PS

Yes, I am an American who is completely fascinated by the Windsors and has been since I watched Lady Diana Spencer marry Prince Charles as a child.

Bllliiinnnggg!

I'll admit it - I am easily distracted by shiny objects. It's true! I looooove jewelry. So I was really excited to see what Kate Middleton was going to wear for her royal wedding. So here is a picture of her wedding bling.

The tiara is the Cartier "Halo" tiara that King George VI purchased for his wife in 1936 and was given to Queen Elizabeth for her 18th birthday. The Queen loaned it to the Duchess of Cambridge for her special day.

The earrings were a gift from Kate's parents. The dangle in the middle of the earrings is an acorn - from the Middleton family crest.

And, of course, there is the ring. The beautiful 18-carat saphire and diamond ring that Prince Charles gave to Princess Diana for their engagement. It was then presented to Kate Middleton by Prince William as his "way of making sure that my mother didn't miss out". I haven't heard anything about the actual wedding band that the Duchess of Cambridge wears but I believe it to be either a gold or platinum band - simple and just like Diana.



The Duchess didn't wear any other jewelry for her wedding. She is truly a classy, elegant, yet simple lady.

Final bid

The final bid on this unique headpiece was in excess of $130,000. And all of that money went to charity.

Disneyfied royal wedding

I stumbled across the pictures below of the Royal Wedding . . . Disneyfied in Cinderella fashion. I thought they were absolutely adorable and just a little bit humorous.


Prince Charming and Catherella

The Princesses as Catherella's stepsisters

I would imagine that Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie are absolutely lovely girls and nothing like the stepsisters. After all, I did read this morning that the bid for Princess Beatrice's royal wedding hat is up to $30,000 ! ! ! Again, my suggestion is to put the royal wedding portrait in the center. The bids will sky-rocket!

More hats

Here are Carole Middleton, Queen Elizabeth II and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, at the royal wedding. I love their hats. They are much more conservative than Princess Beatrice's hat but still have that Kentucky Derby vibe. I probably would have added some sort of feathers to Camilla's hat just to add a little more interest though.

I adore big sunhats and cute conductor caps and interesting beanies . . . that sort of thing. I am a hat person. I buy hats and I wear hats. Why don't more people wear hats?

The HAT

And I don't mean as in Cat in the . . .



Though I suppose you could put a cat in this hat and no one would probably even notice!

This is Princess Beatrice's hat from the royal wedding. This hat is exceptional! It is incredibly bold and extremely interesting. I know that it's a little over-the-top but it added a little flavor to the royal wedding. She did keep the hat in a nice neutral color and coordinated it to her outfit to keep it from entering Mad Hatter territory. Could you imagine if this hat were red?!



I just read that she is now auctioning the hat off on ebay. It will benefit charity though I don't know which one. My recommendation - put an official wedding portrait of Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, in the center opening. It's sure to fetch a much higher price!

What was she thinking?!?!?!

I took one look at Victoria Beckham's royal wedding outfit and nearly died. What in the hell was she thinking??? It looks like she found a navy blue gunny sack (oversized, of course) and cut holes in it for her arms and head. It was so shapeless. Victoria normally has such good taste. I think it must have been the pregnancy hormones that led to her poor choice. But I will give her kudos for the sky-high heels that she wore while being pregnant. As far as the hat, I'm still up in the air on that one. But her arm accessory (I mean, husband), now that is something I can get on board with!!!


THIS IS HOW IT'S DONE!!!!!
I absolutely love the simplicity of Catherine's gown and the angora sweater she wore over it. She looked so chic yet regal. It was absolutely exquisite!

It finally got here!

The Royal Wedding finally got here and whizzed right by me! I'm sad to say that I actually fell asleep before the wedding so I didn't get to watch it live but I did watch it after I got up.

I stayed up all night. I read, I did crossword puzzles, I watched crime shows, I did everything I could but, alas, it did not work. But moving on . . .

Could this wedding or Catherine Middleton been any more perfect or beautiful?



Catherine Middleton was one of the most beautiful brides I've ever seen! Even more so than Princess Diana, I think.



Her dress was so simple, yet it was incredibly regal.



Everything was so appropriate, including her bouquet, which was a flower called Sweet Williams.



And her Prince was so dashing and handsome and regal and so much his mother.



He even blushed a little bit after the kiss(es) on the balcony.



