Things. Big things.

So remember how last month I claimed nothing was happening? As was perhaps inevitable, suddenly EVERYTHING HAPPENED.

Thing 1: I had three job interviews in a span of two weeks, and got one job. A permanent job! This is possibly the second time in my life I've ever had a job with no contractual end-date.

Thing 2: I got my residence permit, so I'm legal to stay in this country for another two years. Huzzah! Other than the overwhelming sense of relief and joy, the best part is I have my passport back, so I can travel beyond these borders.



And as of today, we've been married for 6 months. Whahey! 2012 is coming together nicely.

checking out

Lately, I've just been getting on with it. Not in a negative or unhappy way, just... not in a very interesting way. I've been living, working, knitting, reading, doing things, but not as an active participant in the world. This isn't that unusual, and were I to define my life I could probably classify much of it as "just getting on with it." I just don't feel like I have much to share these days, even if I've actually been doing a lot.

But to reassure myself that I've actually been doing things, here are some things I have been doing:

Working almost full-time
This is excellent because it means getting paid in real money. Bonus points for being good experience for my supposed eventual career path. However, that particular assignment is over and I'm taking a bit of holiday this week, which is lovely.

Getting used to my new hair cut
It's been about a month since I had a large portion of my hair cut off and donated to Little Princess Trust to make wigs. This is the first time in years I've had bangs, and also the first time in years I've been to a hair dresser. Here's the before and after, dirty-mirror-style.





Watching many movies
This past weekend we went on a movie binge and rented The Artist, Cabin in the Woods, Iron Sky, and War Horse (which we had already seen in the cinema). The Cabin in the Woods was surprisingly enjoyable - I don't generally like horror films, but it's Joss Whedon and despite outward appearances it's not a standard horror film. Iron Sky is about moon Nazis. Enough said? Quite entertaining, as long as you're only expecting a B-movie. We also went to see Dredd 3D in the cinema. Neither of us are 3D fans so far, so we usually choose the regular 2d version, but this one has only been released in 3D. It was entertaining, but I still wasn't impressed with the use of 3D, to be honest.

Reading many books
At this last work assignment, there wasn't much for me to do a lot of the time, so I spent a lot of time checking the BBC website and reading books. I'm up to Volume 7 of Neil Gaiman's Sandman comic series, which I'm thoroughly enjoying.

Knitting
Finished some socks for my dear that I started on our honeymoon, took lots of photos that all turned out blurry, lost enthusiasm for blogging about the FO because it requires a second photo-shoot for some frankly boring manly ribbed socks. Maybe one of these days I'll get around to it. Just imagine some 4x1 ribbed forest-green socks in the mean time.

Working out
DH and I got gym memberships at the beginning of August, and I've been aiming for two or three times a week at the gym. I've never been that fitness-motivated, but it's good to get some exercise other than walking. We also bought some badminton racquets, so every few weeks we go whack birdies at each other and laugh hysterically at our own terrible badminton skills. Good fun.

Waiting for my visa to come through and trying not to freak out
Still. It's been 3 months. This whole thing is getting old, especially since I can't go anywhere since the UKBA has my passport (and my husband's). Unfortunately, it looks like people on the internet who applied for their visas months before I did still haven't got theirs... so I may be in for an even longer wait. If you ever need a UK spouse visa / leave to remain and are applying from within the UK, may I suggest coughing up the hideous fee for premium service and getting it done in person? I should have done that, but it's such a cash grab to begin with that I couldn't stomach paying even more, and I'd never had to wait long to visas when I applied from Canada, so I didn't think it was going to be an issue.

Applying for jobs
I've got an interview for a permanent job next week that I'm pretty excited about, other than the whole "I still don't have a visa" awkwardness. All I can do is tell the truth, but if it disqualifies me I'm going to be rather peeved.

That's about it... I hope you've all been having fun and doing more interesting things than I have!

Festivities

Yesterday the Olympic torch relay came to Edinburgh.



We caught up with it in town. I'm ashamed to say I haven't a clue who the torchbearer we saw is. But everyone was pretty enthusiastic, with even the motorcyle cops that preceded and followed the procession arousing huge cheers.

What you don't see on the BBC torch-feed are all the sponsorship buses that head up the procession. It was a bit weird seeing these buses with cheerleaders standing up top, and people walking beside to hand out promotional goods... all this took probably twice the amount of time the torch was actually in view.



