We met in early 2008 at The Seattle Ayn Rand Meetup, a philosophy discussion group focused on discussing Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism. We became friends, and after about a year started dating on February 6, 2009.
Our Story
Proposal
In September of 2012, we visited New York City. It was lots of fun.
It was Ginger's first time in the city. We took a train from the airport to Grand Central, and when we got out of the train she was mesmerized by the insane number of really tall buildings. We stopped by Chad's favorite pizza place before rushing off to Pier 83 in a crazy taxi that Ginger was successful at hailing.
That evening we took a sunset cruise that went down the Hudson while the sun was still out. We went around to the Brooklyn Bridge, and the sun having set we cruised over to the Statue of Liberty and then back up the Hudson for a beautiful view of Manhattan now with all the buildings having their lights on in the dark. It was a great chance to see beautiful views of the city, both at dusk and in the night.
We had the opportunity to rub up against a bunch of vagrants on the M42 bus, and in Times Square we bought some awesome spray paint art of the New York skyline and space that we enjoyed watching the artists make. We had a wonderful time seing some amazing views from the Top of the Rock, with great night views of both Central Park to the North and the tall buildings of the financial district to the South..
We eventually found our way back to our hotel room, 32 floors above Times Square with a great night view of the city. While we were sitting by the windows enjoying the view, we were talking and Ginger was sharing her thoughts about how our vacationing styles go together very well and we have a great life together. Chad asked Ginger to marry him, and she enthusiastically accepted!
Per a previous discussion, Chad gave Ginger a relatively inexpensive ring so that she wouldn't get stuck with an uncomfortable ring she wasn't happy with. While there's more information about the ring Ginger ended up designing for herself below, Ginger also became attached to the ring Chad gave her and she still wears it too.
Ginger in NYC
This was taken right as we were taking in the city after getting out onto the street from Grand Central. Ginger was enjoying taking in Manhattan for the first time.
Sunset Cruise
We were down by the financial district when the sun finally set, and the nearly-completed World Trade Center was lit up American-style.
Westin Times Square
A view of the city from the Westin in Times Square.
We continued our trip with more fun activities the following days. We rented bikes and went to The Met, but it was bigger and had much more good art than we were expecting, so we ended up cutting some of our other plans for the weekend and going back there for more the next day.
We ate at Mama's Pizzeria, Chad's favorite pizza place, daily. They have some amazing pizza.
We went up to the Top of the Rock, and enjoyed having a friendly rickshaw driver take us there.
Instead of going to the Broadway Wicked show, which we'd love to do, we decided to check out the Spiderman musical instead. They had some crazy acrobatics for a live show like this, and we enjoyed it.
Mama's Pizzeria
Chad got to share his favorite pizza restaurant with Ginger on this trip.
The Met
The time we had for The Met wasn't enough, and we went back the next day for more.
Spiderman
The Spiderman show was filled with action and excitement.
Ring
We explored various ring options, including buying an existing ring from a jeweler. However, when we visited Green Lake Jewelry Works we saw the quality of their custom pieces and knew we wanted something special from them. It would take a while to come up with a custom design, but we were mesmerized by an amazing blue sapphire they had in stock. We bought the sapphire, and then built a ring around that over the ensuing months. Ginger custom designed the ring she wanted with Melissa. It started out with simple sketches, and after some minor modifications that proceeded to a rendered CAD model.
Drawing #1
After some preliminary sketches, this was the first drawing that was on the right track to the final design.
Drawing #2
Some minor changes were made through several iterations, and this was the final hand-drawn version.
CAD Rendering
After having a solid design, Ellie at Green Lake made a CAD rendering providing a close approximation of what the ring would actually look like.
Ginger, inspired by some of their previous designs and her own artistic sensibilities, made sure it looked exactly as she wanted. In addition to the whirlpool shape from the top view, she also made sure to let in as much light as possible to help the bright blue of the stone shine through.
Chad also noticed that with three sapphires and two independent sides with diamonds wrapping around, it would be possible to make the number of stones work out to our favorite numbers. There are 22 small diamonds on each side (Ginger's favorite number), and combined with the three sapphires that makes 47 stones overall (Chad's favorite number).
With the CAD renderings looking just like what Ginger was hoping for, we gave the final approval and they turned it into a real physical object, pictured below.
Ring Photo
Top View
Side View
They used platinum for the metal along with the sapphire center stone purchased at the beginning of the design process. Eric set all of the stones beautifully and Ginger has been wearing it since the very end of 2012, about 3 months after first starting the design process.
Three of the people from Green Lake who made the ring are pictured below along with a gift basket Ginger gave them for all their help.
The Team
These Green Lake Jewelry Works employees helped turn Ginger's ideas into a reality. Pictured are Jeremy (left), Melissa (center), and Eric (right). Not pictured: Ellie.