We Registered (and how it all went down)

I mentioned yesterday that we were going to register today at Bed, Bath & Beyond. It was kind of awesome. It's like when you were a kid and you got the Toys R Us Wish Book (or whatever that thing was called) and you circled all the toys you wanted in hopes that Santa would put them under your tree Christmas morning.

Except instead of toys, we were picking China patterns.

Except we didn't actually pick any China patterns. Who eats of China anyway? (Dust mites is actually my real answer to that). We flipped through a book with China patterns and none of them appealed to me. They were so plain and stuffy and something you'd see in a museum (or a curio). We looked at the contemporary book and Pete found the Chirp by Lenox pattern that he really liked and I found the Noritake Colorwave turquoise set that I really liked (and could afford, if we broke a plate and needed to replace it). So we compromised and picked four of his and two of mine and added them to the registry (but ended up getting convinced by his dad's friend to add eight of each because six plates is not enough, especially if you have company or just eat at home and don't run the dishwasher every night). We then, completely blind to price, added the silverware set that I liked (because, between you and me -- and anyone on the Internet who stumbles over this blog -- the silverware set was the most important thing to me. I hate that ours is so mismatched and that a few of my knives are old and rusted).

When you're done looking at the book (which is basically a time killer while the associate sets up your Bed, Bath & Beyond wedding registry), you get a scanner and a tour of the store. Eventually, you are let loose on your own to scan the items you want to add to your list.

It's fun. It's really fun.

You kind of just get let loose and you decide what you want and scan it, hoping that one day it will make it inside your house.

We were left in the towel department, which is the hardest section to be totally honest. See, we have towels. We're short hand towels, for whatever reason, but we have a ton of bath towels. They're mostly blue and white and are very coordinated because they're all mine and came from my old apartment. So they match my blue bath mat and island-scene shower curtain, also from my old apartment, that is now adorning our guest bathroom.

Ideally, we will have a zen/bamboo theme in our bathroom. I have a few zen-like photos hanging in there, and we have a pretty toilet bowl brush holder, but other than that, you don't get the whole tranquil vibe I'm going for.

So when we were in the towel section, we tried to imagine what our bathroom in the house we don't own (and have not even searched for) looks like (well, will look like). And that bathroom will need teal and brown striped bath towels and matching teal hand towels, plus a brown bath towel and a sand and white towel (according to our registry). Do we need four bath towels and four hand towels on there? Honestly, I'm not sure. But that's what we added.

We also added a bamboo garbage pail because that is exactly what we need to fit our theme. Of course, it's $29.99 and I have an idea that if anyone realizes we asked for a $29.99 garbage for the bathroom, they'll laugh. I mean, I'm laughing at it. But, it's Bed, Bath & Beyond and there are always 20% off coupons out, so in a way, we're only asking for a $23.99 garbage for the bathroom (and, really, I don't know if that sounds any more reasonable).

What is reasonable is the Trovolo King Cube ice cube tray Pete added because the tray makes good ice cubes for cocktails. I'm just hoping that the cocktail glasses we added are wide enough to actually fit these ice cubes. If not, we'll have a problem.

I'm pretty sure the ice cubes would fit in the owl coffee mug that I added because I like owls. I added one. Just one. Which is a completely random registry item, I guess. But it's super cute.

We were actually trying to figure out if we should add a coffee mug set to our registry. We have coffee mugs, but they're all mismatched and have come from who knows where. We don't have to drink out of matching mugs all the time, but I guess it would be nice to have a matching set. Except we couldn't find one, so we didn't add it. Which is fine because those plate sets we picked out, they all come with a mug. Matching set done.

We did add a nice espresso set for Pete so he has something nice when he drinks his espresso. The set has enough plates and saucers for six, so he definitely has to have an espresso party one day.

We added some larger items too, which made me laugh when we got home. See, I wanted a Kitchenaid stand mixer for I can't even tell you how long. I've always said I'll add it to my registry. So when we were standing in front of the mixers, I decided to add it. "And we can add the pasta attachment and make pasta," I told Pete. Which has been this ridiculous dream of mine ever since I took one cooking class and we made pasta. So onto the registry it went.

I came home, looked at the registry, and laughed because the pasta attachment is $199.99 and who the heck is gonna buy us a $199.99 attachment to make pasta. And, really, are we gonna make that much pasta to justify a $199.99 attachment? Maybe we should have just registered for pasta instead. But, in my imagination, we are going to start making pasta at home and we need this. And maybe someone else will understand that we need this as well.

Now that I'm home, I'm able to sit here on the iPad and go through Bed, Bath & Beyond's site and look at items and compare prices and change our registry, if need be. And I might. See, you remember that place setting pattern that Pete liked? We added four to the registry, even though it's $99.99 a set. I was looking at the website, and you can actually get a package that has four settings for only $299.99. I don't mean only because, geez, that is expensive, but it's about $100 less to buy it as a set instead of buying four sets. But as four sets, that means four people can buy us gifts. But are four people going to chip in together to buy us the full set or are they just going to see something for $299.99 on our registry and ignore it?

BRIDAL BABBLE: For real, that's my question. Do I leave four sets on the registry, knowing that it's a 25% markup to buy all four separately or do I switch and add the bigger set to the registry, knowing that people will save but knowing there's a chance that people won't actually combine forces to buy it for us and then we'll be stuck buying it for ourselves?