Most of my pictures are pretty terrible and blurry, or have other people's body parts obstructing the frame. However, I quite like this one I accidentally captured, with the reflection on one of the torch buses.

Glorious

It's summer here! We've been enjoying the beautiful sunny weather the last few days, especially given the unpredictable nature of weather here. This may be the only summer we get, so I feel obligated to experience it to the fullest. This means exposed limbs, sunscreen, iced coffee / tea, windows thrown open wide... and picnics!

Yesterday, we cycled up through Holyrood Park, and spent the afternoon picnicking on the grassy slopes.



One of the best things about Edinburgh is the possibility to escape to the hills right in the middle of the city. The gorse is blooming brightly, ducks and swans abound, and we even saw a kestrel hovering, on the lookout for rodents / lunch. (But didn't get any photos of it. Ah well).



I've gone for walks here many times, and fancy myself quite capable on the hiking front, but this is the first time I've cycled up - apparently my cycling muscles are non-existent! (Seeing as I can't remember the last time I rode my bike, this shouldn't be surprising. Still, it was difficult.) In any case, the outing forced me to make sure my bike was still roadworthy, so next time I take it out there will be less work to do. I'm hoping this is an incentive to bike more often.

something to show

I've regressed into hermitude since my Christmas job ended a month ago, and have been unable or unwilling to come up with some kind of constructive routine. Basically, I've been sleeping, playing with GoodReads, reading, knitting, eating, watching Sherlock, washing and de-pilling my handknits, and spending enough time on Pinterest that I learned how to make a sock bun. Is it any wonder society finds me unemployable? Perhaps not. So I did have two days of casual work, which is better than none. And I have a job interview tomorrow that I've been studying for. If I think about it, I have been doing things - but imagine what I could have accomplished if I actually kept myself busy. My goal this week will be to do more than one productive thing every day :P

As it turns out, now is the time to do all the wedding things, so I've been working on that. Meeting the caterers, tasting food, ordering rings, tracking down essential bits of important paperwork in various languages - sounds more complicated than it was, thankfully. In addition to my shawl, which I'm knitting away at slowly, I've made some flowers for my hair. They need attachment to clips of some variety, but I'll figure it out. I followed this tutorial, and I'm pleased with how they turned out.



I also bought some wedding shoes, finally. I think they are kind of cute.



So. Progress.

not good enough

The last little while, every time I go to blog I end up wanting to vent dissatisfaction and frustration, so rather than fill this space with more negativity, I haven't posted. This blog is a personal blog as well as a crafty one, so I don't feel the need to keep my feelings and personality out of it as a rule. That said, when my thoughts are tending towards self-loathing rather than my usual cheerfully sarcastic look at my own faults, I stop and try not to flood the blog with it. I figure, nobody else wants to read that, and I'm not sure it even helps my state of mind to air it. On the off-chance it does help, and because I'm tired of censoring myself right now, here are some scattered thoughts.

It's a bad time to be mediocre, if there ever was a good time for it. I'm generally okay with my own failings, and treat them with the aforementioned cheerful sarcasm. I've never needed or wanted to be The Best at anything, objectively. I am good at many things, and as my blog title implies, I think I'm good enough at most things I work hard at; however, good enough isn't good enough right now.

On the other hand, I have generally had success in life so far, possibly due to privilege, possibly due to family support, possibly due to factors beyond my control, possibly due to my own skills. I think this is why my constant failure to get paid employment hurts me so much, other than the obvious financial burden of being unemployed. Perhaps I have some misplaced sense of entitlement; I've always been passably good at things, and even successful at them, so why can't I get hired now? Why do I suddenly have to be the very best? I have never failed so consistently in my life, and it doesn't feel great. I can hope that my experiences now will serve to kill that sense of entitlement so I can look on my situation more objectively and maybe make some changes for the better. I'm becoming increasingly convinced that I am far from good enough at the things that matter right now, i.e. being employable. The standard of good enough has gone up. There are so many people out of work that only the most brilliant get noticed. I resent that I have to exaggerate my good points to prove myself to faceless companies that proceed to ignore me anyway. I resent that none of the things I've tried so far have worked. Although I know there will always be more things to try and other avenues to explore, I resent that I have to pursue all those other routes. I am tired of trying, even though I haven't tried all the things. Resentment isn't helpful or rational, but it is still clinging to me as my dominant feeling through this process.

