St. Louis and My (Sorta) New Bling

We decided to be wild and crazy and made the big trip to St. Louis yesterday. Wild and crazy, because we have an active toddler and also because I am still in a wheelchair and it's a bit of a project going anywhere. We woke up extra early hoping Kailie would sleep most of the way there and went to our first and main stop, Jared's. This is the jewelry store chain where Jeff got my engagement/wedding ring and the nearest stores to us now are in St. Louis.

We got to St. Louis around 8:30 and Jared's and most stores in the mall didn't open until 10AM. So we went to the mall to walk around with the morning walkers and kill some time. It was warm and was the best mall trip we've ever had with Kailie! No stores she could wander off in, and only a handful of people exercising Kailie had a lot of freedom. And boy did I get a workout rolling myself around the mall for an hour. We started heading over to Jared's which was in a shopping area across the street from the mall.

Our main purpose of our visit was to get my wedding ring fixed, because it got damaged in the accident. I haven't worn it since, because the prongs were bent and the stone was loose- -and I wasn't about to lose that. Jeff and I had talked about getting a small wedding band to go with my ring since we got married, but I have never found one that looked right-- both because I am picky about my jewelry and also because everything I found in a similar milgrain antiqued style looked like an afterthought. I think it's probably easier to add a band that isn't custom made to a more classic or contemporary ring.

Anyways, a few months ago we talked about the possibility of getting a new setting for the diamond that was still in the milgrained, antique look, but had a matching band so we shopped around a little when we arrived. And yes, you guessed it, I got a new setting. It's even more art deco/antique looking and has a matching wedding band that sets next to it perfectly. We could put most of the value of the original ring towards it so it wasn't as painful of an investment as it may look :-)

We went to P.F. Chang's next door to eat lunch then back to the mall while we waited for the stone to be reset and the new setting to be resized. Lunch was pretty good and Kailie was a good sport through it all. So I got even more exercise back at the mall wheeling around, we window shopped and got some Ben & Jerrys. Yum. When it was time to pick up the ring we were all tired and it was time to head back home and Kailie napped for a good hour or two and was a trooper. She did get apple slices at McDonalds for each way there and back to keep her happy too.

All in all I had a fabulous (yet exhausting) day with my little family yesterday and it's so nice having Jeff home for a few days. We've got some cleaning, organizing and doctor's visits for both Kailie and I on the to-do list before he goes back to work on Wednesday, but sometimes it's nice just to lay in bed, watch TV and do nothing. If you haven't stopped by my review blog lately, I have a bunch of great giveaways going on for Halloween, cloth diapering and the holidays and I'm still trying to round up favorite recipe and craft ideas. Email me your ideas and have your 10 minutes of fame on my blog. LOL. :-)