I am SO glad we registered for a toaster oven

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="kale chips + toaster oven = FIRE!"]No, my kitchen walls aren't dingy, that's SMOKE![/caption]

One of the first engagement presents we got was a rice cooker from my great aunt and uncle, sadly the FIRST engagement present we got was a rice cooker from my grandmother! So, the second rice cooker turned into a fancy toaster oven, the larger (12") version of what my parents have at home. That toaster oven is currently waiting for us in my bedroom, at my parents' house.

My dad is going to return it tomorrow, get store credit for it, and then we'll either wait for the Labor Day sales coming up or order a new one to be sent to Colorado. Our old toaster oven is currently quite charred (yes, I took a photo of it right before throwing a wet towel over it --thanks for the advice, gramma!) and sitting out by the dumpster. I'm 99% sure that it still works, but it smells like burnt food and is quite sad looking.

Lesson learned, don't make kale chips in the toaster oven, they're too close to the element and will curl up as they dry and catch fire when they touch the element (sinking back down to catch the others on fire too). Doh.

I look forward to our new toaster; this photo makes it look like a super hero!

buying our own gifts

We're weird. Yeah, you read that right: we are weird. Last night, after meeting my preggers friend R, her husband, M, and their little man, I, Ben and I went to the biggest Bed, Bath & Beyond in Colorado and used some gift cards to buy ourselves a glass pitcher (to keep filtered water in, in the fridge, and a single place setting of our meat dishes (the black rimmed ones).

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="230" caption="Quadro 57.25-Ounce Glass Pitcher with Lid"][/caption]

Is it normal to buy things off your own registry? Is it normal for people to only gift you serving pieces, bread plates, and dipping bowls, but no place settings? Maybe people only want us to eat tiny meals from community serving pieces!

it's a penguin! but his beak is on the wrong side....

SodaStream Penguin Water Carbonator | Williams-Sonoma.

Bridal Shower Goodies

Last weekend I was in Macy's returning some shirts I had bought for Ben off of the clearance rack (where they should have stayed, if I'd bothered to look past the size/price tag/color), and I saw a platter on a clearance table and brought it over to casual china section to compare it to the tableware we had registered for [at Bed, Bath & Beyond, not Macy's]. Upon closer inspection, under stronger lighting, I discovered that I absolutely hated the blue color we had registered for as our dairy dishes!

Thankfully, no one had bought us any blue goodies yet, so I've swapped out the offending color (it looked too much like overdyed denim from the late 90s) for "green" which looks like robins eggs would if they were a nice, muted minty green instead of a cheerful pale blue. So, I introduce to you, GREEN:

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="432" caption="Noritake Colorwave Coup, Green"][/caption]

This evening was spent dragging Ben to the mall in Broomfield to show him how hideous the blue was under good lighting (why is the china department lit so moodily and warm?) and see if he agreed to switch to the green or if there was something else that tickled his fancy. After some poking around, he agreed to switch to the green. I'm quite pleased with this decision because 1) it got rid of the blue and 2) the green is even more different from the similar pattern we picked out in black for meat dishes than the blue were [see: Colorwave Rims, Graphite]. The only similar shapes are the mugs (oh, how I wish we could order sets without them!), cereal bowls, and the serving bowls.

While we were at the mall we also went to Crate and Barrel, where I showed Ben some of the things I had added to our registry since we'd last visited together, as well as what I had deleted and why. He also went around trying (and succeeding in some cases) to bend spoons like we had when we looked the first time. Thankfully, the flatware we'd registered for to replace the Target chic dairy set we've been using still held up to the test. It is especially important for dairy spoons to not bend so that there is less evidence of late night ice cream raids....

The last place we stopped at the mall was our third registry spot, Williams-Sonoma, our more frivolous list. There are just a few things on there that we really want: Ben wants the boning knife, I want the mini-Santoku knife, and I really- really, really want the heaviest glass cake plater/dome that I've ever encountered. You can even invert the pieces and use it as a punch bowl or to serve a trifle in! I have no idea where I'll store it, but it might just live on the counter, holding a smattering of glass fish, or something equally crazy. For some unknown, impractical reason I adore this damned thing!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Glass Domed Cake/Punch Bowl, via Williams-Sonoma"][/caption]

VOTE FOR US, please?

http://www.ultimateweddingcontest.com/entries/39436

I've entered Ben and myself in a silly contest. I'm not really interested in the first prize (some "dream wedding" package with a celebrity wedding planner), but the runner up prizes of varying amount gift certificates to Crate & Barrel DO appeal to me.

You can vote once with each email address you have, so dig up those old passwords and vote for Ben and me!

meet the family

My aunt and cousin are hosting a bridal shower for me while we're home for passover in 3 weeks, and I learned today that there are over 20 people coming! Since my mom's cousin is so sick, I wasn't sure who all is coming. There will be quite a few people not there, but I'm excited to see the people who are able to make it.

