Man Jewelry: A Qalo Ring Review by HH

Hello, again, Stress Case readers, Handsome Husband here!

My friend started a company called QALO (pronounced “Kay-low”) not too long ago and the idea behind it is pretty great. The company sells wedding bands for people with an active lifestyle. The wedding bands they sell are made of a thick silicon material that makes it soft, flexible, and very comfortable to wear. They come in three different colors (so far!) including black, slate grey, and cobalt blue (my favorite). I also like the slate grey color because it is quite similar in color to my actual wedding band.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that this silicon wedding band has completely replaced my tungsten wedding band that Casey put on my finger on our wedding day (she’d kill me if that were that case). The QALO ring is, however, perfect for a lot of activities that I personally would typically not wear my wedding band while doing. My wife and friends can tell you all firsthand that I do not wear my wedding ring into the gym when I would work out, which used to be almost everyday (I need to get back to that routine but I digress). The reason for this is that tungsten cannot be polished so I don’t want to scratch my wedding band from the metal on metal contact with the weights. Also, I tend to take it off when I go for long runs, take showers, and even when I sleep. Now, I wear the QALO ring when I do all these things because it is ultra light weight and very comfortable; so comfortable I seriously forget I’m wearing it sometimes.

Plus, how many of you women reading this would prefer that your hubby is wearing at least some sort of ring on his finger when he’s doing activities where he might normally take his ring off? This would include any sports, any activities like swimming or surfing, or anything else predominantly involving the use of your hands and the potential for damage to your hubs’ wedding band. Some of you might say that your husband never takes his ring off under any circumstances, and that’s great! More power to him! But, if he happens to have a tungsten ring that cannot be cleaned or polished, does it still look like it did when it was brand new? Or, if he has a very expensive ring, it would suck to lose it while swimming or something like that. With the QALO ring, you can take the wedding band off sometimes and keep it safe and in great condition while still having a band on that ring finger.

My cousin just told me a story a few weeks ago about how he broke his tungsten ring at work recently. He was reaching for a box on shelf up high in the warehouse and his ring got caught on the edge, came off his finger, and fell to the ground breaking in two upon impact. If he were wearing a QALO ring, that would not have happened and he’d still have his original wedding band that he got from his wife on his wedding day (of course, his tungsten band was looking a bit dirty after having worked out with it on and not a QALO ring. To his defense, they weren’t around yet then).

Additionally, for you ladies who are thinking “hey this sounds great and all but my husband doesn’t need it as much as I need it so I can keep this big rock safe,” worry no more! They just released a line of women’s bands. The pros of you beautiful ladies wearing a QALO ring instead of your huge engagement and/or wedding rings during some activities are obvious. No one wants to lose a diamond. Ever.

Finally, these rings are only $20 each and the company donates 10% of its annual profits to Lupus research. Who doesn’t love a company that provides a great product and gives back?

Anyways, enough of my raving about these guys. To learn more about QALO rings and about who the company is, check out their website at www.qaloring.com, and you can check out their Facebook page for updates HERE.

I want to thank my old buddy over at QALO for providing me with this awesome ring (he actually went above and beyond and gave me all the colors!), and introducing me to his very cool new venture.

HH was given this Qalo wedding ring from QALO for review.  All words and opinions are his alone.

What HH Has to Say About Me

When one of my all-time favorite bloggers, Becky, posted about her idea to host a link-up where our loved ones would come and share random facts about us, I immediately ran to Handsome Husband to ask if he would write tell him he'd be writing yet another guest post on the old Stress Case blog.  You can check out other posts HH has written HERE and HERE.  Spoiler alert: he has another one in the works!  Now check out the following rando facts about me from HH (with my comments in bold, y'all know I can't keep completely quiet about this!).

Want to know something random about Stress Case?

She doesn’t like nuts.

...

get your mind out of the gutter.

She does this thing where she gets really annoyed and upset that she can’t find something (like a certain clothing item, etc.) and yells at me as to its whereabouts without having even actually looked for it yet. After years of experience, I now do not answer her yells. Instead, I pause for a few seconds and listen intently. After about 3-5 seconds, I hear “OH! NEVERMIND! FOUND IT!”  Such a false accusation...I've totally looked for at least 30 seconds before hollering about it!

She likes to come up with fun catch phrases or names that she’ll say for a little while and then never say ever again (like “you little minx!”).

She likes to mess with me while I brush my teeth, presumably because in those 4 minutes (who brushes their teeth for four minutes?), I am helpless and cannot defend myself against her attacks.  My favorite is to spray him with my perfume!

