Tuesday, March 03, 2009

The Registry

First of all, ugh. Josh and I have been avoiding creating any type of registry for our wedding, but now that people have received our invitations, they’re starting to call to RSVP and “oh by the way, are you guys registered anywhere?”

Josh claims he can keep telling people that we’re not registered and we’re not planning to register. My two engaged girlfriends at work gasped when I mentioned we hadn’t registered, and one warned me that because we’re not, we’re going to end up receiving crystal swans with no receipt.

The problem is that stuff, especially kitchen/home stuff, isn’t all that important to us. We aren’t stellar cooks, I have no interest in fancy china, and we already have some nice knives and good quality pots & pans. Plus, we recently consolidated two apartments into one, so we don’t really a lot of room for new stuff. I’ve heard people say that weddings are a nice time to upgrade the stuff you already have, but I don’t feel comfortable asking people to spend money on things that I’m not convinced I would buy myself.

And part of me hates the fact that registries are so friggin’ domestic. You’re “supposed” to register for the big KitchenAid mixer, fine china, tablecloths, placemats, and fancy sheets. Although I know it’s more common now to register for stuff like electronics or camping gear, so maybe my anger is misplaced. :) And hey, if nice china gets you fired up, awesome. Whatever works for you.

We considered a honeymoon registry since we both love to travel and our hopefully month-long trip to New Zealand for next fall/winter won’t be cheap. But that kind of went out the window when we realized that we don’t have any of that planned, and our plans for the mini-moon following the wedding aren’t very well defined yet either. Plus, while many people think honeymoon registries are great, the other camp thinks they’re tacky. And if that’s tacky, asking for cash is definitely out.

Also, the wedding registry is basically the ultimate birthday list, and my own family can attest to how terrible I am at coming up with birthday lists.


What I really would like to say to our guests is this:

“We’re thrilled that you’re able to share this important day with us, and we’re flattered that you’re willing to travel all the way to Florida to spend the weekend with us. That is gift enough. Your attendance is perfect. So come, have a great time, and enjoy the vacation.”

Really, we don’t need any gifts. r e a l l y. If people insist, we might suggest that they make a donation to their favorite charity and tell us a little about why that cause is important to them.


So. Any bets on whether we’ll avoid the crystal swans?

Sunday, March 01, 2009

More eyeballs

I realized I haven’t talked about my eyeballs here lately. It’s a far cry from when they were the only thing I could think about, so as you might gather, they’re doing better. It helps that it’s winter, of course, but the allergy shots really seem to be helping, along with a handful of other things. I’ve been doing the allergy shots for almost a year, so starting in April, I’ll only have to go once every two weeks, instead of once a week. YAY! Going every week really hasn’t been that bad though. It gets me out of work early on Tuesdays and I get a guaranteed half hour to catch up on reading.

I’m still taking Claritin frequently—not quite daily, but it will probably become daily during the spring and summer. The Claritin doesn’t make my eyes any less red, but I’ve noticed that it makes them less itchy, so that keeps my wandering fingers from rubbing them. I’m still technically on a prescription allergy eye drop, but I ran out of my latest bottle a few days ago and have been trying to go without since then. My eyes are a teeny bit pinker, but it hasn’t been too bad so far.

A few other big steps are that I haven’t had to use dry eye drops in a long time, and I’m no longer eating flaxseed every day. In my experience, flaxseed really does help with dry eyes, and if it weren’t for the side effects, I would still be taking it. I’m still doing the eyelid scrub with baby shampoo to treat my blepharitis, but I’ll probably keep doing that for years.

My biggest concern right now is being able to wear contacts for the wedding, which will be several hours long. In the spring. In Florida. I have reasonable confidence that I’ll be back to wearing contacts eventually because I’ve been seeing such good progress on the allergy shots, but April 25th is less than two months away, so it’s not a lot of time for my eyes to make more progress. I imagine I’ll be pulling out all the stops to make it through the weekend, especially since I probably won’t be getting a lot of sleep with all the stuff we need to do. And no matter what, my eyes will probably look a little red by the end of the night. Maybe our photographer can photoshop the whites of my eyes so that they actually look white. :)

In any case, the progress so far is real. I no longer look like a zombie after sleeping less than 8 hours, or after having a couple beers, or after a full day of work. My eyelashes no longer fall out in clumps, I no longer wake up with crusty eyelashes or eyelids swollen shut, and (best of all) people at work no longer ask me if I’ve been crying.