Friday, April 29, 2011

A Few Thoughts on Today's Events...

I'm so sleepy.  So very, very sleepy.

I have a conference call at 2pm.  If I can make it through until then, I'm golden.

MK blogged about our Royal Wedding Party HERE on her blog.  Go check it out!

More to come from me about the party on Monday.

BTW, Louis was so sleepy this morning when I took him out to potty at 4am that he fell asleep on the way back into the house.  Literally.  He just stopped walking, laid down and went to sleep.

I've come to the conclusion that there is no good reason to be up at 4am.  Ever.  Except for the Royal Wedding.

I "heart" Chelsy Davy.  She's spunky.


I abhor Camilla Parker Bowles.  She's a hideous home wrecker.  I'm also no fan of Prince Charles.  I hope the Queen decides to skip right over Charles, and never allow him to become King.  Just move right on over to Wills.  Because Charles is just useless, if you ask me.


I do not believe that the Queen plotted to have Diana murdered in that tragic car accident. I just do not.  I know that she most certainly COULD have it done, but I prefer to believe that it was simply a terrible accident.  Somehow I was unaware that others disagreed.  Hmmm....


Apparently I am not as much of an anglophile as I had believed.  I wasn't even aware that William & Kate wouldn't be a Prince or Princess today :(  I just assumed...


And I'm wondering, can I still call William Wills?  Or MUST I call him the Duke of Cambridge?  Because that's just too long to say.  Perhaps DoC would suffice?


Happy Weekend, and here's to sleeping in :)

T

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Henceforth & Evermore





I received another charming note from our Royal Wedding Hostess.  It proclaims:

Lady B, Lady B, Lady C, Lady S, and Lady W,

Our royal festivities are shaping up quite nicely. Most of you will be arriving just before, or around, 5am. Come hungry...we will have an egg/cheese/veggie casserole, a hash brown casserole, muffins or croissants, fancy juice, champagne, Irish cream and coffee. We will plan on eating around 6:30am.

Please stay as long as you can. Three of us will be watching the entire event. I am quite honored to be sharing this momentous event with such special friends.

BTW- the Lord will be working from the Manor that day and will drop in between royal appointments and commitments.

Much anticipation,


Lady T 

We are all dressing in our finest pajamas, pearls and diamonds.  Our halos will be crowned with silver sparkles and veils.  I will be wearing the Royal Engagement Ring (thank you TEN for purchasing me such a lovely bauble), and some fancy/furry/pink kitten heels with my pajamas. 



We will, no doubt, look absolutely ridiculous running around Smalltown, VA at 5am tomorrow morning.  I can't imagine what Lady T's neighbors will think, should they awaken.  But we will hold our heads high as we march through Lady T's castle waving our mimosas and marching to The Trumpet Voluntary.  I plan to retrieve a Royal Crown of the Burger for the Lord of the Manor.  Do they still carry those?  I sure hope so :) 



I'm just so pleased to know that we are not alone.  Because we thought we may be.  Until I caught up with so many of you that are having just as much fun with THE wedding!  I adore celebrations, and dressing up and being silly.  And although this is a very serious matter, I think that the little princess in all of us is just excited to come out to play for the day.



Never you mind that I've got to be at work at 8:30.  Never you mind.  Although I suppose I ought to bring along something a wee bit more appropriate for the office than flannel pajamas, a tiara and kitten heels.  Hmmm....



Happily Ever After,

T

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Put My Hands Up! They're Playin My Song!

Last night there was quite the storm in Smalltown, VA!  The good news is, we were all hunkered down for Taco Tuesday :)  No storm was going to deter us.  WIMP, Marilyn Monroe, MK, TEN, The Voice of Reason and Mr. Swiss & I gathered around the table to enjoy the awesome goodness of $.99 tacos.

AND...I enjoyed my first PBR. 


Okay, "enjoyed" may be a stretch.  Let's stick with "drank".  I drank my frist PBR.  And it really wasn't that bad!  For $5 a pitcher it was really rather okay :) 

At work this morning I was busy working away.  Scheduling meetings in Outlook (which I totally suck at for some reason...oh yea...happy Administrative Professionals Day to everyone who is one...sure wish I had one), and screwing them up 5 times each so that everyone thinks I'm completely incompetent b/c I don't ever schedule meetings.  Anyway, I'm irritable and frustrated and then...



TADA!



