Reusing is better than recycling February 10, 2009

As Matt likes to remind me, because “reuse” comes before “recycling,” it’s even better.  My new ring is a delightful way of reusing– it’s an antique.  We don’t know exactly which year, but I think turn of the century.  It definitely reminds me of Edith Wharton, of Gatsby parties, of a grandmother’s jewelry box and dressing table.  We found it online, and it was owned by a small antique business in Idaho; when Matt called the woman to order it, she reassured him that she was going “straight to the bank” to get it out of the vault and mail it to us straightaway.  Ahh, I love that small town generosity in doing business.

 

I can no longer find a photo of it online, so I’ll try to describe it and post photos later.  The top, which sits on my hand, is made of four aquamarines, pale blue, which make a square shape.  A small diamond is in the center.  On the two sides of the setting, filagrees create a flower on each side, with swirls and tiny arches.  The filagree also goes along the bottom of the square, so it sits up on my finger.  It is very sparkly and delicate.

 

I love that it belonged to someone before me, and imagine maybe the parties and gatherings she attended with this ring.  How long did it sit in a jewelry box unused, waiting to sparkle again?  Who gave it to her, and for what occasion?

the E-ring blues January 24, 2009

We’re looking for a new engagement ring.  As much as we loved the company who made it, and their values, and the ring itself– we had many problems with it.  After only two months, the emerald came loose; we sent it back and they re-set it.  Two weeks later, it was loose again.  They redesigned the setting, and sent back a new ring.  Finally, the third ring broke– the prong that held the emerald in place sheared away from the shank.

The company was of course apologetic and totally ready to fix it again.  But in the last eleven months since we’ve been engaged, it’s been in the shop for two.  As I told the company: “I just can’t get a fourth ring from you, open it up, put it for a fourth time, and not worry that it will last until our wedding.”  

They felt bad, we feel bad, and they are sending us a refund.  Which means: I have no engagement ring.  I’m currently scouring online antique stores– we would love to “reuse” an older ring.  Old rings are so romantic, and when I see them on trays in antique stores, I always feel sad that they aren’t being worn daily and loved.  An older ring would also go along with our green impulses.

For a morning, I thought I had the problem solved– when I was in high school, my parents gave me a beautiful topaz ring with a fairly large light blue stone.  I thought, “Ooh– we could get an antique mounting and re-set my old topaz in it; that would be lovely.”  I went looking for the ring all in my vanity drawers.  Finally, I remembered: the ring was stolen in a burglary when I was living in St. Louis.  The burglars also took my grandmother’s engagement ring– that was the major loss, and it still makes me feel bad.

For the time being, my left hand feels especially bare.

Pretty, pretty things May 8, 2008

An Inspiration Board is a collection of images, photographs, colors, or icons that are meant to inspire and set a theme for the entire wedding.  I love images and photographs, so I am sort of addicted to these Boards.  Style Me Pretty is full of them; both the editor of the blog and her readers create them to share and inspire.  I think I will eventually make my own, but for now, here are a few of my favorites.

Anna

 

Hailey

 

Krista

 

Tara Guerard

 

Green is in the air–the ring, our love of Farmers’ Markets, Matt’s veggie-ism, branches, cottonwood, fireflies…these seem to surround the idea of our wedding with natural things. 

One of my most enduring ideas from undergrad is, also, the Green World.  It is the place in comedy where things can be transformed.  Picture the forest in _A Midsummer Night’s Dream_–it is in the forest, away from Athens (the world of reason, order, and law) that magic happens, wishes can be discovered, loves and lives transformed.  All can be made new again.  In every comedy, a Green World exists.  I used to joke with my English major classmates that we, studying literature in an old house and garden on campus, were living in a Green World ourselves.  It’s no coincidence, of course, that weddings also frequent comedies.

(All Boards from Style Me Pretty.  Names indicate the names of the boards, sometimes tied to the women who created them or for whom they were created.)