and days, we were able to go on a Tuesday night back in October and set up a meeting with our DOC for the very next day!

On the agenda:
1. Check out as many of the Vandiver's 17 rooms as possible.
2. Discuss logistics.
3. Choose linens. (Foxy was SO excited for this part. Well, not really. Ok, not at all.)
4. Spend some QT with Foxy Mama.

About #4.. it was a bit last minute, but when I told my mom about our meeting the week prior, she said she would see if she could move some things around and meet us in Havre de Grace. She was apparently really touched by my little blurb on wishing I lived closer to her and could actively plan more of the wedding with her in this post (previously posted on my personal blog a while back). Lo and behold, she was able to drive the 3.5 hours down and join in on the fun! I can't even tell you how much it meant to me - I may have only seen her for a few hours and we really only talked about relatively basic things, but it was the bee's knees (ha!) to have her there.

Now jumping back to numero uno: the rooms. It was a tough call, but we chose to spend the night before the meeting in the Vandiver room (also known as the honeymoon suite due to its jacuzzi tub and gorgeous king sized bed).

Image via Vandiver Inn

The next day, we were able to see 13 of the remaining 16 rooms. Why is this important, your inquisitive mind may ask? Well, we decided to "rent out" the whole venue/all three houses both Friday and Saturday nights of our wedding weekend. Rooms will go to parents, wedding party, and the officiant. Oh, and us. We actually forgot that WE needed a room. (And to add ourselves to the guest list. Apparently we're not actually going to our own wedding..?)

The cool thing is that we can assign rooms to people, and when they eventually call to "book a room", it's already set up for them. It's like my very own Barbie dream house(s)! Except it was really hard to decide on some of the rooms.. I mean, how would I know if Foxy's groomsmen would prefer a room with a nautical theme or filigree wallpaper? Ohh, the decisions.

Once we were done with the room walk-through, we got down to numero dos: logistics. We shared our "vision" with the DOC, I showed her pictures of my dress, we swooned, I told her Mrs. Lox said hi, we talked about colors and vibe and all that fun stuff. Which promptly brought us to numero tres: linens!

After seeing my dress and hearing me harp on and on about my inexplicable love for mason jars, a light bulb seemed to pop on over our DOC's head as she rushed to the attic to grab some linens "that would be just perfect".

We hemmed and hawed for a bit - can you believe they actually don't have a true turquoise linen? Just a blue and jade type green. But it actually worked out for the best; the first thing she showed us was this pretty white lace.

This was about the time when Foxy zoned out.

Since we'll be having more of a "cocktail style" reception, there will only be about 4 big rounds and lots of smaller cocktail tables around the venue. While I was definitely digging the lace, it was just much too much white. I was hoping for the bigger tables to at least have some pop of color. Since they didn't have turquoise, I asked about our accent color - a nice clementine orange. No go there, either. To which Foxy Mama replied, "well, what about peach?". Ah, that woman is a genius.

What you see is an ivory base, peach underlay, and white lace overlay, and hive? I'm in love. I was surprised at how much I dug the tritone look on the big tables, and how excited I am to see just the two tone (ivory underlay and white lace) on the cocktail tables. It's going to give the place such a wonderful rustic-y look without going overboard. ::cue more swooning::

I'm so happy to have this small (but oddly significant?) part of planning out of the way. And as usual, I don't think it would have been nearly as awesome if my mom wasn't there. She picked my dress, she picked my hairpiece, she picked the linens.. she knows her stuff, yo.

Has your mom (or dad, or sister, or SO, or cat..) helped you pick out or decide on anything wedding related yet??

How I Met My In-Laws

Not quite as hysterical as How I Met Your Mother, but close. Promise.

First, how I met Mr. Foxy's sister, aka my future foxy sister-in-law (FfSIL).

Foxy and I had been doing our LDR thing for about a month, and it was my turn to visit him for a day or two. The relationship was still fairly new and we only saw each other every other weekend-ish;  naturally, we were.. how shall I say this.. "very passionate" when we saw each other. You know, lots of kisses. And stuff.

