The Ring Addiction

My husband's biggest downfall is he can't say no to me. I simultaneously consider this one of his best attributes as he loves to make me happy. Unfortunately, this is also a costly trait within our marriage--
Especially when it comes to jewelry....Mark loves to buy me jewelry.

When Mark got back from his mission and we started ring shopping, I think he was relieved to find out that I was very simple, and didn't want anything extravagant. With my ring finger being all of 3 3/4 in size, the larger bands and fancy rings just felt silly to me. I think even the jewelers were a little surprised how quickly I rejected larger rings. In the end, Mark knew that I wanted a white gold band with a solitaire diamond...and 1/2 karat was plenty big.

But then Mark proposed with a ring slightly larger than that and after a year of marriage, I got used to the ring and started to realize that real, fancy rings were kind of fun to have. So then I mentioned to Mark that I had started to look at gemstones. We looked at rubies, black diamonds, etc. In the end, my birthday present ended up being a gorgeous black diamond ring.

So then here I was, at the mall this past weekend, waiting at the jewelry store while my ring was being cleaned-- just browsing. I noticed they had some ruby rings on clearance for a pretty good deal. I mentioned it to Mark and later that evening, we were back at the mall so I could show him the rings I liked. Of course he is not satisfied buying his wife rings with sterling silver bands, only white gold. So just for curiosity sake, we went and checked out a few other stores in the mall to see what they had to offer. I tried on one ring that was a beautiful garnet, but definitely bigger than I intended. (So was the price!) I shied away from the ring for not only the price but I felt like it was just too big and fancy for my little finger. So we went home and Mark said he could probably find one similar for cheaper on Amazon. Later that night we joked that since his dad bought a new car each time a new sibling was born in his family, maybe he would buy a ring for every baby we have. I assumed perhaps for Christmas I would find a new ring under the tree.

Tuesday night Mark came home. Just before I had to leave for my night of meetings, he kept pushing me to go put on one of my other rings. I finally gave in and went to my ring box that holds my fancy rings. Upon opening it, I was shocked to see the ring I had tried on only few days prior:

It still has to be sized so I can't really wear it right now. I also told Mark he'll need to buy me a lot more black and red clothes so I can coordinate it with rings. And while the investment in this ring has pushed back some baby investment items (like a crib, rocking chair etc), I can't really complain when it's to spoil me.