Diamonds, Baboons, and Polar Bears!

Well, here we are at another Monday morning. I’m a little tired, but I’ll survive. Nothing that a little cappuccino can’t cure ;)

I had a most excellent weekend. It was one of the best weekends I’ve had in a long time. CT and I went to the Toronto Zoo on Saturday. As we were getting ready to head out to Toronto, CT suggested to me that we stop at Spence Diamonds on the way (he knows I really like that store). So, we went to the one in Scarborough and spent over an hour there. As we walked in, a sales person greeted us and asked what we were there to look at, and CT without hesitation said “engagement rings”. They have over 4,000 engagement rings there, so there were a lot to look at! For any of you who haven’t been there, it’s a really neat store. All the rings on display are not real gold or diamonds, so they are all in open display cases. So, you can reach in and look at every single one and try them on and wear them around. After looking through almost the whole store, I still wasn’t finding the exact one I wanted. I described to the sales person what I was looking for, so he had a look and pulled out another one for me to look at. And that was the one. Exactly what I was looking for. Princess cut centre diamond with one baguette diamond on either side. I had 3 different ones in my hand at that point, my top 3 choices, and both CT and I agreed on the favorite. So that solidified my decision. We found the ring.

The sales person then took us into one of the “little rooms” and explained all about the 4 c’s of diamonds (cut, colour, carat, and clarity) and we got to look at some diamonds under the microscope as well, which the geology nerd in me really enjoyed! He was very knowledgeable. He also explained all about their coverage and warrantees, which is pretty comprehensive. So, I was certainly impressed and so was CT. The salesperson then asked me to leave the room so he and CT could talk privately. I was a little worried that the salesperson might be pushy with CT once I left, but CT said later that he wasn’t pushy at all. Which is good. I don’t want CT to feel pressured at all, which I don’t think he is since going to the store was his idea! So, now the hard part is done. The ring is chosen, so now the ball is in CT’s court. At least I made it easy for him in helping him chose the ring. I imagine that task can be pretty daunting, so I’m glad we were able to do it together. And it will still be a surprise since I have no idea when he will actually purchase the ring. My involvement in the process is done. And I have no clue when he is planning to pop the question.

After our trip to Spence, we headed to the Zoo. We got in for free since I cashed in some of my air miles for free zoo admission. We had a great time at the zoo. Perfect weather; sunny yet not too hot. We spent the day there and probably walked 20 kilometers… it’s a big place! I think we saw the whole thing. There were a few animal no-shows though, but I guess you can’t see them all! Some of them are bound to be hiding. There were these baby baboons that were super cute. I also loved the polar bears. Lots of cute animals to look at.

Yesterday, we were supposed to work on the house, but I was so wiped from all our walking on Saturday that we just relaxed instead. I did invite CT and my mom to an “I have my own office now so let’s celebrate” party yesterday. We picked up a pizza and headed over to my office for a little get together. My mom gave me a jade plant, which I love. It’s so cool! And I brought my degree in to hang on the wall.

All in all, it was a most excellent weekend!