http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pNyKHs93Ko

I was slightly apprehensive about registering. I know. Silly right? But I had heard some horror stories (and by heard I mean read) about couples' registry experiences being disasters.

'The sales people were too pushy. (so we registered for ridiculously expensive things)'
'We couldn't agree on anything.'
'It was exhausting and stressful.'
'We couldn't make decisions.'
'We were overwhelmed.'
And the list goes on.

So with some apprehension, Javs and I headed to Crate & Barrel for our first registry experience. I peppered Javs with lots of 'lets try to make this fun' and 'lets go into this with good attitudes' on the way. But I'll tell you now, we had a blast and even ended up with some items on our registry! Here is Javs, armed with the scanner and ready to start.

Now I have to pause here to tell a little tale on my fiance. I had been warned by brides that had gone before me that putting that scanner in the hands of the groom could be somewhat dangerous. For a variety of reasons, but one main one that kept appearing on my blogs that I hadn't even thought of: they scan you. That's right - grooms with toy scanners apparently enjoy running that red laser up and down their future wives. Many of my blogs had warned about it, but I thought - how silly - Javs won't do that, so I didn't even mention it. And since my groom is a man never short on opinions (or words) I thought allowing him to control the scanner would ensure we were listening to each other and picking out items we wanted.
Seven seconds after the kind sales lady left us to our own devices with the scanner - Javs turned to me and went 'beep,' activating the red laser and moving it up and down my arm.
I had to laugh out loud. What could I do? He had scanned me. Just as I had been warned he would. I had to tell him about the warning I had received (and ignored). I couldn't believe that he had so quickly acted in the way so many grooms apparently do. He played. Oh well! At least it started us off in good spirits :)

Despite his initial faux pas, we decided Javs should keep the scanner and we proceeded to the China to officially start our registry :) I think Javier and I have fairly similar styles. We both tend to be drawn to more classic looks (lets face it - neither of us are too trendy) especially when it came to China. We were both attracted to the same pattern and BOOM before we knew it we were registered for ten 5-piece settings! I'll spare you the play by play, but provide some highlights for you.
Decision making was hard. Well sometimes it was. Other times, I was shocked by how easily we agreed on the best choice for us. Take flatware. Please look at all that silverware. How can one decide? Well we started in one corner with 4 options and played the Staples classic 'pick your favorite.' Then we took our favorite and compared it to the next set of 4 options. I was amazed at how fast one (or both of us) would eliminate possible contenders with a previous favorite until we had reviewed the whole table and had it down to two options. (Javs complained that I kept liking the baby silverware - he'd pick up a knife I held comfortably in my hand and dwarf it: covering up half the blade with his gargantuan paw.) But in the end we found a set that seemed to fit both our handles and BOOM - scanned.

I really enjoyed walking around the store and talking with Javs about the different kitchenware we could include on our list. We talked about fun events where we'd use each item and laughed at items we thought were silly. We debated longest over wine glasses. Javs was focusing on the thickness of each stem (with some concern after breaking several of our current wine glasses by their skinny stems) while I focused on the shape and size of each globe. In the end we decided we didn't love any of them and since we have some additional stores where we would like to register, we figure we can wait to check out other merchandise. We left with 40+ items on our list and a free thank you gift from Crate and Barrel for registering with them :) (it was an adorable little square vase that now holds the tulips Mrs Cabezas gave me for V-day)

**Advice Alert** Don't stress at the store. Stop when its not fun anymore.
1) Don't stress at the store. Because we live in this amazing age where everything can be done online. (Some brides and grooms aren't even walking into stores anymore to register. They are doing it in the comfort of their own home via the internet!) Javs and I know (and kept mentioning as we scanned) that we can go back and 'fix' things later (delete, add, change around, etc). So have fun in the store, look at stuff that is important to choose based on look and know that you can go online and adjust as needed!
2) Stop when its not fun anymore. Cause that probably means you've been debating that sugar bowl too long or that you both have looked at entirely too many sugar bowls in a 30 minute time span (the brain can only process but so many options). We walked around for about an hour and a half. It seemed perfect. We got some good stuff, but didn't reach the point of pulling hair out. (Okay maybe a little with the wine glasses, but thats why we walked away!)