Anyway! This particular visit, FfSIL was also supposed to make an appearance and spend the night at Foxy's apartment since she was in town for business. I was nervous, of course - she would be the first of his family I would meet and I wanted desperately for her to think of me like her long lost sister like me. I like to think I'm a relatively cool person and make a decent first impression, so with Foxy's urging, I simmered down in preparation for her arrival. So simmered, in fact, that I decided to take a shower. Foxy may or may not have been there.

Oh, hush. It happens.

Long story short, and I'm sure you can see where this is going, FfSIL (who had her own key) comes in while we're in the shower. I? Was mortified. Foxy was just cracking up, because apparently this was literally the funniest thing in life. Super cool.

FfSIL ended up laughing it off as well, but I definitely pulled a turtle and hid in my shell for the rest of the night. I'm happy to say that we've moved on from the whole ordeal, but I still have occasional nightmarish flashbacks.

Second, how I met Foxy's parents, my future in-laws (FILs for now).

Now when I first met Foxy, he was going to PT for an unspecified shoulder issue related to his lacrosse playing in high school and college. The PT wasn't really working, so he was going to need pins put in by laproscopic surgery about two months into us dating. I made sure that I would be in town for the surgery to support him and take care of him.. as did his parents. I ended up meeting them for the first time the morning of the surgery, and I think all they knew was my name and that I lived in Philly before Foxy got called back for the operation. To make matters "worse", the last thing Foxy apparently said to his mom before going into surgery was that his dad and I ran away together, since we both went to get some (awkward) lunch without her. Something about trading her in for a younger model. You can imagine how not. funny. that was in the moment!

So thus began the most awkward 5 hours of my life. Sitting in a waiting room with Foxy's parents, unsure of what to say (I get really shy), not knowing when he'd be out.

And here's the kicker: the second time I met them..? Was when Foxy had to get hernia surgery three months later. That was an adventure, especially since the poor guy couldn't move for days and needed help just sitting up and walking to the bathroom.

Fortunately, we ended the hospital rendezvous' after that and now have a pretty amusing story. I actually get along super well the the FILs and love them like my own now!

Do you have any funny/interesting/different how-I-met-my-in-laws stories? Do tell!

Sparkles, stamps, and labels - oh my!

Since I finally (finally) decided on a Save the Date and had them printed, I've still wanted to spruce them up somehow. Add some pizazz. Some sparkle. Some.. magnetism, perhaps.

I considered envelope liners, but I think I'd rather save that extra touch for the invites if I so choose. Then I considered putting the card onto a backing of some sort to give it a border, but Foxy quickly called me nuts and asked if I could "fathom the amount of hours that would be spent on a silly Save the Date" if I did that.

Psh. Men. Of course I knew. At least 1. (Or 20, with my {lack of} cutting skills.)

Then I thought about the practicality and likely display of our little cards. In a perfect world, guests would jump for joy upon receiving these little pieces of cardstock and frame them and love them and never throw them away. In reality, it'll probably end up in a pile of mail somewhere. I think a nice compromise would be to display it on the fridge, dontcha think??

But then I fretted that people may not have magnets! Or think to put it on the fridge! (I'm sure they do and they would, but just go with it.)

My solution? Michael's. Because that man knows his arts and crafts.

I traipsed around the store for a good hour before deciding on a few key items.

Numero uno: heavy glitter cardstock. Because you can't go wrong with sparkles. Ever.

Numero dos: a heart punch, a la Martha Stewart.

Numero tres: magnet tape. The person who invented this is pure genius.

Add a punch, a snip, a stick.. and viola! Little sparkly heart magnets to hang up our STD with!

They aren't the strongest magnets in the world (I mean, what do you expect when a big ol' roll of magnet tape only costs a dollar), but they do the trick. Well, more or less.. MOH Copper texted me a picture of the only way hers would stay on the fridge..