She likes to do funny dances and make up silly songs and then make me repeat that same dance or song OR do the dance or song (sometimes both at the same time) with her. And I, of course, oblige her.  I, too, sometimes do that to her.  It usually starts with one of us doing or saying something ridiculous and then immediately telling the other “yeahhhhh do it!” or “yeahhhhhh say it!!”.

She will only see movies that meet her specific movie criteria. I’ll let her elaborate on what exactly that criteria is.  To name a few Casey-approved categories: Sports Movies, Rom Coms, Based on a True Story...who needs something that doesn't fit into those categories?

She sleeps like a rock. Literally, the woman could sleep through an apocalypse.

When she cooks, she likes to play a game with her self where she tries to see just how many dishes in the kitchen she can possibly use to prepare each meal. Being that I do the dishes, I LOVE that freakin game. There are never too many dishes to wash.  Can't help that I make gourmet dishes and that requires lots of dishes! 

After this recent tax season, she turned into a Libertarian.  I guess HH forgot that I don't talk politics!

She will not, under any circumstances, switch ‘sides of the bed’ with me, ever. Sometimes I want to experience the other side of the bed for just one night but nope. Not. Happening.

Kind of like the teeth-brushing scenario, she likes to wrestle and roughhouse with me literally seconds after I tell her I’m going to sleep.

The best part about all of this is that I think all of these little fun facts about my wife make her a hilarious person to be around at all times.  That’s why I love her (well, at least that’s one of the reasons)!  The sweetest Hubs there ever could be, I'm one lucky weirdo! 

  

Heartfelt Happenings

Come by Tutor Girl's blog, Heartfelt Happenings, this morning for a BIG announcement I was honored to be making for the "Heartfelt" family!

The Proposal: A Guest Post by Handsome Husband!

First, I’d like to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CASEY!!! I can’t believe it’s already the fourth anniversary of your 21^st birthday; time flies! Anyways, I hope you have a wonderful day!!

 So…the proposal. Where do I begin?

 I bought the engagement ring at Robbins Bros about a week before I planned to propose. I had driven up to Orange County for the day (somehow without Casey) and had a great alibi already planned out for the inevitable “what did you do today?” question that I was so sure Casey would ask (and she did. And she believed my answer).

Anyways, some of you might be thinking “why did you buy the ring at Robbins Bros, HH?” or “their rings are overpriced!” Well, at the time, we had a friend by the name of Twin Unicorn who was working at Robbins Bros. Not only did she make the ring buying process was less stressful but she was also able to hook me up with a discount!! Side note: Casey had already went in to Robbins Bros a few months before to check out some different ring styles so as to make sure that when I did buy her an engagement ring, it was one that she would like. Based on how well you know her from reading this blog, are you surprised?

Neither was I.

Back to the story. I got the ring. I drove over to my grandparents house and said “hey guys! Here’s an engagement ring I just bought because I’m proposing to Casey soon so can you hide it for me until I need it? Kthanksbye!” No, it was actually a little nicer than that, plus they were expecting me so it wasn’t SHOCKING news to them. After the ring was in its hiding spot, I returned to sunny San Diego.

The date was Saturday, April 4, 2009 and Casey and I were at a park celebrating my cousin’s daughter’s first birthday (Cousin Teeny Girl!) with my whole family. The only thing I remember from that party is being a bit anxious because my proposal plan was already set in motion.

I tried to time our departure from the party to coincide with that of my grandparents because they had the engagement ring with them in their car (as I had instructed them to do, not because they chose their car to hide my ring in). When we were walking to my car, I gave Casey the keys and told her to go start the car and that I have to go help out my grandma with something. According to Casey, this was a very weird request because apparently my grandma didn’t appear to need much help with anything but she got over it and got in the car. I went over to my grandma’s car, got the ring, put it in my pocket, got in my car, and started driving to the place where I had chosen to propose to Casey.

I knew it was going to be tough to get Casey to agree to go to the place I had chosen to propose, not because it was some disgusting, horrible place, but because she’s not a very “go with the flow” kind of girl. As soon as something gets off-track, she has a mild panic attack (love you, babe!).

So I asked her if she wanted to go check out our old junior high school, which as most of you may know, is where we met for the first time. Of course, and as I anticipated, my question was met with a very less than favorable response but alas, I was the one driving so therefore she had to do what I wanted to do (little did I know, that would be the last time we ever did anything I wanted to do that Casey didn’t want to do #marriedlife #justkidding #butseriously…).