I had a job interview last week, a phone interview yesterday, and I'm going to an assessment centre this afternoon - more responses to my job applications than I've had in a while. This has to be a good thing, and I'm trying to be excited about it. Even a minimum wage retail seasonal Christmas job would be awesome. However, it's hard to stay enthusiastic about pretending to be the best when so few positives seem to come through at the end.

run run ran

You'd be forgiven for suspecting that my conspicuous silence of the topic of running means I've given up.

Not so! Although a took some time off running during August while spending all day at the fringe festival, I haven't given up. In fact, I'm inclined to say I've succeeded. That may be premature - I won't do the final workout of the Couch to 5K until Wednesday, going by my current schedule, but I've made it to 30 minutes of non-stop running. If you can call my slow shuffling jog "running." Never mind. I'm pleased with myself for getting this far, even though I still have to force myself to go running.



I had a break through of sorts with my brain, which has helped my progress. My brain (or my shoulder devil, or whatever) likes to tell me I'm too tired to continue, that I've run far enough for one day, and various other discouraging things as I huff and puff along. The realisation that I ran for X minutes two days before, and can therefore do it again today has really helped me fend off the discouraging thoughts. It's just a tiny, simple fact, but somehow it was a breakthrough. Ah, I like outsmarting my brain.

Now that I can run for 30 minutes, I need to figure out how far I'm actually going in that time - I suspect it isn't as far as 5K given the aforementioned slow shuffle. From there, I'll have to start setting new goals. First step will be trying to achieve a 30-min 5K, if it turns out my 30 minute run isn't already 5K. I'm also thinking about adding some hill training to my workouts, since my current route is fairly flat. Onwards and upwards!

August

August in Edinburgh - the streets fill with madness! Especially the Royal Mile, which becomes Fringe Festival headquarters, but there are Fringe venues all over town. I've spent quite a bit of time in the last two weeks watching buskers, collecting flyers, and dodging performance artists. I think I've seen over 20 shows so far - some free, some ticketed; some brilliant, some terrible, and everything in between. The atmosphere is wild out there. It's good fun, but exhausting!

I realized that I hadn't taken any pictures of the madness, so I went down for a little while today. Here's a little taste. Imagine you're stuck in slow-moving crowds, while people in weird costumes keep trying to hand you leaflets.

(I even have some knitting progress to show, but more on that soon!)









Sounds like my kind of party...

water under the bridge

After the unpleasantness during Week 5 of the Couch to 5k, I took a break for a few days, and started Week 5 all over again. I need those days off to get over my mental obstructions to the idea of running that being taunted by assholes created, and it helped. I also changed my running route - it's a little less convenient to get to, but it works so far... I used to use the 5 minute walk built into the training programme to get to a running place where there would be no traffic obstructions. Now, it takes more than a 5 minute walk, or I run to the park trying to time the walking segments to land when I reach stop lights.

The second time around, Week 5 felt good. I'm proud of myself for managing to do the third workout--20 minutes straight jogging with no walking rests--without cheating. I suspect that even when I manage to run for 30 minutes (hopefully in a few weeks), I won't be running 5k, however; I run really slowly. Sometimes I suspect I can walk faster than I run. Still, once I get to that point, I'll try to figure out exactly how far I run in 30 minutes, and work to 5k from there.

My new route involves more populated areas, and at this time of year, that means tourists. Many people bemoan tourist season, out of snobbery or dislike of crowds, or something else entirely. I don't hate tourists. If anything, I think the city can only do well if it attracts visitors. This is a great city, and it wouldn't be nice not to share it with others! When I moved here last August, I felt like a tourist most of the time, and I still don't necessarily feel like a local. But now when I get stopped in the street for directions by someone saying "Excuse me, are you from here?" I have to say yes. It keeps happening. I was astounded that last week during one workout I got stopped twice, and the next time I got stopped once. I must look extra friendly, even when I'm panting, sweaty, and red-faced. Haha.



Part of 6 Times by Antony Gormley on the Water of Leith


I always feel awkward when people ask me for directions, since I'm terrible at explaining how to get places. I have no sense of direction at all. When I'm trying to get somewhere I rely obsessively on a map (and still sometimes walk in the wrong direction), and do a lot of wandering around until I find what I'm looking for. Tourists be warned! I may accidently misdirect you.