Poor Foxy. ;)

A bonus was that these little magnets were small enough and light enough that they fit super nicely into an envelope with the STD cards without requiring extra postage. Plus it makes it look pretty shnazzy on the fridge, if I do say so myself. (And I do.)


As for said envelope, I tried to get creative with a combination of label paper, my printer, and a return address stamp that I got from emililies' shop on Etsy.

This stamp went on the fold of the back..

((I promise it looks better without the blurring!))

..and the labels went on the front, with my awesome Love Garden Forever stamps!

After some tedious assembling (these may have been basic, but they definitely took up time!)...

..they were ready to be mailed out!!

We already got some great feedback about them, which made me a happy Bee. :))

What are your thoughts on the whole magnet Save the Date trend right now? I'm clearly a sucker for it!

Return of the STD

::insert (in)appropriate joke here::

So you know how some people are two dress brides? Well I'm not that (yet).

I'm....

...ready?...

...a two Save the Date bride.

Yea, that happened. I told you I was indecisive. Here's the deal:

I've posted a whole bunch (way to much) about how much I was (over)thinking about the STD's. I really appreciated all your suggestions (particularly on this post); it seemed the winner was option number 1, but I started getting self-conscious about how many pictures of myself and Foxy were on there. I mean sure, we're dreamboats, but I didn't want it to be overkill. So I finally decided on a combination of two previously shown designs, and it looked something like this:

I ordered them from this wonderful website called CatPrint for super cheap, and a few days later I had a nice little stack of 3.5x5 cards.

At this point, I should have just stuffed the envelopes and have been done with it. But the more I looked at them, the more.. irked? unsettled?.. I became. For starters, I had designed the cards to be cropped at the edge of the photos, but for whatever reason, CatPrint wasn't able to do that. The image as a whole was smaller than I wanted it to be, and I just wasn't loving the design in general. Too busy, almost. Plus, I think they were screen printed and I could see all the little color dots that made up the pictures and text, and it wasn't attractive in my eyes.

Well then Foxy and I went on a little date night a few days later and I snapped a picture with Hipstamatic on my iPhone (love that app!). And it was adorable. And ten minutes after we got home, I had a design whipped up on the computer with that picture that I liked approximately 4739827398 times more than the other STD mockups I already had.

So.. for real this time.. our official Save the Date (minus the blurring, of course)!!

It's more basic, sure, but it gets the point across, is printed on glossy paper instead of matte (and hence, you can't see the screen print dots), and.. foreshadowing!.. has some of the same text as our invite! Love me some cohesiveness.

But of course I couldn't stop there.. I just had to spice it up a little more with accessories and packaging.. stay tuned!

Did you/have you had a big change of heart about anything wedding related? Dress? STDs? The groom? TOTALLY KIDDING about that last one!!

God and guns

In other words, the two biggest disagreement points between future Foxy and I. Key word: future.

The topics of God and guns have come up several times, since the two of us don't necessarily see eye to eye on either one. Where it gets tricky is when we talk about our future kiddos; sure, it's a (long) ways away, but it's something that we're trying to decide on now. Duke it out ahead of time and such.

Here goes:

1. God

Image via Set A Mark

I've already mentioned several times that I grew up Lutheran and Foxy is atheist. Seeing as I'm still "figuring out" my beliefs and spirituality, I suppose you could currently consider me more agnostic than anything else. I only go to church on Easter and Christmas, and Foxy? Well, he's only ever gone when I've forced asked him to go (looove you!). But for some reason, I'm hell bent on raising our future children with God in their lives.

Foxy doesn't necessarily disagree with this, but he doesn't want them to feel forced into something. Personally, I never felt forced. My parents exposed me to other religions as a kid and I absolutely loved being so involved in church and the youth group and choir, etc. It was a huge part of my upbringing, and I think it's good for kids to have some sort of religious structure, at least when they're young. No, I don't have a legit or defined reason why I think that, but it's important to me. Where it stands now, if/when kids come into the picture, I'll likely end up taking them to church on my own. Am I ok with that? I think so, but who knows? Sounds like a good premarital counseling question.

