***I wrote this blog a few days ago and for some reason never posted it... so here it goes, one post after another, but let it be known, they were not written on the same day... ***
I have moved into a new home, a small apartment, my own little corner in Denver. I love having my space and dreaming of the ways I can make it fit my lifestyle and decorate it just right. It's a perfect little place, except one important thing: it has no dishwasher. I told myself after living over a year in a place with no dishwasher that I would never do it again. Yet, here I am. When I talk to women, there is almost always one household chore that they hate, whether it is laundry, vacuuming, cleaning the bathroom; and mine is most definitely washing the dishes. I may have some repressed memories from when I was a little girl, being forced to wash the dishes after dinner, practically child labor I say with dripping sarcasm. I cannot tell you how many times I lay down on our blue couch, feigning stomach pain to try and get out of washing the dishes. However, I have decided to integrate it into my daily life... each morning and each night, I will wash the dishes, so they don't get piled up and embarrassingly ridiculous. I will simply work it into the rhythm of my life, and allow for those slow moments of washing, scrubbing, rinsing, and putting them away neatly in my cupboard. Maybe... over time I will begin to enjoy it. I'll keep you updated if that ever happens...
On a completely different topic:
I work in the fine china department at Bed, Bath, and Beyond - ahhh... the blogs I could write about this topic alone are endless. I have chosen one thought to share because it has stuck in my mind and I must write it so I can get it out. Well I shall preface this with I believe in love and marriage, but in my opinion the bridal registry process is overrated. And here's why... These brides come in with their grooms tagging along, lists in hand, prepared to make decisions about what they will fill their new homes with. They come in deceptive, wanting to register for exciting things because they know they'll get cash back when they return them. They get dragged in by their bridesmaids, hating it and handing them the scanner to allow them to choose which towels and dinnerware.
Then there's the guests... the guests arrive, on their way to the wedding, scrambling to find something on the list and getting frustrated because there is hardly anything left, and then getting more frustrated because the complimentary gift packaging is taking too long. Guests come in, look over the list and decide the bride has no good taste and refuses to get anything she is asking for, straying instead for some irrelevant candle sticks or wine glasses she'll hate and either never use or return. Guests come in, insisting that we as sales associates are personal shoppers and insist on having us show them where everything is so they can make an educated decision. We have guests that hardly know the bride, mothers that we called Modzilla's because of their insistence on having the best for their daughter, with no understanding that the world does not indeed revolve around them and their daughters.
I say this all with bitterness I know... as a bridal constultant, I am losing faith in the registry process because it has lost the heart of getting married and having your friends and family shower you with gifts in celebration with you. Instead, this woman comes in the other day, looks over what her neice has registered for and says that the dinnerware she has picked out is so boring and practical. She has only registered for 8 place settings, when everyone knows she should have 12. She complains that the bride lives so modestly and doesn't want to collect too many things. My manager joins her in being shocked at how a woman could not want things. I stand there... flummoxed and frustrated. After seeing and experiencing the things I did in Africa, it is hard for me to keep my mouth closed when these well-meaning, but horribly greedy and selfish women come shopping. I also get caught up in the "want more, need more" tidal wave that is constantly pressuring people, especially women that we must have more things, yet I resist those desires and feelings because of the truth, I refuse the lies, turn my back on the perspective, and choose truth.
It feels so good to share with you some of the things I hate about my job (next time I'll blog about the things I like to even it out) Oh by the way - if you are looking for a place to register, you HAVE to come to BBB, it is the BEST place to register. :) Which may sound strange to say after all that but while I don't believe in the registry process anymore, I have no alternative for you, or hopefully for myself one day shall I find that lucky man! :) With that - I bid you good night.
Read more...
