!!!!!

I am so excited!!!!

Derek Simpson (the New Haven jeweller) got back into town (he was on vacation) on Thursday. We stopped by Thursday night, then gave him another photo of the ring, and then he called Greg on Friday to say we should stop in and see it. He's got the mock-up done in silver in my size, and the diamond could be slipped in so I could put it on and see how it looks.

I was totally expecting to be "disappointed" in the first mock-up (kind of prepping myself so that I wouldn't be), but it was truly perfect. The ring is exactly what we were hoping that it would look like. It looks like the photo, except the bands are a little bit taller, and he put in a basket that will hold the diamond sturdy and mechanically stabilize the arms so that the diamond doesn't fall out 10 years from now. The only changes we made were to trim down the sides a little bit so that the ring won't twist when I close my fingers, to either shorten or make cutouts in basket so that more light can get through to the diamond, and to maybe increase the comfort fit edging a little bit so that it is more rounded.

Anyway, I am really excited. When I put it on my hand, I wanted to wear it immediately and also for years to come - not something I can say for many other pieces of jewelry I own. Most of the jewelery I do have (not that it's a lot) is something that goes in and out of my preference to wear. But this, I could tell, I would always want to wear.

The only other question is whether to do a wedding band. A woman in my lab has a solitaire setting in white gold with a band that is stripped on the outside with yellow gold and white gold in the center. I thought that was actually really cool. And I could imagine doing a yellow gold band that follows the contour of the ring. But Greg and the jeweler made fun of me, so that idea's out :D The obvious way to do it would just be a white gold band that follows the contour of the ring. Not sure whether I want a band or not.