The Royal Wedding

I'm proud to say that I was one of those crazy people who got up at 4 am to watch Will & Kate get married.  I watched the BBC from 4am until I had to leave for work at 5:50 am.  One of the doctors dug out an old TV and set it up in the breakroom.  From 7- 7:15am, 10 of us where huddled around a 6" TV watching the countdown for the balcony kiss.  Once I got home at 7:30 pm, I watched 20/20 with Barbara Walters for Wedding Highlights.


Maybe it's just me but I have an attachment to William.  No, attachments that wrong word; more of an interest. Mainly because we're the same age (just a month apart) and we would have been in the same grade if we attend the same school.

I know everyone has there opinion about the wedding and I'm writing to put my two cents in.

She's attractive and he's handsome himself....even when he doesn't have a hat on.  

The dress.  Loved it.  Well, the top of it anyhow....the lace, the sweetheart neckline! The skirt wasn't my taste but the train was lovely.  And I also liked that her veil was transparent so that you could see her face.

The Military uniform.  William and Harry looked sharp, as did Princes Charles and Phillip.  You know what they say about a man in uniform.

Pippa.  Some say that her dress was inappropriate and that she shouldn't have worn white.  We don't know English tradition.  Maybe Kate picked out the dress or gave her blessing over the color.  It looked flattering  and gorgeous and if I had curves like her, I'd wear it too.

The hats.  I have a bunch of hats from my late grandma in my basement.  She wore them  back in the 30's and 40's.  Now I can bring them back into fashion.  I just need a wedding to attend ; )

The kiss.  Thank goodness there were two of them.  The first one wasn't good enough.  It shouldn't be just a peck but should be tasteful.

The car.  Sweet ride.  Driving into the sunset with the cliche license plate: Ju5t Wed.  I think it's funny that it looks like something you would find here in the states.  Streamers tucked into the visors.  Balloons purchased from the nearest party outlet.  The thing that made it classy was the omittance of tin cans. 

Public -vs.- Private.  I'm happy that they choose to share their wedding with the world.  But respect that they want their privacy in their daily life.  I'm fine with hearing tidbits of the royal family's charity or upcoming birthday's or anniversaries but I don't need to know when they take out their trash or what they are buying for dinner.  Give them their space to be PEOPLE.  It must be awfully claustrophobic to feel watched all the time...and creepy too.

I'm happy that William and Kate found each other.  And I think they made the right decision on waiting to get married.  Hopefully it will make their union strong and long lasting.  They seem truly in love and I wish them the best.  Lastly, they are going to have dang cute kids!

Easter Weekend

Spring can finally start for Easter is here!

This weekend has come and gone in a blur.

Friday: I had the day off of work so I spent it doing some baby shower shopping in Maple Grove.  My sister accompanied me and we went to Baby Gap, Children's Place, Pottery Barn Kids, Gymboree, and Babies 'R' Us.  Out of all of those stores, I had the most luck at Babies 'R' Us.  I love that store...I wish I had discovered it earlier for previous baby showers.  Little Kailyn's room motif is monkeys.  I had the most fun looking for little things that had monkeys on them.  I knew I wanted to do a summer theme so I got her a swimsuit, Little Swimmers diapers and baby sunscreen.  But I splurged a little and bought her a giant stuffed monkey.  It's about the size of a 2 years old...and it's so cute.

Saturday: Mom and Dad came down last night and they're going to stay for a couple of days.  Dad went to Menards to buy a couple sheets of Sheetrock.  He's hoping to put the last pieces up and be done with it by Monday.  All that will be left if to tape, mud and paint.  It's starting to feel less and less like a cement room.  On Saturday afternoon, Mom and I went to see Jersey Boys at the Orpheum.  I've had these tickets in my freezer for a year and a half.  It feels good to finally thaw them out and trade them in for a balcony seat.  I thought the show was going to be like "Mamma Mia"....a show set to the music of an artist.  I was pleasantly surprised for it to actually be about The Four Seasons and their rise and fall of fame.  Great casting, great singers, great play!  I'd definitely see it again.  The playbill had shows for the 2011-2012 season.  I'm interested in seeing The Lion King, Blue Man Group, Green Day's American Idiot, and Million Dollar Quartet.  This could get spendy.

