No one here will be able to find my registry at BB&B, as I registered under Kevin's name, and I'm pretty sure that no one here knows our last name. I decided to change the party invitation to say "Open House", which I think is not the same as "House Warming", and certainly does not have the connotations of gifts. So it's simply an "open house" party to orient my friends to where we live now, and it will be very casual. I've been very sick for the past three days with the flu and did not go to work on Tuesday and Wednesday. I had to go in Thursday morning for a half day, but did not have the strength to go today. I had thought about canceling the party altogether, but Kevin had already invited friends from where he works. I had no idea that BB&B had a separate website for California!! It is a very popular store here, and we've already bought a lot of stuff there, including our new stainless steel garbage can for the kitchen. We had to get a nice one because it's in a prominent area of the kitchen and visible from both the living room and dining room. For those of you unable to attend, Kevin will create a video that he will post on YouTube. As for comparing the cost of a wedding to the cost of a housewarming party - what about the expense of just getting into the house? And it is my first house. Suzie, I hope you do have a nice housewarming party, and I was in the same situation as you - I didn't think of having the party until people asked me when I was going to have it. As you can probably tell, I like to be accommodating to my friends, although at first I really didn't want to have the party, since it will take quite a bit of effort to get everything ready in time. However, Kevin said his friends were really anxious to see the house, and so I agreed to have it. I won't cancel the registry, but will keep it very private and only share it with those who ask for it. Some people are gift challenged and appreciate getting help. I do feel better now that I have sent the invitations as I did for the Open House and no mention of a registry. It didn't seem right to me from the beginning, but I really have no experience with this, since I've never been invited to a housewarming party and don't know what is expected or not expected. That's why I had to ask. It didn't seem right to me either when I was told that I should register, but having had no experience, I had nothing else to go on than what my friends here had told me. I think I'm on track now - thanks for all the help! Lars

Is this their first apartment together, or is she moving in with him into his apartment? Guess it doesn't really matter, as I wouldn't go at all, nor would I send a gift. I don't care that I'd seem to be an 'old fogie'...the mother is of our generation for cryin' out loud!! It's in very bad form. I worked in a very small, tight-knit group and one of the support staff was pregnant with her 3rd child. Our section threw her a shower at work and invited other divisions to attend also. A few people got her nice outfits, but no one got her the new car seat, crib, stroller, bedding, etc that had been 'suggested'. In fact, the majority of the people who actually attended didn't bring anything. And fewer than a dozen people came by anyway. It didn't make things weird around the office and she didn't act put out by the lack of gifts or attendance. She seemed to be happier that her closest co-worker threw the party more than anything else. So, bottom line, I wouldn't attend this event, even if you did say yes at the initial email. Simply say something has come up (you have to give yourself a pedicure, that is something!!) and say have a good time. No gift, no apologies, no hard feelings. Her few brainless buddies (and mama) will attend and she'll get a few ridiculous gifts and be over it. Save your guilty conscience for the wedding. (insert sarcasm here!)

We are going to host a "housewarming" BBQ when our place is done. We will probably call it "The Linoleum Palace Coming Out Ball" or something similar and cheeky. Most of the attendees will have attended our wedding 2 years ago and I doubt most will bring gifts beyond maybe some champagne or something, which is always welcomed! We entertain a LOT so I doubt people will treat it differently than most of our other larger parties. We will probably invite our GC/PM and architect as I can confidently say they've actually kind of become friends at this point! In regards to the explanation cards- I do think that's a bit pretentious, however I am planning a gallery wall for our entertainment room that includes the history of the house and some pre-construction photos. Our house is over 160 years old and we've found old photos of it from the 30s, newspaper clippings referencing it and some of the old inhabitants and have traced the property records all the way back to 1848 when the original farm was sold and cut up into residential lots. People usually have questions about the history of the house the first time they see it (it's quite dissimilar to most other houses in Brooklyn,) so I think that will actually be a nice talking piece. Plus, when someone asks "oh do you know anything about the history of the house?" I can just point them downstairs to the wall instead of retelling the story for the 50th time ;)

I was wondering why you didn't use your Ooni until I realized you were in LA not CC. We always parbake our crusts when using the Ooni because it makes them easier to launch in our narrow 12" Ooni. Those pizzas need some meat ;-) Cases are trending up pretty quickly in much of the country. The next county over from us has one of the highest number of cases per 100K in the country at 232. My county is at 30 per. We are supposed to start going back to the office 2 days a week in June. That may get postponed if cases keep trending up. I hope you and Kevin manage to not catch it!