all that glitters...

Diamonds are supposed to be a girl's best friend. Somewhere down the line it was written that women were supposed to love and cherish all things sparkly. I guess I'm not much of a girl because I'm really not that into jewelry. My jewelry box is filled mostly with mismatched pieces of sterling silver that I hardly ever wear. All of the gold jewelry I own -- save for my engagement ring -- I got from my mom. The most "valuable" (if we're talking what is worth the most money) jewelry I own are a pair of white gold heart earings and the matching white gold necklace and pendant (gift from Mom), a white gold rainbow sapphire circle pendant and necklace (also a gift from mom), a white gold ring with three rows of tiny, tiny diamonds (was my Grandmothers, passed on to me by my late Aunt), my wedding band (10k white gold), and my engagement ring (14k white gold with 1 ct of diamonds). Anything else I wear is pure "bling". Shiny cubic zirconias usually set in sterling silver. Who cares if it's real? [shrug] I just don't get the big deal behind having a bunch of diamonds. To be honest, I prefer the look of Swarovski crystal. They sparkle more, I think.

This nonchalance I have towards jewelry seems strange to me. My mom is a jewelry fanatic. She has a couple of pieces that are worth up around the $10,000 mark. (FWIW my parents are not wealthy by any means.) Sadly my mom has pawned a great deal of jewelry over the years and her "collection" has dwindled to mostly a lot of "bling" these days. (Although there is one piece that I've been eyeballing hopefully. A white gold rainbow sapphire tennis bracelet that would match my pendant oh-so-well. Heh.)

Despite my reservations towards purchasing expensive jewelry, I have been leaning towards asking The Monkey for something glittery for our upcoming fifth anniversary. Don't get me wrong -- I do like diamonds. I'm just not overly zealous about purchasing them. But I figure I have to have something to pass on to my kids or nieces someday.

So I started looking at Irish Claddaugh anniversary sets. Most I could find were only available in sterling silver. While I like silver very much, I feel like it would be "downgrading" from what we currently wear. Most of the white gold (BTW, I am NOT a fan of yellow gold) sets I've found were just completely out of my price range. After becoming frustrated I turned my search towards something else. The Monkey is perfectly content with our current wedding bands and finding an anniversary band that works with both my wedding band and engagment ring is going to be next to impossible as they weren't bought as a part of any set. They're both very generic. [shrug] Maybe for our 10th (hahahaha) anniversary I'll pester The Monkey into buying an entirely new wedding set for the two of us. (Besides that, I have this notion that I'm going to plan a "real" wedding for our 10th anniversary anyhow. And you're all invited. :P)

But still, I want something shiny damnit. I want to go "oooh... look what my husband got me!" to friends and family alike. So I started looking at couples rings. I'm torn between a few different ones that I've found. I do NOT want anything marquis shaped. Ugh. Marquis shaped stones catch on everything. I'm not at all a fan of jewelry that isn't practical.

So here are the contenders for the moment:

1. This one is my favorite so far. It's just so... sweet. So far I'm leaning towards this one. (Plus this one comes with actual birthstones vs. Austrian crystals.)
2. This is my second favorite. It's simple, yet sophisticated? Whatever. I just like the emerald cut stones and diamond accents. I'm a little bummed that they don't offer it in white gold, though. Only silver or yellow gold. (Maybe what really draws me to this one is the fact that it's shown in our birthstones. Nice that we're both blue, huh?)

I'm pretty torn. So I've decided to consult you, dear readers.