Sunday:  Mom and I went to church at St. Paul's in Ham Lake.  The only think I like about that place is the architecture: pine ceilings and brick walls.  We are not "Put Your Hands In The Air And Shout Hallelujah" people.  We are "Sit Stand Kneel and Keep Quiet" people.  Traditional not Contemporary.
When we got home we started on making the Easter spread...too much food for four people as usual.  Ham will be coming out of my ears in a few weeks.
After lunch, we descended on the basement again and finished the sheet rock.  Mom and I rearranged the twin beds and side tables.  I looks so nice that I might have to move my bedroom to the basement now.  After supper, we all sat down in front of the tube and watched the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie "Beyond The Blackboard" and then headed for bed.  A perfect end to a busy weekend.

Movie Monday

127 Hours

Date of Viewing: Saturday, April 16th, 2011

Method of Viewing: RedBox

Rating: 5 Starts

A-Listers: James Franco, Amber Tamblyn, Treat Williams

If you watched the Oscars, you've heard of this movie.  If you didn't, then I'm letting you know about it for the first time.  I have yet to see a trailer about this movie.  And I'm surprised about that because this is such a great movie.  I would think the production company would want to promote this movie for all people, not just outdoor enthusiasts, to see.

To describe this movie in one word is hard to do.  It's adventurous, thrilling, scary, intelligent, funny, real.   It's based on a true story of a man who bikes and hikes in the wilderness all by himself, not telling anyone where he's going.....and gets stuck by a rock in a canyon crevice.  No one can see him, no one can hear him.  Oh, what to do?

I mean, can you imagine YOURSELF being stuck under a giant rock and the only thing that is preventing you from going home is a mere 6 inches (the palm of your hand)?  That would make me go crazy.  But not to the point of chopping off my arm.  I would just die.  But that's the difference between Aron Ralston and I.  I don't go hiking in canyons or rock climb.  I walk on the sidewalk and take the stairs if there isn't an elevator.

If you are on the fence of whether you want to see this movie or not, let me help you out....see it!  If you don't think this movie is your kind of movie, I beg you to reconsider.  It's an amazing journey of a young man and his fight for his survival.  And who knows, you might need to know what to do when you're in a situation similar to his.



Two Weeks and Counting

I ordered my bike yesterday and in two weeks I will be a bike owner.
Just in time for spring and nice weather.
And I have a bike rack too.
Stay tuned....I plan on doing a bunch of riding this summer.  I might have to bring my camera along and share some pictures that I take along the way.

I'm A Bicyclist

I'm taking my health living to another level that I thought I would never do.  I'm buying a bike.

A coworker from the Y wants to go riding trails at Bunker or Elm Creeks or wherever and I said that I would do it with her.  We'd be riding buddies.  She inherited a bike from her sister, but I am going to get a new one.  My parents sold the bike I had years ago.  It probably would be too small for me now.  It's so old...we got it at Montgomery Wards.  That store doesn't even exist anymore. 

On Sunday I went bike shopping and I fell in love with at bike at Pioneer Cycling.  It's a mom-n-pop shop three blocks away.  They had great customer service, were very knowledgeable and I was able to ride 6 bikes in their parking lot.   I have pretty much decided that I'm going to get the bike I'm in love with even though it's a little outside the price range I was intending to spend.  But if it's comfortable, I will look forward to using it and in the long run it will be an investment.  Plus, if I buy it from Pioneer, I get a lifetime warranty and a discount on maintenance fees (lubes, adjustments, etc).

I am going to be getting a trunk rack from another coworker.  It's designed to fit over a trunk and she has a Honda Fit....no trunk!  So I'll be saving a couple dollars there.  My only other expense is going to be a bike helmet....here comes helmet hair....and a theft-repellent bike lock. 