A lovely e-mail from Joss & Main arrives telling me there is a little something special on sale that would look absolutely LOVELY in my kitchen, and would be a great replacement for the plain white platter I bought at Walmart when I was in college and hosted Easter supper and needed a platter for it.  And so I bought it.  And I felt immensely better immediately :) 

Here she is:



Isn't she gorgeous?  And she's HUGE!  Like 15"x21".  Like there is no turkey too big to fit on this lovely.  No combination of veggies too big to be piled onto this mama.  She is lovely and she is mine!  Well, she will be.  Soon. 

Along with a new Smathers & Branson needlepoint belt.

Did you like how I just slid that in there?   Yea.  Thought so.  MCW & Dee are a little envious right now, and I can't blame them.  I'm wondering if perhaps we could have The Sisterhood of the Traveling Belt and I could share it with them?  Hmmm....

Anyway, one of my faves Trish from Pink Preppy Lilly Lover had this giveaway for a S&B needlepoint belt.  And I'm all "T, girl...you are NEVER going to win.  But go ahead and enter.  Don't be sad when you don't win.  It's okay.  When you pay off your credit card you can buy yourself one.  All's well."  Trish has fabulous giveaways frequently, and this was no exception!  So, I just signed up and went along my merry way. 

And then

I won. 

Hot diggity dog!  This presh piece of fancy will be mine very, very soon:


And THAT was my Wednesday. 

I hope yours held just as many surprises, and hopefully not as many fumbles.  It's Bunco night with the girls, and I'm hosting.  I've got a tasty little concoction I will be sharing that a friend introduced me to.  It's the PERFECT summer cocktail, and I'll share it with you tomorrow :)

Oh, and speaking of cocktails...Annie...the cocktail you shared with me around New Year's Eve has become a Samlltown, VA staple.  A friend of a friend showed up with it at our Easter Brunch :) 

Happy Wednesday,

T

Westie Wednesday - Collar Edition



I entered a giveaway to win one of these cute collars for Louis:






I didn't win :( The collars cost $24 - $26 each. I still want Louis to have one.


You may remember that he already has this handsome harness and lead set:




It has red seersucker, navy ribbon and white westies all over it :) Louis adores his summer harness and lead.

Louis' collar is very handsome too! It is plaid. Because he is Scottish, of course. His Nana gave it to him :)

But, I'm wondering if something more fitting for Spring/Summer may be needed. Is a tartan collar too "wintery" for my pup this Spring/Summer?

What is your "go to" shop for dog collars?

T

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

"I Don't Want to Stand Out, I Just Want to Dress Better Than Anyone Else"

Last night Marilyn Monroe and I bought our tiaras.  I also bought a veil.  A child's veil so as not to "jinx" any possible marriage proposals in the future :)


I'm holding out on telling you exactly what we have planned until I have the final deets in place.  I want to be able to share our complete ridiculousness with you in it's entirety.  I will tell you that I received an e-mail today that began with:

 The Lord Chamberlain commanded The Queen to invite...‏


And it was followed with:
 
Dearest Fellow Princesses,


And we do not, for one minute, think that we are being ridiculous. 
 
In other news.....
 
1. It's Taco Tuesday :)
 
2. Tomorrow I'm hosting Bunco Night for the girls and we have a full house!
 
OMG...I think I forgot to tell you that The Real Housewife of Delaware (soon to be titled the real housewife of charleston) had her baby girl!!!!!  Did I tell you?  No.  I didn't.  EGADS.  Shameful of me.  But anyway, she did.  And she's so freakin presh I cannot even tell you.  She is called Lula.  Isn't that just divine! 
 
I will be meeting Miss Lula of Charleston on Saturday.  Whooppeee.  Get ready for some pictures.  Because that little muffin is ADORBS!
 
Now, I think that's all I've got to share today.  Other than the fact that I completely hijacked this blog post title from another blog called Advanced Style.  It's style for the octogenarian or some such. Really.  But they've got great quotes.  These ladies are priceless. 
 
Have a lovely Tuesday!
 
T

Monday, April 25, 2011

Cheers To A Never Ending Weekend!

This weekend was one of those that seemed to last forever.  In a good way :)  And I honestly wouldn't change a thing about it, even if I could.  It was perfect.

Friday I had lunch with the girls.  Absolutely delish gumbo, and an early dismissal from work.  You surely can't beat that! 