People are Jerks; or, Running Update

I know I've been venting a lot of negativity around here lately, which isn't exactly super fun. I hope isn't driving people away! I promise there will be more sunshine and rainbows next week. (Or at least, more knitting.) But I had an experience yesterday that I feel I have to talk about somewhere, so excuse me while I get a little introspective/rantypants/outraged feminist once more.

Running-wise, Week 5 has been going really well. After the physical difficulty of Week 4, I was pleasantly surprised to find I enjoyed the first workout of Week 5. Maybe I've found a good pace, or last week was a hump I had to get over. Maybe Week 6 will be really difficult again. I don't know. I'm trying to hold onto how good I felt while doing the first two workouts of Week 5, because at the end of my run yesterday something happened that soured the whole running experience. I'm supposed to go running tomorrow, and I shouldn't let myself quit over one thing, but everything irrational in me is telling me not to go out tomorrow.

I usually run on a busy bike path. Whenever I've been out, there are people walking their dogs, riding bikes, pushing strollers, sitting on benches reading, and running. Although I wouldn't want to be alone there at night, during the day it's not very isolated and I've never felt uncomfortable or unsafe.

Yesterday, towards the end of my workout, I passed a group of teenaged boys. The two I passed were on foot, and one was on a bike up ahead. As I passed them I heard one of them say something inappropriate. I ignored it, not sure I'd heard correctly, not sure it was even directed at me, and kept going. Because I was walking at this point, I wasn't going much faster than they were, so they remained not far behind me.

It soon became clear that they were talking about me. They exchanged lewd remarks about my body, calling out to make sure I heard them. They started singing an out-of-tune parody of a pop song, with the lyrics changed to refer to my various body parts. They called back their friend on the bicycle, saying "Come here, I want to show you something," and as he cycled back towards them, "What do you think of the *insert lewd comment here* on that one?" All three of them took up the chorus again. The one on the bike came back and circled me, addressing me directly with his taunts.

I thought about starting to run again to get away from them more quickly, but I didn't want them to think I was feeling nervous or threatened - I worried they might give chase. So I did not respond, made up scathing retorts in my head that I would never say, and kept walking as they hurled abuse.

Eventually, I passed a couple with a dog going the opposite way, and I think the assholes fell back a bit. They started their harassment at a point when the four of us were alone, and nobody else was in earshot. Once more people appeared, they no longer called out to me. I'm not sure exactly when they stopped following me, since I didn't look behind me - I didn't want to acknowledge their presence. They had stopped by the time I left the bike path, and I made sure they didn't follow me home.

As sexual harassment goes, this was pretty mild, but it ruined my day and my workout, and I'm not feeling at all enthusiastic about going running tomorrow. When the cyclist was circling me and the two losers behind me were taunting, I felt the tiniest approximation of what it might feel like to be swarmed. There were only three of them, after all, but three idiot teenagers together will do more than one idiot teenager alone. I find myself completely unable to relate to people like that. What makes them think it's okay to ridicule other people?

I am not ashamed of my body, and I don't want to give anyone else the satisfaction of making me feel uncomfortable, but the whole situation left me a bit rattled.

I will probably run somewhere else if I go tomorrow. At the beginning of this exercise, I wanted to convince myself that running was an enjoyable and worthy activity. Just when I was starting to enjoy the exercise part, some losers came and made it suck. I hope I can make it good again.

Escape

I've become a bit of a homebody lately, and my unemployment has encouraged some bad habits. I find it all too easy to slip into a hermit-like existence, especially when life is being discouraging. My typical days consist of sleeping in longer than I should, reading, knitting, fooling around on the internet, housework stuff, job applications, drinking tea, and eating - not necessarily in that order. I go out in order to run, get groceries, distribute CVs, go to the library, and do volunteer work, but I don't seem to do much wandering around town these days. When I do wander, I usually discover things I haven't noticed before.

Awesome doors I've passed many times, but never really focused on until yesterday

This week there's some construction happening outside that involves drilling, machines, and pounding crap into the ground from 8:30 am until past 5:30 pm. I don't know what they are doing, but the constant almost-rhythmic thumping sets my teeth on edge and makes it difficult to concentrate. It's driving me mad. I feel like an Edgar Allan Poe character. At least it gets me out of bed early and makes me anxious to get the hell out of the flat and far away from the din.

