A wedding celebration for Wills and Kate

What little girl doesn't imagine falling in love with her prince charming and living happily ever after?  

And what woman in her late 20s wasn't smitten with Prince William at some point in her formative years? 

For me, Prince William was up there with JTT, Leonardo DeCaprio and Heath Ledger. When I found out that he had a girlfriend several years ago, I was a bit saddened that my imaginary fairy tale would never come to fruition. Not that I really believed it would really happen, but you never do know, right? :)

Honestly though, how could you not be happy for these two?

 {source}

With the Royal Wedding tomorrow, my friends and I have been following the various preparations with great excitement. When top designers made public their would-be designs for Kate's gown, we were all on top of that. Wedding souvenirs? One friend has made her own, and is in London selling them at this very moment. (You should check them out because they're brilliant!) Another friend conveniently has family living in London, and chose a very fitting time for a holiday (uber jealous). 

The most fun I've had in preparation for the big day tomorrow, is my dear friend Maggie's Royal Movie Marathon. A wonderful idea, and soooo much fun! Here's what we viewed, in homage to the royals present and past:

Monday          Sisi 

Tuesday         Marie Antoinette

Wednesday    The Young Victoria 

Tonight          (don't laugh) Will and Kate (the Lifetime movie) 

{Us lovely ladies excitedly anticipating the grand event tomorrow}

I wish I could say that I was waking up at 4am tomorrow to watch the shindig, but since I should probably go to work and function, I won't. But by golly I'll be checking for updates throughout the course of the morning.

Here's to a bright spot in present day history amidst all the gloom and doom in other news! 

And here's to couples finding love and happiness! (It definitely gives hope to the rest of us!)

My new favorite thing.

Now that my hair is finally long enough to pull up (hooray!), I've reverted back to my high school self, and have been trying out new hair styles. I'm much out of practice (short hair will do that to you...also not having a younger sister close by enough to be my ginnea pig).

I remembered my roommate Rachel saying that she's used youtube.com to learn how to play a harmonica and to learn new crochet stiches, I figured I could also use it to my own advantage. So the last couple of days I've checked it out to come up with a few new creative dos. Like this one:



Super easy, and super cute.

Now I have to decide if I'm too old to really pull this style off.

In any case, now I know where to go for new inspiration!

For Easter Monday

I love this time of the year when we focus on the atonement and resurrection of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for His selfless sacrifice for me and for all mankind, and that through Him, I can return to live with my Heavenly Father some day.  I know that He is always there, that He lives. I know that He knows me, and loves me, and wants the absolute best for me. And I am so grateful for this knowledge, and I hope that others can come to know that it is true.

Please enjoy this message from the apostles and prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Their testimonies and knowledge of the Savior strengthens mine.

A day in Annapolis

 A couple weekends ago my roommates and I headed up north and east to the beautiful capital town of Annapolis. And I fell in love. How could I not? What's more perfect than a colonial town on the ocean? Really, nothing.

It was cloudy and a bit cold, but it was well worth it to see the ocean. And the cool bikes. And the amazing hat, tea, and fudge shops.

And the Naval Academy. Boy do I love a man in uniform. 

All in all, I think I could live in Annapolis. A quaint small town on the ocean, and relatively close to DC. What is there not to love?

What I've been listening to this week

It was an incredibly stressful past couple of weeks, and when nothing else seems to work, changing the music I listen to does. This week I listened to the soundtrack to Pride and Predjudice non-stop.

Can I just say that I think the movie is absolutely beautiful? The cinematography combined with the music was breathtaking. My favorite scene/song from the movie is this one:



I remember seeing it for the first time in the theater (yes, I saw it several times), I was in awe. The scene where she is standing on the ledge with her dress billowing in the breeze. Absolutely beautiful!

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Here's to beautiful music and the way it makes us feel!

Rewind Spring

Spring! It exists! 

And has been existing for the better part of a month. I'm smitten by the colors!

 Most of the early spring flowers are gone, but I'm glad I was able to document them. 

Hooray for Spring!

Beautiful

As you've probably gathered from my previous post/rant, this past week has been particularly stressful. Listening to upbeat music was making me more anxious, so I listened to one of my most favorite bands, Sigur Rós, for most of the week.

I gush about Sigur Rós. Their music is so powerful to me. And it's so unique. If you haven't checked out their musical documentary, Heima, please do so. It's incredible.

And like Heima, watching this recording of their song Ára Bátur brought me to tears. It's got to be the boys choir.

Beautiful.

Ok, ok...

They came to an agreement.

 No government shut downs.

Took them long enough!

Frustrations of an almost Fed

For the record, I'm technically not a federal employee, but I do work for the government. And, can I just say that I'm incredibly frustrated with the government? I mean really. Really.

The 2010 fiscal year is half over, and the budget is still not approved because the two political parties can't compromise. Let's not forget that this budget was supposed to be approved before the start of the fiscal year. As a result the government may shut down, if they don't work it out in the next 2.75 hours. Last I checked Reid and Boehner were still blaming each other for the stalemate.

Many people may not really understand what would happen in the government shut down. It may not be as huge of an impact around the country, but DC will pretty much be a ghost town. And let's remember that it's the middle of the Cherry Blossom Festival and Spring Break--major tourism season for us. All of the museums will be closed (at least the free ones), all the monuments will be closed, all the federal buildings will be closed, etc. The IRS will stop processing tax returns, national parks around the country will be closed, and the military won't be paid until after the issue is resolved.

And let's not forget all the man hours, stress and energy that has gone into making contingency plans for "just in case."

And most importantly to me, I won't get paid.

