Monthly Archives: February 2010

Enjoyable Proposals - Scott and Nancy’s Story

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Nancy and Scott shared their wonderful-sounding wedding engagement that took place in the Caribbean, and we’re a tad jealous!

If you would like to share your wedding engagement too, email us.

Here’s Nancy and Scott’s story . . .


“Last February I took my then-boyfriend, Scott, to the Turks & Caicos. We traveled to one of the smaller islands, North Caicos, for a week’s vacation to celebrate his 50th birthday. After we arrived at our small hotel we enjoyed a delicious lobster dinner with a complimentary bottle of champagne that awaited us. After dinner we went for a walk on the completely empty, moonlit beach. It was so lovely. We walked about a quarter mile enjoying the sights and sounds of a tropical night before taking a seat on the beach. The moon was full, accompanied by Jupiter high in the sky. Scott took a moment to kneel down in front of me, pulled a jewelry box out of his pocket and said, ‘With Jupiter as my witness, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?’ Of course I said yes! And because the beach was empty, we stripped off our clothes off and baptized our union in the ocean right then and there. It was wonderful.

Our story is even more romantic than this, though. Scott and I were on the gymnastics team together in high school. He had a major crush on me. At the time, I told him that I ‘liked’ him, but I didn’t ‘like like’ him.

It took twenty-five years and an email out of the blue from me to him to get us together and realize that we’re soul mates. I’m a very lucky girl.”

Turtle Love Co. really loves Scott and Nancy’s story – the Turks & Caicos sounds especially great right about now (we got snow for the first time in a month yesterday and we’d forgotten how cold Maine winters it can be!)

Cool Rings in Real Life: Maggie’s “Space Diamond”

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We love the rings our new friends Maggie and Jorge chose to represent their love. They found a designer named Tamara McFarland who custom-made their sustainable, eco-friendly jewelry - a moissonite engagement ring and a wedding band with lab-created rubies.

Pictures used with permission from Tamara McFarland from McFarlandDesigns.com

Turtle Love Committee: What is your favorite place in the whole wide world?
Maggie: The beach. Any beach. Preferably one that occupies the same space as 80 degree weather!

TLC: Childhood ambition?
M: I had an opportunity to study abroad in Siberia when I was in high school. Ever since then I’ve been determined to see as much of the world as I possibly can.

TLC: Current ambition?
M: In one and a half years I’ll have completed my course of study for licensure in acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. My goal is to make Chinese medicine affordable and accessible to as many people as possible.

TLC: What would you do if you had a million dollars?
M: I’d pay off the student loans that my husband and I have accumulated over the course of almost twenty-five years of schooling. I’d also invest in organizations and institutions that are promoting health care accessibility, holistic care, and sustainable health care practices.

TLC: Who is your partner?
M: My partner is a healer, a gentleman, a hunk, a romantic, a comedian, a scholar and my husband.

TLC: How did you and your partner decide to get married?
M: We couldn’t imagine life without the other and we wanted to share our commitment with our friends and family.

TLC: What does your wedding/engagement/commitment ring look like?
M: They’re beautiful, simple, honest, ethical and eco-friendly! My engagement ring is a moissonite set in recycled sterling silver (moissonite is a stone that was originally discovered in a meteorite; it’s since been replicated in a lab and is similar in hardness to diamond) and we affectionately refer to it as my “space diamond!” My wedding ring is made with lab-created rubies also set in recycled sterling silver.

TLC: What do you think about your ring(s)?
M: When we knew we were going to get married we considered not exchanging rings at all (for a variety of reasons). It was challenging to find a local, eco-friendly jeweler, so we were pretty excited to discover Tamara McFarland’s work. She created a custom design based on our input and her style. I was so thrilled to have such a unique ring that really represented who we are as a couple.

TLC: What’s your favorite color?
M: This totally depends on the context, although pumpkin orange is always a safe bet.

TLC: Pets?
M: We live in a small apartment in San Francisco which doesn’t allow pets, but we’ve already named our future cat (Bubbles) and our future dog (Meatball).

TLC: What are you passionate about?
M: Healing. Travelling. Love. Baking. Lists (although I’m trying to wean myself from them). The beach. Creativity. Art Nouveau. Coconuts. Elvis.

TLC: What is the last book you read?
M: “The Time Traveller’s Wife” by Audrey Niffenegger.

TLC: Favorite beverage?
M: Coconut milk, hands-down!

TLC: What is your favorite physical feature?
M: I don’t have a favorite physical feature, but in terms of my personality, I’m grateful for my ability to see the positive aspects in any situation. I think I inherited that from my grandfather.

If you would like to tell us about your super cool ring for our blog, we would love to hear about it!

Feel free to email us!

Enjoyable Proposals - Elizabeth and Ed’s Story

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Here’s another unique engagement story!

If you would like to share your story too, email us!

Here is Elizabeth and Ed’s story . . .

“My husband and I fell in love on our first actual date. We lived in different cities and met on a chairlift at a ski mountain. On our second date, he asked me what my plans were for the summer (this was late April and he was a school teacher with summers off). I responded that I was headed to Tibet. ‘What are you doing?’ I asked in return. ‘If I have to go half way around the world to be with you,’ he answered, ‘then I guess that’s what I’m doing.’

Three months later he joined me on a two-week horse pack trip across the Eastern Tibetan plateau where he proposed to me on a mountaintop overlooking a monastery at around 14,000 feet. He had picked up a ring while we were en route through Hong Kong and kept it hidden in his saddle bag until the time was right, about half way through our trip. He was pretty nervous watching that saddle bag during one particularly deep river ford where the horses had to swim! The ring was too big so I did a ‘field dressing’ of duct tape around the inside so that I could wear it right away.

(This photo was taken in July, 1999, at about 12,000 feet on the eastern Tibetan plateau, to celebrate our engagement earlier that afternoon. Those are authentic Tibetan robes and finery - we were adorned by our Tibetan guide and his spouse in their own ornaments. On the hillside behind us is a sprawling Tibetan monastery and town.)”

What a glorious tale of true love! Elizabeth Yarnell is a cookbook author and natural health expert. She invented an earth-friendly, back-to-basics cooking method for one-pot meals (her technique layers whole foods into a Dutch oven and flash-cooks it all for a meal in 30-45 minutes). You can check out her website GloriousOnePotMeals.com!