Delving deeper, I would at least like Foxy to know more about my religious upbringing, and my religion in general. It sort of killed me when I needed to inform him about what Easter is and why it's celebrated, or what day Christmas actually is. It's just such a part of me that I don't how people can not know.. but how could I expect he would if it wasn't a part of his life? It's funny how even the prospect of kids can raise concerns that you never thought would be.. a concern.

2. Guns

Image via Keep Schools Safe

Preface: Foxy likes guns. I do not.

He was brought up in upstate New York (ok, near Rochester, but still more country than me) where some of his favorite hobbies were shooting squirrels and going skeet shooting. I? Played pretend teacher with my friends and danced a lot. I was (and still kind of am) completely terrified of guns.

When I met Foxy, he already had a 9mm. He somehow convinced me to go to the range with him (ah, young love..) and I ended up having a mini freak out the first time. There I was, a dancer turned wannabe massage therapist with an enthusiasm for yoga.. shooting a gun. Probably funny if you looked at it from any viewpoint but mine.

A few times later, I got more used to shooting and started to not mind it as much (especially when I started to actually shoot what I aimed for). Foxy got a .22 caliber "for me" since it was smaller and had less kick back - nice in theory, but I've probably only shot it two or three times in my life. He also eventually got two more guns - another .22 and a much bigger one that I can't ever see him realistically using (it also intimidates me). I get that a few of them are for personal safety.. I do feel a bit better knowing that we're protected in the house.. but they still freak. me. out. Foxy has plans for more guns in the future, to collect them as it's a hobby and big interest of his. Which, I'm not going to lie, worries me.

Why? Well, again, future kiddos. I don't like the idea of having lots of guns and one or more children in the house. What if there's an accident? What if we have a rebellious teenager? What if my child hates me and kills me? (Half joking, half not right there.. you hear the news, it's legit.)

Foxy is set on getting a couple safes in the future.. one for guns with a fingerprint lock, one for ammo with a separate fingerprint (retina?) lock. It makes sense and that's all well and good, but it's still scary for me. I never thought I'd be in a home that had multiple guns, especially not with potential children around.

I know we could teach them proper gun usage, but I could go back and compare this to the God issue - it's all about what you were around and exposed to as a child yourself. I had God, he had guns. Question number 2 for premarital counseling, right there.

What about you? Have kids (or the prospect of them) led you and your significant other to any differing  opinions? Also, any insight on the God/guns issue?

Hey DJ, heeeeey!

No, not you DJ Tanner.

Image via Buddy TV

I'm kind of in shock that I haven't mentioned anything specific about our DJ Frank yet. After the venue, he was the first vendor we booked! (What can I say, we like music.) It's actually kind of awesome because our new buddy Frank apparently works with our venue quite often, so he already knows the space, layout, and general flow of things on the big day. He came highly recommended by our DOC, and the fact that someone else was trying to book him for their wedding on the same day as ours almost 2 years in advance? Yea, I'd say he's good at what he does. We'd hit that.

Mr. Foxy and I first met with Frank in July of 2010 and had an instant connection. Foxy was sold because Frank had a ton of tattoos (apparently that makes them soul brothers or something) and we were both stoked at his laid back, open attitude. As previously mentioned, he's totally cool with us having a general play and do-not-play list, as well as playing some "offbeat" music, granted he has the tracks or we provide them.

So now I present to you: the point of this post.

Foxy and I have talked more about the music to be played at the reception and already have a handful of random songs to be dispersed within all the top 40 mumbo jumbo that I'm a total hussy for.

Ready for it?

1. Olé - Bouncing Souls

Even though I've listened to and loved this song since high school, Foxy insists that "you just don't get it" and "you didn't get ready to go out drinking with your boys in college to this song like I did." Um, no, because I was straightedge and awesome. Either way, I can't wait to see what him and "his boys" do when this song pops on randomly during the reception!

2. Rock Show - Blink182

This one is more mainstream and less random, but definitely not a common reception dance song (I think?). Anyway, we both love it and I'm pretty sure all our friends will be gettin' jiggy with it.

