Fear the Crab

Maile and I have been going to a personal trainer, to get in shape. Primary impetus was the wedding, of course, but hopefully we’ll learn a few things that we can do beyond that date. The first session left me swollen and sore as my muscles tried to adjust to the new workout. I could barely lift my arms to dig my nose. And this left me with the question of what to do when I had to poop.

Of course, by the time the second session rolled around, I had gotten a lot better, and could easily number-two with the best of them.

On Sunday we have an appointment with the photographer, to take engagement photos. Contrary to what people might think, these aren’t the photos where we are dressed in our finery. Rather, it is a collection of shots in our normal dress, in a location that “hold special memories” for the two of us, as the photographer might say.

There aren’t a lot of picturesque locations for Maile and me. I’m not having any photos taken at HHV, nor will we be at Sunflower Lounge. So it just leaves the university, which has a few spots that are scenic, yet familiar. And since it’s on a Sunday, there is less of a chance it will be crowded.

Running into a spot of trouble as far as the video is concerned. I’m not content with a soft-focus, slow-motion re-enactment of the pre-bridal preparation to be shown during the reception, mostly because that’s not really who we are. Yet to do anything else as a substitute would require a significant chunk of change, something which is quite painful for a budget already in the red. Either I need to stop eating, or content myself with sappy scenic lovey-dovey scenes that will make anybody familiar with the two of us scratch their heads in bewilderment.

A few months ago, Maile and I bought a loose diamond for her engagement ring. We got a 1.30 H VS1 solitaire for a reasonable price, and even though it’s a VS1 you can hardly see the inclusions. We put both the diamond and the certificate in my safe until we were ready to have it set.

A few weeks ago, Maile found a wedding band set that she really liked, so we arranged for the jeweler to work on it. The engagement band had embedded princess-cut diamonds, and the same for the wedding band. The total weight for all rocks in this set was 1.50. I think the mount was meant for another princess cut, so we had to order a different head to fit the solitaire.

Already this was burning holes in our pockets, but Maile was happy, and when Maile is happy, my headaches go away.

The diamond was set a couple of nights ago. When Maile brought it home, she called me to say she was starting to have second thoughts about the diamond we bought. She said the color was “rather warm,” meaning that it was more yellow than she once thought. I asked what she thought the color should be, and both her and her mom feel the diamond is more of an I-color. Then I asked what she wanted to do, even though inside I knew what she was going to say.

Maile wants to contact the vendor for our diamond and see if there are better colors in stock. This, of course, would mean a much higher price than what we already paid, and I’m wincing at the thought of having to shell out more when we’re currently operating on thin strings. Maybe later on in life we’d be able to afford an upgrade, but for now I’m thinking that despite everyone else admiring the diamond as a quality rock, in the back of her head Maile is going to constantly see the “warm” color of yellow. And when Maile sees something that concerns her, she feels compelled to take care of it right away. Much like me. And when we can’t take care of something right away, we’ll fret about it and be unable to focus on anything else.

Last night as we were talking, Maile mentioned to me that she was thinking of going to try to find a lower weight diamond with better color, perhaps a 1.20 or 1.25 with G color. That makes me feel a lot better, because that means the price shouldn’t be THAT much different from what we paid. I could even go upwards of a $200 difference if we couldn’t haggle the price. But, if the difference was more than that, Maile and I both think we’d be better off waiting.

So we’ll see what happens.