china

No, not the country, the dishware. since according to my husband I am obsessed with all things stupid and wedding-y, I thought i'd gripe about the cost of china.

i was lucky enough to be given my grandmother's china by my grandfather shortly after my grandmother passed away (now this was truly a blessing b\c I am the youngest granddaughter)! of course, i haven't seen it in about 5 years b\c it's been in my parents basement that long, but it's mine. so i was very excited about registering for everyday dishes (or anything for that matter), but who knew it would be so troubling.

I first found the perfect pattern at Crate & Barrel in late 2006. It was aptly named "Audrey" and it was a robins egg blue and brown. See here:



then i finally get engaged, and sure enough when i go to check out c&b's website, it has a nice little note saying that the manufacturer is discontinuing this pattern, blah, blah, heartbreak. so i registered for it anyway, and although we had a very short engagement- most of the in-stock dinnerware was gone before our wedding date even arrived. For some reason however, the platter that went with the set was still in stock, and I managed to score 2. They are gorgeous!



So, with a heavy heart I had to pick something else out. I wasn't pick, so I thought, but I do however have expensive taste. My next choice was this, which was at Bed Bath & Beyond



Awesome right. It also came with a really cute name: "Kate Spade." Know her? I wish I did... When we registered at Macy's, I found it came in more colors, and found a style more awesome than the previous



Of course, the price of this was so high- $22.00 for ONE dinner plate! Over $250 just for a 12-piece service, and that was JUST dinner plates! I unfortunately don't know anyone that rich, plus I thought those dishes might be a little fancy for everyday dinnerware, and so I broke down and removed Kate and her plates from my registries.

Luckily, I have a pretty awesome mom who knew what I was on the lookout for, and she found me a wonderful pattern that was in my color palate with an adorable pattern.



And bless my parents hearts- they got me the entire 12-piece setting as a shower gift. I LOVE them, LOVE them. So now, me and my dishes are happy together (except for my fear that they will all shatter into millions of pieces when we move).

This doesn't mean I don't still look at things like china- I am a totally girly girl after all. So I was perusing BB&B last week when something in their "Easter" section caught my lustful eye



How beautiful is this? And being that i'm totally obsessed with birds lately, it's just perfect. The pattern is called "Chirp" and their sets of bowls, platters and pitchers have cute names like, "Dish it out", "serve it up" and "pour it on." This particular pattern is by Lenox and a 4-piece set (salad and dinner plate w\ bowl and mug) runs at $99.99 making a 12-piece set over $1200.00!

Seriously? I just can't believe how much things cost these days. For now I will dream about birds on china because paying that much for dishes is, as they say, "for the birds."