We arrived at the school and parked in the mini parking lot. I think it is so funny how much smaller a school seems to get once you graduate from it and get older. I remember thinking that our junior high was SO big! Then, we went to the high school right down the hill and then I though the high school was SO big. Now, after going to college at a large university, both schools are ridiculously small, but I digress.

 

The Junior High we attended

 

This part was another part where I anticipated some more difficulties. I told Casey that I wanted to get out of the car and go walk around the quad of the school. She, of course, was saying things like “this is so dumb!” and “why are we doing this?” I just ignored all of that and began walking onto the campus because I knew she would follow me anyways.

First, we walked over to where we used to hang out in 8^th grade. There were these blue benches that we used to sit at, so we went and sat on them (you know, be able to really feel the memories better). My plan was to get Casey to stand in the spot where we took the famous (at least in our world) picture of us together in 8^th grade. I thought it would be very romantic to ask her to marry me in that very same spot (awwwwww!). But that’s not what happened.

 

 

We got to that spot and I gave her the whole “omg this is totes where we took that picture of us in 8^th grade!” thing and she was naturally surprisingly unimpressed. Not really caring about her lack of enthusiasm moments before I was about to change both our lives with a serious question, I was determined to still do it right there. She turned around for a second so I got down on bended knee and had the ring in my hand and then…………………

…………………she didn’t turn back around! So, I did what anyone would’ve done. I quickly got back up and put the ring back in my pocket before she could turn around and see the disaster that had just been averted and just. Acted. Natural.

From that failed moment on, I was wingin’ it. We walked over to the blue benches where we used to hang out in 7^th grade and sat there for a little bit, reminiscing ‘n such. I stood up (Casey was still sitting on the blue bench) and noticed that there was a mural painted on the wall to her right that I had never seen before so I very smoothly said “hey, I think that mural is relatively new.” Just as I had masterfully planned, Casey took the bait and turned her head to the right to look at the mural. When she looked back, I was down (again) on bended knee with the ring in my hand. Of course, she was extremely surprised to see me in that position and to see the ring. I started to say my piece, which was basically something along the lines of “hey. You’s cute. Let’s get married ‘n sh*t. Aight?” “Casey, you’re the love of my life. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?”

She said yes (she was excited about that!) and the rest is history!

At Mother-in-Law Red's House hours after we got engaged, with Cousin Ronomon and Tutor Girl!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY,

CASEY!

Guest Post: Megan from Table for Three

Hello everyone!!

I am Megan and I blog over at Table for 3! I write mostly about my life as a wife and working mommy ( to a preemie princess).  I share recipes my family enjoy, sometimes do "fashion" posts and share our new home we are currently building! 

I am SO excited to be posting for one of my favorite bloggers, Casey! (and VERY jealous of her fun vacation she is currently on!!)

When Casey told me that one of the stops on their vacay would be DC, I knew I needed to post about when Jer and I went to visit my aunt and her family WAYYYYYY back before the days of instagram, twitter and Foursquare! ha! (I apologize now for the lack of creativity in my photos!)

Jeremy and I took a trip to DC July 4th weeked in 2008, the year we got engaged! It was SUCH a fun trip that I will always remember! We stayed in an awesome suite with GREAT views, enjoyed LOTS of yummy food and drinks, visited AMAZING designer stores, went to the DC zoo and took in all of the sites!! It was also our first time flying together AND bringing on carry on luggage! (If a relationship can survive an airport, it can survive almost ANYTHING, wouldn't you all agree?!)

Here are some photos from our trip!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you SO much for having me today Casey!! I am sure you are having a BLAST on your vacation!! =)

Guest Post: Shellsea from Heartfelt Happenings

Hello Stress Case readers! I am so glad to be here today as Casey and her Handsome Husband embark on their exciting East Coast trip.

I'm Shellsea and I blog over at Heartfelt Happenings. You might know me here as Tutor Girl, just picture lots of books and an arsenal of teaching strategies. When I'm not doing that I'm mom to one of the busiest toddlers in the world. Outside of that, is my amazing husband {who is Casey's Handsome Husband's cousin}he is my best friend and we plan to have many grand adventures.

Recently on my blog I mentioned three places I would want to visit.

I listed New York City as one of them and I am sure I've mentioned it more than once.

I would love to travel back East one day.

And, not because it would be an awesome place to see, but because it's where my paternal grandparents are from.

