♥ love had a thousand shapes.

you might be surprised when i tell you this:

but up until yesterday, i never really owned or wore any real diamonds.

although i consider myself an advocate for all things glamorous,

a title to which diamonds would most definitely earn highest ranking,

i often prefer to adorn myself in layers of big, flashy baubles and leave

the more delicate jewelry for the mature & conservative dressers to wear.

nick and i have been together for nearly ten years and although i trust

his taste and appreciation for quality, i do believe that jewelry is such a personal

choice that even i did not know what i wanted until i started to look around

and the features of engagement rings that i did and did not like

began to make themselves glaringly obvious.

as i mentioned before, my sister lissy had been looking at rings a few months prior,

and had already mastered the four c's of judging diamonds, the ratings, etc. and

the idea of having to learn the lingo and hold something so sparkly under

a microscope and pick it apart honestly did not appeal to me whatsoever.

i really just wanted to put my faith into a piece of vintage jewelry

that had history and weight and a lifetime of love that would ground me

and align me with an older spirit that i feel is missing in my young soul.

but, after a few stores, that ring did not make itself known,

so nick cleverly led me to the jewelry design studio of

what i now consider "my enagement ring fairy godmother,"

karina mattei of brookline.

karina has been designing jewelry for twenty five years.

she is self taught, and as i looked around her store/studio space,

i could not help but feel that i was in the presence of a true artist.

she invited nick and i to take a seat and proceeded to help me unravel

the perfect engagement ring that i had made up in my visually overloaded

and stylistically complicated mind. without even the correct vocabulary

to describe what it is i wanted beyond these fragmented thoughts:

"something vintage," "something exciting,"

"something delicate, like a leaf but not a vine"

"something flat to my hand and not raised up like a cage,"

i imagine that i must have sounded like a cavewoman ordering flowers

to this jewelry genius. but she was endlessly patient with me,

{and so was nick, who sat there like an angel for two hours as i babbled on and on}

and she used her knowledge and understanding to masterfully guide me

into a drawing that made sense and was a true reflection

of everything i could ever want in an engagement ring.

here {above} is what we came up with

on that beautiful day before valentine's day.

and all i can say now is: she nailed it.

a million, glittering times over.