It's good to get out more. I might as well... I have plenty of time to waste - better to wander around outside than spend it looking at photos of people I don't care about on facebook. I know hiding from the world won't get me anywhere, but sometimes it takes horribly noisy builders to drive me outside and remember that.

Week 4

I'm on week 4 of the Couch to 5k running program. This week, the amount of time spent jogging in each workout is longer than the walking time. No surprise that this week has been physically the hardest for me so far. I take this as a sign that I'm making progress - I've moved out of my comfort zone, into hard work.



I read with interest your comments and advice about distracting my brain while running. Several of your suggested I keep track of distances rather than times. It's a good idea, but here's why I'm not doing that.

I have a way of keeping track of the time precisely, but I don't have a good way of keeping track of distances, except in general terms, since I don't run on a track and there aren't many distance sign posts. I've found that estimating distances makes me more likely to cheat - "Oh, this is about 400 m..." *shifty eyes* .

So instead, as a compromise between checking time and checking distances, I've started only checking my watch when I reach certain landmarks along the way. This is kind of a roundabout way of keeping track of things, but so far it keeps my brain occupied, which is the important thing.

Year One

July 6th, 2010, I got off the plane at Gatwick airport, collected my one suitcase stuffed full of my material possessions, and set out for a great adventure. After three years only seeing my dear for 2 weeks every 4-6 months, I crossed the pond to be with him full-time. With a shiny new MLIS in tow, I thought I was ready to start my career in a new place.

Photo from last summer in Exeter

I love living in Edinburgh. I like wandering around the picturesque parts of town taking pictures. I love living with my love and seeing him every day. I love our flat and its location. I like my volunteer work, and the people I meet.

Getting off that plane last July, I'm fairly sure it never occurred to me that I'd still be unemployed a year later and looking for any work, any work at all, who cares about libraries. (Okay, I'll shut up about being foreign and jobless. Or maybe I won't. This is my blog, after all). Then again, I also didn't expect to be planning a wedding by this point, either. Surprises all around! I've got another job interview today - how fitting if I finally get hired just over a year after arriving. Fingers crossed.

The last year has been a pretty great adventure. Although I've settled into routines and don't go exploring as much, I'm still having adventures.

More knitting soon, I promise.

cool running

I've started running again using the Couch to 5k training plan. A few years ago I tried this plan, and it worked pretty well to a point. For various reasons, I didn't manage to get to 5K or stick with it that time, but I'm hoping this time I'll do better. There are some lovely places to run around here, and the climate is such that I should be able to run year-round... if I have the right attitude.

A picture from the spring - those are petals, not snowflakes.

As of tomorrow, I'll be on Week 3 of 9. So far so good, but since I failed somewhere around Week 6 last time I tried, I'm preparing myself for the difficulties ahead. Although I'm not in the greatest shape, my biggest problem when running is mental. The first few weeks of this training plan alternate running for a short time with walking for a short time - figuring out when to start running and when to start walking gives my brain something to do. I think it even distracts me from the fact that I'm exercising. I can handle checking my watch ever two minutes or so, to know when to switch.

Where I get into trouble is running for 8 or 10 minutes at a stretch. There is no need to check my watch every 2 minutes, and doing so becomes a bit depressing: oh, still another 7 minutes to go. I begin to feel like I'm too tired to continue, although I suspect if I wasn't thinking about how long I still had to go, I wouldn't feel so tired. So. I need some way of distracting myself in the coming weeks.

The obvious answer is an mp3 player of some variety. I'm resisting that solution because I don't have one (GASP), and in the past (discman era)didn't really enjoy having music piped straight into my ears. I find it disorients me for some reason. Also, I never had much luck with earbuds staying in when I was bouncing around.

Any suggestions?

Zoom

Dramatic skies over Edinburgh today. Everything turned steel-gray, and then the Red Arrows showed up.



I was too busy watching to get many photos, but you get the idea!

future

It's hard to believe that in less than a year, I'll be getting married under these trees!

Don't worry, this isn't going to become a wedding blog, but I might babble about my wedding knitting when I get that figured out. I suspect the fact that I'm more excited about knitting a wedding shawl than finding a dress marks me as an obsessive knitter.

living in a Victorian Christmas card?

As predicted, we got dumped on again last night, and the snow is approaching Canadian proportions. Ah, makes me nostalgic. Despite all the white, it wasn't too cold out. A jaunt up Calton Hill was in order, and snowballs were thrown.