Furloughed, baby.

Don't you just love it?

For a Friend...

I received an email from an old friend and roommate of mine (Raquelita).

Subject: A Cause...

I was very much intrigued. And the email contained the most wonderful and amusing thing:



Apparently, Rach's sis, Bekah (also a former roomie of mine),  is trying to prove to her current roommate that Harry Potter is cool (and we ALL know he is, right?). 

How?

Through her awesomely amazing youtube video Muggle Hater. 

I love these two sisters--so if they need me to share this with the world, so be it. Done and done. 

Good luck Bekah!

Once upon a time...

...a very lucky girl living in Washington DC was visited by the best mother in the world (who happens to live in the other Washington). Whilst gallivanting about the delightful town of Philadelphia, art was seen, historical monuments were visited, and delicious food was consumed.

It was an amazing day. I had the day off from work, so we headed up to Philly first thing, and went straight to the Barnes Foundation. Oh my art collection!

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It is one of the absolute best collection of French Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and Early Modern Art. I was in heaven! The collection includes  181 Renoirs, 69 Cézannes, 59 Matisses, 46 Picassos, 18 Rouseaus, 11 Degas, 7 Van Goghs, 6 by Seurat, 4 by Manet, and 4 by Monet. When I said I was in heave, I truly was! 


The collection is housed in the estate of the late Dr. Albert C. Barnes. In 1922 he founded The Barnes Foundation to  "promote the advancement of education and the appreciation of the fine arts" (source). The unique display of the art contributed to this. I won't go into much more about the Foundation, because it is quite controversial, really. If you are at all interested, I suggest watching a documentary on The Barnes Foundation called The Art of the Steal. 

Not only did we gallivant around Philly, but we also road tripped it to Valley Forge and Lancaster. The wind was so strong in Valley Forge, that the electricity went out at the visitor's center. We opted for the car tour--good thing we did, as there was a humongous Boy Scouts of America camp going on. Luckily we were able to beat most of the crowds, or at least get ahead of the boy scouts.

(The house where Washington stayed and some surrounding buildings)

Lancaster was a bit of a disappointment. We tried to make it to the Amish Market, but it was closing down as we were walking in. The town of Lancaster itself was quite beautiful, but we noticed that there were quite a few men loitering about, looking a bit rough around the edges. Quite the juxtaposition. We did pick up some jam (complete with "Shannon's Strawberry"), and headed to the outlets. 

(The center of town)

(An Amish buggy waiting in traffic)

 On Washington's birthday we headed down to Mount Vernon. It was rainy and wet, but little did we know that Mount Vernon was going to be free! We were pretty excited, and spent some time on the grounds. We also got to see Dean Malissa, aka The Official George Washington (Malissa has done a program or two for our department). Mom thought it was pretty cool. 

Afterwards, we drove through Old Town Alexandria, got caught up in the parade traffic and subsequently left. We lunched in Georgetown, walked around a bit, and then headed home. I was so sad to see my mum, and her little yellow bug go! 

It was a wonderful visit!

 Mom, we should do it again sometime! 

Young Blood

Can I just say that Chuck has the best music ever? Not only is it witty, and causes me to laugh, it also has an enviable soundtrack (sometimes I wish it could be my soundtrack. You know, the soundtrack to my life, if such a thing ever existed).  Most of the music I listen to comes from this awesomely amazing TV show. That and one of my favorite people, Sarah...And Korea.

Anyhow, Sarah and Chuck both introduced this song to me. And I'm in love.

Ladies and Gents, I introduce to you The Naked and Famous's Young Blood:

Operation Backpacks for Japan: Kids helping Kids!

My good friend Rose was sharing a link to this wonderful "operation" on facebook.com, and I knew that I wanted to get involved.

And tell as many people as I possibly could!

Don't worry. I'm not just realizing that there is an ongoing catastrophe in Japan. I've been following it from the very beginning. Waking up that Thursday morning, checking the news online, and feeling hopeless and frantic to make sure that my friends in Taiwan and Hawaii were ok. Luckily, Taiwan wasn't hit by the tsunami, and Hawaii didn't suffer too much damage.

I think it pretty much goes without saying that I love Asia. I think about my friends and experience there pretty much everyday. Mostly centered around Taiwan, but it my love has extended to the surrounding countries as well (or connecting Taiwan to them by way of water?). Anyhow, I've been devastated watching the aftermath of what has been occurring, and feeling helpless. I want to donate, but to whom? I don't want my money being used to pay the staff of a non-profit. This brings it all back to the link that Rose shared...

The Girl Scout troop and Scout troop on a US military base just outside of Tokyo have found a unique way to help out their friends. School in Japan begins in April, and many children lost school bags, supplies, and stuffed animals in the tsunami. Camp Zama Girls and Boys Scouts are holding a backpack drive called OPERATION BACKPACKS FOR JAPAN. How rad is that?

Here's what they have to say about their drive:

"Our mission is to provide comfort and a message of love to the kids of Japan who have lost everything in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.  We will distribute the packs after transportation and mail delivery becomes available in the affected areas.  Members of our community are in Sendai, Japan, directly helping with relief efforts.  They will personally help distribute the backpacks for our Scouts.   Thanks to the 35th CSSB and the Joint Support Force Japan -- Forward Command Element, we have now started delivering backpacks!"

Click here for their website. 

It may seem silly, but here's the thing: I remember my students being obsessed with their school supplies, and to lose all of that would be kinda of devastating. It may not seem like a big deal, but it would be to a kid who spends 12 hours a day in school.

I stamp this project with the mark of AWESOMENESS! I for one, will be donating. How 'bout you?