3. My Standard Break From Life - Alkaline Trio

This one is definitely all Foxy. He big puffy heart loves Alkaline Trio - I'd say I more normal-sized 2-d heart love them.

4. Back in Your Head - Tegan and Sara

This was one of the first songs I knew and loved by T&S, and these two ladies comprise "our" band. Sure, their songs are all depressing as heck, but they're just so catchy.

5. Bad Touch - Bloodhound Gang

Please don't even ask. I'm obsessed with this song. Foxy knows ALL the words and it's (sadly) my goal by the time the wedding comes around to know them all too (first verse down!). Please don't tell me it's "inappropriate".. it's hysterical and the people who don't know the song won't even realize what they're saying in it. I think we'll be good. Or we can have Frank edit some things out.

6. Festival Song - Good Charlotte

I had to put at least one GC song on the list. I was kind of obsessed with them in high school and may have wanted to marry Benji. By may, I mean I totally did.

Thus ends what will inevitably become "Part 1" of random music to be played at the reception. I would strongly suggest for you to expect more of our terrible superb music selections in future posts.

Are you having any "offbeat" music played at your wedding?

Dress Success!

Have no fear, hive. I'll come right out and say it: my dress is officially (and finally) in my possession!

Also, Foxy...

...be gone, long one. Sneak pics ahead!

A Worthy Replacement

Since I was a wee newbee and just started checking out the community boards, I've noticed and taken part in several threads about how (in)frequently people wear their engagement rings (most recently, this one). As for me? I generally keep mine on as much as possible, except when cooking with raw meat, eating messy food (like crabs!), and when I shampoo my hair (since it's slightly loose and I'm afraid of watching it disappear from my life forever down the drain). I'll wear it 99% of the other times, though. Oh, except for work (I guess that's a big chunk of time, huh?) since I don't think my massage clients would appreciate a pointy ol' rock in their back. Or maybe they would. Who knows.

Well I have to tell you, I've been a bit thrown off these past few weeks. Foxy and I decided to get started on the wedding band process(!), which for me means giving the jeweler my ring so they can 1. clean it, 2. redip it (darn you, white gold), and 3. take an imprint and make a wax copy of it to create my band. SO exciting (more on that soon!) but SO sad at the same time. I've been sans e-ring since early October-ish, and I feel naked. I always find myself trying to feel for the ring with my left thumb and.. it's just not there.

What to do besides get a replacement band? Initially, I bought a cheapo CZ ring from Kohl's when I decided not to bring my real bling to Mexico back in April. While I love to wear my e-ring as much as possible, I didn't want to expose it to sunscreen and salt water every day, nor did I want to take it off and leave it in the room. The only bummer to the replacement ring was that after two days in the sun and surf, I was left with a nasty looking green finger which rendered that ring pretty much done for after that.  I know that a quick coat of clear nail polish will probably hold it up for another beach day or two (or, you know, I could just not wear my ring all the time). It worked for the time being, but I wouldn't use that ring as a general replacement, as I am in need for currently.

This story has a happy ending, though! Lucky for me, I recently inherited a gorgeous vintage ring from my mom, sort of as an early Christmas gift and post-Grammy-passing-away inheritance. The ring has been in the family for at least a hundred years and I just love the meaning and beauty of it.

It's hard to tell with  my shoddy iPhone pictures, but there are two bigger diamonds of different sizes on the top, flanked by two much smaller diamonds on the sides. It's making a decent replacement for day-to-day wear so far, but since it's a bit too big for my ring finger and worth way more than I care to admit (or realized, until Foxy Mama pointed it out), I find that I only really wear this ring when I go out-out. Not to work (since I can't wear it anyway), not around the house (since I'm afraid of losing it).. maybe three times a week or so. And it sucks. I miss my ring!! I was given an estimate from the jeweler of having mine back by early November, so here's hoping it's soon!

How often do you wear (or not wear) your engagement ring? Do you have a replacement for times when you can't wear it?