Save my pennies for a winter day......

Exciting news to share with the cyberworld today - an engagement!  Down by the lovely Mississippi River in Saint Paul, MN, love was in the air.  This cloudy diamond ring is handmade by a wonderful artist in New York, Katrina Lapenne from the store Catbird and I absolutely LOVE it.  It's simple, classic, gorgeous and the matte diamond has a subtle twinkle - even more so on cloudy days.  The diamond is more of a shimmering gray color - which I love.  I know diamonds are supposed to blind people, but this is a cloudy diamond which makes it look more natural and that's just the way I want it.  Now for a picture (or 3):

My Dr. Evil pinky pose - always a classic. 

As a person who doesn't favor the huge, heavy, boulder sized diamond, I wanted something different.  My man and I scoured the interweb, uncovering more and more headlight-sized diamonds, gems and other shiny rocks.  Where was the simplicity?  If you find it out there, please share, because there just aren't any local shops, or online shops that cater to the simple life.  I did manage to wrangle a few together in this lovely little collage I share with you now below:

Most from Conroy & Wilcox, others from etsy.com

Of course, you don't need me to sit here and tell you how blown out of proportion weddings have become.  According to the popular website, The Knot, the average wedding now costs an astonishing $27,800.  Come again?  $27,800?!?!  I'd rather take that money and not work for a year, or two and take a trip around the world.