I'll Just Pretend They're Diamond Rings...

Sue my darling,

First of all? Did you HAVE to tell the blogosphere about the three entrees? Not that I'm ashamed, because we are looking hot (if I do say so myself, but thank you for the confirmation), and we only make it to that brunch spot like twice a year now when we used to go every weekend so it's important to get to eat all of our favorite things on the menu... anyway. I'm over it. And I hope you enjoyed your mimosa and two glasses of wine, by the way.

Anyway, it's like 7:00AM here. I've been up since 6. The Lawyer was up here this weekend and had to catch his train this morning. Trying not to be too sad/cranky/whiny about this whole long-distance thing, but it SUCKS. What's worse is that I have a class called "Business Modelling" at 9 - and no, it's not about how to look hot in the office, but about how to use Excel to do weird stuff that I don't understand in the first place - and I have lots of homework to do. So thank you, Sue, for giving me an excuse to procrastinate... by looking at (fake) diamond rings!

Let me say that I totally approve of your choices. Is Diamond Nexus Labs fun to browse or what?! Even though I'm afraid you are going to wake up any day now and snap our of your blingtastic reverie, let me just add a couple more rings to the mix. 

First, I was delighted to find Fanfare.

This ring actually fairly closely resembles the Ring of Dreams! (Though the Ring of Dreams is a little more svelte, but nevertheless similarly art deco-inspired. And made with real diamonds. Are you reading, Lawyer? I said REAL DIAMONDS.) Anyway, this may be a little too heavy for your dainty Asian fingers but I had to feature it here.

Next, we have Adelaide. 

Mostly just because I couldn't resist taking your new-found love for bling that much farther. Is this ring gorge or what?! The thin band would look beautiful on you, and the sparkle factor is just perfecto I think.

Of your choices, Sue, I would definitely go for Gwynie.

She actually looks a lot like the Tiffany Novo, also known as the Ex-Ring of Dreams (as my Midwestern Caucasian/German Ancestral fingers are too big for such dainty perfection).

Can't wait to hear your further thoughts!

By the way, you do realize that these rings ooze "Wife," not "Domestic Partner," right? I mean. Just saying...

Ok, off to hit the books.

xoxo,

Jen

Diamond Ring Therapy

Uy, uy, uy.

DomestiGals, who am I?

I look at my gorgeous self in the mirror and don't even recognize me. Why, oh why, am I all of a sudden wanting a fake diamond ring? DomestiGal Sue hearts moissanite engagement rings -- all of them.

Jen, last weekend when you flew into NYC for the weekend with the rock-solid Lawyer (more on that later), did I soak up too much of your fabulous girly-ness? By the way, The Doctor and I so enjoyed watching you and your man SPLIT THREE ENTREES between the two of you.

(No comment on what Colossus, your personal trainer, must have said when he pinched the fat around your knee upon your return to the gym.)

Perhaps it's because I just returned from a Manhattan fundraiser for The Bottomless Closet, where all the usual Upper East Side women were there with their 3.5 karat blinders. Thank god I'm Asian and have slightly slanty eyes, so I can't let in too much sparkle.

Thank you, lady blogger Kathryn, for the link to the Diamond Nexus Labs. I've officially wasted the last 45 minutes staring at bling.

Ladies, which do you like the most from Diamond Nexus Labs? Of course they're all fake, and I hope they follow Jen's cardinal four F rules.


What do you think? Callisto or Gwyneth?

I think I'll try to convince The Doctor to stop cleaning behind the oven (I know, forget about the Ring of Dreams, I've got The Man of Dreams) and come and take a look at my newest choices.

Oh, and Jen, The Lawyer is looking H-O-T. I mean, I've known your fiance-to-be since 1996, and he is officially made of steel. You may be able to cut your platinum ring across his triple-tricep-whammy one day.

And you, my darling, looked stunning as usual.

Love,

Sue

America the Blingiful

HOLY CRAP SUE.

The only thing that would interrupt me from my Obama Victory Party (by which I mean eating peanut butter straight out of the jar and crying with joy and relief and probably the extra dose of hormones in my new birth control pills - I mean WHY can they not make low-dose pills in the UK?! Come on people! - while watching his victory speech online) is this miraculous news that you have seen the light! Well, either that or you have been blinded by the rays emanating from your mumsy's fake diamond ring. Either way, this is tres exciting.

So do tell! What does your mom's ring look like? Do you like it or do you want a different style? Are you sure you want moissanite (which, honey, you really can't call "moissanite diamond"...unless you insert "fake" between the two words, dear) or perhaps does a wee part of your hot Asian self want The Doctor to splurge on a real diamond? Surely he can find a way to splurge now that you are seeing a financial advisor/therapist.

Though I must caution you, Sue. Make sure this is just not a whim! Don't get my hopes up that you will soon be sporting a blingalicious domestic partnership ring only to dash them and decide to wear that ring you liked that looks like a gift my 6th grade boyfriend gave me.

Not that this is about me.

But before you ask, YES, I am still sans Ring of Dreams. However! It's now November which can mean only one thing (to moi, anyway): bonus season is almost just around the corner! Which means my Ring of Dreams draws ever closer to becoming a Ring of Reality... 

