Not greedy, I promise!

Today, my errands were all about wedding gifts. My wedding gifts.

Wedding gifts are a total free-for-all these days. Brides&grooms don't want to appear greedy, but people want to know what to get you. The couple who's been living together in a small apartment might not want much, but writing checks isn't as fun as thoughtfully shopping. A salesman & I were just saying how you never know how much to spend on a wedding gift, and I can honestly say I have not felt jilted by people who didn't give a gift, or gave a modest check. As Miss Manners says, you decide how much you want to spend to feel like a good host, and your guests decide how much they want to help you create a home and/or life together. It is not a trade-off.

We have been thrilled with everything we got from our registry (and virtually everything not from our registry, too!). But there remained a few items too big or specific for the registry. We got small frames, which are great for wedding photos, but what about the poster and painting we've never gotten framed? We got so many new kitchen supplies, but nowhere to put them! And I forgot to put a new colander on the list.
Thus, the checks come in quite handy, vis a vis, the curtains we put up and the butcher-block kitchen island we now have. And I finally checked off a couple more to-do's today.

The frame for my found-on-the-street-in-2008 Japanese woodcut will cost $200. But it won't look like I found it on the street anymore! In a fit of my notorious indecision, I used my spankin new smartphone to email pics of the options to Mr. Husband. He then didn't receive the email, but left it up to me. Sweet to trust me, but not helping the decision-making! I chose the cheaper but fancier gold frame cuz as long as we were spending that much, it may as well be eye-catching. (Of course, I then opened a Crate & Barrel catalogue and saw that all of their frames are the painted-black wood I would've gotten if it'd been cheaper.)
But anyway, frames? Done.

Crossing the street to the kitchen store, I looked for colanders, but first perused for wedding gifts to give my 5 engaged friends. Being around the corner from our place, I'll be back armed with their registries. The salesman pointed me to the low rack of colanders I didn't see, which unfortunately, convinced me to leave the store, because I knew exactly where the one I wanted was. You see, I'd ruled out the recycled plastic colander for fear it would look, well, cheap. (If you have the excuse to outfit your whole kitchen, you should gets what makes you feel special, I think.) But having seen the lovely plastic ones the store had - the plastic really was a cute option. The one I got? Looks like watermelon, with it's muted red color and teardrop/seed-shaped holes. Plus, it can stand up to the 5 pounds of potatoes I'd had in mind whilst shopping.
So, Colander? Done.

And then, finally, I had thank-yous to send. The post office has these beautiful "Love" stamps with flowers on a teal background that matched our cards perfectly, so I waited in the epic line to get them. Except, they didn't have them. But perfectionism gets you nowhere, right? So, non-matching, too-big stamps are what those cards got. But hopefully, our sincere thanks shows. And now I get to thank more  people for what they helped us get today!