My grandfather's family grew up in Elmsford, New York. Since I was younger I've always heard stories from my older aunt and uncles about NY. My aunt attended Saint Jean Baptiste High School in Manhattan just as her mom and aunts had done before her. I've heard stories about how my great grandfather was principal in Elmsford and that bunches of our family lives there. Or how my aunt would walk to school in cold NY winters and how she didn't learn to drive until she was in her thirties!

 

My father is a couple years younger than his older siblings and was born and raised in California {just like me!} NY always sounded like a neat place to visit and not just for the family ties. For all the obvious reasons too.

Even though my husband has been to many places on the East Coast like Philadelphia and DC he's never been there. It's something I want to experience together for the first time. A memory for us to add to our love story.

I have a feeling tv and movies only give part of the picture.

 

I want to stroll though Central Park holding hands with the love of my life.

 

Visit the Statue of Liberty for all the history.

 

And of course see that famous New York skyline...

 

And, to make a truly memorable trip we'll go for the coming Formula 1 Race. My hubs is a big fan!

Thanks for having me Stress Case readers! I know I can't wait to see all of Casey's breathtaking photos from her trip!

A Lazy Girl's List

I'm over at Today Was a Fairytale today sharing my Lazy Girl's List of Fall Favorites - do me a favor and go check it out, yeah?  Tell Kelly that Casey sent you!

PS a little birdie told me there's a pretty sweet giveaway going on over there today, too!

Extreme AZ, According to Cute Apartment

Hello StressCase Friends! It's Cute Apartment, from Diary of a Blonde, signing in for yet another fabulous guest blog post for Nurse Bestie.




I have been in a massive blogging hiatus, but stop on over and check it out. I've finally been feeling inspired again and will be a blogosphere regular once again. WooHoo!
Back on track...

In honor of her yearly Arizona Weekend Vacay coming up, Nurse Bestie asked me to write about the amazing time that we had last year. And I've got pictures! Obviously I said yes. Especially because I won't be able to go this year. *sniffle*

This is what we did:

First, before leaving for our 4 hour drive, Nurse Bestie and I tackled Costco in our heels and sundresses. Shopping for 12 people. Half of which were boys.

This is how we felt after loading enough alcohol to run a bar, and meat and snacks to feed an army into her small sedan. She posted this on my facebook later and I love it because, well. Girls Rock!

Once we got to the AZ House we slipped into something a leetle more comfortable. (Apparently the guys' tee shirts were bothersome.) And played some beer-pong in the living room. We're classy like that.

We also enjoyed some cocktails and festive cookies that I made! It was 4th of July Weekend after all.

The next morning we woke up early. Had cereal and pancakes and then got our crunk on. The boys went to the river and set up our stuff while the girls packed up and made lunch. We still like to keep the gender roles in line. It felt very Mad Meneqsue.

On our way to the Colorado River!

I love this picture.

This one is another favorite. It looks like the girls are having a dance party. But if you look behind the two men lovingly spraying sun block on each other you can see a speck above the sprayee's shoulder. Yep. We were being splash attacked! By a rude boy!

This is the rude boy enjoying his air floaty. Naturally I pointed him out for the camera.

Real life Disney Princesses. In Order. 

Girls!

Me and Nurse Bestie. I'm planning on changing her nickname to Jesus Jugs (I'm sure you can see why) a la OC Housewives. Stay tuned for a blog post at Diary of a Blonde initiating this.

Besties.

After a very fun and tiring day at the river we came back and played Chum Bucket. I was going to explain the rules now, but its complicated. Maybe this will be another fun blog post to watch out for.

DAY 2

We did the same thing as day 1. 

We got clever though, and put our beach chairs in the water to cool off.

And we laughed!

And laughed!!

Also on this day, the drinking got to the best of us and we got cocky. Here I am kicking Fashionista's ass at chicken. Her memory is a little cloudy from the bud light, but I won.

See what I mean? Evidence at the top and the culprit is fast asleep. I saw victory again when I snapped this awesome photo.

Girls in new sets of swimwear!

The boys dropped the girls off at home while they went back to load up the beach gear. We prepped for a surprise balloon war! It did not end up in our favor! 

And then we. Er, most of us enjoyed a delicious Mexican meal that night!

And there you have it. That was our fabulous 4th of July Arizona Weekend, graciously hosted by Jesus Jugs and her ginger hubs. I'm sure that this year will be just as fun, Im sorry I'm gonna miss out!