The Voice of Reason and I had an appointment for a mani/pedi later in the afternoon, so I headed to Lowe's to pick up some things I needed in the mean time.  And then, I appeared to have an hour with nothing to do.  NEVER FEAR!  I headed to the closest TJMaxx.  And I found the most divine gladiator sandals.  (that I am actually wearing today, and wore Friday night, and will be wearing every day b/c I love them). 

(eww...I look like I've got cankles! booo...)

I spied the Easter Bunny while I was there, and he gave me a few things to put into LW's Easter Basket, and also a thing or two to sneak into TEN's Easter Basket :-o

Friday evening TEN and I had our date night.  We decided to scrap the movie since we were having such a good time just enjoying each other's company at the restaurant.  We had a delish meal, plenty of wine and so much laughter :)  We talked about the past, and what went wrong.  We talked about the present, and how happy we are.  And we decided that we don't ever want to end up where we ended up before.  And no one pointed fingers.  We both fessed up to what we did wrong, and could have done better.  And then we bought another bottle of wine to toast us.  To toast the present.  And to toast happiness.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday morning we were up early to head to the new winery where we were going to help plant baby wine vines (as I continued to call them all day).  We had invited The Voice of Reason and Mr. Swiss to join us, so we all met and headed "up the mountain". 

I was completely surprised at what baby wine vines looked like:


Honestly they just look like dead sticks :-o


But, clearly they are NOT dead.  One of the sections that was planted last year looks like this now:


There were various other wineries there doing tastings as well:

(Mr. Swiss, TVoR & TEN)


(the winery pups taking a break from playing with the ball)

They had live music, wonderful food for lunch (shrimp, chicken kabobs, BBQ, cheeses, etc.) and great wine selections.  The weather was perfect, and we decided to stop by another winery before heading back to Smalltown, VA. 

On the way we saw an old saw mill.  We pulled over to the side of the road to investigate:




We also stopped at a shop where they sold Buffalo Meat.  But, we didn't buy any.  I think there may have been some correlation to the fact that we kept passing buffalo, and cows, and calves, and they were all still alive......

The second winery has a bocce ball court, and the guys played bocce ball while TVoR and I enjoyed our wine and took in a little bit of sun. 


At one moment I closed my eyes and listened to the laughter of my friends, and I just wanted the day to last forever.  Have you ever had one of those days?  Where you weren't expected to be anywhere?  When no one was bugging you to get back to town to do something.  When everyone knew you were off enjoying the day, and therefore they didn't call you nonstop?  It was all just so peaceful, and it was so absolutely lovely :)

As we drove back along the Parkway, TVoR and Mr. Swiss invited us to their house for a fancy Swiss supper called Raclette.  TEN and I were very curious as to what this fancy pants meal would be like, so we dropped off TVoR and Mr. Swiss and headed home to fetch Louis.  Poor muffin, his legs were crossed when we got home...he had been praying we would arrive home soon.  We rewarded him for his patience by taking him along for the fancy pants supper!


(this is the raclette grill.  there is a stone on top, and a cheese warmer below)

(that plate has the raclette cheese on it, and check out that bottle of riesling!  XL for sure)


(raclette cheese in the warming/melting dish on the lower level of the grill)


(mushrooms grilling on the stone top)


(the finished product!)

The best way I can explain raclette is as a reverse fondue.  Rather than dipping potatoes, meats, veggies, etc, IN TO the cheese/oil...you dump the cheese OVER the meats, veggies, etc.  You prepare your plate, add tasty spices (all kinds of fun things Mr. Swiss had brought back from Switzerland) and then when your raclette cheese is bubbling you dump it over everything. 

Let me simply say that I had THREE servings, and it was divine.  Louis was in a feeding frenzy because everything smelled so delicious.  He laid under the dining room table and licked our toes.  He must have been REALLY hungry :)

TEN and I are convinced that we MUST purchase a raclette grill ASAP.  It's just as fun as fondue, but much less messy!

For dessert we had Vermicelle.  "What?" you ask....Well, I can't find anything in English to explain what it is.  So, I'll just try to tell you.  Apparently it is this tasty treat with vanilla ice cream, almond paste pushed through a press that makes it look like vermicelle noodles, whipped cream and a cherry. 


