Fairytales in Dreamland

All right - I'll admit that I did wake up and watch Prince William and Kate tie the knot. I kind of thought I might when I went to sleep last night, but I didn't set my alarm. My inner romantic must have been clued in though; so when the train horns started bleating as quietly as they do at 3 am it was all I needed to get out of bed and head for the TV.

I have a few questions:

1. Was anyone else as impressed with Phillipa's dress as I was? I knew we were in for a treat with the bridal gown when the maid of honor's dress was so captivating.
2. Do you pronounce Phillipa without the l's or was I missing them amongst the English accents of the commentators?
3. When Kate's brother arrived with her mother was it completely necessary for the American press to bring up his tranny stint recently caught on film? 
4. I know that Sarah and Andrew are divorced, but if the couple chose to invite the Beckhams and Elton John, don't you think Sarah could have been invited too?
5. Did you notice that all TV channels were streaming the same footage? I know that security must have been a nightmare to oversee, but did the English have control over what those of us offsite were seeing? Where was the drama? Or was it really that well rehearsed and overseen that it really did go off without a hitch?



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6. What is it about royal weddings and horse races that bring out the hats?
7. I can't help but feel sorry for how exhausted Kate's going to be at the end of the day! She'll have 3 marriage ceremonies - the one we got to watch, the formal royal wedding, and the more intimate one (probably the most similar to what we're used to) later this evening. She also has 2 receptions today. Did you see the food that's been prepared?! You should check this out... Can you believe the menu just for the lunchtime reception? How do you make "Mini Yorkshire puddings?" Those look great! (But that may be because I've got a thing for horseradish.) Do you think I can use my Pampered Chef mini muffin tin? 
8. I had two favorite quotes:

Arrived a commoner and left a princess. Source: I'm sure Meredith or Ann or Camilla said this, but I'll attribute it to my girl, Tisha.

This one is all Matt Lauer. It was during the recessional, and he was talking about the Archbishop of Canterbury's voice. That man has some pipes! I'd love to hear him say: This is Today...

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Anyway - Once I had calmed down enough to return to dreamland I dreamed that I was hanging with the royals in one of the more quaint spaces within Buckingham Palace (those exist, right?). The Princes William and Harry had been called out on routine maneuvers and had to put in some flight hours (and I know that Harry doesn't fly). Kate was fine with William taking off for a couple of hours, but we were trying to figure out what to do while we waited. I went digging through a closet - had to pull out a train track that was coiled like the slides at Cowabunga Bay - and found the stack of board games. I found Ticket to Ride and we sat down to play. That's when I woke up and realized that I had missed the kiss...

I went back to sleep around 5:00 so I had to watch the kiss after the fact. I'm a little disappointed. I'd hoped that we'd see a momentary lapse in William's stoicism and be treated to some royal PDA as he lunged her into a sweeping kiss that would rally the onlookers. Come on.Where's the royal passion?! You're a prince for goodness sake! Romantics around the world are already suspicious that there's a problem!

Anyway - I loved the dress. I loved the pomp. I loved the bridesmaid plugging her ears.

Spring a Ding

I've been off of my blogging mojo lately, but I want to show you where I've been splurging.

Last week I hosted book club. We read The Help. If you haven't read this yet, go get it. Seriously. I think it's that good.

Anyway - I really stressed over the menu and decor for this lunch. This should not surprise anyone. I finally settled on a Caribbean chicken salad with honey-lime dressing, home-made rolls, and deviled eggs. For dessert I made individual raspberry cobblers, which did not turn out as good as PWs. But they sure tasted good!

The decor is something that was completely unnecessary, but something I absolutely wanted to do. I wanted to use my every day plates. They're Pfaltzgraff's Trousseau pattern. I'm completely cursing myself by saying this, but Jon and I have been married nearly 18 years, and we still have all 12 of the original dinner and salad plates. I've got 11 mugs, and 12 saucers. I'm down to 5 bowls. 

Anyway - see how there's that bit of clustered pink? I wanted to pull that out, and I had found a fun way to make napkin rings using toilet paper rolls and strips of fabric. So - I made these:

I used fabric scraps from the spring quilt top I just finished. I love this stuff. It's fun. It's vibrant. It's fresh. I wanted to also pull these colors into the table decor. So the night before book club I went through my scrap cache and put this little runner together.

I really do think I'm crazy. I don't know what happened to me that night, but I seriously impressed/surprised myself.

I love how my tablescape turned out. My cousin had suggested a green tablecloth, which I happened to have on hand. Then I shopped my house and grabbed my most springy decor items, gathered them together, played with condiment containers under the grass to get it just the right height. I also had a bit of inspiration and pulled out my pink goblets that Jon's sister gave me for a wedding gift. They were perfect!

I didn't get a good photo of the entire table because I didn't have the napkins in the rings until my friends had arrived, and by then I was too excited to get the party started. Please believe me when I say it was so pretty!