Here's my issue: what the heck do I say to people when they ask what I want off the registry? All the things we registered for are things we want! I guess there's a priority: flatware, cookware, everyday china, everything else on the registry.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="379" caption="Couture flatware, via Crate and Barrel"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="230" caption="Cuisinart Non-Stick Hard Anodized Green Gourmet (dairy), via BB&B"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="230" caption="Colorwave Blue (dairy), via BB&B"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="230" caption="Colorwave Graphite Rim (meat), via BB&B"][/caption]

kitchen wish list (of things not on our registry)

Beech Rolling Pin, Wood Rolling Pin, Pastry Thickness, Adjustable Rolling Pin

Herb Chopper, Garlic Chopper, Ginger Chopper

registries

we have 2 actual (Bed Bath & Beyond and Crate & Barrel, we're into the ampersands) and one fantasy registry (Williams-Sonoma). I've been looking for nice stuff to register for, like vases and serving platters, but most of the things that appeal to Ben and I are more basic (and affordable) and don't fall into the cut leaded crystal category. Cut crystal can be beautiful, but there isn't any I like at any of the places we registered at. So, if you've found something outside of our registries that you think would fit our aesthetic, go for it. 'Cause I'm not hunting Fortunof's website to find the "perfect" accents to the curio chest we don't have. That's it, just buy us furniture! We can just admire all the pretty things that we already have. Think of how good my ducks will look in a nice china hutch!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="not my actual ducks, though I do have at least one of theses and want many others...."][/caption]

We’re registered!

We've registered for china, flatware, serving pieces and lots of other cool things on our wish lists (Bloomingdales, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Crate and Barrel). We'll add towels and bedding and other white goods in about a year.

In other news, my grandfather passed away last week. He has not been well for the past 5 years or so, so it's nice that he's no longer in pain. Seriously weird though. I miss him from before he was sick, but I missed him while he was still alive too.

My grandmother is planning to someday downsize her house, but she wants to stay for another few years out in Solomons. She loves her gardens too much to leave and she probably wants to see if the housing market will drop out anymore before she has to be selling at the bottom. Anyway, because she'll be moving from a 4 bedroom house to probably a 2-3 bedroom townhouse or condo, she said we could have whatever furniture we want! SWEET! We're also getting custody of my great grandmother's fine china (it will have to be made available for Passover every year). Wow. She's one generous gramma!

 

Registries

We've been engaged for less than a month, we're planning a wedding that won't be for at least a year and a half, and people are already asking where we're registered!?



Does anyone have any opinions about registering on Amazon in addition to brick and mortar stores? Where else can I add a Wii, a Flip (sorry about the sound on the link) video camera and my dream rice cooker? Though we're totally excited to the Crate and Barrel registry party, especially since I found out their carrying the new GreenPan Frying Pans we've been waiting for! (oh, and the registry party gift is cute too).

Does Ikea have a registry? Would that be weird? Would anyone actually buy us furniture or should we just register for more high-end stuff at C&B?

Oh, and next weekend we're going with some close friends (who are getting married on the 4th of July) to a FREE LUNCH and wedding-venue-visit thing at the Hotel Boulderado, here in Boulder. It should be fun, but the dude was disappointed to point out when it is because he REALLY wanted to go to synagogue and this thing is at 1 PM on a Saturday. He doesn't like doing stuff most Saturdays, whereas I usually don't mind so much. Oops..... I probably should have waited for his email response instead of just hearing back from our friends (immediately) and then RSVPing for the 4 of us. Doh. We'd get free food at shul too, and it would be nice to go since I didn't make it by myself this past Saturday (because I was up reading until 4 AM).

Should I cancel our RSVP and just let our friends pig out on free gourmet buffet alone? It's not like either of us is actually interested in the venue, we're just milking the wedding industry for all it's worth!

So yeah, so far we're thinking C&B, Amazon and Macy's (even if we'd rather register at Bloomies for the same prices and better customer service, there are sadly none in Colorado).

APRIL UPDATE:

Grama bought us the rice cooker! WOOHOO! I’d never even heard of engagement presents before, now we have a rice cooker, a blender, a gorgeous salad bowl and a lovely address/birthday book.

Shopping spree

There's a Macy*s sort-of near us (about 20 min South) that's closing and everything in the store is 30-60% off. I'm -so- tempted to go tomorrow and shop my little heart out but then I think to myself "Gee, if I buy all the stuff we need now, what will we register for later?"

I wish there were a Bloomies for us to register at out here, in Colorado. I wonder how Nordstrom's registry is. I've heard less than great things about Macy's registry on-line, actually about their registry staff than that process of actual registering for goodies.

I hope we can remember to go to one of the C&B registry parties, but they're at 9 AM on Sundays. What dumb-ass came up with that?! I'm still in bed then 90% of time. After hours, from 9-11 PM would be MUCH better for me, even on a weeknight. Oh well, I suppose that's what the little comment boxes by the manager's office are for, right?

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="608" caption="C&B registry page image"][/caption]

Does anyone know if there are etiquette rules about registering for furniture? We don't own over 1/2 of what we've been using for the past year and a half and in 6 months a lot of it is going to be reclaimed by the friend we're borrowing it from. Eep. At least we own the bed, but probably at least one of my two dressers is going to go, the love seat, the TV stand, the futon/couch, table and chairs, and maybe some other stuff too. Basically the only room left furnished will be the study. The living/dining room will look especially bare. I guess it's a good thing our "house" account (we each contribute every month for rent, utilities, netflix, groceries, date night, etc.) is finally getting back in shape after we kind of binged in October and November shopping for Halloween costumes and then holiday gifts.

Crap, we're growing up! Planning a wedding, talking about buying real furniture. Seriously, when did this happen?!