gifts == attention,
thinking about her when she's not around,
appreciation
Now, they don't HAVE to cost you two months' salary. They don't have to cost you anything. I've received short sweet emails, sappy ecards, a popular love song sung to me with my name inserted, all of which made me feel loved, thought about, and important. Granted, not everyone has the creativity or confidence to come up and follow through with such things - I know I don't.
Buying things is much easier. I've bought roses for my boyfriend more than once and had them sent to his office. He loved them everytime (although I doubt every guy out there would have, sometimes I think he's more of a girl than I am;) ).
Gifts are a special symbol, and rings in particular. Communication isn't always easy, especially communication of "feelings". A gift of something nice says that she is cared about and treasured. I don't think my boyfriend knows
how much I wanted some token of his love after we had been dating for several months. I eventually "hinted" by sending him a link to a manufacturer
of a 'one ring' replica from "The Lord of the Rings" (http://www.badalijewelry.com/tolkien.htm). He did get it for me, and I don't think he knows how much I treasure it.
It's not that I didn't know he loved me, I just wanted something from him that I could wear all the time to remind me of it. In high school, it was tradition to trade class rings (which is still done in my hometown, though I know the tradition has faded elsewhere). A ring is a symbol of commitment, and because of that it has the added bonus of fending off unwanted attentions from other guys.
As for the diamond, if you have an ethical problem, talk it over with her, she may not know about the issue. Who knows, maybe a "diamond" isn't that important to her, maybe she really likes purple and would rather have an amethyst anyway. My dad had to have Jif peanut butter and Oreo chocolate sandwich cookies, but with anything else, the cheaper versions were just as good (and better because they were cheaper).
But DON'T try to pull a fast one on her by getting her a not-diamond and not telling her. Regardless of whether or not she craves diamond-bragging rights, if she finds out that it's not real and you didn't tell her, you've lied, and that's no way to ask a girl to marry you.
It's important to remember that girls are individuals and each is different, so there's no one piece of good advice you can give - you have to know your girl.
Slashdot Mirror
gifts == attention, thinking about her when she's not around, appreciation
;) ).
Now, they don't HAVE to cost you two months' salary. They don't have to cost you anything. I've received short sweet emails, sappy ecards, a popular love song sung to me with my name inserted, all of which made me feel loved, thought about, and important. Granted, not everyone has the creativity or confidence to come up and follow through with such things - I know I don't.
Buying things is much easier. I've bought roses for my boyfriend more than once and had them sent to his office. He loved them everytime (although I doubt every guy out there would have, sometimes I think he's more of a girl than I am
Gifts are a special symbol, and rings in particular. Communication isn't always easy, especially communication of "feelings". A gift of something nice says that she is cared about and treasured. I don't think my boyfriend knows how much I wanted some token of his love after we had been dating for several months. I eventually "hinted" by sending him a link to a manufacturer of a 'one ring' replica from "The Lord of the Rings" (http://www.badalijewelry.com/tolkien.htm). He did get it for me, and I don't think he knows how much I treasure it.
It's not that I didn't know he loved me, I just wanted something from him that I could wear all the time to remind me of it. In high school, it was tradition to trade class rings (which is still done in my hometown, though I know the tradition has faded elsewhere). A ring is a symbol of commitment, and because of that it has the added bonus of fending off unwanted attentions from other guys.
As for the diamond, if you have an ethical problem, talk it over with her, she may not know about the issue. Who knows, maybe a "diamond" isn't that important to her, maybe she really likes purple and would rather have an amethyst anyway. My dad had to have Jif peanut butter and Oreo chocolate sandwich cookies, but with anything else, the cheaper versions were just as good (and better because they were cheaper). But DON'T try to pull a fast one on her by getting her a not-diamond and not telling her. Regardless of whether or not she craves diamond-bragging rights, if she finds out that it's not real and you didn't tell her, you've lied, and that's no way to ask a girl to marry you.
It's important to remember that girls are individuals and each is different, so there's no one piece of good advice you can give - you have to know your girl.