And just the incredible love and comfort that they share with each other is absolutely amazing!

They were so natural and relaxed around each other, even though you could still see that they were both nervous (even after all these years together). Prince William winked at his Princess. They shared loving glances and smiles. Their waves were not the typical small circle like Queen Elizabeth II uses. Catherine was so regal and composed the entire time. And I was EXTREMELY impressed to learn that she had done her own makeup!

She didn't want Prince William to see her in her dress until she arrived at the altar and he honored that request. He actually ended up being the last person to see her in her dress. But I bet, it was worth the wait. She . . . was . . . stunning!

I'm so excited!!!!!

I'm about to burst here! I can hardly wait for the royal wedding to begin. I have my website up and I've got tons of snacks and, of course, tea. I'll be getting out the china soon and making up my tea party food.

I am going to be the only one in attendance for my tea party but I'm still gonna love every single minute of it.

Tea & crumpets, anyone?

I cannot wait until tomorrow! It will be fairly early in the morning here, but I'm either staying up all night or getting up super early just so I can watch the royal wedding.

I'm going to have my own private little tea party complete with fine china, chai tea and some sort of pastry or tea sandwiches. I may even get dressed up in a dress that makes me feel like a princess!!!!! (Just a note - If ever you find an article of clothing that makes you feel like a princess, a queen, a million bucks or anything else, BUY IT!!!).

I only wish that Princess Diana were still alive to see her baby boy get married. I think she would have absolutely adored Kate Middleton. And can you even begin to imagine Princess Diana as a grandma?!?!?! I think she would have been the most awesome grandma! But a part of her will always be there with the Prince and his Princess to remind them of her - THE RING.

They look so natural

I just had to post this picture of Prince William and Kate Middleton. I absolutely love it because they look so natural and relaxed. This picture seems so genuine. But most of all, he looks so protective of her with the way that he has his arms completely encircling her. Can't wait for April 29th to get here!

Royal Wedding Confessions

I have another confession to make. As a young girl, I watched the "first" royal wedding on July 29, 1981, between Prince Charles and Lady Diana 9 times on television. That's right - 9 times! It was truly a fairy tale. The dress with it's 25-foot train, the bouquet, the carriage, the fanfare, just everything. It sucked me right in.



I think that it is absolutely amazing that Prince William was able to give Princess Diana's engagement ring to his Princess. That has to be so special to Kate Middleton.



I absolutely loved Princess Diana. I admired her. I adored her. I was fascinated by her. I would have LOVED to meet her in person. I have several books that were written about her life. She was so flawed yet still so compassionate. I loved that she was such a hands-on mom to the Princes. She always went against what was expected of her and she was so strong. She always stood up for herself. It may not have always have been all that constructive but she did what she felt was right. She had such style, such class.

I had just started dating the Hot Tamale when she died. I remember that I had just woken up when I heard the news of her passing. I was devastated. Poor HT called me that morning and I was in tears. He probably thought I had completely lost my mind.

In the days following her passing, I actually went out and purchased Elton John's single on cassette from Princess Diana's funeral. He redid his song "Candle in the Wind". I'm sure I still have it. I just don't know where it is.

I think that Prince William looks so much like his mother but not only that, he exhibits so many of the same personality traits as his amazing mother. It's just too bad that she isn't here in person to see what a great son she raised and to get to know her amazing daughter-in-law. Princess Diana was truly an amazing woman.

Did anyone else know . . .?

In honor of the upcoming royal wedding, I have been doing research online about various members of the royal family.

Was anyone else aware that the Queen Mother had passed away in 2002 at the age of 101 ??? I guess I just do not remember ever hearing about it. I had been wondering what she was up to these days. Now I know.

The Queen Mum was a very interesting woman (Just look her up on Wikipedia). She had a dry sense of humor and was always smiling. She seemed pretty down-to-earth and sometimes was known to go against the norm. Queen Elizabeth II could pick up a thing or two from her mother.

Speaking of Queen Elizabeth, I was looking through a scrapbook that belongs to my Dad and in there, was a birthday card from his sister. It had a picture of Queen Elizabeth and her husband, Philip, on it. It was signed from "Liz and Phil". I just found that to be so hysterical. My Dad's family members have very dry senses of humor also.

In closing, I just have one question for which I've never heard an answer - why do so many Brits have such terrible teeth (look @ the Queen Mum's)?