Style Tribe is posting the next installment in the Carnivale of Couture:

"I want to invite everyone to write about their most significant fashion purchase. Not the most expensive or most exciting, but the one that was somehow pivotal, or meaningful to you personally."

This may sound kind of hooky, but by most significant fashion purchase has to be my Engagement ring. Now, before you roll your eyes, let me tell my story:

When my husband and I decided to get married, we were both still in the "college to real life" transition, so money was virtually non-existent for us. We had a very short engagement, so I really hadn't put much thought into what I wanted for a ring. However, I new our budget was extremely limited.

I shopped around for a few weeks and jeweler after jeweler kept showing me these horrid chip-on-a-prong diamond rings. Just made me ill to even look at them.

Finally, I decided to just get a gold band and when we were out of school and had a few years of work (aka money earning) behind us, then we could buy a ring that I liked.

Then one day, we happened to be walking through the local mall when we both noticed a jewelry sale going. We stopped to look, and there among many other wonderful jewelry pieces was a ruby and gold ring.

I've always preferred colored stones, so inside I was just swooning over this ring, but even on sale, it was out of our price range, so I tried act cool, like hey, no big deal if we walk away and I never see this ring again. (Sigh)

We walked out to the car, got in, and started driving away when my fiancée said, "I kind of liked that ruby ring."

"Yes, but it's too much," I replied.

"If you really like it, we could swing it."

"Really?"

"Sure, but of course, if you don't want it...."

Well, needless to say, we turned that car around ASAP, and I was back in there with a ring sizer on my finger a few minutes later!

And, you know, I still love this ring!