Things I'm loving

Yesterday I discovered the Magic Eraser.  OMG.  It is teh awesome.  I deep-cleaned the kitchen and was able to get scuffs and stuff off the walls that I could never clean before.  The thing was amazing for places like the textured door handles on the fridge and oven, and pretty much everywhere else too.  And it had no odor.  Will definitely use again.

But I'm sure the thing you would much rather hear about is my ring.  We've been talking about getting married for a few years now, but it has seemed like too big of a thing to tackle, too expensive, and not urgent enough for us to actually do it.  Plus there has been some big event in our families each year that prevented us from hosting our own big event: EGM's sister got married two years ago, had a baby last year, and my parents are having their 50th anniversary this year which will get a big, wedding-like party.  Anyway, we were talking about the logistics of EGM's defense date, like how to balance the time he really needs to finish with paying more university fees and immigration issues, and we decided the time was right for us to start planning a wedding.

I didn't care either way if I had an engagement ring.  I would have been perfectly happy without one, but pleased to wear one too.  EGM wanted me to have one (a rare moment of machismo).  Because I didn't want a typical solitaire or similarly popular setting, I showed him some things I found online that I liked and didn't like.  That had minimal impact, so we went out shopping without a definite plan for how things should go.  It turned out that we both liked pretty similar styles but EGM claimed that what I liked specifically was not predictable and that he was sad that this jewelry was so gender-specific because he would like to wear it too.  At that point we decided that we would get something we both really loved.  Which was pretty much exclusively antique; there was almost nothing modern that we liked very much.  So we went to a bajillion jewelry stores, narrowed it down to two rings, and after agonizing debate finally settled on this 1920s art deco solitaire:

You can see more detail if you zoom in.  It's just right.  Very sparkly, an interesting setting with engraving and filigree, and it's a good proportion for my small hand.

So: there was no down-on-one-knee proposal, no asking my father in advance, no surprising me with a velvet box, but this was just perfect for us.  It suits our style of sharing responsibility, and we'll have a wonderful memory of shopping for this special item together, which with any luck will kick off a long and happy marriage.  I couldn't be happier or more confident in my decision to marry EGM!