Perfect

Katie, Lulu and I enjoyed every minute of the R.W.  Well, Katie & I did; Lucy mostly rolled her eyes at us and wondered when the corgis were going to show up.

The Dress was absolutely beautiful, I love it.  Elegant.  Hope those Pnina Tornai loving hooches on Say Yes To The Dress were watching and saw what a classy wedding dress looks like.

PS Loved the adorable little flower girls!  And the Queen's cheery yellow outfit. 

We Are All Ready for the Royal Wedding!

Katie and I dashed up to Cost Plus World Market for our wedding supplies: Walkers Shortbread (Cara & I lived on this when we were in London), scone mix and jam.  We are fighting over whether we should bake the scones tonight or at 2:30 am.  What a dilemma.

I asked Cara if she was excited for the R.W. and here's what she said:

"I hate how the Queen has to take over the whole wedding".  Well, Car, that is why she is called THE QUEEN.  It's kind of her job.  Wish you were going to be watching with us, even if you can't stand QEII.

Easter Fun

Katie, Lulu and I were on hand for the Mega-Easter Party at the Davis'.  It's a real extravaganza, here are some pix from the big day:

Peter Coogan got engaged!  Yay Pete!  B-Z evidently wanted to be featured on "Cake Wrecks" with this dubious spelling of "Hooray"...

Mimi meets and greets her newest great-grand, Mr. CARSON! Prentice.  Not sure what he's caterwauling about, he must be anxious for the egg hunt.

Logan is always Fancie Nancie.  Love her way with the accessories!

Hadley and Logie are all ready to go after the eggs.  They know Zaide and Baba have been out hiding dozens of goodies (Baba had the nerve to complain "you took all the good places" when Zaids forced him off the couch to hide a dozen prizes.  This hunt is for 4 year olds, Baba, a "good place" would be the ground)

Lining up for the hunt.  Right after this, elbows started flying.

Loges again, finding some seriously good loot.  Zaide doesn't just hide stale Peeps, there was stuff I would have forearm shivered these kids to get.

Uncle Easter Bunny made his 25th annual appearance to terrorize the children.  Tatum and Lauren seem pretty solid, though.  I don't see any grimaces of terror...

Wait, I retract that.  Hadley claimed she would NOT be scared of UEB.  That was a big fat lie.

Note the ADORABLE Ladybug coat Zaide knit for her!  I'm so proud of you Zaids!  It is darling!

She did accept her gift, but she wasn't happy about it.

Mads was pretty darn brave, though there was some nail-biting when she had to get close to creepy UEB.  I think it's the 1970s paint-spattered overalls that is the creepiest thing about him.  Made me scream anyways.

Cannot Get Enough of This Girl

My nieces and nephews (and their delightful spouses) make some darn cute babies.  I love visiting them, and it's so amazing to see how quickly they grow, and how they are delightful combos of their parents, with a dash of the extended families thrown in for good measure.

There's one little girl that I want to pinch and hug and basically eat up every time I see her.  And that would be Ms. Allie D-D.  According to her Zaide, she's the most easy-going of the gang, happy to tag along with her big sister and her cousin -- two Bossy Bossersons in two small packages.

Here are some pix of Pal at the family Easter party.  See if you don't want to take a bite:

All Aboard

I decided to try a new form of transportation from Seattle to Spokane this month.  I headed down to King Street Station and took Amtrak home!  It was pretty fun, other than getting home at midnight (thanks for coming to get me, Peeps!) and having restless leg from Wenatchee onwards.

The King Street Station still has some of its old grandeur: fancy ceilings and marble here and there.  It was clean and not scary :-)

The conductor wears a conductor cap and punches your ticket!  Love.  I ate dinner in the dining car (the food was not great, but how often do you get to eat in a train dining car!  and they serve booze.)  I was horrified to learn that I would have to eat with 3 total strangers, but I girded my loins and actually had a nice time with a couple from Albany NY.  He retired from the railroad, and I learned some fun RR facts (each conductor has his own "punch" symbol.  Who knew?  My conductor's punch symbol is evidently a blob).  I spoke to strangers!  I'm so proud of myself.

Here's the view right out the window of Puget Sound.  You are literally right next to the water heading out of Seattle to Everett.  The views on Stevens Pass were gorgeous too.

I don't know if I'll travel this way again, though the price was certainly reasonable.  It takes 8 hours (which is actually about how long it took Katie, Lulu and I to get to Seattle driving over the pass last week).  But you have lots of legroom, wi-fi, can walk around, and there's always the possibility that Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen might burst into song.  So there's that.  Negative points to the weirdo 2 rows up who conducted a long phone convo regarding his being "out of Montana's jurisdiction" so they couldn't get him on that assault charge.  But I knew Mr. Hachi, our car attendant, would take care of us if the weirdo went postal.

A Christmas Miracle

I've had this Christmas Cactus for YEARS, and it has never ever bloomed.  Until today.  Three flowers!

The Handyman Can!

Our Handyman (that would be Jon, so glad he lives in Spokane now!) did a couple of jobs for us this week.  And I'm tickled pink.  Because, even though we are total DIY and HGTV whores and dream of marrying/adopting Brian, Scott and Holmes, we are fairly inept when it comes to anything involving hammers, nails and chopping stuff.  Here's what Jon did for us:

Made us a 2-compartment compost bin!  It already has some leaves from last fall in there, and if it ever stops snowing here, I'll be adding my layers of brown, green and dirt.  I am so happy to be a composter!

Trimmed our scary/creepy front hedge, which was threatening to take over the world.  Then chopped us a pile of faggots (of wood peeps), and stacked them neatly by our fabulous OUTDOOR FIREPLACE.  We can huddle around the fire as it's snowing in late April here.

Yay for Jon!  Already thinking of what other projects need doing around here...