Though I must say, I find it interesting that many of the married girls in my program are sporting neither diamond engagement rings nor diamond wedding bands. Kind of horrible, I know. But apparently diamond engagement rings are not the worldwide obsession I so naively and Americanly assumed they were.

But before The Lawyer should breathe a sigh of relief, let me confirm the fact that I cannot WAIT to blow my classmates away with the gorgeosity of my Ring of Dreams.

Not that this is about me.

So we need more details, stat!

And ladies out there, I second Sue's motion - post pics of your rings and link to us! Or send us pics of your rings and we'll post them! Sue needs our input ASAP!

xoxo,

DomestiGal Jen

Non-DomestiGal Duties

Jen dear,

A belated Happy Birthday to you from the rest of the DomestiGal community! What did you do on your blessed day aside from study your heart out? Did you do some super nerdy statistics calculation of your various diamond-engagement-ring-of-dreams pricing and actual diamond composition using Linear Regression?

I mean, I do hope you took the following into account:

• the interpretation of the slope as the average imputed value per carat of diamonds within the specific range;
• the viability of the SLR model as determined by the R² value and the slope coefficient;
  
• the regression fit for determining the price of diamond rings within this range.

Sigh.

Asian DomestiGals and their damn math.

Anyway, perhaps you can do more fun statistical models that include your Dyson and the percentage body fat that Colossus pinches every single time he humiliates the fat around your knee.

By the way, now that you're not in London and doing your dutiful Lady of Leisure duties you so enjoy -- who is? Is The Lawyer vacuuming and cleaning and washing?

The Doctor recently bought a Dirt Devil and I must say that it has become one of his best friends. Of course I'm not even quite sure how it works, as I'm Dish Woman and only handle items on kitchen counters. Recently, though, The Doctor has been flexing his green thumb and has added a collection of three more plants to our indoor urban garden. I think it's all in preparation for our beehive and I'm excitedly preparing our Bee Blog.

Stay tuned, ladies!

xx,
s.

What Ring?

Darling Sue,

Wait a sec. "The Betrothed"? I'm confused. I thought you and The Doctor already got your blessing from the post office worker and are officially Domestic Partners. So what's this "Betrothed"??? You're not crossing over to the fabulous side, are you? I mean, stranger things have happened. Not that I can think of any off the top of my head right now. But still. I'm sure they have.

But seriously. Please do explain. And I do like your ring, by the way!

Speaking of rings (or lack thereof), have I told you that since I've been at school I have started wearing the ring The Lawyer got me for my birthday last year on my ring finger? Between being apart from him (and, thus, wanting to demonstrate that my fabulousness is, alas, spoken for) and the general state of the economy (and, thus, the big giant question mark that has replaced the center stone in my Ring of Dreams), The Lawyer and I decided that it was time to make the switch from right hand to left hand. And let me tell you, it feels good!

Of course, I decided once I got here that I needed to come out of the closet. 

Yes, my classmates are all now aware of the fact that I am an unengaged former Domestic Goddess who is planning her wedding with a ring on her ring finger that is not in fact her engagement ring. In fact, the very first day of orientation, we were randomly assigned a classmate and had to talk with them and then spend 30 seconds introducing them to the class. As a guide, we were given a list of questions to ask, such as... "Where are you from?" "Where were you working pre-MBA?" "What actor would play you in a movie?" "What is the bravest thing you've ever done?" and "What is your most valued possession?"

My answer to that, which was then announced to my entire class by the guy who interviewed me? "The engagement ring she doesn't have yet."

Let me tell you, it got a huge laugh.

I just hope people were laughing for the right reasons...

Forever Dreaming of Bling,

Jen 

To Spoon or Fork?

Alas. I know all of you are just dying – dying! – to know that after 2 years of domestic-partnership bliss, the doctor and I still spoon.

And not just for a few minutes before he or I do the “Squeeze and Roll” method that Ross made famous in that excellent episode of Friends. Oh no! I mean, we spoon the entire night.

What’s absolutely terrific is that we really have it down to a science. I lay on my right side with my two pillows in a perfect L shape. (One for my head, and the other one for me to squeeze). Then, The Doctor wraps his arm around me so that we’re holding left hands. Sometime in the middle of the night, I rollover and squeeze his nose, which signals him to turn so that I can begin to spoon him.

Truly all of you in DomestiGal land just needed to know that.

And now I need to know how all of you sleep with your partners. Specifically – PJs or no PJs?

After all my highly enlightening blog postings, I’m sure you can guess what my answer is.

Sadly, my darling Jen, I don't even know how to respond to your questions regarding my sister's new Tiffany's engagement ring! I just asked The Doctor, and he says he thinks it's a Classic Tiffany's engagement ring. I'm pretty sure it doesn't have any side stones, so that makes it a solitaire -- and -- (I'm looking at the Tiffany's site now) not the Round-Brilliant. In terms of karats... uh, I have no idea. The other day, I asked my friend Lynn how many karats her diamond ring is, and she had no idea either.

Clearly we're not the typical Sex and the City Girls that Manhattan claims to have.

xx,

Still Spoonin’ Sue