Luck of the Irish

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!! Semi-true fact: Kyle and I had our first date on St. Patrick's Day. I flew out to see Kyle over spring break during my second year of college. I had taken a week off for another vacation, but after a break up I ended up with a week off with nowhere to go. So, last minute, I decided to fly out to Ohio, where Kyle was a student at OSU. I actually got to OH a few days before St. Patrick's Day, but the holiday (Kyle + Me + Art Galleries + Dinner + Alcohol) was the first time that we both noticed that there was more going on with us than we'd previously thought. Fast forward five years...


So, I was going to wait to give Kyle his ring on the holiday, but those of you who know me well know how I feel about waiting to give presents. Needless to say, I ended up giving Kyle his ring about two hours after I bought it. He was still very surprised! It was fun because I got to do the whole proposal thing for once. There was no kneeling, but it was still a cool moment. We had seen this ring at an Irish imports store in Dublin, OH, that we love to frequent. We were actually looking at claddagh rings before either of us had one, as sort of a place holder until we knew what we were doing with the jewelry from our families, when we saw this one. It's a two-tone gold ring with a celtic shield knot design going around it, made by The Jewelry House in Dublin, Ireland. It's kind of heavy, but apparently that's common for nicer men's rings. It's actually kind of Lord of the Rings, but for those of you who know Kyle... It was a perfect fit and he really, really liked it, so I decided to go ahead and surprise him with it. After all, it's sort of a rip off that the men are expected to settle for $400 bands while we ladies get diamonds and platinum. I love my Tiffany ring so much and I wanted him to get a ring that he could be as excited about. And he is! He really loves it and it looks great on him. He's been wearing it, which might not be completely traditional, but I personally think it makes him just a wee bit cooler. (Like the use of "wee"? I did for the Irish people. I'm very inclusive.)

We're entertaining and drinking in our shamrock-decked apartment tonight. I made corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes yesterday, which was very yummy but not Weight Watchers friendly. I go to my next WW meeting tomorrow evening, and I'm a little worried that they'll be able to tell that I didn't try as hard as I could have. Maybe they'll yell at me. I could probably use it.

We also have pre-marital counseling tomorrow. It's our third session and I'm looking forward to it. We were both nervous the first time around, like we would be on the defensive about our relationship, but it wasn't that bad. The woman we're working with is very nice and she's very intuitive. We ended up going over our appointment time last week because we were having such an interesting conversation. I don't really know when they'll give us the green light to get out of counseling and go get married, but in the mean time it's very informative. If anyone is on the fence about whether or not to do it, I would say go for it. We weren't sure who to go to because neither of us is an official member of a church and a lot of people do it with their church leaders, but we ended up using the counseling services available through my university and it's going really well. (Plus, I don't have to pay for it. Woohoo!) So far we've just been talking about our history together and the different ways we handle stress and conflict. I think this next week is about how we perceive relationships. It's all very Oprah-like.

Honestly, the major source of stress right now is the uncertainty of what's happening after this August. I graduate from law school this May and I don't have a job lined up. Partially, this is my doing because I won't interview with law firms and I passed up positions with long-term employers for short-term opportunities that were more interesting. Long story short, it's not so much a problem of being rejected as it is a general paralysis when it comes to applying. I really can't figure out what I want to be doing next year and once those student loan bills start showing up we're going to be in financial trouble if I'm not working. I hate to say, but the wedding is one of the items that's gone back up for negotiation...let's just say I'm crossing my fingers for that pot o' gold and those four leaf clovers. Otherwise, I'm going to have to re-title this blog: How to Not Have a Disney Wedding on an Even Smaller Budget.