The weekend must be getting close to being over, right? So many lovely things discovered and experienced. But no...not even close! It was home to rest up for Easter Sunday.  Another big day in T's world :)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday morning we decided against going to church.  I know, I know...sacrilege.  But here's the thing...my least favorite days at church are Easter and Christmas.  Why?  Because people come out of the wood work.  People that haven't been to church since Christmas show up for Easter service.  And I end up having to stand.  And considering what Jesus did for me, I realize that standing up against the wall is not a very big sacrifice.  But it irritates me.  It's very small of me, I know.  I realize this.  I'm just being honest.

So, we didn't go to church.

We had our own little Easter celebration with Jesus and the Easter Bunny.  Louis got some treats, and so did TEN.  I, however, did not.  The Easter Bunny apparently gave my Easter Basket to someone else :(  But that's okay.  It's not about the receiving, it's about the giving.  (repeat after me...)

And then we went to Easter Brunch.  And since there was a Peep in TEN's Easter Basket again this year, we decided the Peep should accompany us for the Easter festivities.  And so he did...

(we are so proud of our Peep!)

(Mimosa Peep)


(Peep at home)


(Croquet Peep)


(Cocktail Peep)


(T & TEN)


(the whole crew - CJ, BW, Ken, Barbie, Mr. Swiss, TVoR, me & TEN.  Ken's daughter is in the front :)

TEN and I wandered home yesterday evening and were both ready for some quick supper, and an early bed time.  What a wonderful weekend!

The best news is that the Knockout Rose my Mother bought me for my birthday last year is blooming!  Louis was thrilled (as you can tell), and I had to fetch my camera for a photo this morning.




I hope you all had a lovely weekend, and I can't wait to share this week with you.  So much fun on the calendar...and JUST WAIT until I tell you how we will be celebrating while watching THE ROYAL WEDDING.  Kate and Wills would be so proud!



T

Friday, April 22, 2011

“I like beer, man. . . rattlesnakes.”

(today's blog post title is borrowed from Brad via Happy Endings.  i wasn't a HUGE fan of the first episode, but the second episode this week had me in stitches.  again.  i think i'm becoming a fan.  AND...still trying to figure out how to upload my "shout out".  maybe next week i'll figure it out!)

Wednesday night's birthday celebration was a blast, and I truly enjoyed catching up with some of the guys I haven't hung out with in a while. The cajun themed restaurant was fabulous, and the food was AMAZING!  I had the jambalaya and some fried pickles :) 



We may have had one (or seven) Baby Guinness shooters :-o



I'm still not sure if these are REAL crocs, or if they are just made to look very much as if they are?


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday at work I tried Lean Cuisine's *NEW* Fajita-Style Chicken Spring Rolls.  YUMMY! 



I would definitely recommend you pick some of these up the next time you are at the store.  A fantastic 200 calorie snack, and they are actually crispy and delish when cooked in the microwave.  Who would have thought?!?!?!

AND THEN......Marilyn Monroe came home Thursday afternoon!!!  She was recouping from her surgery at her parent's, and a bunch of the girls went by to welcome her back!  Our wine group made a HUGE basket of goodies to keep her entertained while she continues healing.  Such a lovely evening, and so very glad to have Marilyn Monroe back in Smalltown, VA!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Today the girls are meeting for lunch, and my office closes at 1:00pm for Good Friday & the Easter holiday.  I'm off to get a mani/pedi after lunch with The Voice of Reason so I will look pretty for Date Night tonight :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Do you use Restaurant.com?  I wasn't really a fan, but now I am.  Honestly, I eat out quite a bit.  And I end up spending a TON of money doing so.  And these gift certificates DON'T EXPIRE.  So, how in the world could I pass up the 80% off coupon code EASTER through 4/24/11??

Tonight we are going to Surf-n-Turf for dinner :)



And we will indulge on a little bit of this:


Or, perhaps a bit of this:



And then perhaps we will finally get around to seeing this:



We don't want to stay up too late though, because on Saturday morning we will be going to visit this little princess:



Here:


And planting a few new vines!  How exciting is that??





We also have the opportunity to "sponsor" some of the new vines that we plant, and each year we receive TWO bottles of wine that is yielded from the section of grapes that your vines are in :)  I think I want to do that!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then it's time for Easter Sunday!!!!!  Easter is one of my absolute favorite holidays.  I think it's because of what we do every Easter, and how we make it so very special.

I hope that you all have a lovely weekend, and if you celebrate Easter...HAPPY EASTER TO YOU!

T