So if anyone wants to get together and go riding somewhere (Long Lake, Calhoun, Nicollet), I'll meet ya.  I can even pick you up and throw your bike on my trunk bike rack!  Call Me!!!

On another fitness front, check out this post.

Just Be Happy

I consider myself a go-with-the-flow kind of person.  Somedays not so much...like anybody.  I try to not let the small things get to me.  Key work is small.

I'm a leader at work but during my personal time, sometimes I want the leisure of just being a follower.  I've noticed that it tends to be stress-free as a follower.  You: "What do you want to do?"  Me: "I don't know.  What do you feel like doing?"

There is stress all around and sometimes one needs to just say "Too bad.  I'm not going to let it effect me."
If you let the stress in, it'll just frazzle you more and then you look like a "B" to others around you.  And that behavior can rub off on other people and they too can become "B"'s themselves.

So to prevent others from rubbing off on me today, I'm living the 80's motto:  Don't worry.  Be happy ; )

Hopefully tomorrow will be a new day.

IRS Scare

I got home from work tonight and noticed the mail sitting on the kitchen counter.  And I found a smile on my face when I saw the envelope on the top of the pile.  It was my Federal refund.  I've been waiting weeks for it.  I got my State refund so fast that I was beginning to think that the Federal got lost in the mail.

And then my heart stopped when I saw a second letter with an IRS logo on it.  Shit....am I being audited?  I don't want to be audited!

I opened it with apprehension.  It was a letter saying that my direct deposit didn't go through and that my a refund CHECK would be in the mail shortly.  Hahaha.   The US Department of Treasury is a little slow!

Movie Monday

Hop

Date of Viewing: Saturday, April 2, 2011

Method Of Viewing: Andover Cinemas

Rate: 3 out of 5 Stars

B-Listers: James Marsden; Kaley Cuoco
Voices of: Russell Brand, Hugh Laurie and Hank Azaria

This is a cute little movie.  They're are plenty of movies about Santa Claus.  It's about time there was a movie about the Easter Bunny.

It's slacker-adult needs a job and being the Easter Bunny sounds pretty cool.  The kids in the audience loved it.  I thought the ending was abrupt and wasn't too realistic. It's like the movie editors thought the movie was long enough and they thought they should wrap it up.  It felt too rushed.  But being that it's catered towards kids, I guess it should be easy and not too complicated.  They might have a hard time with a more difficult, intense ending.

Unless you have kids, I'd skip it.

Summer Sports

On Tuesday I received the Blaine Park & Rec Activities book for this summer.  I've received them in the past and have signed up for community league softball twice.  And I took ballroom dance lessons at the Andover Middle School about 4 years ago.  That was super fun except I registered as a single, not a couple, so that was a little awkward.

The softball ad caught my eye, but the co-ed league is on Thursday nights.  Thursday's don't work for me because I have to work at the Y.  Then I saw the tennis ad.  With my new fitness commitment, getting out and running around in the fresh air with a racket in my hands sounds wonderful.  It goes from mid-May to mid-August.  That's a long time.  But it's cheap...only $15 for the whole summer.

I'm kind of nervous because it's been a long time since I've played serious tennis.  I've played with L every summer, but we don't get too competitive with each other.  We're more interested about getting a volley going (and girl talk) than scoring points. 

There are no set days, so my opponent and I will have to contact each other and arrange the place and time to play.  I'm so rusty I'll probably lose every match.  My backhand sucks.  And I'm used to playing doubles ( S-A-R-A. S-A-R-A.  Go Sara Go!).  I'm going to be running all over the place because it will be ME and only me.  Thanks goodness I received a rule book Senior year during our banquet.  Thanks tennis captains.  I can brush up on scoring and tie-breakers.

I'm still on the fence if I really want to do this.  The registration deadline is May 5 so I have some time to think about it.