celebrating 5 years of marriage

Today is my 5 year wedding anniversary.  I've known Jake since I was 16.  We've been together almost 10 years and have been married 5 of those years.  Getting married is one of the best things that has ever happened to me.  Jake is my best friend, and I'm very fortunate to call him my husband, too.  We have been through a lot during the last 10 years, but it's been worth it.  I hope that we have many more years together.

I thought that you'd enjoy seeing a few older pictures of us before I show you my new ring.  The earliest digital pictures I have of us are from late 2005 and I didn't scan anything older so these pictures are mostly 2006-2010.  Please don't leave me any comments about how we look really young and/or we look way too young to have been married for 5 years.  It isn't appropriate or original and just don't need to be said here.  Thanks.  Enjoy!

Christmas with my in-laws (Christmas 2005)

formal dinner night on an Alaskan cruise (June 2006)

 wedding reception with two of Jake's good undergrad friends (December 29, 2006)

 on our honeymoon, at the Benihana's in the Hilton complex in Oahu (New Year's Day, 2007)

Jake's undergrad graduation (May 2007)

my little sister-in-law's 8th grade graduation (June 2007)

Iowa State Fair (August 2007)

Mexico/Honduras cruise (late December 2007/early January 2008)

Minneapolis, MN (August 2008)

my cousin's wedding (May 2009)

a good friend's wedding (May 2010)

Match Day (St. Patrick's Day 2011)

Jake's med school graduation (May 13, 2011)

my little sister-in-law's HS graduation (June 2011)

(For anyone wondering where the photos of my graduations are, I didn't attend my undergrad or master's program graduations for various reasons.)

Most of you already know that we have done a lot of neat things since we moved to Milwaukee, but I don't have very many pictures from events that include both of us.  I'll have to work on that!

Of course I had to include a photo of our little Angel, too.  She's 16 years old.  She lived with my in-laws for 10 years and then moved in with me right after I finished undergrad.  She's been with us through a lot, too.

As many of you know, what I really wanted for our 5th wedding anniversary was a ring.  After a lot of searching and much debate about what kind of metal I wanted (you really don't want to know how long I've been working on this little project), I finally settled on this ring from Madelynn of onegarnetgirl.  She did such an amazing job with it.  I could not be more happy with my decision and with her work.  If you're thinking about ordering metal gemstone jewelry, please consider her shop.  You will not be disappointed.  Click to see the larger photos.

Thanks for taking this personal trip with me today.  Stay tuned tomorrow for our regularly scheduled programming.

I included this post in Erika's It's a Wrap Link Party - Happy New Year!.

the search continues

Some of you may remember that a while back, I posted about how I've been searching for a five year anniversary right for myself.  I've actually been searching for a couple years now.  Our five year is in December.  I'd kind of put the search on hold for the last six months, but I picked it up again this month.

I've had my eye on a ring from Kay's for a long time that would coordinate well with my wedding ring.  More recently I've decided that I would much rather have something custom from Etsy.  It's very hard to find in stock rings in my ring finger size so I would most likely be ordering custom anyway.  I would rather do that through Etsy.

During one of my last searches, I stumbled upon this awesome shop: onegarnetgirl.  I still cannot believe how many awesome designs she has.  I'm not a big ring wearer, but I love so many of the rings in her shop.

I have to share more than just one item from her shop, but I'll start with what I have in mind for my anniversary.  Click on any of the photos in this post to check out the listings.

I would get it in yellow gold to coordinate with my wedding ring, which would look very similar to the yellow gold one in this listing.  Jake really prefers yellow gold over other metals (which is why our rings are yellow gold...I like most metals) so I was surprised that he actually didn't have a preference when I showed this to him a couple weeks ago.  I think I would still want to do that, though.

I'm keeping my mind open and will do a little more browsing in the next month, but I'm 95% sure that this is what I want.  It's a very classic design with real gemstones.  The blue aquamarine (which does match my birth month) will make it a little unusual.

Madelynn's shop is so awesome that I had to share a few other items here, too.

For some reason, I'm really drawn to this ring.  She has a number of listings with this setting with different stones, but I keep going back to this one.

She has a number of amazing stacking sets as well like this one.  Usually I prefer multiple stones to single stones, but her single stone settings are so beautiful.

Obviously I like the three stone setting so I had to share one more of these as well.

Our anniversary is December 29, but I don't want to wait until the Christmas rush sets in to order something custom.  So I'll most likely make my final decision next month or early November.  Until then, I'm still open to suggestions.

daydreaming

I've started hinting to Jake that I want another ring for our 5th wedding anniversary.  I know what some of you are thinking: Didn't you just have your 4th anniversary?  Yes.  But there's nothing wrong with thinking ahead.  As I'm sure you can tell from any of my "modeling" pictures here, I have skinny wrists and fingers.  My wedding ring is a custom size so this ring will be, too, if I want to wear it on one of my ring fingers.  I have this wedding ring (which has gone up a scary amount of money since Jake bought it a little over five years ago).

I want something else that is yellow gold, but with at least one stone (I'm thinking aquamarine or diamond but I'm not set on that) that has some height, and that is cheaper than this one that I've had my eye on for quite a while.  I also want a somewhat substantial band so it doesn't wear down too easily.  But I don't want anything too bulky.  Jake doesn't want to spend that much money and is interested in something lab created and/or custom made, which is okay.  Easier said than done, though.  We love Stauer...but they don't offer custom sized rings.  I've searched up and down for lab created items elsewhere that can be made in custom sizes without much luck. 

So I've started looking on Etsy.  And this is what I've come up with so far.

Of course the ring pictured is white gold, but she offers this same ring setting with yellow gold like you can find here.  This setting is awesome.  So unique.  I love how it's substantial without being overwhelming.

This ring isn't a lot cheaper than the one I've had my eye on from Kay, but it's so amazing.  Yellow gold, diamonds, and aquamarine...what else would I want, right?  The setting isn't as unique as the last one but it's a very classic look.

I wouldn't want this stone, but I love everything else about this ring.  It's rose gold, which I think looks fine with yellow gold.  Otherwise I could ask about customization.  They offer stone choices/customization on other rings like this one, so even if it didn't have a diamond or aquamarine, I think we would find something that I would like.  This is another amazing setting.  So unique.  I love how it looks like a little crown.  The detail on the sides of the stone is great, too.

I'm not going to start contacting sellers for at least another five months, but it's fun to start looking.  I'll be keeping my eyes open and may share more ideas if I come up with anything else.