I’m getting married!!

Recently, my boyfriend of four years asked me to marry him, and I am thrilled to say I accepted. My girlfriends told me one of the ways to tell if your fiancé really knows you is if he picks out a ring you love and totally would wear. According to them, if he ends up picking something you hate, thinking you’ll love it, perhaps you should reconsider before saying yes.

classy tungsten rings
Luckily I didn’t have to base my decision on something as seemingly ridiculous as the style or size of the engagement ring. I am now donning a beautiful platinum ring with a princess cut diamond. I love moving my ring finger and watching the diamond sparkle in the sunlight.

My fiancé obviously knew me extremely well because I have always told him how much I love platinum rings. Something about the color of the metal somehow makes it so much more interesting to look at and wear than a simple gold or silver band. And the quality of platinum is unmatched. It is no wonder platinum is so popular!

Now, we are planning our wedding and looking at many different styles of wedding bands to give to each other on that special day. I feel already very lucky and spoiled to have such a beautiful ring on my finger, but now we are looking into getting tungsten wedding bands, at least for my future husband.
Tungsten is a great metal for men to use because it is noticeably heavier than gold or silver, so it feels hefty and weighted. Instead of having a dainty coil of gold around his finger, tungsten is a much better choice. Additionally, the prices of gold, white gold, and platinum have all been on the rise in the past few years. Meanwhile, tungsten wedding bands remain a very viable option that won’t break your bank in this tough economy.

Another reason we like tungsten for the metal to be used for our wedding rings is that it is extremely strong. This means it is much harder to cause damage, corrosion, or wear on the band. Gold and silver tarnish so much easier, and the rings require almost constant maintenance and repair to keep them looking their best. Think about how often you use your hands, and how dirty they can get. You don’t want your ring to be damaged at all simply from normal, every day use. The strength of the material also means that the metal is extremely resistance to scratches, dings, and dents that would normally be caused by daily wear and tear.

We are still months away from the wedding and have plenty of time to decide on what rings we want to wear. We don’t want to rush the decision because, after all, our plan is to be wearing these rings for the rest of our lives. However the first choice right now definitely seems to be a set of wedding bands made out of tungsten. It seems like with tungsten we just can’t go wrong.

Avoid new years resolutions and start eating better today!

The end of the year is quickly approaching, and I know many of you are probably going to create a list of resolutions to work on as soon as January 1st hits on the calendar. I don’t know about you but at least when I was younger my resolutions always included drinking less alcohol, smoking fewer cigarettes (or quitting altogether), and losing weight. Now that I’m older I have mostly lost hope that I will ever quit smoking cigarettes or drinking a beer or two every night when I get off work, but I was able to lose weight a few years ago. I’m sure there is a large proportion of you out there who want to lose weight in the coming year, whether just dropping the added pounds you put on during Thanksgiving and Christmas, or making a substantial change to your life.

Track your results carefully.

Several years ago I worked really hard for several months straight and I lost about forty pounds in the entire year. I got into the best shape of my life and I looked and felt great. My cholesterol levels dropped, as did my blood pressure. I was spending less money on groceries because my appetite decreased in size, and I was getting hit on at bars way more often. Life was great!

That year and for the next couple of years after I was always asked about how I finally did it. Everyone wanted to know what my secret was. The truth is, there really is no secret to it. All you have to do is watch what you eat. It doesn’t mean going crazy and cutting out anything that has an ounce of fat, sugar, or carbohydrates in it. Instead, the lesson to learn here is one of moderation. Eat plenty of vegetables and proteins, and help yourself to dessert, a glass of wine, or french fries once in a while. You don’t need to be eating all three of those things every day.
The other tip to focus on is exercising. This doesn’t mean killing yourself for three hours at the gym every day. It means just making small changes to your daily routine: walking to the store four blocks away instead of driving; taking the stairs to your apartment instead of the elevator; and making sure you sweat or get your heart rate up a few times a week.

Finally, use a weight loss calculator. It doesn’t seem like it would really make a difference after changing the way you think about diet and exercise, but it definitely helped me keep on track with my weight loss and also not feel like everything was lost if I didn’t eat right for a day. If you follow these tips it really shouldn’t be that difficult to lose those extra pounds next year. And in all honesty, the best idea is probably not to wait until January 1st to get started on these goals. Everything you see here can be done on a daily basis starting today, so don’t put it off any longer. Also take a look at this Youtube vid for some other handy advice on diet and fat loss:

Frequently Asked Questions About Solar Power

I am a big proponent of reducing carbon emissions by using green energy sources, and clearly the best way of generating green power at home is using solar power. However there are still many misconceptions about solar power and solar panels so here are some of the most common questions I get from friends and family on the topic:

Q1: How do solar panels work anyway? How does light turn into electricity?

Answer: Sunlight is turned into electricity by solar panels using a process called photovoltaics. Special substances in the panels such as different forms of silicon produce a voltage when they are exposed to light from the sun. Solar panels include enough of these substances in one area so that the voltage produced is sufficient to power electrical devices in your home!

How does solar power work

Q2: If I use solar panels in my garden will they steal the sunlight from my plants?

Answer: No absolutely not. The only way using solar panels in a garden would reduce the light reaching your plants is if they are placed directly over plants and blocking the sunlight directly from reaching them. Anyway, the best place for your panels is on your roof where they are mostly out of sight and get maximum exposure to the sun because there is nothing around them to cast a shadow over the panels.

Q3: Doesnt the carbon footprint from manufacturing solar panels cancel out any advantaged gained by using them to produce power?

Answer: Not necessarily. Production methods are always improving and the modern high tech methods used to manufacture panels has reduced the time taken to offset the carbon generated by producing the panel with the clean source of power produced by the panel down to under four years. So if you are using panels for 10 or more years to power your home your net carbon footprint is far lower than without using solar power.

Install your own solar panels

Q4: Isnt it too expensive to set up enough solar panels to power my home?

There are ways to keep the cost down if you want to start producing your own clean energy at home. For example, if you are interesting in learning how to make solar panels it is actually pretty straightforward to do most of the work yourself. Some people setup up solar systems that generate good clean energy from the sun for only a few hundred dollars – it is possible to get involved in solar power without spending lots of cash or needing to be a rocket scientist.

So hopefully that clears up some issues for people on the fence about jumping on the solar power bandwagon – stop think about it just get going and do it, the planet will thank you.