So yesterday someone told me that they heard about me via a message board. "Neat!" I thought, and went to check it out.

I logged in, started poking around, even introduced myself. This was at midnight so I assumed that I wouldn't get many replies, if any at all. A boring introduction thread? Who would bother?

I'll tell you who would bother. The half a dozen extremely sweet posters who welcomed me and took the time to check out and comment on what I'm doing over here. Who does that?! What a tres cool, tres supportive little community!

And I started thinking that the internet has not only transformed how women meet the person they are going to marry - it's changed how people meet their support network of girlfriends. I myself have made some extremely good friends via the internet. Looking back, had I known them while I was planning my wedding, they might even have been IN my wedding party.

How crazy is that? Wonderful and crazy.

Have you met good friends via the internet? How helpful are online communities when you are planning your wedding?

Your friends do it. Lots of women do it in utter silence. Joan Rivers did it. On national TV! People loovvve to judge the size of a newly-engaged woman's ring. Why?

Because everybody knows - the larger the ring, the more he really loves you. Or is it the larger the ring, the fatter his wallet? I can never remember.

Personally, when I found out what D. spent on my wedding ring, I told him I would have been just as cool with an onion ring so we could have blown that cash on an african safari or something. But that's not to say I don't love my ring. I do.

But not because it's shiny and pretty and (fairly?) sizable. I like it because I love thinking of him picking it out, planning the proposal, all without me knowing. That there's the essence of romance.

Has anyone ever commented on the size of your ring? How does size matter, if it does at all? Do you even have a diamond angagement ring, or did you go for something less traditional?

Easter is this upcoming Sunday. Or as I prefer to see it - Lent ends this week. As a lapsed Catholic with an affinity for Merlot, I tried to be good this year and give up wine.

Oy. Stupidjayne.com. Like a sucker I went into this thing thinking "Eh, 40 days. I can do that! Do me good, maybe even lose a few pounds."

Then halfway through my fast I realize that Lent actually lasts 50 days. Who knew Sundays didn't count? You mean to tell me this whole time I could have been watching The Sopranos with lasagna AND a glass of my favorite Syrah? Argh.

My husband, oh how he laughs and laughs. I'd almost convinced my little heathen that there was a spiritual value to Lent, but the idea that you can cheat on Sundays completely blew it for him.

He's not a godless punk, mind you. He's just...agnostic. Having been raised in a house with little religion, he can't understand my uber-Catholic upbringing. And that's surprisingly okay.

My need for some kind of spirituality and his confusion about all things religious has never been a problem for us. On the contrary - some of our more interesting discussions are about religion.

How about you? Are you marrying someone outside your own faith? Do you anticipate it being a problem, or a strength? If you're marrying someone like-minded when it comes to spirituality - how much does that play into your relationship and your future marriage?

Halle Berry said she proposed to her first husband, baseball player David Justice. She said it was a spontaneous thing that she just blurted out, while they were lounging around at his house in Atlanta. They married, but he cheated (allegedly) and now they're divorced. Okay, bad example.

How about the singer, Pink? She was the one who proposed to her now-husband, Carey Hart. She held up signs in the pit area while he whizzed around on his bike during a race. I think I remember reading he crashed or something, but it turned out okay. They're happy and tattooed and married together.

And apparently, women are encouraged to propose on February 29. Did you know that? I didn't. February 29 just makes me wonder how old people are who have birthdays on that day.

What do you think about women proposing? I think it's extremely cool that some women do. But I admit that I myself probably never would. For reasons I can't figure out.

How about you? Would you ever propose? Did you propose? Why? Why not?