It's not like there's anything BETTER to do while I'm standing there!

I bring my lunch to work every day. It means I save money, I don't have to worry about waits in restaurants or traffic on the way back to work, and I can get my eight hours of work in faster than if I leave for lunch. Lean Cuisine has some pretty awesome meals, so that's what I bring almost every day.

Well, over the last month and a half, I've realized a completely different, even better benefit of bringing my lunch to work.

Our little kitchen area in the office has these five amazingly bright lights over it. One day while I was waiting for my lunch to cook in the microwave, I leaned against the counter, taking advantage of those free moments to look at my ring. As I turned my hand slightly from side to side, I was excited to see what those five amazingly bright lights did for the sparkle. There were lights and colors all over the place!

Every single little diamond in the band and especially the three diamonds in the middle were picking up every bit of that light. It was awesome. I was amazed at how quickly the time went by before the microwave was beeping at me to tell me my food was done.

Since then, that's become my secret little lunch ritual while I wait for my food to cook. I think it's a wonderful use of my time, and it's kind of like eating dessert before lunch.

Like planning a wedding isn't hard enough already

One of the reasons I was always so ready to be engaged to K was that in my mind, once we were engaged, we could start planning our lives together. Obviously, we'd start by choosing a wedding date.

To me, that would be the date we'd get to start living together and finally seeing each other every day. It's the date we could really talk about getting the Weimaraner we've wanted for so long. It's the date I'd get to leave Dallas. It's the date I can finally justify buying one of those digital picture frames I want so badly but don't have because I live by myself and have no real need for one (Who's gonna see it? Plus, they'll be cheaper this time next year anyway.).

Somehow, in all my dreaming of the big day and the engagement and starting our happily ever after, I never took into account the fact that K is in the Army.

We've set a date for our big day: May 24, 2008. We think it'll be the perfect time, since it's almost three years to the day from when we first met. It's Memorial Day weekend, so our guests will have more time to travel and enjoy themselves. It won't quite have reached 100 degree temps, so our many guests from milder climates won't melt entirely away.

Once you have your date, you can start planning. You can send out save-the-date magnets, build a wedding website, look for dresses, plan a honeymoon and get invitations printed. Everything can start moving forward.

But not for us.

There's still a good chance K could be deployed to Iraq in late November. We won't know if that will happen until August. If he does get deployed, that obviously changes everything.

We'd immediately start looking for great deals to some nice place in Florida (K originally suggested Vegas, which was really more the idea one of his buddies, who I guess had discussed doing that with his fiance. I vetoed that plan. I can't get married in Vegas.). We'd have to throw plans together for what would hopefully be a nice, quiet ceremony on some fairly empty beach. It would likely be just us on such late notice. Hopefully my dad, his girlfriend and my brother would be able to make it at the least.

We'd have to push back all the reservations and plans we'd made to 2009, when K would get back from Iraq. That would become the new date we'd finally get to start our lives together.

If K doesn't get deployed, you'd think that means everything goes through as planned. Again, not for us.

As GFF can tell you all too well, the military loooooves to keep people waiting to find out what's in store for the next three years of their lives. See, K's time in lovely Louisiana is drawing to a close, which means he'll be reassigned to a new base. For all we know, he could be sent to Germany. (We're hoping for Colorado or Hawaii.) K will move to this new base in late December or January, which means we'll likely be super long distance for four or five months until our wedding. Awesome.

We're still going forward with all our plans, but there's no need to rush on any of them since we don't know if they'll stick. We'll at least nail down the reception site and church. As for the rest, I guess we'll just have things in mind or make sure florists, caterers and photographers know there's a chance things will be postponed. Maybe we'll design save-the-date magnets but not actually order them until August. Or maybe we won't even wind up with magnets at all.

It's a little frustrating to know decisions are being drawn out so much that could possibly affect the rest of my life. All I can do now to stay sane is just laugh about the fact that what I just knew would mean we could finally start planning our lives together has instead meant we have to plan for Scenario A, Scenario B and Scenario C.

To bling, or not to bling?

As you know, I enjoy my gym time. I've blogged more than a few times about it. My gym time is something I take very seriously.

