Valentine's Day Recap

This was a big surprise that I got for Valentine's Day from John. We hadn't talked about exchanging gifts, and we usually don't do anything big for Valentine's Day anyways, since I feel like special things should be done all the time, not just because a day tells us so. Nonetheless, I was thrilled with my gift.

It's a tanzanite and diamond ring set in platinum. I absolutely love tanzanites. Ever since I first saw them at a jewelry designer's booth at the Arts Festival four years ago, I have loved them. I adore that periwinkle color for some strange reason. John bought me my first tanzanite jewelry for my 30th birthday and then got more for our anniversary that same year.

I'm not big on wearing jewelry. Most of the time, all I have on is my wedding ring and a plain gold band on my right pinky finger to prevent any more blisters from forming on my hand at the base of that finger. For some reason I have a tendency to blister easily there, and after I got that horrible infection that almost put me in the hospital, I decided to see what I could do to prevent any more blisters. The ring seems to work really well. Once in a while, I wear earrings. Most rarely, I wear necklaces. I like bracelets a lot, and I almost always wear my watch. I often forget to put on bracelets even though I love them. So my jewelry is minimal, but I still love it.

I browse through jewelry ads and catalogues just like any other girlie girl. I have pretty select taste though, so you can't just buy me anything and make me happy. I don't like anything the least bit gaudy or overdone. I tend to like the stuff with simple, clean lines. I swoon over princess cut diamonds. I loathe any heart cut stone. Ew, ew, ew. Thank goodness, John knows that. He's also pretty good at picking things I like. Though some of it isn't necessarily what I would choose myself, I don't dislike it either. But this ring was something I chose in a roundabout way.

Often, when I'm looking through ads, I'll show John what I like. It's not to be an obvious hint-giver at all. I like to see what he thinks as well as let him know more about me and my likes and dislikes. I do it with jewelry ads on television too. Last week, I showed him a ring very similar to the one he got me and told him I liked it, not even thinking it was so close to Valentine's Day. In fact, I'm usually very aware of the approaching day and try to be sure not to point anything out at all, so he doesn't think I am dropping hints. I threw the ad away later and forgot about it the whole thing.

He told me he had something else planned for yesterday, but he changed his mind and decided to get the ring. I asked him if it had anything to do with making up to me, and he said that he would have done it anyway, but it probably did affect his decision to go get the ring. With some assistance, he chose this one. He couldn't remember for sure if it was the same, but he knew it was close. He said he liked this one better. It was bigger, and the band was a nicer shape. He chose the darkest gem he could find, because he remembered I liked that. He kept telling me I could take it back and exchange it, but I will be doing no such thing. It's perfect! I love that it's platinum too. I've never had anything platinum.

The only finger it fits right now is my left ring finger. I plan to get it sized for another finger, probably my right middle one. Right now though, I asked if he would mind if I wore this ring in lieu of my wedding ring though, and he was fine with that. I think he was happy I liked it so much. I'm sure he wouldn't be so fine if I made it a permanent change. He gets miffed whenever I take my wedding ring off for a while because my skin gets scaly. I never remove it otherwise, so that means the ring traps water under it. Since I wash my hands a million times a day, that makes for some itchy red skin if I don't take it off every so often. I could just remove the ring every time I wash my hands, but I've gotten too fat, and taking the ring off isn't that easy. I don't want to do it ten times a day. As clumsy and unfortunate as I am with those things, it would probably end up going down the sink drain, or worse, in the toilet.

So what did I get him? Well, I got three different cards that all said something I wanted to say to him. I wrote a bunch in them too. The only other thing I got him was a heart-shaped tin of Altoids mints (called "The Love Tin", ha!). How pathetic is that? But then, I'm not the one who pawed someone else either. I deserve a ring.

We had a nice evening. I made lasagne for dinner, one of John's favorite dishes. Actually, I cooked a frozen Stouffer's lasagne, but that's only because I was so rushed all day that I couldn't have made it from scratch. Stouffer's makes a damn good lasagne though. I ate two pieces. I had pound cake with raspberries and whipped cream, but both of us gorged ourselves on lasagne, so neither of us had dessert. Maybe tonight. We snuggled a lot and went to bed early. It was a really nice night. He did well, and I just let everything that happened go. I don't think that means I'm over it, but I'm definitely on that road.