Arthur's Seat really looks like a proper mountain in this weather!




These views make me feel like I'm in a Christmas card.

I didn't build this guy, but it is by far the best snow person I've ever seen. An unfortunate waste of fruit and vegetables though.

Canadiana

It's snowing in Edinburgh right now, but I have something else reminding me of home as well. In the parcel I mentioned yesterday, there was also a bit of Canadiana in the form of fancy tea towels.



Apologies for the horrible flash.

Now I can dry my hands on a bit of home / some moose and bears. And deck chairs. Alright! Haha. I wonder who got to pick the iconic images of Canada and decided that deck chairs were it.

Silly but lovely. The other tea towels my mom sent are beautiful Haida-inspired designs that are too pretty for hand wiping, so I'm not sure what I'll do with them.

winner!

I popped over to Cravings and saw that I'd won her giveaway. Faye was giving away some upcycled jewelry. Sweet! I've never won a blog giveaway before, and I'm super excited. I'll take pictures once it arrives. Thanks, Faye!

This has been a day of fail on some accounts for both me and my fiancé so it was awesome to have a bit of fun excitement.

Here's the fail:
-When I made my cup of tea this morning, the milk came out chunky. Bleh.
-I spent most of the day shopping for interview clothes and came up with nothing. Would it kill someone to carry simple unfashion-y blouses?
-fiancé got a flat tire on his bike and had to walk the bike home from work
-he got home two hours ago and has been trying to fix it ever since, but more things keep breaking.
-I think our bike pump is busted.

On the plus side, I made (hopefully delicious) chili and I'm going to go eat it now. Excusing the moaning - I hope everyone else had a fun day :)

Getting personal; or, i can haz sparkles

Sometimes I'm not sure what I should or shouldn't be posting up here. Ostensibly, this is a knitting/crafting blog, but since I have infrequent FOs, I turn to other things. Right now things are happening in my life, and I've decided to talk about them. Warning: no crafty goodness ahead, only personal life stuff.

Here it goes.

I finally have a job interview after months of applications. Yes! I'll try not to mess up.

Also, Prince William stole my thunder. Which is fine, you know, since I never wanted thunder in the first place.

On bonfire night (November 5th), our 4th anniversary, the boyfriend and I got engaged. I'm slowly getting used to referring to him as my fiancé, instead of boyfriend, but I still slip up. I didn't expect to get engaged this year, nor did I expect to wear an engagement ring, since I've never been a ring-wearer. It was important to my fiancé that I get an engagement ring, and he really wanted to buy one for me, so I agreed; I asked, but he didn't want one for himself.

Shopping for an engagement ring was possibly the most awkward shopping experience of my life. That's saying something, since I am not a very good shopper at the best of times. So much shiny/sparkly/expensive madness. For someone who says "ooooh shiny" relatively frequently, I'm not actually that attracted to the bling, so I spent quite a while trying to get my head around what I was seeing and why it depressed me when I should have been excited.

It took me a while to be able to express it, but nothing I saw at first was at all "me." I've always felt diamonds are a bit overrated. No offence to those that love them, but they aren't my style at all. Diamonds are such a big part of the wedding industry culture, and that's unfortunate. I tried on solitaire after solitaire at the urging of salespeople and my fiancé, who I think was a little dismayed at my attitude at first. I just couldn't see myself wearing them. He was getting stressed out that the process was taking a long time - he thought it would be a matter of in and out super quickly. I was getting stressed that my style isn't represented in the typical jewelry store offerings.



I like colour. I thought my ideal ring, if I had one at all, would have a coloured stone and no diamonds. Such things don't exist at High Street shops, so we compromised. I know there are many independent jewelry designers who produce non-traditional engagement rings, and after our first day of looking I sought some out, but in then end it was easier, more affordable, less stressful, and more satisfying to both of us to go with a compromise. Since I wasn't even sure about having an engagement ring to begin with, it didn't make sense to me to break the bank for one, and go through a long, drawn-out, stressful process to get it.

So, my ring has a coloured stone: tanzanite, a lovely periwinkle blue/purple oval that sparkles but is small and subtle. It also has two teeny diamonds that I think are unnecessary, but I don't mind them so much. I think it's pretty. I'm happy and excited about it. I've only had it a few days, and I like it even more the more I wear it. Still, part of me wishes that the industry I unwittingly encountered would recognize that rings can still be special even if they don't have diamonds.