I have several pet peeves at the gym. A few have to deal with what people wear while they're working out:

• I hate when girls wear sports bras with no shirts. What are you trying to accomplish?
• I also hate it when girls totally color coordinate their entire outfits -- down to their eyeshadow. Yes, eyeshadow. I've seen girls show up at the gym with teal shirts and a hint of teal eyeshadow to match. Is that eyeshadow going to help her do more crunches? And why did she put on makeup to go to the gym?
• I especially love it when girls wear big hoops or dangly earrings to the gym. How do you run on the treadmill like that? Can you honestly tell me your hair doesn't get caught in those things? I didn't think so ...

So as you can guess, I'm not big on wearing jewelry to the gym. It just doesn't go together. But now I find myself stuck on what to do.

I feel naked without my ring, and it's something I love to wear. The first time I went to the gym after K and I got engaged, I didn't wear it. I was going to be working out -- why did I need it?

The thing is, though, that I worry about it no matter where it is if it's not on my hand. What if someone broke into my apartment and stole it? What if I left the ring in my car and someone broke into it and stole it from there? What if I left it in a locker just while I'm working out and someone stole it from there?

The only place I feel safe leaving the ring (besides my finger) is my apartment. Even then, I worry a bit, and I still want it on my finger.

My band is platinum, so it isn't as easily damaged as gold. Any scratches could simply be buffed out. Besides, when I do any kind of lifting at the gym, I wear gloves so I don't have to worry about having calluses on my hands. Those would protect my ring.

I'm still stuck on what to do, though. So tell me -- do you wear your ring to the gym? And what about other places?

Do you take it off to shower or to put on lotion? Is it on when you're using hair gel or antibacterial hand cleaner? Do you swim with it on, or do you worry about the chlorine? Do you only take your ring off when you're cleaning it?

Any advice you have on the wearing of the ring would be greatly appreciated. I want this ring to be in tip-top shape for a long time. After all, I'm going to be wearing it for the rest of my life!

No one told me how much time it takes to get engaged!

Life has been nonstop since K and I got engaged. We drove home from Norman Sunday afternoon, and the two of us were on the phone almost the whole time. During the breaks between phone calls or text messages (the breaks, by the way, never lasted longer than 5 minutes), we'd get a bit of conversation in about what had happened. For the most part, though, we were talking to everyone else about our exciting news.

We got back to Dallas at around 5. We were both exhausted, but still really excited about being engaged. I was looking at the clock, dreading the fact that K would have to leave in a mere hour or two. I didn't want him to leave. I felt like we hadn't even really gotten to spend any time just the two of us since we'd officially agreed to spend the rest of our lives together.

We were lying on the couch when K leaned toward my table for a minute to pick up his phone. Without telling me what he was doing, he made a couple quick phone calls. He arranged for someone else to lead PT the next morning so he could stay the night in Dallas and head back first thing in the morning.

It was so nice to know that we didn't have to get ready to say goodbye that night. We went to the movies and saw Blades of Glory, which was pretty funny. Afterward, we came back to my place and got some things done that we needed to do. K did laundry, and I, like the great blogger friend I am, posted pictures so you all would be up to date on my news. :)

Work was hectic Monday, but when I had free time, I was reading the dozens of emails of congratulations, replying to emails and answering text messages. Today, work was slow, so I had plenty of time to respond to the many emails.

People keep asking me all these questions: When's the big day? Are you guys having an engagement party? Where's the wedding going to be?

What's funny is I've talked more with other people about these things than I have with K! I'm still getting used to all of this -- not that I'm not loving every minute of it.

I have a fiance. I am someone's fiance. That's crazy!

I've had a few people ask me if it feels weird to have the ring on my finger. It doesn't -- at all. In fact, it feels normal, like it's been there all along. Many times before I had it, I'd reach my thumb toward my ring finger, expecting something to be there. I guess I've been mentally engaged -- if that makes any sense -- for quite a while. It's just great that when K and I talk about future plans or a wedding now, we're talking about it because it's in the works, not because we're just chatting about some unknown, far-into-the-future event. I've been so ready to be here for so long that it almost doesn't feel real that it's finally happened.

K and I have decided we're spending this weekend here relaxing -- just the two of us. We have a lot to talk about, and with all the excitement and craziness that's been our lives the last two days, I think it's just what we need.